The ones that got away.....

I really wished I could have gotten a Dark Phoenix at retail. I would loved to have completed Ronin the Accuser but I did not see or want the rest of the figure to complete him.

TMNT: Turtle Tank for twentyfive cents now goes for around fifty dollers!
ML: Hulkbuster Iron Man
LCBH: Darkness
DC Universe: Doomsday (why why why did I leave it all never have it now!!)

Layaway was the figure collector's savior lol. I'd put 80 bucks worth of figures in layaway and complain that the day to get them out wasn't fast enough.

Geez, I remember even in the 90s action figures used to cost like 5 bucks and bigger toys like that cost like 20 bucks. It's no wonder I don't collect. I'd go broke!

Masterpiece Starscream at walmart for $50
The Cybertron Primus with the Unicron head

You can be first, after me.

If you consider the white suited Jigsaw is not hard to find...you just got yourself the job of finding him for me!!!!

Last year I went to a small local Con. Some comics shop {like a fool I never got the name} had a huge setup, several tables covered in carded figures. The real prizes, however, were to be found in the loose figure bins beneath the table. When I asked how much they were I was told $2.00 a piece. What followed is a blur: I walked off with dozens of figures but somehow missed certain ones I really wanted {white-suited Jigsaw variant, Commisioner Gordon, Isis and a few others.} Granted, these guys are not all that hard to find, but I'm still kicking myself for not just buying EVERYTHING and sorting it all out later, once I was home and back in my right mind.

it does cost a lot! I'm right now REALLY trying to get Kip from the small soldiers kenner line. I remember wanting him SOO bad back in the day and not ever being able to find him. I have threads up in the classifieds right now. he's the only one that was in stores during my generation that truely got away.

Costs a fortune though pal!!

I remember having this " I only need each Character represented" mindset, and ignoring all the variants/alternate costumes etc.

As an example, I got Face off hulk (TRUE hulk!!), and so now need to go back and get War Hulk, 1st Appearance, Series 1, Gamma Punch, Savage etc......

So that's a mortgage amount then...

for me there were some in every line that got away. I'm trying to go back and get those now days.

when I was younger, I remember seeing shelfs full of Fortress Maximus!! for $19.99. if I knew then, what I know now. and as for getting rid of stuff, hell I've had to sell my collection 6 times for one reason or another. finally at the point where what I have is staying here!!

I saw it at retail and passed. Same with Toad and HB Iron Man.

Spiderman classics yellow daredevil: I kick my self in the balls everyday for not getting that! I couldve gotten for 24 bucks!!!!!

The rare figures I've passed by and left on the shelf I don't regret that much as those figures are often the ones that for whatever I just don't think are cool enough to own. Sure I wish I had bought some of them and made a quick buck but that regret does not compare to those figures I have owned and genuinely loved but sold on when really short of cash. The one that springs to mind is Blade - the pre-Legends movie figure which was super hard to find and in being so above and beyond the sculpting of everything else Toy Biz had done it really was a pre-cursor for Marvel legends.

I guess this could be a whole other topic but worse than passing up on a rare figure is when through some temporary insanity you decide to buy the lamest figure from a particular series. I bought Bone Claws Wolverine from the X-Men/Onslaught series when I really should have bought the much cooler Onslaught figure!

My list is short

Mcfarlane T-101 endoskeltion.

Passed if for 15 bucks.

But later I picked up the neca one...than dropped it a couple of times and broke it....than I traded the parts a realmer here.

Still looking for another neca one.

eh, that's alright... I was planing on just trading that figure anyway, if I had ever gotten to it.

Mate, I have the XMC Storm going spare if you don't mind a few "scuff" marks on her forehead?

More than letting things get away by not buying them when I had the chance I went bananas a few years ago and sold most of my collection dirt cheap in a 3 weekend long garage sale...I mean crazy cheap, Marvel Legends and 200X MOTU for 2 bucks, G.I. Joes '80s thru V&V, Starwars POTF2 thru Clonewars for 1 buck, most all my Mcfarlane stuff but specific figures...looking back I could have saved a bunch of the stuff for custom but it wasn't on my mind at the time or I could have made a boatload more for the stuff...But I guess I score some toy karma cuz its crazy how jazzed a kid gets over a $2.00 ML Deadpool (Complete!)...I sold the last of my "Mental breakdown toys" on ebay and made good cash which I ended up using to buy a lot of stuff I had not gotten becuase I was focused on other toylines...I am happy to report that my collection is back to about the size it was before my sale...

Also, 1 time I bought a DCSH Supergirl and returned it 'cuz I changed my mind!

DCUC hawkman
DCUC mister miracle
DCUC jason firestorm
DCUC nightwing
TBML astonishing x-men wolvering un-masked
HC joe fixit
XMC storm


all outrageously over priced figures that I still wish I had the cash to buy...

Armada or Energon Wing Saber. It was on sale along time ago at KB Toys, pretty cheap I guess, $15 for a voyager sized figure, oh the days. At first I wasn't collecting TFs at the time, just got back into them. And what do you know doing a little research, I liked the design and homage. Now he's like $100 on ebay if you get a chance, he's not likely to be on ebay since he's that rare. I'm kicking myself typing about it. One day, just one day I'll go on ebay and spend my months worth of savings on him. One day...

Sadly, I'd seen just about all of the good rare stuff when it was at retail. I decided not to buy them at the time typically because I didn't care about that character. Or because I didn't like the Variant version as much as one of the other versions. Now that they're all pretty hard to get, I'm actually interested in most of them and I want the characters in my collection.

TBML - Toad (I passed on him a dozen times. What a crappy figure right? Yeah I was saying that too after seeing him for $100.)
TBML - Gold Iron Man (I didn't like him being Gold, and I didn't like his mask. So I got the regular)
TBML - Stealth Iron Man (Just didn't care for a purple Iron Man, so I put him back)
TBFFC - Dragon Man (didn't care about Dragon Man. So I put him back)
TBHC - Mecha Hulk (Perhaps my biggest regret, I just didn't care about having a robot style Hulk figure)
TBHC - Absorbing Man (Just didn't care about the character at the time)
TBML - X-Men Box Set (I ended up getting Rogue & Magneto though, which were the only ones that I really wanted)
TBML - Wolverine Unmasked (had them both in my hand, and I decided I wanted the masked version of wolverine more. Who cares about an unmasked woverine anyways right?)
TBML - Hulkbuster Iron Man (Just didn't care about him. What?!? I know right. I finally got one from a trade though)
TBML - Brown Cable (never seen him at retail)
TBML - Dark Phoenix (never seen her at retail)
TBML - Black Widow (never seen her at retail)
TBML - Black Widow II (never seen her at retail)
XMC - Bobby Drake (I bought him, and sold him right away. No regrets. But he would be kind of nice to have again)
XMC - Rogue (I bought 1 short hair version. But I'd really like more of her for customs. And I'd really like the long hair version too.)
TBML - Sentinel Series (I got a whole set plus variants. But if I'd known how HTF these would become, I'd have bought tons of them for my Sentinel army. Especially the Spider-Mans)
DCUC5 - Entire Wave (Thanks to poor distribution between walmart and Mattel. I only have Riddler.)
here's an odd one - Power Rangers Green Ranger with Dragonzord (Wanted it ever since I was a kid. Saw it at Kmart. Couldn't buy it though. Too poor. One day I'll get it. And the White Ranger. Since I got rid of my old one)

Well, that's enough reliving past mistakes for now. Some of these I still want. Some I don't. All of the ones that I passed up in stores, I'll kick myself in the a## over for years. But I'll live.

you re not alone, however some stuff I had to walk passed because I didn't have enough money

ml kitty pyre (still kicking myself in the head )
dcsh eradicator
dcsh regeneration suit supes
uncountabe amounts of cheap rare fodder
ml swampthing