To be or not to be? I am a collector and a customizer but, at the same time, I can not be both and it annoys the piss out of me. I want to be, I can't afford to be and I am not patient enough to be. To those that can be both, I applaud you. Either you have pockets deeper than mine or skills that make me look like an amateur.
Why I can't be a pro customizer:
The ebay auctions say it all. I think I have had less then ten customs that I have made go over $100 in my ebay career. When you have bills to pay, that is not good for a customizer. I know my flaws, I have to improve on my sculpting, airbrushing, photo taking skills (believe me, it makes a huge difference), and (most importantly) patience. I try to find as much time as I can to customize as it is my stress reliever (really depends on the figure) and it is my way to get the figure that I wanted. Fixing the (my opinionated) mistakes of the company that made the original figure or getting a figure that has yet to be made. Best part is, I don't have to wait for a new costume to be made and go through all the steps of being produced that a retail figure has to go through.
The tough part is customizing is expensive. The tools, the materials, and (the most expensive) the figures. Hopefully this week I will be able to review the Batman figure that I made. This is the one figure that I obsess over the most. This is the second version of the figure that I made because the first version had a slight gap in one of the articulation joints. My girlfriend thought I was nuts when I noticed this but it was one of those things that bugged me for weeks until I just got a hold of a new base figure and made version 2. On top of that, I want through three DCC New 52 Batmans ($25 a piece, you can do the math) to get the perfect parts that I wanted to add to the base figure. That all starts adding up as, without materials and paint, is five action figures purchased to make one figure. So for all you companies out there that want to sue customizers because you are not getting "your cut" (yes, I realize that I have not paid the respected owners of the properties) but if you think about it you really are. I got one figure, you sold five Warner Brothers. You win in that exchange but I will leave that rant to another day. Luckily, I was able sell version one and recoup most of those expenses but damn it sucked.
Why I can't be a collector:
I had this goal to get every Marvel Legends and every DC Universe figure MOC (if you don't know what MOC means, you shouldn't be on this page but if you really want to know leave a comment or email me). This is a VERY expensive dream. Current figures run around the $20 mark and older figures can cost you up to $200, so that goal is quickly becoming a dream.
The biggest reason I can never be a true collector is because of that prick customizer mentioned above. He views EVERY figure as possible fodder (parts that can be taken from a manufactured figure and added to a custom, ruining the original figure). I wanted to have a MOC DCC New 52 Batman for the future, maybe pass on to one of my future kids, but I noticed a flaw in the Batman mentioned above and the MOC figure quickly became fodder.
On top of that, I think factory figures are great but there are times where I feel that I can add something better and that is why most of the figures on my shelf have some sort of customization to it. Some mods are noticeable, some are not.
I recently had an unexpected move (don't worry, it was a blessing) that had me sell a good junk of my collection off, so the hunt begins again...slowly. I am glad this happened as I was starting to lose interest in Marvel Legends (even though they are coming out with some really great stuff) and was coming back to DCUC stuff. Of course, I am kicking myself for selling the uber rare Lobo and black and gray DCSH Batman that I had MOC but such is life.
So there is my dilemma, I want to be both but I can't. A flash of Batman Forever came into my head when he is trying to solve the riddle of whether he was Bruce Wayne or Batman. Do I have delusions of grandeur? Probably.
Figure reviews soon!
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