Why you should NEVER purchase a Hulkbuster figure. ( Humor.....no pics.)

First off, this is tongue-in-cheek. I think the Hulkbuster figure is awesome and would love to own one someday. Sadly, I still need to point that out that this is a joke.
I'm also a big Ironman fan, as well as other characters mentioned here.

Anyone who loves this hobby knows there are those figures that just take you down a very expensive path, sometimes beyond the cost of the figure itself.
I propose that the the Hulkbuster is among the most evil of "gateway figures" . It's purchase alone will require sufficient funds, funds beyond the mere selling of blood.
You see, once the Hulkbuster is purchased, it immediately requires a Hulk.
A fine figure in t's own right, the Hulkbuster is completely pointless without a Hulk to battle. Hulk figures are not exactly free either, plan on selling something of value that you can live without.
But Hulkbuster doesn't operate itself, an Ironman is required.
It might be argued that no one will ever know if you choose to leave the cockpit empty, but you'll know....you'll know.
Life can't always be about conflict either. Would you damn the Hulk , to be the Hulk, indefinitely? No. You need a Bruce Banner as well.
Luckily, Bruce is a highly justified purchase. (Spoiler Alert!) We now know Bruce also operates the Hulkbuster, further validation for the initial purchase. Winter is ALMOST over for those of us in the colder climates. Turn that thermostat down just a bit more, and do you really need to replace your winter tires with summer tires this year? Sure, you spent real money getting the best snow tread they make, and they will wear like crazy on dry roads......
Returning to this Hulk figure: Can you really justify him for acting out scenes from a single movie? Unlikely. The smart move here is Thor.
Ragnarock put these two champions together, and as a bonus, your Bruce Banner will get some time in as well. What's that you say? Your anniversary is coming up? Don't you have a CY Girl or a Power Team figure in your collection that looks vaguely like your significant other. Who wouldn't love a personalized action figure as a gift?
Thor, of course, brings his own problems. Ragnarock was fun, but you need to go back to his first movie to truly make his purchase sensible. A good Natalie Portman headsculpt is gonna be pricey. We should probably not even try to pretend a Loki isn't already on the list, and undoubtedly, the rest of The Avengers MUST be purchased now. Those buckets do a pretty good job of catching the rain water, couldn't a new roof wait a little longer?
Hmmm....Dr Strange, Thanos.....yeah, gonna need them too I think.
Oh, Hell! You bought a Natalie Portman, didn't you? Well, love the prequels or hate them, you might as well get her some Padme clothes. Need to start getting on that list of supporting characters as well: Anakin, Obi-Wan, Jar-Jar ( Ok, a Hasbro Jar-Jar will be fine.) couple of droids, Yoda, Mace Windu, Jango Fett.....
How many Clone Troopers is enough? Do the kids really need to go to college? I mean, most jobs are going to be in Technology anyway, don't they teach all that in High School?
With all these new figures, you need a lot more free time to pose and shoot photos....how many sick days have you used? Personal time? Vacation?
Boss want to see you in his office tomorrow? Actually, he said " I'd just like you to come into the Office, period."
You don't actually NEED that house for all your figures, you could set them up in a storage unit. You probably have enough ink left to print a sign " Will work for 1:6 accessories."
No, The Hulkbuster is just an evil gateway toy......remove it from the cart....
QUICKLY!

Hope this was fun. Apologies for my horrible grammar/spelling /etc.

"Hulk sad. Hulkbuster bad."

Hilarious. It's like that game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

I'm spiraling down this road right now with Sideshow's Jabba the Hutt display. You can't just have Jabba (and Salacious) on the throne, or around the throne. How boring. You need a Slave Leia, of course. And a pair of Jawas; and C-3PO & R2D2; and Jabba's Majordomo, Bib Fortuna; and at least a Gamorrean Guard. Oh, wait... you also need a hooded-cloak Luke Skywalker. And the Max Rebo Band. And a Han in Carbonite display. Hmmm, now you need an environment to display them altogether, but there isn't such a beast in existence. You need room to build a massive diorama. And something to set it on, but nothing's quite the right size, so you'll have to gather materials to build a table to put it on. And, of course, you need lights, and paint, and wood, and acrylic, and a cabinet (probably have to build that, too). And hmmm, there isn't really enough aliens in the throne room. How about some more Star Wars figures -- even if they weren't in that movie (like a custom made Aayla Secura -- get buying those parts and gathering materials to make a custom -- and Darth Maul -- just arrived today). But, what about characters that were there? Could a custom figure be made of Oola? What about customs of Weequay & Klaatu? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe just some random "aliens" that look appropriately Star Warsian? How about some other dancing girls like Lyn Me or Rystall Sant? Maybe, maybe not. You'll probably want another Jawa to hold the fern leaf fan over Jabba -- a Hasbro will do, but where to buy a single fern leaf on a stem at the appropriate size? Better go to the craft store and buy a bushel of fake Fern Leaves and pick out the single one you can use.

All in all, I've probably already spent more money than I should -- and I'm not even close to having everything that I'll probably need (or, more likely, want).

Ah, gateway figures... very well put. Stryker, I will correct you in one point: some of us will never embrace the cheesier Special Editions additions to ROTJ, so one alien dancer in front of (or on) Jabba's throne would always be enough. Besides, if her place is already occupied by Slave Leia, you might be able to get around having that one, too. Of course this is still tongue in cheek.

God, I do feel that pain. The scariest part of this is that everything has a deadline. You can't just put off that Hot Toys figure and stretch everything out. The way prices go up, and figures get so much more expensive, or heads and sets impossible to find, you NEED to get stuff within a certain window, or risk never getting it. So dangerous...

ReverendSpooky wrote:God, I do feel that pain. The scariest part of this is that everything has a deadline.  You can't just put off that Hot Toys figure and stretch everything out.  The way prices go up, and figures get so much more expensive, or heads and sets impossible to find, you NEED to get stuff within a certain window, or risk never getting it.  So dangerous...

So true. This is something I had NO idea about when first starting out. With Hot Toys, I caught on pretty quickly, but the thing that has really surprised me is how easily even the 'smaller' or non-mainstream company's items disappear. Things like Mr. Z animals, for instance. Those things go so fast, I have missed tons! I thought that since they were just 'mass produced' items, rather than custom-made, that they'd be putting them out indefinitely. I hadn't realized that a huge portion of what is available in 1/6 market is made in limited amounts, unless it is stuff like bodies, generic clothing, extremely popular headsculpts, etc. But anything remotely specific is not necessarily around forever, and that just really astounded me once I figured that out. O.o

And regarding 'gateway' figures... I can definitely understand Pontiacivan's point! Pretty much any figure is a 'gateway' figure for me, simply because I can't stand having figures by themselves. They always need company. This isn't a huge issue in 3.75" or 1/12th scale, but in 1/6 it is overwhelming, fast.

skywalkersaga wrote:

ReverendSpooky wrote:God, I do feel that pain. The scariest part of this is that everything has a deadline.  You can't just put off that Hot Toys figure and stretch everything out.  The way prices go up, and figures get so much more expensive, or heads and sets impossible to find, you NEED to get stuff within a certain window, or risk never getting it.  So dangerous...

So true. This is something I had NO idea about when first starting out. With Hot Toys, I caught on pretty quickly, but the thing that has really surprised me is how easily even the 'smaller' or non-mainstream company's items disappear. Things like Mr. Z animals, for instance. Those things go so fast, I have missed tons! I thought that since they were just 'mass produced' items, rather than custom-made, that they'd be putting them out indefinitely. I hadn't realized that a huge portion of what is available in 1/6 market is made in limited amounts, unless it is stuff like bodies, generic clothing, extremely popular headsculpts, etc. But anything remotely specific is not necessarily around forever, and that just really astounded me once I figured that out. O.o

And regarding 'gateway' figures... I can definitely understand Pontiacivan's point! Pretty much any figure is a 'gateway' figure for me, simply because I can't stand having figures by themselves. They always need company. This isn't a huge issue in 3.75" or 1/12th scale, but in 1/6 it is overwhelming, fast.

It's crazy, right?!?! The worst is when you start a project and realize the perfect piece was made a few years back, and just isn't for sale ANYWHERE anymore. I get why a lot of people just buy every head or body they can afford, in case they want it down the line. Not something I can afford to do, but damn I get it. And it's definitely effected my decision making. A lot I've bought in fear I'll regret it later if I didn't. Although quality might have kinda plateaued, so there are a lot of releases that maintain their value, and usually sell for at least the same or more if you decide it wasn't the right call. If someone wanted to go that route...

I lucked out getting a steal on a MR Z French bulldog a few weeks ago. I'm wondering if they actually did re-run those, since I was looking a while back and couldn't seem to find anywhere.

Boss want to see you in his office tomorrow? Actually, he said " I'd just like you to come into the Office, period."

LOL

The dark side of this hobby in general. Glad I'm not really a completionist in that regard and ok with a lone wolf. LOL

Unfortunately I have other lines I collect and it's very scary and puts the phrase "you snooze, you lose" an actual reality...

doodlehobby wrote:The dark side of this hobby in general. Glad I'm not really a completionist in that regard and ok with a lone wolf. LOL

Unfortunately I have other lines I collect and it's very scary and puts the phrase "you snooze, you lose" an actual reality...

So true. I often find myself debating over a figure for awhile -- waiting until the deadline for POs, and then forget about it, only to come back and be SOL.

Yeah, sigh.... I've definitely learned these things the hard way!

My budget is so limited that I *do* have to think long and hard about purchases and pre-orders, otherwise I end up blowing through it so fast on random stuff I don't actually 'need' for my existing projects or collections. So I've had to accept that the reality of that means I will probably miss out on a TON of 'other' stuff down the road that I'd really like, but just can't afford to focus on at the moment. I got into 1/6 stuff for a very specific purpose, and it's so easy for me to get distracted by everything and then end up with not really all that much to show for it. Therefore, I'm trying to be more strict with myself these days .... haha...famous last words... ;p

Stryker2011 wrote:So true. I often find myself debating over a figure for awhile -- waiting until the deadline for POs, and then forget about it, only to come back and be SOL.

LOL I find in the 1/6 world, I can be at little more at rest and have some time to decide on a PO. In other circles it's just insane, crazy and very, very frustrating (here's looking at you SoC Voltron)... you better know you want it and be willing to stay up for that PO insanity. I lost a few POs because I literally snoozed and lost out. The POs I tend to want to get sell out in a matter of minutes of it being open (despite retailers limiting amounts to 1 per account). It doesn't help that it's a limited market, very limited production and in high demand to boot.

I'm actually dreading the SoC Dairugger XV PO when it becomes available. I'm hoping it's not as popular and will have a small/slim chance to get a PO in.

ReverendSpooky wrote:God, I do feel that pain. The scariest part of this is that everything has a deadline.  You can't just put off that Hot Toys figure and stretch everything out.  The way prices go up, and figures get so much more expensive, or heads and sets impossible to find, you NEED to get stuff within a certain window, or risk never getting it.  So dangerous...

Yup! That's why I preordered my Hulkbuster and paid monthly instalments!

Hulkbuster reminded me too much of Robosapien, a dumb lunkhead that just got in the way. I gave mine to my niece in the end, Robosapien that is.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:
Hulkbuster reminded me too much of Robosapien, a dumb lunkhead that just got in the way. I gave mine to my niece in the end, Robosapien that is.

CHEERS!

I don't think Tony Stark qualifies as a dumb lunkhead...

Ok, a rich dumb lunkhead, LOL!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:Ok, a rich dumb lunkhead, LOL!

CHEERS!

Er... he's described as a genius... Having said that my 1st ever attempt at building a HB was using a Robosapien as a base figure...

LOL! I remember.

CHEERS!