Do You Focus Collect?

I've been a "collect-them-all" guy since I started my hobby in 1999 with the Episode I product launch. I've since refined my approach a bit. I didn't really get into the animated styled figures of 2008-20012 The Clone Wars toys, partly because I didn't watch the show at the time (which was a mistake), and because I didn't feel the style fit the world-building aspect of my collection. Later, I started skipping the under-articulated figures, which started with the weird 7-11 POA TPM figures in 2012. I have generally avoided the Disney offerings, even though they are in the same scale, as I perceive them as bootleg ripoffs of the OG line. I don't collect other scales of Star Wars, I don't collect random items with the Star Wars logo slapped on them, and I definitely do not collect anything that is not Star Wars.



I know that there are very few of us that buy at least 1 of everything, but my collecting bug does have a special focus beyond 3.75", super-articulated, realistically-styled Hasbro Star Wars figures. I have a particular fondness for all things 501st. I don't exactly know what drew me into that, but I believe it has a lot to do with a particularly special item that I managed to acquire from the Master Repicas booth at Celebration III. My wife and I struck up a conversation with one of the MR guys early on during the convention. I noticed that around their booth they had several giant canvas banners featuring characters from ROTS. I thought they were all pretty cool, but one featuring a 501st clone stood out to me. I asked about it, and he said that several of the banners were already promised to people, but he would hold the 501st for us until after the show. He gave it to us at the end of the last day, along with one of the display Anakin lightsabers. It was immediately one of my favorite pieces, and from there, I started my focus collection.



It began with just with Phase 2 clones, but then expanded to Captain Rex items, and some Phase 1 versions of the clones. I aggressively hunt down anything I can to add to my collection. It consists of several high end pieces from Master Replicas, Sideshow, Hot Toys, and Kotobukiya, along with some odd items from Funko, Beast Kingdom, and Medicom, as well as tons of Hasbro figures.

I have Legos, trading cards, pins, a mug, a cookie jar, a fast food toy, a chess piece, role-play game pieces, a coin bank, a yo-yo, and a lamp/alarm clock - just to name a few. I even have a custom pair of Converse All Stars that I designed from their website. I told my wife to be prepared for the day that Sideshow makes a 1:1 scale statue of a 501st Clone Trooper or Captain Rex.






So does anyone else out there have a collecting focus that dries up their bank accounts? Or just something on the side that they like to beef up for displays beyond your normal collecting habits?

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