Decisions, Decisions...

I just won a complete set of Stunticons minus Drag Strip's pistol for $150. Missing a pistol isn't a big deal to me since I rarely display gestalt teams separately. I like having a super warrior. As soon as I receive them, I'll post some pictures.

I've actually been staring at Mensor auctions for close to two months. Part of the problem I have is deciding what to buy. I'm sure a lot of you have this problem. It's one thing to say "I'm going to buy a bunch of Transformers on eBay." and then narrowing down what to buy first. Primus knows I have that problem. So, how do I make my decisions?

The first thing I've done is to create a list of the 49 figures I need to get to 400. I fudged it a little bit by listing Menasor and Abominus as one figure. Technically, I'll have purchased 57 figures by the time I've gotten everyone on the list. This was done as a buffer just in case I can't find a few of then for sale.

The next step is looking at my budget. I make a good living, enough so my wife doesn't have to work and all of the bills are covered, but I'm by no means rich. I'd hate to ask my wife to enroll the two out of three children who aren't in school in daycare and for her to return to work just so I could buy toys. While I'm not sure, I'm fairly certain this is how divorces happen. She supports the habit even though she doesn't understand it.

So I've basically set up a slush fund. To fund it, I've been setting aside money on a nearly daily basis to my PayPal account. I've also started selling my comic book collection. Well, I'm not selling them for figures per se, but I'm just sick of comics; they don't do anything for me anymore.

Since I'm working with a budget, I wait until my account looks big enough and then I pull out the list and start searching. My biggest decision lately has been quantity over size. Do I want to spend $250 on a bunch of smaller guys like Runamuck and Triggerbots and Triggercons, or do I use that $250 to purchase say Shockwave or a couple of Headmasters? That decision will usually take me a week to make. On the one hand, I really want to up my G1 figures. On the other, do I really want to boast to my friends about my collection and it be filled with, well, filler? Decisions, man. They can be tough.

Another reason I have trouble deciding on what to buy is my fear of knock offs. I'm extremely worried about buying a Mirage, Dinobot, or any gestalt and wind up with a K.O. When. I had to replace my Hotspot last year, I worried and worried and worried until he arrived and I was able to personally verify that it was real. Anyone else have that worry, or am I just overly paranoid?

So that's where I'm at. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to finish my Dinobots next. Grimlock's looking lonely. Then again, wouldn't it be logical to have Shockwave? Then again, Fortress Maximus doesn't have any Headmasters to command. Sigh.