There's a lot of GIJoe figures out there, and a lot just in my corner of the classic American Hero line. Through the years I've amassed a good number of different versions of a figure. I never had a "one-in, one-out" policy, or any specific goal in mind while I've been collecting.
Lately, with my focus on reducing things, getting things simplified, I've been putting thought into what figures I could do with out. Which figures are the "better" version? Which figures best represent my idea of "who" a certain character is?
This is a project that I have started a little bit several times over now. Some figures have some sentimentality attached to them, others are just really "cool." So, in other words, it's hard. I would dislike weeding through the ranks, only to find that in a year or two I really liked something better...or find that I could have used that certain figure that I decided to discard entirely. Or worse, I might get the complete-ist bug where I buy back things I had previous (at a higher price than I sold them...).
Major Altitude is an example of a character I'm thinking of discarding entirely. I have a really nice condition figure on this guy with the helmet, but (after how many years...) I finally noticed that he is simply a Star Viper body with Wildcards head! With the same very distinct helmet, having these guys next to each other just doesn't work for me. So this is one guy I feel pretty good about discarding.
The Star Viper could also go, as I have no Stiletto, nor much else for the space battle arena. In this loss of an area of operations (space) I could send every astronaut on his way. I'll only have one X-30, and there would still be plenty of pilots around for that.
Rapid Fire is one that is kind of on the fence. This guy is an example of my sentimental feelings coming into to attack from the flanks. While I don't mind the light green, it's an ok figure, I don't think he really adds that much flavor to the ranks of the Joe team. He's a straight repaint and re-name of a previous amalgamation (super trooper) of figure parts as well. His weapon is nice, but it has been recast a bit in the last several years. He's a high rank officer, which I do work as close as I can in my Joeverse, but, what does he do? Does he battle plan? Does he lead the charge? Could he be the leader of the Joes version of the Marines?
And perhaps it's that open-ended usefulness that I don't want to give up in case I need him at some point? Or perhaps it's because he's one of those figures I bought new back in 1990 and have had ever present since that day--maybe that's what holds me back from discarding him?
But with all this stuff, if it isn't getting used, do I really need it. What am I going to do with it? If I can trade it for other stuff, I think that could be good. Should stuff just sit around? Should I only have my strict favorites?
About HQ icebreaker
- icebreaker
- This is a very random bunch of thoughts based from my collecting of GIJOE: A real American hero figures and vehicles. Contained here are memories, experiences, recent thoughts, completely random thoughts, and other random things on top of that. While one company has made, and makes, our shared interests, we all add into that interest with our own creativity. You, the reader, will find many, many, excellent sites among the links to see what other GIJoe fans are doing, hit them up! For GIJOE stuff that is more random in topic, you'll find it here.