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Re: Collecting Dilemma...Where to go from here?
To answer OP's question of when do we reach that point when we start questioning ourselves about the value of collecting, I think most of us reach that point eventually, but when we reach it will vary greatly with each individual's allowances, whether that means financially or physically. A very small handful might be lucky enough to be ballers with stacks like Mayweather and the spare square footage of a mansion, but most of us will generally be limited by our income or space, or both.
Which is why I would say rather than trying to find focus by setting goals and limits, approach your collection from the other side by looking at things that you don't have control of. By realizing, then coming to terms with those limitations such as limited space within the place you live or simply just limited income due to other obligations, the pieces that will fit your collection needs will fall into place.
Forcing a focus on yourself by setting goals and limits for means you'll be arbitrarily holding yourself back and may never be truly content with your collection which effectively ruins the fun and joy of collecting altogether. Instead, once you know how much space you have to work with, you can then envision how you can optimize that space. If you don't like where you live, you may have the means to improve that for yourself. Money will usually be a bit harder to come by as it is for most people, but again, once you know how much you have to spare and compare that with how much you can fit in your home, it will eventually help you decide on which items you'll like that fits your livelihood more suitably. Once you let that happen, you'll become less concerned about falling behind. Being a completionist becomes less of a priority because you get to enjoy more about what you already have and the pokemon attitude eventually just fades away.
Have a look at the annual threads where we post a list of our purchases. I've been maintaining my lists in those threads for about the last 3 years. You probably might be able to tell I have almost no focus at all. I collect official and 3rd party CHUG, MP, legends scale and outside of that I have interests in 6" Marvel Legends figures, Dragonball Z Figuarts figures, as well as select comic covers and prints by my favorite artists. I spend thousands every year, but I'm by no means rich. I'm simply in a DINK relationship living in a 4-bedroom home and have the freedom of entirety of a fully finished basement to myself. If anything, I've come to learn that I'm done with MP because the size of that scale and the cost of continuing to build out that scale quite simply isn't feasible, financially nor physically. I would make better use of my space and money by fleshing out a legends collection now and filling in holes in my CHUG collection or the odd upgrade/replacement of an existing character I already own. My MP's stop at G1 Season 1 and I'm pretty much almost there with the exception of a handful of characters. I do have some stray outliers like Magnus, Galvatron and Cyclonus, but will never probably bother filling in slots for Kup, Arcee, Blurr, etc. Maybe Rodimus depending on how Hoodlum turns out, but otherwise, I'm done with MP because the money just isn't worth taking up that space. I'm content with Season 1 because it's the season I watched the most reruns of. For every other size class, it's more feasible to spend the money fleshing out those collections.
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