Fig hunting: wheres line between fun hobby and over the top

I think that line is different for everyone. Personally, I am at the point of my life where I am able to hunt on my lunch break and weekends when I have free time. I try to time my weekend hunts where they will not interfere with any family activities, usually early mornings. I kind of have an internal alarm that goes off and tells me to give up the hunt and buy online if I can, but with WM exclusives that can be very expensive. It also helps to have a collector buddies network that all look out for each other.

Clarification: didn't leave work early. I left earlier than i normally leave for work so I could hit a Walmart beforehand.

I think arguing with store workers is over the top. I get the frustration: some employees are more helpful than others but that doesn't make it okay to be rude with them. If I deal with a rude employee, I simply thank them for their time. If I get a super-helpful employee (which is most often the case), I'll tell a manager how awesome they were, or even leave positive feedback on the store's website.

I try not to stress about not finding stuff. If I'm on the hunt for something, and it should be showing up in my area, I give it about a month. If I don't find it after that, I hit the 'bay.

It's a huge principal thing. I think scalping is highly immoral and not an honest way of making money. And that goes for everything, from concert tickets, to Hot Wheels, to collectibles, etc.

I've proudly always had a full-time job for the last 30 years, I've never sold a figure for profit, and I've never bought anything with the intent to sell it. I buy the figures because I love the hobby and I think those guys are ruining it. I only buy two of something when I either think I might want to get it signed - - - or if it has unique, cool packaging that I might want to display.

And honestly? I don't think these things are going to be worth much in the long run. I cringe when people on here crow about "holding value" and such. If you really want to make money, get into investing, stock market, etc. These are mass-produced plastic action figures. I truly have no interest in paying anything more than retail price for them. And I am willing to drive to the store to get them. But it's becoming so.... damn.... hard.

I was divorced three years ago and money is tight. I stopped collecting for almost two years because of that. Money is still tight for me and I probably buy more figures than I should - but I can't justify spending $50 for figures that should cost $20 at retail. I buy them because they bring me joy, and this is a time in my life when I need that joy.

But these empty pegs, and the corresponding social-media photos of people with two of each MNW figure putting them up for sale from the parking lot is sucking the joy out of this for me. And like the Original Poster here - - - I'm really questioning whether all this time I'm spending driving around to Walmart(s) is worth it. Maybe these little figures - - - aren't so important?

I wish they just did it like Target and we could guarantee a way to just get our hands on these at retail price. Is that too much to ask?

I would gladly order these if they were reasonably priced. The aftermarket on these has gone sideways.

I check my nearest Walmart for figures when I go there for other reasons like grocery shopping or to pick up something else but I don’t stalk the aisles constantly looking for them … i agree with the part of it being very frustrating when you can’t find the figures you want but as far as having anxiety & stress because I can’t find something, No … there’s much more important things to feel stressed & anxious about in the adult world

@actionfigureattack Ya reading this thread man, people are questioning life decisions over here!

Eh, I think it's more an issue with retail being putrid to collectors in general. There's no real competition to keep these places honest (not even a K-Mart or something trying as a third option) so we get empty pegs and exclusives to lure us in to inspect said empty pegs. It's much more frustrating seeing Target at least try and get their exclusives to collectors while Walmart has spawned god knows how many threads about how they couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat at this point.

I go visit my dad a ton and make a habit of leaving early enough to hit everything on the way, but I certainly find myself questioning that when I leave multiple stores with empty hands in the same day/week. I think it's driving me more insane that I swear I never see an item leave the LEGO aisle as I'm trekking down the empty wrestling figure aisle.

To the eBay question, the quick math in my head with the MNW figures is that $80 for five elites is a great deal, and $200-300 for five elites is a terrible deal. If I don't find it, I just wait and maybe pick it up down the line when the current offerings stink