Where do you draw the line?

[bmathison1972]

Historically I collected only arthropods and associated invertebrates. All of them.

In late 2018 I started building a Synoptic Collection to have one good representative of non-arthropod species, pending certain factors (e.g. size in relation to related organisms, quality, cost, and availability). With that, I decided to change to focus of my  arthropod collection to just those by name brands that can be identified to the genus or species level (few exceptions can apply for particularly good figures or rare/unique taxa).

I was looking at my shelves last night to get inspiration for my next display (I think I am going back to taxonomy - it is too much a passion of mine LOL) and was thinking..whoa, this collection got big fast haha.

EDIT: I just realized I already replied to this thread earlier - LOL: for some reason I thought it was a new thread by sirenia. What can I say, I just finished a 9.5 mile run and haven't eaten yet....

[Gwangi]

I don't actually collect extant animals, only prehistoric. I came over here from the Dinosaur Toy Forum. I occasionally pick up an extant animal if it's something I really like and I have a preference for sharks, whales, other aquatic animals, and local species.

[endogenylove]

I have a few rules:
1. I recently transferred my collection over to being synoptic. So I will not collect figures of species I already have, unless it is to replace and outdated one.
2. Extinct Animals: I only collect extinct animals that went extinct in recent history, say roughly the last 200 years or so. So no prehistoric animals or dinosaurs.
3. I want my figures to be roughly in the right scale with other similar animals. They don't necessarily need to scale well with animals outside their group.
4. No invertebrates: This is a temporary rule, and one I sometimes break. But I want to focus on collecting vertebrate species first before I jump into the wide world of invertebrates.
5. I prefer my figures to be either plastic or resin. Glass and porcelain  figures are sometimes okay. I try to avoid wood, metal, plush, etc.
6. Price: as others have said, I don't want to completely turn out my bank account for one figure. However I'm willing to pay a fair price for rarer species.

[PteraspisEMMA]

My rules:

1. Figures must be small, and tube-sized. Occasionally I'll break a rule and go a little bit bigger than normal (ex: Colorata orthocone, ROM laggania) for my prehistoric marine life collection.

2. Figures must be plastic. I don't do resin, wood, glass, porcelain, etc. A lot of collectors I know tend to venture outside the "toy" realm. I don't. If a kid can't play with it without breaking it or being extremely cautious with it, I don't want it.

3. No customs or repaints. I want all my figures as "stock" with no modifications. I am making an exception for a bandringa shark I'm going to be working on, but that's it.

4. 3D printed figures for prehistoric sea life only.

5. I hate breaking sets. I don't like to do it, even if I'm going to be trading or selling the weakest link in a set.

6. No vintage figures. By that, I mean pre-1990. I have heard horror stories of vintage figures decomposing and spreading their "disease" to other "healthy" figures. I forgot what the term was. Also, lord knows what they were using to make those figures back in the day. Regulations are changing all the time.

7. If I can't remove it from the base (if there is one), I'm not interested.

8. No hollow figures. I'll occasionally make an exception like I did with a few Yowie Lost Kingdoms animals, the ROM Cambrian set, some 3D printed stuff, etc.

[PteraspisEMMA]

I dislike figures that must be assembled. I only can accept them if the seams are almost unnoticeable. The Kaiyodo Iriomote cat and the Ikimon colossal squid are my only assembled figures. In both the seams are almost invisible. In the same sense, I don't accept figures with very noticeable seams even if they don't must be assembled. Many Kaiyodos ruled out, all Yowies Australia ruled out.

So here is where I draw my line. Will be interesting to hear where others draw theirs.

I'm with you on assembly (and bases). If I can't remove it from the base, I don't want it. I avoid all of the old Yowies except for a few Lost Kingdoms figures.

[PteraspisEMMA]

My rules:

1. Only species that lived in the Paleozoic or Mesozoic. Nothing that first appears less than 66 million years ago, and nothing that went extinct more than 540 million years ago (back then, most things were just films of snot on the seafloor anyway).

Nothing Ediacaran then?