Seems like downsizing and reorganizing have been popular themes since we started these threads.

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I plan on buying less figures..glad MU is over hopefully the Figures of the new year are pretty crappy.
Joes hopefully there's only the vault joes available and be picky on them too.
My collecting has moved to Transformers as they have made more articulated and cooler TFs and MOTU classics I started in the last few months and am almost done collecting what I wanted.
Goal is make some figures, not a lot as I have too many custom figures......

I want to buy more stuff and get less organized.

I'm actually experiencing something of a customizing renaissance now that the stream of new figures has slowed to a trickle: for the past few years, I would find myself waiting on new waves to be released so I could use some part that I had judged to be ideal for whatever purpose I intended (something that often backfired, by the way). Now, with nothing on the horizon, Joe-wise, and most of the other 3 3/4" lines either dead or dying, I've found that my thought process is much clearer and blissfully unclouded by things that may or may not be available down the road. I had a week off for Thanksgiving and managed to finish 18 figures, some of which had been works in progress for at least 4 years.

So, this coming year, I want to do a lot more of that. Working with what's available; determining which of the dozens of ideas I've got sitting around in various stages of completion are actually worth finishing, and then finishing them; and posting a damn custom every now and then. I've got three whole projects (not figures; entire projects with around 15-20 figures for each) sitting around completed and un-photographed. I keep putting it off, thinking I might want to make a minor tweak or add another accessory, but that's always going to be the case. All I need is a cloudy day and a few hours in the backyard.

Oh, and I also have several large-scale playset and vehicle customs in progress that I'd like to finish, if for no other reason than the parts are taking up much more space in their unfinished state than they would be as a single, completed whole.

1 - Continue refocusing my collection on characters care about. I've done a lot of downsizing/streamlining recently and hardly buy new stuff anymore. Now I want to make more headway on tweaking the Joes and Cobras I decided to keep (my "ultimate" series) and/or creating customs of the DC and Marvel characters I don't have but want.

2 - Spend more time on my son's collection than my own. He's really developed a love of all things Joe, which is cool and something I want to share with him. He's also very interested in customizing, which we've done a little of together but I'd like to move more into a support role there while he does some real work.

3 - Get a dio story done. I don't think itks realistic to pick up where I left off and tell sweeping, epic stories anymore. But I'd like to shoot some quicker hit stuff, especially now that my son is getting into the hobby.

At some point in the next two or three years, I'd like to formally give the whole collection to my son and just continue to enjoy it through him. I'm finding that I'm never as excited about the hobby these days as I am when watching him discover and enjoy it.

I have three 6 foot tall bookshelves that are a jumbled mess of tools, joes and other crap that needs organizing, so one can stay a mess as long as one is dedicated to filling with joes on figure stands , and the other is dedicated to making dioramas that fit in the shelves.

have a alot of foamboard, foliage ect for model railroad layouts , i've had it for years and now I wanna build dioramas for my joes that are fun to use in or out of the bookshelves.

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For collecting goals, everything I score is really for customizing, unless the object itself can be used "as-is" to complete a theme or diostory. Like the Kaiju Leatherback I scored which makes a great summoned creature, or the two Smilodon's I scored from Safari that are as detailed and huge as the ones for my Skyrim customs.

For customizing, it would be:

1) Get new eyeglasses so I can customize with some confidence again.

2) Continue trading as this year was the best trading I have done, and helped me flesh out many ideas that were on the fence or backburner. Made a general trade list of items that I will always be on the hunt for, so that way those I trade with won't have to wonder what on Earth I am into.

3) Launch Eirik's Eyrie in January, to debut all these fantasy and sword and sorcery customs and dioramas that I've done. Took a bit of time off to try and get my wife's needle felting site underway so had to stop.

4) Like Chief, I want to try and hunt down some older Marvel Universe figures that I use before they're gone or become like some Star Wars figures, unapproachable in price. There are also some Schleich runs that never made it to my local stores that I want to try and find. As for a pinnacle item, I really want to locate and purchase one of the Final Fantasy Siren gashapon/shokugan figures of the Siren sitting upon the rocks playing her harp. I have a custom in mind that she would complete in full if I could get her.

5) Got asked to teach a diorama class at the public library, so I have to prepare for that and keep my fingers crossed.

6) Really want to get into simple casting, like the kind where you depress an object into the Sculpy Mold Maker and run off the small items that I need in multiples, like open books, arcane magical items, stuff like that. I have already done this with more modern items for the dios I had done in the past like statues, computer keyboards, Japanese masks and such. Now I want to make the things that I cannot find anywhere en masse.

7) Build another inexpensive disposable spray box. Years ago I had built an airbrush spray box made from double-thick foamboard with thin foam sheets glued to the inside walls, and a cheap battery operated fan located in the back to funnel the spray and fumes out my window. Used it until there was just no more use, and now I can definitely use another.

8) Continue to enjoy the boil~n~popping sessions. Seems every other night, I sit with a tub or two of various compatible figure parts and boil and pop them in different configurations just to see what looks and customs I can pull off. Therapeutic, to be sure.

9) Since I am sticking with the genre that give me the most pleasure and inspiration, I want to unload all of the modern items I still have such as contemporary Joes/Cobra playsets, keeping the barest minimum of vehicle and aircraft (maybe two pieces each at best) for the Resident Evil customs I still enjoy.

10) Rebuild the PayPal because there are some very interesting heads and accessories being put out by the casting sites, and I really want them to stay in business.

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Diorama class, cool

Start customising again. I have had a year off, now. About time I got going again. Might help with a few mental problems I am having at the moment.

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Lol at all the 'buy less' responces for next year. My goal will be to *find* stuff worth buying. It looks like a vast wasteland of crap ahead of us.

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My goal is to actually go to the convention this year. I probably won't even buy anything, I just want to go.

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January: Reveal my new themed month. A new custom everyday for 31 days.
February: Reveal a joint customs project with a fellow customizer. Also, participate in CCVII.
March and later: I have ideas and WIPs for at least 5 ''themed weeks'' that I would like to roll out during the year.

It's GI Joe's 50th anniversary in 2014 and I feel like celebratin' that with customs. Since Hasbro doesn't seem in a rush to reveal anything new, I'll make my own.

OB

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They are the collector's version of lose weight and exercise more.

- R

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Summer's coming. You don't want your collection to look fat in a bikini, do you?

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Steal drbindy's goals.

Focus on sculpting custom figures from scratch .
Finish the last custom 1:18th figure i have and sell it making me officially 1:18th free.
Begin micro scale customizing / sculpting.