Focus Collecting.
I still have some way to go before completing my loose figures run - but even now I am thinking of a focus character. R2D2 is a big fave for me but to be honest there's so many cool characters I'm not really sure. I could just as easily choose Tusken Raiders or Luke X-Wing really.
This led me to question what exactly it was about a character that would make me want to 'focus' on it.
Is it simply because it's cool?
Is it more about a particular 'brand' or 'origin'?
Is it because its variations and examples are wide-ranging?
Is it because its variations are rare and more of a challenge to acquire?
Is it more nostalgia for, say, the first figure you had as a kid?
What do you guys think? I'd be really interested to hear why you chose your particular focus.

What made me start on my focus of Ledy's.

Addiction

Dan.

, to answer your first question , simply fel in love witha display that looks like steve's chewbaccas' or mathias , speederbikes

i'l never forget the look and my thoughts when aussie james send me a link to mathias his speederbikefocus

at that time , i was just thinking biker scout and had no idea there where so many speederbike variations aswell , and what is a biker scout without speeder

but why the biker scout well , my first movie was rotj and the bikerscouts where the coolest guy's i ever saw , lol

so i whent that , way , i realised directly that , well , the focus would be smaller then say a c3po focus , as the biker scout only appeared in rotj and only started , from the 65 backs

where , if you pic a focus appeared in the first movie , you'll have a much wider focus and longer hunt so you might wanne take that under consideration

also , a focus isnt alway's just on one charakter , you could have a palitoy focus , as you might live in the uk your whole life or a clipper moc focus if your from the netherlands or belgium , ledy if your from mexico , ect that is the nostaligic part in there and the patriotic thing , but you could just aswell , go for harbert not because your from italie , but because you think the logo is cool on the card or because you like to focus on items that are that bit harder to find

you could also , like emiel go for a mib vehicle focus , or like shawn for a coin collection

or like joseph y for a bootleg collection, lots of pads to choose , just pick one for your own reasons and enjoi the ride

i would also consider what you budjets you are willing to spend , because some fig are just that much more expencive

if i was you and iam thinking of a character , i would consider checking the focus collecting page steve made on rs to see what's out there and if it was me , choose maybe a fig nobody' is focussing on , like joe's 8d8 i can assume , you have more chances on finding new additions

well , just some info and idea's hope it helps some

For me it was because the poor bastard, AT AT Driver, was hardly seen in the movies and I felt sorry for him.

Artoo_Detour wrote:

Is it more nostalgia for, say, the first figure you had as a kid?

Bingo!
First and fave. I had no idea how far i could take a character focus when i first started, i wasnt a forum member or knew about Gus's archive so my knowledge was nada besides the basic movie logo changes, some offers and Tri Logo.
And as for the existence of protos be it 2D or 3D well that wasnt even a glitch blip on my radar



marc

For me it was a way of keeping some excitement after finishing the complete set. I chose to stay away from a character focus because I wanted to stick to vintage only and by choosing a character it theoretically gave a finite , defined list of what I needed.

I decided to start collecting foreign carded figures with a goal of getting one from every line. What I like is that I can go after any character. If I was a Vader collector I could only search for a Harbert Vader. But instead I can go for any Harbert. I can also switch things up if I need to. I have 2 Harbert MOCs and 2 Lili Ledy MOCs. If something comes up I can easily trade one, still have that line of figure covered, and not have to start a search again.

Well for me when I first came on TIG I did not have a clue about focus collecting and initially just wanted to try and collect a loose figure set but when I saw some of the focus collections in the limelight section especially Rebel Chris's I was blown away and thought I gotta come up with a figure and a bit like Jimmy was saying I looked at a figure that not many people appear to be focusing on and perhaps not one of the more popular ones so hopefully less competition ?
In addition the is also the option of addition a secondary focus with related AT-ST bits..........in conclusion my first MOC TRI- LOGO card was an AT-ST Driver so thats my focus ............ virgin Limelight to follow

my focus was all about price and favourite figure as a kid. Han Hoth is certainly at the cheaper end of the spectrum and I used to love the fact that he ahd a holster

Like Marc I'd only really thought about the major card changes when I started

Thanks so much guys Some great info here, Jimmy many thanks for your ideas and also the RS thread, cheers m8.
I agree with HothTony that since coming here I too have been blown away by some of you guys focus limelites and that makes me want to get a focus as well as complete my loose run I like your ideas too, DarthBerizing, about looking into examples of all the different foreigns and covering the angles there lol. I also like what Spoons had to say about price ranges too. I will chew on all this awhile & check out the RS thread too. There's no rush for me yet as I'm still finishing my run - but ya'll know how tempting it is!


Good luck with all your focus collecting & thanx again guys you rock!

For me it started with getting what I couldn't have when I was young. Then, it just sort of...grew.

Direct copy from a previous thread but it covers the questions you asked Paul and gives some background info on the reason I went after 8D8...

After a directionless start to Vintage collecting I quickly burned myself out by buying up lots of different things very quickly and for the most part things that I had no real interest in, I sold up and almost quit.
I decided after selling most of my original collection that I still wanted to collect but I HAD to have a direction.

I had often seen figure focus collections being shown off on the forums and I was always blown away by the diversity a focus collection could have even though it stems from one single character.
8D8 was a favourite figure of mine as a child and my nickname for him was the white skinny droid, when I got on the internet and started to research and pursue vintage toys as a hobby I went by the username "whiteskinnydroid" (you could say the rest was history )

I tossed the idea around for a while, even got the opinions of many friends and forum members (to get a feel of what was out there) and then it started!

I will always remember the "omg imagine someone doing an 8D8 focus, what would that be 2 carded figures? LOL" and "I wouldn't choose 8D8 there is limited production and pre production out there for him" comments that I read on a few different forums...

hahahah Who has the last laugh now (well them probably but I proved there is a lot of stuff at least ! )

***Edit - Another side bit of info as to why 8D8 was my favourite character - The reason I gave him the nickname "whiteskinnydroid" that I also used for forums was because I had no idea who he was when I had the figures as a kid, the films were something I watched after inheriting the figures from my cousins!

As such he was a robot and pretty scary looking and thinking the Stormtroopers also were robots (I thought it said "OIL" on the back of the figures..) I made 8D8 my Stormtrooper leader lol

For me it was two fold.

Firstly, i wanted a character that started in ANH and all the way through the original films. Also one that was a major role in the film.

Secondly, i always thought chewie was a cool character.

When i made the choice to focus collect, i already had a few chewie items to start me off and it just grew and grew and grew.

And Jimmy, thanks for the mention in your reply to this thread - i am so glad that my collection has inspired someone - makes it all feel worth while.

I am on the process of updating my profile here and soon i will also add my collection pics.

Steve

Hello Steve!

Long time no speak mate Good to see you over here, if anyone hasn't seen Steves Chewie focus - Be prepared!

I was going over my RS pictures the other day and I found your old and possibly first group shot you ever did for the forums!

Great to see how well that run went for you and you have nailed some fantastic key pieces considering there are some big Chewie guys out there!

@steve , bro it is how it is , your efford and collection , not to say dedication to your focus , really made me open my eyes , because like joe i started out , collecting anything and everything

i still remebr the first time , i saw your limelight on swfuk about a year ago , and thinking what's up with all those identicale moc's

that really made me wanne learn more about it and as i did , i gained the upmost respect for you and your collection

i said it before more then ones actually and i'll say it agin , i hope one day i will have a focus that is worthy of standing next to yours ,

i actually setup my display simelare to yours loose fig to the left and the focus to the right

i only have one regret and that is that i didnt pick a character that was ALL OF the OT

butt then again i have the speederbike to make up for that , plus along the way , ive started on variation collecting aswell

i still go check out your limelight every now and then , cant waith to see ya post an updated pic here in the limelight section

AFA Loose Collection - I wanted a nice, clean and safe what to display and protect my figures.

ROTJ Moc Collection - ROTJ is my favorite Star Wars movie, and the first one I saw in the theaters. These cards are also cheaper and easier to find and have the widest variety of character choices.

Boba Fett Focus - Boba Fett was always my favorite character!!!

Original Triogy Star Wars autographs - I used to collect sports autographs but professional athletes are crazy for charging $300-$1,000 for a signature. So since Star Wars was my favorite movie I started to collect their autographs instead, since most can be obtained for free through the mail, or for very very cheap at conventions!

My choice was definitely because of nostalgia. Luke jedi has always been my favorite and growing up ROTJ was my favorite of the movies. I only have 3 items still from my childhood, two of them being my Luke Jedi figure and green The Force lightsaber. When I was collecting my loose set of figures, I always new I wanted to add a carded Luke Jedi at some point. When I finally did, I started looking at all the loose and carded variations. I thought it was a great, later character to collect and here I am now.

My choice kind of fell into my lap really. As a kid, I always thought Rebel Commando was a cool figure. Since I mostly played with my figures outside in the summer time, he had the perfect attire for my home made Endor missions.

When I got out of college and started seriously collecting vintage again, I stumbled onto three pre-production items for Rebel Commando. And the rest was history after that. For the longest time I resisted the urge to pick up MOC. I wanted to be a purely loose collector. That all changed after I found a Palitoy Clipper MOC. And I haven't looked back since!

Great story Chris.

I luv to hear how now as an adult guy's can remember their childhood day's even remembering how they played with them.

It's great you played with the Rebel Commander in a woodsy style way.

I played with my star wars figure's in the dirt next to the side of the road,I loved attention as a kid.My dad never went to any of my baseball games or practice as a kid, what a Fkr.

Dan.