Buying a big toy lot can save you a lot of money, but I learned again this week that you really have to look at everything. A listing can look complete without actually being complete.
I have been buying a lot of Super Sentai mecha lately, and this week gave me a pretty good reminder of something that can be easy to forget when you are excited about finding a large collection.
Just because a listing looks complete does not mean it actually is.
I recently bought a pretty large ToQger lot. One of the big reasons I went with the lot was that it had a lot of the pieces together instead of me having to hunt everything down individually. It also came with changers and other items, which made the whole thing more interesting to me.
Then I started really going through what I received.
That is when I realized some things I expected to be there were missing.
The Photos Matter More Than the Description
This is one of those situations where I probably should have spent even more time studying every photo.
When you are looking at a large Japanese toy lot, there can be a ridiculous number of little pieces. Weapons, helmets, connector pieces, heads, accessories and parts needed for specific combinations can be sitting somewhere in a photo, hidden behind something else, or not there at all.
In my case, some of the pieces I was expecting were clearly shown in the listing photos, including front and back views of items. That makes the situation more frustrating because I did not just assume something would be included based on the name of the listing.
I bought what I saw.
Then there is the other side of it. Sometimes a seller might not even know exactly what they have.
I also ordered what was listed as a DX Chameleon, only to receive what appears to be the smaller version instead. I am probably not going to go through the trouble of returning it, but the listing itself said DX.
That is the risk you run when you are buying older imported toys from people who may be selling a large amount of stuff.
Complete Can Mean Different Things
I think this is where collectors have to be careful with the word complete.
Does complete mean the main robot is there?
Does it mean every weapon is there?
Does it include all of the pieces needed for every combination?
Does it include the changer or Morpher?
Those can be completely different things depending on what you are trying to collect.
For me, the combination pieces matter because part of the reason I am collecting these toys is to display the different robot forms. A small missing piece might look insignificant in a listing, but if that piece is required to finish a combination, suddenly it matters a lot more.
Sometimes the Deal Is Still Worth It
This is also where things become a little complicated.
I got a lot of extra stuff in the ToQger lot. I could potentially resell some of it. There are pieces I wanted that were included, and buying everything individually could have cost considerably more.
So now I have to decide whether it is worth fighting over the missing pieces or simply buying another copy of something like Diesel-Oh and cutting my losses.
I should not have to buy something twice when the missing parts were shown in the listing. At the same time, there is a point where I have to decide how much of my time I want to spend dealing with it.
That is something I think every collector eventually runs into.
Being right does not always mean the hassle is worth it.
What I Would Do Differently
If I am buying another large Sentai lot, I am going to spend more time breaking the listing down piece by piece before buying it.
Not just, “Is the robot there?”
I want to know what accessories should be there, what pieces are required for combinations, and whether the exact versions shown are the versions I actually want.
And if a listing only has one photo, I am probably going to ask for more before spending serious money.
I have already been doing that with some of the other ToQger toys I am looking at. I found one listing where the seller actually showed the toy in robot mode, station mode and combined mode. That gives me a lot more confidence than a single photo ever could.
Final Thoughts
I still think buying lots is one of the better ways to build a collection, especially when you are trying to put together an older Sentai line.
But the larger the lot gets, the easier it becomes for a missing piece to disappear into everything else.
Slow down. Look at the photos. Figure out exactly what you need for the combinations you care about.
Because sometimes the cheapest way to buy everything stops being cheap once you have to start buying the missing pieces again.
