Looking for advice - Starting a new MOC collection

[YTMN]

New to these boards, hey. First, a brief introduction - grew up in the 80's obsessed with GI Joes, luckily I was smart enough to hold on to whatever I didn't lose or break instead of selling them off or whatever. Dabbled in collecting a bit in high school - mostly just buying old figures off friends who didn't want them and built a nice collection. Then went to college and became poor so obviously I stopped. Now I'm an adult with a job and can afford to collect again so I'm going to do just that.

But, instead of loose figures (although I won't rule out buying some in the future) I want to get into MOC collecting.

To start, I've decided to narrow my collecting and focus solely on one series - 1986 - for a few reasons:

1. Sentimental - It's the first series I truly remember seeing in stores as a kid.

2. Financial - From my brief research, there aren't any real bank-breaking figures in the series. No Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, etc. There are a few pricey ones, but nothing that won't cripple me.

3. I already own an MOC version of one of the more expensive pieces - Roadblock. Back in high school I wanted to own one vintage MOC Joe and picked up an '86 Roadblock on Ebay for like $20. Seriously, $20. So that's one I don't have to worry about.


Anyway, I'm still in the market research phase of my quest and my early plan is to knock out the cheaper figures first, maybe 2-3 a month. I'll prob. do a budget of $150 - $200 a month or something like that. Get the pricier ones last. Maybe start buying in February.

What I was wondering is if there was any advice the seasoned MOC collectors could give me on the subject.

Better places to look than Ebay, stuff like that.

Thanks.

[gijoemuseum]

The best advice I can give is since you are looking to collect moc, pick specific years you want to pick and don't go over board. The later ones (93-94) can be quite ridiculous. Also get some sturdy protection for those bad boys.

[YTMN]

Thanks for the advice. Definitely not gonna go overboard. I've changed my focus from my initial plan. Now I'm focused on

A. Figures I like - design-wise.

B. Less popular years, but still cool figures. Seems like most vintage Joe collectors focus on '82 - '88ish. So I'm focusing on '88 - '91.

C. Overall deals. If I see a figure I like going at a rate I'm happy with, I'll go for it.

I sold some old things I didn't want on Ebay last week / early this week so right now I'm just using that money to buy Joes and I've already scored a few deals I'm happy with.

I still don't know why the Dr. Mindbender v.1 I got for $44 didn't get any other bids. Other than an old price tag, it looked to be in great shape. I guess I'll know for sure when it arrives.

[Cobra Kai]

You might want to pick up some afa style acrylic cases from Default . The can protect your carded figures and give them a nice look.

[shortfuze9999]

I too am looking to start a MOC collection. My questions are:

1) On a 1983 Cobra Commander, if the o-ring is broken, how likely is the figure to collapse into a pile of parts within the bubble? There's one up on ebay right now in this condition.

2) Some repro cards clearly say repro, but some don't. How likely is it that a non-graded card is a fake?

3) Are the bubbles starting to fall off the earlier cards?