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RTM Presents

Gift Suggestions
for
Action Figure Collectors

Attention action figure collectors: print this page and leave it around the house where your friends and relatives can "find" it. Or use the "share this page" link on the left side of the screen to email this url to them.

Problem: What to Get for a Collector

Admit it: you go through this every year... You have an action figure collector in your family or close circle of friends and you just do not know what to get them as a gift for the holidays. You want to let them know that you accept their hobby, that you "get it," but you also want them to open your gift and delight in the fact that you got them something they don't already have.

If the collector is a small child, this problem is solved by waiting until they make a list for Santa, and then getting them something off that list. But teens and adults don't make lists for Santa. This leaves you few options:

  • ask the collector to make a list -- but you lose the element of surprise;
  • guess at what they collect, or still need -- but you might get something they hate; or
  • be creative and a bit sneaky -- highly recommended.

Being creative and a bit sneaky involves making it look like you did your action figure research. And that's why you are reading this.

Magazine Subscriptions

Magazine subscriptions are often thought of as the literary equivalent of fruitcake: the last-ditch effort at gift-giving. That might have been true when your Aunt Marie got you a subscription to Highlights when you were a child, but it is not true when getting a hobby magazine for a hobbyist.

There are many very good action figure magazines out today, and very few collectors who subscribe to them all. Take a casual peek around your intended giftee's home. Start in the bathroom. Look for the following magazines, any of which would make good gifts:

  • ToyFare
  • Tomart's Action Figure Digest
  • Lee's Action Figure News and Toy Review
  • ToyShop
If you don't see more than one issue of a certain magazine, chances are they only buy it sporadically on the newsstand. If the "worst" happens, and you duplicate one of their subscriptions, they can ask the publisher to extend their subscription so that they don't get double issues each month.

Books

Books are always an excellent choice: action figure collectors are spending too much money on magazines and action figures to have much left over for high-quality action figure books.

Uncertain about which book to get? RTM has a bookstore filled with suggestions. If you aren't sure about what the intended giftee collects (G.I. Joe, Star Wars, etc.), then pick a more general book, such as a multi-line price guide. Anything with loads of pictures is good.

Or you could go for confused happiness: get a book on G.I. Joe and when the intended giftee lets it slip that they don't collect Joes, mention that you think Joes are a fine genre of action figures, and that perhaps it is time for them to start collecting Joes. This will confuse them, but make them happy that you made a suggestion.

Big Ticket Items

This idea works best if more than one person chips in... Every action figure collector has that one (or many) item that they really want, but just can't rationalize buying for themselves this time of year. In addition, what collector wouldn't enjoy being able to ask friends "My whole family went in together to get me that, can you believe it?"

Items that easily fit into this category are:

  • practically any vehicle toy: $30 Star Wars vehicle (for 3.75" figures) or $249 tank (for 12" figures), they are all good
  • Store-exclusive G.I. Joes, sold this time of year under the "Timeless Collection" series. The Timeless Collection series figures are replicas of the Joes from the 1960s: practically every Joe collector wants these.
  • Playsets. These can be monstrously huge: $50 spent on a huge playset will win you equally huge accolades when it is unwrapped.
  • Statues and mini-busts. Mini-busts retail for about $30 to $40 USD, and statues can often be in the $200 neighborhood. Just be sure to buy a character from a genre that your collector likes. Comic book fans who collect Batman action figure will appreciate a Catwoman statue, for example.

Gift Certificates

Again, this works best if more than one person chips in. There are two ways to make gift certificates a really neat gift: pool several contributions for a big one at a single store (online or brick & mortar) or organize contributions so that there are gift certificates from several stores. The latter suggestion is especially fun for post-holiday shopping sprees.

Don't forget to ask about gift certificates at the comic book store where your collector shops: if they read comic books, they'll appreciate a gift certificate to "their" comic shop. (Not to mention that most comic book stores also sell action figures.)

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