I wouldn’t say I quit collecting but I defo went on a long pause and that’s due to a number of reasons. First and foremost I had to sell most of my collection about a year ago due to personal reasons. It floored me as I had quite a tidy collection and had a few gems but they had to go and that was a sad day, but more important things had to take priority.
Second reason was because of the sheer lack of quality over the last couple of years. I got into the game as I loved the artworks and especially the finishes of these things. But over the last couple of years near enough every release has been sub par and poor quality. The only way to get a good release was through a premium retailer and even then with particularly the Asian releases, there was always some issue with quality control. Scuffed Lentis, scratched steels etc. Part of that issue came down to my OCD for minty mint quality, which after big bucks for, I expected mint products, which I believe is perfectly reasonable considering the cost, but there was always something not quite right. I truly believe that there really is no such thing as OCD Mint, I would find some flaw somewhere no matter how minuscule. So in turn i would avoid Asian releases for some time because i didn’t want the disappointment.
Thirdly, the price. Premium releases are practically the only thing I will collect now, but the prices are through the roof on a lot of these releases and I’m talking about the dressed up WWAs! Plus not to mention the rubbish that HDZeta done with the dark knight trilogy with the only option of getting a copy was through an overly expensive one click and priced a lot of people out of it, when they could of easily sold the single editions standalone. Combine that with the horrid attitude to HDN and their customers, that was the final nail in coffin. HDZ have not and will not get a penny from me since.
All of the combined, contributed to me taking a break with steelbooks. Thankfully I’m in a better position now, my OCD has been reigned in somewhat and more excepting of the minor things & i no longer impulse buy. I won’t support these cheap sub standard WWA anymore unless its had some effort put in like the recent Zavvi Avengers Lenti Endgame ( can’t believe I’ve said that ). I also only buy movies I’m really into now.
So in closing, I’m still collecting, but very particular now. Although my collection is nothing like it was, I’m happy with what I do have as it’s now more refined and no longer overtaking common sense. It’s a personal collection now, not a impulse/ocd completionist thing.