The impulse to buy duplicates

Just curious about other collectors' approaches to duplicates. I have always tried not to get them, only ending up with them if they were in a lot I was getting for some other reason or as the by product of blind bags, that kind of thing. I considered one in my collection done (with significant variants counting as a separate thing). However, just the other day I was browsing ebay and I saw a lot that was 100% duplicates for me, but I bought it anyway. The impulse came from the fact that it was a whole bunch of those little cats I've been looking for since 2021. Now, I've seen lots of them before that I didn't buy because I already had them, but this one for some reason I just had to. I think because it featured the one that was hardest for me to find. Something in my brain was hardwired to look for these cats and still gets excited when I see them and wants to buy them. This time I let it, because it upgraded that one as well as had a few interesting variations, but really there was no reason to buy the lot. After all, I do have plenty of these cats already.    


But where I had been buying these sometimes one by one, often in huge lots of stuff I didn't want, here were 15 of them all together for roughly the same priced I'd paid for single ones. I just . . . had to. It was something I would have been so excited to find like 2 years ago and that carried over despite no longer needing them. I'd taught myself for too long to buy them I guess and when so many factors combined, what could I do?

So do you guys intentionally buy duplicates? Why? Upgrades? Variations? Or is there also come compulsion for certain figures that, when things align, you just can't NOT get it?

(Interesting to me that there are still some I have only one of. This is by no means an accurate look at how rare each figure is, since I don't buy every single one I come across.)


Here's the cat that sealed the deal, the Somali (the peachy colored two in the center). I posted about finally finding her not too long ago, and here she is again! Unbelievable.

Wow so many cats! With duplicates it can be a little complicated for me. Overall I avoid duplicates at all costs. Sometimes if I have an old figure that is very faded or scratched, I will buy a new one for display or photo purposes (while keeping the old figure of course ).

Sometimes if there are slight paint variations and it is a species I only have 1 of, I will buy another as a pair. Or for example I have many duplicate Toob figures from Safari since many of the same figures are in different Toobs.

To me a figure feels 'less special' when I have more than one of it, so I just limit duplicates as much as possible. Whenever I buy lots and they have duplicates I either sell them or give them to a friend

I avoid duplicates too! In the past I collected insect figures that were duplicates, but like Safari TOOB figures Jolie hinted at, they were at least re-releases in different sets.

I can see however collecting duplicates of things like the new USA Yowies and Eikoh figures. I bet one day, they'll be as sought after as Play Visions and Club Earth today. Could be a good financial investment for selling or trading!

Well you already know that I love to collect herds Jill!
For me it is about a real life situation - my animals area surrounded by friends, family members and companions. They are my little plastic friends that fill me with joy and I feel very happy to provide them with many friends.
It is rare that the herds are similar, because the ones I love to collect are all vintage so there is always wear and tear, missing parts, paint variations and various plastic tones from their production over the decades, so my herds are very life like.
I collect to bring joy, so my herds are about friendship and happiness.
When I display them they are surrounded by their friends and family in real life situations. For example my impalas all adopt the on guard pose and particular distances as they keep a look out for predators and danger as they graze. This makes arranging them and admiring my displays so fulfilling. I spend a lot of time observing animals in the wild without the presence of humans, so I get to see them act naturally at all times. It is fun and fascinating and I love to replicate that on my display shelves.

And I just LOVE your picture of your cat herd:D well done!

Joliezac wrote:

To me a figure feels 'less special' when I have more than one of it, so I just limit duplicates as much as possible. Whenever I buy lots and they have duplicates I either sell them or give them to a friend

Mostly I feel the same way, or that I just don't have the space to have duplicates anyway. I would (usually) rather use the money and space for something new. However, when they do arrive like in lots and things, sometimes they just stay unless it's something that really might be interesting to someone else, like a play visions figure. I end up with lots of duplicates that no one else really wants.

bmathison1972 wrote:

I can see however collecting duplicates of things like the new USA Yowies and Eikoh figures. I bet one day, they'll be as sought after as Play Visions and Club Earth today. Could be a good financial investment for selling or trading!

Interesting idea, I wonder if anyone was collecting the Play Visions figures then like people are collecting the Yowies now? I think they will always be easier to find because they are better documented than I bet the Play Visions ever were, but maybe I'm all wrong about that. There are certainly plenty of Yowies I still can't find already, so . . .

sunny wrote:

I collect to bring joy, so my herds are about friendship and happiness.
When I display them they are surrounded by their friends and family in real life situations. For example my impalas all adopt the on guard pose and particular distances as they keep a look out for predators and danger as they graze. This makes arranging them and admiring my displays so fulfilling. I spend a lot of time observing animals in the wild without the presence of humans, so I get to see them act naturally at all times. It is fun and fascinating and I love to replicate that on my display shelves.

I love your approach, it's really interesting how different people look at collecting and how unique it makes each collection. I do love arranging things on shelves. That's pretty much what I did all day today, because I put together another set of shelves. However, I tend to organize in sets and rows and not in organic groups like it sounds like you do.

Quote :

And I just LOVE your picture of your cat herd:D well done!

Thank you!

When I see all these cats together, I completely understand you bought them. In fact, even though you have already given me all the mini cats and I don't need the larger ones, I would have bought this lot too!

Out of principle, I don't buy duplicates. But actually, I don't have any principles, just excuses to buy duplicates . One thing is that I live in two houses (complicated story), so to make sure that I am always close to my friends, it's OK to buy two if they aren't too expensive, isn't it? Having two is also an insurance for breaking one. I have only broken a couple of figures as a collector, but I am clumsy, so you never know. Sometimes I buy a duplicate because I can always sell it later, even though I have never actually sold one. Many figures aren't perfect, especially vintage figures, so it's always worth buying a better one. And it certainly doesn't do any harm to buy a duplicate if it is a different paint version, even if my far-sighted eyes have difficulties seeing the subtle details.

So yes, I do sometimes buy duplicates. But not very often, honestly .

I love these sorts of discussions; its nice to consider different perspectives.

For me, this is a complex issue. I try to stay away from buying duplicates outright. If I ever buy the same figure its because I am gifting it to one of my young neices ir nephews usually. I would like to buy some duplicates for custimization but I don't have that kind of extra income.

Otherwise it is for reasons as described above. A) to gain a "show" piece for my collection when I have mine from childhood who were WELL loved (I can't part with those even, I have the Schleich #13211 missing an ear but I just can't toss her away). B) its a color variant. Here I usually only keep drastic variations but sometimes I catch myself making exceptions for models only slightly different. Or C) if it comes to me as "bycatch" I may hang onto it for a bit... but those either get gifted or customized if they aren't a highly tradable item.

BONUS: Or D) if it represents some sort of mystery... I have a mahi mahi figure x3 now. A silver and yellow version, a rainbow realistic coloring version, and I made an excuse to buy a lot with one with much more vibrant red on it... probably don't NEED it but I WANTED IT for the same compulsive reasons you listed for your cats. It is more or less the same paint scheme as the other, but its juuuuuust different enough....

I haven't had many models break on me yet that I wasn't able to easily to replace. But I am sure the day is coming that will break my heart and I will have wished I had a double.

I've got two answers to this one question

Because I like doing custom repaints, I willingly buy duplicate models quite often, especially of relatively recent moulds I haven't painted many of already, and am looking forward to.
And I'm fine with gaining duplicates which happen by accident, like buying a mixed lot for some models I need, and getting a few I already had as well, or ordering blind bag releases where the chances of doubles are high, cos the models I didn't need will be diverted to the body box and repainted at some point. In a way, I find this equally interesting as when I've deliberately ordered a sculpt I have ideas for - it can push me to look at doing different breeds, or colours I haven't tried before, when I end up with a model in hand and have to think of what to do with it.

BUT I try to avoid ending up with any duplicates of rare models. This might sound illogical, but as my doubles are always destined for a repaint, I'd HATE to customise a rarer model which someone else would want to keep as it was. I'll do regular run singles without any guilt, but ones from the unusual playsets which hardly ever come up for sale, I only repaint if they're already scuffed or broken. And if they're special runs, I just don't buy at all, and leave them for someone who'd keep them as they are. If this means not buying a mixed batch of Stablemates I already have, because some of the models in it are rare, then that'll what I'll do - even if they're cheap enough to cost less than regular-run price each! It's more about the ethics of destroying something sought-after, and being generous to other collectors out there, than simply a budget thing to get myself cheap bodies to paint, hahah

I dont duplicates just to have 2. However I collect multiple bears when they have a range of colours in the material, a other paintjob or minute shape diferences

VEB Plaho


Britains' bear rainbow


Britains polar bear and copies line-up


Fun Fact: Of both these brown bears, polar bears and copies I had one in my toy zoo.
Only many years later I found it again in my stuff at my mother's house.
And I started finding variations. No duplicates, each one is just ever so slightly diferent from the next.

Another polar bear with many variations


Some old Schleich bears in diferent colours, and the big one in diferent paintjob

I don't consider variations of the same mould duplicates. They can be very interesting if you are interested in the history of the brand, and I often deliberately hunt for such variations. Often, I consider collecting variations as important as collecting different moulds. In your case, Dutch Bear, the variations are even made by different companies and they have different sizes too.

A while ago, I presented my Britains bear variations here. Andreas said that Dutch Bear had a larger army, and he was right!

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on this! I do agree that variations on a paint job, especially drastic ones, do not count as duplicates exactly for me. Maybe like a half way duplicate, certainly worth adding to the collection. It's interesting to see the difference here than what I see a lot in the Breyer community, for instance, where someone will have a whole collection of just variations of the same horse. The Proud Arabians in the the old resist dapple gray are a great example of that. I have seem people with dozens of almost identical horses, but because it's such a variable paint job, each one is just a little different and they are always adding more. One collector, however, simply bought every one of a particular horse she came across and could afford because of nostalgia. He had meant a great deal to her in her youth, and now she couldn't let one pass her by when she saw it.

George wrote:

BUT I try to avoid ending up with any duplicates of rare models. This might sound illogical, but as my doubles are always destined for a repaint, I'd HATE to customise a rarer model which someone else would want to keep as it was. I'll do regular run singles without any guilt, but ones from the unusual playsets which hardly ever come up for sale, I only repaint if they're already scuffed or broken. And if they're special runs, I just don't buy at all, and leave them for someone who'd keep them as they are. If this means not buying a mixed batch of Stablemates I already have, because some of the models in it are rare, then that'll what I'll do - even if they're cheap enough to cost less than regular-run price each! It's more about the ethics of destroying something sought-after, and being generous to other collectors out there, than simply a budget thing to get myself cheap bodies to paint, hahah

This is such a hot debate in the Breyer and My Little Pony communities, and I assume in others as well! I appreciate and agree with your take on it! I have always felt that if someone really wants to customize their super rare horse, then it's their model and they can do it if they want to, but I agree, I've always felt it would be more polite to find a more common one on the same mold, haha. I am always shocked to see Alborozo customs for instance. I know there were pretty many made in comparison to many runs, and if you want to make a custom of that mold he's literally your only choice, but it still kind of bewilders me. I feel the same way when the new premiere club releases come out and people are immediately customizing them. I guess in the long run those horses are not SUPER rare and the customs will sell for more, plus it will be years before a regular run is released on that mold, but I still think I would wait, personally.

I only buy colour variations (also knockoffs) for (sub)species