There was an interesting thread on HCRealms yesterday titled: “How do you ‘Clix?” It was really asking about other fans’ buying habits.

Here’s how I do.

• I used to buy a brick of each full-sized set. But with the exception of the recent Superman and The Legion of Super-Heroes set, I haven’t done that in years. Instead, I stick to sealed events and low-level impulse buys and trade for the rest.
• Usually, I only focus on characters or dials I like. So with each set, at least a few will jump out as must-haves. But through trades and sealed games, I usually still end up with about the full set.
• Gravity Feeds/CTDs are trickier. For one, they don’t lend themselves to sealed game opportunities. The rarity scheme is also rather terrible, making it difficult to randomly pull that last little piece from a given set you’re still after. I’m always a bit torn between buying none and too many.
• Fast Forces are purely character-based for me. Starter sets used to be a must-buy when only one came a year. Now it depends on what elements are in said starter and the quality of the contents. For example, I got AvX X-Men to get a new Namor. But I buckled down and got an Avengers one as well to get the best Spider-Man yet. I skipped the Winter Soldier one because while I like some of the characters and the map and need the new objects, the missing Powers And Abilities Card was a dealbreaker. Similarly, last year’s Iron Man 3 starter coming out with the 2012 rulebook RIGHT BEFORE the 2013 rules prevented me from dropping those dollars.
• A major complication in my attempts to slim my collection is the growing number of “completion” themes I have going. The biggest example is the “Black box,” my collection of every black character in HeroClix. (This has bled over into a subtheme of characters who simply have the word “black” in their name: Black Adam, Black Widow, Manchester Black, etc.) Another is a full roster of characters toting bow and arrow — the Archers like Green Arrow, Hawkeye and Legolas.
• And then there’s ridiculousness such as the team including Goblin King, Mojo and Amanda Waller — the Fat team. Like I said: Ridiculous.