TR Contest: Your Stupidest Nerdy Purchase

I really enjoyed last week’s RPG stories, so I’ve decided to run another “true tales of nerdery”-type contest. This week, it’s for you to tell me about the stupidest purchase you’ve ever made on behalf of your nerd obsessions.

I know mine right off the bat, although it’s not particularly exciting. Back in the late ’90s, during I was neck-deep in the action figure craze like a lot of people; I was foolishly buying any toy I thought looked cool. I was also a huge Tomb Raider fan at the time, so when Toy Biz announced they were doing a Lara Croft figure, I was tremendously excited. So excited, in fact, that I thought I’d take my first step into the world of the action figure collector market and buy two of them — one for me, and one to save and make $1,000s on later. Unfortunately, when the toy was released, it looked like this:

?Which is to say it looked like complete ass. BUT I BOUGHT TWO ANYWAYS. One for me to stare at in horror, one to collect dust and depreciate to about $2 mint-on-card over the next 8 or so years. I take some solace in the fact that although I’m by no means smart, at least I’m not quite so stupid as to do that again (being poor and loving booze more than toys helps, too).

So it’s your turn. Tell me about the nerdiest purchases you most deeply regret and why. TELL ME YOUR SHAME. IT IS DELICIOUS. One entry per person, and it’d better be less than 200 words unless, like Matsu’s winning entry last week, it’s about lesbian sex, in which case it can be longer. The contest ends at 12:01 am EST on Monday, February the 7th. Have a good weekend, folks. Watch out for thugs.