So I got into Figure Collecting.

Started about a week ago, at my first anime convention. I bought a Super Sonico fig for about $65. Not sure if it's knockoff or not, but the detail on the figure is great. Thought to myself, "since I have this, why not just expand the collection abit?"

Anyways, not really much to ask for, but any tips to give to me when looking for figures? Asides from budget (probably would spend $200 on a figure tops, if I really wanted it), is there any brands you reccomend to stick to (ie. Nendoroid, Figma etc.) sites to go hunt on, and whatnot?

Good Smile and Max Factory is 2 companies that I personally really trust, and you can also buy from Japanese Amazon if you are worried about buying a knock off, just keep in mind that they don't ship a lot of things around the world

I'm not too experienced in the field, too, so I might not be the most reliable source, but Alter is one of the best manufacturers. Their figures have amazing details, they are really high in quality. Though it seems they are getting quite pricey.

Depending on where you live, you can always buy figures from amiami.com for an English site that sell a lot of Japanese products, especially figures.

Hobby search and amazon.jp/amazon us for me. I have points saved. Ebay you can get good stuff it you read the description and ratings. The buyfag guide is your friend. Buyfag guide. Just don't buy from china. Even though all japanese figures are made there the ones they sell on ebay are casted from the original molds but with shitty materials and paint.

The guide has everything you ever need to know.

Also my figure collection site is a good way of asking question/showing off/ they have a person to person selling forum. They have ratings. Trust others who bought from them.
List of bad ebay sellers
http://myfigurecollection.net/club/139/discussions/&did=3636

It all depends on your tastes if you like detailed stick with freezing or the new line Figfix its starting really good, if you like articulation go with figma and sh figuarts, and if you like cute things go with nendoroid and charaForm.
Personally i buy a lot of figma, revoltech, beach queens and nendoroids.
and in prices the better way by far is amiami.com , i have checked multiple sites like nippon yassan, cdjapan, etc but the prices are always better in amiami, mandarake is a goood option to get old stuff too.

Poseable figurines? Medicom is great product.

I strongly recommend buying figures from the brand Kotobukiya, excellent sculpting quality, great detail on the figures and all of them are well painted. Figma have good painting and pretty detailed figures but they kinda feel cheap on the figure itself. Nendoroids are nice, but some nendoroids are a pain to put into nice poses (i bought a haruna from kancolle, really hard to put it nicely into a pose due to her obstructing hair and bad jointing from the guns to the back). None the less, Kotobukiya is still my fav of all! A good site for hunting would be amiami.com, hope what i said helps :)

I use 1999cojp and amiami as sites for purchasing pre-orders and newer figures, but will go to Amazon for things that are no longer in production.

Amazon is a good spot, but it is probable that you might find some fakes. My rule of thumb is to go with things that cost the most or just have that feel of being authentic. Like, even if it feels like a deal, a Nendoroid for less than 40-50 bucks (USD) just doesn't seem like it would be authentic, ya know?

My anime figure collection is probably in the realm of about $2,000 (USD w/shipping at times) but they are all authentic and I'm happy with the results. Doing research helps and sometimes just sending a seller a question can help.

And not to be an ass, but avoid ordering things from China, especially on Ebay. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Amiami usually has the most competitive pricing, but it won't stock older figures (unless used) so you can mainly only find the latest figures.

Good manufactures would be goodsmile company and alter. Other companies are hit or miss and it really depends on if you like how the figure looks or not.

I think my favorite purchase is alter's Momohime from Muramasa. Having said that, my collection is small compared to most and I haven't bought any in probably 3 years now (9 figures total).