Advice: 1) Take your time. P5 is SO different from P2 that it'll take you a while to learn anything. Don't buy anything until you reach that first roadblock on something you want to do. With me it was the limitations of the Dork in morphing. The first money I spent on 3rd party stuff was Daz's Michael. 2) Go through freestuff using searches for things you need first. Why pay good money on a barbarian costume or armor when you can get a free one to start with here. 3) Watch for deals and shop around. The best deals I've found are the good subscription and discount sites. Daz's Platimun Club discounts, PoserStyle, and above all PoserWorld. Before you get one, ask here what people think about them. If you do decide to get Daz's Victoria and Michael, buy a Platinum subscription first. Subscribers save 30% on Daz produced goods, so Vicky and Mike will cost much less. Also the CD with all the content is a MUCH better deal than just buying the figures by themselves. 4) Watch your budget. I've gone hungry because I've had to have that one little thing for a piece I'm working on. I'm an idiot. The candy store will be here tomorrow. Having said that, I should point out I just got the Penguin from Daz for no good reason other than it looked neat. Like I said, I'm an idiot. 5) Make friends here, and ask for advice. We're a pretty helpful bunch. Post your pics, and be prepared for some criticism. Take what you can, and let the rest go. There's always someone who'll object to something. 6) Read the tutorials here. There's some great ideas in them. Post to the forums. Please. We need as many viewpoints here as we can get. I check the P5 beta test forum, the Poser forum, and the Product Showcase everyday. God, I not only am an idiot, I need to get a life (grin). 7) Check the version of P5 you get. Make sure it has all the updates available. If not, get them right away. There are some bugs in P5 that can be VERY annoying, and the 2 service pack releases go a long way to fix them. Get the content update too. Hope this helps! I look forward to your first post in the galleries. Have fun too. And be careful, there are Pink Ponies out there just waiting to get you.