For sure, I agree with you. There's no real need for anything too fancy, but it can be fun and more-often-than-not inspiring to have some stuff that, while maybe not entirely unique in what they do, just have that sauce in them that motivates you to play with them and see how you can push and modulate ideas.
That's fair - I contemplated something similar with Fabfilter before but I didn't come across any particularly viable solutions for it so I kind of dropped the idea, lol. I did end up losing interest in Volcano but it was what originally caught my attention and really put them in the sights for me. I might have to give the VCV a look-see as I'm not familiar with it off the bat.
Regarding the modular stuff - that's really cool! Probably the best way to get into it, honestly. I'm realizing that I need to plug my Neutron back in and actually start playing around more as I was quick to phase it out for no real reason. Admittedly a bit of a sucker for the ease-of-access you get with VSTs and the likes and the lack of memory on the Neutron had me feeling a bit iffy. Of course the upside to that is that it really does require you to lock in and learn about not only how to make a sound but what makes a sound, if that makes any sense at all. Shout-out the DrumBrute also - I've always wanted one of those but never committed. Arturia are another brand I own surprisingly little of despite them being right up my alley.
GAS is a killer, lmao. I kept to the lower end of things years ago but once I started earning decent money at my last job I started to put aside money for musical gear without anything in particular in mind. From there I started sniping deals whenever I saw them and started to amass a small collection. Nothing as impressive as most but my "home" territory in a way. I need to use them more in general and get a proper Send/Return set-up going on this PC as I never really bothered to properly wire everything together this time around. I tend to stay too in-the-box digitally as of late and I've been really wanting to break out of that and embrace the analog side more again.
Never apologize for being passionate man - all of this is important to you for varying reasons and getting to share in that love of art is what really drives us forward. You're knowledgeable in the field and have plenty to say on the topic, with a profound respect for the creative process and making things work irrespective of the cost. I respect that immensely.