How did you choose your first army?

I was always intrigued when I saw SM models in hobby stores but as a teenager the price just didn't make sense... and I had to paint them?? How was it possible??

Then much later, as an adult with a lot of spare time during COVID, I picked the faction which had a color scheme I liked, checked if I liked the lore, and decided to pick up another hobby in mini painting and paint a few units to make a small band. That small band became a plastic crack addiction with a desire to have a whole army regardless of playability.