Collecting: what does it mean to you?

[pud333]

I'm just curious what toy collecting means to various people, and why they do it.

I mostly collect toys that have meaning to me, in that there is a sentimental attachment to my childhood. For example, I love the modern GI Joes because of all the Joes I had as a kid, I love DCIH because they remind me of the old Kenner superheroes, etc. Now that I have a good income, I can afford all the toys I always wanted but never could get due to my parents not having tonnes of money to spend on toys when I was a kid. I also find it's a great way to connect with my nephew. He came over the other week and saw all my 3.75" figures. Before he went home, he said good-bye to all them, saying "Bye people!" So I gave my nephew a DCIH Flash the other day, and it was awesome to hear him go "Woah!" He's only 2 years old, but he loved Flash's "Fire Boots" as he calls 'em. I am now his bestest friend, cause I'm the cool Uncle that gets him the cool toys. (I mean, c'mon, wouldn't you rather have Flash than some boring wooden blocks?)

However, I find now that the older I get, the more responsibilities I have, the more I love collecting. It has become an escape for me. Like right now, I am in the process of looking to buy a home. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for a place in Vancouver is super stressful, considering all the leaky condo problems Vancouver has had: the last thing I want is to buy a place and have a $100,000 leaky condo problem that eats away at my equity.

So that stresses me out. Work stresses me out. I've got a new position with more responsibilities. Girlfriend stresses me out. I have more gray hairs now than ever. So I've been reverting to toys and I find my mind even regresses to that 12 year-old boy level. Maybe that's why I loved Transformers 2 so much.

Anyway, I'm just wondering what motivates others to collect.

[Team Jetfire]

I collect for a few reasons:
1. I love having 3d representations of the characters that I see on TV and Comics. Sure having a picture of Snake Eyes is cool, but having a Snake Eyes that I can pick up and 'play with' is even better.
2. It is a great escape. Be it hunting for toys on my lunch brake, or hanging in the basement fiddling with the toy room. If gives me a break from life and brings me back to a time when things were simpler.
3. Great connection with my kids. My son loves the toys as much as I do. It is something that we can do together.
4. I have also met a lot of cool people through these collecting boards that make me want to collect more. weather it is buying a hard to find figure in a parking lot deal, or hearing about a sighting across town, it is always cool to have a collecting support system

My wife has always said that things could be worse. I barely drink, smoke, do drugs, gamble and I am always home. Nothing wrong with being a toy collector!

[CTO15]

3d representation is what drive me collecting the Marvel and DC figures. First marvel figure was the ML5 Collosus. The thing was gorgeous and I could not stop putting it down.

Team Jetfire put perfectly, "it gives me a break from life and brings me back to a time when things were simpler." Thats definitely the one thing that I enjoy when I stare/play with the figures I have on display

The thrill of the hunt is Awesome! There is nothing sweeter than finding the figure that you've been searching for.

and besides, if people think that buying toys is a waste of money; than they should reconsider, considering the economic climate we have gotten ourselves into. Stocks may go belly up, but never Toys!

[Icetron]

I collect Transformers because the 2007 movie reminded me about this franchise, and I seriously didn't realize Beast Wars were transformers so I loved Transformers all along as a kid. I didn't buy any toys except for Terrorsaur, so in 2007 I started buying so many of my favourite characters. It was fun looking around for deals, I didn't break the bank just to find those figures and I'm glad I had a chance to mess with a lot of them before I got too many and sold off about half.

Through Transformers I discovered other Transformers lines, and it paved way for Animated (such awesome toys!). I started looking at Marvel Legends to get some Spideys, and even got all these random characters that I never heard about and read up on them in Wiki. Now I'm a fan of Iron Man, Deadpool, and know random other tidbits too.

After I realized I kept buying stuff (especially TFTM2007 figures) that I lost interest in, nowadays I only buy what I think I will want to hold onto for longer since I know I will probably end up getting rid of a lot of stuff in the future anyways.

To me, collecting is just something to feed the kid in me since I didn't have many toys as a child. School is so stressful and I don't always have time to play lots of games, so toys are nice in that I can just mess around with them and take random pics or discuss it with other people easily. (For example I don't have to 'play' with a toy to talk about it after seeing pics...or something) It just gets pricey when I import figmas and such...but I love the balance between paint/details and articulation. Lastly, compared to games (which I used to buy so many of) the value of toys usually don't drop that much...a lot of my PS2 games I will never even make back what I paid which is sad. :/

In short, I collect because toys are fun. I open everything unless I don't plan to/need to play with it. I still buy statues but I'd rather have anime action figures (like figmas) than static figures most of the time now.

[Robimus]

It's fueling warm childhood memories for me at its most basic level.

It's also an investment of sorts, probably not so much for myself but for my daughter down the road.

For the last 13 years its even been a very small business at times, basically providing money to buy more toys for my own collection.

Because of this business aspect its also something of a social device. I've got a to know a lot of folks and made a lot of friends through dealing at the toy conventions and even these websites.

[Aernaroth]

For me its a hobby, nothing more. But then again, with the small amount of stuff I buy, I imagine I collect more dust than toys.

[pud333]

Cool. These are all great responses!

Originally Posted by Icetron

After I realized I kept buying stuff (especially TFTM2007 figures) that I lost interest in, nowadays I only buy what I think I will want to hold onto for longer since I know I will probably end up getting rid of a lot of stuff in the future anyways.

This is key for me. I realized that if I don't have some sort of sentimental or personal attachment, I lose interest quickly, so I try to only buy things that would mean something to me.

For example, I bought Alternity Convoy, and while I think he's a great toy, I don't particularly care for it. So much so that I purposely gave it to my nephew because I knew he'd destroy it. Which he did within two minutes when he tried to run with it and fell, thus propelling the toy down the street and scraping the shit out of it. I didn't even flinch.

From now on, definitely no toys just for the "cool" factor.

[Icetron]

^ Somehow that makes me sad lol, but if you don't like it then you...don't like it and that's that.

I just rebought one of the TF2k7 figures I sold back in '07 but I got the repaint instead for much much cheaper than I did back in '07. I just discovered that I actually liked that figure (Bonecrusher) more than I remembered.

[pud333]

Originally Posted by Icetron

^ Somehow that makes me sad lol, but if you don't like it then you...don't like it and that's that.

I just rebought one of the TF2k7 figures I sold back in '07 but I got the repaint instead for much much cheaper than I did back in '07. I just discovered that I actually liked that figure (Bonecrusher) more than I remembered.

I sold all of my TFTM figures also, except for CC BB, '77 BB, Ironhide and Barricade. I haven't bought any TF2 toys yet, but will probably try to get the twins, or hold out for the Human Alliance figures once they come down in price. I have basically discovered that while I'm a huge fan of Transformers in general, I don't particularly care for the toys. I'll stick to Superheroes and Joes for now.

[JTCh]

What does it mean to me? Ummm...it means that I am still a kid at heart and that I still love my toys! The only difference being that I don't "play" with them anymore, I am happy with them just sitting there on display.