Why do you collect?

Hearing today’s Willfoxification‘s Vlog, I was surprised to listen Optical20 giving a lot of importance to the investment aspect of his collection. Also saw some comments on that line too. People I know here in Europe don’t usually make that their number 1 buying criteria. I want to make it clear that I think it’s as valid of a reason as any. Still, hearing him go over and over again around the “growing up” and “money” ideas. I couldn’t relate, even if I could understand it. Yet it made me wonder, ¿why do we collect?

Here’s my take. Ever since I was young I got some present, sculpture or something, to remember stuff. If I went somewhere, i’d ask mum and dad for something to remember the trip (if it was a good trip!). Then, I started buying Lego’s that remembered me a good movie, good music (Beatles’s Yellow Submarine), or good moments from my childhood. And of course, with figures, it’s because I LOVE good stories, be it movies, comics, books, anime, series or games. I mean, I studied cinematography and screenwriting for a reason. Some people just use “Justwatch” or some other app. I want figures to remind me the goosebumps I felt when the Joker made me think “would I push the button? Jackass…” or when I saw Miles Morales Spiderman and thought “holy cow, did they just reinvent animation?”. That’s my justification: this things are time travel capsules to me. My wife’s happy with a Polaroid, I‘m happy with a figure (Or a lightsaber, or a HP wand, or a Lego Wall-e).

How about you? Are you a sentimental too? Have you made a living cashing out on figures? Are you a cinema freak? A SW fan? An avatar fan? Just kidding on that one. I think it’s interesting, since this also ends up setting up the price we are willing to pay, the duration of our collections (mine, unless money is needed, will come with me to the grave) …

I think I’ve just always kind of been into collecting things. I always liked toys/figures and just never really grew out of them fully. Part of it probably is tied to nostalgia/sentimental reasons tied to classic characters and franchises.

Kind of fell into sixth scale by accident if I’m honest but I’ve enjoyed it since discovering it and don’t necessarily see myself getting out of it.

I love wasting money.

chrisstbh said:

I love wasting money.

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You are contributing with capitalism and creating jobs, you are a role model IMO

Artist here.

I remember the first time I held one of my computer designed prints in my hand. Having onscreen creations and ideas transcend to the physical world was an unforgettable thrill back in the day.

Watching all the characters that I have loved over the years make that same jump is a personal highlight of this extremely fun and rewarding hobby.

Because

goatchumby said:

Artist here.

I remember the first time I held one of my computer designed prints in my hand. Having onscreen creations and ideas transcend to the physical world was an unforgettable thrill back in the day.

Watching all the characters that I have loved over the years make that same jump is a personal highlight of this extremely fun and rewarding hobby.

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Yup, this is one way of making the worlds and characters that are normally out of reach tangible.

To fill the aching pit of loneliness

generalszabo said:

To fill the aching pit of loneliness

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Hmm… Liverpool fan aren’t you? Isn’t that what they sing every other weekend? I believe it’s something like…

Walk on, walk on
With a 1/6th scale fig in your hand,
And you'll never walk alone

Every time I see this topic I always think of this moment from Always Sunny:



It’s basically my answer

generalszabo said:

To fill the aching pit of loneliness

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Did you have to say it out loud?

My collection makes for good conversation starters... and I'm a closet hoarder.

Darth Snoopy said:

I'm a closet hoarder.

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Ah. I'm an action figure hoarder.

A substitute for having actual living humans in my home! I don't like plants or family photos, fictional characters are the company I prefer to keep. They look nice and remind me of what I value the most. Fiction. Actors. Unreality. And the fact that these things exist, to remind me that not all humans are awful. There are passionate people who focus their energies on making these films, etc., and making these figures. As I type this, I keep swivelling to look over at them.

ioFrostEminus said:

A substitute for having actual living humans in my home! I don't like plants or family photos, fictional characters are the company I prefer to keep. They look nice and remind me of what I value the most. Fiction. Actors. Unreality. And the fact that these things exist, to remind me that not all humans are awful. There are passionate people who focus their energies on making these films, etc., and making these figures. As I type this, I keep swivelling to look over at them.

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What a beautiful answer mate. Besides actors though there’s a lot more people involved on the art I wish got their figures!

Just imagine we got figures from the likes of Roger Deakins (best DOP imo, even greater for being an incredible human being, with a forum he attended on his own time to help fellow or newcoming cinematographers), David Fincher, George Lucas, Favreau, Robert Richardson, Bradford Young or Quentin Tarantino, to name a few. Instead of that we got Stan Lee in every possible weird outfit

Rayman said:

Besides actors though there’s a lot more people involved on the art I wish got their figures! [...]
[...] George Lucas, Favreau, [...]

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Best not, fans would be burning them in effigy on the regular.

Rayman said:

What a beautiful answer mate. Besides actors though there’s a lot more people involved on the art I wish got their figures!

Just imagine we got figures from the likes of Roger Deakins (best DOP imo, even greater for being an incredible human being, with a forum he attended on his own time to help fellow or newcoming cinematographers), David Fincher, George Lucas, Favreau, Robert Richardson, Bradford Young or Quentin Tarantino, to name a few. Instead of that we got Stan Lee in every possible weird outfit

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Wholeheartedly agree! Sign me up for Nolan and Cameron immediately! I wouldn’t mind a Blomkamp too but regarding Deakins, I’ve been thinking about him a fair bit recently. If dreams could be somehow filmed, I’d want him. I think it’s lovely that they made Stan Lee, but definitely feel one variation is ample. There’s a non-film figure I would rush to get a figure of (don’t ask me who!) so the world outside visual entertainment is open. Instead we get BTS. Nothing against them, just… it’s an endless rabbit hole of people I would love 1:6s of... Darn it!

Rayman said:

How about you?

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Toys are fun

Being an adult sucks a large portion of the time.

Here's what I suspect is pretty common but not always discussed or even acknowledged - When you were a kid, you had no responsibilities for the most part. Life was an open road in front of you. And the majority of your adult interaction was dealing with most people who either wanted the best for you in an ideal sense or would show restraint because you were "Just A Kid"

You grow up, then suddenly you are under constant pressure by society at large based on your status. What can other people and the world extract out of you. Everything becomes very transactional and that's mentally and emotionally exhausting.

I collect because it's kind of a way to never grow up. Or compartmentalizing a part of yourself that will never grow up. Because growing up is pretty mercenary.

A figure that represents nostalgia from your youth particularly, its like hearing a song you liked or loved in high school or middle school. Music, some songs, bring you back into the past. Simpler times. Fonder times. Don't get me wrong, kids can be cruel to each other too, but often it's not with the relentless malice that comes with the kind of cruel that adults do to each other. Sometimes I see these figures as a physical representation of a song. You had a crush on a girl in middle school, and you liked her and you found out she liked you, and you danced. And whenever you hear that song, you think of those times, that moment. Figures that represent parts of your childhood are like that.

Being an adult has this insidious slow burn way of robbing so many people of the simple act of hope.

Sometimes I see my friends with young kids and I think that to myself. I think "Kid, this is a great time in your life, make the most of it"

That being said, I have too much stuff, and wished I didn't. It's a proxy for things I should have resolved earlier where figures were likely a placeholder to avoid dealing with certain things. A coping strategy so to say. Not that all coping strategies are bad. But I think it's not a good situation when you don't enjoy the most recent thing because you are already locked into an addiction for the next big thing. I've always been happier with a smaller collection.

MeatHookGekko said:

Toys are fun

Being an adult sucks a large portion of the time.

(…)

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What an insightful post mate. Our memory is weird, that’s what I believe makes us remember those times past were happy, when actually if you stop and think about it… being a kid is terrifying. Demogorgons and everything, Stranger Things I believe captures this so very well. My wife is an educational specialist and we both work at a place for children with special educational needs, and we deal with this everyday. It’s awesome. Kids are so full of hope, while dealing with the most fearsome days of their lives without a single tool. They go John Wick style through the day but with no guns or violence, not even with a lot of communication skills. But they thrive in the end. It’s so awesome to see it all happen day after day.

Not growing up is my mantra in many ways. I dislike the term even. It’s an awfully long debate to have, but what I do stress is that we all should pay way more attention to kids and learn from them, not only them from us. We should study their behavior, not only to mold it but to mold ours. We should think… were did we go wrong? And be more like them in so many ways.

In saying this though, I’d say that if collecting becomes hoarding, and that hoarding is a consequence of being stressed out and not being able to deal with something, then we should stop for a while, take a look and maybe Mari-Kondo the s… out of our collection once we are ready to responsibly collect again.

Anywho, mate, kid or not… this is still a great time in our lives. Lets keep on rolling, sharing and collecting.

I guess its a sort of escapism into a fantasy world. Just like a movie or book can transport you out of your humdrum existence for a brief moment, collecting is just an extension of that. It takes you out of reality and transports you into fantasy.