Have I lost the drive to collect?

[preeny101]

I dunno, lately I've been less enthused about Sideshow and to a degree HT and 1/6 scale in general. I mean yea, the Joker, Batman, Iron Man, SW figures - pretty much everything I have rocks. But over the last few months I was sorta thinking, "Why am I preordering this?" I have all the Joes coming, Belloq, Toht, just so much stuff but I don't know if I want to keep it. Most of the figures I have are boxed up and don't get much display and so I've considered just canceling everything... until I see pics like Maulfan's and I immediately say "No, I don't want to cancel. I'm just crazy." But here I am again, a day before Antilles is supposed to arrive and I sorta want to go into my SS account and cancel nearly EVERYTHING. Anyone else go through this? What was the end result? Am I really just crazy?

All the time, dude. It usually ends with me prioritizing and canceling a few items so I can get the ones I really want. Sometimes I preorder things I'm not even into and then I go back and look at my account like "what was I thinking?" Anyway, I think its pretty normal.

 

[usswanker]

Yea I think a lot of things I've ordered came to, "Oh well that figure sorta goes with that one, so I need it." or "Wow, looks pretty cool, guess Ill order it". Trust me, my tastes won't change as Star Wars is what I've collected MOST of my life, but with the Hasbro stuff I've gone to mostly OT, especially Vintage Re-dos and think I should apply that same mentallity to the SS line but then the Jedi look so cool and that's what sucks me in.

Maybe collecting like this is what’s bringing you down? Maybe you’re buying too many figures that just go with each other and they don’t connect with you? You might be cluttering you’re collecting you have now and the stuff that you really enjoy isn’t getting as much display time.

 

[The Mike]

Need some:

Really, everyone goes through this, its just your collection naturally restructuring itself. You'll cancel some stuff, sell some stuff, rearrange things and when you find your Zen then you'll continue collecting happily until it happens again. Sometimes you'll even find yourself moving out of one primary format and into another. No biggie.

 

[preeny101]

It feels like an AA meeting here...
Yeah, bar a few pre orders, I think i'm hitting my limit. The problem is you draw a line in the sand and convince yourself 'No more' then along comes the next HT or SS release and the addiction kicks in again.Personally, i recently took stock of what i've got and i'm happy that i've got representations of the majority of my favourite pop culture franchises. Don't think i'll ever stop, however my purchases will never be on the scale of 2008

Amen to that!

 

[Memnoch]

Not gonna lie, if I sell stuff off I WILL miss it but right now they are mostly all in boxes. Nothing gets displayed unless it really wows me. Ah well, looks like some listings are going up in the classifieds tonight and tomorrow.

 

[mkcc30]

I don't think you are loosing drive. I think you are saturated in it. I hit spells just like that every know and again. I think its just your psyche trying to balance things out. Take a break if you need to, sell some stuff, cancel some preorders but the drive to collect will always rear its head again.

I think it is more like drowning at times!

Seriously sometimes too much of a good thing can dull our senses.
I know when I was struggling and had to pinch pennies that on those rare occasions when I could treat myself to a "prize" it was far more meaningful than when I could afford at ease. But that is just me personally some can keep getting new things and never become jaded or dulled.

 

[Darkseed]

I was lucky and discovered rather early to restrict my purchases. I used to have some of this line, some of that line but I stopped. I'm anal about my display and too many figs made my display appear sloopy so I chose a line and boxed everything else. It is difficult to pass on alot of pre-orders (especially from HT) but I refuse to waste cash on impulse buys.

I'm rather happy with my collection and display. It is small (20 figs) but displayed nice and neat. I'll feel even better once I get off my lazy bum and sale the boxed items.

 

[Balsquat]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DON'T SELL JUST YET. Seems liek your struglling with some personal issues on the side. If you dont need cash right away, then sit on it for a month. Don't be in a rush to sell, its not like they are gonna go down in value. If in a month your still indifferent, then sell and know you gave it a long enough consideration. I persoanlly think your feelings are gonna pass and if you sell, you will have a wad of cash, but lost out on the memories of what those figures mean to you. Its not like your gonna start hating star wars any time soon if you have loved it since you were 10!

Not gonna lie, if I sell stuff off I WILL miss it but right now they are mostly all in boxes. Nothing gets displayed unless it really wows me. Ah well, looks like some listings are going up in the classifieds tonight and tomorrow.

 

[nash]

Yea I think a lot of things I've ordered came to, "Oh well that figure sorta goes with that one, so I need it." or "Wow, looks pretty cool, guess Ill order it".

That's probably your problem right there.

 

[Agent0028]

There aren't many items I regret buying, but the ones I do are all figures that I bought just because it looks cool or goes with another figure. The best example is Grievous PF, bought him because I had all the other Star Wars PF's to that time. Kinda makes me wonder if I should cancel Blackbeard since that's the biggest reason I got him. It's just such an awesome PF. On the other hand I have bought things for those reasons and been happy I did, like the Iron Man comiquette.

 

[jbinny]

That's probably your problem right there.

yup, but it's an easy trap to fall into.

take my little situaition, for instance...

I start off with the intentions of only collectiong the PFs that I really like/want. The next thing I know, I've stumbled across a stash of some uber rare grail pieces so I pick 'em up knowing very well that I never would have bought ALL of that stuff in the first place if it hadn't been for the 'rare' factor.
Lucky for me, I wind up needing to free up some cash so I take advantage of that opportunity and scale back my collection to just the few pieces that I really want.
I've come to the conclusion that collecting is a never-ending cycle and the only way to completely get out (if you ever really want out) is to cut all ties with this board, fellow collectors and finally, your collection.
I'm seeing the cycle already starting over... I'm getting back into flipping crap on ebay (not necaessarily a bad thing), the stockpile of undisplayed 'grails' is growing, and I'm reaizing that if I keep at the current rate, I'll have more statues in boxes than many will ever have in their entire collection, WTF?

 

[shaun-o]

As long as you still enjoy porn I see no problem with your lack of enthusiasm for collecting toys.

 

[Ultimate Weapon]

Sounds like you've been binging - it's time to purge. Just follow the same mantra as the supermodels.

I don't regret a single thing that I've sold, in fact it feels great. It's always a great feeling to clear the clutter out of the collection. Whenever you start feeling this way it's time to step back, reassess what/why you're collecting and make some adjustments. That may mean selling items or canceling orders, but the more you focus and define your interests, even if that means bailing altogether, the better you will feel.

It's easy to get caught up in the hype and coolness factor, and to feel that you need "x" figure to go with "y" and "z" figures, when you really don't.

 

[Darklord Dave]

I'm feeling just the opposite lately about 1/6. Just got the Batpod and with Iron Man coming soon and all the great stuff shipping this year I'm more jazzed than ever. I've just redone my living room that had no 1/6 displayed to be more 1/6 friendly.

I really think that having them boxed up makes it less exciting. When they're out and on display it makes all the difference in the world.

 

[Shropt]

I'd say it sounds like you need to be more focused.

I've gone lately from a "buy everything" mentality to a "character focused" mentality.

Is it really necessary to have Joker figures, POTC figures, Star Wars jedis, Star Wars Jabba, and Iron Man figures? Do you really like all of those properties so much?

I once collected all of the clones and stormtroopers from Hasbro until it really hit me that they are kids toys. I really don't want to spend $7 a figure on kids toys for them to look like frickin toys in an expensive display case. I'd rather just focus on my Jabba setup and my astromechs and save up to one day get a 1:1 Stormtrooper setup and some 1:1 droids.

I'll admit its hard for me to stop myself from buying a BR Joker but focus is more fun and I can spend more money on fewer pieces.

 

[Darth Waller]

But here I am again, a day before Antilles is supposed to arrive and I sorta want to go into my SS account and cancel nearly EVERYTHING. Anyone else go through this? What was the end result? Am I really just crazy?

I've done this before and regretted it. I say take it one item at a time and wait until you get the 5-10 day notice before you cancel.

Take a break if you need to, sell some stuff, cancel some preorders but the drive to collect will always rear its head again.

This has happened to me. Twice.

I feel like this about 3 times a week, it'll pass.

 

[ProgMatinee]

I'm in that place now too. IMO its better to cancel new orders than take a loss by selling old stuff. Sure you lose the excitment of the new product, but if you hide a few of the older things and bring one out every month its almost like you just got something new!

I ran out of steam on some of my stuff, so much so that a few items I've ordered haven't been opened yet because I'm looking for space to show them properly. I really need to clean and dust the collection room, so I've been timid about opening more stuff. I still haven't gotten around to opening GANDALF for goodness sakes!

Anyway, I've found it easier to cancel Star Wars product because there is so much out there and in my collection already. Indy and GI Joe stuff I am still really excited for.

 

[maskfreak]

I have had my days where I want to purge everything. This goes away. The reason I collect is the pure escapism from the daily grind of the rat race that I am in. When my father committed suicide, I just focused more on collecting. This helped me.

 

[Darth Madden]

I have done a little soul searching over the last week too and I have done a major hatchet job on my pre-order list. For me it wasn't that I was bored from collecting because I'm not, it was the fact that these things are getting REALLY DANG EXPENSIVE. One of the things I canceled was Carbonite Han. I just started thinking what else I could buy with $200 and if those things would mean more to me (or be more useful) than Han would. Also I have the cheap Hasbro Han in my Jabba display and thought that is the Sideshow version going to bring me $190 more of enjoyment than the cheap one is. I had to say no and that means Carbonite Han goes bye bye.

 

[ProgMatinee]

I have done a little sole searching over the last week.

I did some of that and found a fish, a foot, and they were both alone.