Pop Culture Journey And Collecting

[Victοr]

We have quite a few threads on how we're treating our collections, how we trim them and so on. Our first figures, the pieces closer to us, all of that. The ground has been pretty much covered. However, I am curious about one thing. The journey through the various pop culture franchises over the years and how it affected your collecting. What was the first piece of pop culture that got to you? Which were your "phases"? As time went on did you stay connected with everything, dragging it behind you, even to this day, or did you start letting things go? Obviously we've had other things play a role in our lives beyond whatever piece of entertainment we got obsessed with, but let's keep this relatively constrained for now. Did you go from Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica to detour to DnD which led you down a Dark Fantasy path and now you collect every single Conan piece of memorabilia you can find? Or whatever. You get my point.

I ask because I do think it's something that'd make for some interesting talk here. I'm curious to see how the percentages break down. Some get into a specific thing and never really break from it. They become obsessed with just that one "thing". Others are all over the place. Some are weighted by nostalgia and completionism and drag it all with them, whereas others stop enjoying something and chuck it out. These behaviours affect collecting, especially when you buy 300$ figures. Did you ever reach a point where after years of engaging with a property, you got so sick of it you got rid of all the merch? Did you stop "getting into" new IPs at some point, or are you always on the lookout for something new?

Answer in your way, these are just examples. I'm just trying to explain my query as best as I can.

 

[ZE_501]

I don't necessarily 'get sick of' a property. Sometimes I engage with something for anywhere from one year to a decade because something (often nostalgia paired with a love of the designs) catches my interest, but there will reach a point where I feel I'm ... sated .. for lack of a better word. I know a thing so well I don't necessarily need physical tokens of it anymore or at least far less of them.

About nine years ago give or take, a serious Star Wars revival took hold of me; I revisited the films in detail, built meticulous customs (particularly Sandtroopers) based on what I learned, bought a lot of figures because I enjoyed having them in my space. Since 2020 my need to engage has faded steadily. I'm not sick of it but I'm kind of ready to put it in the rear-view mirror as an experience from the past.

Almost as if the cool customs and Hot Toys and SHF etc. were something I would have liked back in the day when technology and the collectible market wasn't ready yet, so I had my fill late and I'm now ready to move on.

I don't hate all the new SW stuff, but I'm aware the corporation is trying to sell my childhood back to me, and I guess besides having no nostalgic pull something about that doesn't sit right with me, so for example, after much consideration I didn't buy any Mandalorean merch at all.

The Alien franchise is a different story again -- I did a deep dive but never got around to buying anything, and probably never will.

As for the actual journey through various properties in the past decade ... I have that more or less mapped out, but I'll post that later.

 

[potato]

We have quite a few threads on how we're treating our collections, how we trim them and so on. Our first figures, the pieces closer to us, all of that. The ground has been pretty much covered. However, I am curious about one thing. The journey through the various pop culture franchises over the years and how it affected your collecting. What was the first piece of pop culture that got to you? Which were your "phases"? As time went on did you stay connected with everything, dragging it behind you, even to this day, or did you start letting things go? Obviously we've had other things play a role in our lives beyond whatever piece of entertainment we got obsessed with, but let's keep this relatively constrained for now. Did you go from Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica to detour to DnD which led you down a Dark Fantasy path and now you collect every single Conan piece of memorabilia you can find? Or whatever. You get my point.

I ask because I do think it's something that'd make for some interesting talk here. I'm curious to see how the percentages break down. Some get into a specific thing and never really break from it. They become obsessed with just that one "thing". Others are all over the place. Some are weighted by nostalgia and completionism and drag it all with them, whereas others stop enjoying something and chuck it out. These behaviours affect collecting, especially when you buy 300$ figures. Did you ever reach a point where after years of engaging with a property, you got so sick of it you got rid of all the merch? Did you stop "getting into" new IPs at some point, or are you always on the lookout for something new?

Answer in your way, these are just examples. I'm just trying to explain my query as best as I can.

i know people who decided to sell of 99% of their collection because they are starting a family. coz, i bought alot of stuffs off them, my biggest purchase was literally 1 cart full.

things always started out fun, you don't think about the number of them because you started with few, but as time goes buy certain people become obsessed, and they shaped a spending habit like addiction, before you know it your house is stacked.

for new comers, my tip is set a space for your stuff, they act as a cap, once you go over the cap you either stop, or sell off some of the stuffs to make more space. this is helpful and works wonderfully when you are renting, but when you have your own space, you tend to think you have now more space for stuffs, this is dangerous.

my tip is if something doesn't catch your eyes the 1st time, ignore them.

 

[Victοr]

I don't necessarily 'get sick of' a property. Sometimes I engage with something for anywhere from one year to a decade because something (often nostalgia paired with a love of the designs) catches my interest, but there will reach a point where I feel I'm ... sated .. for lack of a better word. I know a thing so well I don't necessarily need physical tokens of it anymore or at least far less of them.

I've gone through periods of disliking a property. My problem is that I have enough nostalgia for a specific period/incarnation/aspect of it that my completionist tendencies spiral to the point where you'd think I was a fan of it still.

About nine years ago give or take, a serious Star Wars revival took hold of me; I revisited the films in detail, built meticulous customs (particularly Sandtroopers) based on what I learned, bought a lot of figures because I enjoyed having them in my space. Since 2020 my need to engage has faded steadily. I'm not sick of it but I'm kind of ready to put it in the rear-view mirror as an experience from the past.

Almost as if the cool customs and Hot Toys and SHF etc. were something I would have liked back in the day when technology and the collectible market wasn't ready yet, so I had my fill late and I'm now ready to move on.

I don't hate all the new SW stuff, but I'm aware the corporation is trying to sell my childhood back to me, and I guess besides having no nostalgic pull something about that doesn't sit right with me, so for example, after much consideration I didn't buy any Mandalorean merch at all.

I feel this exact way about most things, but I still need to get the essentials and "close the chapters". I can't stop that. It's a fault of mine, and I try to reign it in, but I can't put an end to it.

The Alien franchise is a different story again -- I did a deep dive but never got around to buying anything, and probably never will.

I've done that with Alien, and many other properties. And that's what bothers me in a sense. I don't have any attachment to the franchise. I watched the films as a tween. I played some of the videogames. I read the comics. I like the lore, because I like Cosmic Horror. I'll never count them amongst my favourites, and Alien's my top choice of the bunch, but I like something from it. So what do I do? I'm thinking of building a Sci-Fi Shelf as it's the genre that pops up a lot in my interests. Do I get a Xeno? The HT one's too brittle, but little else would fit with the rest of the figures. Do I get a Pred too? A T-800? I was never a big Terminator fan, but it's a classic. And that's what gets me. So many things that I have some "connection" to, but no real attachment. I prefer a random comic character to a lot of those 80s films. But is it better to spend 300 on Random Cape #26 or to get a "classic" even if my affection for it is lesser? Just what am I trying to accomplish with this collection of dollies?

I'm at that point where I'd put 300 euros for a Corto Maltese figure. If I had the money I'd buy two, one for my shelves and another to carry around, put in a desk or something. I like that character and his look that much. He just works. And then I look at my lists and they're full of names that mean little. Casual interest, faint remembrances, mostly powered by completionism. And I wonder, isn't it in poor taste to spend the same money on a "grail" and on just a "brick on the wall", so to speak? I don't know. If I had the money I'd pay the 1K for the Daft Punk figures and I'd forever cherish them. But I can't confidently say that, even if I buy all the X-Men Omnis and figures, I'll feel anything different from just buying my two favourite runs and three figures from the line and calling it a day.

As for the actual journey through various properties in the past decade ... I have that more or less mapped out, but I'll post that later.

I'm looking forward to it. I haven't quite cleared mine up either, but I wanted to start the conversation.

i know people who decided to sell of 99% of their collection because they are starting a family. coz, i bought alot of stuffs off them, my biggest purchase was literally 1 cart full.

things always started out fun, you don't think about the number of them because you started with few, but as time goes buy certain people become obsessed, and they shaped a spending habit like addiction, before you know it your house is stacked.

for new comers, my tip is set a space for your stuff, they act as a cap, once you go over the cap you either stop, or sell off some of the stuffs to make more space. this is helpful and works wonderfully when you are renting, but when you have your own space, you tend to think you have now more space for stuffs, this is dangerous.

my tip is if something doesn't catch your eyes the 1st time, ignore them.

The way I see it, we all have our pitfalls. Completionism for some, trying to find the "perfect" version and endlessly spending money on modding for others, and so on. In a way, I think being obsessed with one or two things is easier to manage, but also leads to a steeper downwards spiral. You have to control your impulses but how you do it differs from everone else and that's the trick. In the end only you can control yourself.

Caping is a great way to put limits, but the problem arises from not knowing where to draw the line. Things you never thought would get made come along, new versions, renewed and lost interest in properties, and you end up trying to accomodate it all. But you can't go all it. There's just no real meaning to it. After a specific point, it all becomes a mass instead of a collection. You have to be selective, get what you need and get out. But it's easier said than done.

 

[potato]

I've gone through periods of disliking a property. My problem is that I have enough nostalgia for a specific period/incarnation/aspect of it that my completionist tendencies spiral to the point where you'd think I was a fan of it still.


I feel this exact way about most things, but I still need to get the essentials and "close the chapters". I can't stop that. It's a fault of mine, and I try to reign it in, but I can't put an end to it.


I've done that with Alien, and many other properties. And that's what bothers me in a sense. I don't have any attachment to the franchise. I watched the films as a tween. I played some of the videogames. I read the comics. I like the lore, because I like Cosmic Horror. I'll never count them amongst my favourites, and Alien's my top choice of the bunch, but I like something from it. So what do I do? I'm thinking of building a Sci-Fi Shelf as it's the genre that pops up a lot in my interests. Do I get a Xeno? The HT one's too brittle, but little else would fit with the rest of the figures. Do I get a Pred too? A T-800? I was never a big Terminator fan, but it's a classic. And that's what gets me. So many things that I have some "connection" to, but no real attachment. I prefer a random comic character to a lot of those 80s films. But is it better to spend 300 on Random Cape #26 or to get a "classic" even if my affection for it is lesser? Just what am I trying to accomplish with this collection of dollies?

I'm at that point where I'd put 300 euros for a Corto Maltese figure. If I had the money I'd buy two, one for my shelves and another to carry around, put in a desk or something. I like that character and his look that much. He just works. And then I look at my lists and they're full of names that mean little. Casual interest, faint remembrances, mostly powered by completionism. And I wonder, isn't it in poor taste to spend the same money on a "grail" and on just a "brick on the wall", so to speak? I don't know. If I had the money I'd pay the 1K for the Daft Punk figures and I'd forever cherish them. But I can't confidently say that, even if I buy all the X-Men Omnis and figures, I'll feel anything different from just buying my two favourite runs and three figures from the line and calling it a day.

I'm looking forward to it. I haven't quite cleared mine up either, but I wanted to start the conversation.

The way I see it, we all have our pitfalls. Completionism for some, trying to find the "perfect" version and endlessly spending money on modding for others, and so on. In a way, I think being obsessed with one or two things is easier to manage, but also leads to a steeper downwards spiral. You have to control your impulses but how you do it differs from everone else and that's the trick. In the end only you can control yourself.

Caping is a great way to put limits, but the problem arises from not knowing where to draw the line. Things you never thought would get made come along, new versions, renewed and lost interest in properties, and you end up trying to accomodate it all. But you can't go all it. There's just no real meaning to it. After a specific point, it all becomes a mass instead of a collection. You have to be selective, get what you need and get out. But it's easier said than done.

you set your cap based on your financial capability and real estate space. if you want more cap, get a bigger house, which requires more money. This is why i am ok with guys like Jay Leno collecting so many exotic cars in his garage. He can afford it, and it won't be a problem when he passes. Someone will take care of it.

 

[Victοr]

you set your cap based on your financial capability and real estate space. if you want more cap, get a bigger house, which requires more money. This is why i am ok with guys like Jay Leno collecting so many exotic cars in his garage. He can afford it, and it won't be a problem when he passes. Someone will take care of it.

My problem is less with space, and money's always been the same; it's why I space them out and order from Sideshow with Installments. My problem is that even if I set a hypothetical 50-100 figure rule, I can't predict how and when certain characters will be released. So while I wait for a "grail" to get made by some quirk of fate, I may give in to a character/license I like but don't love, simply because I have space and funds at that time, which will then make me start another new license and so it goes. It's not getting an extra Iron Man because I love that one armour so much that worries me, it's getting caught in the web of "come on, that's a classic" and buying figures from "classic" media that I don't have much of an attachment to. I've outgrown Doctor Who but I'm glad I have the Doctors I do. But when it comes to Batman, how much do I need even though I haven't cared for about 5 years now?

I'm trying to make some themed shelves and keep it all balanced now, so we'll see.

 

[BACON!]

When I was growing up in the 70's my action figure collection consisted mostly of Evel Knieval, Million Dollar Man, and Mego's Planet of the Apes. I gave them all away when I was 13 and we moved to Chicago. in my 20's I discovered McFarlane's first KISS figures, which I still have on display (along with a MOC Ideal Evel Knieval in a white jumpsuit). That led to all sorts of collector skullduggery where I concluded collecting ironic toys was all my collection was good for anymore. I have almost a complete Playmates Simpsons collection, among other things I don't really need anymore. Then I quit collecting.

My entry into High-End figures started with the Quarter Scale Endoskeleton. Back in the day, I visited the McFarlane showroom during ToyFair and they had plans to make a large scale Endo, but never did. the 66 Batmobile was the next item to get on my radar. I have vowed to myself that once I get the Batmobile I will stop buying new figures. We are due to move into a new house by the end of the year, and that will determine the size of my collection. And I better learn to quit collecting again soon.

 

[Victοr]

When I was growing up in the 70's my action figure collection consisted mostly of Evel Knieval, Million Dollar Man, and Mego's Planet of the Apes. I gave them all away when I was 13 and we moved to Chicago. in my 20's I discovered McFarlane's first KISS figures, which I still have on display (along with a MOC Ideal Evel Knieval in a white jumpsuit). That led to all sorts of collector skullduggery where I concluded collecting ironic toys was all my collection was good for anymore. I have almost a complete Playmates Simpsons collection, among other things I don't really need anymore. Then I quit collecting.

My entry into High-End figures started with the Quarter Scale Endoskeleton. Back in the day, I visited the McFarlane showroom during ToyFair and they had plans to make a large scale Endo, but never did. the 66 Batmobile was the next item to get on my radar. I have vowed to myself that once I get the Batmobile I will stop buying new figures. We are due to move into a new house by the end of the year, and that will determine the size of my collection. And I better learn to quit collecting again soon.

I never went through that "throw it/give it all way" phase. Maybe because I didn't have all that much. But I never really learned to let go, so maybe it'd have been good for me. I've just been gradually upping the ante as the years go. I won't complain if I ever become rich enough to afford antiques and all that to sate my collecting habits.

 

[ZE_501]

There's a lot of pop culture that I can remember, but in terms of being tied to collecting physical items it narrows down somewhat. It should also be noted that 'collecting' is not necessarily accurate for childhood since at that time it's tied to gifts, to play, and to a general state of childhood rather than intentional curation of anything.

• Age 3 - 5: Spider-Man & Batman (Mego) + Super Friends, Spider-Man '67 cartoons
• Age 4 - 7: Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
• Age 10-11: G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Transformers
• Age 11-15: Model kits (Star Wars, Dinosaurs, WWII aircraft, D&D/Fantasy miniatures), comics (DC, Marvel, Mirage, a couple of independents), Dragonlance Chronicles, Lord of the Rings.
• Age 16-23: Nothing. All set aside, discarded, forgotten in favour of girls, music, making art, and partying.
• Age 24-25: Brief resurgence of interest in collecting Star Wars vehicles (mostly OT fighters) while dating a geek girl. That lasted as long as the relationship. Not long.
• Age 26-39: Nothing. Just women, music, art, work, martial arts and partying (not all at the same time).
• Age 39-48: Star Wars (rapid movement from a Koto piece to HT 1/6), MCU, Burton Batman with a little '78 Superman and '66 Bats.

So about 20 years of my life not collecting anything at all, just living. Another 11 years of it counted as childhood with no really intentional curation.

That leaves just shy of 2 decades (spread years apart in different eras of my life) wherein I was intentionally curating anything related to pop culture.

I feel it winding down again, in spite of interest in a handful of pieces, and I'll likely turn my attention permanently towards other pursuits for the remainder of my life.

This doesn't mean I won't engage with genre films or series, but at this point I'm far less likely to bother with collecting physical tokens of said entertainment, in part because it doesn't interest me as much as it once did, and significantly because I have no deep attachment to what's being churned out these days, I'm no longer in that demographic.

 

[Victοr]

There's a lot of pop culture that I can remember, but in terms of being tied to collecting physical items it narrows down somewhat. It should also be noted that 'collecting' is not necessarily accurate for childhood since at that time it's tied to gifts, to play, and to a general state of childhood rather than intentional curation of anything.

• Age 3 - 5: Spider-Man & Batman (Mego) + Super Friends, Spider-Man '67 cartoons
• Age 4 - 7: Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
• Age 10-11: G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Transformers
• Age 11-15: Model kits (Star Wars, Dinosaurs, WWII aircraft, D&D/Fantasy miniatures), comics (DC, Marvel, Mirage, a couple of independents), Dragonlance Chronicles, Lord of the Rings.
• Age 16-23: Nothing. All set aside, discarded, forgotten in favour of girls, music, making art, and partying.
• Age 24-25: Brief resurgence of interest in collecting Star Wars vehicles (mostly OT fighters) while dating a geek girl. That lasted as long as the relationship. Not long.
• Age 26-39: Nothing. Just women, music, art, work, martial arts and partying (not all at the same time).
• Age 39-48: Star Wars (rapid movement from a Koto piece to HT 1/6), MCU, Burton Batman with a little '78 Superman and '66 Bats.

So about 20 years of my life not collecting anything at all, just living. Another 11 years of it counted as childhood with no really intentional curation.

I wish I could break it down like that. Past a point, I consumed everything through the 'net/digital means, so for me it was a constant move from one IP to the next. Thus I developed a "bond" with very few things, but casually like and enjoy a ton. It makes it hard to trim it all as you're not pulled strongly by one specific franchise, but are equally pulled by a multitude of them. There were no comic shops here, no merch, nothing. So I mostly had the easily available videogames that I'd rent and buy, and whatever the internet and its useful sites provided. I can trace a journey, but I don't know how accurate it is. I can make rough approximations. I grew up with the Batman, Spider-Man and X-Men 90s stuff. The 00s capeflicks were the first ones I watched. Ultimate Marvel got me into reading capes. The Prequels got me into SW. When I was 10 or so I discovered 40K. In my tweens I got into Vertigo and then various Indies. I got into anime through Eva. I've been playing vidya for as long as I can remember, going through various franchises. And these all sort of bleed together. I didn't read Morrison's X-Men when it was being published, but I read it years later when I found ways to "obtain" comics around the Civil War/Dark Reign/Siege Eras, so it's bled with the FoX-Men films that were part of my childhood. I was reading older Vertigo titles while following the then-current Morrison Bat-Run and playing the Arkham games. And so on and so forth. Some things bleed into one another but as time goes on, apart from specific time capsules, I find that I remain attached to the things that appeal to me based on aesthetics and themes over being tied to some moment in time. There are a few exceptions, but they're rare.

As it stands, I've broken my collecting in a few themes:

• Marvel (which breaks to Spider-Man, X-Men, FF, Cosmic, Magic & Misc)
• DC (which breaks to Batman, Green Lantern & Vertigo/WildStorm)
• Movie/TV Classics
• Book Classics
• Comic Indies/Euro/Classics
• Anime/Manga
• Sci-Fi General (with a Cyberpunk subtheme)
• Gothic Horror
• Historical Figures
• VideoGames General
• Warhammer 40K
• Mass Effect
• Metal Gear
• Star Wars

Many of these overlap, for example a 2099 Spider-Man and a Beyond Batman would go in the Cyberpunk shelf with Deckard and JC Denton. But Spider-Man and Batman would have their own little corners, and someone like Indiana Jones would get a spot all for himself.

In some cases I'll need a figure and an Omni, in others just a figure, and so on. I can list endless things. In Movie/TV Classics I can think of 120 I'd theoretically want, with maybe 30 having a chance at being made, where around 15 are the real "classics". I'll need to get a Vito Corleone at some point, and a Travis Bickle could show up, but I doubt there's ever going to be an official Daniel Plainview. I love the Sopranos, but I don't think I'd ever pay 250$ for a Tony. I'd buy a Don Draper and a Lenny Belardo, but those will never happen. I can name about 30 VG figures I want from all the series I've followed, but if even Master Chief has a hard time getting a good figure in 1/6th, I doubt an Adam Jensen or Samus are close. I count Hellboy as part of the Gothic Horror theme, but I doubt we'll be getting any new, faithful to the comic's style, figures soon. So really, apart from the Marvel stuff, everything else is based on wishful thinking that has its own priority queue. I'll never get a Rambo or a Mad Max just because they're well known, but I could be tempted to get a Predator and a Xeno for my Sci-Fi shelf, even if I'm not the biggest fan of the properties. Even then, if I had to choose between them and a Corto Maltese they'd lose. Nobody knows what'll happen in the next years, but I find a plan like this fairly useful, even broad as it is. As time goes on, my in-hand collection grows and displays are formed, it'll shrink. But when it comes to Pop Collecting, across figures, statues, whatever, that's what I'm sticking with. I doubt I'll ever have to choose between an HT Jeff Costello and a Ryu Hayabusa, but I like having them on the list, just in case.

That leaves just shy of 2 decades (spread years apart in different eras of my life) wherein I was intentionally curating anything related to pop culture.

I feel it winding down again, in spite of interest in a handful of pieces, and I'll likely turn my attention permanently towards other pursuits for the remainder of my life.

This doesn't mean I won't engage with genre films or series, but at this point I'm far less likely to bother with collecting physical tokens of said entertainment, in part because it doesn't interest me as much as it once did, and significantly because I have no deep attachment to what's being churned out these days, I'm no longer in that demographic.

I rarely actively engage with any of these things anymore. But for me to be done with them, I do need that token representation to close the chapter forever. If I get that Ultimate Spider-Man Omni and the Raimi figure I'm done, I don't need to worry about anything else in regards to that. There are things I've cut off entirely and don't feel anything about it. But Spider-Man, Batman, even though I don't much care for them now, I've poured enough years into them to need something to close the lid. Other franchises that I still like I'm more invested in, but there are very few "must-haves" in my wishlists, which is how it should be.

 

[ZE_501]

I wish I could break it down like that.

That list gets much bigger if I add in pop culture media that I engaged with but didn't collect physical items from ... and then contracts even further if I list off media that I outgrew due to my age and/or changing tastes.

To be fair there was maybe a one-off item here or there but trivial enough (single item, or inexpensive) it doesn't bear mention. I think I owned a single Alien Warrior figure at one point ... might have been a McFarlane or something? Can't remember. When I still collected 1/12 scale I tried out a couple of Figma Motoko figures but they were too small to scale well and a different style anyway, so didn't last long.

I'm actually surprised that I left out Kung Fu represented by Bruce Lee, but I've only ever had one sixth scale figure of him at a time (DX04 and Enterbay 75th) so one figure does not a 'collection' make I suppose.

So the list above still stands with only a couple of one-off omissions.

Past a point, I consumed everything through the 'net/digital means, so for me it was a constant move from one IP to the next.

Yeah, that's evident, you also use a lot of Internet slang when you write, which tells me you're maybe a decade or so younger and definitely spent your time on different places on the 'net. I've never spent any time on Tumblr or Reddit for instance, and haven't been on many toy forums. Sometimes you use words I've never seen like 'vidya'.

I rarely actively engage with any of these things anymore. But for me to be done with them, I do need that token representation to close the chapter forever.

Yeah, that's a big difference between us. For me to be done with a thing I just forget about it.

 

[Victοr]

That list gets much bigger if I add in pop culture media that I engaged with but didn't collect physical items from ... and then contracts even further if I list off media that I outgrew due to my age and/or changing tastes.

I've cut things myself. I hope to cut more, but I'm happy with where I am. My "Movie Classics" include all the classic ones (Corleone, Bickle, Indy) but also cult hits (Driver from Drive, Vincent from Collateral) and things like Jeff Costello from Le Samourai, which have no chance of ever being made, so really, the actual figures I'd ever buy are much fewer in number. I have bigger chances of becoming a billionaire CEO magician athlete than a Lenny Belardo figure ever getting made. Maybe someone will make official Vampire Pitt & Cruise figures, but that's unlikely compared to Batman #45. So with those rules in place, and how far-off the Marvel/DC stuff I want are, it's not that hard to juggle it. I'm a bit squeezed now as I have 5 POs and haven't found a place for Vito while also playing catchup with SW, but it's not bad enough to the point where I'm missing grails. Now, when Kenobi rolls around and we get to DS2 and NWH, I'll have to come up with plans...

To be fair there was maybe a one-off item here or there but trivial enough (single item, or inexpensive) it doesn't bear mention. I think I owned a single Alien Warrior figure at one point ... might have been a McFarlane or something? Can't remember. When I still collected 1/12 scale I tried out a couple of Figma Motoko figures but they were too small to scale well and a different style anyway, so didn't last long.

I'm actually surprised that I left out Kung Fu represented by Bruce Lee, but I've only ever had one sixth scale figure of him at a time (DX04 and Enterbay 75th) so one figure does not a 'collection' make I suppose.

I've bought random figures too through eBay and the such, but always in that one line I used to collect, so really, there was not much harm done. I had tons more random comic series that I ended up giving away in Secret Santa gifts over the years or throwing them away. I've kept only the ones featuring characters/teams/concepts I still like (which were about 80% of my inventory anyhow).

I got into Anime/Manga fairly late compared to comics and vidya so they're on te backburner for now. It doesn't help that they're all import figures, cost a ton and sell out too easily. I don't want to break into the 1/12 scale so I'm just biding my time until they come out with 1/6 versions. If I had the money I'd get the Akira Kaneda/Bike pack, but I'm still playing catchup with the actual volumes/editions in comics & manga, so they've got to wait. I'm not even thinking of statues. Maybe I'll buy one for each of my Top 5 all-time favourites across all media, but that's decades off.

So the list above still stands with only a couple of one-off omissions.

I'm sticking to the one I built myself, but it's mostly because I've just list everything I've ever poured time and money into. The trick is to trim through them to find the characters I do care about and the ones I'm "so-so" on. There'll come a day when it's between Sith #16, a secondary Green Lantern and a McReady, so I'll have to decide until then.

Yeah, that's evident, you also use a lot of Internet slang when you write, which tells me you're maybe a decade or so younger

And then some. I'm on the lower end in this place.

and definitely spent your time on different places on the 'net. I've never spent any time on Tumblr or Reddit for instance, and haven't been on many toy forums.

I used Tumblr waaaay back in the day, mostly to follow some artists. However Tumblr was a big source of porn, and once they banned that, the stereotypical userbase left and infected every other place. Reddit I never used much. Really, it's old forums, movie, comic, vidya ones and the such, imageboards too, that I was into. It's why I lament how the userbases have changed over the years.

Sometimes you use words I've never seen like 'vidya'.

That's short for videogames.

Yeah, that's a big difference between us. For me to be done with a thing I just forget about it.

With some I can do that. Case in point the myriad of comics and games I've read/played and dropped completely. But some are too much hassle to get rid of, so I prefer to drop the money on a dolly and be done with it. Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men, I have too many comics, games and figures from all the years to cut them off.

At the end of the day, I trimmed it all to about 50%, and while there's still tons of stuff I'd theoretically want to buy, they're in a way all connected. I reached the conclusion that I have a couple of favourites that get repeated across all media. For example I like swords in general, hence my attraction to Star Wars, DMC (and general Hack N' Slash like GoW or Ninja Gaiden), books like the Count of Monte Cristo, and Merc-characters like Deathstroke and Deadpool. I like Sorcerers, hence why I got into Doctor Strange/Fate and later Hellblazer. My favourite character archetype is the Byronic Super-Scientist/Sorcerer Noble, hence characters like Doom, Stark, Edmond Dantes, Griffith, and so on. There are more, but you get the point. All of those have existed since forever, so it's me really being focused on those few themes and how they're reflected in various media. I'm not going any Fallout or Mad Max merch because I never liked Post-Apoc stories beyond some good one-off; the worlds aren't appealing to me.

I think finding that link between all your interests, then trimming the fat, is the first step towards being more particular about what you get. Then you can fine-tune it a lot more.

 

[matticus]

Phase 1: Late 80's/Early 90's - Ghostbusters/TMNT/Legos
Phase 2: Mid-Late 90's Star Wars POTF2/Marvel comics/Marvel figures/Legos
Phase 3: Early-Mid 2000's SW TPM-ROTS figures/ships/Legos/SW Miniatures/Marvel comics/LOTR figures, Noble Collection
Phase 4: 2010-2019 Star Wars Armada/X-Wing/Hot Toys Marvel DC SW/DC Marvel comics/Sideshow Art Prints
Phase 5: 2019-2020 - sold off all Hasbro figures/ships, 99% of Legos, 60% of SW miniatures/few 1/6th figures/about to sell off rest of LOTR stuff, SW minis

Sad all the crap I bought. Instant gratification, always on the chase for the next thing. I feel like Anakin typing this out right now:

Feels good to purge stuff though. Now is as good a time as any to figure out what you NEED and what you WANT.

 

[Victοr]

Phase 1: Late 80's/Early 90's - Ghostbusters/TMNT/Legos
Phase 2: Mid-Late 90's Star Wars POTF2/Marvel comics/Marvel figures/Legos
Phase 3: Early-Mid 2000's SW TPM-ROTS figures/ships/Legos/SW Miniatures/Marvel comics/LOTR figures, Noble Collection
Phase 4: 2010-2019 Star Wars Armada/X-Wing/Hot Toys Marvel DC SW/DC Marvel comics/Sideshow Art Prints
Phase 5: 2019-2020 - sold off all Hasbro figures/ships, 99% of Legos, 60% of SW miniatures/few 1/6th figures/about to sell off rest of LOTR stuff, SW minis

Sad all the crap I bought. Instant gratification, always on the chase for the next thing. I feel like Anakin typing this out right now:

Feels good to purge stuff though. Now is as good a time as any to figure out what you NEED and what you WANT.

The silver lining here is that it seems that you were invested in just a few franchises/IPs. You may lament the lost money on useless plastic, but at least you remained consistent with your choices. You didn't, for example, have a Pokemon phase then a Batman one then an 80s action flicks on and so on, reaching your 30s and feeling a "connection" with tens of franchises and having to choose. So there's that at least. And hey, you got some money from selling them. I just started throwing things away. Lego and the such are in storage, but a lot of videogames that I have no intention of revisiting, comics and the such, got a trip to the recycling bin.

I'm the exact opposite of this type and it's why it's hard for me to juggle it all. This reminds me of that and so on. It's nothing new because I've always had it. I'd go to toy shops and I'd want to buy it all. Less so because I wanted it all, but because I thought that if I chose just one or two, all the other toys would be dissapointed. And no, that wasn't because of Toy Story... I just always had that mentality. So when I sit down and say "alright, enough, I'll just get a Batman figure to mark my childhood" then I imagine Spider-Man crying in a corner, and my childhood Spider-Mug looks sad so I break down and add a Raimi-Man to my list. And that brings Ock and Goblin with him. And so on. It used to be much worse, now I'm more decisive. But I still need to sort some things out. Just an Xavier & a Magneto would perfectly represent the X-Men. But I need a Deadpool too, so I might as well get a Cable. And you can't have Cable without Cyclops & Jean. And you can't have Cyclops without Mr. Sinister, who goes hand-in-hand with Apocalypse. At this point you might as well get an Emma and a Fantomex and call it a day. So, yeah... But hey, at least I don't feel the need to buy a Wolverine, so there's that...

I've taken to watching more collections from all over the net, and it's a good way to rethink just how much I need. All of us, in our minds have this idea of those perfect displays, with a diorama and great poses and everything, but they're wildly unrealistic. Even assuming that we have the cash and the space for one of those Man-Cave-Displays, you'd need to order special shelves depending on what "team"/assembly you're trying to showcase. You'd need those wallpapers and whatnot. Diorama bases, probably custom made. Assuming you've got the cash, those are all doable. But what brings it down is that the more figures you add closely together, the more they look like toys. At the same time even singular figures can come off more as dolls instead of museum pieces. So it depends on what detolfs you buy, how your collection room is structured, and so on. You have to toe the line between hoarding, and ending up like those guys with the cluttered Hasbro shelves, while also getting more than so few that they look like a grandma's doll collection. And environment and posing is key as well. But you have to plan for all these things. You could realistically order a custom large shelf with glass that can carry 20 figures and display your Jedi and Sith there, with some wallpaper, custom spotlights, the whole shebang. That'd be a centrepiece and draw attention to it and its surroundings. But you can't just put a Spider-Man and a Captain America underneath, or a bunch of Batmen as it ruins the look. You have to break your collection in sections and themes.

It's an expensive and consuming hobby, after all is said and done. I don't know how rewarding it is, but for me it's about closure so it does its job. But you have to control yourself with it.

 

[matticus]

I dabbled here and there with different stuff though as well, but just not big enough to consider it. I should've added Power Rangers in the mid 90's too. Now I just go to something that I absolutely desire, not just like. I always have the problem of deciding. I could onky get one, but which one? I just dragged it on and wasn't decisive for a good while. I just wanted to make sure I made the right decision. I had a videogame system at each generation and woukd always trade it in when a new gen was coming. Never had a problem with those. Thankfully, it is just videogames, Marvel, DC and SW now. It might just be Hot Toys too from here on out. Not much else I am interested in either.

 

[Victοr]

I dabbled here and there with different stuff though as well, but just not big enough to consider it. I should've added Power Rangers in the mid 90's too. Now I just go to something that I absolutely desire, not just like. I always have the problem of deciding. I could onky get one, but which one? I just dragged it on and wasn't decisive for a good while. I just wanted to make sure I made the right decision. I had a videogame system at each generation and woukd always trade it in when a new gen was coming. Never had a problem with those. Thankfully, it is just videogames, Marvel, DC and SW now. It might just be Hot Toys too from here on out. Not much else I am interested in either.

I get you. There was a time I was really into Doctor Who, for example. And there was a time where I read all the Suicide Squad titles, from Ostrander to Nu52. But whereas I have 0 interest in the SS and will never buy a single figure, I do want to complete all the modern Doctors (missing 9, 12 and maybe War & 8 if they count). There are such "hiccups" in my usual interests, which is why I'm torn in certain areas. For example, as a kid I wad hardcore into Pokemon. I don't care now, but I do want to build a small Animated Shelf and put stuff like a Jack Skellington, Mario, Mewto and such there, away from all the high-end 1/6th figures. But like I've said above, as time goes on and I try to actually imagine the displays I write down, the desire to fill more and more figures leaves me. I started with 30 X-Chars and I'm down to 12 at most, with around 6 being the vital ones. Same with completing comic book runs or trying to set up a movie/tv library. I'd gather thousands if I bought everything I've watched/read, but at this point I think maybe 1/3rd at best is all I'll stick with. You'll never be done if you try and get it all, so might as well focus on a few specific things.

 

[jal76]

My personal 1/6 scale philosophy used to govern my purchases in two ways:

IP that I really love as a criteria for buying…OR really amazing figure from an IP that I didn’t care about.
This resulted in me having no space and a collection that I didn’t completely enjoy.
I had mediocre figures of things that I loved and great figures of things that I didn’t care about (I’m looking at you DX15 Jack Sparrow).
No matter how well made a figure is, without a connection to the underlying IP, I will get sick of looking at it pretty quickly.

I was spending too much money, using up too much space, and really didn’t love my overall collection.

I sold a lot of stuff and then committed to only buying 1/6 scale figures that are really well made AND also have to be from IPs that I love.
I don’t buy a figure if it doesn’t check both of those boxes.

As I mentioned before, I couldn’t care less about Pirates so why waste space and money on it just because it’s a great figure…there are plenty of great figures and trying to buy them ALL leads to insanity.

If I fall out of love with an IP, the figures have to go too and can be replaced with figures from IPs that i’m truly passionate about.

 

[Victοr]

My personal 1/6 scale philosophy used to govern my purchases in two ways:

IP that I really love as a criteria for buying…OR really amazing figure from an IP that I didn’t care about.
This resulted in me having no space and a collection that I didn’t completely enjoy.
I had mediocre figures of things that I loved and great figures of things that I didn’t care about (I’m looking at you DX15 Jack Sparrow).
No matter how well made a figure is, without a connection to the underlying IP, I will get sick of looking at it pretty quickly.

I was spending too much money, using up too much space, and really didn’t love my overall collection.

I sold a lot of stuff and then committed to only buying 1/6 scale figures that are really well made AND also have to be from IPs that I love.
I don’t buy a figure if it doesn’t check both of those boxes.

As I mentioned before, I couldn’t care less about Pirates so why waste space and money on it just because it’s a great figure…there are plenty of great figures and trying to buy them ALL leads to insanity.

If I fall out of love with an IP, the figures have to go too and can be replaced with figures from IPs that i’m truly passionate about.

I could very well had been on my way to your first stage myself. In collecting, the danger of going overboard and buying only for aesthetics or simply to fill a spot are all too common. Which is why you're ultimately right that we must buy based on both execution and attachment. It's why I waited until Endgame to get an Iron Man. He's one of my favourite capes, but I vowed to get only my favourite armours, the Modular, which the Endgame suit was close to, being one of them. That being my "last" shot I pulled the trigger.

One danger that many ignore is the accumulation of tons of genres/themes/licenses that make for a disconnected display. There has to be consistency in how it's all aranged otherwise the figures lose their "grace".