What's Your Story as a Collector?

Being a relatively new collector myself, I've always been interested in other peoples' stories. How did you get started collecting? What steps did you take to work your way into more "hardcore" collectibles? Do you think you've gone overboard? Can you see yourself changing your mind about collecting or evolving even further?

I officially started collecting a little over a year ago. I had purchased toys in the past, but nothing that ever really affected me. One day I stumbled across an inexpensive Banpresto Dragon Ball figure at the bookstore I had been working at, and it caught my eye. At the time, the price of $39.99 was steep to me, and I had to really justify spending so much money. As soon as I took it home and got it out on the package, I was in awe. The paint apps, the sculpt, everything just blew my mind. I started purchasing other Dragon Ball figures whenever I got the chance until I had a pretty substantial collection, but I would never spend more than $40 or so.

That same year, in December, I went through a really rough breakup and (in an effort to cheer myself up for Christmas) purchased a more expensive figure that I'd really been wanting. I believe it was 80 or 90 dollars. I fell in love. That really started my collecting obsession. Now I only hunt for stuff I'm really in love with from each franchise that I'm attached to. I don't buy the cheap figures anymore because I can't justify the space that they hog. I prefer 1/6 scale statues and action figures. I haven't purchased a 1/4 scale statue yet because I'm still not at that point, but I can foresee myself doing so in the future when I have more funds.

I'm by no means a completionist or a hoarder, though. If I change my mind about a piece or no longer like it, I'll box it up and sell it. If I like something, but I don't think it's perfect (or it's too expensive) I'll pass. In the future, I want to have a small collection consisting only of pieces that I'm in love with. I try to represent all of my favorite franchises.

Worthy of a proper response but, as I'm in work, for now you get:

What's your story

Click to expand...

Great story OFghost!

And I like the idea of this thread.

I guess it all started in the mid-90s with the Spawn and return of Star Wars figures (Power of the Force?). On a whim I picked up a few of the Spawn figures because they looked great, and a few SW figures for nostalgia sake. It went downhill from there! I picked up LOTS of smaller scale figures (LOTR, SW, Marvel Legends, and the like), and then started picking up a few 1/6 Military figures by 21st Century collectibles.

Then Hurricane Katrina hit. Lost 90% of the collection, and took a little hiatus as we rebuilt. Once things settled, I had a little insurance money left from the claims, so picked up a few figures. Then Sideshow started 12" Star Wars. WOW, I was hooked again. Got most of the 1/6 SW stuff SSC put out, then graduated to Hot Toys, and haven't looked back since. What I've ended up doing is moving up in scale, and now I have a good mix of 1/6, 1/4 statues, and 1:1 props and costumes. I too just wanted to pick up items that I love, but the problem was limited space and the fact that I loved so many things. So now I've created a great balance of selling items periodically and using the funds from that to fund a new project/item for my collection. It's not that I pick up things that I don't love, but that I find other things that I also love and have to make choices. I've actually come to enjoy the fluid nature of my collection, and always look forward to seeing how it evolves.

Starting collecting SW prop replicas exclusively about 25 years back, slowly expanded into other movie prop replicas, and when HT released the Godfather, realised 1/6 figures had finally met my quality requirements to sit on my shelves.

I have been collecting toys longer than I can remember. I was born in '86, so my first obsession was TMNT (had over 70). Then it was X-Men, Star Wars, and Jurassic Park. Then I got into Spawn in '95 and that phase lasted until McFarlane stopped making them. When I moved out at 20, I realized I had way too much and sold almost everything. I narrowed my focus to collecting 1/6 scale. I bought a few Medicom figures and when Hot Toys came around, it took priority over everything. Hot Toys represents everything I love about collecting (except the cost, but I accept it); Quality, dedication, iconic characters, and artistic value. I know I'll never stop collecting, customizing, and creating figures. It's in my DNA.

I fell into a vat of chemicals, went crazy, and started collecting. The end.

The art of collecting without collecting.

Never really collected anything when I was younger. I saw the Sideshow Scout Trooper and Speeder Bike while looking at SW stuff online about 2 years ago, order that, found this forum and I was hooked.

I was bit by a radioactive Barbie.

Actually, it mainly started when I first saw the DC Direct 12" Dark Knight figures at my local comic book store. I thought they looked rad, mostly because I hadn't been introduced to 1/6 figures yet. Then I saw Hot Toys' Batman figures, and the rest is history.

I'm trying to relive the nostalgia from my childhood by buying overpriced toys that provide a small taste of that old joy but never sate the appetite, feeding only a negative feedback loop I can't escape.

*screams, throws Hot Toys ANH Luke across the room, rocks back and forth in fetal wearing an ill-fitting children's Starwars shirt from the 80's*

Because I want to.

At first, I was blah blah blah...blah blah...blah...blahblahblahblah....
But then, it became yada yada yada...
yada yada...yada yada... Oh, and some 'who cares'.

Now I have stuff.

It would take too long to write my story as a collector. But I'm 36. I was born in the 80's which was the BEST time in history for cartoons, movies and toys. All the toys from the 70s were still around as they easily be found for cheap at garage sales or at your friends' house.

I had a great childhood. While I don't own my original childhood toys now, I collect overpriced big boy toys that reclaim the wonder of youth. I would have a hell of a lot more money if I wasn't so nostalgic about my own life.

Currently saving for my 3 holy grails.

I buy things I like.

According to me collecting is life and according to me is the only according to that matters.

Born: '82

Early Childhood toys: He-Man, Transformers, Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, GI-JOE (called ''Action Force'' in Ireland for some reason?)

Pre-adolescence/early teens: Jurassic Park, Kenner T2, Aliens and Predator, Galoob Star Wars MicroMachines and the restarted Kenner 3.75'' line from 1995 onward

early 20s: McFarlane Movie Maniacs and NECA Cult Classics and Star Wars 3.75'' continued

mid 20s onward: Hot Toys 1:6 (multiple licenses), NECA Terminator/Alien/Predator/Robocop and Star Wars 3.75'' concurrently (a time of excess, permanently maxed out credit card)

early 30s: gradually wound down high end collecting and by now kept only Hot Toys Terminator/Robocop/89 Batman movie, sold the rest. Mostly just collect NECA Terminator and Alien now.

I originally started collecting comics, which then led to DC Direct and Marvel Legends figures. When I discovered Hot Toys, it was game over. I sold most of my previous collection to fund my HT one

I’ve always been a collector at heart. When I was 7 or 8, it was all about Planet of the Apes and the Mego figures; I loved the detail, the real cloth clothes, and some of the more obscure characters. As I got older, I started collecting Six Million Dollar Man along with the more advanced Lego models. I remember a red Lego car chassis with grey piston engines, a steering mechanism and even shock absorbers. My Six Million Dollar Man figure had interchangeable arms and skin that rolled up to reveal assorted mechanisms.

And don’t get me started about Big Jim; when I was 8 or 9, one of my friends and I drafted a letter to the toy company that made Big Jim and proposed an elaborate truck accessory set. Over the years I grew up, moved a bunch of times, and fell away from collecting until the McFarlane Kiss figures got me back big time. I was deep in that world for many years, starting in the later half of the 90’s into about 2006.

Eventually that aspect of collecting subsided, although I still have most of my early collection still MOC in storage. Spawn, Tortured Souls, Movie Maniacs; that sort of thing. I got into Hot Toys with the ¼ scale Terminator Endoskeleton and now have roughly 15 high-end figures. Most are on display, but others are in storage. I am working on building a series of display cabinet dioramas and rotating my display of figures within those cabinets.

As a collector, I think displaying the collection is as important as the collection itself. I continually pare down my collection, either by opening packaged figures for display, or giving some toys away as gifts or even sometimes selling on eBay. Collecting 1/6 has allowed me to be open to collector friendly packaging and enjoying the detail of these toys the way they were meant to be enjoyed – in person and up close. For as digital as our lives have become, these 1/6 figures are, for me, an analog fantasy that is a welcome escape