Having a Collector's Crisis

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SubjectNameHere

SubjectNameHere

Freakzoid
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So I always ogled Hot Toys from afar but never felt compelled to pull the trigger on one... until the Hulkbuster was announced. I pre-ordered day one. I thought it was the only one I'd have and I'd be completely content. Fast forward a year and change later and I'm sitting on about 60 1/6s and 20 more pre-orders.

The issue is that I don't have a place to display any of them. I live in AZ and it's dust HQ and at best I could maybe display 4-6 figures open without a case, but I'm not sure if storing the rest is something I can figure out either. I'm at the point now where I've got none on display, I open and inspect each one as they arrive and put them in the pile, and am contemplating getting out entirely and just selling off the whole lot.

Has anyone else struggled with this? What if we live in a bigger house in a few years and I have a place to display them then? I really enjoy the collecting and collection, but I want to be able to look at them eventually.
 
This is a hard one. I'm in a similar situation and there are decisions to make. You don't seem happy with the 'pile' or always having to add to it.

If you want to downsize, make a list of what you have and decide what your absolute favorites are. Cross off the ones that don't make the cut and sell them. Unless you are going to get more display or storage space, the pile will not make you happy. Use the funds to put towards future purchases or projects.

This is what I've decided to do with the immense collection I have. My man cave is almost complete and there is NO WAY everything will fit.
 
Buy some detolf display cases from Ikea.
put poster edges on all the edges and block up the cracks and Bam you have a dust free storage cabinet
Or buy a billy bookcase with glass doors and put weather stripping around the perimeter of the doors
 


It's a lot of money to be tied up by figures just sitting in their boxes in a big pile. Unless you have a realistic chance of being able to display them in the foreseeable future I say sell them.
 
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Dust is my main concern as well. I have several different display cases that I use to rotate my collection. I am creating detailed dioramas in all of them, so it is slow going until anything looks complete, but in the meantime I just rotate the figures in a hermetically sealed environment and enjoy them
 
After reading your post it seems you may be feeling burdened by your collection.
I've gone through something similar. However, it was not due to storage issues or financial issues.
I decided to look at each item I owned and asked myself, "Do I love this?"
Yes? Keep it.
No? Sell it.

Chances are you'll feel a lot better once you've sold some of these pieces.
 
I'm in a similar situation right now, mostly because I recently got into collecting higher-end pieces. I started off with smaller, cheaper figures, and now I don't have space for any of the big pieces that I want. Add to that the fact that I'm currently confined to a small bedroom and it presents a problem.

I've decided to sell off all of my smaller figures and statues, regardless of how much I like them. You have to make some sacrifices when dealing with space. Currently I only have room for two detolfs. I have one right now, but getting a second one would require ordering through IKEA again--paying a ton for shipping, dealing with the delivery truck schedule, etc. I've resorted to using a single detolf, a small hanging shelf, and the top of a cabinet for my figures and statues. It's a nightmare. But the point of my post is to tell you that selling off some of your collection will be worth it. You'll feel much better once you've got everything narrowed down to a few select pieces you can't live with out. That's how the experience has been for me at least.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate the insight and the sanity check hearing from other collectors. My issue isn't with money but purely space. My wife has no issue with my collecting but does not want to display them in any of the main living areas because when local (elderly) family comes to visit, she gets chastised incessantly about her husband's dolls. That leaves the master bedroom which does not lend a lot of space for a case and the guest room which would require I remove any display when family came to visit. I've contemplated putting a shed in the back yard and making it into a 'mini-gallery' but living in AZ, that place would be a literal oven in the summer. Luckily I have a local Ikea so I have options, I just have to figure the logistics.
 
1st piece of advice. Put them on display in a cabinet and dust them occasionally.

SubjectNameHere said:
My wife has no issue with my collecting but does not want to display them in any of the main living areas because when local (elderly) family comes to visit, she gets chastised incessantly about her husband's dolls.
Click to expand...

2nd piece of advice. I don't know how old you are, but being in my mid 40's, and with both me and my partner secure in who and what we are (it comes with age), what other people say about our house and our belongings, provided it's not of the "OMG their toilets are like a restroom at a truckstop", we've both come to the conclusion that they can get stuffed.

I remember we used to have a ratty old armchair with the fabric having been completely FUBAR sitting to the side in our loungeroom, my mom was always horrified when she visited, and TBH it was a mess, but the dog used to sleep there every night (and most of the day), and he loved that chair, and we loved him, so screw it. Life's short, and you only get one shot at it. Live it how you like, and everyone else... pfft. You bought these tchotchkes to enjoy them, so bloody well do it! :D

3rd piece of advice. Forget Detolfs. If money's not a problem, buy a proper display case, the type that is meant for store displays, like this... https://metrodisplay.com.au/shop/display_cabinets/msc-242/

It will cost you some $$$, but they really do add a touch of... gravitas to your items, and make your collection look a little more solid and permanent in your display area, if that makes sense. Detolfs are kind of small, and unless you have 7 or 8 side by side, they are something people look at and think, even if subconsciously "I can move that by simply picking it up". A big, sturdy display case with inbuilt lighting, OTOH, just has a presence, a permanency if you will.
 
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:)
SubjectNameHere said:
So I always ogled Hot Toys from afar but never felt compelled to pull the trigger on one... until the Hulkbuster was announced. I pre-ordered day one. I thought it was the only one I'd have and I'd be completely content. Fast forward a year and change later and I'm sitting on about 60 1/6s and 20 more pre-orders.

The issue is that I don't have a place to display any of them. I live in AZ and it's dust HQ and at best I could maybe display 4-6 figures open without a case, but I'm not sure if storing the rest is something I can figure out either. I'm at the point now where I've got none on display, I open and inspect each one as they arrive and put them in the pile, and am contemplating getting out entirely and just selling off the whole lot.

Has anyone else struggled with this? What if we live in a bigger house in a few years and I have a place to display them then? I really enjoy the collecting and collection, but I want to be able to look at them eventually.
Click to expand...

Just wanted to add my empathy:). It's tough, I think. Life's short, why not - if you can afford it - have a nice collection? Just what everyone else has said - I suppose re lightening the collection or not buying at all, I started asking myself - "to the best that I can guess, will I want this in 2 years? 3 years? 5 years? Really??!!! Especially with pricey pieces.:horror

IMO it's like a friend of mine said once when he bought a townhouse re all the work it was every weekend vs. having fun - "it was a question of owning the house, or letting the house own HIM". It's tough, it really is. These pieces and figs can be so cool, and they're not available forever. But - only you can answer - I just spent a couple of hours futzing w. a sourced Winter Soldier figure. Spent another afternoon a while back arranging some poly sculpts, which takes more time than you'd think. Especially when the furniture needed rearranging and the door to the cabinet needed to be re-set. Then I had to re-hang a picture.

So I can understand. But only you can answer if you really have the time, and interest, to work with your collection if you keep it all. If not, I'd lighten the load. Because right here and now, you can't enjoy it easily the way you'd like. And I bet you have must-haves vs. "nice companion pieces that are not critical". Like I am not getting all the CW characters. It would be nice if I could. But I won't.

Finally, if you can swing it, I like the IKEA HEMNES double glass door cabinet. Doesn't seem to get mentioned, probably because only front view - but - it's wood, adjustable shelves, and multi-purpose. And it's tall - vertical space. You can put some books on lower shelves or whatever and figs on upper shelves. Useful if you ever decide to get rid of entire collection, because you can still use the bookcase https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80213583/

PS. IMO - who cares what other folks think - e.g., comic books etc. as art form have come into their own, these last years, IMO (if they weren't always:cool:). I mean, that super rich guy funded that whole comic book/collectible museum in Baltimore - https://www.geppismuseum.com/Home/7/1/52/500!!!! Don't see why it's more "OK" to have a collection of teapots or stamps vs. figs and poly.:cool:
 
SubjectNameHere said:
Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate the insight and the sanity check hearing from other collectors. My issue isn't with money but purely space. My wife has no issue with my collecting but does not want to display them in any of the main living areas because when local (elderly) family comes to visit, she gets chastised incessantly about her husband's dolls. That leaves the master bedroom which does not lend a lot of space for a case and the guest room which would require I remove any display when family came to visit. I've contemplated putting a shed in the back yard and making it into a 'mini-gallery' but living in AZ, that place would be a literal oven in the summer. Luckily I have a local Ikea so I have options, I just have to figure the logistics.
Click to expand...

Chances are your family just took a quick look at them and concluded they were dolls. I've found when you take the time and introduce the pieces to people, they garner a new appreciation for them. I and a co-worker both collect Hot Toys and I use to hate to tell people about them, but he doesn't. He gets all excited in the office and shows our other co-workers. They are actually very impressed by what they are seeing. "They look so real" is the usual response. So I've learned to just embrace the hobby and not be ashamed of them. They are ART! No, really! These are highly detailed sculptures, wonderfully fabricated outfits, and painted with expertise I will never grasp. To some they might just be toys or dolls, but if you take the time and have people really study these, chances are they will appreciate them instead of ridicule them.

And if your family is elderly, maybe their eyesight isn't that great and they just can't see well enough to appreciate them like slightly younger folks will. You've some real household names with Star Wars and Superhero films. Most people know and like those characters. I could understand if you were displaying horror pieces and got that reaction. Horror isn't for everyone, but just about everyone will smile at a cool Darth Vader or an Iron Man. People may not appreciate them as much as we do, but if they've enjoyed the films they can appreciate the figures to some degree. If anything they can act as good conversation starters with fellow movie buffs.

Obviously, wives tend to get the final say. But I would urge you to try and impress your wife and your family with the pieces and maybe then nobody will care if they are in the living room areas. If the pieces are well displayed in a nice cabinet people tend to treat them like any other décor or art. As long as it doesn't look like a child's dollhouse or toy room, I think you should be fine. There isn't anything questionable or objectionable with them. Its not like you're wanting to display phichen dolls nude and in suggestive poses. I could understand the negativity towards something like that. When people react negatively or scoff at these, its generally because they aren't seeing them for what they are. They think they are just Barbies and any grown man collecting them is weird. We may be weird on some level, but there is nothing wrong with us. My grandpa has a room full of elephant statues. People collect china or stamps or all sorts of antiques. Most people collect something. We just happen to collect miniature replicas of our favorite movie characters. :dunno
 
Buttmunch said:
Chances are your family just took a quick look at them and concluded they were dolls. I've found when you take the time and introduce the pieces to people, they garner a new appreciation for them. I and a co-worker both collect Hot Toys and I use to hate to tell people about them, but he doesn't. He gets all excited in the office and shows our other co-workers. They are actually very impressed by what they are seeing. "They look so real" is the usual response. So I've learned to just embrace the hobby and not be ashamed of them. They are ART! No, really! These are highly detailed sculptures, wonderfully fabricated outfits, and painted with expertise I will never grasp. To some they might just be toys or dolls, but if you take the time and have people really study these, chances are they will appreciate them instead of ridicule them.

And if your family is elderly, maybe their eyesight isn't that great and they just can't see well enough to appreciate them like slightly younger folks will. You've some real household names with Star Wars and Superhero films. Most people know and like those characters. I could understand if you were displaying horror pieces and got that reaction. Horror isn't for everyone, but just about everyone will smile at a cool Darth Vader or an Iron Man. People may not appreciate them as much as we do, but if they've enjoyed the films they can appreciate the figures to some degree. If anything they can act as good conversation starters with fellow movie buffs.

Obviously, wives tend to get the final say. But I would urge you to try and impress your wife and your family with the pieces and maybe then nobody will care if they are in the living room areas. If the pieces are well displayed in a nice cabinet people tend to treat them like any other décor or art. As long as it doesn't look like a child's dollhouse or toy room, I think you should be fine. There isn't anything questionable or objectionable with them. Its not like you're wanting to display phichen dolls nude and in suggestive poses. I could understand the negativity towards something like that. When people react negatively or scoff at these, its generally because they aren't seeing them for what they are. They think they are just Barbies and any grown man collecting them is weird. We may be weird on some level, but there is nothing wrong with us. My grandpa has a room full of elephant statues. People collect china or stamps or all sorts of antiques. Most people collect something. We just happen to collect miniature replicas of our favorite movie characters. :dunno
Click to expand...

Excellent post!! :goodpost:
 
The room I've got my stuff in certainly looks like a toy shop. My argument would be that it only looks like that because the room is so small. Clearly the solution is that I need a bigger display room :wink1:
 
This is a really great thread, and thank you to the OP for starting it. (I hope it helps you make some decisions.) I seem to always find myself with more collectibles than I will ever have room to display, so this is a struggle I relate to as well.
 

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