Toy Bender

At the end of the 90s I ran into a huge problem. I was buried in Star Wars toys. My father had generously built a pegboard wall to hang my Star Wars figures on and it was quickly filling up. The toy collection had also expanded and exploded, engulfing the rest of the room. Not only was my childhood room packed to the gills with toys, but I’d started living on my own and I was quickly getting a secondary collection apart from the main one. Originally I had planned on buying ever single figure that I could along with all the vehicles, but as the years wore on since the rebirth of Star Wars toys I realized that the sneaky devils in Hasbro Castle were going to make Star Wars figures until Armageddon and beyond. Something had to be done to stop the madness, because Hasbro wasn’t going to help me at all.

(Here’s the not everything, semi-outdated, but what most of it looks like that’s not in storage post)

I recently saw a thread on the Wizard Universe boards where a new member began posting pictures of his collection. At first it was pretty neat as he had quite the large collection… then the pictures kept coming… and coming. After a certain point it moved from excessive to an exercise in insanity and unhealthy obsession. Part of it had to do with the fact that his only posts on the forum were those dealing with him showing his own collection, but the fact that he had so much of everything that… Hell, I’ll let you judge for yourself. Go to this link and scroll around and prepare for your eyes to melt and you’re heart to weigh heavy for the sake of humanity. Seeing this is a vision to me as to what could have happened had I never slowed down collecting.

Have you ever had the moment when you had to say, “I really need to stop.” For me, the amount of space I have available for a collection is minimal. Amassing a gigantic toy collection would undoubtedly much easier if I were wealthy and could afford to have a few rooms of a mansion or a specialized building built for a collection, but most normal folks (I include myself as normal for the sake of this discussion) have a very limited amount of space for extraneous collectibles like toys. Most of my main collection is being housed in my old room at my dad’s house where the only thing protecting everything is my constant nagging for him to not turn my old digs into a hot chicks room.* If I didn’t have this main collection (which I swear will be whittled down, dad!) I don’t know what I’d do.

I’m also limited by mobility. I’ve lived in so many apartments in the last ten years that I’ve lost count. Lugging around a giant collection of toys from place to place makes it extremely difficult to be as mobile as I am. I now live half a country away from my “main” collection so when I move, I’ve got no choice other than to lug everything around with me. My collecting is also by the fact that I have a lot of stuff that is mint in the package. It’s hard to keep a bunch of figures mint on card when you have to move them around at least once a year.

Unlike what you might otherwise expect, I’m also limited in the money department. Yeah, I’m an internet writer guy and you’d think that would mean I’d be rolling in dough, but you’d be wrong. Life is a struggle, even for someone as talented and sexy as me. There’s usually a lot of thought going into every figure I purchase, and I can’t even get half of what I’d want based on money alone.

What are some other ways that might limit collectors or make them decide they’ve had enough? Well, aside from obvious factors like a lack of money, the number one reason aside from running out of space has got to be having a baby. Boy, babies are needy and expensive. I don’t know personally, but I hear things. If the choice comes down to buying diapers or action figures, I’d hope that most people who won’t go to jail or don’t want a divorce will choose the much needed baby items.

Because of these factors, I’ve adopted some of the tactics found in guest writer Allison’s post, “Collecting up.” I think there are some good tips in there for someone who has decided that enough was enough.

Now it’s your turn. Have you ever had to make a decision to slow your collecting habit down? I’m of course talking about collecting toys, but this really could apply to any hobby where you collect things. Can you have too many old records, 911 firemen with angel statues, postage stamps, or what have you?

*Bonus points to you for getting that joke.

toy collecting, toys, action figures, Star Wars