Why am I a toy collector?
I hate to bring down the rocking all night party here at Toy Bender, but it’s time to get serious for a moment. Recently, I decided to be a little introspective and I asked myself why I am a toy collector? Why is there a drive in me to collect items meant primarily for children? More importantly, why don’t I feel bad about it? Even if you are a mild collector of all things toy related, have you ever stopped and asked yourself why you do it? After asking myself these questions, I decided to write this to further explore my own feelings and to see if anyone else out there has similar reasons. In short, I decided to write an essay:
Why I Collect Toys
By: Paul The Toy Collecting Blog Guy
It all began with a bizarre recurring dream I had starting in the early nineties where I was in a huge discount warehouse store. As I walked down the aisles full of plumbing supplies and gigantic boxes of cereal, I would stumble upon aisles full of toys. Not just any toys either. These toys were vintage 70s and 80s Star Wars and G.I. Joe figures and vehicles all at super low prices. I’d go nuts and find the biggest cart I could and load it up with toys and figures. I would pick out all the ones I always wanted and never got or the toys that had been broken or lost during childhood. The Death Star play set would make it in the cart along with a Storm Shadow and maybe something Captain Power related. Somehow though, I could never quite make it to the checkout line. I would always wake up before that point pissed that I it wasn’t real. I then realized I had an annoying itch that needed to be scratched.
This man has many DC Hero toys in his “crib”, as the rappers say.
The toy shopping dream is what actually inspired me to become a toy collector. Hey, Martin Luther King Jr. I’m not. I was still in my early teens, had no job, there was no eBay, and I lived far away from any areas where there’d be fan conventions of any sort, so things were a little harder back then for someone like me. Still, I did my best and gathered all the Star Wars items I had and put them in a shelf in my closet. As time moved on and more and more Star Wars items came out. As months went on, the small closet shelf became a drawer, and then two drawers. New Star Wars items would trickle into stores and I’d pick them up. Still there was something missing; something crucial. There were no new Star Wars toys. The closest thing I had to actually collecting Star Wars figures at one point were some Star Wars Bend-Ems . I collected every one of those things and it helped quench the thirst for figures slightly, but it wasn’t enough.
I’m told that this is but a small part of an “Uber-Collection”
Kenner answered my prayers in 1996 with the re-launch of a Star Wars toy line and my hobby became an obsession. But I never really asked myself why I wanted these figures. What was really driving my urge to collect these figures? Was it because I was a nerd? That may be, but that’s an almost chicken and egg scenario. Is it the nerd that collects the toy or does the toy collecting make you a nerd? I’d have to say the latter is true, the label of nerd is applied on hobbies like toy collecting where other hobbies, say gardening, aren’t considered nerdy in the least. Simply being a nerd doesn’t make me want to collect toys and this is proven by the fact that there are “computer geeks� or pen and paper gamers that don’t give two craps about toys, while they would be considered nerds by society in general. I’m also not some loser that whose only outlet is collecting toys either, I have my own apartment, a decent job, and I’ve had sex at least one time in my life with a human being of the opposite sex. The answer, at least in my case, is far deeper than a label.
A few toy enthusiasts have a little more fun with their figures than others.
I think the most obvious reason for my toy collecting habit is that the hobby brings me back to the good times of my youth. When you’re a child and you’re playing with toys there is nothing else like it. You’re innocent, you don’t have to pay any bills, no one has ever cheated on you and broke your heart, and you’ve never had your car stolen or anything terrible like that (hopefully). I think this is why I like keeping a lot of figures in the package, especially ones of the Star Wars variety. In a way, I’m preserving good memories from my youth that don’t exist in any tangible way. In my case, I associate Star Wars toys with the best Christmases of my life and with the ideal childhood two parent, middle class home of my youth. As I grew up and was exposed to hardships, I could at least subconsciously turn back to a time that was better. Star Wars toys had always been a part of that ideal time, so a need to still associate myself with them grew.
Ditto.
The second biggest aspect for collecting, and far less psychological, is the thrill of the hunt. I post articles talking about my toy hunts, because that’s exactly what they are. Sometimes you want a particular item so badly its drives you crazy to the point of making you go to the same few stores every day in the hopes of getting it. There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when you walk into that same store one day, walk down the aisle, and find what you’ve been looking for. Hey, some people get off killing varieties animals, so I don’t think it’s a weird thing at all.
Coming this fall: Clone Boat.
So while there is no one simple answer as to why I collect toys, and unless I go to a physchologist to try and dig any deeper into this issue, I think the main answer to my question is that a part of me never “grew up”. Personally, I don’t think this is all that bad of a thing, especially as it seems to be more common than it ever used to be. Out of all the ways I could have developed mentally, I’m thankful that I still like buying toys rather than doing drugs or storing hookers’ eyes in my fridge.
Now it’s that time again where I turn to you, valued Toy Bender reader. If you collect toys (and if you don’t, why do you read this blog?), what got you started on the road to collecting figures or toys in general? And try to dig a little deeper than, “because they look cool.” If they didn’t look cool then you wouldn’t have them at all would you? I want some good answers here. Now comment away!
Toy, toy collecting, hobby, Action Figure
Special Thanks: A special thanks goes to BumblebeeZ3, thatbatmanfan, and Dr Nightmare for some of the pictures. They can all be found (and me too) at the Wizard Universe Boards. Also thanks to Shawn for his pic. And to me for my insane amount of clone troopers.
April 13th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Great post brutha!
April 13th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Why am I a toy collector?…
Paul over at toybender posts an autobiographic article explaining his love for collecting toys….
April 13th, 2007 at 9:36 am
I’m a 53 year old man that doesn’t collect toys. Your blog was suggested to me because of your writing style and humor. I have a son in his late twenties that does collect toys and though he left home for college and career over ten years ago I have left his room like a shrine to his youth. When he did live here I even converted one of the walls to pegboard so he was able to display his “treasures” on pegs and several plastic shelving units for the larger boxed items. After he left home I have often looked in his bedroom and thought of turning it into a den, office, or even a “normal” guest bedroom. However, after reading your article I have a better understanding of his collecting hobby. I now feel closer to him because of my new found understanding. Thanks for the explaination of your collecting. I may still think of transforming the bedroom from time to time, but I’m pretty sure it will stay the way it is. After all, it’s better then have to clean out the refrigerator out of dead hooker eyeballs. Thanks Paul.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Well, I guess I could write all about my lost childhood, but that’s a drag (I’m a drag). The site looks good, Paul, keep at it!
April 13th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Wow. Lots and lots of toys. Can I play with them?!
Those are really awesome and wouldn’t last two seconds in my house with these kids running around!
April 14th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Toys stir memories in all of us. Whether it be a hot wheel sizzler track, or an open end extension cord and the neighbors cat. Coincidently, the human eye fits perfectly in those miniature slinkys, and bring loads of laughs when attached to some black rimmed glasses. Ahh, to be a kid again. Great story dude.
April 14th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Randi: Thanks Randi, children are horrible to toys. They should stop selling toys to children.
Dr. Nightmare: Thanks for stopping in. I hope you come back man!
Big Orange Guy: Looks like I just saved a life. YOURS!
Rob: lol Thanks for sharing the comment, they’re always appreciated.
April 14th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Great post Paul. I’m no toy collector, but I do enjoy good writing and getting to know people better through their writing, so I very much enjoyed this post.
April 14th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Great article! Digg it if you really enjoyed the article people!
http://digg.com/gaming_news/Why_am_I_a_toy_collector
April 15th, 2007 at 2:14 am
Very nice post, Paul. be prepared to answer another burning question soon, if you’re up to the challenge.
April 15th, 2007 at 7:09 am
So, you think I could have been a victim of patricide if I had reclaimed the room?
April 15th, 2007 at 7:54 am
You and I enjoy our respective hobbies for pretty much almost the same reasons. I used to play games when I was younger because they were fun and it was also a way to escape from my surroundings. When my parents divorced when I was around 18, I embraced games even more so because it helped me cope with the situation rather than lashing out and causing havoc.
April 15th, 2007 at 10:39 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
April 15th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Nice. You’re lucky you’re a guy. The world is more understanding when it comes to male toy collector. It was tougher for me…hehe
April 15th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Toyrant - Jeez I can’t imagine that. Female collectors are the cat’s ass. Head on over to the Wizard Universe forums and you’ll be loved and accepted. There’s other female collectors there.
BigOrangeGuy - I don’t know anything, I’m just saying…
Farley - I’m up for any challange! As long as it’s not pysical or dependent upon a time table as I’m lazy.
BB - Thanks for sharing man! Yeah, I’d rather collect toys or play games than do drugs or be that one guy that punches people all the time. Maybe this is an idea for a post on your site? Send some link loving my way if you do decide to do that.
April 15th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
[...] And now it’s my turn to ask, why do YOU blog? ~Paul, my 451 Press pal, just wrote a great post about why he collects toys. Now, Paul, tell me why you blog. ~Sara, my newish and definitely dear friend, and I are always snapping shots as we taste wine, eat good food, etc…. Sara, why do you do it? ~the previously mentioned Sonadora ~and Dr. Debs ~And finally, though the reason is most likely to share his perverse sense of humor with the world, I’d like to know why exactly Killer Rants. [...]
April 15th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
[...] Why am I a toy collector? Why am I a toy collector? Paul of ToyBender fame reflects on how he came to be an adult collector of toys. [...]
April 15th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Nice article. I enjoyed reading it. I will say it gave me some insight into my own toy collecting. I collect atari 2600 consoles and cartridges. Nothing too over the top but I find myself particularly interested in those cartridges and consoles in boxes that are in near perfect condition. Every time I get one (usually on e-bay) it brings my memory to focus on that time in my life where there were no other cares or worries.The only thing that mattered were my friends and seeing who could get to the next level, the high score etc. Even then though I knew that the time was fleeting, and I tried to put it to the back of my head. It was a time I will never forget. I remember leaving all that stuff behind as I packed up to go to college. Coming home I found that my dad had given away my only atari and the cartridges to a charity. I was glad it went to someone that could use it, but I was still mad at him. Never really thought about it before I started typing this, but I think that is why I collect. To reflect and to try to recapture a youth that is eternally gone….except for that new box that always seems to come in the mail…
April 15th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
[...] Why am I a toy collector? Filed under: Uncategorized — recar @ 2:21 am Why am I a toy collector? Paul of ToyBender fame reflects on how he came to be an adult collector of toys. [...]
April 15th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
I think you really touched a nerve with this posting…it was 1976 and I was stationed in the middle of nowhere Turkey when I found my dad had sold my 1951, 61 cube Harley-Davidson ’cause it was taking up to much room in his shed…
April 16th, 2007 at 12:16 am
[...] I still have a lot of my toys from when I was younger (mostly Transformers, but I also have a few super hero toys and Star War’s toys). I also have comics - the older ones consist of more weekly/bi-weekly prints, where as my more current collection is in trade paperback form or book form (it’s nice getting an arc or story in its entirety versus week-to-week). Even still, what I have pales in comparison to this guy. His post is interesting, and he takes the notion of collecting beyond the “this will be worth something someday,” which is often over-hyped an gimmicky anyway (mostly by people looking to make a big buck on ebay). I think the most obvious reason for my toy collecting habit is that the hobby brings me back to the good times of my youth. When you’re a child and you’re playing with toys there is nothing else like it. You’re innocent, you don’t have to pay any bills, no one has ever cheated on you and broke your heart, and you’ve never had your car stolen or anything terrible like that (hopefully). I think this is why I like keeping a lot of figures in the package, especially ones of the Star Wars variety. [...]
April 16th, 2007 at 1:00 am
I’m also a toy collector. I just love those toys!Thanks for this article. It was very enjoyable.
April 16th, 2007 at 1:25 am
nice write up Paul, should start a meme with this.
April 16th, 2007 at 7:56 am
The real-looking spaceships in ‘Star Wars’ blew my 11-year old mind. Soon we had ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘Buck Rogers in the 25th Century’ on TV. I’d doodle Vipers blasting Cylon Raiders in my school notebook. 10 years ago they just started coming out with tons of cool die-cast and plastic ships — all the ships I had wished for as a kid but they never sold. So now I buy them. Most I open up and fly around, but some I collect two of so I can keep one in the attic for when I’m 80.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Wonderful article! I collect toys (not tons of them,but some) because of the same reason…I buy things I couldn’t get when I was younger. And now I buy toys when they come out because they make me feel young. It’s just plain fun!
I’m still looking for a Mr. Machine I can afford, though.
bobbi c.
April 16th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
[...] Why am I a toy collector? - Toy Bender I decided to be a little introspective and I asked myself why I am a toy collector? Why is there a drive in me to collect items meant primarily for children? More importantly, why don’t I feel bad about it? Even if you are a mild collector of all things toy related, have you ever stopped and asked yourself why you do it? [...]
April 16th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
You have that dream too? I thought I was just crazy
April 19th, 2007 at 6:13 am
[...] “It all began with a bizarre recurring dream I had…”read more | digg story [...]
April 20th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Excellent blog!
Now then, in regards to why I think I collect toys:
“Many toy collectors amass their plastic trinkets in an effort to compile something of a three-dimensional, pop cultural autobiography. Perhaps this strikes you as a shallow means by which to recount one’s life story, but spend an hour perusing any of the internet’s countless social networking sites and you’ll quickly be struck by just how many people seem content to define themselves by the films and TV shows they enjoy. Toy nuts just take this tendency a bit further, seeking and hoarding pop cultural totems and arranging them into an autobiographical spectacle on their fireplace mantle or desktop or, as is increasingly commonly the case, on shelves custom-built for the inordinately tender and loving exhibition of one’s toys.
My fourth grade year is represented by G.I. Joe figures, posed alongside Simpsons characters who symbolize my high school and college years more succinctly than concert ticket stubs, photos or even journal entries could ever do. I recognize Transformers today as nothing more than a poorly-animated extended commercial designed to sell cheap toys to impressionable kids, but when I was 10-years-old, I found a deeper meaning in their implausible adventures, and as an icon from those innocent and magical times, my Optimus Prime toy has even deeper meaning for me today than he did in 1987. He has earned his place on my sacred, silly shelf, just like Batman and Buffy and the Iron Giant, ‘cause while they’re all just licensed characters owned by uncaring corporations, I’ve claimed them as my own, and they are each an important part of who I am.”
This was an excerpt from my recent column, “Toys n’ the Addict”:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/columns/article/31358/toys-n-the-addict/
I really enjoy your toy musings. I need to set aside time to write in my blog; it’s mostly just toy photos at the moment, as work and my column/reviews and job searching has been eating up all my time.
Cheers,
-Monte
April 24th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Thanks for the input everyone. Wow Monte, that was above and beyond what I had expected!
May 13th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
[...] Then my article “Why I am a Toy Collector� became a minor hit. It even made it to the front page of the social networking site Digg. For those of you who don’t know what that means, I got a lot of page views that I normally don’t get. Along with these page views I also got a few nasty comments directed at me on Digg itself. It seemed that I had discovered the the article I was looking for. [...]
May 14th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I started collecting Spawn figures in my late teens and over about 5 years spent a couple thousand dollars on hundreds of figures.
I collect figures because they’re cool. I take them out of the box. I just enjoy looking at them. They don’t remind me of my childhood (half of McFarlane’s figures are demented demons and monsters). I hate hunting for figures - I’d rather just go to a store I know has them and buy them.
I think if my collecting habit was tempered by some sensibility I would probably collect higher quality statuettes in smaller numbers (displaying or storing hundreds of figures is problematic). McFarlane Toys just kept on coming out with so many cool figures year after year that I just had to have them. I finally slowed down when I didn’t really have space for more, but I still occasionally buy figures (at 30 yrs old now).
May 17th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
The Article was great, and I really think that toy collecting is coming up in the world as an established hobby. In Hong Kong they are starting to put old toys on display in the subways- a great way to encourage interest.
Check out the link
http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/302301/Life+and+Leisure?c_id=kg
May 17th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Thanks Kate, and thanks for the link!
.
Thanks for the reply PhoenixSpawn… I had you pegged for a Spawn fan, but wasn’t really sure why. heh
May 18th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I thought you all might be interested in the series of paintings I just completed - The Vintage Toy Collection”
It has been great fun doing and thought I’d pass it along
(click enter and then click on the Toy Collection)
May 18th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
That’s really cool Hilarie. If you paint some newer toys let me know! I’d love to see fine art painting of Thunder cats or G.I. Joe. hehe
May 20th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Hey there Paul,
I, too, am a toy collector. I’ve been collecting toys for about 20 years now. I used to have those wild “toy warehouses that time forgot” dreams all the time! I collected toys from my childhood, new toys and even got into sculpting my own. I got a job in retail services for a giant toy manufacturer. Somehow, I though it could lead to a career making toys. That was eight years ago and now, I am a senior toy designer at the same major toy company. I still have those crazy ‘toy dreams’ but now they involve missing tight deadlines, nutty bosses and product presentations! I’m thrilled to have achieved my dream to be a toy designer but sometimes, be very careful what you wish for.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:02 am
[...] this issue because I’ve had a couple of articles from Toy Bender hit the front page of Digg (here and here). Believe me, the much of the Digg crowd is not very kind to toy collectors. I feel that [...]
June 4th, 2008 at 12:37 am
This digg quote made me laugh: “‘because you are gay’ is all i could think of”. Ahhhhhh, douche bags come in all shapes and sizes.
Paul I love ya bud. I collect figures because, well, I couldn’t really afford much when I was kid. That and the toys I did get couldn’t do what I wanted them to. I wanted them to be able to pose how they could in the shows and comics and movies. Then I got a Superposeable Movie Spidey, Thor, Blade, and Iron Man Marvel Legends for christmas. And I haven’t stopped collecting since.
Super Articulation: Nothing says “age 5 and up” like making Spidey flip off Carnage.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:36 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
December 26th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Great article brah! I am constantly in a battle with my “siginficant other” on why I collect toys? At first it was something I had to hide or felt that I could not share with this person, but in time I said f*ck it. Collecting does not make me or anybody else a nerd. It’s part of who we are and what we do. There is so much more to me than just collecting toys, playing with them, watching cartoons, etc. Okay, I just had to get that out. But yeah brah, collecting connects me back to my childhood days when me and my friends would choose who would be Autobots and Decepticons and play out in the field and have our own version of Transformers, which involved Thudercats. But you know what in some strange way it was cool. Thanks for the article and I have bookmarked it. It’s an escape reading your article and thanks for having this site.
Shootz!
April 11th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I’m a child of the 1940’s.Inner-city Black
Public Housing Raised in Atlanta.I guess you
could say a little nerdy.I learned to read by
myself from Comic Books,before starting school.I always had a great love for Comic books.Especially since we(neighborhood kids),
Could snatch as many as we could carry,from
the big paper recycling warehouse that wes in our neighborhood.That is until this White
Guy(1940’s Atlanta),who wore very thick eye-
glasses,would sometimes chase us for blocks.
May 2nd, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Awesome article Paul. First off, I collect comic book related toys like marvel legends and DC classics for example. The reason I collect toys is when I was a kid, we didn’t have much money growing up, and I didn’t have many comic related toys, and the ones I did have weren’t have as nice as the ones they make now. The toys they come out with now are the kinds I always wanted as a kid. Buying them satisfies a sort of childhood craving I’ve had. Like having an itch I can finally scratch. Again, great article man. Looking forward to reading more.