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Community => Other Toy Lines => Topic started by: Brian on August 22, 2003, 09:31 AM

Title: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Brian on August 22, 2003, 09:31 AM
Judging by the site we are on, we all know why we collect Star Wars figures, legos, or other memorabilia...be it nostalgia, the love of the movies, etc.  But, I was curious why you might collect other lines.  The other day I was talking with my wife about collecting the MOTU line, needless to say she wasn't overly enthused about the idea of another toyline creeping into our house, and she asked me why I wanted to collect them.  For me, I guess it was kind of hard to explain...I don't "play" with them, I don't "need" them necessarily, I just enjoy it and I suppose a lot of it is nostalgia with that line as well.  I'm still not sure if I'm going to be (or be able to) collect another line like this, and I suppose there is more than enough Star Wars stuff out there for me to collect, and that is my first collecting love and comes before any of the other lines.  I guess my question is, why do you collect the "other" lines?  Am I the only one who looks sometimes at these "toys" (aside from Star Wars) sitting on my desk and wonder, why, really, do I buy these?  Not that I don't think many of the other lines we all collect aren't great, because they are, but I do sometimes wonder why...I guess its hard to explain :).  I was just wondering what some of your explanations are...thanks :).
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Scott on August 22, 2003, 09:57 AM
90% of it is nostalgia on Star Wars...and the same goes for MOTU.  Being not quite 30 means I was the tender age of 2 when Star Wars hit the big screen and 8 when ROTJ came out, which was also the year after He-Man came out...

So being the ripe old age of 7 and having a cartoon I can watch every day for 3 years I glommed on and said goodbye to SW.  With the 20th anniversary rereleases I got back into MOTU and with the new line I fell in love all over again.  The 4 Horseman absolutely rock

Marvel is sorta nostolgia.  I read comics pretty religiously from 1983-1989.  These figures are the absolute best on the market and really are fun to collect.

LOTR, not sure why.  I thought the figures were horrible when they first came out.  This might be the first line to get the axe...I want Eowyn, King Aragorn, Queen Arwen (If they make her), Merry and Pippin in armor and that will be about it.
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Morgbug on August 22, 2003, 10:24 AM
Like most, SW is related to a love of the movies.

Most of why I collect is related to the fun (adrenaline?) of finding something new on the store shelves.  There just isn't a better feeling in the toy collecting world for me than going into a store and finding something I don't have, but want.  I hunt for stuff from almost all toy lines I'm familiar with and will snag stuff for trading or just for people in general at cost.  

McFarlane sportspicks started that way too. I had decent luck finding some variants, once I started paying attention, simply because I was in stores enough to have that kind of luck.  Most of that rush has been driven out by what I've seen occur in stores.  Shoving, yelling, lining up at 7 am to run down the aisles ::)  I've gone back to just goalies and the occasional player now.  I still order a case, helps me avoid the madhouse rush, almost guarantees a variant or two or three and leaves me with some stuff to trade.  

Predators are just cool looking and I liked the movie.  Plus it has the advantage of being extremely limited in terms of items.  

Simpsons I collect because I like Homer.  He's sort of the prototypical parody of American (North) life.  While the humour can be crude and basic, some of it is so subtle as to be amazing.  What clinched my love of the Simpsons was an episode where Homer is driving through a corn field, reaches out, grabs a cob, bites in and says mmm, carb-o-mates.  It's an allusion to a new (1996) pesticide law in the US and the reference is to the Carbamate group of insecticides, which was to undergo a major review.  I KNOW not many people caught that and there are so many more like that.  Someone keeps trying to expand my collection as well.   ;)

Star Trek is pretty minimal for me.  I like exclusives, so I snagged Kirk but mostly I am a Spock fan.  My wife is a McCoy fan, so that fits, but it is very limited.  

Marvel and DC figs are part of my history.  I've collected these things all along, way back from being a kid.  I also collected comics so there's the tie in for that.  Spiderman, X-men (all incarnations), Thor, FF, Avengers from Marvel were my major lines.  Flash, Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow were the DC side.  
I grew up at the Aunt and Uncle's cabin at a lake and on rainy days we read comics.  Beaten, covers torn, ripped, coloured on comics.  I have held a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 in my hands.  It was beaten beyond belief but it was my fave.  I look at the ML stuff and those memories come flooding back.  Very cool.  Plus my daughter seems to be a fan of that stuff and likes playing with them, so it provides a good justification. ;)

A big part of why I like collecting stuff now though is the trading. I believe I have made some very, very good friends from the trading aspect of it.  Plus it gives me someone to have my geeky conversations with.  Mrs. Bug refers to y'all as my little toy friends. ;D
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Darthshader on August 22, 2003, 01:32 PM
Well, there were so many things I could not have as a kid, I am getting revenge now!

 ;D
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: roguestormtrooper on August 22, 2003, 04:47 PM
As far as MOTU is concerned,  I loved the cartoon series from the 80's and started to collect the figures then.  Same thing with G.I. Joe...  A young age and lack of money hampered my collecting then,  now just a lack of money. ::)
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Jesse James on August 22, 2003, 05:04 PM
For Star Wars it's a mix of nostalgia, a personal love and interest of the military aspect of the films, an enjoyment of having small poseable and accurate toys of the films I love...  I'm one of the rarer breed who takes my stuff from its shelf to "pose" it...  Play with it if you will, but whatever. :)

For The X-Treme Detail line from 21st Century it's all about my love of the military and military history.  To see accurate poseable figures...  Build dioramas as if they're still photos of life-changing events.  My one friend who I knew for years and who served in WW2 was blown away by some of the detail I showed him o n a German figure once...  He said it was like staring at a statue of some of the men he saw on the opposing side.  He said it's a stir of mixed emotions, and that he was proud that I had enough interest and respect to buy these and to learn about the times he lived in.  I wish he'd lived long enough to see the Battle of the Bulge U.S. infantryman, because he served at the Bulge and wore exactly what this figure came with.  

My love of the BBi 1:18 Elite Force figures which are shipping now (They're all modern military) is just that they're freakin' amazing. :)  Working holsters, removeable belts, tons of  accurate accessories, tons of cheap and to-scale vehicles...  They're fun toys...  I don't even fully support the war (Just the troops) we're in at this moment but damned if they don't have some neat little toys representing them.  They're just fun to have...  Like the XD line I won't buy them all (Can't afford to and nowhere to keep it all) but I'll enjoy what I can get.

I do enjoy posing, playing, or whatever with my figures...  Dioramas inside, outside, LOTS of customizing and tweaking, scratch ship building...  These are the things that keep me interested in Star Wars even through its darkest times (I think we had the darkest times ever in the past year, both in quality and availability).  That's why I collect I guess.  
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Valtar on August 22, 2003, 07:11 PM
Well, there were so many things I could not have as a kid, I am getting revenge now!

 ;D
[/glow]
I couldn't of said it better myself,  Thats just how I feel Darthshader
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: SiteC on August 23, 2003, 08:00 PM
an enjoyment of having small poseable and accurate toys of the films I love...  I'm one of the rarer breed who takes my stuff from its shelf to "pose" it...  Play with it if you will, but whatever. :)  

That sums it up for me.

I just enjoy having something to own from various movies and TV shows I like.  usually I cannot get into something unless there is an action figure line to collect along with it...I think having something you can feel and touch goes a long way into helping you enjoy and appreciate the universe it comes from...
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: DrunkJedi on August 23, 2003, 08:20 PM
Lego is the only line I actually stuck with my whole life. I started collecting Spawn when the Spawn with Malbolgia's head caught my eye. Then a student of mine got me into the new MOTU and TF Armada and then I got back into GI Joe. After that Star Wars. Then because of Canada sucking for toys I ended up starting on Sports Picks as filler while waiting for better.

I do want to get Dark Alliance and the earlier Chaos Comics figs because I was a fan of Evil Ernie and Lady Death.
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Taminar on August 24, 2003, 02:02 AM
I collect things that I love.  Mostly it's Star Wars.  I used to collect a lot of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and other SF toys -- this is going wa-a-y back.  And I started collecting all those things because I couldn't get enough of the movie, TV series, or whatever.  I collect toys related to Harrison Ford and Kenneth Branagh (yep, I even bought the tank from Wild Wild West because he played Loveless), and the occasional Gilligan's Island toy.  And it's all because it brings a little bit of something that I love into my life.

Auriette
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Darby on August 24, 2003, 03:59 AM
I love SW and I love figures.  I think for me growing up with the Kenner line the two are synonymous to me.  The idea of transporting your imagination (or the imagined world of cinema) to reality in the form of little plastic men has always been fun for me.

Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Ben on August 24, 2003, 02:34 PM
I collect Star Wars and Transformers mostly out of nostalgia, although as far as TFs go, I didn't have too many of those, so I'm going back and buying what I didn't have then. Nostalgia was the reason I collected GI Joe and MOTU, but those were either driven into the ground (MOTU) or reached a state where I didn't like the way they looked anymore (Joe).

I collect Marvel stuff and Lord of the Rings because the characters in their respective media fascinate me and I like to have figural representations of them.
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Nicklab on August 24, 2003, 02:57 PM
Two words:  It's fun!


**edit-Boy, that answer makes me seem like a simple S.O.B., doesn it?
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Brian on August 28, 2003, 10:25 AM
Thanks for the replies everyone, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who has that "nostalgia" factor with many toy lines.  Star Wars is really big with me, I can watch the movies (specifically the OT) over and over, and really never tire of them.  I imagine I will probably collect the figures in some capacity until they quit making them, just because I really like Star Wars.  Also, with MOTU, and to some extent Marvel Legends, it is a nostalgia factor as well...especially with MOTU.  Plus, as many said above, the 4HM have done an amazing job updating the looks of the characters.  Every once in awhile I get a nostalgic flavor from the new G.I. Joe stuff, although I haven't bought any of it apart from the black Snake-Eyes.  It just seems like the 80s were a good time to be a kid with these great movies, shows, and toys...I'm happy to see much of it brought back.  Again, thanks for the replies everyone.
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Jim on August 28, 2003, 03:32 PM
For the Nostalgia and the Hunt :)
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Brian on August 26, 2004, 02:13 PM
After reading a few of the topics over the past few weeks, and particularly Tydirium's post today....I was wondering if anyone's collecting "whys" have changed, or how you feel about things now?

For me, Star Wars is always first...and I do enjoy collecting it.  As I've mentioned in other threads, there are times when I feel a little overwhelmed, but I'm pretty sure that I'm in this (in some form or another) until the end, until they quit making stuff.  I collect it because they have been, and will always be, my favorite movies (the OT, in particular).  I really enjoy it.

Other lines, its a variety of reasons.  I think I can admit that sometimes I might get a little "caught up" in excitement of lines, only to later think "why did I buy this, or come close to buying this?".  The lines that I've had a consistent interest in outside of Star Wars (Marvel and Lord of the Rings), are due to specific reasons as well.  Marvel (especially Spidey) has a lot of nostalgia to me as well, due to being into comics and having Spidey and Secret Wars stuff as a kid.  I've always enjoyed that "world".  Lord of the Rings is new, so I can't pledge nostalgia on this one.  I think this is more of the "modern day" Star Wars to me.  There is of course the prequels, which I do enjoy, because hey, its Star Wars...but the Lord of the Rings movies to me are really amazing.  I really get into the story and characters, much the same way the Original Trilogy was to me as a kid.

Other lines have had fleeting interest, and some may be due to getting "hyped up" about things.  Not to say they aren't good lines, but they are lines where I sit back and think "would it have really been necessary to collect these?".  These lines include, GI Joe (nostalgia gets to me every so often), Masters of the Universe (which was a good line, and I have a few figures from it, but it was poorly handled...still kind of like this line though), Muppets (nostalgia, and very nice line), DC stuff (not quite as much into DC as a kid, but did have a few comics I followed - Batman in particular - and really liked "Super Friends" and the "Super Powers" toy line), things like this.  There's been times where I have been in the aisle an just about bought things on a whim....more MOTU, G.I Joe stuff, Marvel movie figures (I do have a few Spider-Man, but almost bought others...glad I didn't now), even for a short time...Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  There are others as well.  I guess what I'm saying is now I think I have realized that sometimes I let the "hype" get to me a bit, and draw me towards other lines.  In all honesty, I doubt I'd be collecting any of these things, or even looking at them, if it wasn't for Star Wars.
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Bob Crane on August 28, 2004, 04:41 PM
Because I’m an idiot who blindly hoards plastic (and die-cast!) rather than saving my bucks to vacation in the Cook Islands.
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Famine on August 29, 2004, 07:39 PM
I collect toys and merchandise because I have nothing else to do. They are linked to my favorite things. Comics, and Movies. Sometimes TV shows. I have nothing else to spend my money on, except for Movies, Comics, and Toys.


I think my collecting has a darker side to it.

I surround myself with superior beings in hope that one day I'll be like that Spider-Man on my wall, or as powerful as the T-Rex on my shelf next to my bed that I see every morning. Just like my T-Shirts. All Super-Hero T-Shirts.

I also collect for revenge. See, my mother's husband destroyed my origional collection of toys and drawings because I didn't do what I was told. I guess destroying all my toys would teach me a valuable lesson.

Kevin
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Morgbug on August 31, 2004, 01:58 PM
Because I’m an idiot who blindly hoards plastic (and die-cast!) rather than saving my bucks to vacation in the Cook Islands.

This works for me too.  Substitute in a '67 Camaro SS and we're on the same page.
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: The Devils Ewok on September 4, 2004, 04:01 PM
I collect scary stuff.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/DevilsEwok2/Dsc00010.jpg)
Title: Re: Why Do You Collect?
Post by: Angry Ewok on September 4, 2004, 04:14 PM
Do I see an insect from Starship Troopers on the floor there? Where'd you get that from?