[AndyCR75]

A bit slow at work right now, so I just feel like writing.

Ok so here on ToyArk, Marvel clearly rules. You have the occasional DC updates, and NECA information, but 90+% of the traffic here is Marvel.

I'm guessing we are a cross section of people. Likely 99% male. Likely from an extremely wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. We could have some young teenagers in here, and some grandfathers. Rich and poor, fat and skinny, short and tall, etc. It's funny how a shared interest (passion lol) can bring folks from all different walks of life all over the globe together.

But what is it? What is it about Marvel figures that we absolutely love? Is it that they were a huge part of our childhood and invoke good memories? Is it that we still follow the comic series and the figures are just an extension of that interest? Is it that we collect all sorts of figures and Marvel just happens to be one of them?

There is something very interesting about the nature of collecting. Whether it be coins, stamps, Hummels, old Playboys, or action figures...there is that need to just keep them coming.

Now some are more extreme than others. I wasn't always a completionist. It started in Spring '09 with X-Force Wolverine. Thought it was so cool, bought him, opened him up, set him on my kitchen counter. Basically did the entire thing with Series 1, only to sell them to repurchase them MOC.

So I look at my collection. Coffins within coffins of figures I will never play with, open, customize...none of that. Who even knows what my collection is even worth at this point, but I can tell you Ive spent too much damn money! When I think how useless of a hobby collecting figures is, it makes me want to eat a bullet. Boxes and boxes of unopened figures that this inner collecting-beast alter ego just HAD to have. Short of a couple Thors, I am once again at 100% completion to date. I want to stop, but I can't. I feel like I'm down 12-0 in the 5th inning of a baseball game. I wan't to quit, but I can't.

Is there OCD involved? Absolutely. For any other completionists out there, you know what I'm talking about. The worst is having the means. I understand not everyone can afford to purchase online, etc or can only purchase 1 figure at a time retail.. I have the good fortune of having a career that affords me to maintain this hobby with little repurcussion financially.

But that's not the point. I am sorry, I am getting long winded now.

In closing, when you really really think about it, why do we collect action figures? To set them up in dioramic poses? Thats silly. We're adults. To customize them? Thats silly. We're adults. To buy them, not open them, stare at them for 3 days, and store them in giant tupperware? Well, not only is that silly, it is absolutely freaking insanely stupid.

But that's what I do.