[Tarquinius]

I think that the question of "why" can only be answered on an individual level.

Collecting is one thing, but we are collecting toys, which is typically associated with children.

Now who on here, has had a crisis in trying to admit to others that they collect toys? Girlfriend? Family? Friends? I can say I have. But why? Because toys don't seem to be part of an adult life.

But its not wrong to collect toys. From a psychological prospective (I'm a graduate student in psychology lol), one would say for most of us it is "regression in the service of the ego." That this form of collecting takes us back to a simpler time (regression) so as to preserve ourselves from the inner and outer conflictions in our lives (in service of the ego). Thats kind of taking a family/inner conflict spin on it.

Existential thought: It is a part of the human condition. We choose this path for better or for worse and it is not wrong, it just IS.

Behavioral: We are operating off of the reward we receive from getting an object that we find appealing. We also may find it appealing because of how we've been conditioned to feel about that toy while we were a child.

Does this answer any questions? I probably say not, because collecting for us doesn't seem wholly dysfunctional. If you feel embarassed for collecting toys, you are poverty stricken, homeless or isolated because of it, then yes it is dysfunctional and might fall in one of these categories.

Regardless, why do we collect? The bottom line is we all have our own personal stories into why we do. We all get different highs and lows from it, just as Andy described. A further question would be why do we continue to collect, and how do we rationalize decisions in our collecting. (this toy vs toy or the rent check vs this toy).

Lots of interesting questions, but again, no one can answer it for you. We just have to be aware what our 'process' is.