[Tarquinius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowflakian

I agree with everything else you said. I just wanted to point something out here.

How is collecting toys any different than any other adult collectible? Precious moments, collector edition barbies for princess diana, the presidents, among many others that are aimed squarely at adults and not even your average toy collectors? They display them on shelves and special clear containers with stands... Not much different than we do with figures.

While we focus on the toy aspect of it, we should really be more focused on the collecting aspect, or that drive to have them all. Which then goes hand in hand about your questions about dysfunctional, choices between this item or the rent etc.

What you collect really is irrelevant, it boils down to why do you collect.

I was raised in family that collects. Maybe not toys, but my grandma is all over precious moments as is my mom. My grandma collects comemorative barbies like gone with the wind or the presidents or diana as mentioned, and other hobbies exist like coin collecting or stamp collecting among others that many would view just as silly, but to each their own for the hobby they enjoy.

So yeah, I personally never put much thought into it's weird to collect toys or not. To me that has always been others shoving their perceptions of what's okay and what's not onto others. To me, it's no different than the above mentioned things, or any other collecting centric hobby like baseball cards. In fact it's probably much akin to them when you look at the prices many pay, and how the values fluctuate and when. Ditto to comics that many out of ignorance view as a medium for children.

At least this is why to me I've never been ashamed of it, and if anyone tries to make me ashamed of it, I'll point that out. Sometimes I just don't feel like putting up with it and will make an excuse, but most of the time, I'm loud and I'm proud about it.

So I guess really, my collector-centric nature was inherited via my surroundings and parentage. Not even going to dive into the whole nature vs nurture aspects, I'm just going to call it both.

I agree with a lot of what you said, and really I think we mean the same thing, but I didn't do it justice.

It isn't something to be ashamed of, but if you are that is a part of your dysfunction. Cognitively you are thinking and reflecting upon some sort of your conflicted self. You have an image of yourself which is suppose to go hand in hand with the norms of society, but instead you don't feel like you do because of your hobby and thus you feel ashamed.

I agree with you and everyone that it isn't wrong, but for some people their dysfunction with collecting ANYTHING starts with comparing their real self with their ideal self.

Another point of thought Andy: Collecting toys or anything really, has one great pitfall. We all have the same toys. There are a few of us who have the extremely rare and significant figures but on the whole we all have the same Iron Man and same Wolverine. So WHAT IS THE POINT TO IT?!

Truthfully, you have to go beyond the figure. You have to make it your own. Customize something that sets you apart from any other collector, build a cool diorama. You have to make it your own. Thats why a good portion of us open up our figures and make it unique to us.

If you wanna try something new, buy an extra Iron Man or whatever, and just screw around with it and try customizing it. But do something with your collection that sets it apart and the appreciation of your collection will double.