gambitron Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 I would like to know what it is for everyone else here what it is that interests you in collecting toys. Respond one and all. I am the youngest in my family and so I got hand-me downs of transformers, gi joes, star wars and lots of other toys not to mention all the great stuff I got just for me as a kid. Then my parents decided to have a garage sale and told me that if I wanted to have money to spend for myself on an upcoming vacation I could sell some of my toys at the garage sale. This was that time in my life as a youngster that toys had lost some of their appeal and BOOM just like that I was almost toyless. Damn garage sale (atleast for me, the lucky people that got all my stuff I'm sure were happy that day!) That experience and the regret it has caused me is one the reasons I started repurchasing all of my old toys on ebay. Then my interest in Star Wars in general (the movies and books) got me into collecting SW stuff and it has just cascaded from there to where I just can't imagine my life any other way. My toy interests span to so many different areas from Minimates to Star Wars from Masters of the Universe to Transformers, GI Joes, and other vintage toys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minivenom Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 I guess nostalgia is one thing that causes me to collect toys like Star Wars and GI Joe. I can't really explain how the block figure thing got started, though. I didn't care for LEGO as a kid, and now it's the main toy I buy. I love the LEGO minifigs and my Minimates. I like to pose them and make little comic scenes, but I haven't done it for quite some time now. I just haven't had the time to enjoy my toys lately. As to what exactly drives me to spend my hard earned money on toys, I don't really have an answer. Maybe I should seek counseling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain_cbecker Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 I've been collecting toys or types of toys that I had when I was a kid and have such great memories. I was always into Sci Fi action figures, more than cars or super heroes or anything else. Some of my personal favorites were: Kenner Star Wars action figures - What else needs to be said, except that the newer figures are sooooo much cooler and have better joints, fabric clothes, more detail and holsters for weapons. Don't even get me started about an R2-D2 figure that's 3.75" tall with lights and sound or slave Leia. Mego Star Trek (the big ones with cloth uniforms and the Enterprise Bridge set) - These were the centerpiece of any Junior Trekkie Fun Pack and they had cool accessories (Phaser, Tricorder and Communicator) that you didn't get with other Mego superheroes. Money being what it is, I resorted to collecting some of the 9" Art Asylum/DST figures and minimates... if I knew we'd see the retro Mego figures again, I would have waited. Other Sci Fi toys like Buck Rogers, Classic BSG and The Black Hole - hey, when it came to Action figures, Han Solo needed someone to shoot when he ran out of Stormtroopers. These are always fun and inspired me to get the BSG minimates Space 1999 - A few neat toys and action figures, like to super-big Eagle Lander for the 3" figures - too bad the characters and story was so cerebral that it made Star Trek look like Indiana Jones. Hand-me-down box of 12" GI Joes from the 60's - Any action figure that comes with that many guns, grenades and military accessories AND a field manual to conduct a toy war rates at the top of any must-have list. When the hippies inspired Hasbro to dump the war angle and opt for adventures with super cool tanks and 6-wheel mummy-hunting rigs, it only got better. When they re-released the 12" Joes with the action accessory packs, I was all ready to take Joe to war all over again. As you can tell, I collect because it was something I had so much fun with, when I was growing up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbpanizzi Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Mine is pretty simple... I am a comic geek, therefore I collect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadpool Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Hrm... Two reasons. 1. When I was in eighth grade, I wanted Stikfas because I liked stick figures. I read Toyfare all the time (thanks to a friend). 2. A kid I knew had a customized Spawn figure that made me buy my own Spawn. Then other stuff... So, jealosy and sticks. Wow. As a funny side note, I just aquired said Spawn last week. Little brothers come in handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neolego Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Me....pretty simple.........it's cheaper than Crack...................and Legal!! Honestly though, I don't know what it is inside of me that craves to collect things. In fact, I truly believe I have a bit of a disease. I'm not joking, I have this weakness about me when it comes to new things. Point-in-fact, Transformers The Movie. I was all over it, I picked up the whole wave during the month of launch. Now, they are sitting in a box and I'm fixing to sell them on eBay. For me, it's almost the hunt more than the product. I love running through the store and finding something new. That's what happened. I walked down a Target isle and behind the "Protoform Optimus" was BARRICADE. I picked it up, with my hands sweating a little, and checked out. I was so excited, it was like an adrenalin rush.....and that's how it started. I'm seriously like the Indiana Jones of the Retail world . Anyway, I'm currently recovering from my illness. I had a long talk with my wife after the Transformers incident. I told her from here on out, it's Minimates, DVDs, and Xbox360. Anything else has to go. We, I'm being accountable to her and it seems to be working fine..............at least until the Iron Man Movies figures start to hit . neo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanester Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 I got started when I found some of my old toys in a footlocker after my childhood home was sold. Most were in bad shape, but not beyond repair. There were GI Joes (12" & 3 3/4"), Mego WGSH & POTA, Fisher Price Adventure People, lots of Star Wars figures, Gabriel Lone Ranger, Six Million Dollar Man, Micronauts, Color-forms, etc. I spent a few years doing repairs and replacing lost parts. I did so much, that I ended up doing repairs for other folks, also. I still repair Mego & GI Joe figures when I can find time. Throughout all this, the bug bit me and I started with the occassional new figure that I liked, mostly Marvel Legends, or Bowen Statues/Busts. Then came minimates... Its all been crazy since I got that first pack of minis with Hulk & Bruce Banner inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handsomedevil Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 I'm with Neolego. It's a sickness/compulsion for me too. Just when I think I've had enough & say I'm not buying any more, I'll see something really rare or something I've been hunting for forever. I'm forced to buy it & then it starts all over again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickle Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 well........ my dad collects GI Joes, my mom collects Kelly dolls something fierce and my sister collects all sorts of toys pretty hardcore. I just kinda always grew up around it and it fits I guess. I don't collect toys anywhere near as much as I used to, but i will pick up the odd toy if I like it (Giant microbes and Rukia from Bleach are all I bought in the last year), but minimates.... after I saw the BSG ones I could not resist and got sucked right into it. Working in a toy store also helps But yeah, I just grew up with it, I know no other way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallbreaker2.0 Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 The posters that said they are forced to collect, that there is something inside them that compels them aren't wrong. This goes back to the point in Human evolution when we were hunters and gatherers we gather things that we percieve as valuable and sought after. I know the exact feeling going from store to store tryiing to find something. For me that's part of it the other part is it's an idle distraction something that helps take my mind of of work or other things. It's hard to think about work when I'm trying to replicate the pose of the gsxm on the cover of the box or how the Thing looked on the cover of the newest ff or hunting down the few elusive mates I don't have yet . As far as things to be into it's not nearly as destructive as other things like drugs or gambling or whatever some people are into. I've noticed that most people have something geeky they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minijeff Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 Well I really got to thinking when I started reading this thread....at first I thought my toy collecting picked up with the 90's X-Men and Spiderman based on their respective tv series.....but the more I thought about it I remember being a little kid and playing with GI Joe, Transformer, MASK and of course Super Powers...then I hit the usual stage where society tels you your too old to play with toys and got rid of them...along came comics and once I was around 15 I started buying toys again........once toybiz stoped the lines before they got into the legends stuff I stopped briefly buying toys.....that all came crashing down once I saw and got Gene Simmons in the old 3 inch style.....since then its been all minimates and its not gonna stop until they do! Jeff of the Minis 4 Life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gambitron Posted September 30, 2007 Author Share Posted September 30, 2007 These responses are awesome. I love reading about other people who have the same "disease" as I do. I work literally right next to a TRU and every single day on my lunch break I go next door even if there isn't anything to buy just the hunt, and just being around toys makes the remainder of my day go better. I love reading all of your responses. Keep it coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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