should this be in the boredom thread? have i been away that long that a new thread was added here? either way, weird! im coming up on almost a year of being away from 90% of my toy collection, and i come from the camp of "if you dont use/see/think about something in a year, then you dont need it" which i know is extreme, and i think about my toys, i just legitimately cant remember what i even have. i know a lot of people here have toys in storage and keep them there, but how does that fare for you? ive got a few toys with me here that are some of my favorites, but is it normal to want to purge the things that i cant even seem to remember? is this the dumbest question to ask? im sure when i visit my parents it will be a different song sung, but at this rate i feel like im going to be selling off a lot of toys this christmas. maybe this is too absurd to think about and/or extremely greedy, but i am happy with what i have at the moment, and feel like i dont need to keep tons of stuff boxed up. any way- id like to hear from you all who keep things in storage out of necessity or whatever reason!
Im on the don't-buy-it-if-you-can't-display-it camp so I tend to really think about my collection in that regard. I've also limited myself to about four makers and two of them are always super hard to get (PK and HxS) Maybe consider what you want and don't want and purge from there rather than purging everything? Another thing is what your idea of collecting might be: is it to have as many toys as possible or just a well curated selection? It's all up to you.
Well, while I can appreciate what you are saying, and do agree - to some extent - Michael, I would offer the rebuttal that this argument doesn't necessarily hold for your collection if you don't apply it to everything in your life. That is to say, if you are a minimalist, who is prepared to uproot and move only what fits into a suitcase, then I can understand that point of view. It's fine to just like a few things important to you, that you can take and display along with you. Some people are fine with a very focused, small collection, and when they get something new, shuffle something old out. That makes it a lot easier to consider the 'display what you own' rule, and I am often a little envious of that lifestyle. But that isn't the case for everyone. Some people on here know my situation, but basically I have moved a lot. My whole life. And it isn't really a pleasant experience. In fact, I hate it. But you can't always control your situation, and so even if you might choose otherwise, you have to roll with it. So, as a result, at one time or another, and almost always recently it seems, I have had stuff in storage here, there, or everywhere. It sucks. It is a shitty thing for many reasons. But what can you do? I'm a student, can never afford a proper place, and can't pay to move my stuff with me everywhere I go. So ideally, yes, I would follow the aforementioned lifestyle, but (1) that isn't me (for one, because being uprooted so often during my life has has the exact opposite effect, in that I feel more tied to my past and the importance of memories, which I treasure too much to easily toss away like a disposable life), and (2) because I simply cannot afford to buy again everything you need when you move to a new place. You still end up inevitably doing this as it is, and it hurts each and every time. I have stuff in storage, more than I would like, and prioritising during a move is never an easy thing. In fact, I am in the midst of prepping for yet another impending move right now, so this is both a timely topic to bring up and something that is a personal issue for me on many fronts. I think that most folks on here will likely side with your own sentiments on this, so I just wanted to share a little of how it has been for me in my experiences to consider some of the other side of things. I miss my collection. More than I could describe to anyone. Those silly toys mean something to me. They have been collected with a passion for my entire life, many of which I have deeply associated memories with. This is why, when someone might look at my collection of 'junked' Japanese toys, dug up flea market bargains, and garage sale finds, they might think it is near worthless and should just be thrown away or passed on. These are beat up, loved toys, that aren't going to be any kind of 'investment' to sell for a retirement fund. But it has value to me. I have said on here many times that this is how I view collecting. Get what you love, and appreciate it - nevermind what anyone else thinks. I am trying not to write too much about this, as it will just get dismissed in my usual blocks of text manner, but I do think that this is an important issue, and one which warrants discussion. Therefore, while I might not immediately agree with you selling everything Michael, I can also understand how you feel about it, the anxiety/struggle you are feeling about what to do with it all, and have faced this issue myself on many occasions. It is definitely a discussion I revisit and am happy to have in depth at any time with folks. I am not sure if have done justice to a counter-argument, but hopefully at least some of what I mean has gotten through. The takeaway message here is this: you are free to do what you feel is best, and what makes you most comfortable, but give it some clear thought beforehand. We all know well the regrets of selling stuff that we later wish we hadn't, especially toys. There are a lot of other issues tied up in this, so I don't think it is quite as clear cut as someone from the outside may view it. Just keep in mind why you originally bought these toys, and that should help you decide whether to keep them or part with them. Storage is never ideal, but sometimes it is just unavoidable. And hopefully, when it is necessary, it doesn't drag on. Hope that was a little help Michael. I feel your struggle over this, and am glad you brought it up. This is certainly by no means stupid or should just be brushed off without thought. You (or anyone) can PM me anytime for more sharing if you so desire. TL;DR - sell me your toys in December.
I think its a normal feeling to want to "purge" things. Before you start deciding to sell, just be sure that you're fine without them by spending some time with them.. but if the urge to purge overcomes the need to keep, by all means sell! I always think its a good idea to make one's life more simple by getting rid of anything, as long as you're sure you won't regret it.
I try really hard not to make impulse purchases in the first place. If I like it right now I should still like it a month from now. So not chasing "drops" on actual release dates erases the whole fake sense of urgency that seems to suck a lot of people in. Even still I end up pruning my collection every few months but most of what I get rid of goes to the kids of friends or relatives. If I let Japanese vinyl go I usually just give it away here. I can't justify the storage idea with the monthly cost and the horror stories I've heard about people getting theirs cleaned out by thieves.
*saddest trombone* As always, Andy. Welcome to my world. Sorry for the rant folks. PS - that is why there was that ever helpful TL;DR footer.
Well if you're happy with the few faves you have with you- sell the rest! I say just go home look at them, decide if anything would be near impossible to find again or still resonates with you and purge the rest! Logic being that even vintage toys 50+ years later will still be around for sale if you decided you missed a toy sold!
I have so much stuff in storage and boxed away. I didn't really realize how massive my collection had become until recently. Because I get new stuff and it just goes into storage. I always think that one day I will get away from this NYC living and actually have a studio and space to display my shit, so I keep it. Plus it's fun to dig through stuff and be surprised by what you find.
Definitely get away from NYC eventually. You never realize how relieving it is to actually have space and not be paying a mint to live in a box till you do. Although if you live with a significant other it will be a designated man cave.
thanks all for the insight, each with a good point made. im by no means an "impulsive collector" , so it might be tough when i get back to them all, but i will definitely spend time with them before selling if i do- maybe ill just purge all of the other nonsense i have in storage and keep all of the toys haha i also think this school of thought sparked from moving to NYC, its already a curse of having limited space, especially bcause i havent stopped collecting. slowed down on toys mostly, but still headstrong with record/cassettes/books thanks again for the thoughts, im at a pretty good point in my brain to figure things out. Im sure my mind will have changed a dozen times from here until the holidays
In life we always miss what we once had. It's our nature. But does keeping something serve us well. You might have an old favorite shirt that no longer fits. It's hard to give up because it was a favorite but it no longer has any value other than emotional. It's really pointless. That's how I feel about toys that get taken off the shelf to make room. But I am a minimalist. I want lots of toys but I also want a clean simple look. Like fishing in a mountain stream it's collect and release. I actually feel that hoarding and putting toys in storage is wrong to an extent. There are toys out there sitting in storage for years totally forgotten about by the collectors that have many hundreds already in their homes. Those forgotten toys are longed for by some other collector who would put it on their shelf and give it appreciation on a near daily basis. Let go of a few at a time and see how you feel. Unburdened or pained with longing?
Serendipity! I was just thinking about the very same thing this morning! My collection is mostly located in a man-cave where I barely ever go (the basement is faaaaaar!), especially since the crappy exchange rate has made my toy purchases grind to a halt. And as the French saying goes, "Loin des yeux, loin du coeur" (sort of "out of sight, out of mind", but switch "mind" for "heart"). It's periodically making me reconsider the whole point of collecting (especially after the kids destroy a toy or two). But at this point, almost everything I have has at least some sentimental value. The upside of having boxed up toys: You get to discover them all over again when you do end up opening the boxes again. Memories come surging, tears flow, etc. It's almost like getting them in the first place, and sometimes even better. The downside: You realize how futile and sick collecting is, where else the money could have been spent, and what a pain it would be to sell the toys. Depend on your outlook, I suppose. Oh and this topic has been brought up a number of times before, sometimes for some interesting discussions: 2008 - Do you see yourself collecting toys at this level in 10 years: skullbrain.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=20442 (We're getting there! We'll have to necropost soon...) 2008 - Ever have one of those evenings...: skullbrain.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22250 2010 - Ever consider quitting collecting: skullbrain.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=34880 2011 - Appreciating what I have: skullbrain.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=40273
Prune the tree, don't chop it down. (Don't listen to the people urging you to sell- they just want your stuff! )
Having toys stored in boxes surely sucks, but I have them handy and every now and then shuffle around what I have on the shelves. Having them somewhere else is something I've never experienced so I don't know how I would feel, but I'm inclined to believe I still wouldn't want to let them go. I see valid points on the leaner collectors though, and if that's something you're now aiming for maybe you should try that konmari method. Basically she states that you can divide your things in three: keepers, maybes and goners. After doing that you go again through each of the 'maybes' and decide what to do. For me letting one of them go is really hard, sometimes I wish I could do it. I think it would be a release... so if you're in that point now, try it. (and yes! sell them to me )
Apologies if I'm necrothreading here, but I've been away from the boards for a little while, and am really enjoying browsing through them again. I'm quite moved by the openness here by some of the board members on this topic, and it certainly goes to show that there are a number of us that have these feelings towards our toys. I often reflect back to my early teens when I left school and went to work full time in a collectors shop. It was mostly vintage (and modern-vintage style) die-cast toys like Dinky/Matchbox/Corgi etc etc, but we also did a small amount of character/sci-fi collectibles too. The owners were both themselves collectors (and have been for decades, they actually own a toy museum in Wales now). We quite often had people come into the shop and look around before asking 'what can I buy that will become worth something?' to which we would usually respond along the lines of not to collect something because of it's future value (something that is not easily predictable), but collect something because you like it, then it will always have value, to you. Of course now we see shows like Toy Hunter etc who is the total opposite of this line of thinking and purely flips toys to make oodles of cash. >sigh< Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I empathize, I've been there and sold stuff I didn't think I wanted any more, but then regretted it down the line (I've lost count of how many times I bought vintage Star Wars figures, but after the third time of completing the set and selling it, I'm not doing it again!!!). That said, sometimes I do go through boxes and have a clear out once in a while (using the 'if it's not seen the light of day in X-amount of time, it's time to send it on it's way). I do feel its cathartic to clear out the clutter, even if you're only going to trade them for something else you are interested in. It's a weird cycle. We have emotional connections with these objects (isn't that why we collect them?), be it nostalgic or whatever. One of the things that my museum owner friend always said to me, which struck a chord is: "we are only custodians of these things". This all probably sounds like a bunch of waffling nonsense, but thanks for sticking with me.
No apologies necessary at all. This is what the board is all about, and I think that is a major part of why this community remains so great - we all have shared experiences and feelings with this stuff. Haha, I wonder how many folks on here are/were also members of the Star Wars bug in collecting? It is a safe bet the a̶d̶d̶i̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ love of toys means a good number of us have plenty of other toy types on shelves, but it is always nice to hear such stories just the same. Do go on, this is something I would definitely be interested in checking out.
I am actually in the process of clearing out about 20-40% of my toy and comic collection to make funds for new toys/comics. I restrict myself to spending more or less only what I make back from sales. For me, because I have a rather limited budget and limited space, it's about having the handful of toys with the most personal appeal, instead of having super cluttered shelves/bins full of neglected toys. While I love looking at people's collection pics of crammed shelves and wondering what some people on IG do with the hundreds (thousands?) of toys they must have, it's not for me. I also find that once I let something go, I regret it 5% of the time. Not bad odds, and there's always something else to grab my attention. Even when I do regret it, hunting it again is part of the thrill and (perhaps) more rewarding than attaining that little hunk of plastic I've scoured the internet for hours/days/weeks/years to own once again.
Contrary to what Gordon Gecko said, greed is NOT good, and buying toys for the sake of it is greedy. I've never understood people who would prefer art to sit rotting in the attic instead of enjoyed in someone else's collection. I see people all the time saying "if you changed your mind on this drop that occurred 10 minutes ago, ping me". The fact that this mentally even exists at all is just...sad. Who the Hell drops hundreds of dollars and then regrets it 10 minutes later? I've paid more than I care to admit for some MVH pieces, but it is only because I know that I have a very finite end to this collection. I'll never own 27 Ollies, 9 Krawlusses and enough DXes to field a vinyl army because I would rather share the love I have of these toys giving others more opportunity than to be either opportunistic hunting for trade bait or just being a greedy dickhead.
At one point in my sofubi collecting career, I got rid of everything that was on glow- or clear-based vinyl -- I deeply regret this and it led to sell-offs that I wish I could reverse to this day. A million thousand trillion times, this. As a collector who obviously goes after new releases, at the same time, I also still hunt old, unloved toys like crazy. To think that other collectors just have them sitting in a giant plastic tote somewhere is a total bummer. Joe, what do you have hiding?! Edit: Typos
I actually came to a decision last night very much along the same lines as my toy collecting. One of my other hobbies is tabletop wargaming, and over the years I've amassed a whole shit-load of miniatures, predominantly Warhammer 40K. I have some friends that I game with, but we haven't played 40K in over 2 years (we've since had I think 2 revisions of the game in the meantime!). We've moved on to WW2 or Dark Ages. I was still plugging away at my Space Marines but realization eventually dawned on me that they'll probably never get to see any action. I still have tons (and I mean tons) of unpainted plastic, most of which is still yet to even be built, and I don't think I'll ever get to it. I've been looking at it over the last few years with the 'I'm going to get to that in the next few months' train of thought, and here we are no further forward. I had put together a Fantasy Battle army as well, which at least had a couple of fights, but has sat in a box now for the last 2 1/2 years. So anyway, I decided to just stop collecting/painting/gaming 28-30mm wargames, and focus on 15mm instead. Easier and quicker to paint, and a fraction of the cost as well. (Has anyone here who is familiar with gaming actually seen Games Workshop's prices in recent times? ). So I decided to have a purge of all my unpainted plastic, sell it off and get some 15mm stuff instead. I'll keep the stuff I've painted, because to me it's another form of art, and I'm bloody proud of some of my work, but the rest can go the way of EvilBay etc. it's weird, it's like I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders lol! It had seriously become a chore to work on this stuff 'because it was there', and when a hobby becomes a chore, it's no longer a hobby. Just wanted to add this to the discussion, as this thread was resonating with me when I made my decision Here is one of my painted guys, just cuz:
Hating opportunists is one thing but how can you think people are being "greedy dickheads" when they own toys they like. collectors can buy whatever amount of the same sculpt that they want... I own tons of multiples of sculpts I like. and the ones that are harder to get are in my collection because I put a lot of time and effort into getting them. and nothing in my collection is just sitting there for trade baits sake either..i think there are very few people that have a "finite end" to their collecting like yourself. I understand getting bummed out about missing releases a lot, but no need to hate on people that are dedicated to building giant collections, which is a lot of people on this board. ps. all my toys are in storage.. only till I move, normally all my toys are on display and viewed everyday
Every single toy I own is displayed and I've sort of run out of room, and thus have limited myself to not really buying anything (also financially/priority wise made sense). Thing is, it's a slippery slope to say to someone it's unfair you're still buying toys only to put them in storage and let other collectors appreciate them more. That's almost akin to someone having sour grapes for someone who owns something they don't. I mean display/living situations change constantly. Maybe that person is in flux and maybe they are buying to display later realizing some toys will be hard to find? I know several members here who for whatever reason have had to store things for a bit before ending up with a great collection display. I get hoarding for the sake of hoarding and then you really need help if you have no control over urges and are in you're attic throwing new toys into storage muttering "my precious" to yourself. Or you're a fucking speculator preying on other collectors. EDIT: Crap basically what evom said- oh well not editing now..
