Quitting/putting collecting on pause

[Xavion2025]

Toy collecting is definitely dying. You can read the room that all the toy companies know it. That's why during terrible economic downturns and huge upswings in costs, they're still cranking out more stuff than ever before. Gotta get us to buy it now while there's still an us to buy it, and worry about what they do without us when the time comes.

It’s inevitable. There’s simply too much overhead. With a line like Marvel Legends, we’ve got to cover Disney’s overhead, Hasbro’s overhead, and the overhead of the big box stores while getting a figure of acceptable quality at an acceptable price. It’s like a big balloon that continues to be filled with air. It’s only a matter of time before it pops.

I think third party and boutique lines like Mafex, SH Figuarts, and figma in Japan are the future of our hobby.

I have a solution for this: We gotta start playing with our toys again. I have a feeling not enough people actually take the time to ENJOY the stuff they have. Imagine if you bought a video game and then just started at the box on a shelf. Your brain knows that's not what that's there for.

I know I don’t spend the time with each individual figure that I used to. I thought buying less figures would change that, but it really hasn’t yet. Maybe that’s because..

I get home and largely just want to vege out. Not even mess with my figures, just sort of sit and watch youtube and decay slowly.

Yep, I do the same thing. I really need to start limiting my You Tube time.

Fuckin' RIGHT? I'm noticing I'm doing the same thing. Looking at where we want to buy in 5 years, in 10 years, and in 20 years. And for me personally, when I start looking that far ahead I also tend to ask myself "how much of this stuff that I'm buying now will I even HAVE in 10 years.... how many action figures in my collection right now did I buy ten years AGO?" And that's when I really start to get down on myself for how impermanent my collections are. If I'm only ever buying stuff to look at for a while and then cycle off, why am I buying so much of it? Can't I be just as happy with one figure that I'm going to sell in 3 years instead of 70 figures I'm going to sell in 3 years?

Maybe the 'right thing to do right now' isn't, you may be surprised to learn, constantly buying stuff I know deep down will not stay with me for as long as the next pair of underwear I buy. Maybe that's just a ridiculous cycle to live in.

I’m still trying to work that out as well. With Marvel (Hasbro) and Star Wars (SHF) it’s just a matter of paring down and making sure that going forward, I only buy figures that will follow me into retirement. It gets a little more complicated with DC, anime, and video game characters because there have been so many different lines covering the same IPs.

ADHD, man. It's a combo-hit of anxiety and needing external sources of dopamine. On my worst days, I can order a toy from Amazon for next day delivery and then drive to EB Games to buy a few Joes because 'tomorrow' isn't fast enough for that dopamine hit that I need to even keep functioning as a human being.

Oh, I know. It’s been like playing Whack a Mole this year between the sleep apnea, the ADHD, the depression, and the anxiety. A med that effectively treated one seemed to exacerbate another. However, I know I’m fortunate in that none of them have been severe enough to keep me from functioning at a decent level in my day to day life. I know there are those that have it far worse than I do. It’s more of a perpetual pain in the ass than anything else, but I think I’m just about there. I get what @jayjonah is saying about meds. I wanted to be off them completely, but if my CPAP machine and a moderate dose of Lexipro can get the job done, that’s a huge win.

 

[altcunningham]

No kidding. When I'm buying to keep my dopamine levels afloat, I'm not making sound decisions. I'm buying out of desperation, which funnels into my unhappiness around toy collecting. The cycle repeats.

In my own life, a year it took years to realise Warcraft and toys were doing that for me with few positives. I'd argue even the community aspect was not good because everyone normalised extreme behaviours or habits and enabled.

One time in 2007 I lost a job, and my guild leader offered to put me on salary so I could cover all my expenses, still get comics, but most importantly they would not lose their tank. It sounded pretty cherry but really it was disgusting. I rejected it because in my head I knew that was just digging a deeper hole. I wasn't sure for what. But I just felt repulsed.

It was only two years ago I got back to drawing after decades away and putting it up against my toy habit, and video games, I realised that was what was missing.

I liked creating. I liked being able to look back on something that I put time into and know that I spent the time. And see the improvement.

And I know firsthand that most people in my life don't give a s*** no matter how cool the action figure is. But they always take time to ask about my sketchbook, or look at my portfolio, or draw them something. There's no way in hell I could impress a woman that I probably would want to impress with PlayStation trophies or Warcraft raid achievements. But guitar, writing, public speaking... These are all things I know have worked.

So it's different for everyone, but for me, I just slowly replaced those dopamine hits with wanting to draw or write or record things on my guitar again. And even now when I'm like oh I have time I should play some video games, there's always something that says " or you could be improving in X". So we'll get my hour or two in because I do think it is important to have mental resets and then I want to do something else productive.

And I absolutely think that's why I've had a turnaround on toys the past few years. But I don't forsake it. There's a lot of stuff that is cool. I just really need to know that whoever is in my life can make sense of why I have it, especially the people that are always telling me they wish they had my skills or talents.

It's brutal but that's how I have to keep myself straight.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

So it's different for everyone, but for me, I just slowly replaced those dopamine hits with wanting to draw or write or record things on my guitar again.

But alt... what if I'm a talentless hack?

 

[altcunningham]

But alt... what if I'm a talentless hack?

Just based on interactions in the Lounge and D&D I don't think that's true. I'm very curious to see what it would like with you running a tabletop game or reading a story you've written, especially based off your film criticism. There's a lot that aligns and there's a lot that intrigues.

And even if you were just baking brownies or small woodworking for yourself, in addition to collecting toys, I think it's still the trick to manipulating and retraining the brain shit behind all this.

Especially when you want to talk, spending and anxiety. Obviously the two become a snake eating itself if you're not mindful. And I know we like to joke in the hobby that hey, at least we're not doing hard drugs or drinking, but even the heaviest drinkers I know are not spending what I spend in a week on third party figures. So if we are just talking about a coping mechanism, I bet cases could be made about every vice or hobby.

I just think the trick is having something healthy. That way, even when you feel down, you've still got something tangible to point to. Even dioramas or action figure photography are adding "action" and "achievement" to flip through.

Edit: The flip side of photography even - I know I'm not alone in seeing cool shots and thinking. Yeah I need the army build hand ninjas, too. And then I don't do anything with them. I have to recognise there's no point because I'm not actually going to do that. And that's a step.

 

[altcunningham]

But alt... what if I'm a talentless hack?

Also!

Not talent.

It's time invested. That is all any of it ever is. Sure, there's a variable ceiling, but I think "talent" is such a gatekeep because it makes people feel like it's something they weren't born with or that they just wouldn't be capable of.

Fuck that. It's time and effort. Everybody can create.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

Just based on interactions in the Lounge and D&D I don't think that's true. I'm very curious to see what it would like with you running a tabletop game or reading a story you've written, especially based off your film criticism. There's a lot that aligns and there's a lot that intrigues.

You're a sweetheart.

And even if you were just baking brownies or small woodworking for yourself, in addition to collecting toys, I think it's still the trick to manipulating and retraining the brain shit behind all this.
...
I just think the trick is having something healthy. That way, even when you feel down, you've still got something tangible to point to. Even dioramas or action figure photography are adding "action" and "achievement" to flip through.

Definitely.

I don't think our hobby is explicit consumerism as long as you're doing something with it. That something could be toy photography, diorama building/customizing, or thoughtfully arranging/curating your display. I even think that having in-depth conversations here is part of that. We have conversations here that regularly stick with me for days. Not infrequently, I'll say to my wife, "The other day on the forum, X came up..." and we launch into a discussion of our own based on what was posted here.

It's time invested. That is all any of it ever is. Sure, there's a variable ceiling, but I think "talent" is such a gatekeep because it makes people feel like it's something they weren't born with or that they just wouldn't be capable of.

While I believe in some degree of inherent talent (my body was never able to catch passes like Jaxon Smith-Njigba or block shots like Victor Wembanyama), there aren't as many natural-born savants as we think. Most talented people worked their asses off to get where they are. (Or had a rich uncle to make sure their hard work found an audience.)

 

[canprime]

Ask the model train collectors. My grandfather was one. He's been dead more than 20 years now.

Honestly, my post was meant in jest, but I'm glad you found truth in it.

Not to play armchair psychologist again, but I think this is a huge part of my collecting malaise.

A lot of us, myself included, are fed up with the state of the world. I wouldn't say I'm depressed, but I'm depressed-adjacent. Unfortunately, the reasons for my depression are largely outside of my control. Instead, I'm hyperfixating on the parts of my life that I can control. While collecting makes me happy, it also brings about existential dread. Why am I buying this? Should I be buying this? Who will deal with this when I'm dead? Questions usually left on the periphery are brought to the forefront because of my state of mind.

No kidding. When I'm buying to keep my dopamine levels afloat, I'm not making sound decisions. I'm buying out of desperation, which funnels into my unhappiness around toy collecting. The cycle repeats.

See that is an interesting thing to think about. What about hobbies like model trains?

Kids still love model/toy trains. Both of my boys played with them when they were younger, but grew out of them (sound familiar?). From all the cursory things I have seen over the years the model trains hobby seems to skew even older than our fandom. While it still exists and kids still play with trains I wonder how much of a parallel that fandom has with ours, just that they are ahead of us on the time scale.

 

[Damien]

See that is an interesting thing to think about. What about hobbies like model trains?

Kids still love model/toy trains. Both of my boys played with them when they were younger, but grew out of them (sound familiar?). From all the cursory things I have seen over the years the model trains hobby seems to skew even older than our fandom. While it still exists and kids still play with trains I wonder how much of a parallel that fandom has with ours, just that they are ahead of us on the time scale.

My purely anecdotal POV on this: There are currently a hundred places in my city or city-adjacent to buy action figures. Three of those places are literally still Toys R Us. By comparison, I am aware of 2 stores where you can buy model trains and only one of them is specifically a model train store (and is run by the exact kind of person you would expect so it wouldn't even surprise me if that store is run at a loss, or only just breaks even).

So I have to imagine the model train hobby dies harder and sooner.

 

[Ru1977]

The other day I had three shelves of Marvel Legends and yesterday I went through and pulled down enough that I now have two shelves of ML, and intend to list those on ebay. This morning though, I woke up and looked at those shelves and asked if I really need that team... and that team... and those other ones, and realized I'd set up the second shelf entirely with my next purge, so those may all end up on ebay as well, and the remaining shelf is essentially people from 1984's Secret Wars (and people who should have been, like Invisible Woman). But I keep coming back to "I loved that movie, but don't need the figures". But how long will it be until I am thinking "I loved Secret Wars and it was massively impactful on me as a kid, but do I really need these figures?" I dunno... but it's a really fun representation of my love for Marvel.

Now I'm looking at my three shelves of Black Series and wondering what restrictions I can lay to clear one shelf there.

 

[Damien]

The other day I had three shelves of Marvel Legends and yesterday I went through and pulled down enough that I now have two shelves of ML, and intend to list those on ebay. This morning though, I woke up and looked at those shelves and asked if I really need that team... and that team... and those other ones, and realized I'd set up the second shelf entirely with my next purge, so those may all end up on ebay as well, and the remaining shelf is essentially people from 1984's Secret Wars (and people who should have been, like Invisible Woman). But I keep coming back to "I loved that movie, but don't need the figures". But how long will it be until I am thinking "I loved Secret Wars and it was massively impactful on me as a kid, but do I really need these figures?" I dunno... but it's a really fun representation of my love for Marvel.

Now I'm looking at my three shelves of Black Series and wondering what restrictions I can lay to clear one shelf there.

This has been me for the last couple of years. Slowly trimming back until I really just have the things I love. I gave up on teams after I completed my beloved Jim Lee X-Men and realized that I didn't really need the entirety of the Jim Lee X-Men on my shelf. I gave up on collecting X-Force because Hasbro blatantly refuses to release them all in matching costumes. So I'm sticking with the specific characters that stand out in my mind if I sit with my eyes closed and think 'Marvel Comics.'


You guys, my ENTIRE Marvel Legends collection:
MTO Sentinel
Shatterstar
Longshot
97 Gambit
97 Wolverine
97 Rogue
97 Cable
Cosmic Ghost Rider
Ketch Ghost Rider
Mojo
90s War Machine
90s Modular Armor IM
Deathlok
Spiral
Age of Apocalypse Weapon X
Brown Costume Wolverine
Jim Lee/Bone Claws Wolverine
Silver/Black 'Armored' Spider-Man

Most of them aren't on display right now so I'm doing this off memory and may have missed one or two. But I think that's it. And realistically there's not that many more that I'm waiting for/desperately wanting. I could maybe double that number of figures and literally be done with Marvel.

My Star Wars Black Series collection is like.. 15 figures? Again, I could probably double that if they do the releases I want, but I think then I could also call Star Wars done.

 

[Ru1977]

Yeah star wars is harder just because of my adolescent programming heh. But shit, even with Marvel... Could i break out of the Secret Wars restriction? Heh.

 

[Damien]

Yeah star wars is harder just because of my adolescent programming heh. But shit, even with Marvel... Could i break out of the Secret Wars restriction? Heh.

Creating new limits for myself on my collecting is probably the only thing right now keeping me sane. I'm always looking for a way to -tighten- the focus on what I allow myself to buy, and to put more items in the out-group of 'a cool thing, but doesn't fit into what I collect.'

 

[Ru1977]

I genuinely admire that. I do the same but need to go further.

 

[Damien]

I genuinely admire that. I do the same but need to go further.

We'll do it together. Like sobriety coaches. I'll start: No fucking IDW/DD G.I. Joes.

 

[RicksNerdLife]

I really can not put emphasis on how much shit I have. I am spilling into an office and the attic. I should post pictures.

To get rid of everything is so daunting that it paralyzes me from even listing it. Especially because finding every piece and part is literally impossible. It stresses me out.