Quitting/putting collecting on pause

AceofKnaves said:
Aheheheheh. Yes. Very much yes.

I started out specializing in addiction (still work that specialty) and I cannot stress enough how much substance use/abuse is a compensatory act.

NO ONE is “just” an addict.
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I discovered this is an interesting way. I started smoking at 16 as a way to fit in with the group, because masking was only getting me so far. I was a pack-a-day smoker from 16-37. When I decided to quit, it was actually easy (I'm told it was so easy for me due to the autism, and how I basically traded one addiction -smoking - for another - buying toys.

Anyway, point being, after quitting smoking my "symptoms" ramped up. My mask turned to dust, I started having "behaviors" when I was overstimulated. Small things that never got to me before were suddenly insurmountable mountains. Stress levels skyrocketed. Somehow, in a way that I personally don't really understand, I was "self-medicating" with the cigs and stopping that self-medication allowed things to ramp up. I'm not sure I fully understand it all, but it was a strange process. I think every now & then about going back to it, trying to "reset myself" to a period before my mask was gone, but I know that is a terrible idea and I need to stay away for the obvious health concerns it brings. I must say though, ignorance was bliss lol


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I never really thought about it but my collecting probably amped up a fair bit when I stopped smoking. I started at 12 and quit in my mid-20s. Probably half of that time I was a 1-2 pack-a-day smoker. I quit cold turkey when my daughter was not even a year old, as far as I remember. It wasn't long after that I ended up with WAY more action figures. That might be coincidental, though. The landscape of toy collecting in general was changing a lot 10-15 years ago.
 
To me it seems like I'm hearing a lot of rumbling about people dumping their collections. Maybe because of tariffs, but also maybe because a line ends or is coming to an end (Power Rangers Lightning Collection, McFarlane DC Multiverse for example). If, for whatever reason, your buying stops, do immediately dump your collection? For example, if you love collecting GI Joe Classified but something comes along that makes it nearly impossible for you to keep buying (oooohhh, I don't know......say tariffs for example) do you just get rid of everything you have? Is it only fun if you can add to it in perpetuity? Or can you enjoy what you have without adding to it/updating it? I know for sure I am the later, just wondering if I'm alone.
 
Not alone. I most definitely can enjoy what I have if my collecting has to end or a line dies. Shoot I’ve been a Mego fan since I was a child in the 70’s. I remained a fan and still enjoyed my collection while the company was gone. I remain a fan now that the company is back. If I have to stop the hobby because of the current stupidity, I’ll be thankful for what I have and take pleasure in the amazing things I’ve been able to collect to this point. Truly it’s been a golden age for action figure collectors.
 
yojoebro82 said:
To me it seems like I'm hearing a lot of rumbling about people dumping their collections. Maybe because of tariffs, but also maybe because a line ends or is coming to an end (Power Rangers Lightning Collection, McFarlane DC Multiverse for example). If, for whatever reason, your buying stops, do immediately dump your collection? For example, if you love collecting GI Joe Classified but something comes along that makes it nearly impossible for you to keep buying (oooohhh, I don't know......say tariffs for example) do you just get rid of everything you have? Is it only fun if you can add to it in perpetuity? Or can you enjoy what you have without adding to it/updating it? I know for sure I am the later, just wondering if I'm alone.
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I definitely wouldn't dump a whole collection just because I can't add to it. I'll say that stopping points do tend to make me downsize a collection, if for no other reason than the pause allows me to sit back and look at it more critically and see where I could do without some things. That's harder to do when new additions are coming out.
 
If a toy line ended and I couldn't add to my collection anymore, I'd only get rid of it if what I had didn't even meet the bare minimum for what I had in mind. Funko's Game of Thrones and Firefly lines, for instance.

If Hasbro ended Marvel Legends tomorrow, I'd just commission customs of the few remaining holes in my collection.
 
Ru1977 said:
Right, I won't store them anymore. Display or....go away.
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This is something I am really trying to focus on.

If It's not out being enjoyed, what's the point. I'm also trying to focus on "What is it I WANT to see/look at". It's my stuff in my house, what do I want to see. I really want to see all my vintage toys. Because they trigger the most nostalgic feelings and good memories. But then things like modern MOTU, TMNT, GI Joe and Star Wars, because they are among my all-time favorite properties.

So, way more thought is being put into my collecting based on a what's to display, what's to play around with, and what's just going to end up in a tote/or is currently in a tote.

I also have too much of some properties. I will ALWAYS keep and display my Mattel DC Universe Classics. But I have all these other DC figures from DCC, DC Direct, Mattel, Mezco, McFarlane. I shouldn't have done that. I need to condense.

As far as quitting/pausing collecting. I think I will always be willing to pick up vintage figures if I don't have them. All things from the 80's and 90's are fun to me.

But I have made the decision, as far as modern collecting goes, my modern collecting dies with the lines I currently buy. If Marvel Legends, Star Wars Black Series, GI Joe Classifieds, MOTU Origins, Masterverse, etc. end, I will not start another collection of those properties. I have bought toys of those properties from my childhood to now. And I just don't want to start again or buy all these characters over again.

And I really don't want to start any new lines of any properties. (That MASK Loyal Subjects line might get me though)

Then as far as costs, if tariffs do make things go up because deals aren't reached or changes aren't made, and they go up enough it's not affordable to buy all I do, I will try and just pick and choose what's most important. But I'll handle that when the moment comes.

Right now, it's collecting as usual, but there is an end in sight. because like I said, when it comes to modern toys/lines, I will probably stop when the lines I collect now stop and only pick up vintage toys here and there for nostalgias sake.
 
I'm good with enjoying what I have when/if collecting ends for me, or if lines end. I've spent a lot of time and money on this stuff, no reason to ditch it unless I just get to a point where I don't want any of this stuff anymore.


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TheSameIdiot said:
If a toy line ended and I couldn't add to my collection anymore, I'd only get rid of it if what I had didn't even meet the bare minimum for what I had in mind. Funko's Game of Thrones and Firefly lines, for instance.

If Hasbro ended Marvel Legends tomorrow, I'd just commission customs of the few remaining holes in my collection.
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This is where I am too. If Black Series ended, or prices me out, I'm okay with what I have and will continue displaying that. Well, may have to make customs of the remaining Task Force 99 members.

Marvel on the other hand, since i collect MCU, even with the FF, if I can't get, at the very least, movie versions of Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Kitty Pryde (not even necessarily the Fox versions) or realistic looking gamerverse figures... I'd see the collection as quite incomplete and would seriously consider unloading all of it.

Speaking of Firefly, I forget which company did the 5 or 6" figures a little while ago (not the movie figures but the show ones), but they were only able to do half the cast
.when it became clear I'd only ever have Mal,.Kaylee, Jayne, Wash, and Zoe, I did sell those off. Yeah it could have worked because that was the original crew before taking on their permanent passengers, but I couldn't accept that. No regrets, I still have the little Serenity ornament on a stand at least.
 
Super Camel said:
I will ALWAYS keep and display my Mattel DC Universe Classics. But I have all these other DC figures from DCC, DC Direct, Mattel, Mezco, McFarlane. I shouldn't have done that. I need to condense.
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My DC collection is AMMOST there. My DCUC is paired down to just about exactly what I want it to be. DCC and DC Direct figures are all gone, gotta get up the courage to jettison the McFarlane stuff. I sat back for a long time thinking about which of the two to keep. In the end it came down do a couple of figures: DCUC has Black Canary and Zatana. I really want McFarlane to do a classic-ish version of each of those, but I honestly don't see it happening before he's done. He dragged his feet too long on the female characters. Also, DCUC has a really nice Hawkman and Hawkgirl and while McFarlane does have both, they don't have the aesthetic uniformity that Mattel pair has. Those are the kinds of things I look at.

Marvel and DC are the two big headaches for me. For Marvel I have Toybiz and Hasbro, for DC it's Mattel and McFarlane. All have things that I enjoy about them, all have their faults. I don't want two lines for both, but I open up my box of TBML or my box of DC McFarlane and I say, "Ugh, how do I let go of THIS one?"
 
The Transformers comment made me laugh. There were some I said no way am I going to attempt that transformation. I'd say half my listings were in one mode. I'd prefer seeing robot mode as a buyer, however as a seller, I'd rather ship in vehicle mode. I had a good portion already in vehicle mode because it was usually more compact for storage.

I think most of my Bayverse went to Chinese buyers, even though I had listings for US only. This was more than five years ago, but a lot of those TFs were going to forwarding services.
 
I have very few modern Transformers---87 Studio Series Hot Rod, Kupp, Burr, etc, they're great, but it seems like the best ones take a ton of time to transform. I don't have that kind of time :). My vintage TFs, however, you pull out their legs, pull out their arms, flip the front end down, done. They're also great because they're based off of real cars. Downside: They just stand there like statues, no articulation.
 
I definitely maintain more interest in lines I am actively adding new figures to, just from the simple task of having to keep moving it all around as I'm adding the new figures.

Once a line ends it is much easier to pare it down because I usually want to get rid of teams that will never be complete enough (not teams that are just missing one or two, but teams less than half complete).
 
mrboshek said:
The Transformers comment made me laugh. There were some I said no way am I going to attempt that transformation. I'd say half my listings were in one mode. I'd prefer seeing robot mode as a buyer, however as a seller, I'd rather ship in vehicle mode. I had a good portion already in vehicle mode because it was usually more compact for storage.

I think most of my Bayverse went to Chinese buyers, even though I had listings for US only. This was more than five years ago, but a lot of those TFs were going to forwarding services.
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This is a toy board, so I'm sure everyone here is already aware of him, but Emgo is just about the best transforming youtuber out there. If you have a Transformer that he hasn't done a video for, I'd buy a lottery ticket lol www.youtube.com/@emgo316 He does reviews and transformations.

And if you have a 4th party KO, even if it's upscaled, you can almost always just watch a transformation for the official release and it'll be 99% the same. But give him a look if you need to pack something in vehicle mode, I find that even the longest transformations don't take very long if I'm watching him and copying his movements. Much, much easier than trying to use the instructions.
 
yojoebro82 said:
To me it seems like I'm hearing a lot of rumbling about people dumping their collections. Maybe because of tariffs, but also maybe because a line ends or is coming to an end (Power Rangers Lightning Collection, McFarlane DC Multiverse for example). If, for whatever reason, your buying stops, do immediately dump your collection? For example, if you love collecting GI Joe Classified but something comes along that makes it nearly impossible for you to keep buying (oooohhh, I don't know......say tariffs for example) do you just get rid of everything you have? Is it only fun if you can add to it in perpetuity? Or can you enjoy what you have without adding to it/updating it? I know for sure I am the later, just wondering if I'm alone.
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I think there's multiple elements to this. The first is just to acknowledge that some people collect collections. Even if they don't totally realize it. The addiction isn't necessarily the plastic - it's the 'adding to my shelves.' Once they can't do that anymore, the collection quickly loses its luster and isn't necessary anymore. Gotta move on to the next thing that will allow them to keep ADDING to the collection.

That's something I see a lot of. It's practically inevitable that the moment a line is either presumed dead or publicly cancelled - the figures start appearing in far greater numbers. Like Sand People.

I would argue there's also another element to that which seems to be overlooked. Or at least I never see anyone mention it. USUALLY by the time a line ends it has been around long enough to be dated, combined with often there's something else already coming out or just on the horizon that looks to be even better. Action figure 'technology/design' - however you want to put it - seems to evolve pretty quickly. If a line is finished and the fun of collecting it and adding to it all the time is over - it's way easier to accept the flaws that it has and move on to the next thing (DCUC = McFarlanverse, for instance).

But yeah, I would say that more of us than will ever admit or even acknowledge don't just collect to have X or Y character on the shelf. Some us collect, at least in part, because we enjoy the addition. Putting a little +1 on the collection every few days or every week or whatever gives us that little shot of dopamine we need. When we can't get our fix, it just becomes an anxiety-inducing mass of 'stuff' we can't really do much with.

To be fair.. definitely not everyone. And I imagine there's degrees within those that this is true for.


Aaaanyway.. for my part I try to acknowledge this is true for me to some extent. I love toys. I've kept my ToyBiz Lord of the Rings Isildur to this very day. I still have some childhood toys as well. But if I ever stop buying a line, or a line ends, the first thing I usually do is purge the stuff I only bought in furtherance of a bigger collection and who aren't characters that I necessarily want just for their own sake.

Like if I bought a complete X-Men collection but Hasbro never made Beast and therefore I couldn't complete the team, I'd certainly end up selling off more than half of the team because I don't care about them -except- as part of the team. I really want Vengeance, but if they made Vengeance and I bought it, but they never made Danny Ketch before Legends ended - I'd sell Vengeance.

But yeah, I wish I could pretend I was above the idea of selling stuff when I'm not actively adding to it. But I definitely have been guilty of that as well, and I can't even really explain it. Once MOTUC ended, I think I only had my collection for a couple of years before I started selling it off in bits and pieces until there was almost nothing left. Can't even fully say why.
 
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