I sell off stuff all the time, for various reasons. Sometimes I get a nagging sensation that doesn't go away, and I buy the same item all over again, but that can't be said about everything I sell, so I'd say it works out. A great time is when you get the item back in your hands and find some flaw that wasn't on the first one you had. Sell again! Finally, selling your cherished shit can be a serious head trip (addiction), and that is something I like to do for myself from time to time, but you might not feel the same way, so proceed with caution. "The more stuff you own, the more stuff owns you"
I had a bit of a panic attack one morning when I woke up last week about all the stuff I own. Not just toys, but tons of other shit...thousands of art books being the biggest burden. I have 2 storage units I haven't been to in almost 3 years...it's a bummer. I work through it because I bought the stuff for a reason similar to what Joel mentioned... I purged a lot of stuff from when I was a little kid in my early teens...and I regret that a LOT. Still, sometimes I think about paring it WAAAY down...then I come across something I forgot about in a box and the mind stops freaking out.
I'm also trying to trim down my collection of collections. I've got five collections going and I'm still trying to get out of a couple of them. It's hard because like a tree you establish root systems that is difficult to pull out. There's allot of emotional investments in all of it and it makes it hard to completely tear away. Right now my 60's vintage GI Joe collection has been trimmed down to a mere shadow of what it once was. I can't give it up completely cause it was a big part of my childhood and the fond memories attached. Vinyl is part of what I do for a living and is linked to my art so I wont be giving that up anytime soon. What I do when things gets too be ho hum is take a break now and then and stay away from it all for a month at most to keep things at an even keel and not get burnt out. It works great for me and I recommend it for those not sure if they're ready to give it all up completely.
I stopped collecting a long time ago. I'm a curator and amateur toy historian now. (Ha ha. Laugh with me.)
as long as you aren't drinking to drive it's all good! I think about selling off stuff, but then never can, this thread just made me go through a box and sell a few doubles I had of zipfaces and skullmerrys, I started going into a small hoarding phase that I quickly nipped. I am a homebody type person, so I like having stuff. Plus the only time I really want extra money is to buy stuff, so it would be weird without a focused collection. I go in phases, whether it's toys, books, DVD's, vinyl records or art, that is pretty much my vicious circle it just depends on my mood for what collection I am adding too at any given time. I also tend to go on mad shopping sprees like a was paris hilton just out of jail when I need new clothes. Oh well.
i like collecting because it makes me feel like indiana jones, except less rugged and good looking, and hunting less rare, less priceless, and less historically important things, while putting myself in basically no danger without travelling much, and not using a whip ever. as long as my interest holds in things that are hard to find, too expensive, and that i dont have space for, ill remain a collector.
luckily my lady is down with the collecting and buys her own figs from time to time.plus she says my collection helps her get ideas for her job (dont see how eyezons and pocket kaiju go in baby toys but..) and like other people said, just stepping back for a while helps to keep it fresh and add new things to search for when jumping back in.
Toys? Yes. I think I already crossed that bridge a couple of years ago. But I'm sure I'll always be collecting something else besides failed relationships. Every morning I wake up to a "to do" pile: These are all of the toys I'm trying to hustle (hint hint). And this is what's staying: I have limited space in my one bedroom apartment, so the idea is that the big pile of boxes with unwanted stuff is taking up real estate that could be devoted to some nice display cases for the stuff in the three banker's boxes. I daydream about how to to display those things, stuff like M1GO reissues and cutaway toys. It's an incentive to get off my ass and finally eBay the shit. (Yes, occasionally I have to do stupid stuff like this to myself, like dumping projects I need to complete on my bed, which sometimes leads to me sleeping on the couch.) Oh, yeah, and of course this stuff is staying, too. You might say I'm crazy, but everybody here should already know that there's a fine line between hobby and mental illness.
It depends on what you collect and what your need is. I've consistently bought and sold stuff. Sometimes I get something I want and then later on I decide it's better someone else get it. I don't know about other folks, but Internet sale sites and overseas buying has really kick-started my adult collecting. And even helped me refine stuff. I held onto a lot of stuff from when I was a kid because that's just what I had. Some of it I liked, some of it I simple had because that's what I was able to get as a kid when I went to the store. Now as an adult, I can sell off the stuff I was never really into and then get what I want. Right now I feel pretty sated in my Microman collection. Next step is not collecting more, but want to create some cool displays to show them off. Will say this: There was no better moment in my life than when I ditched CDs & LPs for MP3s. I really miss the days of rummaging through record stores, but nowadays, I'm just not into the stores; too many are just indie elitist and not as egalitarian as old-school stores. Not to mention outside of furniture, LPs & CDs were the heaviest stuff to move.
being unemployed for almost a year will at least put a halt on the collecting part of it i hardly even look at my stuff anymore depressing
20 years ago sitting around with other collectors talking about this I just figured its like being a drug addict, I have tried so many times to stop or at least cut down as I have gone through times when it was like binge drinking, knowing I was spending way tooooo much money and it was causing me some serious stress. And today not much has changed, I dont have the money to keep buying like that anymore and I still cant stop so its more than a hobby at this point, I do it because I love the toys and the fact that I am probably gonna go through major withdrawal if I just stop cold turkey. I have been able to focus more on my main wants though recently and I have to thank my wife for that. Maybe I am not as bad as I think.
I caught you knockin’ at the BST door, I loaded up my paypal, baby, can I have some more. Ooh, ooh, the damage done. I've seen the kaiju and the damage done A little bit of it in everyone... But every toy nerd's like a setting sun...
If you're really keen to hustle it might be worthwhile taking some pics and throwing it on the BST . . . I'm sure there are some killer items in there and the prices look pretty cool but a picture paints a thousand words!
I actually did sell off the collection a few times. Before I got back into toy collecting I had comic books up the yin yang, which I unloaded to a guy who was opening up a comic book store. My collection was large enough for him to fully open a store...yow... That was back in Indiana, which meant space. Moving to NYC ≠ space at all. but the bug hit and I started to buy. The one thing that made the transition were the Kubricks / Be@rbricks I had which grew once I opened up the (now defunct) website Kubrick World. Flash forward a few years and the interest expands to vinyl. Sold that, opened up a toy store and went to collecting kaiju / vintage stuff. So it's more of a business of buy and sell rather than total collecting. Things might be different in any other location but "the city"...here, though, space is a premium and you have to weigh out which is more important. Hell, the apartment I'm in has real closets, which for NYC is a premium sell item.
Yes, I have quit. I haven't bought toys in about eight months now. However, being a rabid collector from an early age, I have just focused on something else (records). The more things change, the more they stay the same. I plan on selling off my entire collection sans a few lines (Skull Toys, Galtans (standard and minis), Obake Dogs, etc.), I just haven't worked up the motivation to do so yet.
