I can’t figure out if I wanna put my entire collection on eBay or just set the whole fuggin’ lot on fire! Either way, feels like I’m on borrowed time rn.
I've probably sold off about half of my collection in the past year. I don't miss most of the toys at all, and I even forget what it is that I had. I have a small collection that, for the most part, follows a few rules: 1. For the majority of sculpts, only one colorway is permitted. I have so many toys I like, this helps me focus on the one ideal version of a sculpt and allows for more sculpts overall in my collection. 2. I set an artificial limit on how large my collection can be. At this time, I have one shelving unit for toys; the rest fit into a large Tupperware bin. If the bin overfloweth, the sales beginneth. I've been collecting "toys" in some shape or form since 2007. After 13 years, I've seen many toys come and go. The less I followed hype and overspent, the more I enjoyed collecting!
^^^ This would be the logical and rational way to buy and maintain a collection. I obviously fail to have a grasp on the logical and rational!
If that is the case, two birds, one stone: Vinyl pyre Viking funeral! Come on guys, there is light at the end of this mess of a tunnel! It may include a lot of face mask wearing fugly toys but think of the fun we can have moaning about those!
Once the pandemic started and work went from 6 days a week down to mostly working from home for half of my usual pay I thought I might start selling off some toys. After almost half a year of this awful virus stuff I am really glad I didn't let go of my collection. Having toys to play with and shelves to rearrange and heads to swap on and off has helped keep me sane. This year my perspective in general and my priorities have changed a lot but thankfully toys are still one of my happy places.
Every other depressive episode I look at my toy shelf and think "wow what a waste of fucking money why did I do this" then I pick up one of my favorite figures and that helps a bit. I started to look at it as a collection of art compared to just toys since then.
Being in lockdown this spring made me realize what's important in life: spending good time with people you care. Collecting is fun indeed but it's pointless... it can drive you insane, it pollutes a lot (just crazy) and in the one, chances that your close friends are into this hobby are very slim... I'm trying to get rid of my collection and I'm just planning to keep couple of pieces (if not just one).
Since work dried up as soon as the lockdown hit, I've been trimming the collection over the last 4 months to avoid eating into savings . . . family first! Then a weekend like last weekend comes around and a whole mess of awesome has me spending again! Luckily it coincided with work starting to pick up!
I got into this hobby at 19-20. At first I collected everything and anything because i just thought the toys were so damn cool. Sold a lot of those impulse-y toys earlier on, some I still have left, but I’m slowly selling them off. It helps to have a focus, whether it’s one of each sculpt or an artist. I really consider when I like the work of a new artist before buying cause I know I’ll want more. So now my collection is pretty concentrated into at most...4-5 artists. And at least 3 of those have collaborated together, so it’s all somewhat similar “aesthetically”. This summer has been a huge surge in collecting for me though but all toys I wanted. USUALLY it’s far and few between. I’m probably going to slow down to a standstill for a while again.
Hubbee says no way! Hubbe is the first kittee I've been owned by, that won't chew on my toys (big mellow beastie). I echo what @Waterbear says. Toys have always been a part of my life, and most people collect something. I don't see it as a big money waster, because I enjoy seeing and playing with them. Everyone has their priorities true, but at least with toys they stick around, not like trendy clothes (I do dress in rags, but then most science folks don't care about fancy threads ), electronic gizmos that become obsolete a year or so from now, fancy dinners, etc... I LOVE toys, and as long as I adopt stuff I really like, I rarely have regrets (only a few here and there....)
I work from home for a large corporation as it is so this pandemic albeit a bummer and a serious impact to the world, my day to day and income has not changed. I consider myself very lucky. This hangs on a board in my home office. From the talented Chanmen. I’m back into collecting more so now because of the pandemic.
I'm in the same boat @FLTodd. My wife and I are both working from home right now. Given how crazy things are though, I still don't feel very comfortable spending money on toys. If I do get something new, it is now just from selling other toys or trading. If something new comes in, then something old is going out.
I totally understand @wingnut0. I should’ve added that most of my new purchases also came on the tail end of selling prior purchases. Haha, so is the nature of this beast.
For now i've slowed down to the point of stopping, with only very occasional purchases. There are multiple reasons for this - the price of living going up, postage going up, more likelyhood of getting stung by customs, and most of the sofubi i prefer are more expensive nowadays (or are completely unattainable). I also ran out of space where i keep my Japanese toys. The room is so packed full of comics, books and Kaiju it's like a Collyers mansion. The rest of my home is full of non-Japanese toys and more books (endless books) ... so no room for expansion, presently. Still, that does'nt stop me from reading about current toys and keeping up with the scene in general. Just because you slow down or stop collecting for months does'nt mean you're out of the hobby, or you love toys any less. I still covet the shit out of what people post on SB, but i've supressed my collector impulse because i've had no choice. It feels like a relief sometimes, because i'm not constantly chasing the new cool score, all anxious and shit. If you've attained what you feel is a really nice collection - the rest is gravy. No need to sell toys if you are still enjoying them and you don't need the extra money. Leave 'em be. You can sit back and really take in and enjoy what you've amassed. It's funny, i see certain SB'ers very regularly sharing toy purchases, and sometimes i think - 'holy shit these guys must be rich', but then i rememember only a few years ago - i was exactly the same! Still. After blathering on about all that - i'm sure if i suddenly came into money i'd quickly be going wild on Mandarake. Lack of space be-damned.
We need more pictures of your rooms Moog, I have always been amazed by your Car Boot Sales pick ups and I'm really curious to see where you put all of these treasures
I don't think I've said it before, but I'll say it here - The Moog's collection was one of the main things that motivated me to start collecting. I would google "sofubi collection" images, and a lot of the top results were that kaiju room. Beautiful stuff. I know I'm not the only one. As for me, I stopped buying for about six months, but mostly to focus on video games & other hobbies that my wife and I could enjoy together, during the stricter portions of the stay-at-home orders. I'm now back to picking up a few things here-and-there, but I'm quickly getting into the zone where everything I need is a Marmit, a vintage, or something else hard to find. I'm not generally picky about paint schemes, but some monsters just haven't had many releases. I imagine the Toho license is the sticking point for a lot of these.
Was reading this the other day, and it's also partially responsible for a minor tweak to my collection shelves I posted in the Whole Collection Shots thread. This here really nails down where I'm at. I was logged into my PayPal account earlier today and saw that my last purchase was over two years ago. But I still come by here frequently just to see what's going on, and get jealous over whatever @xSuicide Squadx is posting pics of! Even with the shift away from what drew me here, this board is still one of the best places on the internet. When the real world matches the hell hole that the rest of the internet is, SB is a nice reprieve.
@---NT--- Aye, thank you! One of my favorite things to do with my time is bring more images here! As per the thread subject I’ve cut back on a lot, pertaining to buying so much different makers and toys. I’ve dwindled it down quite a bit. And even though the volume from these specific artists is still semi - regular, it helps a lot to have more immediate focus. There are times I still look at everything and wonder what else I could do with the monies if I sold it all. Or even half. But I know it’d genuinely bum me out. I’m far from losing any sort of control when it comes to finances or even space, though I still occasionally ask myself “why do I have all of this?” One of the better parts of most my days is being able to appreciate the toys, the memories, the friendships made, meeting the artists. There’s just so much many of the toys I have carry with them. The back and forth is relatively easy to have in my head, but I always come back to wanting to continue building and collecting.
Does anyone find their collection to be their focus due to lack of other interests, especially with COVID? I've had 2 ex-girlfriends mention it to me, but the money I spend on sofubi wouldn't be going to pay down debt, or buy cars I don't care about or go on vacations I can't even go on now. Limited art has been a passion of mine for about 13 years or so but even if I quit tomorrow, it isn't like that money would be spent on anything different.
i think it fills a certain void for most of us. Like you, I've been collecting art since as soon as i had my own money. I have several other interests, but those don't necessarily fulfill the feeling i get from my collection. And yes, if i wasn't spending money on toys, that money would be going towards tattoos or some other form of art, I've just come to accept that. I always think about down sizing and how silly it is to have a big collection, but at the end of the day i absolutely love coming home and being able to see that wall and get some kind of odd joy out of it, and i think that's ok.
I've been collecting ever since I was a wee lad. Picking up rocks. Then having a rock collection. Letter openers. Comic books for a long time. Even tried stamps but that lasted about a week. I have a collector mentality and can't really stop, or, fill that hole inside of me. I remember seeing a huge selection of jam and I wanted all of them. I don't even eat jam. Toys, and especially sofubi has been my favorite thing I've collected. In fact, all my other collections have been dropped to help my toy addiction. But if I wasn't collecting toys it would be something else. Peanut butter most likely. To go with my jam collection.
