How often or not often do you rearrange your display case(s)? I’ve got a few cases that are full and the contents have been decided on for a while (at least a few years) now, and a half full case that is just random based on just putting whatever I’ve been picking up lately on the shelves. I feel like I need to redo all my displays to work the newer stuff in, to make it all a more cohesive display, and also to just shake things up a bit. But damn if it isn’t a tall order. I think about the fort of tearing the displays all down and redoing them all and I feel so lazy. And it doesn’t get done. Does anyone else feel like this? Or do you like redoing your shelves regularly?
largely depends on the display itself. Some areas were in constant flux as new things arrived. Still experiment with what combines well, some thing get put away. But, once I’ve decided on a “theme” and found all the toys I feel like it needs- it stays that way. I even take a photo of it before I dust to get everything repositioned back where it was after they are clean. I wish I had proper display cases, but I sorta like being able to touchy touchy. I’m always nudging them around so they are in *just* the right spot.
I am mostly lazy, but my focuses are slow-building, so i kind of decide where something can go before it arrives, and that's that if it all works out. There are grails 13yrs waiting that i have a "spot" for. My Booska shelves are pretty much always set up the same; i like how they look and they also help me to remember the journey by arrangement. RxH stuff just got moved to a new cabinet in the last year...so i try to set them up in such a way that i like how things come together and leave it that way. i keep everything but tokojis in a glass-door cabinet because i hate dusting (and i used to have a cat). Tokoji are in an in-set shelf in a very low-traffic area, so dusting isn't necessary. if the feng shui is off, i can't stand it. get it set-up and move on, i say. i spend enough of my life energy on this hobby as it is. the less i have to rearrange the better. The only time i rearrange is when there is a few of something all coming at once. but once in, that's it.
This is how I am with my Secretbase fighters. I have 4 detolfs along one wall and I can cram about 80 fighters per detolf. Two are already dedicated to Secretbase and I’ve got maybe another 50-60 floating around in other displays. I’m wondering if I should empty another detolf to prep for more fighters & find new ways to display the other stuff. But like you said, the Feng shui is good right now… do I upset that? Or would rearranging be a good thing that would allow me to rediscover older parts of my collection? Once I commit thiugh, I have to follow through.
That's the question! i guess it what you have time and patience for. For rapidly evolving shelves, i'm more adventurous. for long-time loves, if i like what i see, i don't bother. I'm also the guy who will buy a transformer and not transform it if it comes in robot mode haha so...
I dread rearranging, so I try not to! Since my cases are stufffed to the max, it's such an ordeal if I have to do any serious shifting. To help minimize this, it helps to categorize by case, i.e. case for vintage, cases dedicated to buta, and cases for neo. This works fairly well, the only issue is buta toys. I have stashes of the new releases over the last 3 years, and Mr. O is no slacker in cranking those cuties out! I've also been very lucky and received help from kind peeps! Anywhoo, I like to assemble the buta in "database formation". That is, have each character type positioned by release order, standing next to each other. This also helps to keep a visual reference of what is missing (wish we could update the buta database) but I also like the look. The buta cases are now the only ones that require reorganizing, and it's usually quite time consuming when it has to be done! It's gotten to a point where the untidiness of large piles of toys (waiting to be shelved) is getting out of control, so that is my motivation for reorganizing. I've learned that you really need to display the stuff you've bought. It's so satisfying to see your toys and enjoy them, and yes, they continue to make me happy year after year!
About quarterly for me. I take each toy down, dust it thoroughly with a soft housepaint brush in front of the intake area on my air filtration unit, which I'll have set up on the corner of my drafting table. Then each piece gets lined up (fairly tightly) on the table; usually, I end up employing my computer desk, on the other side of the room, to handle a 10 or 20-piece overflow. Once everything's down and been dusted, I start arranging and posing, with an eye toward putting the gang back up on the shelves in fun and interesting clusters that I haven't tried before. All told, the process takes about 3 hours, give or take. I usually make an evening out of it. The length of time this takes/manageability of it, and the way it ensures that I interact with each toy I own on a pretty regular basis is all reflective of the (mostly) non-permanent, "extended exhibition" approach I've taken in my adult collecting. Most of the time, if something new comes in, something goes out. My collection hovers between 120 - 140 individual pieces at any given time; I start to get itchy and feel overwhelmed by it when it gets up in the 150 neighborhood (rarely).
About once a year for me! I’ll take a box from storage and incorporate it into the shelves, replacing the ones that have had their turn and will go back into the dungeon until the next switch-up.
I'm so ashamed I don't have a case right now, all my toys are in boxes, until I find the perfect display... I'm really bummed, but I just don't know what one to buy... I have some absolute heat, that's still bagged, because I don't want to take a chance on scratching the paint apps.. First world problems.
Don't feel ashamed, life has it's own obstacles. It took me 12 years to finally get to a point in life, where things were stable, and I could finally unbin, unbox, and unbag my toys, and get them into cases. It's going to be so satisfying once you have your toys in clear view!
I started last night and pulled a bunch of stuff down, now there are just loose figures all over the place and the idea of putting them up again is… not particularly enticing.
I’m the opposite. Taking stuff down is my nightmare, cleaning I can get into once I start, but putting things back together and rearranging is the fun part!
I agree with Grace, no need to be ashamed. I just recently got a display case after a mere 15 years of the collection being boxed up. A new issue arose now though: I'm trying, for the most part, to keep my collection to what fits in the display case. That was never a problem when I just had everything boxed up. After only having the display case for a little bit now, I'm surprised at how often I've already rearranged toys. Once was completely moving everything from one shelf to another, and another was changing up what was one a shelf completely, but most times it's been fitting in a new addition and sometimes needing to remove something else to make room for the newcomer. Of course I'm already thinking "maybe I just need to get a second display case."
I seriously think it helps to manage a collection. AKA "I have this case, I'm going to tone down on buying now that it's filled, and trim some fat." The last shelves I owned were a pair of detolfs. I've been looking at Moducase's, but I'm really weird about spending money. I have an expensive collection, in cardboard boxes, because I don't want to spend 200 dollars on cheep furniture, that will lose its value. One of my favorite collections here is a guy who has maybe 15 figures in his office, spread out under lights. I've got maybe 50 figures that I break out to look at when I need something to cheer me up, or want to play with my daughter.
How about snapping and posting some pics for our entertainment? I wouldn't mind seeing a before and after snap! This was my first pre-case Buta sorting photo in 2020. Does not include a whole bunch of micros! Does not include the dinos, which are in a separate Buta case. I'll have to rearrange everything (the Pandora/Chinpee and Hayabusa arrangements will stay the same) to add in the new stuff. That's definitely going to take some time!
