Why do you collect? Reflecting on my life...

[enyawd72]

This is a pretty somber thread, just a heads up.

I always see so many members here reminiscing about their favorite toylines and re-acquiring them from their youth...a lot of you seem to collect what you loved from your childhood. I have a different reason for collecting, which I'll go into in a moment...but it's not a particularly happy reason.

I grew up in an extremely dysfunctional household. We lived on a very unprofitable farm, and were always poor it seemed. My dad also worked full time and my mom part time to make ends meet, but there was simply never any extra money. This led to my parents fighting a lot, and taking out their frustrations on us. The order of the day was work, work, work. My sister and I worked as many hours as a full time job when we were kids.

As far as toys, etc. my parents couldn't afford a lot and also felt we didn't need to be "entertained" as they put it. The answer was always..."You don't NEED that. You have work to do."
Add to that the fact that my parents always kept us so busy, they didn't allow us to have friends over, or go to friends houses. I never had a single birthday party growing up. No birthday presents either that I can remember. My birthday just happens to be a month after Christmas, so I was always told, "You just got blank for Christmas, you don't NEED a birthday present." Bearing in mind that Christmas was really small, except for two years I can remember, and one year we skipped it altogether.

It pretty much sucked. The other thing about my parents is that they were not only strict, but cold. I don't know why I'm telling you guys this, except that it's been bothering me of late. My parents never told either one of us they loved us. Not once. Never a hug, nothing. My mom's been gone 11 years now, and it never gets easier. Especially around this time of year.

So I guess my reason for collecting isn't so much reliving my childhood as enjoying the childhood I never had.
Not only that, but I have a strong attachment to these little plastic things that bring me so much joy. They're always there when I need them.

[Captain Big Trousers]

You were lucky! </fouryorkshiremen>

My father spent all his money on drink. Closing time would make him angry and he'd come home and take it out on us. The first time I got seriously beaten up I was seven. He (an ex-boxer) used his fists to get me to sleep when I couldn't.

We "didn't deserve" Christmas, although my mother would find a bit of money to put a few things under the tree. Not much, mind you, and I can't remember a year where I got something I'd asked Santa for - usually I received a few odd random presents.

As a consequence my imagination had to step up. When you only have three action figures - an Action Man helicopter pilot (with no helicopter), the Lone Ranger's nemesis (Butch Cavendish) but no Lone Ranger, and a midget pirate (Fighting Furies Peg Leg), you come up with some fairly strange story lines. But I digress...

The reason I collect is because one day, while living a reasonably normal, adult, yuppy life, my wife and I went into a phone shop and stumbled upon this phone...



This phone can moo like a cow instead of ring. Or sound like a doo-wop group. Funny, right?

So we bought it and put it upon our yuppy desk in our tastefully decorated apartment.

And it stood out like **** on a bull. What can we do to make it less than IN YOUR FACE?!

And then I had a moment of inspiration. Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!!!



So then I had this on my desk...


(not to scale)

... and a week later we're walking through Target and I see this for $29 ...




Well this is an Act of God, isn't it?



Then there was a Marvin the Martian added to the group. And an R2D2 pen jar. And yeay verily did it become a collection. And it did not stand out like **** on a bull. And here it endeth.

For several years.

Until one day I was rummaging through Firebox.com and I saw they were selling Cyberman heads. Like... real ones made by the BBC prop guys. Well I had to have one. And, while I'm at it I might as well pick up a few repro Action Men (GI Joes)...

... and then everything went fuzzy, until I came to my senses a few years later and my study looked like this...



My son inherited Buzz (and snapped his foot off). The wacky phone fell off the desk and broke. But the B-9 robot and the R2D2 pen jar are still there, somewhere.

So, that is why I collect.

[wayne foundation 07]

Dwayne , my parents and yours came from the same mold, but we have had that talk already, and I still think your a better person than me because you have come to terms with your Dad.
As to collecting..........
Since the beginning , man has gathered.
He searched and tracked down the things he did not have and what he needed to survive. Be it knowledge , food, weapons or trinkets and bobbles . It is somehow instilled in us from what we have came from, we work , we hunt we collect. The Generals in all the wars brought back rewards from there concurring. The pirate's with their looted booty, and us are treasures from Toy's R Us.
In my case it fills the hole in my life in what I didn't have and what I thought I missed out on. A little OCD and compulsiveness seems to add to the cause, this is were we bring up my 63 mego Spiderman, why 63 because I haven't bought # 64 yet
We do what we do because it makes us feel good, the same reason a drug addict needs that next rock, or a gambler or the alcoholic, its what they need, it's what we need. It makes us feel good, at least it does me.
And who doesn't enjoy the spoils at the end of a good trip to a flea market or toy show unpacking the new found treasures, completing that set or toy line, it completes me , makes me feel good.

[MIB41]

I had a tremendous imagination as a kid, so I really invested in the things I had. I had my friends, but I also enjoyed doing my own thing. I was already becoming retrospective before I became a teenager so, for example, I loved getting up Christmas morning and just looking at everything laid out and the sparkle of it before I opened it. I wanted to experience the magic of that reveal, so I left everything undisturbed as I took it all in. I just loved soaking up moments. I knew how to sit in an emotional pocket and just feel it. That's why I have such strong retention of those memories and why I love collecting different figure lines. I was emotionally invested and I can still go there. I use my collection to balance matters when times get challenging. It's a great way for me to recharge my batteries and stay focused on things I need to do. It's been a great tool, but like anything, I'm having to clean some of those closets once their purpose is served. There's living in the moment and then there's holding on. I'm learning to let go of some things, because the emotional merit has been met.

[kerowack]

I had the perfect childhood as far as I'm concerned and had every toy line I ever wanted and even some I didn't want(visionaries and that other holographic ghoul line....I hate holograms). I just collect to continue my love of properties outside of their medium and decorate my basement so it looks cool. No deeper reason than that. Some collections come and go, but the stuff I truly love is always on display. I also have a few things that have been passed down through the family that I hold dear (swords, my nanny's self made ceramics).

I love my collection room and often find myself looking at other peoples rooms too. It's just a fun hobby.

[Rallygirl]

When she was in her 90s, my great grandma was looking for someone to take over her genealogy research. With only two grandchildren in the state, I was the logical choice. My love of all things old came fro her, including my love of vintage hats, purses, gloves. She gave me everything she had boxed up and packed away for years. She also instilled in me that desire to keep things that may be unique in the future. She saved packaging from defunct local department stores, a collection really, but packing away and saving for posterity.

Because of that, I have a basement full of things that I think will be valuable someday, not for any monetary value, but for curiosity's sake.

[palitoy]

I'm really not sure. Pretty content but over all weird childhood, both parents and grand people were self employed types. I spent a lot of time picking orders as a kid or playing in a stock room, sometimes my folks worked round the clock. It also meant they could take time off to do anything with us and they were good about that.

My dad was in the toy industry until about 1981 or so, I'd read insider publications at his office, I knew who Marty Abrams was when I was 7, that probably left a mark on me.

I'm also predisposed to hunting and compiling, I spent the last five years working on two major lawsuits and I noticed I was basically toy collecting when tracking down and collecting evidence. I'd say stuff like "Oh I need this one!" when finding a memo from 1983.

The best thing I've heard about collecting came from Art this year when I interviewed him for a Mego Meet promotional video, it's not reliving childhood, it's remembering it. I like to remember when I couldn't wait to get out of bed in the morning. Not that life isn't good now but nothing tops when you were eight, at least in regular circumstances.

[HardyGirl]

When I was a kid growing up in NYC, life was good. I grew up just outside of Harlem, and compared to a lot of my friends and classmates, we were rich, (we weren't but a lot of my friends thought we were). I was the baby of the family and all of my siblings (at that time) were 12 years and more older than I was. I was doted on and endulged (but not spoiled, b/c I got my share of discipline). Sometimes when my dad came home from work, he'd have something for me; a candy bar or a toy, just because. My mom usually didn't get me things just because, it had to be my birthday, Christmas or some special occasion. (but sometimes she caved and gave in to my begging, but it was rare). I pretty much got most of what I asked for at Christmastime or my birthday. I didn't have too many parties, but sometimes was taken somewhere special. And as I said life was good. I'm really an overgrown child. I have an excellent memory, and constantly amaze my family on details long since forgotten. I collect b/c I look back on those times w/ fondness. I want to relive them and share them w/ my students and people of like minds. Almost every toy I have has some special story behind it, whether it was something like I had as a child, or just how I obtained it. I actually play w/ most of my toys, and I'm reminded how great it was to be a kid in the 70s.

[Johnny]

My story is pretty typical I guess. I was a shy kid and didn't make friends easily.
My mother Margaret was kind of a cruel, religious fanatic that walked around in a black cape.

My class mates would constantly taunt me. In senior year the prettiest girl in school took pity on me and got her boyfriend hunky
Tommy Ross to take me to the prom. But this mean girl Chris Hargensen had other ideas and right when they crowned me prom queen
they dropped a bucket of pig's blood on my head so I used my telekenisis to seek revenge on all of them!

Shortly after that I found a Mr.Mxyzptlk and a Maskatron at a garage sale and have been collecting vintage figures every since!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

[TomStrong]

Dwayne I totally understand what you're saying and may you have a wonderful Christmasthis year! I miss my folks the most at this time of year, they both died in '96. I think it's only natural for people to feel that way at this time of year. This season is imbued with reminiscence and remembrance to the point where sometimes it's sickening. But I'm trying to be thankful for what I have now rather than what I have lost. I can't do it right everyday and some days it feels like a lump in my heart but somehow collecting megos helps me remember my great childhood fondly and gives me a new hobby to do with my daughter.

[enyawd72]

^Thanks Tom. I really love all my MM friends and I've gotten some very touching PM's regarding this thread. I'm fortunate to have a fantastic wife and in recent years have reconciled with my dad, so things are good. I just look at kids sometimes and how happy they are this time of year and get sad remembering my own childhood. The last thing my mom said to me before she passed away was that I was a disappointment. That was the lowest point in my life and something I doubt I will ever get over. Believe me I've tried.

[4NDR01D]

I've just always liked collecting things I guess, the thrill of the hunt maybe? Comics when I was a kid, records in my teens/twenties, toys in my thirties.
I'm sure my toy collecting started as purely nostalgia for childhood toys but it quickly moved into aesthetics. So I guess currently that would be my answer, aesthetics.
I feel what I collect says something about myself in a subconscious way. I've always considered certain toys to have a bit of a "punk rock" feel to them. Maybe because all the cool "ma and pop" type underground record stores would have cool things on their shelves too. like Frankenstein models, or a Hugo man of a thousand faces with a mohawk and a pin through his nose, theirs something sorta "counterculture" to certain toys. Sometimes it's because the toy has mysterious charm to it (japanese toys from shows I've never seen or heard of can drive me crazy). However I will say I think I'm transitioning from a "quanity" to a "quality" mindset the longer I collect.

And Dwayne I'd really like to recommend the documentary "The Treasures of Long Gone John", I think you might really relate. I recommend it to any "collectors" though.

[Mr.Marion]

I'm starting to lose interest in the hobby. But I did go on tear buying and seller over the last two months. Picked up a mego Tarzan, Aquaman, boxed Davy, and the Hall of Justice. Maybe I'll sell some loose ends and pick up a grail piece and call it a day. Sometimes it feels like I love the hobby more than it loves me.

[boss]

I loved you in Coal Miner's Daughter.

My story is pretty typical I guess. I was a shy kid and didn't make friends easily.
My mother Margaret was kind of a cruel, religious fanatic that walked around in a black cape.

My class mates would constantly taunt me. In senior year the prettiest girl in school took pity on me and got her boyfriend hunky
Tommy Ross to take me to the prom. But this mean girl Chris Hargensen had other ideas and right when they crowned me prom queen
they dropped a bucket of pig's blood on my head so I used my telekenisis to seek revenge on all of them!

Shortly after that I found a Mr.Mxyzptlk and a Maskatron at a garage sale and have been collecting vintage figures every since!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

[Earth 2 Chris]

I was very blessed to have two parents who wanted their kids to have more than they did. You would think that would be a given, but I've found unfortunately it's not. My parents were both pretty poor as children, especially my father, growing up on a farm with many siblings and few toys. He did have some, and a loving environment, but nothing like me or my kids have. Also, my parents worked under the "they are only kids once" philosophy, so we were fairly spoiled. I think sometimes maybe TOO much. I think my parents may have went a bit beyond their finances at times to give us a really good Christmas. I know my dad worked a lot of overtime and also worked in tobacco when that was Kentucky's major export. We never took a REAL vacation as kids, but my God we had toys...and friends over...and good times. I guess they were wrong...I wasn't only a kid once. For some reason, I went straight from playing with to "collecting" these things. The only thing that has curtailed that drive a bit is I want MY kids to have just as good, if not better, childhood than I did (which would be hard to top, honestly). So, I find myself more interested in spoiling them than myself these days.

I do feel so VERY lucky to have had such a great and wonderful childhood. It really pains me to hear of stories like Dwayne's and others who had similar situations growing up.


Chris