Why do grown men collect toys?

[samurainoir]

http://cnnphilippines.com/lifestyle/2015/05/14/grown-men-who-collect-toys.html#.VVYR6TB4Ost.facebook

[Magenta]

I do because my childhood was ripped from me. My friends and I use that term loosely broke into my home when my father and I were away to steal my toys. They also trashed the house. Then Dad lost the house in commodities. So we finally get a new place and I start a new collection to have someone ELSE break in and burn the sucker to the ground. So now I am in my third childhood.

[kinostadt]

Magenta, that's horrible. I'm sorry you and your dad had to endure all that. I hope you have a fantastic third childhood, and I hope you have a great home security system.

[FETT1]

Memories...keeps me thinking young in this fast moving and sad state World....its a ton of F-U-N....the adventure of the hunt... Thats it !

[TrekStar]

Damn, what neighborhood did you grow up in? that's terrible, I really feel for your Dad that he had to go
through all that, I know it sucked for you too. But remember that old saying, (third times a charm)

[VintageMike]

Same reason I collect a lot of things, pretty much a relatively untouched piece of time which is magic to me.

[Bronxboykev]

I didn't up until 2009... I'm pretty sure I've told this story a few times...
I'll try to keep it brief as to not boar the ones who already know...

Both Myself and my brother went through a life altering surgery... At first everything was fine and everything was set for a smooth recovery... Well let's just say my path was a lot more difficult... Six weeks after surger stuff went awry, as I'm told now I'm the first person in the history of my particular procedure to have happen to me what happened to me... 3 extended hospital stays and 2 surgeries later... I was bed ridden for what was had to be 6-8 months... I watched a lot of my Dads old television shows... Cheyenne, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Palladin... After awhile there's only so many reruns you can watch lol...when the prospect of an unsure future is in front of you you start to wax nostalgic, I went back to the toys of my youth, GI Joe, Marx Best of the West, Lone Ranger and Tonto, MEGO WGSH, Then I found the Mego Museum and E bay... And it's been a whirlwind ever since...

[Brown Bear]

We don't stop playing because we get older; we get older because we stop playing.

[PNGwynne]

It's all about nostalgia for me--I rediscovered some childhood toys that have just what I want in playability, and customizing them exercises my creativity.

[Mikey]

Interesting question considering our generation basically started it all (not counting a few toy train hobbyists that go way back)

If people our age from past generations could see us they'd probably say GROW UP !!!

[huedell]

I can't help but think of Seinfeld's "If I want a cookie, I'll have a cookie." bit, but with "toy" replacing cookie.

"You know... I gotta say... that I'm enjoying adulthood..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZWRPhdVFlY

When you're a kid, you're pretty limited by your parents discretion, but as an adult, you can call the shots more.

It's not a perfect analogy, because the "toy" thing has the element of nostalgia that eating doesn't have,
YET, if you think about what that nostalgia element IS, it's actually not far off, as a big part of that nostalgia
is remembering that same "burning need" to "have" that when we were kids, was more frequently
stifled than it is today.

"If I want every DC WGSH Mego loose and near mint, then I'll HAVE every DC WGSH Mego loose and near mint."

[Gorn Captain]

I think that most of us that collect toys still have a strong imagination. To channel our productive brain cells, we need to engage them into a creative process, much like kids do.
Toys have endless possibilities, you can create whole worlds in your head with them, and I think people like us need that.
Just look at all the customizers here, we all use our imagination.
When people stop "playing", they lose an important part of that creative process.
I think toys make us better as people, by being more childlike (in the best possible sense of the word).