Are vintage collector's secretly depressed ?

[bgrimm77]

Oh Dont Deny It......embrace It...we Are Nerds , Geeks , Freaks , And All Around Wierdos !!! But That's What Makes Us Awesome!!!!!

[Meule]

I have absolutely no problem with the way the world looks today, nor do I want to go back to my childhood days, I collect Batman stuff because I'm a Batman fan and I collect vintage toys because back then toys were cool, nowadays they just plain suck and I can do without the umptieth variation that is strictly manufactured to knock the money out of my pockets. No, thank you

[Hector]

I have absolutely no problem with the way the world looks today, nor do I want to go back to my childhood days, I collect Batman stuff because I'm a Batman fan and I collect vintage toys because back then toys were cool, nowadays they just plain suck and I can do without the umptieth variation that is strictly manufactured to knock the money out of my pockets. No, thank you

I agree with you...except replace Batman with Superman.

[Hector]

Oh Dont Deny It......embrace It...we Are Nerds , Geeks , Freaks , And All Around Wierdos !!! But That's What Makes Us Awesome!!!!!

[huedell]

To me the answer SEEMS simple altho' maybe with more
psychological searching/analyzation it might be somewhat different...

Collecting seems to me to be about a feeling of POWER... or about not
being POWERLESS.

I think MANY human beings do things so that it builds their ego
or otherwise makes their ego stronger.

As far as collecting vintage toys/new toys goes----
You think of the stuff (or the KIND of stuff) you wanted as a kid,
that you were denied for whatever reason---and then---NOW---
you can ACTUALLY HAVE THOSE THINGS.

Some people don't collect "things" because they have OTHER ways
of satiating that lust for power----some of which are more admirable
by the bulk of society----like sex or car restoration or career advancement
---or maybe simply accumalating MONEY.

Of course THOSE people aren't going to look as odd (to most)
because that's society's rules, ya know?

[Wee67]

A connection to "HAPPIER" times...

That seems a bit revealing when answering your original question, Mike. I will say I wonder if its the collecting part of our personalitities or the nostalgia drive that may have a base in some form of depression. Even during those halcion days of buying Megos from the local toy store in the 70's, I was a collector. And I was pretty happy then, too. I wanted every ginger ale can with each Philadelphia Flyer on the back. I wanted every superhero 7-11 slurpee cup. I think the collector part of me works in tandem with the nostalgia part of me.

Now, I am quite happy with today. My life is much, much easier in a lot of ways. No offense to others, but if simplicity is your drive, then why stop at the technology level of the 70's? I'm sure children of the 50's would claim their era was more simple (in fact, they did just that). I would propose that maybe its more to with the comfort and familiarity level than the actual level of technological complexity.

I think a lot of nostalgia is about comfort and control. If you know everything about most things, you feel much in control of your surroundings. When we look back, we do so with a pretty good knowledge of how things worked then. It seems "easier" or more "simple." Faced with today's questions and answers with unclear consequences, the past seems a lot easier to deal with.

A few years ago, I wondered about my drive to nostalgia. I tried to look up any academic research on the subject and was surpised to find the field wanting. There's really not a lot of psychological research on what is and what causes nostalgia.

[huedell]

I think a lot of nostalgia is about comfort and control. If you know everything about most things, you feel much in control of your surroundings. When we look back, we do so with a pretty good knowledge of how things worked then. It seems "easier" or more "simple." Faced with today's questions and answers with unclear consequences, the past seems a lot easier to deal with.

If I may be so bold, I'd say what you wrote and what I wrote share
much of the same conclusion.

[Wee67]

If I may be so bold, I'd say what you wrote and what I wrote share
much of the same conclusion.

Power and control absolutely share many qualitities. I would definitely agree. I would even say your idea about power also helps explain the collecting part along with the nostalgia part. Nostalgia may be about comfort and control/power where as collecting may have more direct aspects of control/power. At the edn of the day, don't we want to collect 'em ALL?

BTW, a very thoughtful question, Mike.

[huedell]

Nostalgia may be about comfort and control/power where as collecting may have more direct aspects of control/power. At the edn of the day, don't we want to collect 'em ALL?

If not ALL of a certain set...at least "all" of "what we want" toywise

[hobub]

In response to Mike's original question:

Maybe not depressed but searching for a feeling. I heard a Steely Dan song last night that reminded me of when I first heard it. I was probably 10. It just brought on a warm feeling. Mego's started out giving me that feeling early on as a collector and they still do to some degree. However, I like rare and unusual things. I collected old coins when I was a kid and I didn't remember being around when in the 1800's when they were produced. I just thought it and the whole idea that this world went on before me was just an awesome thought. And to have something from then was special. Reproductions and new stuff as nice as they are don't have that degree of specialness in my mind and do not have the same effect on me.

Besides that, everything made in the past had a certain quality to it that today's items lack. There seems to be no pride in making things today. Even DM mentions how painstaking it was to make the EMCE figs. I don't think that crossed the minds of the original creators of Mego's. And to find something, my goodness, made in the USA! Now that indeed! is a special thing.

[palitoy]

I think for me it's because I'm a very sentimental person who also suffers from the OCD that is collecting. Honestly though, I really like being an adult.

I love all these triggers to the past and the happy memories they bring but I am firmly planted in the here and now. Would I like to see my kids get their own stretch monster and play on the old "pipe and concrete" play grounds? You're damn skippy I would but they have lots of cool things i never had growing up.

Like Len, I collect a lot of things from before my time , like rockabilly ties, that i just think are cool.

[megoscott]

In all honestly, yes, some collectors are depressed, or at least emotionally reactive in some way. When I see some of the crazy, underhanded, compulsive and bizarre behavior, the emotional volatility, the lying, the stealing, the huge buying binges and then the desperate sell-offs, the insane feuds and hateful mentalities that we all see in the collecting world....I see some pretty unhappy people, yeah.

People always say "Why do they have to act that way? It's only just toys." Well, some people are trying to fill voids in their lives that can't be filled no matter how much stuff you buy.

Not to take the shine off the warm fuzzy nostalgia element of this, and I know LOTS of people, including EVERYONE here collects for sane, healthy reasons that have been articulated in this thread, but there's a not so positive element to the collecting gene.

I've done most of my major collecting during times of relative unhappiness and loneliness. That's how I'm wired. When I really need to "go back to a simpler time" it's not always a good thing. Sometimes it is, other times it's a red flag....

[Adam West]

There does seem to be some type of gene that causes some people to collect and others not.

Most people I know that are collectors and I'm not necessarily talking about Megos tend to be more eccentric and creative than noncollectors.

I do know there seems to be a link between creativity in the form of gifted artistry, writing, etc. and depression but I don't know if I can make a leap and say that "collectors" tend to have a higher prevalence of depression than the normal population.

Although for me, I agree with the whole nostalgia thing, more importantly, it is an enjoyable hobby that gives me a sense of purpose. I know some people who enjoy building furniture, tinkering with machinery, and all kinds of other pursuits that aren't collecting and don't necessarily serve a basic need but they enjoy it.

My wife isn't a collector and doesn't really get it. I know plenty of people who are not sentimental and do not collect things but suffer from depression so I really don't know if there is a link or not. It definitely would be an intriguing study to find out what causes some people to collect things and others to not be interested.

[Goblin19]

A lot of people already touched on my reasons. I am a collector, by nature. Not everything I have collected in the past is nostalgiac. However, Megos and the few other things I dabble in now definitely hold some sort of comfort for me. They all have a sentimental appeal to me, the same way I like visiting old places I knew as a kid. I'm definitely not fepressed, though.

[Mikey]

Well, when I say depressed, I really didn't know exactly what I ment by that exact word.

I still don't, and that's why I threw it out there.

I really wasn't going for the clinical depression, but it is possible some people suffer from this that are collectors.

I was going for a more generic melancholy longing for times past.

Something not exactly healthy, but not unhealthy either..