Childhood Disappointment & Collecting

[Iron Mego]

Was just curious how many of you base your adult collecting habits at least in part to childhood disappointment? I only actively started re-collecting Megos when I joined the Museum (a little over 2 years ago now), but I have searched eBay for at least 15 years just never pulling the trigger. Much of that searching, and my discovery of this site and subsequent purchases, were sort of fueled by what I didn't have as a kid more than what I did have. There is some of that, too, as I have picked up nearly all the Megos I had as a child, but more importanly than that I've picked up all the ones I lusted after but never got. I don't know why I didn't get certain ones back then (Green Goblin, Iron Man, The Thing, Human Torch, Cornelius and Dr. Zaius) because I'm sure I saw most in stores at one point or another. Maybe my mom didn't like the look of them, or maybe I simply never asked for them, which seems unlikely. I certainly didn't get everything I asked for as a kid, but I'm sure I would have rather had an Iron Man than another Batman.

The other disappointment is having gotten rid of all of them, same with my comics, which really upset me from time to time throughout the years. I have since picked up many Megos, other toys I once had and lost, other toys I wanted but never got, and many comics from that era, and I think it fills a void, imagined or real. I guess it's cheaper than therapy.

So who else thinks that plays a role in their collecting ways?

[Mego-Amigo]

For me more because of disappointment as an adult. As a kid I had all of the World's Greatest, POTA and Trek along with selected other Mego and Mego like figures. This is the reason I started collecting to begin with for love of my childhood memories. As an adult collector I started in the mid 80s and it is unbelievable what has come into my collection and been sold or traded over the years for various reasons. I am to the point now that I am trying to piece together my collection once again for keeps this time.

[Iron Mego]

That's an interesting situation. I know others have bought and sold collections, multiple times even. I hope I never have, or want, to sell what little I've collected over the last few years. I can't imagine doing it all over again.

[Type Two]

Ah, yes. Disappointment, also known as "Toy Lust." LOL! Seriously, though, I subscribed to several Marvel titles as a kid back in the 70's and as a result received these EVIL things in the mail from this place in New Jersey called "Heroes World." It looked like a comic and was printed like a comic, but it was really a cornucopia of everything under the sun relating to super hero merchandising.

It scarred me for life. I looked through those pages and saw stuff I would never be able to find until many, many years later on this entity called eBay. The rest is history.

[Iron Mego]

The Heroes World ads in Marvel Comics were what drove my lust too. I remember staring at Green Goblin, Iron Man and Thing in those ads and REALLY REALLY REALLY wanting them. I still think I must have seen them in stores too. I know at least one childhood friend had an Iron Man. We had a TRU in the mall and they carried Megos, as did a local toy store and even some of the drug stores. I know I saw the POTA figures I wanted in the stores, and even holding them in my hands.

[Type Two]

I had the same experience. I remember seeing pegs at Woolworth's FILLED with Shazam, Thor and other Megos and my Mom telling me I could only have one. I picked Thor. A good investment, but still...if only I could have had THEM ALL!

[ddgaff1132]

I can't choose disappointment as reason for my collection. The few Mego's I had growing up. I have reclaimed. Mostly due to repro parts. I have pieced a few that I never had as a child but the ones from my childhood are the ones I prize the most. Other Mego's I have seen only in comicbook adds. Have never graced the shelves of my local K-mart in my youth. So its kinda hard to miss what you never had.

[Iron Mego]

It's not really about missing something you never had. It's more akin to an unrequited love. For years I'd think, "Man, I never did get that Iron Man figure I so desperately wanted." It's more of an ache. There is also the missing what you once had and discarded (I used to have dreams about finding my 12" Spider-Man in my closet), but this is different.

[bobws]

Dissapionted yes, my folks never got me any Megos and i wanted them, i used to see the adds for them in the sunday comics section by the riddles and jokes. once i started working all i found was spock. and then the internet and Doc Mego came into my life and collecting and customizing began.

[Gorn Captain]

My Dad didn't want me buying "dolls". He even threatened to cut off my allowance if I did. I remember going to the UK, and seeing (for the first time) the whole SW 12" line. We only had Luke and Leia in Belgium (boring). I really wanted them, but I only managed to get Vader, and I had to leave the rest behind. My Dad later started appreciating my collection, much later...

[Toyman_Chris]

Now that you have made me reflect on it, I think for certain it's a huge factor for me. When I was a kid I distinctly remember going to a rummage sale with my Mom & Dad. I saw the POTA Soldier. They were asking $1.00 or something for it. My Mom said no. Now I own 20 POTA soldiers. When I see them I can't say no.....lol

[Myoldtoys]

I was lucky to have kept many of the toys from my childhood. The only one I went out and bought again was the Evel Knievel stunt cycle. My brother and I beat the living crap out of the original. My Dad melted that thing together with a solder gun a bunch of times. Poor Evel didn't have a wire left in him that wasn't broke. I have a mint condition white-suited Evel that won't be doing any jumps, a red one that is in excellent shape, and a pretty nice stunt cycle.

[Iron Mego]

Now that you have made me reflect on it, I think for certain it's a huge factor for me. When I was a kid I distinctly remember going to a rummage sale with my Mom & Dad. I saw the POTA Soldier. They were asking $1.00 or something for it. My Mom said no. Now I own 20 POTA soldiers. When I see them I can't say no.....lol

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

[LOU]

For me it's DEFINITELY about childhood disappointments. As and adult, I always gravitate towards the 8-inch Megos I could never find as a child. Wonder Woman, Invisible Girl, and a couple others. I was OBSESSED with trying to find them but never could. I saw an Invisible Girl once in Child World and passed on her and never saw another again until I was an adult collector. Funny how pitifully common she is now! Wonder Woman 8-inch I never even saw in the stores as a kid...just in that little Mego catalog that came with my Hall Of Justice playset...and let me tell ya'...that little book tortured me daily! We were always at the grocery store it seems and it was in the same parking lot as Child World, so I was in Child World nearly every day. What I know now that I didn't know then is that many of the Heroes had been discontinued by the time I got heavy into them...circa 1977-1979, which, of course in retrospect, now explains why I couldn't find many of them. Many of the figures I did find, such as Batgirl, was in a beat up box under a pile of toys in a department store. Again, hindsight tells me that this was probably left behind because it was lost somewhere for a couple years. So I mainly found my Megos by being lucky. I do remember the Heroes that were plentiful though...Superman, Batman, Hulk, Spidey, Shazam, Isis, Cap, Robin, and few others. Others were plentiful in boxed format on the spill shelf below the carded Megos. I remember always seeing boxed Falcons, Jokers, Penguins, Mxys, Goblins, Catwomans, and some others. It was always about Invisible Girl and Wonder Woman for me...those were my "Mego grails" as a kid! Great days and I will always wish I'd taken a pic of the display...but who walked around with cameras in a toy store in the late 70's? LOL! I was lucky to pick up a few Retro Action Heroes on the very same ground and in nearly the very same spot where all those Megos were many moons ago. It felt kind of cool to know I was in the same spot pretty much as I was 30-something years ago. Of course the place is now a TJ Maxx but it was funny that their toy department happens to be pretty much (with 10-20 feet or so) in the very same spot of the store where the Megos were back then.

[Iron Mego]

Very cool memories.