Saying Bye-Bye to collecting

[Victοr]

I got back into collecting this year after a 5 year or so break and I understand where you're coming from. And you're right. Me, I started with Lego and Minimates back in the day. Made the jump to some other stuff for a while but nothing stuck. Towards the end I watched tons of little plastic toys sitting there. I started thinking of all those that broke right off the box, the bad paint ups, the sheer amount of useless characters I bought just to complete a team or to just get the new wave. All the money spent and for what? I can't display them. I paid triple the price of a boxset for a couple of them, and those specific figures are the ones that broke, detiriorated, had their paint chipped away, and so on. I took a good, hard look at them and felt embarassed. Thousands of Euros spend on nonsense. I could've just bought the ones I truly liked, but they were small and relatively cheap, so what the Hell I said. And now I can barely come up with 50 figures I love from all of them. Hell, to this day I still think of what I want that's unmade and what customs I'd make.

Anyway, around that point I also got into collecting single issues again. I started with a 40 euro/month subscription which spiralled into the 90s sometimes. Eventually I got it down to 30 and now it's closer to 20-something. The reason is, the issues started piling up. Series I'd order two months in advance and then find underwhelming so I canceled them. Completed series that just sit there. Random issues. Longboxes. And you know what? It wasn't fullfiling. Not in the least. I didn't enjoy reading them because, let's face it, 90% of comic books have writing on par with YA novels. I suppose I wanted to "invest" in them. To this day my most valuable comic is Batman: Damned #1 with Batman's *****. I have the Robbie Reyes FA too. Some Image #1s. I can't think of much else. As a kid who got his comic news through the net, since there weren't any LCS next to me, apart from the stores carrying Ultimate Marvel, I thought that whatever happened in those books "mattered". Once I started actually reading them online and then buying them, I started feeling more and more disgusted each day. It felt hollow. So now I only follow a few indies which are genuinely interesting and I'm looking forward to reading them every month. They have a different art, writing and narrative style. Each one feels like something that's worth the 5 bucks.

My point is that the whole "superhero craze" just burned me off and actively made me hate it all. When you're a kid they seem fine. But then you start noticing the blemishes, the faults, the nature of the industry. And in [current year] where everyone and their mother is "into them", when you're forced to acknowledge them as "equals" in their "fan points", it rubs you off. A bit of it is the filter that's been broken. The other is the loss of time. How many hours did I pour into genuine nonsense when I could've just practised an hour more? How much money? Just how much time has been wasted on something trivial that brought only an illusion of satisfaction? The comics, the figures, I just chased something for the sake of it. It became a compulsion and I think generally it's brought upon when you miss something tangible so you substitute it with easily consumed media and trinkets. I suppose I am a bit mad at all the "normies". They just don't get to claim to be as big fans as I am, *********! I poured all into this hobby and I got... Nothing. It's not even a hobby. It's just a poor imitation of it. And yet, they enjoy them, they who have given nothing, and I'm just sitting here, seething. They watch the flick, they make their gay fanart on Tumblr, post their ships, whatever else. The realization that I'd given what I had to give on mass produced, low quality stories, characters and concepts that would keep on being repeated forever just made me angry and sad.

Because that's the difference between being a fan of a certain property and a superhero fan. The latter never ends. You have a finite amount of media from the former. Movies, seasons of a show, books, and so on. But when you dive into a "neverending" Universe, you're just becoming addicted to the cycle being repeated yearly. Same story but with X flavour, Y costumes and Z gimmick. And on and on. Moore was right, really. Before 4, a Halo fan just had a couple of games and books He could buy the figures, the collector's editions, everything. Because he had a fixed starting and ending point. His collection would've meant something, in a way. But with comics where do you stop? Do you buy the 3.75"? The 6"? The movie stuff? The import figures? Do you follow your favourite character in all the crossovers, tie-ins and OGNs? Where does it stop? It's too much. And it's just... empty. It's not great literature that will stick with you. All the characters change personalities and beliefs with every writer, so they're merely puppets. It's even more hollow than old blockbusters because it's an inherently soulless medium. Not the comics as a whole, but the Big 2 stuff. Yes, you're bound to get a good run but that's the exception and you have to isolate that from the rest.

Now, I'm not being just a contrarian. I sat down, decided what I liked, what I didn't and that was it. I have an external HD with TBs of comics in it. Whole chronological packs. Digital rips. But not of everything. Just the few characters that "matter". Runs I really liked. And that was it. The chapter closed. Batman will keep on chasing the Joker. The X-Men will keep cucking and killing each other. Nothing matters and nothing ever will. So what I've read I've read. If others are discovering them now and like them, even though I find them absymal, more power to them. Honestly, I don't even enjoy reading what I used to like nowadays. But there is an emotional attachment involved, which I recognize and accept. So I keep them saved there. I'll buy a good Omnibus that represents a certain Era. But I'm just... done with caring.

Back to the figures, at the beginning I did have this "gotta catch'em all" mentality. Figures kept being revealed from the hot new movie/show/game. So much to get. You know what changed my mind? Looking for reviews on youtube and looking at the people with such collections. It'd be an obese guy with a ****** beard sitting in a run down, dimly lit room, with his shelves stacked with figures upon figures upon figures, talking about a new plastic toy that he'll forget about in a few hours. That was the ugly side. Then I saw the professionals. The guys with lots of cash, entire furnished rooms and tons and tons of figures, statues, maquettes, busts, the whole deal. And that just made me feel overwhelmed. What was the point? They just had everything. I couldn't make an assumption. I couldn't tell what they liked. What kind of person they were. They just had... everything. There's a guy who's a huge Hulk fan so he collects Hulk merch. Another has more money and space and buys all the Jedi/Rebel stuff. I get commitment to a certain "thing". But when it's everything then it loses all meaning. Just become a millionaire, buy everything and store them. God knows Bezos could be the best collector. But with all that money, you could get into paintings, rare books, things that have a value. Gradually my envy of "having everything" left me.

So, before I started my new POs I grabbed a pen and started writing things down. Every comic I'd read. Every movie and show I'd watched. Every game I'd played. Every book I'd read. I wrote all that down and made a list of characters, teams and so on. I took into account nostalgia, childhood years, everything. In the end I made a list of characters I'd want. Some of them will probably never be made in 1/6th for one reason or the other. Still, I wrote them down. And I know, more or less, exactly what I want. What I'd buy. There is a hierarchy of sorts, but I'm still figuring it out. For example, as a kid I liked Spider-Man. I haven't done so for years and years. I don't really care. A Raimi Spider-Man rerelease would tempt me a bit, if I had nothing else on my plate. But he's not really up there on any level. Some things are tied with certain periods in life, and others I just like for X, Y & Z reason. A mixture of it all is what creaters the ranking. New things will come and be added, but they'll be carefully selected.

At the end of the day, I'm of the "collect that which is special" mindset. I wanted to collect all the Sith. I wanted to complete teams. Now I realise that despite the money and space that such things would entail, they wouldn't mean anything. Sidious and Vader mean something. I'd be willing to spend the extra cash on the Imperial Guards to create a small diorama. But if I spend 300 euros on Dooku just for completionism's sake, then I equate him and, say, a hypothetical 300 euro Big Boss figure, a character I like infinitely more. So that's more or less my logic. Mini Displays at most, and a "Museum Collection" of the distinguished few. Generally, I'm more interested in a Patrick Bateman than a Batman. My wishlist includes stuff like Grendel Hunter Rose, a good Mads Hannibal, a Vertigo Lucifer, a Count of Monte Cristo and so on. I prefer figures with tailored clothes and human sculpts, since that's the beauty of this type of a collection. The only character I'd collect multiples of, in any scale and type, is Doom. So, again, I'm a fan of the "special few" style. And the reason why is because as I've already said, it says something about you. It's like a map from your childhood to the now, explaining your tastes. It's a testament to what you truly like, love and have a special place for. Someone could look at it and make an assumption. That means that you've made decisions, resisted completionism and generally just put together something of meaning, small as it may be.

A friend and I were talking about this not too long ago.

It used to feel special and there used to be more time and shared experiences, but along with the proliferation of content has come an endless stream of merchandise.

I know this is going to make me sound old and grumpy but who wants characters from every single game, film or TV show that gets spewed out in this day and age? I see $1000 - $2000 statues or whatever of characters and looks that I really believe will be forgotten in a couple of years instead of enduring for decades and becoming pop culture icons. Nobody's going to care.

The world has changed and I think a lot of us are/were operating as if the old ways and rules still apply. When every film is an event there are no more events.

I'm not against leisure, not against art or pop culture, or down on the fact that the entertainment we love is at the forefront for the moment, but taking a look at the sheer volume of what's available to *buy* -- a fire-hose of ephemera -- I wonder when they transformed geeks into mere shoppers.

Just shoppers.

I know this is a weird sentiment to express on a *collector* forum but it just looks like a merch orgy to me with very little actual staying power.

You're absolutely right too. It's not just collecting, this "fun" has been sucked out of everything. Forums are long gone and only a shadow of their former selves. I remember camping up for E3 and SDCC, obsessing over teasers and reveals. The wait for a new CBM or vidya would feel like an eternity. Every pushback felt like torture. We'd talk about it and speculate and so on and so forth. Now? Now it doesn't matter because these things are not special anymore. The community used to be smaller so the creators knew who they were addressing those things to. Now it all has to appeal to the larger demographic, so it has to be as tasteless as possible. No flair, no specific style, just a bland product. They smelled money and they kept on coming. We'd get a CBM twice or so a year, so they were a treat. Now we get on every two months and they're all the same blandness. It could be argued that the vast majority of comic books are the same brand of safe too. Batman and Spider-Man are not that different aside from aesthetics and the fact that Batman can be stripped down to make a more "mature" take. They both wear their costumes, run around and punch their villains. But nowadays it's not just superheroes. It's everything.

The problem is that nothing has any artistic merit. It's all a job. Assassin's Creed used to be a good series that took its time with each game. Then they booted the guy who came up with the idea, started putting games out every year, and removed all nuance and meaning. Now the games are just action RPGs with an AC title, the story's gotten to the point where you fight Ancient Aliens with the help of Marx, and they're more concerned with [current day] politics than anything else. Then apply that to every game, every show, every movie and you've got an endless stream of mediocrity.

The truth is, it's all derivative. They're all the same beats and stories. The same things that look "cool". They get approved by a committee and sent out to the public. People have nothing better to do, so they consoooooooooooooooom it all. New, old, revamp, it doesn't matter. There's not filter. It's new so you have to consoooooooooom. There are Star Wars fans who watched the ST and TCW just because they're canon. If you make a distinction and say "you know what, I don't like the direction so I'll stick with the old stuff" you're somehow not a "true" fan, but at the same time the **** who's never picked up an Iron Man book from the 70s, yet draws Mermaid Stony fanart is "just as valid a fan" as you. Point is, it's all just too much. Can you really tell me of anything that's stuck with you the last few years? Any blockbuster? Any game? I can hardly think of anything. Sopranos has stuck with me. Mad Men has stuck with me. Predator has withstood the test of time. Conan has. Will [insert random "new" (read derivative) IP]? I doubt it. Suits was discount Mad Men. It had a 7 Season run. It got sold all over the world. I watched 3 seasons of it as background noise yet I cannot remember a single thing bar the formula being repeated. I doubt anyone will remember it in a year. The Young Pope is a modern classic, but it'll never get any merch or public exposure (and it's for the best).

So yes, there is this phenomenon where people just buy things from [new thing] just because it's new and "acclaimed". It's the internet. Every streaming service can say what they want. Every website can be paid to say what it has to say. It's all an interconnected world of fakeness and the fact is, most people are just easily distracted and led. I doubt they've sat down to read some classic literature. It's not about snobbery in this instance, it's about just trying to gain something. Watching Netflix's Witcher will give you absolutely nothing. Reading the Witcher is just like reading average genre fiction. At the same time you could just get through something as commonplace as Blood Meridian. It's a well known and classic book. Yet how many people do you think have never read it, yet have watched every new Netflix production? Why not just devote some time to a good book instead of consuming whatever middle-brow trash is on tv? I'm not saying don't watch any tv, don't play any games, just pick and choose. I love Succession. Billions is a guilty pleasure. But I won't watch The Industry, for example.

And I know what you'll say. Escapism isn't a bad thing. We're not all heading to be Philosopher Kings so might as well just enjoy life. We could all be better but it takes too much effort for little rewards. And I get it. But see, that's the thing. It's not about escapism anymore. The geeks and nerds of old were different. The geek went to school, did his homework and was into sci-fi/fantasy/vidya/comics/etc. He poured his time into one thing. That was his escapism. He grew up, and kept assigning some time to his passion. The nerd wasn't even into such things. He was into his studies and just indulged in Star Trek and Heinlein's boooks to fantasize about all that he'd build in the future. The History Nerd still looks for the best sources and texts, with his escapism being the few movies and vidya that scratch that itch. Back then fans were genuine fans of specific things. What they consumed brought them genuine joy and they spend money to affirm that fact. They bought Luke Skywalker in every scale because Luke Skywalker meant something to them. One thing from there, one thing from here, by the end they had a collection of certain size that said something about them specifically.

The difference is, the modern consoomers aren't fans, they're just consoooomers. They watch the new "critically-acclaimed drama". They get obsessed over the new hit. They jump from genre to genre and streamig service to streaming service. They "watch" movies and shows while on their phones, just to tweet, post and make memes of the few key scenes. And then they're onto the next one. The audience for everything is everyone so nothing is perfected and directed at a specific group. Everything's forgotten specifically because it's made to be so. Nobody invests on anything. The ones with money buy whatever comes ouf of what they watched last and repeat it with every new thing. The big IPs try to keep up, destroying their future installments and banking on the battered wife syndrome by re-releaisng the same characters from old installments to cash in from desperate fans. It's all just a nonsensical nightmare.

 

[ZE_501]

[...]

I agree with almost everything in that post.

I'm a touch more forgiving of new and casual fans, but maybe I'm not as invested or just think of it a little differently, but you hit many nails on the head.

There's a toxic confluence of monetization, advertising, social media and ever more sophisticated marketing algorithms hijacking our ape brain's 50,000 year-old (going by rough estimates of behavioral modernity) architecture.

The internet remains the biggest bait and switch/unintended consequence I've ever seen. In the early '90s I saw democratization, freedom of information and community. Now I see the comments section under YouTube videos.

Reality TV meets The National Enquirer in a giant shopping mall.

I don't think this is culturally sustainable, one way or the other. I truly hope it's not, but there is no doubt the world has changed in fundamental ways both in terms of complexity and the systems that contribute to a physical, intellectual, artistic and environmental Tragedy of the Commons.

I actually did something very similar to your exercise; in an idle hour with my collection I thought about why I did it, wrote down a list of every pop cultural property that's ever touched me or been associated with times and places in my life, then I went through and crossed off what I knew I'd outgrown, and then went from properties and characters I liked or enjoyed and cut that down to what I loved.

Then I cross-referenced that with what was available to physically represent said film or narrative.

Then I went through what was available and eliminated anything of lesser quality, too static, too small, too large, wouldn't integrate in my space, etc. etc.

The result is idioscyncratic, and highly compressed.

It sounds obsessively methodical but I take that approach with most things I bother with because I'm forever reflecting on what I'm doing with my life and how I spend my time, whom I spend it with. I don't live a monk-like life of perfect discipline. Look at all the Pandemic Time I've spent on these boards ...

... but I'm pretty happy with most of the choices I make these days. I'm very quick to abandon media I know is targeted at me but diluted, the way you touched upon, or simply low-quality or immature.

The biggest problem is the inertia our comfortable and privileged lives inflict on us. It's very easy to fall asleep and stay asleep.

As I've got older I've gained the perspectives only time and experience can confer, and I don't like being consumed and swindled by a blind system that's too complex for anyone to get a handle on anymore. I don't want to spend all my time on this planet shopping.

 

[FlyAndFight]

Another option to leaving the hobby completely is simply trimming it down.

I've done it several times during the last 30 years of collecting 1/6 figures. I too started with Dragon/DML's WWII figure line. Actually, 21st Century before that.

I'm a picky buyer so selling figures off is extra difficult, but it can be done. Don't let the "Completist" syndrome take over, though.

 

[ZE_501]

Another option to leaving the hobby completely is simply trimming it down.

I've done it several times during the last 30 years of collecting 1/6 figures. I too started with Dragon/DML's WWII figure line. Actually, 21st Century before that.

I'm a picky buyer so selling figures off is extra difficult, but it can be done. Don't let the "Completist" syndrome take over, though.

A long time ago now, I read an article on ?how to collect? ? it was aimed at stuff like watches, art, coins etc. but it totally applies and informs my own curatorial approach:

...always remember a collection is a living, breathing thing that reflects your tastes and interest at specific points.

Even museums and galleries sell off pieces or trim down to essentials.

Selling off what?s no longer resonant is a big part of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

The value to cost isn’t there anymore. The companies are so high on crack, these things shouldn’t cost more than a mortgage or a car payment

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

And there’s no reason why there should statues of the same characters on constant repeat. The hobby has gone old and stale

 

[ZE_501]

The value to cost isn’t there anymore. The companies are so high on crack, these things shouldn’t cost more than a mortgage or a car payment

Definitely. Some of the prices I see really make me wonder ... even if you have the disposable income the value just isn't there most of the time.

 

[ZE_501]

And there’s no reason why there should statues of the same characters on constant repeat. The hobby has gone old and stale

Conservative companies targeting incoming fans and older collectors that want an upgrade or have FOMO.

Bubbles burst.

Beanie Babies -- -- comic books ... all of this crap is gonna crash sooner or later.

I heard a lot of comics people lamenting that digital media killed comic sales. I had left comics behind when I was 15, and returned in my late 30s out of curiosity. I found a few interesting stories (mostly Image) but across all publishers I also see a lot of trash. Same old stories, same old settings, and as darthkostis opined, Young Adult level writing.

Maybe repetition and bad, predictable writing killed comic sales.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Comics are dying because the companies let the wrong people into the business

 

[Victοr]

I'm a touch more forgiving of new and casual fans, but maybe I'm not as invested or just think of it a little differently, but you hit many nails on the head.

I don't mind new fans. Everyone was a new fan at some point. And I don't mind casual fans. You don't have to consooooom everything. Especially with long running properties, the best way is to pick one or two runs, a couple of characters and say "I like these". What I mind are fake fans. The ones who watch a ****** capeflick then go on and on about how "huge" fans they are. The ones who do not like the property itself, but want to twist it to make it more in line with their tastes. I'm sorry, but you going on Tumblr and creating a Genderbent Stony fanfic with graphic descriptions of penetration doesn't make you a "true fan". A true fan is someone who likes a property for what it is and shows it. He's devoted money and/or time to it. It's not a useful use of them but that's what being a fan is. That's why you cannot be a fan of everything; you have to pick and choose. So no, I don't much care for the influx of fake fans from the late 00s/10s and onwards. Because they have no excuse. You don't have an LCS? Get them digitally. You don't have money? "Such" sites have existed for decades. Hell, now there are literally sites where you can read every comic ever for free. That's how easy ripping has become. So no, if someone wants to be an true F4 fan, they have to read it at least the classics. They have to have a favourite story. They have to have some attachment. Otherwise they're not fans, simple as. They like the movies and those versions of the characters. Sure, I accept it. But they're not the same as the guy who poured money and time. Like I said, it's not about any moral high ground, it's about basic decency. By acting that way you cheapen out everything. I'm not expecting you to buy every HT Iron Man figure. But if you insist that you're a "huge Ironfan", then I expect you to have read a few complete runs, to have an action figure, something. A testament to it. Call each thing by its right name.

There's a toxic confluence of monetization, advertising, social media and ever more sophisticated marketing algorithms hijacking our ape brain's 50,000 year-old (going by rough estimates of behavioral modernity) architecture.

The internet remains the biggest bait and switch/unintended consequence I've ever seen. In the early '90s I saw democratization, freedom of information and community. Now I see the comments section under YouTube videos.

Youtube Comments Section used to be a meme, but you know what, they had some genuinity in them back in the day. The trolls, the copypastas, the fights. Now you have the same 5 stale memes being repeated as everyone fishes for upvotes. Back then they were all just teens figuring out the net and using their anonymity to say whatever they wanted. It was raw. Videos were being made to have fun and create something. Deviantart had tons of "uniqueness", to be polite, but it all stemmed from a place of genuine fandom. Even Facebook had its "thing". A page that described you. It was your digital profile. Your tastes, your friends, it was a novelty. I never got into it that much, but I got its appeal. Then Twitter and Tumblr rolled around and everything became safe. Tumblr appealed to the dregs of pop-culture and attracted all the people who have destroyed age-old franchises. Twitter gave a voice and importance to every literal who. The internet became less of a different place where you could be someone else, more "idealized", concentrated to your tastes, and became "you" in every sense of it. We're all tracked. Everything we post, every email we've ever sent, every payment. **** it, that weird porn with a werewolf nun you clicked on when you were in that forum and shooting the **** with the lads. That can be recalled at any point in time. The internet is you. And everyone is on the internet. Ultimately, the culprit for all that were smartphones. Now every other clueless rando could log on and spew their opinions. It used to be that you needed some level of computer know-how to operate the net. Now it's commonplace. Now all the old folks are gone and the shadows remain. I visit old forums from time to time.
"Last log date 10 years ago"
"Banned"
"Banned"
"Banned"
And I see the current denizens. The same 50 or so posters, with the same opinions, the same bland, safe-space talk, the same everything. They defend everything [Company] does because [Company] is "gud". The shills just praise it all. Everything devolves to [current day] politics. The old guard has moved on and every beloved IP has been twisted to appease the newcomers who'll just move on to the next one. I remember when someone would host entire Respect Threads, 20 pages of scans and feats and explainations and computations and so on. Everyone had their favourite and they duked it out in the Battle Threads. You'd have Character Pages and Mini-Forums that the like-minded few would talk about their shared likes. Some would dissagree because Writer A had a better idea than Writer D. Run B was the real Character X and Run Y was absymal. It was obsessive yes, but that was the point. You got into them as a kid, you found someone to talk to since it was a rather niche hobby and then you moved on. You kept those memories and period with you. Those five characters and ten runs. Meaningless drivel as it was, to you it meant something. So you'd go watch the new movie, buy some merch, keep the old "flame" alive. Now the current fans aren't kids. They aren't teens. They're in their 20s and just getting into silly things. They're letting them warp their reality. They obsess over the "idea" of them but really, they just want to change it all to fit them. Every character must be safe. Every story the same. Every moral and code pacified. But "safe" according to them. Maybe you don't agree. Then you're out. Forever.

Reality TV meets The National Enquirer in a giant shopping mall.

I don't think this is culturally sustainable, one way or the other. I truly hope it's not, but there is no doubt the world has changed in fundamental ways both in terms of complexity and the systems that contribute to a physical, intellectual, artistic and environmental Tragedy of the Commons.

We're in uncharted waters, this much is true. Everyone has their own solution, utopia, political stance and all. The truth is most of it won't even come close and we'll continue down the same road until there's nowhere to go. The way I see it anyhow.

I actually did something very similar to your exercise; in an idle hour with my collection I thought about why I did it, wrote down a list of every pop cultural property that's ever touched me or been associated with times and places in my life, then I went through and crossed off what I knew I'd outgrown, and then went from properties and characters I liked or enjoyed and cut that down to what I loved.

Then I cross-referenced that with what was available to physically represent said film or narrative.

Then I went through what was available and eliminated anything of lesser quality, too static, too small, too large, wouldn't integrate in my space, etc. etc.

The result is idioscyncratic, and highly compressed.

If I'm being honest, I lied a tad before. I cannot cut certain things off easily. I connect with certain moments, periods and things, and thus create an "idealized" version of them. I got into comics properly with Ultimate Marvel. Spider-Man, X-Men, F4. At this point I've outgrown Spider-Man. I feel no nostalgia and no need to buy his merch. Some guilt comes into me when I remember, but it quickly goes away. Same goes for the X-Men. I grew up with the 90s show. I love the core idea. But the lackluster stories, the soap opera writing, at some point I stopped caring. Sometimes I accept that I like the Morrison run, some 90s books, some FoX-Men movies and so on. I choose the specifics. Batman is similar. I remember watching TDK on opening night in a packed theatre. It's a nice memory. My compulsive need wants me to become a huge Batfan but I'm simply not. I like the idea but I don't like the whole. Or maybe it's my completionist nature. -Same with the X-Men there. Give me the reigns and watch me fly!- To be a Batfan worthy of my standards I'd have to do a Chronological Read which I simply cannot do at this point in time. So I enjoy the few bits and pieces and that's more or less it. I'd buy a new HT Ledger Joker dollie. I'm not even a huge Joker or even TDK fan. But I need him to represent that moment in time. Likewise the PotC films are a part of me and I still genuinely enjoy them. So I ordered a DX15. Do I like Sparrow as a character as much as, say, Big Boss? Eh, no. Do I count PotC amongst my Top 10? No. But I can always rewatch the Trilogy, I have fond memories of them all, so Sparrow desrves to be on my shelf. Same could be said for something like Burton's Batman. Returns is basically a Christmas classic so sometimes I'm tempted to get that HT 2-Pack. A Catwoman would tempt me. But because Batman is a gigantic franchise I cannot easily draw the line somewhere because there are bits and pieces I like scattered all over its history. So it's easier to just cut it all off.

It sounds obsessively methodical but I take that approach with most things I bother with because I'm forever reflecting on what I'm doing with my life and how I spend my time, whom I spend it with. I don't live a monk-like life of perfect discipline. Look at all the Pandemic Time I've spent on these boards ...

I do the same now. Used to be that I had a huge backlog. Of movies, comics, books, shows, anime, videogames, everything. I just "had" to consume them. You know why? Because my completinist compulsion made me connect everything. I like Blade Runner, right? That means I like Cyberpunk. That means I like Sci-Fi. Now I have to watch all of Star Trek, BSG, read the Omega Men, R.E.B.E.L.S. & L.E.G.I.O.N., play Vanquish, read all of Heinlein's books and so on. I kept it at bay and it became less and less of a rattle in my brain. Sometimes it springs back up but it's subdued. Personally I've had since I was kid. With studies and everything. I couldn't choose and focus on one or two things, I just had to do it all, and do it great. But with this attitude you end up being left behind, so I managed to cast it out. You know what "woke me up"? I started noticing the stuff I'd watched. Acclaimed indies and classics. Black & White Polish arthouse. Some of it was good. Some of it was a waste of time. But nothing stuck. They came and went and nothing changed. And the worst thing is, I realized that I did all to obtain a resemblance of personality. What would I gain by watching a day in the life of a prostitute? Nothing really. But I could bring it up with the other arthouse people. It was not time well spent. It was not taste curated. Now, am I saying just consume the things aimed at the lowest common denominator? No, just that merely because something is unknown or talks about everyday issues, doesn't mean it's good. Others make a choice and consume just that. Just arthouse. They shun the rest and hunt for the gems. I accept that. Like the guy who relaxes with even the worst Sci-Fi. I accept that. That's a commitment. But you have to choose. You cannot just have it all. And from that choice comes your true taste. It can be specific, it can be all over the place, but it has to have meaning, not to just be passive consumption.

... but I'm pretty happy with most of the choices I make these days. I'm very quick to abandon media I know is targeted at me but diluted, the way you touched upon, or simply low-quality or immature.

I regularly think about the Sopranos, the Young Pope, Mad Men, certain other pieces of media. When I finished them I reflected on things. I felt a sense of completion. Most stuff I finished following them, I never gave a second thought to. So now I don't make the mistake of getting hooked on whatever catches my fancy. I've set standards. Mostly because they offer nothing factual. At best you'll "feel" something. But you won't gain anything. Real art is mostly made so that the artist can express their thoughts. It's for them. The rest of us are just watching. Something like Billions, silly as it is, is comfy so I watch it while it airs. Succession I legitimately like and am excited about. So I've made a choice there. One for mindless comfort, and one for genuine interest. And that's how I approach all things now. I go back to this line from True Detective.

"Life is barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at."

It's simple, but we forget it. And we zone out, or try to distract ourselves and waste it all on meaningless ********. The clock's ticking and I'm discussing my attachment to mass produced films and comic strips as if they were people. Just goes to show how each generation becomes more and more warped.

The biggest problem is the inertia our comfortable and privileged lives inflict on us. It's very easy to fall asleep and stay asleep.

As I've got older I've gained the perspectives only time and experience can confer, and I don't like being consumed and swindled by a blind system that's too complex for anyone to get a handle on anymore. I don't want to spend all my time on this planet shopping.

Exactly. I'd argue that most people are afraid. Afraid of failure. The stakes are too high. The world too complex. There was a time you could say "I want to be a scientist". There was a time you could say "I want to be a Chemist/Engineer/Physicist/Mathematician". Now it's subset of a subgroup of a subgenre of specialization of a field of... It's too much. You become just a cog and that's the way things are. You devote time and energy, and if you're lucky you're just a part. There are no more Teslas and Von Brauns. There are just discoveries. Some people don't care and just want to work, contribute and learn. And that's assuming they're lucky enough to get their foot in the door. Connections, where you're born, the money you have, it's all too complex. Your dream could be just to contribute and be a productive member of society, and never even get the chance. So most just tune out. Some don't even bother with finding a partner. Others drown in hedonism. They do the bare minimum to live a comfortable life until they die. And what will they do with all their free time? Gain knowledge and skills? What for? So they just wait and buy and consume and pass the time until it all just stops. Is it their fault for being scared and weak? Is it society that's gotten too weird? A bit of both.

I go back to American Psycho sometimes. The book moreso than the movie. And it's scary how absolutely reletable, real and raw Bateman is. He represents the alienation in everyone. Is he last true man in a fake world? Are his killings just fantasies and just a way for him to express his inner turmoil? I always preferred to read it that way. Turning it into another commentary on Yuppie Culture is trite. And that's how Ellis sold it to bypass the gorriness and shield himself from backlash. But what he said later, that it was about loneliness, is what hits true. That's why the book endures. Now we have ultraviolent games to vent. We had the net to curse and complain. Bateman's the Prototype. So he had his imagination. Was he a true psychopath? Or was he just so alone, so deprived of meaning that he tried to become a psychopath so that he'd stop feeling pain? However you read it, the book is exceptional. Now, the time devoted to that provokes thinking. That's time well spent. I don't regret it the way I do with time alloted to other pieces of media I've consumed over the years. And that's why I'm waiting to PO that Bateman figure, even though I've spent merely a couple of hours with him, whereas I couldn't care less about Spider-Man, regardless of the hundreds of hours poured into his content.

At the end of the day, when it comes to collecting I want my shelves to say something about me. Every figure must have a story behind it. Like trophies from a hunt or pictures from a trip. Yes, I didn't wrestle with a warthog or an elk. I didn't climb the mountain to take that picture. It sounds cringy and it's a bit embarassing, yes. But if someone asks me why I have that 300 euro dolly there, I want to be able to have a reason beyond "it uh, makes a set with these two other ones and they're from that one movie I guess I kinda like, but it's on a different shelf from those ones because that's a different time period and-". Maybe I'd build a set one day. The Normandy Crew and the MGS Saga. But those would mean something because I spent time playing the games. Because of when I played the games. Because I'm connected to them, to the characters, in some cases the themes. To me they have a meaning. I want to look at my collection of figures and think of something, anything. It's not about money or space. Be rich enough and you can buy them all. It's about time. An affirmation that it wasn't all wasted. That something remained. That something carried on to the next stage. Not to worry if I have it all of everything, if I need to mod and play around to achieve the perfect pose. No, just to have some closure and affirmation. To keep moving on and carry certain evidence with me.

Or maybe I'm ascribing more importance to it that I need to. But then again, I was always melodramatic.

 

[ZE_501]

[...] What I mind are fake fans. The ones who watch a ****** capeflick then go on and on about how "huge" fans they are. The ones who do not like the property itself, but want to twist it to make it more in line with their tastes. I'm sorry, but you going on Tumblr and creating a Genderbent Stony fanfic with graphic descriptions of penetration doesn't make you a "true fan". A true fan is someone who likes a property for what it is and shows it.[...]

Okay, I can see that.

[...] Even Facebook had its "thing". A page that described you. It was your digital profile. Your tastes, your friends, it was a novelty. I never got into it that much, but I got its appeal.

I'm hilariously old enough to remember Facebook 'when it was cool' and MySpace before that. I deleted my account some years after my elderly parent got an account and the whole thing twisted in on itself like a hellishly stupid echo chamber.

[...] The internet became less of a different place where you could be someone else, more "idealized", concentrated to your tastes, and became "you" in every sense of it. [...]

I remember when someone would host entire Respect Threads, 20 pages of scans and feats and explainations and computations and so on. Everyone had their favourite and they duked it out in the Battle Threads. You'd have Character Pages and Mini-Forums that the like-minded few would talk about their shared likes. Some would dissagree because Writer A had a better idea than Writer D. Run B was the real Character X and Run Y was absymal. It was obsessive yes, but that was the point. You got into them as a kid, you found someone to talk to since it was a rather niche hobby and then you moved on. [...]

My experience of the Internet was a little different, but I get what you're saying. I remember Usenet and Listservs and personal web pages, most of which required you to have at least a passing knowledge of what you were doing.

Outside of retaining an affinity for the genres that broadly fall under the category of 'geekdom', I was more or less gone from that subculture for decades. Other interests, other priorities, things to explore.

I found it again around 2011 and I've had a great deal of fun and entertainment, it's been a nice idle, but I feel my interest waning because I feel like I've seen what I need to see.

I'll never be gone completely of course, it's part of my taste in entertainment after all, but it's one small circle in a mess of Venn diagrams.

If I'm being honest, I lied a tad before. I cannot cut certain things off easily.

Ah. We're different there.

I connect with certain moments, periods and things, and thus create an "idealized" version of them. I got into comics properly with Ultimate Marvel. Spider-Man, X-Men, F4. At this point I've outgrown Spider-Man. I feel no nostalgia and no need to buy his merch.[...]

I've outgrown the Spider-Man comics, but his was one of the first stories I followed as a small child, one of my first action figures in fact. So I'll find myself with one or two 1/6th representations of him, part of my 'artifact' approach.

Batman ... I'm conversant with past runs but more so what are considered some of his seminal stories, but the only one I own is Year One. It just works for me. Because of aesthetics, time and place, I have HT Returns and a custom Catwoman, but at this time I don't feel the need for more. That's a time and place and character that have been marked on my personal map. I'll watch a live-action film, but beyond a couple of hours of spectacle and story, I've outgrown the men in capes in terms of invested, active fandom. Films are easy to jump in and out of.

[...] But because Batman is a gigantic franchise I cannot easily draw the line somewhere because there are bits and pieces I like scattered all over its history. So it's easier to just cut it all off.

Right..so my entire collecting ethos and part of the fun for me, is finding that line and drawing it. I have let things go that I thought I wouldn't, knowing I'd miss them every now and then, because drawing the line is more important to me than owning the thing.

I regularly think about the Sopranos, the Young Pope, Mad Men, [...]

Not familiar with Young Pope, but The Sopranos and Mad Men are excellent examples of exceptional television. They do stay with you, to varying degrees in ways most of what's produced does not, for whatever reason.

Exactly. I'd argue that most people are afraid. Afraid of failure. The stakes are too high. The world too complex. There was a time you could say "I want to be a scientist". There was a time you could say "I want to be a Chemist/Engineer/Physicist/Mathematician". Now it's subset of a subgroup of a subgenre of specialization of a field of... It's too much. You become just a cog and that's the way things are. You devote time and energy, and if you're lucky you're just a part. There are no more Teslas and Von Brauns. There are just discoveries. Some people don't care and just want to work, contribute and learn. And that's assuming they're lucky enough to get their foot in the door. Connections, where you're born, the money you have, it's all too complex. Your dream could be just to contribute and be a productive member of society, and never even get the chance. So most just tune out. Some don't even bother with finding a partner. Others drown in hedonism. They do the bare minimum to live a comfortable life until they die. And what will they do with all their free time? Gain knowledge and skills? What for? So they just wait and buy and consume and pass the time until it all just stops. Is it their fault for being scared and weak? Is it society that's gotten too weird? A bit of both.

Plenty of truth in what you say, but for me it's not an either/or proposition. There is ample room and opportunity to live a wonderful life. "Being" something isn't part of that equation. The idea that "being" something other than a healthy, thriving animal experiencing existence, is one of many lies.

The most important things in life outside of things like your mental and physical health, are the quality of the relationships you have and how you touch other people. Everything else is just noise and I don't worry too much about it anymore, most of the time. I'm not an overly emotional or touchy-feely person, but humans are social animals, it's literally what we evolved to be so I try to be good at that.

I go back to American Psycho sometimes. The book moreso than the movie. And it's scary how absolutely reletable, real and raw Bateman is. He represents the alienation in everyone. Is he last true man in a fake world?[...]

I watched that for the first time recently. Haven't read the novel. There are aspects of him that are familiar or relatable, but I didn't find it overly resonant; the portrait of alienation I first recognized and that still resonates with me is the Air-Conditioned Nightmare described by Henry Miller in many of his works. Hit me like a freight train in my late teens.

At the end of the day, when it comes to collecting I want my shelves to say something about me.

Maybe a lot of us do, or at the very least enjoy the tangible representations of stories or characters we love. You can touch it, maybe pose it, it's an artifact or touchstone.

But I recently read a book on minimalist living by Fumio Sasaki... "Goodbye Things: The New Japanese Minimalism". It covers ground I've been living for years but by comparison he makes me look like a hoarder ... ... he touches on how the things on his shelves, the cameras he collected, the books, the records and so on ... were an attempt to extrude and display his personality, to present a curated view of how he wanted others to see him.

And so he let that go, and got rid of all of it. Now he's simply himself, and his home is simply shelter.

Who knows, maybe someday even I will do the same. It wouldn't take me long. I don't own that much. But it was the right choice for him, he doesn't insist everyone must do so to be happy with their life. It's a quick and interesting read, I'd recommend it to anyone who ponders collecting and modern life.

[...] I want to look at my collection of figures and think of something, anything. It's not about money or space. Be rich enough and you can buy them all. It's about time. An affirmation that it wasn't all wasted. That something remained. That something carried on to the next stage.[...]

I look at my figures and think there's a story I loved, or a character I found resonant. And I love the way this thing looks, the colours and the finish, the design whether it be grounded or outlandish. Or maybe I love the way this thing feels, the heft to it.

It's as much a sensory experience as it is connected to memories and emotions. And it's very much for me. I enjoy it when people recognize or relate to it, but it's not about them. Sounds like you're also mapping something for yourself.

 

[hoodonit00]

Comics are dying because the companies let the wrong people into the business

I?ve had a box at my local comic book shop for the last 20 years. Shut it down the other month because of this and other reasons.

 

[Victοr]

I'm hilariously old enough to remember Facebook 'when it was cool' and MySpace before that. I deleted my account some years after my elderly parent got an account and the whole thing twisted in on itself like a hellishly stupid echo chamber.

Facebook coasted by on the whole "exclusive club" at first, and that's why it overtook MySpace. It was the beginning of the end, but compared to Twitter and the Hell it unleashed, it was more tame. It had some function beyond shouting your opinions to the world.

My experience of the Internet was a little different, but I get what you're saying. I remember Usenet and Listservs and personal web pages, most of which required you to have at least a passing knowledge of what you were doing.

Outside of retaining an affinity for the genres that broadly fall under the category of 'geekdom', I was more or less gone from that subculture for decades. Other interests, other priorities, things to explore.

I found it again around 2011 and I've had a great deal of fun and entertainment, it's been a nice idle, but I feel my interest waning because I feel like I've seen what I need to see.

I'll never be gone completely of course, it's part of my taste in entertainment after all, but it's one small circle in a mess of Venn diagrams.

I managed to live through Dial-Up Internet for the first few years, but I never really got into its whole subculture until much later seeing as it was a pretty new thing here. But between the older brothers of friends and all, I do remember a time before everyone and their grandma was on the net. Too much accessibility just destroys everything, no matter what.

As for "geekdom", I no longer really identify with it. Becoming too mainstream killed it for me. And growing up I suppose. There's only so much subpar writing and hamfisted allegories coupled with recycled plots that you can take. I still enjoy snippets of it, but the days of being actively engaged with it are long gone. I want to build a shelf apart from my books just for my comics. A couple of single-issue runs I've completed, and certain Omnibuses I'll buy. That'll be my way of completing my journey, so to speak. I want that new Ditko Strange Omnibus for example. Or the Planetary one. I've collected a lot of comics over the years, same as books. Now I'm looking into getting good editions simply to close the chapters.

Ah. We're different there.

Yeah, I struggle a bit with that sometimes. It's less attachment in most cases and more of a sense of completionism. Sometimes nostalgia plays a part, but usually I was afraid of missing out on something I might enjoy. It came about because of two things. One, I was never obsessively into a specific genre. I liked a bit of everything. And two, at some point I finished all the "classics". So as nothing really gave me the same enjoyment, I kept searching and searching, across media and genres. The thing is, with the internet you get wildly different opinions. One says "it's the greatest thing I've seen/read/played in years", the others says it's trash and the other one says "meh". There's no real consistency and too many voices so you have to sort of take the plunge yourself.

These days I just don't even take the plunge. If the trailer/preview and subject matter don't hook me, I don't get invested. There are tons and tons of products from every single medium and genre. Most of them have little originality and therefore worth, past finding comfort in the tried and true. And that's of use to a certain extent. But I can't waste such time anymore. Part of it I'd say is just ego and putting your boot on the ground; making a choice.

I've outgrown the Spider-Man comics, but his was one of the first stories I followed as a small child, one of my first action figures in fact. So I'll find myself with one or two 1/6th representations of him, part of my 'artifact' approach.

Batman ... I'm conversant with past runs but more so what are considered some of his seminal stories, but the only one I own is Year One. It just works for me. Because of aesthetics, time and place, I have HT Returns and a custom Catwoman, but at this time I don't feel the need for more. That's a time and place and character that have been marked on my personal map. I'll watch a live-action film, but beyond a couple of hours of spectacle and story, I've outgrown the men in capes in terms of invested, active fandom. Films are easy to jump in and out of.

If I'm talking first comics in general, I started with the local stuff, like Asterix, Lucky Luke, etc. But my first Big 2 serialized collection was of Ultimate Marvel. 90s X-Men, Spider-Man and Batman TAS were an everyday watch. So personally I sort of got into all of them at once. Which means that when I get nostalgia, all of them rush back. Over the years (for more than a decade) I've tried doing chronological reads of all those properties but stopped for one reason or the other. More important things were happening. I had an urge to get back to them, but it gradually diminished, especially as my love and nostalgia for Big 2 comics in general went away. If I want to represent the 90s/2000s in my mind, I go with one or two specific Big 2 runs, but mostly I go with early WildStorm and Image. I have settled and decided that Planetary and the Authority, alongside Ultimates, capture the era better than others. So while I may have watched Spider-Man then, I can set him aside and pour my childhood nostalgia to more contained products.

Personally, to avoid these pitfalls, I direct my consumer-based-nostalgia elsewhere. I sit down and say "during X period I was into Y, Z, etc". And from there I pick and choose only a couple. If I kept looking back at everything I ever liked, I'd still be watching Spongebob and obsessing over TMNT and Pokemon... So I look at the "big picture". Things that have stuck with me for one reason or the other, from every direction. The afformentioned PotC. Metal Gear. Splinter Cell. The ValveVerse. Green Lantern. Then Mass Effect and Iron Man. And so on and so forth. For example, during my edge teen years I got into Spawn, Ghost Rider, Hellboy, Moon Knight and so on. Now I only keep the Punisher in my list. After reading through the Thunderbolts, JLA, X-Men/X-Force/X-Factor/X-Whatever, with the list going on and on, I've only stuck with the F4 for a comic book team, because of various reasons and a childhood tie. I've generally passed them all through filters, and have narrowed it down to a couple of media and characters from every 5 years or so. It's sort of like creating a collage.

Right..so my entire collecting ethos and part of the fun for me, is finding that line and drawing it. I have let things go that I thought I wouldn't, knowing I'd miss them every now and then, because drawing the line is more important to me than owning the thing.

Exactly. Everything in a proper collection must be, more or less, of equal value. If you start down the road of owning things just to own them because they complete a minor set, then you move on to the next one, then to the next one and it turns into mess. And to me it diminishes the "importance" of the true "Grails". They become just another dolly or statue.

Not familiar with Young Pope, but The Sopranos and Mad Men are excellent examples of exceptional television. They do stay with you, to varying degrees in ways most of what's produced does not, for whatever reason.

TYP is absolutely beautiful. It's by the same guy who did "The Great Beauty" and Jude Law's best role. The New Pope was a beautiful drivel, but I ignore that. TYP is definitely worth a watch, seeing as it's just one season. I'd post a clip from youtube but it wouldn't do it justice. For me, only a few shows have stuck with me, and that's the way I like it. Same for movies and media in generally. I'm gradually trying to make myself forget things and stick only with the ones that I have some connection to. Sometimes it's high profile and acclaimed series like MM, Sopranos, Twin Peaks and so on. Sometimes it's lesser known ones like Patriot. Boardwalk Empire stumbled a lot, but it springs to my mind too often for me to ever forget. Nobody remembers Michael Clayton or Up In The Air, but these two movies are amongst my favourites for a comfy watch. Collateral is amongst my NightCore list. And so on. I keep about 10 or so films in every category. Sometimes I add some new stuff here and there, but I like it all being neat and tidy.

Plenty of truth in what you say, but for me it's not an either/or proposition. There is ample room and opportunity to live a wonderful life. "Being" something isn't part of that equation. The idea that "being" something other than a healthy, thriving animal experiencing existence, is one of many lies.

The most important things in life outside of things like your mental and physical health, are the quality of the relationships you have and how you touch other people. Everything else is just noise and I don't worry too much about it anymore, most of the time. I'm not an overly emotional or touchy-feely person, but humans are social animals, it's literally what we evolved to be so I try to be good at that.

I wouldn't say it's an either/or position, but it generally takes immense will, and luck, to get far in this world. Being in the field (kinda, sorta, I'm getting there...), it's all too complicated for just anyone to find his way into it. My point is that a lot of folks start with a rather simple dream, then reality hits them and a quite a few just give up. They settle in sloth and are just content with consuming and passing the time. They don't even create meaningful bonds with the world around them. They just "are". They go through the motions, distract themselves and that was it. Ultimately, I think they're the big consumers of this inflated world. A household will watch a few tv shows, some background, a movie here and there, will buy a toy and a game, and so on. But the 1K$ statue of [new hot thing] is being bought by those people primarily. Disposable income with no real purpose.

As for "being" something I still feel the pull to it, which is why I haven't given up yet. I haven't managed to "kill my ego", so it still drives me in a way. I can see the arguments and the merit of doing so, being freed from it, but my mind doesn't work like that. I was always an "all or nothing" person, so the more I cut away from the "distractions", the more I put there. Less so in the "I wanna be a Hollywood Star!!!111" sense, and more in the "I want to leave a mark" one. It's why I've chosen my particular field.

I watched that for the first time recently. Haven't read the novel. There are aspects of him that are familiar or relatable, but I didn't find it overly resonant; the portrait of alienation I first recognized and that still resonates with me is the Air-Conditioned Nightmare described by Henry Miller in many of his works. Hit me like a freight train in my late teens.

I haven't read the bok you mentioned, but it does sound interesting so I'll add it to my book list. Now if only the Post Office would deliver my stuff...

As for AP, the movie is more straightforward. It's a black comedy with some drama thrown in. The book's different. It has entire sections in pretty much every chapter where Bateman describes everyone's clothing. Suit, socks, ties, everything. He knows and can recognize the brands and styles as he critiques them. At some point you start skipping them, which is the intention. Most of them don't even make sense as outfits and look ridiculous, if you take the time to search for pictures of the described clothing. There are entire chapters were he goes on about [current hit song]. The whole point is that he's being completely superficial and conforming for no real particular reason. He does it to "fit in" so he forces himself to like only what is "hip and cool". He consumes it all in an effort to be "in" with the latest trend, even though it doesn't really matter. At the same time he wants to be "different", and "special", and he knows that he can't, so he loses himself in his fantasies.

I'd say it's worth reading. It's more of a black comedy mixed with existential dread compared to the movie. There's a part where Price (Bryce in the movie) jumps off a railing and dissappears into the tunnels. He comes back at the end, seemingly content. He had the same problems of alienation as Bateman. They were rich and handsome but with no purpose. A monotonous repetition was their whole life, and they had an ounce of self-reflection so they wanted to break their cycle. Price seemingly accepts his lot in life and eases into it. Bateman keeps being in turmoil. Everything in the book can be applied to today. Parick just represents the inner violent thoughts everyone has at some point. Especially those who cannot connect with people. The difference is that back then only the upper class had such problems. Too many distractions and no real purpose, no struggle. Now the world is filled with these people. We are Bateman in a way. We play our vidya, we tune out on the couch as we watch the latest Netflix ****show. Some turn to hedonism. What was a mostly isolated problem has infected everyone to varying degrees. The book's not going to change your worldview, but it's worth the few hours I'd say. It's interesting.

Maybe a lot of us do, or at the very least enjoy the tangible representations of stories or characters we love. You can touch it, maybe pose it, it's an artifact or touchstone.

Exactly.

But I recently read a book on minimalist living by Fumio Sasaki... "Goodbye Things: The New Japanese Minimalism". It covers ground I've been living for years but by comparison he makes me look like a hoarder ... ... he touches on how the things on his shelves, the cameras he collected, the books, the records and so on ... were an attempt to extrude and display his personality, to present a curated view of how he wanted others to see him.

And so he let that go, and got rid of all of it. Now he's simply himself, and his home is simply shelter.

Who knows, maybe someday even I will do the same. It wouldn't take me long. I don't own that much. But it was the right choice for him, he doesn't insist everyone must do so to be happy with their life. It's a quick and interesting read, I'd recommend it to anyone who ponders collecting and modern life.

I don't think I could ever go to such lengths, but it does sound like an interesting enough concept. I'll add it to my book list and give it a read. I'm reminded of this scene:



It's simple advice, but it resonates. If you keep on adding things without a filter, you'll end up trapped. We must always exercise critique. It's why "gatekeeping" used to exist, and why our hobby has been ruined. In all things a filter exists to let only the "worthy" pass through. Be it a job, a relationship or even a game series. Not everyone is fit for everything and that's all alright. When you start demanding that all doors open you end up trivializing it all.

I look at my figures and think there's a story I loved, or a character I found resonant. And I love the way this thing looks, the colours and the finish, the design whether it be grounded or outlandish. Or maybe I love the way this thing feels, the heft to it.

It's as much a sensory experience as it is connected to memories and emotions. And it's very much for me. I enjoy it when people recognize or relate to it, but it's not about them. Sounds like you're also mapping something for yourself.

In a way it's a bit of an ego thing. You want to say that it wasn't time wasted, that it provided enough joy for you to remember it, and drop 300 bucks on a dolly. But I don't think that's bad. It's a way of leaving a mark so to speak. To have something tangible and true to pass down. Beyond words and actions, in a way these childish dollies and statues represent certain points in time, certain thoughts, certain aspects, that might have been hidden by growth and maturity. When you go overboard you are left with nothing but a mass. If you do it carefully, you have a small museum of your own inner child. For example, I have little interest in John Constantine anymore and I feel no desire to go back and read his stories. But he's the edgy idea of a teen's "mature character" in me, so I'd buy a figure to represent that moment in time. I like the thought of creating a sort of timemap, with the good and the "bad" all present.

 

[abake]

But I recently read a book on minimalist living by Fumio Sasaki... "Goodbye Things: The New Japanese Minimalism". It covers ground I've been living for years but by comparison he makes me look like a hoarder ... ... he touches on how the things on his shelves, the cameras he collected, the books, the records and so on ... were an attempt to extrude and display his personality, to present a curated view of how he wanted others to see him.

And so he let that go, and got rid of all of it. Now he's simply himself, and his home is simply shelter.

That's an interesting thought.

As I'm in the planning stages of moving back to Germany (well, "back" isn't exactly accurate, as I only actually lived there for two years, but it's still my heritage and I've got family there), I have been getting rid of not only the dollies, but also comics, books, records, DVDs, you name it.
And it has crossed my mind how important my books and record collection were to project my "image". It was always sort of cool to see people "wowed" by all my cool records and interesting books.
But it makes me happy that now all my kids can have all that cool stuff, and more importantly, they actually appreciate it.

 

[DiFabio]

All this stuff is just temporary.

Truth be told, if all my stuff was destroyed in a fire and I lost it all, I?d be more relieved than upset. Collecting is compulsive. I came to the realization about this stuff years ago.

I don?t want other people, other collectors, to come to that understanding until I?m done getting rid of and selling off all my stuff though, so could you guys please keep it down? Don?t be spreading this ****.

 

[a-dev]

In the fire scenario I think my policy at this point would be to not bother trying to save any of it. Theoretically I have tonnes of 'must saves' so what would be the point in grabbing just one figure? Might aswell let it all go and get that clean break.

That said I'm not planning on burning my collection down.

 

[generalszabo]

I agree, things are just things, as long as my family and pets get out safely then that's what matters

 

[ZE_501]

There are only 7 objects in my home that can?t be replaced.

Only one of them is a geek collectible; and even that could maybe be replaced, albeit with time and great difficulty.

Out of the other 6, 4 are more or less family heirlooms, 2 of them being old photo albums (starting in the ?30s) that I should really digitize.

Another 2 art objects that while not having any massive monetary value, are either unique or so uncommon as to being unlikely to ever be found again.

That being said, objects are ephemera no matter what we think, because either they go, or we do. While I?d rather they go before I do (LOL) the result in terms of our relationship to inanimate things is the same, in the end.

Shadows and dust.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Star-Crunch]

Totally understand all the sentiments in here. I used to have over 300 Funko pops (nothing compared to other collections out there) and I recently purged most of them. Feels so liberating. With figures, I have a few pre ordered, and there are some other key things I’d like to get eventually, but I’m at a point where I’m looking to wrap up my humble collection. I’ve realized that trying to get everything is more stressful than fun, and I’m much happier with a smaller, more manageable collection.

 

[ShadowGuardian]

Lots of really great discussion here guys, I just read through the last few pages. I agree with a whole lot of what has been said. My collection has changed quite a bit over the past ~8ish years I've been collecting. I have never had an absolutely MASSIVE collection with a man cave or like 10 detolfs full or whatever. This is largely in part to where I'm at in life now as I'm in my early 20s and I do not have that kind of money so I have to be a lot more careful in my spending. But even if I did have the funds and the space? I honestly don't think I'd even want that. The running theme over the years when it comes to my collection has been making it smaller and smaller, with the quality of each piece increasing. I've always been more about quality over quantity, but that rings true now more than ever. And this is subjective, but I think a small collection of a few high end pieces is more classy than a massive collection of shall we say lower tier pieces. Or even a massive collection of high end pieces!

Not having so much is very freeing, and for the little I do have I find I appreciate it that much more. Each figure stands out so much in my little display and I find myself constantly being wowed by it. Plus when I get a new figure on occasion, it is a REAL treat. I tend to savor the moment and I'm not suddenly moving on to the next thing immediately.

I am now very picky with what collectibles I do buy, and if I'm not happy with something after having it for a few months I sell it (like the HT Endgame Thanos - perfectly fine figure but I just didn't admire it like my other stuff). I have tried to limit my collection to cinematic icons that have stood the test of time, only 1 thing from a given property, life like looking and not a trooper or helmeted character (Vader is exception, because it's Darth freakin Vader), and absolutely top of the line and not just your standard release (at least in my eyes!).

I currently only have a single detolf with a separate display box on top so each figure in the end will have it's own shelf. Including what I have on order, my collection consists of the Hot Toys 1/4 Joker, Hot Toys 1/4 Darth Vader, Hot Toys 1/6 DX15 Jack Sparrow, Asmus Crown Series 1/6 Gandalf the Grey, and the Sideshow Child Statue. I guess The Child breaks some of the criteria established above, but Mando reminds me of the Star Wars of old and while the show isn't even that old it already has some sentimental value for me due to personal reasons and those I've watched the show with.