So......why figures?

[Otomofan]

All right, I'm gonna have to admit that is pretty strange.

I understand the "rush" of anticipating new stuff, but to not even enjoy it when it finally arrives after months or years of waiting? I don't get that.

Any new item that comes into my collection has my full attention while it's brand new. I understand that thrill is very fleeting, but I can't believe you skip that part and go on to the waiting for the next thing.

Reminds me of this guy I knew about ten years back. He was really, really good at picking up girls. I've never seen a guy so skilled at meeting girls in a club and getting them to come home with him.

He told me that the actual getting laid part wasn't even the good part for him...in fact, he didn't even really care about it at all. He said the real thrill is in "hooking" her and getting her attracted, and the *** was just an afterthought.

I....don't get it. I've never been one for "the thrill of the hunt" when it comes to either women or collectibles. I don't want to HUNT, I just want to EAT. I don't need to be the one bringing down the gazelle with my own teeth and claws. I'm just as happy to eat the two day old elderly dead gazelle that's just sitting there waiting for me.

I think my analogies have gone into some strange places, but I'm sure you guys get what I mean.

 

[goatchumby]

So why figures? I'm gonna' chime in with cartoons and marketing.

The past couple decades saw an aggressive push by toy manufacturers to use cartoons and television shows to drive sales on toys (much like music videos for physical audio media). Arguably, that effort came to a head during the 80s/90s where it seemed that kids could expect a toy from whatever the latest cartoon or other kids' programming was.

As we got older, we now have money to (more or less) relive our childhood fantasies through art that benefits from better technology and technique. The youngins won't see see the desire for toys that we have as they have already become the product for digital marketers and their services aimed at them.

Additionally, movies and television during the 80s were bat$#!t crazy, and that's just the kind of era that I love revisiting with my collections.

 

[Otomofan]

Yeah, I think one look at the Masters of the Universe line sums up how batshit crazy the 80s were.

I'm not saying they just sat up all night in the Mattel offices with bags of cocaine saying stuff like "No wait wait wait.....get this.....he's like....a bee. He's like a bee-man. A big giant bumblebee man....with translucent wings!! Yeaaaaahhhh!!" (snooort)

Buuuut I'm also NOT not saying that.

 

[crankitup86]

Why not?

 

[BACON!]

I come from a fine art background, so I see the hobby more like "figure in a landscape". Dioramas provide a setting and a context for many of my figures, and I move them around each diorama often. For me, these dioramas are a bit like a work of art that is always changing. And continually makes me happy.

As far as miniatures, I have not figured out why I am so obsessed with small things, but I always have been. I used to consider it a bit of a god complex and made a series of artworks about that subject.

 

[Turtle882]

Why figures? A little deep, a little dark, ultimately gratifying.

I was born in 1981. Action figures were THE THING when I was growing up. When I was still a boy, I suffered a difficult trauma that definitely forced me to grow and deal with adult realities way before I was ready. My action figures were a wonderful retreat. I loved reading (books and comics) and I loved movies, so to be able to control the worlds of my favorite characters was incredibly therapeutic at a time when I felt I had no control over my own world. As I got older, my love for action figures (and LEGO) never really waned. As I got older though, some mental health issues slowly arose. I've got OCD, and it can be a problem, it definitely affects my collecting habits to the point where I occasionally wonder if I am collecting or my OCD is. I don't mind the hobby when I know I am enjoying it, but there are times where the collecting compulsion is really just a compulsion. So for me action figures are a kind of therapy.

 

[generalszabo]

Why figures? A little deep, a little dark, ultimately gratifying.

I was born in 1981. Action figures were THE THING when I was growing up. When I was still a boy, I suffered a difficult trauma that definitely forced me to grow and deal with adult realities way before I was ready. My action figures were a wonderful retreat. I loved reading (books and comics) and I loved movies, so to be able to control the worlds of my favorite characters was incredibly therapeutic at a time when I felt I had no control over my own world. As I got older, my love for action figures (and LEGO) never really waned. As I got older though, some mental health issues slowly arose. I've got OCD, and it can be a problem, it definitely affects my collecting habits to the point where I occasionally wonder if I am collecting or my OCD is. I don't mind the hobby when I know I am enjoying it, but there are times where the collecting compulsion is really just a compulsion. So for me action figures are a kind of therapy.

You seem very self aware and I apprecate the honesty

I think somewhere deep down we're all trying to fill a gap in our past, whether we want to admit it or not

 

[slynger]

Like many here, I grew up in the 80s. Best toys, best music, best cartoons, best action tv and so on.

Star Wars grabbed my attention as a kid and I had many great adventures with my little plastic men. I also spent a good amount of time in the hospital as a kid and remember a Stormtrooper and Vader coming to visit some of us. So I connect on a different level as well.

When some comics started becoming “real” as movies, Reeve as Superman (my favorite) and Keaton as Batman it just got better.

Then the Hasbro “dolls” started getting better and the HT entered the game. I remember seeing a 1/6 fighter pilot with every little detail covered and then I started seeing SW goodies and it was all downhill from there.

For the time, SS weren’t bad, but as we now know, HT is better in almost every aspect.

I’ve limited my 1/6 habits as I mainly do statues, but I’ll always have a few in my collection.

 

[Otomofan]

I've got OCD, and it can be a problem, it definitely affects my collecting habits to the point where I occasionally wonder if I am collecting or my OCD is. I don't mind the hobby when I know I am enjoying it, but there are times where the collecting compulsion is really just a compulsion. So for me action figures are a kind of therapy.

Thanks for the post.

I had a very close friend that had crippling OCD. Not the "ha ha, the paintjob on this figure triggers my OCD" but the real thing. I felt terrible for him when he was having bad days. It sounds awful.

I think all collectors have a touch of being obsessive and compulsive and it leads to us being collectors. "Normal" people don't behave like us. But I've seen the difference between having a touch of it that leads us to fret about our collections, and having the kind of OCD that impairs one's ability to get through the day.

I hope you're doing all right these days!

 

[LiamNeesons112]

You seem very self aware and I apprecate the honesty

I think somewhere deep down we're all trying to fill a gap in our past, whether we want to admit it or not

Totally true. This scene from It’s Always Sunny is completely relatable to me. I choose to fill my “God hole” with figures.

 

[generalszabo]

Totally true. This scene from It’s Always Sunny is completely relatable to me. I choose to fill my “God hole” with figures.

All I've got in my head is that troll toll song now

 

[LiamNeesons112]

All I've got in my head is that troll toll song now

 

[Turtle882]

Thanks for the post.

I had a very close friend that had crippling OCD. Not the "ha ha, the paintjob on this figure triggers my OCD" but the real thing. I felt terrible for him when he was having bad days. It sounds awful.

I think all collectors have a touch of being obsessive and compulsive and it leads to us being collectors. "Normal" people don't behave like us. But I've seen the difference between having a touch of it that leads us to fret about our collections, and having the kind of OCD that impairs one's ability to get through the day.

I hope you're doing all right these days!

Thankfully mine is not super severe. Medication is awesome, but so is therapy and working through stuff. But, man, shows like Monk really piss me off, and that's how most people see it. There's nothing cute about (insert horrible, unspeakable thought of your own chosing) and not being able to unthink it. Just that thought on loop. Forever.

The litany agaisnt fear from Dune, though... That is actually a life saver. If your friend is unfamiliar, introduce him. It's basically short form Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and something I recite often.

 

[Otomofan]

Well sorry to say, but my friend passed away a few years ago from cancer. I think the cancer was a major trigger for his OCD, too. He was on meds but they didn't do much. He said cognitive behavioral therapy worked best for him, and meditation. But there were times when he couldn't control it at all.

I'm glad I never experienced it that bad, but I have a touch of it for sure. And having intrusive persistant thoughts that will NOT go away is just a living nightmare.

 

[Turtle882]

I'm sorry to hear that about your friend. That's a lot of struggles for one person.

 

[Remembermyname]

Thanks for the post.

I had a very close friend that had crippling OCD. Not the "ha ha, the paintjob on this figure triggers my OCD" but the real thing. I felt terrible for him when he was having bad days. It sounds awful.

I think all collectors have a touch of being obsessive and compulsive and it leads to us being collectors. "Normal" people don't behave like us. But I've seen the difference between having a touch of it that leads us to fret about our collections, and having the kind of OCD that impairs one's ability to get through the day.

I hope you're doing all right these days!

Hello to all in this discussion and for your words. As I see it in simple terms, collecting whatever it may be is part of the human condition, most likely an addiction of which those that do not cannot fathom the whole collecting thing. Take 1.6 scale for example, for me it is the seeking out, the research and often the acquiring, the possession and yet after this it loses some level of interest. I reckon most if not all of us have some harmless trait, most of us shall never know. I see it as a row of doors, most of us belong in at least one of the rooms, more often than not in several. In conclusion, if collecting makes you happy then in moderation it is a good thing....enjoy.

 

[Remembermyname]

For me it's because they're ultimate testament to these pop culture properties I grew up with. As a kid I couldn't find all those great action figures I'd see on the internet, so this is a way for me to fullfill that childhood dream of sorts and get a high end representation of my favourite characters, thereby closing the chapter on that part of my life. They're more lifelike than statues, and cheaper too, so while they have some dangers like the pleather, the more limited poses and whatnot, they seem like true collectibles to me. Statues... eh. I'd want a couple of my Top 10 characters, or a specific diorama if I had an entire mancave or something. But they don't scratch that itch. They're still overpriced plastic pieces. It feels wrong to me to waste that much money on a "statue" of a bloody cape and pretend it's "art" like a proper handcrafted, one of a kind statue. These high end figures walk the balance between toy and display piece, and that's how I like it.


I think about this pretty often. Any way you cut it, these are just plastic figures. Very good looking, and they make for great displays, but when you gather too many of them, the way they clutter together gets pretty depressing. So I try to reign myself in a little bit more every day, because I know that 10 years from now, if I look upon a pile of plastic and only 20% of that actually elicits a response from me, I'll regret it. I want this collection to mean something, both to me and hopefully my kids if I have any in the future. But if it's a massive accumilation of plastic, then what's the point? These things will always be made in some form of another. How many characters will I replace because Ver. 3.0 is soooo much better? How many things can be displayed before they lose their meaning?

So yeah, there has to be an ending to this. Otherwise they will most certainly end up in the garbage. That's a fact.

I reckon so my friend. All of what you speak fits with my thinking and probably with many collectors at some point in their lives.

 

[Remembermyname]

Just to have it. Not really with any intention of selling, just to know i have it bought.

Interesting this discussion is. For me, I have little or no interest in the packaging, figures do not remain In packaging. I do not do display units because in time the displayed collection becomes a retail or museum display. I keep the figures out of sunlight and ensure dust does not become an issue. At the end of the day it is each to their own....enjoy.

 

[Victοr]

I reckon so my friend. All of what you speak fits with my thinking and probably with many collectors at some point in their lives.

Thanks! As time goes on, I find myself cutting down more and more. But I'm sticking with the scale because like I said above, I feel they are that perfect balance between "realism" and a representative merch of all these pop culture properties.

 

[ridetofight]

I come from a fine art background, so I see the hobby more like "figure in a landscape". Dioramas provide a setting and a context for many of my figures, and I move them around each diorama often. For me, these dioramas are a bit like a work of art that is always changing. And continually makes me happy.

As far as miniatures, I have not figured out why I am so obsessed with small things, but I always have been. I used to consider it a bit of a god complex and made a series of artworks about that subject.

I've never drawn that association between fine art and dioramas, or giving the figures context - they've always been important to me and i somehow feel the figures alone are "unfinished" without having a snippet of world to exist in - but the intention is to further contextualize that character with a setting. I come from a fine art background as well, and your observation is one that works for me.
I've honestly been frustrated with myself at times feeling the compulsion to "tell every figure's story" - when you're talking 1/6, it takes up a lot of room!
I had (still have?) a fantasy as a kid that when Hills department store closed, each corner of that giant space could represent a different gi joe environment! But i wouldn't want to PLAY with them in it (that might disturb a critical set piece, haha), i would meticulously pose tell a visual story - like i would otherwise do with pencils on a piece of paper.
Very cool. I like that...
I'm going to tell my wife "I'm sorry that my collection sometimes overflows out of the basement upstairs, but it's really no different than these paintings here or the sculptures there, you see! If we hang the kids' stuff ON the refrigerator, can I have the space ON TOP of? I've got this dusty quasi future middle east "war ruins" wall diorama with all these sweet old propaganda posters on it... You"re gonna love it, i just know it!"

Off topic a bit, sorry!

A lot of the continued focus on figures I personally credit to the 80's action figure renaissance I grew up in. I grew a personal relationship with that stuff trying to navigate childhood traumas as well. Always learning more about, and practicing the craft of model making and figure posing is still where i find my "mindfulness".
I love these sorts of conversations, great topic to post.