25 replies to this topic

[ironmask]

I was talking with a friend of mine today, and we discussed how our toy collecting habits and tastes have changed over the years.

 

When I first started, I was into MUSCLE, and almost strictly MUSCLE. Ultimate Muscle came out, and I was super bummed that they weren't exactly MUSCLE proportions... Then they grew on me... Then I wound up liking a lot of those sculpts more than MUSCLE! 

Years went by, and the lines that I got interested were more wrestling influence, then kaiju, monsters in general, cute shit (Hamtaro is a guilty pleasure), dinosaurs (what's up Dinofroz?) and lately I find myself being more impressed by the likes of Schliech and Papo. 

 

I gave up on MUSCLE collecting, and only kept a handful of UM figures. I got rid of all of my pro wrestling stuff, and downsized a lot of the random plastic effluvia that I would impulse-buy just to have a new toy. The SD style stuff that I used to hate, now winds up being stuff that I am more interested, besides the realistic Schliech/Papo/less-but-still-good Yowie stuff. 

 

It's kind of wild how wide the tastes margin can shift over the years, right?

How have your collections evolved/shifted over the years?

[plasticfiend]

In hindsight - I've really noticed that ever since I've gotten married, that I don't collect nearly as many ex-girlfriends.  

 

PF

[ironmask]

In hindsight - I've really noticed that ever since I've gotten married, that I don't collect nearly as many ex-girlfriends.  

 

PF

I'm going to go out on a limb and call bullshit on that one, haha

[TheRiddler]

Mine change every 6 months haha! When I started it was all about any mono mini I could get my hands on. As I got deeper into the rabbit hole I switched to my favorite lines (and since I was a completionist I needed all figures in each line). After a few years I stopped being a completionist and started collecting only figures i liked. A few years ago It was all about 3-4 of my favorite lines (musclemania, muscle, wwf ko's and kinkeshi). As of now I have evolved into only collecting one style of kinkeshi boot with the want to start collecting battle beasts...pretty crazy!

[fisheye]

I came here strictly collecting Muscle. Then I started finding out about other toy lines and keshi. I'm still into collecting Muscle, but now I also collecting OMFG variants. This place is a great habit feeder. And I wouldn't have it any other way. 

[ironmask]

 After a few years I stopped being a completionist and started collecting only figures i liked. 

 

Yo, I know those feels. I had to put the breaks on some of my Dinofroz habits, because I fell down the rabbit hole on that one. In fact, I could probably stand to go through the old collection with a finer tooth comb as it is. I'm interested in getting some Bukkiriman keshi, and have to be careful to really only go after what I really want.

[TheRiddler]

Yo, I know those feels. I had to put the breaks on some of my Dinofroz habits, because I fell down the rabbit hole on that one. In fact, I could probably stand to go through the old collection with a finer tooth comb as it is. I'm interested in getting some Bukkiriman keshi, and have to be careful to really only go after what I really want.

The OCD in my collecting habits is strong! Im like..."What's the point of having this figure if I don't have them all"?  In reality it is stupid logic but there is something that pulls my strings and says, you NEED them all!!!!

[ironmask]

I try to not grab anything that I would give an 8/10 on my Toy Coolness Scale... But when you start into a line, it's really easy to start letting in 7's and 6's... Until you're picking up shit you never actually wanted, just to scratch the new toy itch.

I've gotten way better about that over the years.

[TheRiddler]

I try to not grab anything that I would give an 8/10 on my Toy Coolness Scale... But when you start into a line, it's really easy to start letting in 7's and 6's... Until you're picking up shit you never actually wanted, just to scratch the new toy itch.

I've gotten way better about that over the years.

Yea over the years I have gotten much better at being patient, not buying figures I could care less about and not paying a ton just to get a figure I really want! I enjoy my collection much more this way!

[Bones]

I can say the same about Muscle being my first hardcore collecting habit but I've slowly started creeping into other lines like OMFG, minifigs from gumball machines, and other cool little guys that are high up on my cool list (at least the ones I can afford) There are plenty I cant

[mikefromottawa]

Being a child of the 80's, until recently I had and still do have a lot of toys from that era but didn't collect much until early 2000s when McFarlane toys series 17 Spawn came out and I got hooked on his toy line for about a decade. How he managed to take such a nosedive I don't know but he really left a gap in the market between entry level and Hot Toys (which I find are insanely priced.)  Neca and Mezco had a few nice sets but nothing with the level of detail that McFarlane toys had, especially considering their $15 price point.

 

I have always loved Battle Beasts which is why I have turned it into a passion project now, but I find todays toys an absolute let down. Lego has some great sets and are really well built but their product choices leaves much to be desired.

 

I am happy to see more and more 3-D printers and custom figures hitting the market. 3rd party Transformers and classic series like Voltron and MASK are getting a reboot. Lots to be excited about, as long as the wife lets me keep the 2 toy rooms I have in the basement. 

[Draznar]

When I was in a bigger space, I collected just about everything my grubby little mitts could get ahold of. Now that we've moved, I ended up clearing a majority of it out, as opposed to keeping it in storage. (Though I do still have storage for some pieces I absolutely could not part with, but don't have room for.)

The first big hook after getting back into toys was Battle Beasts. Then it went like this:

Battle Beasts > MUSCLE > MIMP > Gormiti > Artist figures > Transformers > sell all the MUSCLE, MIMP, and Gormiti > Buy Gormiti all over again > Buy random crap that looked cool > sell/trade all of the stuff again except for a select few pieces and my Transformers and Battle Beasts. Then I sold my Transformers. (For bigger Transformers.) I think my only surviving collections are my artist stuff and my Battle Beasts.

And right now I don't really collect much at all. We've been saving our dollars around here lately, (for many reasons). Combine that with the fact the CAD is in the shitter, and I have spent a very minimal amount online for toys this year. (And still quite a bit less locally too.)


My only buying habit I have right now is, "Do I have a spot for this that isn't my tote in the closet?" If the answer is no, I don't buy it.

[mannakat]

Now that I don't have to worry about my brother stealing our toys and having fire/shrapnel battles with them in the backyard, I can collect more of the little suckers!

Never have been much of a completionist so only collect what I want or enough of a line to have a nice variation and admire. Though I do like to hoard specific themes/things; werewolves and Terror Dogs being the main two. Don't care what style or size they're in, if they exist it has to be had.
Though the first ones I collected were Battle Beasts - or more like 'saved' them from becoming the toy result of the ending from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Beasts, creatures, and armored things in general are no doubt the favorite things to scour for but generally if something is interesting it'll get picked up one way or another.

But having more access to all the lines out there has really got me interested in making figures as much as collecting them. So there's that as a pretty nice bonus.

[Bones]

I do have a collection of other toys but there not LRGs. Plenty of the first few series of McFarlane toys, his movie monster series, some Spawn, Phycho circus,
Giant KISS figures, and where the wild things are. So yeah I guess in that respect my collecting has changed from large scale toys to small.

[PlasticSoul]

The only thing that has never/will never change as far as what I collect is that I hate stuff that is attached to a stand and I hate stuff that won't stand up. 

 

Mostly I noticed I've slowed down a lot the last couple of years which makes it easy to go after stuff I considered to expensive before(like 35 bucks for a japanese keshi splatterhouse figure). So I collect a lot less but I enjoy the stuff I get a bit more. 

[Ridureyu]

I have been veering more and more into stuff from mythology, or similar obscure sources... and, uh, properties I enjoy, such as Alien.  But there's a lot of, "I like how this looks."

Edited by Ridureyu, 14 September 2016 - 10:45 PM.

[Screamer]

Damn it. I had a well thought out and written reply and my fat finger hit the refresh button. Ah piss.

Basically I blame you. You hear me LRG!? It's all your damn fault.

You taught me the concept of toy "collecting" and because the art of collecting to me is like scripture to a priest, I have fully indulged the hobby. Collecting is a way of life. From seeking individual pieces out, displaying, planning day trips around the hunt, fixing, cleaning, purchasing, selling, trading, talking about, sharing with, one gets wrapped up in the complete cycle of it all.

Before LRG, toys to me were just that, toys to be played with and maybe sometimes displayed. I had a few trunks full of random toys with no rhyme or reason. When I found a bag of MUSCLE and subsequently LRG, I discovered the idea of "toy collecting". Until this point the concept was entirely foreign to me.

I started out to collect a MUSCLE flesh set and had no real desire to go any further than that with "toy collecting". I was warned. Yes, several members acknowledged the toy collecting bug and expressed the risk in pursuing a set. I shrugged off the warnings but the writing was on the wall.

While I was completing my flesh set I discovered a trunk of my childhood toys. Most of which were now missing parts, accessories and in some cases limbs and heads. I loved these toys growing up and set out to complete them. This is likely a process which will never be entirely complete. Sure, once every couple months I am able to complete one of my action figures but there are so many, some so obscure the figures themselves rarely pop up, much less their 1/2" accessory.

I now have so many ongoing subsets and mini collections that I try to stay within these loosely categorized "collections" that seem to increase in numbers rather than shift really.

I now have them basically categorized as my LRG sets (MUSCLE, Battle Beasts Series 1, TMNT companions, Ghostbusters ghosts, Beetlejuice companions, etc.) all which have a distinct end point. Then I have all my childhood stuff which also hypothetically has an end point. Then I have a glow in the dark collection and a random trunk that contains all the misfits. These too have subsets like Glyos Spectre Force and jigglers, respectively.

Collecting overall hasn't shifted as much as I get more focused on completing one aspect of my collection over others. For instance, I have needed just 2 Ghostbuster Ghosts to have all the vintage Kenner ghosts for a year now but havent actively looked on ebay for either of them in months. The last month or so I have been really into vintage rubber jigglers.

I would say that my collecting habits have grown rather than done any significant shifting, as in I havent ousted any lines from my collection. Within my collections though there is major fluctuations in what I actively collect. I really dont know what factors determine what I am interested in any given day, week or month. Thats interesting though and can say that I have never really thought about it.

Ramble ramble.

[Ericnilla]

Started with muscles, but went kinkeshi and haven't looked back. I'm strictly vintage japanese keshi (done with US toys) and don't care for modern stuff.

[Draznar]

The only thing that has never/will never change as far as what I collect is that I hate stuff that is attached to a stand and I hate stuff that won't stand up. 

 

Mostly I noticed I've slowed down a lot the last couple of years which makes it easy to go after stuff I considered to expensive before(like 35 bucks for a japanese keshi splatterhouse figure). So I collect a lot less but I enjoy the stuff I get a bit more. 

We're brothers, yo.

I remember the day I bought my first 3P Transformer. I thought I was insane. And then it arrived and it was one of the best hunks of plastic I ever bought. So now instead of picking up the stuff at retail, I buy one or two 3P guys a year.

And I also hate the wibbly-wobbly fall-down-all-the-timey stuff. What excuse does a huge company that makes toys for a living have for making unbalanced crap? 

Edited by Draznar, 15 September 2016 - 01:23 AM.

[cloning007]

HI my name is Brian and I am an addict, it has been about 2 days since I bought my last mini figure. It wasn't always this way, I started with just a M.u.s.c.l.e flesh set, I started young I was 15. Everything was so young and new, the internet was just starting to boom and I met a bunch of older guys who were really into it. They had a websites, the M.P.S "Darrin" and Muscle Championship Wrestling "Jay" they helped feed my need for more M.u.s.c.l.e, sending me gifts and trading. Not to mention awesome websites that are truly missed. I quickly got my fix with a complete flesh set, but it wasn't enough. I started to go after a colored set. Which was allot harder cause we didn't have a checklist. But then BANG Ultimate Muscle men came out, i was hooked i needed them all, but not just the figures, the cards the books the dvds and games. I was 19 right out of high school and addicted to mini figures. I needed help, I had no place else to turn what could I do, and then i found it. kitty!!!! got a real girlfriend, who eventually became my wife.

Now fast forward 10 years, I got a hot ass wife, she loves me even tho im a big nerd. She starts to make me take instagram yoga photos for her, and then I find people posting pictures of custom muscle men figures they made out of resin. I couldn't resist i got the itch I started sweating, i needed to have these, then you see another and another and another, and now you have a shelf with a bunch of custom muscle mini figures. Then you pull out your old collection. You never completed it, you arent done, you have to finish it. you sign back on lrg you start buying and trading. Now im about 100 figures away from a complete Master set of M.U.S.C.L.E men.

I have started other sets like weird ball and ama mini mashers, mimp, wwe mighty minis, gpk mini kins, and now with the super 7 muscle figures. I cant control myself I cant stop myself.

 

this is when id start breaking down and cry.

Edited by cloning007, 15 September 2016 - 04:02 AM.

[iwao]

My only buying habit I have right now is, "Do I have a spot for this that isn't my tote in the closet?" If the answer is no, I don't buy it.

This has caused the biggest change in my collecting habits. My display space is pretty much maxed out. I do still buy some things that go straight to storage containers, but those are pretty full too and I don't want to add any more. It's hard for me to find a display spot for even the smallest figures anymore. 

 

My personal collecting is in a bit of a lull lately. Most of my extra money goes to buying stuff for my boys. All the fnaf collectibles that came out this year pretty much used up any money I normally would have spent on my own collection. I also have to buy two sets of every Minecraft mini series that comes out. The TMNT line dying down has helped, but I wish they didn't cancel Muckman.

 

I really like the Lego Dimensions game and play it with my 6 year-old. I'm looking forward to Adventure Time, Gremlins, and some other properties they are adding to the game soon.

[stoffhimel]

My tastes have only expanded. I started collecting erasers when I was in elementary school, and now I actively collect lego minifigures too.

[rootstudio]

My history with collecting keshi has been strangely spotty.  When I was a kid I had a sizable collection of MUSCLEs (I even had the poster...), MIMPs and even some Spinjas.  When I was in college I found a local Japanese grocery that stocked all kinds of keshigomu w/candy which I bought quite a few of.  And then I stopped buying them for quite some time.  I've only recently gotten back into the hobby by having my interest re-kindled by websites like Keshi Drop, Little Weirdos, and of course LittleRubberGuys.

 

I'm really impressed by the current renaissance in indy/diy/small-batch/"auteur" keshi that are being produced right now so I guess that's where most of my interest is going...  And of course any commercial line that simply looks cool (ie: Bikkuriman, Jagun Fighters, Hagen No Zista)

...I hate stuff that won't stand up. 

THIS.  A thousand times this...  

Edited by rootstudio, 18 September 2016 - 05:57 AM.

[Sixthwizard]

I started really collecting toys, when McFarlanes Tortured Souls released. Anything horror from McFarlane followed. It wasn't until I had my son, that I started "reliving" my childhood. Probably a classic trait among 80's kids- reliving childhood after having kids!
The horror stuff sold off mostly, or boxed up and stored. I still flaunt the Tortured Souls and Hellraiser box set though, right in my living room-
Transformers (g1) and reissues were the shit, for a while. Until each one started costing too much. And that's a damn line that never sleeps, ever!
Muscles, all the way, were my drug of choice for a loooong time. Then I found this site. Started seeing "custom?" figures- I couldn't believe my eyes!
Jimmy- you blew it up for me, dude! After seeing your figures, and never scoring one- I started chasing down all kinds of custom stuff. Healeymade, Turbopistola, Bigmantoys, etc....
Then later, meeting you Jimmy- you gave me a bag of stuff- man!!!!!!! Mindeff. Haha. After that, all I wanted was custom dudes shit!
I still pick up things I LIKE, but don't have any "master set" mindset anymore. Muscles ruined any vision of completing any set of anything. I don't "follow" any retail lines anymore (minus World of Nintendo stuff)
Enter Zectron! Dude, You've flipped me over again. Just like Rommel did. I find myself scouring higher end vinyl things now. Never buying them because I'm poor white trash haha....
Enter Tug o War. Period. He entered, and conquered all of my figures. If there is one toy, that I want every one of- every version of- it's this one- and for right now, I have them all but The Zilla painted by Obsessed Panda....so far.....the story will continue!

Edited by Sixthwizard, 22 September 2016 - 06:25 PM.

[Bones]

Hahahahahaha. Sexwizard

Edited by bones, 22 September 2016 - 06:44 PM.