Ok, if anyone here can understand your question/statement it is me...
So I have collected toys since 1991. I have sold/bought/traded on small scale like toy hustlin' to flea market toy dealers/toy show dealers/comic store dealers/hole the wall toy store owners...to large scale setting up w/ lazorlion selling toys in an antique store/flea markets/toy shows (all pre-Ebay days). So from 1991-2006 my toy collection became the sickness that I labeled "My Toy Empire." Well while my sons, my friends, and I thought it was AWESOME...I also knew that it was sort of a habit. I too was thinking I had to have every variation and every figure of every toyline I dug/collected. Now I was GREAT at finding ULTRA RARE old/obscure toys and sell them to fund MOST of my collecting habit, however, certain toylines and so many toylines were killing me. New Star Wars, Dragon Ball Z, etc... they were wallet drainers and were sooooooo mass marketed that they weren't even fun to collect. So I took a BIG step in 2003 and sold all my new Star Wars toys (not my vintage complete collection) and I felt the healing...it was hard to walk the toy isle and see the new SW stuff and not buy them...but, soon it became easy to laugh and keep walkin' by them w/o even picking them up to look at them. My next step was probably the hardest step EVER...
Marriage problems...spring 2006 I was blind-sided...most everyone here knows what happened, but, in a nut shell...after 10 years of marriage she (the ex now) told me she wanted a divorce...so of course I was a fool and thought we could work it out...no, it turned into 5 months of her soaking me...I started selling off several important/high $$$ toylines in my collection thinking they weren't that important to me and the $$$ would help make thinks better w/ the marriage...well, it sure helped HER and she made sure she played the game for as long as she could until I FINALLY realized what I was doing and what was going on in her master plan. Get him to sell off his toys so she would benefit from the $$$ and then file for divorce. That would mean less valuables to fight over during the divorce. Well...needless to say I only sold off 10-15% of my collection prior to gettin' smart...then I fought her tooth and nail for the rest of my collection, the house, and custody.
I had ALWAYS told my parents that my toy collecting was not only a hobby...it was also an investment should something ever happen where I needed some serious $$$ to pay for health bills, loss jobs (which that had happened to the ex 2x's just prior to the divorce 2001 & again in 2003), etc... Well, during the divorce I had everything I could get out of the house removed during Labor Day weekend 2 weeks after I filed for divorce. The stuff I couldn't get out, I PACKED into my 5 Toys R Us LOCKED display cases (safe and sound). So after we mediated and I got the right to sell any of my toys I wanted during the divorce and then once they were ALL free and clear after the divorce, I sold absolutely EVERYTHING I could live w/o BECAUSE I knew I would have some serious legal bills...little did I know I would have $28,000 in total legal bills when everything was said and done (because I decided fairly early on I would do whatever it took to fight for more than 50% custody of my sons). So, those silly little toys (which 75% of the were displayed and I enjoyed every single day) became one of the most important tools I had to bail myself out of some MAJOR debt to stay on my feet financially for my sons. Not to mention, it helped me to stay in my home (keeping my sons in their original school district and neighborhood)!!!
Now I own about 10% or less of the toys I had (look at my old collection
HERE). I miss a few of my collections BIG TIME...but, MOST of them I have gotten over (which must mean they weren't that important to me). For the most part, I feel great about the freedom from collecting sooooooooo many things/toylines and the free space in our home! That same feeling I got when I stopped buying new Star Wars figures. What killed me was when I sold off my complete vintage Star Wars collection for BIG $$$. I got what it was worth, but, the sentimental value was something that I know I will always regret...those were the #1 toy I lived/breathed and loved as a child and as an adult. Fond memories of my brother and I playing w/ them and I WISH I could have saved them till my sons were older (I mean 25-30...so they wouldn't sell them on Ebay in college for some beer/pizza $) and to maybe pass on to their kids...but, when I thought long and hard about it, I thought...they won't have the same memories of them, there is only one absolutely complete collection and there is 2 of them to split them up...screw it...I sold them and moved on from my memories.
Ok, so this turned into a HUGE life story ramble and I am not about to look back over everything I typed in this post. As you can see, I have went through a lot and toys have been and most likely always will be my escape from reality...they make me feel good (collecting in moderation), they keep me young, and they can be a real life saver when in a financial bind. So while lots of collectors say, "Don't sell when you are in a financial pinch," I say, "Sell them when you absolutely know you need the money!" (job loss, bills/debt to keep your credit squeaky clean, etc...) One thing I have learned over the years of collecting...they are just toys and your family/real life are the most important things on this earth! So collect, but, always display to enjoy them every day and never buy & store unless you are merely investing for those rainy days when things aren't going good. There is NO FUN in keeping your collection in a rubbermaid storage container in the closet.
Did I help or just ramble?
I am done...
TGB