Collecting Retrospective: How I Started and How It's Going
If you know me, it doesn't really come as a surprise that I love amassing little hunks of plastic in the shape of my favorite characters. This all started when I was little, and finding merch of your favorite anime or game properties was difficult back then. If you were lucky, maybe your local mall had an import store that carried anime items, or in my case- mine stocked Sailor Moon items that I had never seen before. It was one of those few magical times early in life where you really think, "Wow, I'm in paradise!" Though "paradise" was limited by your parents telling you they had already got you something from there a week ago, and that we had to go home soon. I agonized over seeing a Spiral Heart Moon Rod toy on display and not being able to get it, though 24 years later I would get my own Proplica of the damn thing and fill that sad little niche.
Unsurprisingly, this would all develop into me primarily becoming an anime/game figure collector. My first "anime" figure being the Yamato Lovable Collection .hack// Blackrose that I found at a Suncoast in 2004. Everything I have now can probably be linked to this encounter with it 20 something years ago. She sat on my family computer desk for years until I would eventually give her away to a friend a decade later during a decluttering/move (I'm sorry Blackrose... I probably should have kept you...) My second anime figure would be SEGA Asuka prize figure that I got while attending my very first anime convention in 2007. Getting this from a con was such a huge deal at the time, just being surrounded by vendors making figures accessible in one location was like a euphoria hit I had been unable to replicate until I browsed the Amiami flagship store in Akihabara.
I have been collecting for over 20 years now, and that's still kind of shocking to me since it really does feel like yesterday. The climate surrounding figure collecting has DRASTICALLY changed since I started in high school, half for the better half for the worse, if you ask me. On one hand, I think it's amazing that you can go to the mall and pick up Dragonball Z or Jujutsu Kaisen prize figures at an affordable price that also LOOK good too! On the other, collecting has been hit with scalpers and FOMO harder than ever- there's tons of horror stories about pre-orders for things disappearing in no time and your grail item now costing 200% more on the aftermarket. I'm glad people are so into collecting now and you don't get looked at like you have three heads for having a toy collection, and I don't ever want that to change- but man, the negative aspects make something that is supposed to be fun and escapist from this hell world pretty shitty.
The other elephant in the room is: the overconsumption of it all. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum about having a super huge collection, but lately I've gotten turned off of collecting channels for properties I like. I can only watch so many $400 Sailor Moon hauls until I think, "Well, this is cool and I'm glad the collector is happy, but I also kinda wish they maybe talked more about why they even like Sailor Moon in the first place instead of just buying merch, y'know?" I would love to hear how they fell in love with these things in the first place, but that's just a personal opinion.
Space is also a big factor that comes into my collecting. I've slowed down a lot of actual big figure collecting due to this, actually, and am trying to be a little more mindful of the items I get. Besides figures, I also collect all manner of trinkets, such as: gashapon charms (food themed ones mostly), omamori (good luck charms), acrylic keychains, small mascot plushes, and can badges/pins. These have been nice to collect since they do not occupy as much space and can be stored easily if need be. Most of these items are also very bag display friendly, so maybe I can signal to some random schmuck out there that I love Chiikawa, and that is an invitation to discuss Chiikawa with me in public! You should do this if you see me.
And finally, I can thank Tamakid's recent video for this insight as well: I also like collecting toys because... I am also an artist! I love seeing characters made by people coming to life and existing in a 3D space. Early on in my collecting journey, this was kind of a hard thing to explain to a lot of non-artists in my life because to them, they were just toys and toys are "supposed to be for children." Well, that's dumb- and look at how popular they are now. Anyway, it's fun arranging figures in your room, maybe creating a particular relationship between certain figures through display, and looking at them when you're having a particularly lousy day (plenty of THOSE to come these next coming years), and think well: At least my little guy can give me a brief moment of happiness.
I was gonna attach pictures, but I forgot to buy an upgrade here or take any so I'm just gonna direct y'all to my MFC page, which lists what's in my collection and a couple of new and old photos of them. I didn't want to go into it in this post, but in my next one I'd love to discuss which figure lines I like and dislike the most because I can yap about figures aaaall day if you let me!