One of the things I keep seeing people post about over and over again is how much stuff they have and how it can be a bit overwhelming keeping track of it all. It's the collector mentality that all of us here share to some degree, whether it's the "gotta have 'em all" completist with boxes and tubs full of stuff, the guy that has an army of figures of some offbeat character or the one who picks and chooses and only keeps what he can fit in a shoebox like he did as a kid. We all have been bitten by the collecting bug and I'm no different. Until recently I counted myself in the "gotta have 'em all" category. I have boxes of carded 25th anniversary Joes from when I was buying special case packs to get the extra armybuilders, boxes of loose vehicles to "some day" build that awesome arctic battle diorama, bags of parts and accessories to make customs and bins full of loose figures from all different action figure lines. I have 4 different "collector" subscriptions and a couple dozen high end figures on preorder. I have a garage half full of boxes of all of this stuff that at one point meant something to me but now has just become more of a burden than blessing. But I still love collecting and that brings me to my problem.

As some of you know, Amanda and I bought our first house earlier this year. It has been an exciting, fun, frustrating and tiring process that has changed our lives in unexpected ways. One of the things we really wanted in the house was a dedicated hobby room. We have that now and I've shown some pictures of the part of my collection that I've put on display so far. After clearing a bunch of my boxes out of the room we finally got some shelves for Amanda to put up her sewing supplies, dance trophies and other fun stuff that she has collected over the years. She managed to fit nearly everything of hers, fabric, yarn, her collection of SDCC My Little Pony figures, her Star Trek figures, all of it on 2 3 foot by 3 foot square shelving units (with a few bigger items in the closet). I still have boxes in the room, a full closet of my own and I still have nearly half the garage full of boxes. This is when I realized something needed to change. But in order to do that I needed to figure out what the problem was and then I could work on how to fix it.

If there's one thing you realize when moving it's just how much stuff you've accumulated over the years. I've always had a bunch of stuff but it never really, truly hit me how much until this move into the house. I had the best of intentions when buying all of it, the aforementioned "some day" dioramas, etc. But now that I finally have the room to do something with it I've lost that spark to actually go through with it. It has been a difficult few months for me as we've unpacked and set up each room. We don't want to get bogged down in "clutter" and I've been trying to keep the toys in the hobby room which is limiting my display options. Combine that with the general shift in my collecting habits from the cheaper and (no longer) easy to get 1/18 scale figures to the much more expensive high end collector lines and all those boxes in the garage and tubs in the closet are starting to look a lot like wasted money. Which totally isn't the case. I enjoyed tracking down all of those lines like the 1/18 Iron Man 2 figures and all of the Captain American and Thor stuff. There was also a subtle fear that if I didn’t buy something right when it was released, whether I wanted it at that time or not, that when I did want it it wouldn’t be available. So I bought cases of figures and multiples for “possible custom use” just so I’d have them on hand when I might need them. At the time it was exciting and fun to find things like "tail-ender" figures and adding them to my collection made me happy. I still get a small sense of pride thinking about completing a line like the 1/18 Tron Legacy figures and vehicles. But I'm now realizing that that initial "buzz" from acquiring them hasn't survived the test of time (and moving).

I noticed something when I was with a buddy of mine at PowerCon a couple weeks ago. We were standing in line to get the MOTUC exclusive Strobo figure and we struck up a conversation with a couple other guys in line with us. It was the usual fanboy chit-chat about what we found in the dealer room and “did you see the Mattel booth yet?”. Like most of these types of conversations the topic shifted to what got us into collecting and what we have in our collections now. It was this collection comparing that really got me thinking. As the line slowly moved the conversation took on a “I’ve got this” “oh cool, well I have this” one-upping tone. I know that wasn’t the intention of any of us in the conversation (myself included). We were just talking about the stuff we love which was the whole reason we were at the convention to begin with. It was a really good conversation and it made the convention a lot more fun than just a trip to Torrance to buy an exclusive toy. But as we were standing there and the “one-upping” was going on I had an epiphany of sorts. I have been caught up in the “one-upping, I got it first, look at this rare thing I just found” mentality that is so prevalent in toy collecting these days and I have been for years. It started for me even before I got back into G.I. Joe collecting, when I was buying Japanese ZOIDS model kits, and Microman figures. I was chasing down rare exclusives and trying to be one of the first to buy and build the giant rare and expensive kits. I wanted to be part of that elite clique of people that had all the rare stuff and that carried over into G.I. Joe and is still with me today with my Hot Toys and Sideshow 1/6 collections. My need to feel special because of a toy really hit home when we were standing in that line. The last few months I’ve been struggling a lot with my hobby and the collection of stuff I’ve accumulated over the years and this innocent conversation with some fellow collectors was the final piece that made it all make sense. Now that I’ve come to that realization I can move on to the changing part of this little self intervention I’ve been having.

I've decided that I'm going to "refocus" my hobby. I’ve been looking at other peoples collections and trying to see what other collectors are drawn to for some guidance in what I want to do. I’ve seen all the massive armies of ARAH Cobra Troopers and the like and while those are impressive and cool, I find myself drawn more towards those collections that are centered around a specific theme. I’m getting a lot of inspiration from those displays and that’s something that has inspired me to change how I collect. In doing that I'm looking to create a more "mature" collection. By mature I mean the true adult only collectibles like Hot Toys and Sideshow as opposed to the mass market retail lines from Hasbro and Mattel. Those mass market lines, overall, don't really appeal to me as much as they used to. I'm not dumping them for the "hot new girlfriend" but we're not going to be exclusive any more. Instead I'll be focusing on what I truly want from these lines in my collection and narrowing it down to certain specific themes, like the Retaliation movie figures, that I can store in a small tub and display on a single shelf when it’s time to shift things around. I feel like I’m in a better place now to be able to tell myself it’s okay to not have “all the things” and just buy what I really, truly want.

Over the next few months (or however long it takes) I'm going to be going through those boxes and bins and sorting out what I truly want to keep and what I'm okay with no longer having. It’s going to be a long, difficult process and I may regret getting rid of some things but in the end I think I’ll be happier with my collection. I’m also going to really limit myself on what I buy from now on. I no longer feel the urge to armybuild every trooper that comes out and there are some figures that I can pass on completely and feel okay about not having in my collection. Where I see myself having a real problem though is customizing. I haven’t done any customizing since we moved and I’ve been aching to tear apart some figures and go to work because I LOVE customizing. What I’m telling myself I’m going to have to do though is stop making customs just to make them, which is something I’ve always done. “It’d be really cool to make this figure, I can do that”, taking pictures and showing it off, then dumping it into a bag with all the other customs I made just because I could. So, like my collection in general, I’ll be trying really hard to focus my customizing on figures I really want in my collection and want to put in the display rotation rather than “hey look what I made” figures that don’t do anything for me.

I guess the long and short of it is I’m at that critical point a lot of collectors reach, where they have to decide between their collection and their happiness. I think I’ve found a nice middle ground that will allow me to continue to enjoy my hobby without it causing me so much stress. Time will tell but like I mentioned, this is something I’ve been stewing about for the last several months and now that I’ve figured out most of the problem and come up with a good solution for me I think in the long run I’ll be happier.

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Best of luck MS. What a goal underway.

I was there years ago, but for different reasons. I was tired of selling collection after collection to pay for the bumps in the road. After the third full collection, I decided that I will only get what I know I am going to "take it, break it, and make it". Every purchase or acquisition is about the yield. If the figure or playset has a yield where I can use at least 40%, it comes home. Nothing stays pristine anymore, so my collection never becomes possible funding for mishaps and problems.

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This may sound odd, MS, but I'm happy for you. You've taken a big step, re-evaluating your interest and goals. Some people never will, and will find themselves surrounded by things they thought they wanted, yet those things have become a cage for them.

I was there years ago. Not so much that I had a lot of stuff, but I was buying stuff and throwing it in inventory for a custom when I got around to it. It wasn't until I found myself in a very unpleasant place in my life that I re-examined what I was doing, why I was doing it, and what I wanted from it. As a result, I'm much happier with what I have. May it be the same with you.

yeah, I'm taking most everything you said there in a really positive light. Both for you, and for myself as someone keenly interested in cool people staying squarely within the customizing corner of the hobby

Own things that make you happy, don't let those things own you, especially not due to some unnecessary or arbitrary rule for collecting you feel must be conformed to. Get it completely.

I went through this same process when I moved out of Johnny West (where I was as much collector as a customizer). It had become too much to manage, so I stopped. I had put most of it in storage, and when I too recently moved, I had a huge purging of the collection. Quite liberating, and for what it's worth, I made a decent net in selling them back off.

With that experience in mind, and as I've said here many times, my buying now is pretty much geared towards customization only. That too has many pitfalls, but I find that the gratification of making versus simply owning is so significantly greater, that I really don't envision hitting this same bump in the road customizing wise. I am comfortable with the art that I do, I love the process, the outlet, the time it creates with my son, the pride of becomign successful within the hobby, and the enjoyment of the friends and relationships made. I can't see getting the full extent of those if not for the customizing angle - for me personally.

So hearing you narrow down and gain the self-realization for how you can maximize those returns for yourself is really encouraging to me.

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Getting a clear idea of what you really want from your stuff is a very, very good thing. And by that I mean both "what, of the things you own, you really want to keep" and "what you want to get out of owning it." Keeping things as long-term fodder for projects can really start to wear on you after a while: you can come to resent the things that you're "forced" to keep around in preparation for one of a thousand builds that you conceived long ago, when you barely have enough time to finish a single one. It also becomes a bit of an impediment to actually working on your hobby, too: when your space is so choked with stuff that it becomes such a pain in the butt to dig through it to find an item that you'll actually put off doing so, or when your WIP pile has become so intimidating that the customs seem like a chore to be completed rather than something you'll enjoy working on, it takes some of the fun out of it.

I recently had a big increase in the amount of space I can devote to my hobbies, and I'm in the process of figuring out how I'm going to use that space. Once I do, I'm looking forward to thinning the herd a bit: I've got plastic crates full of barely-started vehicle customs, playset parts, and diorama pieces that I'm almost dreading looking through, and that's not even counting the huge amount of figure customs I've got in various stages of completion. The thought of narrowing down the number of projects hanging over my head is very, very appealing. I think you'll get a lot more out of the hobby once you've boiled it down to the things you'll actually enjoy owning, rather than owning out of a concern that you'll miss out by not doing so.

Similar here. When we moved in to our current house, I really pruned my collection. Mostly because sorting through it all made me realize what all I had, and how much of it I forgot I even had. I figured if I hadn't even touched or looked at it in over a year, then I really didn't need it, and didn't need to move it to the new place. I sold off a ton of stuff at a garage sale, and was actually giving some stuff away at the end of it. I like my collection a lot more now, because it all is stuff I really like.

Like it was said MS, everything in your post sounds like a positive realization.
Once you decide exactly what you have that still brings you joy, and fits the limitations that you have for it, the more you'll be able to enjoy it. Looking at a cool display, of stuff you like, is always going to be more enjoyable than remembering what is sitting in an enclosed tub in storage. At least I think so.


Oh, and if you have a Tron: Legacy Castor figure you are looking to get rid of let me know...

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Thanks for all the encouragement guys. This was absolutely meant as a positive thread. I spent the last couple of days at work (shh don't tell the boss) trying to get my thoughts and revelations on this into words that made sense and I'm glad that meaning and intention came through. I definitely want to continue in the hobby as it is something that makes me happy. But like sgartz said, it has gotten to the point where I would sit down at the workbench in the old apartment, surrounded by boxes of stuff and though I had a great idea and was excited to start working on something, having all that stuff around sucked the fun out of customizing. So I'd half start a project, get bummed out by my surroundings and just leave it on the table and walk away. Now that I've found my new focus I think I'll be in a much better place to continue customizing and enjoying the hobby and this community a lot more.

Oh and Gaigaan-Dnok, I don't have a Castor and I'm keeping the Tron stuff. I stumbled into completing the retail released stuff and now that I have it I really like having it. It's all going into a tub by itself and put into the display rotation for sure.

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If it makes you feel any better, I sold a ton of stuff before purchasing my own place. I've settled in since then and I still find myself purging items every 6 months or so. I've found that once the items are sold, I have very little attachment or regret. Sometimes I'll see a figure sell for a lot more than what I got at the time on eBay, but I just shrug my shoulders and think 'oh well'. As a rule, for whatever new item I buy these days, I try to sell-off something else to help fund the new purchase. I've also been leaning towards higher-end items in the last year, like my recent Masterpiece Soundwave and Masterpiece Sideswipe purchases. I'm also eye-balling some Revoltech figs and 1/60 Yamato Macross Veritechs. Not sure how I'm gonna bankroll it yet, but I'm sure there's stuff in my closet I won't miss when the time comes.

I've also seen people recommend rotating set-ups. As soon as I find the space, I will most likely adopt this approach, as well. I just need to decide how big of a shelf I want to use and rotate items out every 3-4 months. It's impossible to be a completist these days because there is so much product out there. And I don't need to have everything to show that I'm an avid fan of a particular product line.

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I can tell you exactly when I stopped feeling this way. In 2004, coming off the high from going to Joe Con at Disney World and trying to keep up with all the new sculpt figures, comic packs, and store exclusive sets as well as Gundam, Muppets, McFarlane figures and some exclusives form those lines all at the same time. It was draining my wallet as well as my energy and desire to keep up. Adventure Kermit was released and I was trying to get one and couldn't for a reasonable price. I got frustrated and said, "Forget it. If I get it later one so be it, but I'm not playing this stupid game anymore."

By the next year, that figure could be had at cost. Now it goes for a few dollars. I watched the same thing happen to the Joe market. Army builders skyrocketed, then plummeted, then evened out, then down again, etc. Unless it is an international store exclusive, no toy is impossible to get. And even then, life still keeps going on, toy companies still make toys, and those exclusives tend to lose their luster once better versions get made further down the road. Just get out of the got to have it now mentality. You don't. But if it is something really cool that you can get pretty easily by pre-ordering instead of waiting, then do that too.

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MS, I've totally been there and done several purges myself. Now I'm currently down to three totes full of figures, and very few vehicles. As I plan a new purge, I'm also really trying to focus on what makes me happy, and what I can lose vs what I can keep for my new found drive to customize.

Is it frustrating to get rid of something only to find out later you could have used it for XYZ project? Absolutely. But I wouldn't trade that clarity I got from the purge for any project.

Best of luck to you, sir. I look forward to seeing the results.

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Im at this point myself I have stuff I moved here from storage that need to be gone through. My only problem is how to decide and will i still have stuff I dont want when im done unable to get rid of it.

The only caveat is if you are talking about having a custom that you are working on. Then you will end up not sleeping for an entire weekend, slicing open all of your fingers with exacto knives, dremelling your fingers into bloody stumps, and getting little globs of paint that you have mixed up everywhere. You will end up with an awesome figure that no one else in the world has which will give you the right to make faces and say "nyah nyah" and only then will you know that you are alive.

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