I was always into collecting some stuff, but it became mostly action figures after a time. Always liked that they were little statues you could put into whatever pose you wanted at a given time. I realized not long ago that it probably stems from playing with toys on the floor with my father when I was a child. He died when I was 6 so they're some of the only memories still floating around in there of him. Realizing that may be a reason makes me appreciate them even more since we're kinda still connected all these years later.
That’s good to hear that you have those happy memories, anon. I always used to play with my gran the same way, usually with sylvanians. I’d make mini dioramas and stuff, she was really fun and patient to play with. I guess it really flipped an internal switch since I still do it with figures/mini props and still have that same intense happy concentration feeling.
Are all these posts just AI data farms?
>>11020267I don’t have some sob story, I just never really stopped buying toys. Started with LEGO but then ended up getting into action figures too and focus on those more nowadays.
>>11020292What data can you even scrape from /toy/
1999. My late grandma gave me gift certificates for christmas so I could buy whatever I wanted. It was also the peak of Pokemania, so I went to town on that on a single day. Before that, I was okay with loved ones buying me Lego, but the possibilities of getting money instead really expanded my gift horizon
>>11020309Hell yeah, I loved getting these little Pokemon, I used to carry them round and play with them outside and take pictures with my little disposable camera.
>>11020267>>11020290>>11020309I’m not crying… you’re crying :’(
>>11020267They made me happy as a kid, they make me happy as an adult. I probably could attach some meaning to it since I was a poor kid from a single mother and that was the only bright spot in my childhood that wasn't filled with shit. But really they just make me happy even in my 40s
>>11020267>playing with toys on the floorBased. I still do that whilst watching cartoons. Floor play rules.
>>11020333Floor play is top tier. No damage from dropping shit, best vantage point, can spread everything out around you like a little autist child, nostalgia unrivalled.
>>11020333>>11020345Personally I was a big fan of the “blanket method”, drop a blanket on the floor like picrel and every time you drop it, it’s slightly different, allowing for different terrains and worlds. This always made playtime different and allowed for all sorts of scenarios.
>>11020267Ive been a collector since i was a kid, got into video games but it was getting too expensive. One day while i was staring at a transformer i got to talking about my college toy collection and the mrs suggested i get into toys again. That was probably like 2019.
>>11020333>>11020267I was just rearranging my room last month just for this purpose of playing on the floor. But even after cleaning it, I realized I'm not as comfortable and ended up getting another desk for play instead. Cleaning my room really puts me at peace
>>11020349Oh man that reminds me, my parents used to have this weird patio outside that was some kind of rubber concrete crap and due to the heat it formed all these tiny little hills and valleys, grew moss all over it etc, it was so damn good. They eventually ruined it with gravel, but I still remember that incredible pretend valley.
>>11020322What skeletons are these?>>11020345Unless that one toy that can shoot something decides it's time to blast the piece into the ether, never to be seen again. That Inspector Gadget hand could be anywhere, or maybe it's at the old house in some dark corner you'd never be able to reach.
started collecting because I'm an idiot financially
>>11020494You can be responsible and collect, anon.
>>11020295I wasn't trying to have it come off as a sob story, honestly. My apologies if it did. I was just giving context on why I think collecting figures stuck with me, at least partially, throughout the years. I still enjoy it in of itself. Nice to see a few others share similar good memories of family members.
>>11020455Left is the old Revoltech Jason and the Argonauts skeleton and I think the other is the Fwoosh one
>>11020267This >>11020295 is pretty much my story as well. I always liked toys and just never stopped buying them. Though I did have four older brothers and a lot of their stuff just kinda fell down to me, but more often then not things were busted or missing pieces. But still, I would play with whatever I could get my hands on and eventually started getting my own stuff...which I ended up losing and breaking a lot of. I'd say the moment I went from "kid playing with toys" to "collector who plays with toys" is when I specifically went out and hunted down the brand new Armada Optimus Prime. By that point I had an actual job with disposable income and that toy just looked awesome. I still have a lot of my older stuff pre-prime, but I took way better care of things after I picked him up. >>11020333>>11020345Back when I had my own apartment I would do this all the time. Just spread out all across my living room or my kitchen table or my bar. At one point I had a whole "world" set up with different factions in different sections of my place. Don't have much room to do that with my collection now, but I do spend a lot of time on the floor playing my soon to be two year old. Got her a whole town of Little People buildings and cars with the Paw Patrol doin all their rescue shenanigans. Her birthday is sunday and she's going to finally get the last two members of the team and the tower base for em!>>11020349I would do that on my bed, throw a pillow under it to add some height and it would make a great evil mountain lair. >>11020367Have you tried those little puzzle piece floor mats? Surprisingly comfy to lay on as an old dude. Though they do attract all the hair within a three mile radius. >>11020455NTA but the left is the old Revol- Skeleton and the right is the new Fwoosh one. Best skeletons to get these days hands down though are the Boss Fight ones imo. Good mix of articulation and stability with a great range of styles, colors and accessories.
>>11020581NTA who you responded too, but just wanna say you got no reason to apologize. Actually good discussions like this are rare on /toy/ these days so as a fellow collector it's nice to hear other people's stories and why they enjoy their toys.
>>11020592>Have you tried those little puzzle piece floor mats? Surprisingly comfy to lay on as an old dude. Though they do attract all the hair within a three mile radius.I have other carpets that work, but I rarely floor-play until I buildup some epic war
>>11020592What year was this taken?
>>11020455This guy called it >>11020588
>>11020267That's crazy that you would play with your dead dad on the carpet. Maybe the trauma is why you became a hoarder?
>>11020267I always appreciated toys, even after I grew out of them. I remember when I was in high school and worked at Target I would secretly enjoy getting assigned the toy section because I could check out all the cool action figures that way. Then in my mid 20s when I had money and a real big boy job, I eventually started collecting toys outright. I had already been collecting comics at the time so making the jump to toys wasn't a huge stretch. I started with statues but quickly learned I preferred toys.
>>11020349I had a set of building blocks like picrel that I used to try and make my own playsets with
>>11020663I had the RGB firehouse, TMNT sewer and Technodrome. The firehouse was a great backdrop and play area for a lot of toys.
>>11020596Carpets work too! Don't have any in my house though, so those little toy sections with the padded mats are lifesavers for my back. ....it sucks getting old. >>11020598Circa 2010ish, after the movie boom but before the full blown G1 Nostalgia rush. It was a very strange and exciting time to be a Transformers fan, but so many of those once great figures have been overshadowed by newer releases. >>11020663>>11020671My main playset for most of my childhood was pic related, the Roboforce Fortress of Steele. I used it for pretty much every villain faction I owned, Footclan, Evil Mutants, Decepticons but most often it was occupied by the evil terrorist group Cobra. Sadly I lost my original in a garage fire back when I was in highschool, but I managed to find a new one with more parts and in better condition at a local Toy Show so the reign of Cobra Mountain will remain for years to come!
It saddens me kids these days don't get into action figures. Even Marvel Legends put what I had growing up to shame. With imports and other toy lines I'd have been bugging my folks for all kinds of shit.
>>11020930Kids are still into toys the same way we were. It's just all Titan Heroes or whatever Roblox/youtuber shit is what they whoosh around. No different from the 8" TMNT's or 25c gumball toys we used to choose. We're just blinded by the fact that the toy industry today realized that all the "former kids" (that's us) is a viable market now and our tastes have developed alongside McF's old ways of just making 5poa statues.
Who else used to build cities and forts out of their cardboard boxes? Toilet and kitchen roll tubes for towers and turrets, cut out doors, plastic container windows etc. it’s probably why I’m a big nerd who likes making dioramas now.
>>11020930They definitely like action figures still. They’re more ‘toys we keep in the house’ though so you don’t see them outside so much. They still collect and trade blind box minis and cards like we played crazy bones and Pokemon. Usually it’s YouTuber crap we older people see as cringe but I’m sure generations above us thought Pokemon and yugioh was baby trash compared to soldiers or sports players.
>>11020295Same here. Since I was a kid I had toys for play and toys for display. In the late 90's - early 00's Mcfarlane came up with all sorts of good shit, like the early Curse of the Spawn line. I still played with Medusa and Raenius with the Joes, but little by little they became more display toys. By the time the Nordic Spawn line came out I had stopped playing, but still went to the same toy stores to buy these now super detailed figures, so never really stopped buying toys, just changed the approach.
>>11021060This is true, my nieces and nephews still play with toys like we did as kids and carry toys around on trips.
>>11020267I just never stopped. When I was a little ass kid I was playing with my toys and I had a though: "I'm never going to stop playing with toys" And I never had.Still have some toys from my childhood.
>>11021382Also, I never really had friends that would come over to play as I approached my teens, so I would spend a lot of time playing on my own. Which is probably why I still have such an attachment to them. That and my GF is kind of an enabler.
>>11021401>GF enablerLucky anon. Funnily enough I just watched Minus One. Was pretty good.
>>11020592My only gripe with the Boss Fight skeletons is the 90 degree elbow. If it could bend all the way, and came with extra open hands, it'd be perfect. Maybe better range on the elbow is difficult with how lanky they are? Also, do you know if the cowboy one comes with bone feet? Though if I grabbed the Cowboy I'd probably keep him as such, but I think swapping to one bone foot and one boot would be fitting.
>>11021053I always liked pretending my house was a platformer level in which my toys could jump around and collect coins and such
>>11020267I collected because I wasn't a normalfag and in to basic bitch shit that everyone else was in to. More in to things than people. I collected a lot of things growing up.- die-cast toy cars- MicroMachines- ERTL Thomas trains- Model trains- baseball cards- plastic army men- tanks - clay-formed lighthousesNow they are all gone except the model trains which is my main focus now.
>>11022409We used to put trains under the tree at Christmas every year until dad died. It just didn't feel the same after that.
What an amazing thread anons!>>11021382>When I was a little ass kid I was playing with my toys and I had a thought: "I'm never going to stop playing with toys" And I never had.Same!I remember having thoughts like "toys are so cool! It's so much fun! I should have as much fun as I can because when i will become an adult - I won't be allowed to play with toys anymore!".Haha, how wrong I was. Toys are one of few reasons why humanity is great.The ability to create such art pieces that bring joy and connection to your soul is amazing.
>>11020267>Why did you start collecting?I lived in a small depressive mining town and din't have any friends. Became introverted very early.And the only happy day of the week was when my mother would come and we would go to buy something at Sunday.>we wake up>eat something tasty>i watch cartoons/etc. while mom is preparing>come on let's go, shops clowing early today!>WO HOOO!!!>we go shopping>i see toys, lots of them - all kinds of stuff, mutants transformers robots dinosaurs monsters playsets everything>can i have this one?>sure!>have insane fun at home with new toys and create stories about them, build skyscrappers using heavy books and play with new toys while watching cartoons or moviesI remember it as a delirious trip of euphoria and happiness, full of colors and feelings.I still act like that going out and seeing toys in stores. It always brings happy feelings and inspiration.
>>11020292>>11020297
>>11022409Trains bring so much joy. We used to play with my dads childhood Hornby set when I was young, I think he eventually sold it to cover costs of something else, but setting it up, getting everything out and making a miniature world was so magical I still remember it.I now buy my nephew Brio cause he’s a little train guy and will get him a proper electric train set when he’s bigger.
>>11020267I think I really got back into it because I worked out of state and left all my toys (he-man, robocop, aliens, predator, godzilla, ultraman, legos, batman animated series, xmen, spiderman, gi-joe, swamp thing, tmnt, power rangers, spawn, gundam, dragon ball z, bio hazard, literally everything and anything cool I kept including vehicles and all the little missles and parts and weapons for my entire life) at home in storage - long story short my parents divorced while I was away and the storage but was purposefully not paid so that the other spouse would lose their life long possessions and family heirlooms and photos and all my toys plus everything from my life ai didn't take with me, were collateral damage and the unit was auctioned off and I lost everything. I feel like after that I started with a random SHF god goku, and over 500+ figures and probably spent enought to put a down payment on another house, I'm still sad about the toys I lost but at the end of the day you can't take em with you so I'm just happy I'm successful enough to shameless purchase any figure I want on top of my other more expensive hobbies. But I love collecting action figures because they bring back childhood memories, connect me to my favorite fandoms, showcase amazing craftsmanship, look great on display, provide a fun escape, and it's fun collecting.
>>11020267I guess trying to make up for lost time. I was kind of "robbed" of childhood. Bad home environment, constantly moving, poor, etc.... I had a few toys, but not very many, and would always lose a few or pieces of them every time we moved. Through teenage years and most of early adulthood, I was insecure as all hell and moved away from toys, trying to be competitive and "adult-like", much to my disappointment and misery. As I matured, I stopped caring about what people who would hate me think, started making peace with myself, moved on and grew out of old mindsets, and let myself do things I wanted no matter how childish they seemed.Even then I don't even see myself as a "collector." I'm not chasing high-dollar or rare things just because they're high-dollar or rare, or have potential good resale value a few years from now. That's all irrelevant to me; all that matters is if something is cool and fun, regardless of how common or expensive it is. When my father passed at a very young age, all his star wars stuff was passed down to me, which got me into it from a very early age; my mother got me into transformers. I've liked them ever since in a general way, even if there are shows/movies/other media in them I dislike, and still enjoy toys in the setting. I especially liked lego SW as a kid even though I only had 4 sets of them, but it's a shame that now it seems marketed mostly towards resellers and nostalgia, with a bunch of boring black box 18+ display sets and not many interesting and truly creative playsets anymore.
>>11022248He does indeed come with bone feet, as well as gun specific trigger finger hands. All of em have those bare bone feet if you wanna strip em down to their base skeleton iirc. Also, if you're into skeletons in general, BBTS has both the Redemption and Kulu world skeletons on sale. They're both far more stylized takes on skeletons, but they're both fun brands in their own way. I kinda like the Kulu ones more since the Redemption ones are super weird with very cartoonish faces while the Kulu ones are very much evil looking undead. But for $20ish a pop, they're not bad little bone boys.
>>11020267I was really into toys as a kid. Random shit, then Gundam figures, then Bionicle as a secondary obsession, then as my primary one after Bandai stopped selling Gundam in the West for a while. I eventually stopped doing anything with toys after Bionicle died and moved onto video games. Then in 2012 they released the first Samus figma and I got dragged back into the hobby. A few years later I built my first Gunpla kit and got sucked back into Gundam. Honestly video games are now my secondary hobby and my primary one is plastic yet again. I like having a way to interact with characters and worlds I'm attached to, especially Samus. Ever since I was a kid and first played Fusion, I wanted the action figures that they showed in the gallery.
>>11025349Man I wish we'd get a Ridley figure already that isn't some 600 dollar statue.
>>11025700I don't get how Jakks(or Jazwares? they're both mediocre American companies) have the license to all of Nintendo but do nothing with it but some Mario and a few Zelda figures.
>>11025769I really wouldn't want a Ridley from Jakks/Jazwares whichever it is since it'd look really cheap. Granted I don't want it to cost like, 600 either. I think there's a line that has some 100 dollar YuGiOh dragon figures that look like the gist of their articulation would be good for a Ridley. I'd be all over that.
>>11020663>people spending $500 on a Star Wars cantina when I built my own out of these exact blocks back in the day
>>11025769Those are the most popular franchises. I want some Sin & Punishment stuff but I know that's not going to happen.
>>11026659That Cantina price is absolutely crazy. I’m sure you can make your money back and more off some other lunatic on the aftermarket, though.
>>11026659If I could find some tiny brick textured paneling or something I could probably make a simple display that looked nice. Currently I'm using the crafting brick paper as a backdrop. It's ok but actual indents would be nice.
>>11020309The Pikachu behind the wingull was something I had way back. Brought back a memory I had of a knock off lego figure I had. I was playing with both of them and was trying to make a friend laugh by ramming his head up the pikachu's ass. He had a huge hole that was pretty deep but just big enough for the head. Normally it would come out just fine but as I was laughing I pulled him out and his head ripped off, permanently lodged in pikachu's ass. This sent my sides into orbit
>>11027221You can get some Chinese Faux Lego blocks that are textured with bricks, I believe, so you can build scaled walls.
>>11027488That shit looks perfect, thank you! Only problem is I've no idea how many I'd need to order to make a wall the size I want.
>>11027496I think they sell them in like 50 or 100 packs so you can probably just get one and see how many more you’ll need from there.
>>11027506Any idea how small the pieces brick design would look beside a six inch figure?
I've always collected things, it used to be comic books and magazines when I was kid, music when I got older. I still own some old comics but sold or gave away most all that off; likewise with my vinyl and import music (although a lot of that I digitized, and I have to admit I also pirated a lot of the comics I used to own though there's only a tiny bit that I ever actually dig out and read). I went to art school so I guess the amount of paintings and photography I own is another form of collection but it's almost all stuff by friends or people I know so not a true 'collection' in that it only has value to me. Like a lot of you, I had train sets, and race car play sets, and the like as a kid and got back into it, partially as a result of getting back into comics as an adult.
>>11020267My parents both collect. My dad 1/6 figures and my mom dolls, so I never had a chance. The plastic addiction is in my genes. I was also spoiled rotten as an only child and had SO many toys growing up because my parents would buy them for me at the drop of a hat and give me money for good grades to go on shopping sprees at Toys R Us, KBT, etc. I used to have huge, in-depth adventures with my toys that just spanned endlessly and where important choices were determined by dice roll like some Weenie Hut Jr's version of D&D. Hated Neji from Naruto like you wouldn't believe because he was the luckiest motherfucker, somehow ended up as king, and made my favorites lives a living hell. Being raised without any stigma around the hobby, putting toys on shelves was the natural transition when I stopped playing with them at around 14 or so.
>>11028626The idea that out of pure luck this goofy lil figure could be lording over tons of other more articulated/expensive figures is fantastic. It comes off as a very child-like thing to do, in a good way. Using dice to decide the outcome of a play session is something I could see myself having fun with if I had the idea as a child.
>>11020267I have nothing and no one and have been using toys and the process of shopping for them to distract myself from the pointless direction of my life.
>>11037886You arent alone anon, im here too.
