>discover cool toy line>"I'll only get a few">get addicted after first few and go back to catch up on old ones and preorder a bunch of upcoming ones>within a few months have amassed a sizeable collection>start to feel sick to my stomach thinking about how much money I've wasted and how many material possessions I am encumbered by>every new purchase brings more feeling of guilt than enjoyment>start selling things when I feel sick or depressed enough>repeat cycleThis has happened several times in the last 6-8 years. And now I have become lazy about the selling things off stage as well so my plastic garbage collection just keeps taking over space in my home like a cancer.I feel like I can't really enjoy toy collecting anymore. The high of getting your first figures from a new line or finding good deals on old stuff is so fleeting. Most of the time I just feel sick and disgusted with myself. This is basically an addiction at this point right? Things were manageable when I was sticking to characters I liked but ever since I started getting OCs or other random stuff that just looks cool, it feels like there is no end in sight. It's worse than ever now. My expenditure has never been higher and it feels like I am speedrunning collection burnout. I am scared.
yes, that is the spendcycle of toy collectingno, you cannot escape
>>11896115well we aren't these physical things so we'll never find satisfaction since we can only make ourselves happy, I've got 20 years of shit to unload too, my house is half warehouse, it's seriously retarded in retrospect but growing up, my parents refused to buy me toys and I had to borrow from friends, I feel just as lacking as before I started, same for video games, etc.
>>11896115Yeah, it's a slippery slope and the less self-control you have the quicker you'll be overwhelmed. Once you start buying stuff you have no emotional connection to, you know you're in trouble because nothing's off the table anymore. I'm at a point where I don't buy a new figure without getting rid of an old one because I have more than I can currently display. I'll probably be moving in the next year or two and the thought of having to pack all this up only to set it all up again in the new house is discouraging.
>>11896115I feel so different...I'm always focused on just favorite characters.For example i collect transformers but i collect only characters i really like... And even if we are in this current Peter Cullen news i still just bought Beachcomber because it was finally on sale on amazon.I still don't have SS86 Optimus. But i have SS86 Megatron. (Peter Cullen as a human wouldn't think that spending money on optimus toy was a good way to honor him - he was a good man and wouldn't think this way)Just... buy stuff you like. But i see that you at least selling it - not just keeping it forever covered in dust. So you are not completely lost
>>11896129Yeah it feels like trying to fill an unfillable void. I don’t know why I care about toys so much, I have all my life as my parents bought me a lot when I was a kid as a spoiled only child. I don’t really have anything else in life which I guess is pretty sad. I should have at least tried to make a career in the toy industry instead of settling on being a corporate npc, then at least there is somewhat more of an excuse because it’s your work. >>11896210Yeah it’s over. The thought of moving all of it is also what gets me. Or worrying about losing it all in a natural disaster or theft or something. All these material possessions feel like such a burden. It would be so freeing to have none of it and be able to go anywhere anytime. Honestly if I could just have it all disappear immediately and get like $10k or around however much I paid for it I would probably take that though would probably start the cycle again eventually lol>>11896219The problem is my likes have expanded so much recently that I just buy a lot of random stuff because for some reason I feel like I "need" it. My first collection I started as an adult with my own money was Star Wars Black Series when I was in college. I was only spending like $20-50 on one or two figures once every few months. Things were so much simpler then, I wish I could go back.
>>11896115>>get addicted after first few and go back to catch up on old ones and preorder a bunch of upcoming onesSounds to me like your hobby gave you that wake up call we all get. Real toy collecting is about buying only what you WANT but not what you NEED. You don't buy a toy because you saw the movie or something, you bought it because your personal perception of that toy goes beyond what media tells you. Also you should play with your toys. They're called action figures because they're figures built for action. Don't just put them on a shelf. Put them on a table and pretend they're doing something
>>11896115Just give yourself a budget, it a number of figures per time. It's the unlimited nature that causes what you're feeling because you're having a constant mental battle with an undefined number of figures you're allowed. When you have a rule to follow, then you've offloaded the worry onto the rule and can just enjoy it.
I've done a better job controlling my hyper-fixations and not getting into anything new I can't control. I've been fighting against getting too deep into G.I. Joe because I have no real connection or love for the franchise but I bought a Cobra Commander figure and have been fine with just that. It went out of control with Transformers though, I was buying all kinds of shit that i've since sold.
>>11896115>>start selling things when I feel sick or depressed enoughWell as long as you do that does it even matter? Most people just hoard the toys but at least you can say "yeah I had that in my collection at some point">t. Hoarder who will sell stuff "soon, I'll sell it. I'm telling you it's only a matter of time."
>>11896155
Why don't you just play with them?OP, your behavior pattern is the definition of a surrogate activity.
>>11896457>unfillable voidI was spoiled, but not really THAT spoiled, so I always longed for more than I had. I've had many LEGO kits, like early City 6553 and 7034, full collection of OG Bionicles, but I always wanted more because of these goddamn catalogues that came with them. I've been glued to them. Looking back, they probably caused an unrecoverable brain damage to my psyche. It was so tantalizing seeing these huge ass set pieces that I'll never own. Like, full City kits, Aquazone, Pirates, these complicated Technic sets that featured industrial machines, augh.And looking back, you know what annoys me even more? I didn't value what I had, obviously nothing survived to these days, which annoys me even more. Could have been such a nice flex pieces of memorabilia these days, but I was a vapid piece of shit.What's fucked up, nothing really changed with me growing up, it's still looking in from outside and seeing stuff I can't justify buying or don't have skill to make myself, even despite having my own money these days. Well... at least I care about stuff I own these days. But it still pales to what it could be.
>>11896115I recommend trying ERP therapy.
>>11896115You need to have limitations man otherwise you'll end up like Sean Long
While it’s not easy, one thing I learned is you have to sort of pick and choose your nostalgia. Case in point I just bought AOTP Fangry because it was triggering nostalgia of when I had the original G1 version. They also have pretty good versions of the Thunderzords from Power Rangers right now. I used to own the original, but I’m not particularly feeling like collecting that right now so it’s not something that I will get.
The trick is to become incredibly picky about all things and eventually most of what you already have will not be up to your personal standards. That makes getting rid of most of your crap hoard doable.
>>11901471that's not his problem.Look at what he said.He's just a buyfag. Buying is his addiction.He doesn't actually care about the toys, so it doesn't matter what he's picky about or has standards, because he only wants to buy NEW TOY.As someone with standards, i like to admire my toys. I'll sometimes take them into bed with me just so i can fiddle around with them and maybe swoosh them around. It's as gratifying as reading or watching tv on your bed.I think if you like your toys, you should get that sort of enjoyment from them.
>>11901491That’s not really accurate. I do care about and admire most of the figures I have. And I do actually have some particular standards, I won’t buy just anything. The problem is once I have a figure, I will change the pose every once in a while, maybe take some photos of it and that’s kind of it. I am not interested in carrying it around in my pocket or smashing figures together to pretend they are fighting or whatever stuff like that some people like. So yeah then a figure gets boring like almost immediately after it goes on my shelf. I don’t stop liking it but I feel like I want something new. I think most collectors with large collections are like that. We can’t just stop at a handful like 3 or 4 or something Another thing is I often feel like I am on a never ending quest to find "perfect" figures. desu I feel like most figures I get are just "alright" and I will enjoy them more or less depending on how much attachment I have to the character. I have a really autistic criteria for what constitutes a perfect figure for me personally. I might currently only have one or two that I think are true perfect. If I bend the criteria a bit maybe there’d be one or two more.
>>11896115I know this all too well, currently I just have so many figures I bought that I took out once or twice but they ended up in boxes and I put those boxes in the closet or drawers, been a slow wake up call but I am finally going through selling what I dont want and tossing out boxes for the stuff I do want and actually display it, but its been a lot of selling and a lot of "why the fuck did I get that?"
>>11896219this. gotta have rules.
"collecting" shouldn't be enjoyable. It's autistic behaviour for dopamine seeking losers trying to a fill the hole where life experiences and creativity should be. Buying plastic to shove on your shelf and feel "complete" will last moments, before you move onto the next obsession. It's not healthy. Look at photos of the few collectors who dare to show their face. Most of them are depressed, fat, dysgenic freaks.
>>11901610You're coping>will change the pose every once in a while, maybe take some photos of it and that’s kind of it>So yeah then a figure gets boring like almost immediately after it goes on my shelf.>I feel like I want something new.>on a never ending quest to find "perfect" figuresThis is pure buyfag mentality.I have a large collection, in the thousands. Why do i have so many figures? Because i neeeeeed more to compliment the toys i like to play with. Take picture for instance, where there's a couple dozen figures in frame, but i realize that it's incomplete, because there should be another civilian car to act as a shadow guard for the first one.I also need more "good guy" vehicles, because there should be more show of force PLUS a lot more need for samefag.So what'd i do? I started looking for military scout vehicles, which could act as chase vehicles but also be armored. I eventually bought 3 Jurassic Park armored cars. I bought a shit load of army builders too, including russian special forces to act as a liaison force.It's not much different than someone buying entire teams for a Marvel superhero group like XMen or Avengers, because wolverine by himself is lonely and he needs other characters to play off of. Buy more toys is to support the toys i already own, because it's more fun to include more and more shit.I also buy spaceships and need support craft, thus buying escort ships, fighters, moving spacedocks, repair ships, fuel tankers......... oh, and is that a missile that looks like it could be some weird alien spacecraft? I need that in my collection, because there isn't enough sci fi merch out there to fill out the next area of space a scout ship went after being seperated from its fleet.
Buy a figure, then return it. Depending on the store's return policy, you have 30-90 days to decide if you want to keep it. That's enough time for the honeymoon phase to wear off. I just bought the entire wave of TMNT x GI Joe line, but I'll probably just keep a couple figures and return the rest.
>>11896115Definitely sounds like a compulsion problem. Remember, even though "sexy" compulsive behavior gets a disproportionate amount of coverage, ANYTHING can be an unhealthy fixation if you can't stop and you don't derive any pleasure from it anymore. It's the difference between good hygiene and obsessive hand-washing, y'dig?Get some psychological help. You probably have only very minor issues, and extremely mild therapy and maybe pills will help. The kind that even out your obsessiveness.I've never had this problem, but I can't pretend that I don't make some frivolous purchases when i have money (well, the one period of my life I ever briefly had money, that is, before my daughter started needing me to bail her out almost every day because gas is 5 fucking dollars a gallon where she lives, and her husband's truck gets like 10 mpg and he works like 45 miles away).The issue I think is you have to have a goal from the start. "I want X" with pokemon cards, I wanted one of every species. Then they kept making more new species, and I didn't like them (and the Neo 4 era card art started turning me off) so I decided to stop. I went back and bought Alolan Vulpix cards recently just because that's my favorite, but that's it.Most figures, I know exactly how many I want to get, and the only question is 'will the line survive that long'if it doesn't? Time to get customizing. milliput ho!There are some lines that I know I'll never be finished with, like Zoids, unless I get STUPENDOUSLY rich, and even then, there's a few ludicrous holy grails to look after (and taiwanese shops that will make you custom new parts to have brand new shit), but even there, there's a ton that I can pass on. I know I don't like the very first line of them, so I don't have the need to touch them. Just do your best to mold your desires into a healthy mindset. Remember, an alcoholic shouldn't quit entirely, but revert to 'one drink, at meals'
>>11901998naw dude, toys used to be connected to life experiences and creativity.You fill that hole with TV. The stories make you feel like you're more connected to those real life experiences and creativity that you're supposed to have, but which were denied youToys are a way you interact with TV, sometimes, but they're not the thing that goes in that void.
>>11896115I have the same issues OP I would go "wow pfft there's pokemon toys still?" and then after a while "ehhhh I'll just get Gyarados and Charizard they're some of my favorites" to eventually "ok I also want to get some pokemon for them to fight, I want to get full teams of my favorite pokemon characters" and I will overpay for the toys that are discontinued when I was in my not interested phase. What's even worse is that I like to buy new and open the box, and that also makes me feel like shit if it's something rare like some old Mattel Yu-Gi-Oh figure sealed in box or some 500$ Figma and by opening it I have decreased the amount of new in box figures in existence. It's a hard knock life being this autistic.>>11903253Having a goal is definitely important so you dont suddenly decide to get every character in the franchise "just so my characters have someone to fight." I also have a bunch of Milliput as well, luckily my laziness makes me not buy too many blanks and crafting materials>extremely mild therapy and maybe pills will helpThere's pills for this kind of autism? I used to see a therapist but for much bigger issues this seemed way lower on the priorities list
>>11896210>the thought of having to pack all this up only to set it all up again in the new house is discouragingI currently live in a condo and it's such a pain in the ass managing my toys (and hiding them when I anticipate bringing a date back to my place) Plus I'm anal about UV damage on my toys so I'm considering moving into a house with a basement just to store all my legos and figures. Imagine making real estate decisions around your toys lmao
>>11896115I dont have this feeling, if the toy makes me happy then I cant see it as a waste, only time I feel like I wasted money is when the obvious horrid QC issue happens, or if I got something used and it had some unnoticeable issue, or if said toy wasnt as nice in hand as I thought it would be. Then I just try selling it.Also the inevitable issue of running out of space for more cool stuff and you have to pick and choose what cool things you wanna get rid of for the new cool thing. Hurts to let some of my stuff go sometimes.
>>11903337>decisions based on toysI dunno, if they're important to you then it's reasonable. I now wish I had a basement...
>>11903330This is kinda funny because pokemon is probably something I will admit I have a bit of an obsession with, but I manage to restrain myself with a lot of the toys. Though maybe it's just because they dont make the kind of toys I would get obsessed with. Like moncolle are nice but there's only a few I feel I'd need. Blokees is the first time I think I've been like "damn I need to buy them all eventually"
>>11901998This. Shelf collectors are depressed and are depressing to look at. Ive hardly had a "toy shelf" in my 13 years of collecting because I pose the figures i have, take photos and make stop motion. It sounds stupid but I make bits of lore to inform the photos. Who cares how gay it sounds though, at the end of the day, im not depressed because I have too many toys.
>>11896115I did this with LEGO before moving on to Hot Wheels. It's a lot cheaper and I only ever bought LEGO sets of cars, large mythical beasts and clone troopers so it makes more sense for me. If I can find a well-painted dragon I'll get that, too. I already have a small collection.
>>11901998My anime girl figures still turn me on and my collection of cars still fill me with excitement. I think people just need to shelve or sell the stuff that doesn't bring them joy. It's easy to see something rare and say "I have to have it" but then, later, realize you don't have any personal attachment to it. No shame in shoving it in a storage box and forgetting about it.
>>11901998>NOOOO you can't just display things you like>if you do it means you're depressed and fat!!
>>11896115I started collecting Gunpla 5 years ago, because i thought it will be cool having one or two figures of it and having it on display in my room, but then i started buying more and more, not only kits, but also die-cast cars, Mega blocks mini figures, action figures, among other things. At this point i have been buying kits without building them because now i have no place to display them and also because of all the dirt and dust they got on them.One day i was looking at them and thinking about how much money i spend.How much stuff or things i would have spend it with that much cash.>"at least it wasn´t drugs, alcohol or betting" i thoughtThen i decided i will make a final purchase next year to finally end this collecting urge and save money for anything helpful and profitable in the future.Yes, it´s easier said/written than done, but with self-control, help and providence you can escape that urge to collect Anon.
>>11896115I apparently have OCD and if I start buying a line I tell myself I'll skip characters I don't want because I don't like the character/it just doesn't look good only to then have it bother me that I don't have it.I also have more paranoia having anyone see my collection because I'm worried about someone telling someone what I have and feel enticed to try and break into my home to steal my collection. The more cool/rare/limited/collector stuff I get the more paranoid I am about not feeling like I can leave my home. This goes with my other collectibles too.
I had to take down a significant portion of my collection due to renovations at my house. Life got busy, and before you know it, most of my collection was sitting in totes for about five months. A week or two ago, I finally got around to getting some stuff out and messing with it again. Honestly, being able to mess with old figures and change their accessory loadout was as good as buying a new toy; it was like falling in love with something again. Now, whenever I feel the need to buy a figure, I make sure to mess with the ones on display or in storage to scratch the itch.
