Ironically, perhaps, I am not real sure what this prompt is asking for, but also, I have a huge toy collection and am pretty well suited to ramble on about toys, in general. So I am mostly just going to do that. Its not even going to be the first time I have written about collecting specifically. Plus I write about it all the time on this blog. Its one of the two core focuses.
The short is, I started buying toys as a hobby in High School when I started working and had money to buy things. I have childhood toys, and still have some of them, but I didn’t start “collecting until I was buying them myself. This was back in the 90s, so, I have been at it for a while. I have had times where I bought more and when I was cutting way back. I am pretty way back currently, thanks mostly to U̷̬͙͛n̶̬̒̾p̸̙̑̈́r̵̬̫͗͛e̵̡̓̊c̸̞̖̈́i̷͚͆̚d̴̮̚e̷̹̜̿n̴͔̣̈́ṱ̶͚̅̆ě̶̤̗d̷͈̀ ̸̻̳̄Ṭ̷̿̐i̵͚̤͛͊m̷̛̮̟e̷̦̖̊s̵̝͊.
I have a few focus lines, but I also have kind of just bought whatever. Like even back in the 90s I discovered these cool Bandai model kits from Neon Genesis Evangelion and saved to buy them, though they were very expensive at the time. But for larger parts of the collection, I have a ton of Transformers, Marvel Legends, and Star wars stuff. I also tend to collect from whatever is new at the time. I really am not into nostalgia collecting, I collect because I like sculpts and articulation and the engineering behind making it all work. Like, I have a ton of Transformers, but I barely consume any of the media. The only Transformer shows I can confidently say I have watched all of are Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and Prime.
I also don’t collect for any delusion of value. I have most of my stuff out on shelves in the basement, nicely organized. I very often randomly grab stuff to mess with at my desk. I love walking into the space and just like, “all this stuff is super cool.” I almost never sell anything, and find often that after I do, I end up regretting it later. Like I have several things that I wish I still had that I sold in the past.
Anyway, not sure if that meets the “Toy Craze” topic, but that is the short version of my toy story.
