Collecting is a big part of the geek life. It seems like almost every geek out there has some kind of collection, most of us have multiple collections. I personally have always felt that I am a collector, though my wife might say I am a hoarder. There is just something in my brain that has a really hard time with letting things go, especially things that tie somehow into something I love. It probably really is a problem on some level if I don’t try to keep it in check. My wife has had some concerns regarding pests in some of the worse areas of our house. Her main concern is that she will have to call any pest control dothan services she can find to come and help with the issue if it gets too much to handle. For the most part, though, I take a lot of pleasure in my collections. Because of all this, I thought it would be interesting to start a new feature on the blog all about collecting. Welcome to the first ever Collector’s Corner on the geeky mormon.
I thought it would be interesting to take a look at collecting in general, starting with the question: What kind of collector are you? There are all sorts of collectors out there, and there is no wrong way to collect things, or wrong things to collect, for the most part. I knew a kid in middle school who really liked this girl in middle school. He used to collect her hairs that would fall onto her backpack, and then staple them to his wall. That is probably a weird and creepy thing to collect, especially since she didn’t know about that. My parents never let me go to his house again, and I keep searching the news to see if he has been caught as some kind of weird stalker or something. Don’t be that kind of collector.
One kind of collector that I have always really admired is the “Mint in Box” collector. This is the geek who buys whatever collectible of their choice and then they never open it. They keep it in the package and place it up on a shelf somewhere for display, or even more admirable, they have so much that they have boxes in storage full of unopened collectibles. This is an impressive type of collector, and one that I could never be. To buy something, and then to never open it and enjoy it, I just couldn’t do it. However, these collectors are the ones who could be laughing all the way to the bank. These are the items that can show up on eBay years later and be sold for a pretty hefty price. Most of these collectors, however, would never part with their treasures. There are two sub-types to this collector. One is the “Buy two of everything” collector. They one item for themselves to open and display, and then one item to never open and to store away, mint in box. If I could ever pull off this type of collecting, this is how I could do it. Even then, I would probably cave because buying two of everything is expensive. The other sub-type is the comic book version, the collector who buys issue after issue of comics and never reads them to keep them as close to mint as possible. You can find these folks at your local comic shop on Wednesdays inspecting each copy of each issue to find the most mint issue they can. Sometimes they will buy two of each issue, one to collect and one to read.
Another type of collector is the variant or exclusive collector. These folks will typically go after exclusive versions of the things they collect or variant covers of the comics they collect. They may keep them mint in box, or they may open them and display them, but they are drawn to the exclusive versions, because the normal, average version just doesn’t cut it. The exclusives are better because they are more rare and are somehow unique to the average version. For example, the Doctor Who Funko Pop figures recently released, and Hot Topic has an exclusive version of each figure. The 12th Doctor, as an example, has a spoon when purchased from Hot Topic, while the 12th Doctor purchased through Amazon does not. The exclusive collector needs the one with the spoon.
Another type is the “Completist.” This type of collector picks a collection and then gets every piece for that collection. They will not rest until every last bit of that collection is theirs. They will hunt high or low, brave garage sales and eBay in hopes of finding the one piece or issue that is missing from their collection. They try to find nice pieces to add, but at some point, they give up just as long as they can get that piece that is missing. They will collect every variant or exclusive piece, as well as the main pieces. Every piece has to be there for them to feel like the collection is complete. They are working toward an end goal. There is a part of me that is drawn to this type of collecting, but I also know that it is almost always unattainable, so I try to refrain. I settle for having a lot of cool pieces instead, and try to tell myself that it’s enough.
In other words, I am an eclectic collector. I don’t have to have the whole set, but I like to have cool pieces in my collection. Pieces that mean something to me, more than pieces that are super valuable. I would probably never really look online to find out the value for any piece of my collection, because I am just not interested in parting with any piece. Sometimes, I will add to my collection based solely on impulse. I see something cool that I don’t have, and it is coming home with me, if I can afford it. My collection might include some exclusive or variant pieces, but it won’t include all of them. This is basically the ” I see it, I want it, I collect it” approach to collecting. It may not be as refined as some others, but I enjoy it. While a completist may someday have the satisfaction of knowing that their collection is complete, I will always have the satisfaction of knowing that my collection will never be complete. And that makes the whole thing worth it. So, what kind of collector are you? Let us know in the comments section on the blog or in the comments on Facebook or Google +, or tweet at me @thegeekymormon. I will respond to any of the these forms of feedback. You can even email me at [email protected]. We love hearing from you.
My Collection
I thought it would be fun when I write these posts to highlight some of my collections. I promised to reveal my favorite collection in this post, so we will start there. This is not my only collection, but for the moment, this has been the one that I have had the most fun collecting. It is my Funko Pop collection. For some reason, I saw these a few years ago, and decided I wanted a few. That few multiplied and has now grown into quite a collection. I just love these little guys. The thing I really like about them is that there are so many to choose from, so no matter what you are into, there is something for you. Here are some examples from my collection:
First we have some of my DC Pop Heroes. These are some of my favorite characters from the DC Universe. The first one I ever bought was Superman because he is my favorite Superhero. Batman has been my most recent addition. I am not a big Batman fan, but this one was purchased for me by my 2-year-old, who believes she is Batgirl, so she wanted me to have a Batman.
These are my Pop heroes from the latest Avengers movie, except Thor. I think he is from the second Thor movie. Each time Marvel releases a new movie, Funko releases new pop figures, so there are different versions of a lot of them. I personally have three captain Americas (or would that be Captains America?). The thing I like about the Marvel characters is that they are bobble heads, which just adds to their cool factor.
This is just a random assortment of figures that don’t fit into any one category. You could argue that Ollie there on the left could go with the DC guys, but I keep him separate because he is from Arrow the TV show instead of the comics. Next to him is Mal from Firefly, the 12th Doctor (Hot Topic exclusive with spoon). Soon he will be joined by a bunch of other Doctor Who figures, so they will get a section all their own. I’ll post pics on Facebook when they come. Then of course we have Raphael, purchased for me for Father’s Day by my son who loves Ninja Turtles and loves Raph “because he’s the red guy.” That’s why I love him too. Last, but not least, The Rocketeer. He might be my favorite figure.
So, there is one of my collections. What do you collect? What would you like to discuss in future editions of Collector’s Corner? Let me know through one of the various methods of feedback listed in the post above. Thanks for reading, and good hunting out there!
