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Collecting toys: A joyous frustration

October 24, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to miss the toys I grew up with, the ones I no longer have. And am more appreciative of the ones I still have.

It’s nice that adults today can still enjoy toys without being seen as childish or immature. Especially when play them with your kids, nieces, and nephews, or cousins.

An adult’s relationship with toys is very different than with a child. It’s more about collecting. And that’s why I believe it can be really fun, but frustrating at the same time.

Probably because the toy you’re looking for is discontinued. So you need to spend more time at garage sales, flea markets, online places, to find it. The condition can vary, and especially the price. Model trains are a prime example, with conventions/shows set up by a dedicated group, as these are sought after collector’s pieces.

One of my toys I collected was called Fistful of Power. Action figures similar in collecting like Pokémon. Already very expensive plastic, they’ve been discontinued for over a decade. And prices on eBay or Kijiji were expensive. Fortunately, I found a Facebook group, and made a couple transactions with a very reasonable seller in Denmark. The currency/exchange rate actually benefited me. I couldn’t believe the deal I got, and my collection is nearly done!

Those types of collectible toys I didn’t really enjoy getting into because there’s so much randomness, and repetitiveness of getting the same figures in a box. Sure, I got two new ones, but the other three in the box I already have! And It’s hard to trade amongst a small group at school. Probably why I didn’t bother with Pokémon cards, it was too much for me.

The idea of trendy toys everyone gets into, then dies out as a fad, and the pressure of getting into it, is shown brilliantly in the T.V.O Kids shows Arthur, the fictional toy Woogles. Just get into toys because you enjoy them, don’t feel pressured.

Maybe you have difficulty remembering what toy it was exactly. Growing up, I loved collecting toy farm tractors, but could never accurately describe the types of machines I was looking for, and not understanding scale size, brands, etc. And I didn’t have the internet at the time. So while I have access to continue my collection, it’s been a slow, frustrating task, because I look for specific types of machines, in certain colors, sizes, and availability.

Collecting toys gives you nostalgic memories as a child. I still have my big Tonka construction toys, and I fondly remember my construction site I set up along our driveway. I actually dug with a backhoe a foot diameter circle into our driveway, that caused my Uncle’s car’s tire to get briefly stuck. So I had to fill it up. But I loved pushing and dumping dirt around, calling it a day, then coming out the next warm summer morning to see the machines right where I left them.

Collecting toys is also a hobby, giving you a purpose, and sense of identity.

One of the defining toys for me is army men. I collected these more than anything, for Christmas, Birthday, or if I had some money. Last I counted, I have an army of almost 500 soldiers, and dozens of vehicles! They were something a couples friends and I bonded over. The hours I spend setting up the battles, playing them out; truly the best time of my life. As an adult, I’ve collected some additional vehicles based off my love of military history, to add to the collection. Some of it was luck, just finding them at garage sales. Others were painstaking research.

My favorite video game series, Halo, was licensed to Mega Bloks, and I’ve been closely following, getting the sets of vehicles from the games, and my shelves are nearly out of room. But I’m just waiting on a handful of sets to be made, hopefully, and my collection is complete.

While collecting toys is a wonderful hobby, it can get out of hand. I’ve seen shows where people have rooms, garages, just filled with various, or specific types of toys. And they’re all mint condition in their boxes, otherwise they lose their value as a sought after collector’s item. This is especially true with Star Wars and Star Trek. It’s insane, but these collector’s need every single item. But they keep adding new variants, different versions, whole new ones; where does it stop?

And just leaving them in a box? A toy is meant to be played or fully displayed. But some buy them as doubles; one for play, one for value in the future.

Lego Star Wars is a prime example of this type of collecting, and unfortunately the insane prices turn me away. I did get into Lego Mars Mission, before it was discontinued. But I couldn’t get five sets. Fortunately, researching Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, I got them all for well under the price I thought I was going to pay. As these are for display, if I paid more, it would be only worth it if I was a kid and played them.

Collecting toys now makes you feel like a kid again, but isn’t always as easy getting as you remember, even with your independence and money. So whether it’s barbies, hot wheels, stuffed animals, Rubik’s cubes, or whatever it was, that little kid in all of us will never grow old.


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