It's a Collectible, dammit...

The term “collectible” figures had to come from a guy that was embarrassed that he was still buying toys. Seriously, when did it go from the act of collecting to being a collectible? Was it when someone was offered $2,000 for a toy that they bought for only $5? Or was it when their wife threatened to leave them if they could not explain the landfill of Star Wars toys in the basement? Whenever it came to be, it was probably more of a boon for the manufacturers than anything else.

But somehow when calling a toy a collectible, it is easier to justify having it in your home. Most people when they see the toy in your home and when they question you about it the proud response is “Toy? Oh, no. That is my Collectible Superman with the Lois Lane corpse. Fully poseable and only 1,115,000 were produced.” The response to that answer is one that you give as if humoring a proud child that just showed you his drawing. The kid tells you it is a scene from The Wizard of Oz, and all you see is a couple of lines and random circles arranged chaotically: “Ooooohh. Very… nice”. But to the collector, this figure is a trophy. Maybe it was bought for the art of the figure, or the rarity (not at 1,115,000 but you get my meaning). Perhaps he is just a Superman fan and needed to have it to complete their collection of other Man of Steel related items. But there it sits, in a space of honor, surrounded by it’s own lights and mini velvet ropes, proudly displayed in the packaging.

Ah, yes, the packaging.

As many companies realize that the true collector will not ever remove the item from the original packaging, these are now made like some type of diorama, where the item in question is posed in such a way that removing it will destroy the little illusion that has been created. As this will also decrease the resale value of the figure, to even suggest that the item be removed from the packaging is sheer blasphemy! These are the collectors that need to get over themselves. The item in question is only as valuable as the next person is willing to spend on it, package or not. If you only buy something with the overall goal of selling it later, that makes you kind of a jerk. Espescially if you paid only $19.95 and are expecting to sell it for thousands one day.

I started off as a jerk, with the comic books, and then the figures. But my jerk-dom didn’t last long. I decided with both things that I was just going to buy what I liked, and that was that. It has worked out well. I am not spending millions that I don’t have on comics* and I only buy the figures that I like the look of. And I remove them from the package.

*I have been told that you can read comic books online now. Ah, progress…