AlexLothos's Humble Collection

[AlexLothos]

Originally Posted by Augen

Likely two or three years off though.

Oooh, yes! I do remember seeing this! Yeah, I'm thankful it's some years down the line... my wallet needs time to get prepared, lol.

[AlexLothos]

After doing a lot of research, looking at other collections, and really going over my own collection I've tried to figure out where to move forward within this hobby. One of those ways is to hammer out my likes and dislikes which I'll place in this thread as something I can come back to and reflect on to keep me on track.

Sizes
Like: 9" to 15"-ish
Dislike: 8" and under
Maybe: 16" to 35"-ish

As a child and early teen, I used to collect action figures. As a young kid, I had most of the MOTU/He-Man figures and as an adult in my first apartment I had all the figures, vehicles, and playsets that I displayed on a built-in shelf. As a pre-teen, I had most of the TMNT Playmates figures. As an early teen I had most of the Toy Biz X-Men figures.

At a certain point I realized I didn't enjoy them like I did when I was younger and ended up giving away everything.

I think as a result of that, I don't want anything close to what I perceive as "action figure size." Also I like the whole static "inaction figure" feature that statues provide. The toys were intended to play with and I wasn't playing with them, so they weren't serving their purpose and had to go. Statues are meant to just be there and look good... I'm down with that.

Material

I prefer polystone for the sturdiness and weight, but for smaller figures I'm fine with PVC (I know many are not and I understand their perspective).

For the most part, I don't like mixed media. Cloth is harder to clean, collects dust, and is prone to disintegrating. Plus it reminds me of dolls and though I like a lot of the Hot Toys face sculpts, the doll body is just odd to me (plus there's the whole posing aspect that goes back to my "inaction figure" preference).

Going back to sturdiness and weight, although I like the look of my Netflix Elektra, I hate picking her up because she's nearly weightless. The base is hollow and open... I'm not a fan. I considered getting the other Netflix pieces, but unless I get them SUPER cheap, it's a no-go. (Plus the whole Luke Cage/Iron Fist cancellations with possible more to come has left me really disappointed as a fan.)

...

Alright, I think that's it for now. I thought I had more, but I think this will work for now.

[AlexLothos]

Part 2

Busts

For the most part, I'm not a fan. They tend to be smaller (see my size preferences above), plus I just overall like the look of a full figure.

Ultimate Storm will probably be my only exception. I love the sculpt so much, plus there isn't a full figured version of this version of Ororo. Which leads into...

Duplicates

For the most part, I want just one figure to represent a character in my collection. But as shown by my love of Cammy, this guideline is very flexible. There are a few characters I want to own multiple versions of, but for the most part I plan to stick to this.

Collecting to pay homage to Childhood

Although for the most part, my statue collecting is an opposite of my action figure collecting of childhood. But maybe it's not... maybe it's the evolution of that hobby.

Quite a few pieces are better renditions of characters I loved as a child or mean something to me from some period in life.

This quote summed things up a lot for me: "People collect as an attempt to re-capture their childhood. As we get older and lurch to adulthood and beyond... all the responsibilities that come with life, especially if you create for a living... you have to stay in touch with your inner 10-year-old. This is the touchstone for why we started doing all of this in the first place." - Modern Collector: John Murdy