Collection shame

[buffalobob77]

I was just checking how many people here have gotten that uncomfortable feeling when friends, family, or random guests in the house get a look at your collection.

I'm not saying I have a huge amount of guilt about my modest Macross collection, but I hate to get what I call the "poopy eye" from people that just don't understand the toy love.

Anyway this is my first post here. Hope I did everything right

[Skull 0ne]

Wecome to the boards,

and yeah I know what you mean...... very few people know the extent of my collection or that I even collect toy's, Just so I can avoid the "poopy eye"(lol).

[xMaDxPeNgUiNx]

People usually ask me how much I spent and how it was a waste to spend it on toys. They just don't understand...

[Agent ONE]

Your spoon is too big...

I am a BANANNA!

[EXO]

I was talking to Knight26 about what to do when you take home a girl from a date for the first time, it's funny that we both had the same answer. Fighter mode! Cuz' then your just an aviation freak. It's kinda funny when they slowly start to learn that these things have arms and legs.

Yesterday, my friend screamed when she saw the 18" Spider-man in the corner of her eye. It didn't register to her that it was a toy because it didn't look like a pose that a regular action figure can do.

It's fun to have toys around but I never want to have my house look like a Toys R'Us warehouse. Right now I have a wall closet that I can open and close whether or not I feel like exposing my geekdom. It's a shocking site though and changes the feel of the room instantly.

BTW, welcome buffalobob77. Mah spoon is too big!

darn you AgentOne... beat me to it...

Edited March 15, 2004 by >EXO<

[VF-18S Hornet]

Don't let it bother you buffalobob77, people in general who believe we are wasting our time and hardearned money are BAKA (Japanese term for stupid or idiot) Sooner or later you end up over someones else's home and see they got a teddybear collection or a porcillian doll collection, and wonder to yourself what kind of hypocrisy these people are living in and that the have no right to critique your collection.

Edited March 15, 2004 by VF-18S Hornet

[Roy's Blues]

Sooner or later you end up over someones else's home and see they got a teddybear collection or a porcillian doll collection, and wonder to yourself what kind of hypocrisy these people are living in and that the have no right to critique your collection. 

I second that.

A girl I WAS dating scoffed at my yammies. At the next date at her house, she shows my her Display Case of Little Mermaid Crap. Stautes, Commerative Plates and Cels all from disney

[Blaine23]

Let 'em give you the poopy eye all they want... there's alot worse collections to be into.

You could be into:

Collector's Plates (thank you, Franklin Mint!)

N'Sync Memorabilia (JC rulez!)

The complete Mama's Family video libarary (on homemade VHS, of course)

Beanie Babies (don't touch Snuzzles the rat! He's worth $450!)

or you could just have a wall full of children's shoes.

And don't ever answer questions about it... you just say, "they're important to me. Very important. Don't. Ever. Touch. Them."

Now how do I find out what this banana and spoon business is about?

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

yea really it dont matter. I mean some of these peolpe judging you might be well educated but when they make half assed remarks about being tioo old and crap, it just makes them come off uneducated if you feel me.

Me I usually use shock and awe....I show them at first and I usually get the "wtf? eric you buy this stuff nad play with it too?ehhhh" or the "hmmm cool my bro gets those too" for the most part since I am in college now its almost as if everyone respects it. Then again I am an art major and a bunch of my friends are into comics and anime and get the same stuff I do. I just happen to be the resident macross nut.

BUt yea dude dont worry. As long as u dont become poor and make stupid decisions sacrificing stuff you really need....you dont got nothing to worry abioyut. If you liked it and you earned it its freaking yours regardless of what people think.

[Batou]

ROFLMAO!!!

Exo hit it on the head. I could care less what my friends have to say - I just don't want it getting in the way of me getting laid. I have all of my "toys" loaded on bookcases in my home office, none of which are easily viewed from anywhere but inside the room. That part of the '5-dollar-tour' is usually brief and glossed over - just stand in the doorway and tell them this is where my computer is, then quickly move on. Women don't usually get to see the full extent of my little shrine to my own nerddom until they're a few dates in and it then becomes an acceptable "eccentricity" rather than a flashing alarm to grab their purse and flee.

BTW - Does anyone else here detest calling these things "toys"? Esp considering these ultra-expensive Yamatos and such are (I'm assuming) directly aimed at the nostalgic 30-somethings (or thereabouts) like me? I mean seriously - who in their right mind would buy a child a 1/48???

[Jolly Rogers]

You can always tell them off with the classic line:

"He who dies with the most toys wins. I WIN!"

Bwahahahahaha!

[do not disturb]

i get the look too often....

i made the mistake of knocking down my second bedroom wall to have a bigger living room. now anyone who walks in sees my macross and SW lego collection. and SW is like the dorkiest of all the dork hobbies, second only to star trek.

the plus side is that its lego, and since you can make just about anything out of them, the chicks seem to dig it. one girl i was dating actually sat there and went to town! it was kind of cute watching a 25-30 year old woman sitting there playing with toys. and no, not those kind of toys.

right now, i'm trying to decide whether to put back the wall, put up a curtain, or put in some french doors.....i must conceal my dorkness until it can be fully appreciated by all.

[yellowlightman]

It's fun to have toys around but I never want to have my house look like a Toys R'Us warehouse. Right now I have a wall closet that I can open and close whether or not I feel like exposing my geekdom. It's a shocking site though and changes the feel of the room instantly.

Or certainly better than them thinking you're doing a drug deal on a date.

I've never had too much of a problem with girls getting freaked out with my collections, but maybe that's just the girls I hang out with.

Just the other day I hate about four piles of anime art books and comic books and my friends GF spent about an hour looking through all of them.

[Mechamaniac]

Let 'em give you the poopy eye all they want... there's alot worse collections to be into.

You could be into:

Collector's Plates (thank you, Franklin Mint!)

N'Sync Memorabilia (JC rulez!)

The complete Mama's Family video libarary (on homemade VHS, of course)

Beanie Babies (don't touch Snuzzles the rat! He's worth $450!)

or you could just have a wall full of children's shoes.

And don't ever answer questions about it... you just say, "they're important to me. Very important. Don't. Ever. Touch. Them."

Now how do I find out what this banana and spoon business is about?

Or worse...

Sports memorabilia as far as the eye can see. Sorry, but having some dude's nasty autographed jockstrap that he wore in Super Bowl XXWHOGIVESAFXXX means nothing to me.

There's also something homoerotic about guys that fill their family rooms with pictures of other guys in tight uniforms, and then go out and buy 90 dollar jerseys with some other dude's name on the back. I mean, damn, if you are going to hand over 90 bucks, let the homoeroticism work for you, and catch a hummer from said sports celebrity.

I don't try to explain off my toy collection, because most of the people that see it either go "Man, those are cool!", or they reveal their own supressed dorkdom, by saying..."Hey, isn't that Jetfire?".

[Anubis]

My parents scoff at it. Secretly seem intrigued at what each box holds whe it arrives, but still scoff at the basement I currently have set up shop in. I'm not surprized though. "You should be saving." or "how did you fit all that in this small room"

My dad loves the Bandai Enterprise-A I got 2 copies of. One for him, one for me. E will be for his birthday.

As for the gf question, if they scoff at the collection, it's not meant to be. Not much more complicated than that. I don't want a TRU for a bedroom, but I do want a good display cabinet or two's worth of stuff on display.

Last one seemed reserved but interested. She had a HUGE batch of Barbies in storage, so she couldn't say anything.

My latest gf seems genuinely interested She's big on movies, and seems very open to giving some anime a try. Some of it she had heard of from her brother, or from when she was younger, so that helps. When we have some time I'll show her a sampling. She especially liked the "planes" on my shelf too. She's a keeper it would seem.

She likes stuffed things, so I might get her a Kirara plushie.

[RTShark]

Well...

As a collector of many things that can get pricey (various sorts of toys, a CCG called Legend of the Five Rings, comic books etc.) I used to try to justify my enjoyment of stuff like that and the money I spent on it.

I don't anymore. Everybody has something they like that's different than the norm, the only thing that sets some of them apart from others ist hat some of these things are considered to be socially acceptable and some aren't.

You've got your gearheads who like their cars... You've got people who spend money on tickets and traveling to sporting events and music concerts. These people don't get the hairy eyeball unless they get to the real extreme...

I've got two guitars. Each one cost more than I've spent on any single piece in my various collections and yet nobody gives me an odd look about them... It's all about perception.

We've all got our little eccentricities... Who decides what's OK and what isn't? I don't look down on people who spend lots of money on sports I expect the same courtesy in return.

If someone does have a problem with it, well too bad for them.

Now I will of course exclude from this the real extreme. If you're forgoing actual essentials to support your hobby, well that's a different situation and you may want to rethink your priorities, but aside from that (and there are people that will do that for even the socially acceptable things) it's all good.

[VF-1Guy]

BTW - Does anyone else here detest calling these things "toys"? Esp considering these ultra-expensive Yamatos and such are (I'm assuming) directly aimed at the nostalgic 30-somethings (or thereabouts) like me? I mean seriously - who in their right mind would buy a child a 1/48???

I do. I think of it as a collectible since no toy of similar size (i.e. a child's plaything) should cost this much money. These are clearly aimed at adults and perhaps teens. I don't consider it any different than any of the other collectibles that people have. A plate, doll, picture, figurine, etc. is of no more practical use than a valkyrie.

[Mechamaniac]

BTW - Does anyone else here detest calling these things "toys"? Esp considering these ultra-expensive Yamatos and such are (I'm assuming) directly aimed at the nostalgic 30-somethings (or thereabouts) like me? I mean seriously - who in their right mind would buy a child a 1/48???

I do. I think of it as a collectible since no toy of similar size (i.e. a child's plaything) should cost this much money. These are clearly aimed at adults and perhaps teens. I don't consider it any different than any of the other collectibles that people have. A plate, doll, picture, figurine, etc. is of no more practical use than a valkyrie.

Ya, I left that out of my post.

Sorry, but my collection is largely PG Gundams, 1/48 Valks, and Vintage Gundam Mushas. Of those, IMHO, only the Mushas can really be called "toys".

And yeah, who buys a hundred plus dollar toy for their kid to bang around?

[EXO]

Or certainly better than them thinking you're doing a drug deal on a date.

Hey.. what...!?!

I've never had too much of a problem with girls getting freaked out with my collections, but maybe that's just the girls I hang out with. 

Yeah maybe if you stop trying to pick up girls at the TRU...

[VF-18S Hornet]

Sooner or later you end up over someones else's home and see they got a teddybear collection or a porcillian doll collection, and wonder to yourself what kind of hypocrisy these people are living in and that the have no right to critique your collection. 

I second that.

A girl I WAS dating scoffed at my yammies. At the next date at her house, she shows my her Display Case of Little Mermaid Crap. Stautes, Commerative Plates and Cels all from disney

I hear that, My sister got on my case about me buying my first two 1/48 Yammies practically accused me of closing closing my investment account at primerica just to buy them which was not true, since I closed the account in October 02' just to get money for food that was important and got the Yammies in 03' . But any way she tell's me I should prioitize my money for somethings important than toys and trivial and trite crap, but she buys a Playstation 2 which cost more the Yamato 1/48 VF-1 and she has never played a video game since 1986 and tells me I can't play any games on it. Well you know what I was thinking when I found out (She is a Hypocrite) so I went on playing it when ever she is not around and I still get my Valkyries. So the lesson is don't listen to hypcrites.

Edited March 15, 2004 by VF-18S Hornet

[Myersjessee]

I tried, for a while, to explain to friends what it was all about. Now, I don't. If people ask, I am fairly cursory in my responses.

"they are from a show I loved as a kid...models and toys...blah blah" End it quick and speak as I am walking out of the room.

It helps to have a wife who is understanding, and children to pin some of the obsession on..

"Lucas loves this stuff... "

[buffalobob77]

You guys rock for catching my "Rejected" Avatar. And actually you guys just plain rock. I feel like this is my little support group. Not that I have a problem, it's just good to vent about being misunderstood. Maybe I should go get another 1/48 to show my toy pride.

I guess you could look at just about anybody and find something that they do you would consider useless. I think toys just get the nerd stigma more than they deserve. I heard smoking is cool. Maybe I'll try that instead.

I'm lucky my girlfriend thinks they are pretty cool. She is actually a photographer and did a whole photo essay on men and their toy collections. I'd say I met some really cool people helping her with that and I also met a lot of extreme collectors that frightened us both.

Sounds like what it comes down to it we just don't want to scare the girls off. I've got that covered so what am I whining about?

[Agent ONE]

You guys rock for catching my "Rejected" Avatar. And actually you guys just plain rock. I feel like this is my little support group. Not that I have a problem, it's just good to vent about being misunderstood. Maybe I should go get another 1/48 to show my toy pride.

I guess you could look at just about anybody and find something that they do you would consider useless. I think toys just get the nerd stigma more than they deserve. I heard smoking is cool. Maybe I'll try that instead.

I'm lucky my girlfriend thinks they are pretty cool. She is actually a photographer and did a whole photo essay on men and their toy collections. I'd say I met some really cool people helping her with that and I also met a lot of extreme collectors that frightened us both.

Sounds like what it comes down to it we just don't want to scare the girls off. I've got that covered so what am I whining about?

Dude,

First of all, we all rock here... This is Macross World. Macross World is at the center of the internet, it is what all sites want to be but aren't.

As far as the toys and chicks go, I totaly know what you mean. I only keep 1 1/48 out and the rest are in boxes. I figure I can get away with having just one thing in my room, the rest of my appartment is mostly modern art and random stuff from around the world. The Macross toys stay way back. I figure if I get a chick back into my room, she is gettin naked anyway so I can explain the whole post-sex clean up thing. At that point she is thinkin that I am a God anyway so I could probably have a severed goats head on display and it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Tuesday is coming, do you have your coat?

[buffalobob77]

Funny all this talk about my collection insecurities and what do I find when I get home from work today. My brand new yammie VF-1J.

"I'm a consumer whore!"

[Skull Hunter]

Hey buffalobob77 welcome to MW.

I know the feeling that you got. It's kind of awkwardat first, but who the hell cares. It's something that you love, and something to be proud of. That collection represents a part of you, so be proud to show it off.

In addition to my macross stuff, I have all this Lakers Memorabilia and Posters all over the room, as well as HAD all these wrestling figures and wrestling sets. It was crazy. I sold all the wrestling stuff cuz I grew out of it, but kept all my other things.

Just be sure that you have a lock on your display. I got soooooo pissed one time cuz my cousin took out my 1/60 max valk and attempted to transform it. Instead, he put a huge stress mark on the landing gear doors by pressing down on the wheels. I was so freakin mad, I don't let anyone touch my valks anymore.

He even tried to transform my other ones and started shaking it around to mock and piss me off. I wanted to deck him so bad! People like that just don't understand that you need to be careful with these things and eventhough they are toys, they shouldn't be treated that way. Especially if it is someones property.

[Nightbat]

Dude,

First of all, we all rock here... This is Macross World.  Macross World is at the center of the internet, it is what all sites want to be but aren't.

Yeah, and did you forget to mention we have you among other things

heheh welcome to MW BB77, the place where so much knowledge is available we could plot world domination

and where everybody's so crazy we should all be in the nuthouse

Keep that Economy going with consuming Buff.

I know I am

Edited March 16, 2004 by Nightbat®

[buffalobob77]

I know what you mean Skull Hunter. I have a friend who thought he was all that because he had a MPC VF-1J and he thought he could man handle my Yamato 1/48 the same way he does his MPC.

Come to think of it he was probably trying to destroy it in a jealous rage

[Skull Hunter]

I know what you mean Skull Hunter. I have a friend who thought he was all that because he had a MPC VF-1J and he thought he could man handle my Yamato 1/48 the same way he does his MPC.

Come to think of it he was probably trying to destroy it in a jealous rage

That's just wrong what your friend did. People should respect your property and treat it as if it was their own.

I mean, how would he like it if I took something that meant a lot to him, messed it up on purpose, and laughed about it, trying to mess up something else of yours. That's just plain damn childish.

Thinking about now is starting to tick me off again, but what can you do with those kind of ignorant people but cut off their hands.

Just kidding. I'm not psycho.

[Ali Sama]

Come to think of it he was probably trying to destroy it in a jealous rage

That's just wrong what your friend did. People should respect your property and treat it as if it was their own.

No you should treat it better. Honestly some people treat theri stuff like crap. when I borrwo stuff or touch other peoples stuff I treat it liek Gold. I am pretty carefull with my stuff but others tuff I am more carefull with.

[Chowser]

The complete Mama's Family video libarary (on homemade VHS, of course)

hey, can i get a set of those?

no, seriously, my mother-in-law keeps bugging me to find it for her.

----

you should hear what the guys at work say about my collection, they sit there and wonder why i spend my money on Macross stuff. I just throw it back at them, hey, I don't drink or smoke, I spend my money on stuff that won't kill me, like toys, swords, guns, ammo, etc.

People collect whatever they like. We just all have an addiction to Macross here

I just tell people when they come over, please don't touch anything, ask me first. then I grab my old MPC or a Bandai and let them try. No one touches my Yammies!

[Mr March]

I think it's pretty much a given that any man of generation x is going to have some weird excentricity. Most of the people of my generation seem to have some really weird hobbies or tastes, but I admit some are more obvious than others. Guys with very strange pets, guys with Simpsons memorabilia, guys with sports card collections, guys with anime, guys with models...it's pretty extensive.

Hell, just a generation ago it was abnormal to enjoy television and movies in any hardcore manner. Now my dad has better home entertainment equipment than I do and loves tetris on his computer.

If you don't have some strange hobby, you're generally considered "weird" (go figure).

[EXO]

Funny all this talk about my collection insecurities and what do I find when I get home from work today. My brand new yammie VF-1J.

"I'm a consumer whore!"

... and how!

[Batou]

I just tell people when they come over, please don't touch anything, ask me first. then I grab my old MPC or a Bandai and let them try. No one touches my Yammies!

Ditto. I got a Chunky Monkey mostly for the same reason. The minute I see someone's hand go for my Yammies, they get hip-checked and handed the Bandai.

Besides, it's so much more like the old Jetfire most of them remember, anyway, they always seem just as happy with it. Especially when they nearly shoot their eye out with that gun. All of the Transformers released in America were so neutered, it's really kind of a novelty to them to see such unsafe toys.

[wolfx]

I was abit worried about getting a girlfriend when I heard that toys and anime is a turn off to girls. Then when I discovered that people here have LIVES (not complete nerdo geeko ppl) and have gfs and wives who accept their hobby, I'm feeling more secure now.

[GreenGuy42]

I've never really given a damn about how people view my collections.

It surprises quite a few people when they see my room. I've been accused of looking like a frat boy. I'm built, and match when I'm dressed.. lol

I'll openly TELL people I collect robots. Personally, I get a kick out of their reaction. However, I've never lost a woman, or significantly scared her. Usually, they find it eccentric, if not cute..