Collector’s Guilt?

[Pokeyonekenobie]

I see stuff like this and it just makes me want to reply to the negative commenters:

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It is literally no one else's business what anyone else collects and most people who look down on collectors are people who are so boring that they have no actual interests of their own and therefore feel justified in judging everyone else's. 

And I just want to throw it out there that being a collector of MLP, Disney, Pokemon, and other "kid" stuff has made me the favorite aunt of 14 niblings (nephew number 15 is due in the next 2 weeks).  Their parents usually ask me for information on whatever their kid's interest is because I know something about it. I handed out Pokemon cards for Halloween this year. Oh, and I turned 42 this last week so I'm definitely "too old" to be into any of that stuff. Pfft.  Whatever.  (I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys 'R Us kid...)

As an artist, I actually have what I call my "Subtle Nerd" line of art.  It's stuff that looks "normal," but has a nerdy bend to it if you know what to look for.  Like my blue and white Pineapple picture (Psych reference).  Or my pink "Welcome" sign that has an acorn instead of the letter 'o' (because Piglet eats "haycorns" and he's pink)--it also comes in grey (Totoro fans anyone?).  Anything can be nerdy or have to do with your collection if you know enough about a fandom.  I make 'subtle nerd' items specifically for people who have a hard time shutting down the naysayers in their lives because I think that people should have things that bring them joy.

[Carrehz]

I love it, Pokey.

I guess the key is to just keep your OWN collecting efforts within YOUR values.  If you feel like you've gone too far, then maybe you have!  If not, then do your thing 

This is exactly how I feel about it.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

I don't have time to read all the prior comments in this thread right now but I'll quickly throw my two cents in.

These arguments from people about collecting these things (MLP, Bluey merch, anything really) doesn't make any sense to me. In the case of buying older items and collecting them, we are keeping them out of landfills. Children can get tired of a toy pretty fast, I have seen many instances of a fairly recently released toy showing up in a thrift store, likely because a child got bored of it very fast. An adult collector buying these toys and displaying them on a shelf is preventing them from ending up in a landfill eventually. Somewhere down the line there is a chance that if another kid got the toy at a thrift store, they too would get bored and stop playing with the toy, and maybe their parents would just throw it in the trash instead of donating it back again.

Not to mention older toys, such as vintage MLPs, were made with different standards for children's toys, and thus many older children's toys aren't quite as safe as they were thought to be back in the day. It probably would not be great for a young kid to be playing with a pony that's going through plasticizer leakage, for example. Especially if they are young enough to still be trying to put toys into their mouths.

And in the case of brand new toys off the shelf, I also don't see how this is taking away the potential for a kid to have it. Buying new products creates higher demand for the product, and makes it more likely for more to be made and more to be ordered by the stores. So that argument for new products doesn't make any sense to me, either.

[cowboyopossum]

i dont believe that collecting is "overconsumption" when you have people on tiktok making mustard gas in their toilets for content. especially in this day and age, people need things that make them happy. the whole cost of living crisis and conflicts around the world can really get you into a bad funk, like how i felt back in 2021. adding to my pony collection a lot more recently has really helped me heal from past relationships and friendships that didn't work out. i have been so much happier in 2023 and it is partially thanks to my collecting habits. checking thrift stores every week or so and toy aisles in department stores really helps take my mind off of the state of the world right now. most people these days are not doing too well and i think its important to have a thing like mlp that makes you so happy, when i get new ponies it feels like im getting part of my childhood back that was taken away too early.
or at least, thats my opinion

[Leave a Whisper]

I see stuff like this and it just makes me want to reply to the negative commenters:

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It is literally no one else's business what anyone else collects and most people who look down on collectors are people who are so boring that they have no actual interests of their own and therefore feel justified in judging everyone else's. 

And I just want to throw it out there that being a collector of MLP, Disney, Pokemon, and other "kid" stuff has made me the favorite aunt of 14 niblings (nephew number 15 is due in the next 2 weeks).  Their parents usually ask me for information on whatever their kid's interest is because I know something about it. I handed out Pokemon cards for Halloween this year. Oh, and I turned 42 this last week so I'm definitely "too old" to be into any of that stuff. Pfft.  Whatever.  (I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys 'R Us kid...)

As an artist, I actually have what I call my "Subtle Nerd" line of art.  It's stuff that looks "normal," but has a nerdy bend to it if you know what to look for.  Like my blue and white Pineapple picture (Psych reference).  Or my pink "Welcome" sign that has an acorn instead of the letter 'o' (because Piglet eats "haycorns" and he's pink)--it also comes in grey (Totoro fans anyone?).  Anything can be nerdy or have to do with your collection if you know enough about a fandom.  I make 'subtle nerd' items specifically for people who have a hard time shutting down the naysayers in their lives because I think that people should have things that bring them joy.

 

[Sarah-Bee]

Everything I have to say about this has already been said and much more eloquently than I have the energy for right now. The idea that an adult collecting a *mass produced* toy is taking that toy out of a child’s hands by owning one is absurd. Collecting started for me out of pure happiness to be doing so and has now also become something that helps keep my mental health in check so anyone on Reddit with a negative opinion about collecting can shove it. You know what they say about opinions and a-holes, right?

[Leave a Whisper]

Everything I have to say about this has already been said and much more eloquently than I have the energy for right now. The idea that an adult collecting a *mass produced* toy is taking that toy out of a child’s hands by owning one is absurd. Collecting started for me out of pure happiness to be doing so and has now also become something that helps keep my mental health in check so anyone on Reddit with a negative opinion about collecting can shove it. You know what they say about opinions and a-holes, right?

Everyone has one and they usually stink 

[lovesbabysquirmy]

if you want snarky content and one-liners, that is what reddit is literally for. 

there are not many communities on the site where thoughtful, intelligent dialogue is promoted.  most of those are academic and tightly controlled by moderators.

[Beth3346]

if you want snarky content and one-liners, that is what reddit is literally for. 

there are not many communities on the site where thoughtful, intelligent dialogue is promoted.  most of those are academic and tightly controlled by moderators.

yeah TBH this forum is where i go to have thoughtful conversations online. everywhere else i just lurk and don't really feel comfortable posting.

[Taffeta]

Oh, the internet's always had nasty people in it and horrible communities for them to cluster up in, but it definitely feels different nowadays. I guess they're more... open? spread-out? ...harder to avoid. I dunno how to put it.

But yeah, really what it all boils down to is that there's some horrible, judgemental people out there who derive pleasure from making others miserable. This whole "collectors should feel guilty" thing is just an offshoot of the whole ~*purity culture*~ thing... People see something they don't like and they twist things around so they can insist it's not that they don't like it, it's that the thing is morally wrong!!! and if you argue with them, then you're a horrible sinful person - it's a stupid, pathetic way of trying to get the "upper hand" in the argument.

Yeah, this is basically what I meant.

The internet has always been a wild west, but even when it was, the nasty stuff was mostly in nasty spaces, and not so much in spaces like ours. Now with it being so pervasive, everyone thinks it's fine to trot in and pass their moral judgements on other people's innocent interests or hobbies. And for want of a better comparison, it reminds me of secondary school, with those kids who made fun of someone else's mufti/family circumstances/hair/glasses/freckles/way they wore their uniform/weight/etc...even though none of those things were anything to do with them and they had literally no right butting in.

Those are the people we're talking about. They have a sense of "I am right" about them, and they're universally disgusting :/ They also were the ones who said the internet was nerdy and uncool to begin with - which is why we didn't really see them online until social media.

The other nasty is another matter altogether, though that is also now more mainstreamed because it's just more possible to do. The world hasn't got nastier, it's just capable of spreading nasty quicker.

[Zapper]

Pre-owned collecting is the opposite of wasteful to me (unless it starts to occupy space in your house/flat that should be used for something else, like a child ).

Speaking of kids, I have always been of the opinion that snatching kids toys is @#$% and I really don't care about the "we have money so we should be the real customers, kids have to ask their parents so they should be secondrate consumers" mantra that really picked up steam with the B.... fandom in G4 days.

In this case, yes I'd agree it would be a waste because the item you buy to showcase at home could go into a kid's hands and be appreciated as the toy it's supposed to be. If someone had snatched all the G1s from shelves when I was little I'd think of them as a crazy and mean adult.

Same goes for scalping.

As for hving too many items... well, that's really a question of psychology. When is too much too much? When does collecting become hoarding? As someone who sold all of her G2-G3-G4 MLPs and Funko Pops I have to say I started to feel like a hoarder after a while and found that collecting didn't "spark joy" anymore as soon as I have had the items for a couple of years.

I didn't stop entirely. I still have collections I appreciate. Like my G1s that I started in childhood. But culling the others felt right and it was like getting rid of clutter. I felt good afterwards and I think that's what counts.
If your collection starts feeling like a guilty hobby or even burden (financially, space, etc) just sell some stuff and see how you like it.

[Leave a Whisper]

Well said, and glad to see you Zapper.

[Pokeyonekenobie]

As someone who sold all of her G2-G3-G4 MLPs and Funko Pops I have to say I started to feel like a hoarder after a while and found that collecting didn't "spark joy" anymore as soon as I have had the items for a couple of years.

I didn't stop entirely. I still have collections I appreciate. Like my G1s that I started in childhood. But culling the others felt right and it was like getting rid of clutter. I felt good afterwards and I think that's what counts.
If your collection starts feeling like a guilty hobby or even burden (financially, space, etc) just sell some stuff and see how you like it.

I'm with you.  I gave away the majority of my G3s and G4s because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of selling.  I kept a handful of each generation that I truly liked and let the rest go to new homes.  It was fun to give things away (I did the G3s as mystery boxes and the G4s went to people at work with kids who would play with them), provided me with extra space, and made other people happy in the process.  I don't regret getting rid of any of them.

[Zapper]

Well said, and glad to see you Zapper.

 

It was fun to give things away (I did the G3s as mystery boxes and the G4s went to people at work with kids who would play with them), provided me with extra space, and made other people happy in the process.  I don't regret getting rid of any of them.

Nice ideas! I gave away a huge lot of custom bait for dolls and another one for ponies and the people getting them were so excited to start customizing, it felt great to know they were going to use everything that was just collecting dust in boxes here for years. I plan to give away my last remaining G3 and G4 ponies, too. Because those are still good and clean so kids can enjoy them without ingesting leaky plastic 

[DracoKat]

Eh, let those people criticize. They're just jealous at the amazing collections we have and they have nothing. If collecting, whether it's ponies or cars or whatever makes you happy, then continue it! You aren't spending their money but your own. You aren't hurting them, they're only hurting their own pride.

For a while my family would roll their eyes whenever they see my collection, but eventually they warmed up to it seeing it's doing no harm but make me happy; especially when I customise. My coworkers know too and they love it (or silently judge, who knows)