Initial reaction

[fonz]

Jan 17, 2024 19:03:08 GMT rayge said:

Jan 17, 2024 18:48:50 GMT fonz said:

Knock one of those football death stars on the floor and hoof it through the window

Would you open the window first?

No!

I’m a hooligan!

[rayge]

Jan 17, 2024 21:21:49 GMT fonz said:

Jan 17, 2024 19:03:08 GMT rayge said:

Would you open the window first?

No!

I’m a hooligan!

But you would get more DISTANCE

[tory]

Jan 17, 2024 16:20:26 GMT Stacy Heydon said:

i'd probably use it as a prompt for conversation, but without much interest or enthusiasm about the thing itself.
I wouldn't regard it as that strange. I approve of people collecting, it creates a passion that gives real pleasure.

I'm interested in that reaction from you G. I mean, this is just collecting something that can be bought in a High Street shop. Sure, some of these items will be collectable (and will now have considerable value), but they're made in a factory and have little or no aesthetic value. To me, this is just an articulation of money and value than aesthetics. If someone collects items that are no longer made and perhaps might disappear entirely, then I'm more onboard. But this is just aesthetically awful to start with - Lego is not beautiful by any stretch of the imagination - it is a simulacrum of reality based on factory mouldings and CAD.

[adamcoan]

Well,diamonds and rolex watches are available in high st shops. Probably 90% of people you know own a diamond and while people ,as a rule, don't collect diamonds, considering they are as common as muck ,cost and aesthetics are extortionate and fairly standard.

If i was offered a one off renaissance magi and madonna painting or two mint condition boxed japanese tin robots then the toys win.
I know what Toby is saying, boxed figures and star wars etc, generally do not interest me all that much. Sixties robots do.
I used to work with a guy at Mercedes formula one HQ. He made a regular heap of money buying and selling Dr Who toys and paraphernalia . The market and prices were astonishingly buoyant. If people are triggered by something then they are going to collect it. Most of us do it with music.
The 'value' in something, ultimately is with you. People like and value strange things. Autographs, what the fuck is all that about ?

[DarknessFish]

I think the value in lego is approximately the same value in a jigsaw. The end product isn't really the point, it's the effort that goes into constructing the thing, I guess it's just time to take your mind off whatever stresses are in your life and do something pointless, but pleasurable to some. Just at the end, you might not want to throw away what you've built, given the time expended. Though that collection seems a little over the top.

[tory]

With regard to the sudden increase in value of "merchandise" - the interesting thing is that the market is now positioned for companies to sell things on purpose that may have value later. For example, Magic the Gathering released a unique card that was sold by the person who found it for $2 million. It was made for that purpose. Somehow, at some point, I wonder whether the bottom will fall out of that market.

For many years Star Wars toys had no value - particularly after the original trilogy ended in 1983 until around 1995 or so, when rumours of new films began to emerge. Now a vintage mint figure can be worth $1000. However, much of the recent crummy merchandise, created on purpose to be collected, has no value. That's where things are weird I guess.

I get the idea why people collect things related to their childhood, but there is something somewhat strange about it.

[Mr. FOLLARD]

Remember Swatches? There was a time when you could buy special editions then sell them a bit later (unopened) at quite a profit.

I suppose there's always something. I bought a Blu-ray of Lawrence of Belgravia (the Felt fella) a couple of months ago for a tenner and now it's going for three times that on Discogs

[adamcoan]

Collecting,investing and trading are different animals,surely?

[fearlessfreap]

I didn't realize those were all lego. I thought those were expensive pre-built toys. It's a bit more impressive now. Still, all those spaceships - not my thing at all.

[Stacy Heydon]

Jan 18, 2024 13:44:23 GMT fearlessfreap said:

I didn't realize those were all lego. I thought those were expensive pre-built toys. It's a bit more impressive now. Still, all those spaceships - not my thing at all.

I don't think they are all lego. The figurines don't seem to be, nor that cream space ship on the top shelf. Some of it is though.

[Sneelock]

Jan 17, 2024 21:21:49 GMT fonz said:

I’m a hooligan!

hooligan's on first.

lego? if any significant portion is, in fact, Lego, then I change my response.

get the Funny Farm over there at once!

actually, I'm twice as impressed!

I mean, there aren't a lot of hours in a day.

[souphound]

I think I'd warn them that, if they hadn't noticed, those shelves are not level and ultimately the lot will fall off.

As some have mentioned above, collecting means different things to different people. I'm a bit of a completist and I collect things not for their value to others but rather for the value they hold for me.

For some things, that value resides in the memories the objects awaken in me. For other things, like when I used to collect coins, it was all about completing a year or decade or whatever. I'd go to the bank and get rolls of coins, check them all out and keep/replace the ones I was missing, if any before rerolling them and going back to the bank to either exchange for more rolls or get my cash back so I could go and buy some candy. No value to anybody else in doing that. Just self-satisfaction. (Of course, that was back in the early 70s when people actually used coins and went inside banks ).

[tory]

I get the "collecting for me" idea, but what drives that beyond a vague sense of "completion"?

What I want to understand is what drives us to "complete" things?

[Sneelock]

I don't know what the fuel is that drives us to complete things but I do know that it's a non-renewable resource.

Take all this Beatles ephemera these last few years. if this had happened when I was in my 20's I would have listened to it ALL multiple times. I would have called in sick for work and been up for days on end.

now? meh. it's sort of interesting. maybe I'll get through it all one of these days. it was once something like a need but it's not anymore. I've got more important things to do. back then, it would have been the most important thing in the world.

[adamcoan]

Jan 18, 2024 19:23:45 GMT tory said:

I get the "collecting for me" idea, but what drives that beyond a vague sense of "completion"?

What I want to understand is what drives us to "complete" things?

I think if we can complete things then it is less attractive and we move on.
Records are always repackaged or expanded, etc.. The record companies know how to make the product already,basically owned already for years to be made desirable again.
I am not sure, considering the level of collecting we are talking about that 'completion' is the name of the game.