1. What do you collect?

Mostly dolls and books. As prodigious as my doll collection is, it's more than matched by my book collection. To be more specific, I collect both books and toys from the childhood, as well as newer book series, comic books, mythological books, Egyptology books, and modern dolls. I also collect stuffed toys, but I've trimmed that back. I actually had far more stuffed animals than dolls as a kid.

2. How did you get started?

I'm an only child and we moved a lot, so steady friends weren't something I had. So I became a voracious reader and a lover of toys. I've kept that up ever since, because I'm still a fairly solitary person. As an adult, my collecting really expanded when I discovered the internet in 1997. My family's on the poor side and I didn't have a computer until '98. I used my undergrad best friend's computer to buy things, but didn't really get into it until I got my own computer. I've been an eBay member since '98 and boy, has that place ever expanded my horizons.

3. Do other people know what you collect? Do you share your collections with the general population?

It's impossible to hide. I collect far too many things to stash them away. I'd also never do that. I don't care what other people think of my collections. I'm gonna live my life my way and what makes me happy goes out on display. I can't wait to finally live in my own place and fix up my stuff. I've been in school on and off since 1996, so I've never had a semi-stable home where I could really go nuts with display methods. I want a lot of shelves so I can display my books and toys at the same time. (Books in back, toys in front of them.)

I collect books, too! Trashy paperbacks. I have millions.

Ok, I don't think those count. But I understand the book obsession.

The internet is the devil in some ways. Whenever I start pining for something from my childhood, I generally look online ... find expansive communities ... and start to be drawn back in. Sylvanian Families is a good example. They still exist! They're still adorable! I still want them!

I played hardcore with my Sylvanians in childhood. Buster Slydale stole Barbie's Ferrari a lot. He was a badass. I had the brown bears, the foxes, the owls, multiple babies from random species, and the beaver little girl. And the house with very little furniture. I picked up the ferret family and badger family in some sort of My Little Pony trade. I had totally forgotten I owned the entire families until I went home for spring break. Abby's got a bunch of them in her collection now. I have all the ones I want except for the black moles. I remember seeing them in the store with the owls, but my mom thought they were ugly, so I got the owls instead. I liked both families, so I was happy with the owls, but I still want the moles. And maybe the brown rabbit girl in the red dress. She's cute.

Hello all,

I'm a little new at this, so bear with me everyone as I get the hang of all this posting and commenting. This is my first online community.

1. What do you collect?
Legos, Video Games, and DVDs. I will focus on the Legos since game cases aren't all that exciting to display. Unless I were to do some sort of disk artwork piece, but then I would ruin the games and thus destroy the whole purpose of having them.

Legos were my favorite toys as a kid. I had tons. My favorite part of the process is building. Once the robot/castle/ship/evil villain lair was complete, I tended to play with it for a minute or two, then destroy it for a new project. However, high school and college put the Legos away and it wasn't until my little brother needed help on his new set of Star Wars Legos that I remembered my love of the little plastic bricks. Now, I'm back in action and literally rebuilding a collection. My focus right now is the Lego Star Wars collection. I focus on the large, 1,000+ pieces sets and want them to be as complicated as possible. I drool over the 5,000 piece Millineum Falcon set which will one day be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine. I will soon post my Star Wars space battle display.

2. How did you get started?
Oops. I guess I already answered that in the previous question. So if you didn't read everything above, read it again for this answer. Though if you didn't read that, why are you reading this?

3. Do other people know what you collect? Do you share your collections with the general population?

Most friends know. However, not that many drop by my place so not everyone has seen it. I try to share it with everyone. I'm not embarrassed by space ships and trucks in my living room. I tend to stick with my geek-kind so they all have great respect for both Star Wars and the construction of the 3,000 piece Death Star.


Anyways, that's all for now. I must run off to work. But yay! My first post!

My lil bro is huge into Legos, specifically Star Wars, and really starting to get into hardcore-collecting/building with them. Are there any sets that you highly reccomend?

Well, the dream set is the 5000 piece Millineum Falcon, however, that thing has a mighty $500 price tag. My favorite set so far has been the Death Star II. It's a very tricky set to build due to the balancing act you have to perform as you assemble the different hemispheres, but I definitely recommend. My other recommendations are the Imperial AT-ST and the Imperial Star Destroyer. All are expensive due to the high brick count, but they're a lot of fun if you're into the complex building. Hope that helps!

1. I collect American Girl stuff (but not as extensively as only1genevieve, I suppose, except I have a 95% complete AG book collection), pre-1960 Nancy Drew books, and the little 3" tall figures from Disney movies that the Disney Store has sometimes. I'd like to start a proper collection of pre-1950 textbooks, but so far I only have a handful of French ones, as in textbooks from France, and one French one that's for students of the language.


2. I got started with my book collections as someone who hates getting rid of books and who loves really old books for their cultural context stuff. My mini Disney figure collection started with a Kim Possible set, because I love KP and had to have it. Now I've also part of a Toy Story set and a Beauty & the Beast set. I'm wanting Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmations, and Lilo & Stitch still. My AG collection bloomed from my AG book collection in 2006, when I finally got a coveted doll.


3. I suppose other people know what I collect - I don't hide the fact that I'm interested in them when the topic comes up, and they all share display space in my room. I really want to find a way to show off my Nancy Drew books along with my dolls. They're not so much 'play and display,' as they're books, but they kind of count. When I move into my own place, I really want to get poster sized versions of the early covers as decoration in my living room. And I've heard that there is a Nancy Drew lamp somewhere that I really must have. I think it's the 1960s version, though, which is a pain.

Anyway, I'm quite public about taking my one doll out to do photos in public, which is a lot of fun, and helps me practice my photography skills. I also talk about my latest sewing projects or whatever when it's on my mind.

Older books is quite a theme here. I don't collect books per se, but I do enjoy my mom's collection of books. She collects beauty books and books on "being a woman" from all eras. It's amazing to look at a book from the 1890s and read about what was expected of a good wife and mother, then fast forward to the 1950s and read that and contrast it with modern life. And it's strange how some ideals of beauty have changed, while others stay the same.

I loved Nancy Drew - I really wanted to be here. Have you seen the video games? Some of them are lame, but some of them are awesome and totally worth the investment (Legend of the Crystal Skull, Darkmoor Manor, The Red Hand).

That's a lot why I love the pre-1960 Nancy Drews. 1960, or 1964, or something like that is when they changed the illustrations and bits of the stories to match "modern" sensibilities. And they really did change story parts! Some of the early books are just horrid with the racism, yanno? But there's also classism and sexism in a huge way. Hannah Gruen's role really changed as the series evolved, and then she was sort of ret-conned when they "fixed" everything. (I'm going by my memories of the new version of The Secret of the Old Clock compared with the 1940s version of Mystery at Red Gate Farm, by the way.) Oh, and speaking of Red Gate Farm, it's so obvious that that books and some of the others from right around then were written during the Depression. The authors seem to have tried to keep it light and not remind kids of it, but it's still there and the desperation for jobs is still there, yanno?

I feel kind of skeazy sometimes that I love these books for their racism, sexism, and classism, though. I guess I don't like the prejudice itself, but I like how the books represent the widely held beliefs of the day, though even then I believe that the editors tried to set an ideal of sorts for the books. (And none of the NDs I've read are nearly as shocking as a Dana Girl book or Bobbsey Twin book I have - both feature a Chinese man, and it's just appalling what the writers do to them. -- I have a small collection of those books, too. :P)


Anyway, no, I've never played the video games. I've always dreaded that they'd be a waste of money and would gather dust. I am kind of wanting to see the new movie, though it's definitely using the 1960s version of Nancy for its base. I might, uhm, borrow some of the games from the Internet one day.

Trixie Belden is WAY better than Nancy Drew! Because I said so. Okay, not really, but my Mom's Trixie Belden books and Meg mysteries were my favorite books for a few years. I think I read some Bobbsey twins, too, but I wasn't a Nancy Drew fan.

I feel kind of skeazy sometimes that I love these books for their racism, sexism, and classism, though. I guess I don't like the prejudice itself, but I like how the books represent the widely held beliefs of the day, though even then I believe that the editors tried to set an ideal of sorts for the books.
I read a lot of older books when I was younger and a lot of that stuff went way over my head, but I do remember in one of the Trixie Belden books, Trixie's mother wants to get her a girdle to wear to a party. It upset me a lot at the time.

See, when I was a kid, it was the new version Nancy Drews that I read. I had every single one from between 101 and 117, I think, plus a few of the hardback low numbers and some Nancy Drew Files. My sister had several of the books about her as an eight year old, which I wish I'd saved - the covers were a really pretty design. But when my sister finished fourth grade, her teacher was giving away old books, and she took a bunch of the Nancy Drews and Dana Girls and gave them to me. And then when I discovered eBay, I bought a few more. My Bobbsey Twins are books she got a used book store when we were kids, but she didn't care to take them with her when she moved out or anything, so I "adopted" them. :P I'm waiting until I move out and have enough shelf space to really add to my collection.


But, anyway, I never had a chance to be introduced to the other series. I was surprised by the Dana Girls, because I didn't know there were any others than ND, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, ... there's a couple others I'm forgetting, but not Trixie Belden. I really adore the series that begins with "B" is for Betsy, too, and I'd like to eventually get some early copies of those. I checked that book out and Betsy's Little Starr about her sister SO many times from the library!

1. What do you collect?

Dolls, primarily 18" though an Ellowyne is looking more and more tempting, female DC line action figures, books, comic books, and DVD's.

2. How did you get started?

Depends on the thing. Generally, I do tend have an almost obsessive tendency, and can become really focused on one thing for awhile, but the above list is the stuff I haven't gotten sick of for years. I'm really trying to focus on these things, and not start anything new, but like I said, Ellowyne is looking very, very tempting.

3. Do other people know what you collect? Do you share your collections with the general population?

Oui et non, I don't actively hide it, but I don't actively promote it either. My friends and close family know, as they see the collection and I even talk about it with them (For the record, my lil' bro thinks I should stick with 18" and finds the Ellowynes creepy, but my mom thinks they're "pretty"). My coworkers and extended family really don't know and I think I'd be a little uncomfortable with the extended family knowing, because I think they'd judge it.

1. Mostly 18" dolls like American Girl and other dolls in the same scale.

I have some other things, but I don't really think of it as collecting them, though I guess I do, just not as actively as the American Girl doll stuff.

I have a bunch of Muppets action figures from the Palisades line a few years ago, a few Megos because I'm a huge Twisted Toyfare Theatre fan, some Star Trek minimates, a few of my favorite Strawberry Shortcake dolls, and some other stuff that I'm forgetting at the moment.

2. Toys in general? More or less since birth. My Mom always went to thrift stores and garage sales. I had massive collections of Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Ponies, and pretty much any other girly 80s toys you can name.

American Girl in particular? That's a very long story. The short version is this: my grandma gave me the six-book set of Samantha books when I was 7. The following March, she died. For Easter that year I got the Addy and Molly dolls and all of their school accessories. When I was older, I found out it was because my grandma had always planned on getting the dolls for me.

I've collected a lot of things over the years, though American Girl dolls are the only collection that has really stuck. I sold off a lot of the stuff I used to collect - Strawberry Shortcake, Marvel Legends, most of my minimates, all sorts of stuff - last year when I had a chance to go to the MCM Benefit Sale in Madison, Wisconsin, which was my dream since I was 8.

For non-AG collectors, the MCM sale is a giant sale where anything that was returned to American Girl over the previous year is cleaned or repaired by volunteers and sold for much less than the retail prices. For example, the dolls that year ranged from $35-$55 rather than $90. I'm sure you can see why this is a collecting dream come true, and why one would want a lot of money when attending.

3. I'm fairly quiet in real life and I don't mention it out in public unless it's somehow relevant to the conversation, but at the same time it isn't a secret. It would be impossible to walk into my apartment and NOT see my collection. My whole family knows and all of my friends are toy collectors of one kind or another.