Why do you collect?

When I sat and seriously analyzed that one day I finally came up with what I think it was! I grew up very poor as a child and didn't have much. School shopping was going to the Salvation Army to see what they had. All the kids in school had Star Wars dolls and I had one C3PO that I collected cans to earn.

So I think it was to go back and 'make up' for not having much as a kid. Then I went mad and became a completist! I had boxes of stuff that would go unlooked at for months if not years at a time!

After my self 'discovery' I was actually able to let go of a lot of my collection and keep only a few items that have the most interest or significance for me.

I frequently now collect a prop that I want, have it for a while, then trade or sell it to someone else and rotate something else in.

Now I limit myself to my current interests and am happy to have just a few items.
 
Isn't it interesting to see just how many of us are in the same boat? That's one thing I love about this site, even before I joined, to see that there are plenty of people out there similar to me.Like a lot of others, I started building because I just don't have the money to go out and buy whatever prop I want, and even if I did have money, I've got stuff I've got to take care of. So, my solution was building, and as another said, what you learn on a project does spread to other parts of your life. Alot of my collecting also stems from a darker part of my childhood. When I was maybe 11-13, my family life was just about shot to hell, so as a boy, I'd hide out in my room with my collection of star wars figures, and they (and my imagination) made me feel safe, so now, as a 20 year old man, when stuff becomes too overwhelming, I just walk into my room, sit down at my figure display and admire the same figures from a different perspective. Instead of playing with them, I admire their detail, and how intricate they are, and the same safe feeling comes over me.And of course it's just fun. And if you build, you don't really have to rely on anyone for your items, if you can think it, you can make it.
 
OCD?

I've been collecting things as long as I can remember. Comics, trading cards (sport and non-sport), models, toys, books, magazines, movies, and music. Why? I guess I just like to have things I like or things I think are cool.

Admittedly, in terms of prop replicas, I build more than I buy. Why pay $500 for a licensed replica or nearly as much for a "fan made" item when $30 and a little "sweat equity" can render the same results. Plus I can say "I made this" and impress, honestly... Almost nobody.

Years ago, a house fire soured me on collecting anything of monetary value. That and the enemy of kid collectors everywhere, mothers that throw away anything that isn't cleaned up. It's probably a good thing, because if I still had everything I'd ever collected, I'd need a second house just to store it. Of course, the sale of a few choice items could have put me through college. Okay, the first semester anyway.

What was the question again?
 
I just don't know.. never thought of it. Why? Maybe to fill an empty void inside my subconsious... or maybe just because I really love Star Wars. I bet it's the latter.
 
My name is Mark and I'm a non recovering propmaker and general collector of anything that takes my fancy within the boundaries of my wallet and my wife's tolerance.
There I said it. :lol

I love collecting things in general. I started as a kid.... Collecting tins and matchboxes/books, coins, Action man toys and costumes, star wars toys, flyers from my clubbing and DJing years.....Whilst DJing I amassed quite a collection of vinyl records, You know the black round things that you stick a needle on and music comes from. I have about 6000 in my collection!!

Then came PROPS!!! OH no.....PROPS........:love

I guess it started with an FX stormtrooper suit and escalated from there..... Then I acquired moulds to make and sell Stormtrooper armour and helmets of my own... I have a bit of an addiction to Darth Vader helmets as well as Blasters and Lightsabers.

Did I mention Indiana Jones? I seem to have accumulated quite a few of the props from that series now! And Yes now produce and sell those.

I have just got a Freddy Krueger costume that's rather tasty and scary......JUst wait till next Halloween kids!! :lol

I have a large collection of original Star Wars posters.......:)

Then theres all the tools and man machines to make all this stuff.

My mum was a huge collector of stuff... I guess that's where I got it from as was her mother.... I kinda like it that I can think of her when I look at all my collections knowing she was responsible for my actions. It's inherited. :)

BUT, I enjoy it all and I find it a bit of escapism from all the crap the real world throws in your direction and the madness going on around the globe. The only war going on in my life at the moment is the war for space to put all my toys!

I am a fad fan in the way that I get so into something I have to have the best of it and loads of it then move onto something else then back the this and back to that...I can always find something to interest me whether it be learning magic, Photography,Cameras, lenses, survival techniques, props, Hairdressing(my real job), Watches, Family, BMX, LIFE! I never get bord of learning stuff. The moment you think you know it all is the moment you should give up. I never do.

Luckily I have a wife and two daughters to bring me back down to earth. :thumbsup
 
Pretty much all the prop replicas I own were things that fascinated me in my childhood. Like most kids into Star Wars, my brother and I would play flashlight or yardstick lightsabers. Eventually my parents bought the actual Star Wars toy lightsabers for us to dual with.

One of the first movies I saw in theaters was one of the BTTF films, and I loved everything about it. For christmas that year I got the remote control Delorean toy, and I'd always pretend that the remote control was the one Doc used to control the car in the film. My dad used to do a lot of wood work, and he made a little hoverboard for me and my brother to play with. (I wonder if that's still around).

Once I got into James Bond, I remember taping a pen and other objects together to make my own "golden gun". I even wanted my dad to make me one in his wood shop, though we never got around to doing that. The coolest toy I was ever surprised with was a plastic silenced PPK cap gun with a golden "007" on the slide. As well as the watch based on the Goldeneye videogame.

So in a way, I'm reliving some great childhood memories, and also getting things that I'd only dreamed of owning before.
 
I'm not that old, but for me it's still a childhood thing. As a kid I was obsessed with Back to the Future, Jaws and the 1989 Batman movie. I watched them religiously.

I collect props from Back to the Future.. kind of, I have a few bits and pieces. My Mark Poon Almanac is my first truly accurate prop. Receiving that was awesome. Right now though I'm building my first real prop; a screen accurate Hoverboard (stunt version... even though IMHO if it has magnets and a foot pad... it be hero.)

It has a lot to do with sentimentality for me. When I get something that has such a strong connection to the good memories of my childhood, I go for it.

Plus. The stuff just IS cool. In most cases the more you learn about the prop and study it... it just becomes more awesome and before you know it, it's yours. In your home to relive those amazing moments. :)

Can I just say though; NOBODY appreciates it. If I show one of my props to family or whoever, they all pretty much turn into the Grinch.

It amazes me that some are just so dull minded and oblivious to the awesome thing they are witnessing
 
Last edited:
Can I just say though; NOBODY appreciates it. If I show one of my props to family or whoever, they all pretty much turn into the Grinch.

It amazes me that some are just so dull minded and oblivious to the awesome thing they are witnessing

Indeed, my friend, indeed. I know exactly what you mean. That's why I love this site so much, to others who feel the same way I do about our items. I can spend all day busting my butt over a prop, be so proud of it, and show my family or someone, and all I get is, "Oh that's nice." or "Ahhh... what is it?"Which is distressing. So it's nice to put my stuff on here and have people actually dig it.
 
My collecting/collection started by accident/chance.

When we first got an Xbox-360, (about 3-4 years after the rest of the world), we downloaded 'Portal: Still Alive' & played the game from beginning to end as a family. We took turns with the controllers, shoulder-surfed & backseat driver'd each other, & so on - until we finished the game. We LOVED it.

While we were playing the game my kids & I kept making goofy little pictures & art projects out of the stuff from the game, (I homeschool all four of my small humans & have for years so we're pretty flexible on time/subject matter & we could justify some of the time spent playing the game as problem solving tutelage - :D). Eventually, we finished the game & were making papercraft companion cubes & one of my kids said something along the lines of - "I wish we had a big cube, like in the game..."

SO, we set out to build a full size weighted companion cube. My experiences trying to build stuff - up until this point in my life - were comedic at best. I put a drill bit through my right index finger once, smashed a knuckle on my right hand another time, numerous cuts, bruises, etc...one time I built a shelf for a small television that was so askew it looked like it belonged in a Dr. Seuss book. :)

We dug in & at first it was all of my kids & I working together. It became apparent, rather quickly, that very little of what I was imagining & planning in my head was coming out in physical form. Translate that to mean that - in the beginning of the process - there was a TON of failure. My kids actually lost interest after a while but at some point I got it in my head that I was going to make this thing & do it RIGHT. I didn't want to let my kids down & I also wanted to finally bring something from my imagination to life.

Fast forward to about 2 1/2 months later & I finished the cube which I'm actually quite proud of. It turned out wonderfully & contrary to some stuff I've built since it didn't have any predecessors, (basically, I couldn't follow in other people's footsteps), in terms of creating it.

That spawned another project, the TARDIS build, which lead to the Flux Capacitor build, which lead to...so on & so on.

Basically, I found out that when I involve things with emotional attachment or childlike joy in my building process...I just figure out a way to do it. It's sort of a visceral process, actually. :)

The stuff I collect/build at this point is all connected to something I've seen, experienced, or enjoyed in my life...from movies, TV, or video games that is. Seems silly to build a replica of my Garfield bedspread from 1984 or something like that. :D

That's my feeble contribution to the thread...
 
I have always loved taking things apart and making something cool out of the parts ever sense I was a kid.and space has always fascinated me beyond anything.so sci fy has always been there. and along with the sci fy love affair. I have had the same fascination with weapons. so I started collecting building what I could.and one day I will have a sci fy weapons wall that I will enjoy and cherish.hopefully before I croak LOL...... that's me.....
 
I have always collected stuff since I was a kid. I woul watch a tv show and try to get my hands in the related merchandise and come to find out they were not as cool as the on screen props. I use to make my own out of cardboard, etc. Ever since I have been out of college and have a job, I like being able to own real screen used props and replicas. They actually have thier own room.
 
Can I just say though; NOBODY appreciates it. If I show one of my props to family or whoever, they all pretty much turn into the Grinch.

It amazes me that some are just so dull minded and oblivious to the awesome thing they are witnessing
Luckily I have some good friends who love movies too. They don't collect props, but they live my collection. And even family members who are no particular movie lovers, recognize quite some props: the Iron Man helmet is recognized by everyone. And since the Arc reactor is right next to it, this one is recognized too. Other props that people recognize most of the time: Harry Potters Wand, Hammond's Cane from Jurassic Park, the Ghostbusters Ghost Trap and PKE meter, Batman grapple gun and batarangs (most people only recognize the gun because the rangs are right next to it), Freddy Krueger glove, ...

Other nice props are almost never recognized: the Jurassic Park resonating Chamber, Skelegro Bottle, Meerschaum pipe, etc... Even some props I thought that were pretty well known are not recognized by many: Headpiece of the staff of Ra, Cross of Coronado, Jason's Hockey mask, etc...
 
Luckily I have some good friends who love movies too.

You're right, that is lucky! :D I have no friends and my family couldn't care less about my props, so I don't bother to show them any of my stuff.

It's why I love this forum, other members at least appreciate how accurate my collection is, the effort I've put into it and what it means to me, even if they don't care about the props or the shows/movies they're from. :)
 
This thread is more than 11 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top