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Wow, another month has gone by, and not a whole lot has changed. My local Target and Toys R Us have been slow to restock from the holidays so there is vary little new to talk about from my scouting reports. (Sounds like I'm doing a sports column.) So I decided to do something that I should have done in the beginning, an article about starting toy collecting. It may have been something you are looking at getting into, or maybe you have started collecting with the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace line and want to expand. Here's my version on how you can get started.
Let me say up front, you are not going to get rich collecting toys. Sure you may hit upon some mother lode of hot toys that everyone will want (Furby or early Power Rangers), but as with all things, the price and popularity will wane on those and you will probably barely get back what you put into it.
First, you want to look at how much money you want to sink into starting your collection. If you have a limited amount a month you want to spend, then you might want to look into getting some of the new toys that you can get at your local Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart or K-Mart. If you can afford to be more liberal with your spending, then you might look into getting some of the older toy lines, and going to specialty shops, private dealers and conventions.
Second, after you have decided on your money situation, look at the things that you like. If you like super heroes, then Marvel, DC and Spawn have toy lines that come in all sorts of sizes and prices that you can choose from. If you are a Star Wars fan, then you can collect both the new figures and vehicles, or if you have more at your disposal, then you can collect the older figures and vehicles. Or if you want to be nostalgic for your childhood, go after the line that you had the most fun with and try to find those things. Plus, you do not have to collect all the things out of one line; you can specialize in getting just certain things out of a toy line. If you like the ground vehicles out of the old 3.75" GI Joe line you can get those, or you can collect just all female action figures. There are lots of toys out there to collect so there should be something that will suit your taste.
Once you have the first two out of the way, the third is going to be a lot harder. This involves where are you going to get what you want to collect. For the new toys, you should be able to go into almost any Toys R Us, Target or other major retailer in your area and find what you are looking for. Some of my best finds for new toys were at the local grocery store, so you might want to look there. They will charge a bit more, but if it is hot and you can find it no where else, then it is probably well worth it. Buying things that are from older toy lines is going to involve a lot more work on your part, but if you have the time and money it could be worth it. If you are nostalgic about Star Wars since the release of The Phantom Menace and want to get some of the older figures, then you will probably have to go to an on-line auction house like ebay.com, yahoo auctions or Amazon.com and look to see what people are offering. Also if you look around on-line, you might be able to find pages that have a for sale bulletin board for the items you are looking for. Another option is going to a comic store. These days most comic stores have had to diversify their selection of items so they can stay in business. Most of them are now carrying older more collectable toys like the old Star Wars line and other toy lines. Your third option would be to go to a comic or toy show that might be in your area. There you can meet up with the venders that are from around your area and get to know them and what they carry. Also at the show they might have something that you like, but it might be a bit out of your price range, and if it is the last day, you might be able to haggle them down to something that is applicable to your wallet.
Lastly is finding a place to put your newly started collection. If you have some new figures that you want to keep on the card, then you can either put them in a cardboard box for safe keeping, or you can use push-pins from an office supply store to mount them on a wall for everyone who comes to visit you to see. If you have toys that are open, you can go to a hobby store and for a few dollars, buy some small zip lock bags that you can store your figures in, along with all their accessories. You can be really creative and set up an entire area of your home/apartment and use that to make little diorama's of your open figures. The whole point to this, is to have fun showing them off to your friends/neighbors/relatives.
This is just my advice on how to get started collecting toys. As always, comments, questions, article ideas, pictures of homemade toys and donations can be addressed to me at the beginning of the article.
[As always this work should be posted on Collectortimes.com and no where else. If I do find it somewhere else, I'm going to shove a dirty stinky sweat sock in your mouth and do the Mandible Claw.]
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