Action Figures - My Story of Collecting

1974 - I was born.

1977 - Star Wars was released in theatres.

1980 - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was released in theatres.

Somewhere between 1977 and 1980 - I received my first action figures.

When I was growing up, I had a wonderful collection of action figures. It started with Star Wars but expanded to G.I. Joe as well. Those were the 2 main lines I collected as a kid. There were a few figures and toys from other lines that I remember including to my collection such as:

• Sectaurs
• GoBots
• Transformers
• MASK

I'm sure there were some others that I have forgotten, but my primary focus was on Star Wars and G.I. Joe. I even remember one Christmas where my parents surprised me with a homemade Hoth playset.

I wish I had any photos of my old G.I. Joe collection, but unfortunately there are none. And the above photo is the only one I have from my Star Wars collection. I am thankful to my parents for these wonderful gifts and fond memories.

When I was old enough, my father had me help him with his side hustle of lawn care on the weekends so I could earn money to buy my own action figures. That was back in the days of Kmart where they would always have a wide selection of the latest toys. There are so many times I wish that I could time travel to the 80's with the kind of money I have currently as an adult in order to buy more of what I was unable to afford as a child.

I still remember the last Star Wars toy my parents purchased for me before the original Kenner line stopped. It was the Tie Interceptor and it was on clearance for $3.99 at the local Payless. I remember this so well because I kept the original box.

As I came into adulthood, my desire for collecting declined. I started to focus my attention on collecting comic books, learning about computers and playing tabletop role-playing games. I still kept my childhood toys in the attic of my parent's house.

Unfortunately, there were times where I needed extra money and selling my childhood memories became a lucrative outlet to achieve that goal. I attended events as a vendor to sell off my childhood. Sometimes I sold things for a reasonable price... some times I got ripped off (in hindsight). The same thing would happen with my foray into playing and collecting Magic: The Gathering... but that tale is for another time.

Years passed as I stopped actively collecting action figures. Then, in the early 2000's... the desire would come back in the form of nostalgia and the release of new Star Wars action figures. It started with the Phantom Menace figures, I skipped Clone Wars, but went hard into the Revenge of the Sith. And, in 2007, Hasbro would begin to release the G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary line of action figures. This is where my obsession really started again.

In this phase of collecting, I was keenly aware of the potential value of the figures if they were unopened or mint on card. So that's how I kept them. Instead of opening and playing with them, I purchased the figures and kept them in my collection to hopefully gain in value. I hoped that I would never again have to resort to selling them, but unfortunately that is exactly what happened.

In 2007, I would leave my job unexpectedly for personal reasons. To help make ends meet until I acquired a new job, I felt compelled to sell some of my collection. Not only the action figures, but my books and comics as well. This would happen again in 2009. Soon thereafter, my wife and I divorced and I was on my own. After moving into my first (and to this date, only) apartment, I was introduced to Funko Pops, and this started a new obsession.

Unemployment struck me again in 2014 and it wouldn't be for another year and a half that I would get a new position that would transition into the position I have to this day. With this new permanent position, it also meant a steady source of income and a reason for me to get back into my old collecting habits again.

It didn't help that both Star Wars and G.I. Joe were bringing back figures that scratched the nostalgia itch in the form of vintage and retro carded figures. This would soon open the way to me beginning to collect the G.I. Joe Classified line of figures, even though I had not been a fan of the 1:12 scale of figures before. While I decided that was a line I could cross, I have always maintained that I would never collect vehicles or playsets. That line recent blurred that line with the announcement of Zanya and Dreadnok Chameleon.

Since the original Zartan was one of my favorite figures, and I have been actively collecting the Dreadnoks, I felt like I needed to add her to my collection. My pre-order has been placed and I'm looking forward to adding her to my collection.

All this to share a link to my current collection here. While I do use Legendsverse to track my collection, I have been using the iCollect Everything app for quite a while. This app has the ability to scan the barcode on figures to be able to add them to my collection. This is incredibly useful as well as the fact that it is already loaded with so many figures where Legendsverse is still growing.