Are you a "out of the closet" collector?

[RotterdamTerrorCorps]

Thanks for all those wonderful replies! Whilst reading I recognised so many situations.

The difference is he tells me and everyone else about his perfect friggin' grass all the time.

This is soooooo true!

"How many kids do you have?" I was like "none.", and just sat down without any follow-up.

Oh man, I just love to do that to people! Leave them numb with a big question-mark over their heads!

[detroscastle]

I wear a cobra symbol on a hat or tshirt almost everyday to work.At first I got my share of jokes,however when I made the point to those people that my collection was worth more than there car and going upand that the car they own is going down they backed off.I wear the symbol not because I'm nuts but because it gets figures out of peoples attic.Most people who don't know what there worth are happy to get $20.00 for a box full of joes and vehicles.Although most co workers laughed at first most privately had to confess they had some sort of silly thing they collected or had something to sell me.Also because I collect and don't care who knows I was able to make another freind feel like it was OK.It started with can you get me a shirt from DDP.Next was can I borrow some dvd's,then can you pick me up a comic.Now this guy is picking up figures like crazy.People ask me if I play with my figures,my answer is no but I wish my imagination was good enough to be able to enjoy them as much as I did as a child.

[Bubba-J]

All of my friends and most of my co-workers know I am a collector. I try not to talk about it too much with my friends b/c I don't want my conversations to revolve around Joes. The only time I am shy about it is when I purchase items at a store. I sometimes get a "these aren't for you, are they?"

I have several Joe shirts but only wear them around the house and on wkends...so I guess I am a 'closet collector'
J

[Snow]

You ever see the Movie "City Slickers"? In the movie, Jack Palance is talking to Billy Crystal:

Palances' character "Curly" seemed to have it all together. Crystal asked him, "What is the secret to life?" At which point Curly would always hold up his index finger and say, "One thing" before riding away.

In frustration Crystal finally asked, "What is that one thing?" To which Curly answered, "That is what you have to figure out."

Well, I figured mine out

Everyone I know and some I don't know, know I collect. I have even had Industry professionals I barely know, call me when they have "found" some Joes...

Michael

[themoney75]

i dont go around telling everyone i collect gi joe but when ebay comes up or something like that i will.plus everyone knows i collect thanks to agent faces mail away.you should seen the look on the face of my fellow workers when i ask for there address,they were for what with a strange look on their face.but everyone was cool with it. yo joeeee

[Druss]

My biggest question is for the single guys....what do the girls think when they come to your place and see toys everywhere?

[curmudgeon]

I used to be embarrased about it but at this point in my life it doesn't bother me at all. I don't go out of my way to bring it up but if someone asks I definitely mention it. My girlfriend is pretty cool about it but I know she frowns on how much money I spend. Let her frown all she wants though; collecting Joes is the nicest material pleasure I have in life and as shallow as it sounds it does a great job of cheering me up when other things in my life aren't so great. In any event, I don't try to hide it at all anymore, it wouldn't make sense at this point.

[nightc1]

I grew up loving several things.

GI Joe, Videogames, Comics, Custom cars & motorcycles as well as other stuff.

The last 10 or so years my focus was mainly on Videogames. This is something I first got into back in the late 70's as a little kid. Through the early 80's my parents were responsible with supplying the family with toys and games so the family had an Atari 2600 (which I now have possession of) and my brother had a TI-99/4A. However with the influx of so many systems on the market to follow the 2600, the overall huge rash of cheap and crappy games out... the market crashed. With that my parents stopped buying videogames. That was until the NES. I wanted one very bad. I begged.. pleaded... and in the end (after a good solid year or two) my parents (who had a big family to support on a not so big income) agreed to let me get the system. I'd pay for half with some of my savings (birthday money I wasn't previously allowed to spend) and they'd cover the other half. So the better part of the 80's was spent playing games (also GI Joe too... but that tappered off by the 90's). I didn't own many games... pretty much rented and got maybe 2 games per year (one birthday, one christmas). So when 92' hit and I graduated HS and got my first real job... I used most of my money to pay for college, but also spent a little money each week building my gaming collection (at one time having over 300 NES games not to mention all the other systems and stuff).

So what I'm getting at is... this is what I've mainly been known for the last 12+ years. Even before that though people knew my main passion was games. Yes, even with gaming I still stayed with the GI joe stuff through the 80's. Still bought the comics. And so on. But didn't really get any more toys.

Today ... I'm a husband... father of 3 boys (ages 5yrs, 2yrs, and 2 months)... and the last several years I've bought Corps! figures (because GI Joes were so expensive and young kids break toys easy). However I kept my eyes open on what was out there for GI Joe... still having an interest.

In the last couple months with the birth of my 3rd son, my desires hit to read through my GI Joe issues... and in the process... it became clear how much I really enjoyed all that stuff (even though I did lurk some here before then). So I bought more issues to fill some of the many holes in my comic collection. Recently with the price drop on 2 packs... I've picked up about 8 figures... and now just got the first two 3 packs (with comics). I'm by no means a real collector. However I have let some people know this is currently my main interest (well the comic side of things) since I've been taking a break from gaming (as it's time consuming and I want to spend as much time with my family as possible). I'm not really actively seeking any of the toys.. though I love talking about the stuff and will keep my eyes open at fleamarkets and yardsales. I am also considering doing a diostory once I get a digicam .

So overall, I'm not really a collector... though I still have all my toys from childhood (and have em all sorted out now with correct weapons, filecards, and all) I only have about a dozen vehicles and around 30 figures (not counting recent purchases) or so. I am, though not super active, looking to finish out collecting every single of the Marvel issues of the various GI Joe series (I'm around 2/3's complete on this goal now but don't have the money currently to finish it off). I am considering putting more of an effort in getting the current series... though I admit fully they don't appeal to me anywhere near as much as the classic Marvel line does.

So that's my story. I'm sure as time goes by I'll end up buying real GI Joes (which we call all army figures GI Joes... just so they know eventually those are the ones to get) for my kids. But right now they are still a bit young... however I can see the future wars between Cobra and the Joes taking place with my kids.

[RotterdamTerrorCorps]

My biggest question is for the single guys....what do the girls think when they come to your place and see toys everywhere?

I guess the same thing as guys think when they come to a girl's place and see the chimney, couch, dressing table, cupboards covered with cuddly toys.

[themoney75]

thanks nightc1 i enjoy reading your post thats what it all about.