Furu Anime Panikku

Just like everything else that has a life cycle, figurine collecting does have its’ cycle too.

It’s no surprise that many who watch and love anime eventually transform into fans, enlisting into the cult of figurine collecting. This serves as a channel to express their love for their favourite series and characters. This is the start of the whole madness, with roughly 3 stages. I’m sure that everyone who collects has been through something like that.

In Stage 1, the fan is introduced to the vast world of figurine collection. Everything appears so nice and shiny, the fan just wants to add everything he can to his collection, at the cost of his poor savings. He goes on a rampage in figurines stores, be it locally or over the internet, and unleash his arsenal of bills to conquer the pretty plastics. There’s no such thing as thinking before making a purchase when there are shelves waiting to be filled.

It would help if the fan had a previous hobby that didn’t exactly consume much cash, or if the he has the virtue of scrimping on food, clothing and whatnot despite not having much on spend on previously. In my case, before anime, I was playing World of Warcraft, which had prices that would blow holes in my pocket. Lucky for me, I made a quick buck selling snacks in school for 2 months or so, and that was more than enough for covering the cost for the game and a year of game play. Imagine a 10 dollar profit each day. In short, I had money to blow on figurines, and I certainly didn’t hold back.

Although I was quite selective, staying true only to the characters that I liked, I had a contact who was living in Japan the time I started on this hobby. As such, I blew quite a shocking amount on figurines from Yahoo Japan Auctions. This resulted in me regretting majority of the purchases, most of which were made on impulse.

Speaking of impulse, I would often search for figurines from a series immediately after I completed it. It didn’t really matter if I liked it a lot. It felt like a mindless grind for increasing my figurine collection. Thinking back, it was quite a vicious cycle between getting storage space for the figurines and rushing figurine purchases to fill up the space.

When I started off, I used to drool over the rooms of other figurine collectors

Stage 1 generally lasts around 6 months to a year, but it might pass might earlier or later depending on the individual. Eventually, the fan gains experience regarding the various figurine companies, as well as some sort of a standard for the quality of figurines. No longer would he buy figurines of sub-par quality even if they were of his all-time favourite character. This is Stage 2.

At this stage, the fan begins to hold back and reconsider purchases due to a couple of reasons such as subsiding interest and the restriction of the dreaded thing named money. Usually, by this point, the fan should already have a decently sized army of PVC. I don’t think there is a fixed period as to how long one remains in this stage.

Stage 3 arrives when the fan begins to fade out of the hobby, occasionally making a purchase or two after quality. Sooner or later, he’ll totally stop buying, drop out of the cycle and even start selling his entire collection to fund a new interest. It could be a new hobby or even the opposite gender.

Unlike the rules of a traditional life cycle, there aren’t any for this life cycle. I’ve known of people, like an ex-colleague of mine, who have been at Stage 1 even years after they began threading on the path, and some people who immediately begin in Stage 2. There are even some phoenixes that reignite the flames of passion, reviving from Stage 3 to 1. Nothing is certain in the cycle.

Trivia: I blame this post. It poisoned me to start on figurines

Currently, I’m clearly out of Stage 1 and somewhere towards the end of stage 2. I’ve really cut down on my expenses on the hobby, and I’m planning to stop and quit it soon. Probably after the ARX-7 by Alter, but I’m not sure if my resolve would dissolve when a really awesome figurine of a favourite character gets released. I’m not strong-willed when it comes to quitting, which is precisely why I should never get started on things such as smoking and gambling.

Actually, the talk about quitting began in mid 2008, but I backed out on my word time and again. This April, however, I plan to make it a reality. You can see this is a requiem in advance for the hobby that has accompanied me through the past 2 years. It’s been fun, but as with everything in life, we eventually have to move on.

So, what stage are you in? It would be interesting to hear of experiences from the veterans who have been at this for years, those who have retired, or even the freshies who’ve just embarked on the journey of plastic.