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In lugnet.trains, Richard Marchetti writes:
> But no, actually I don't believe in collecting -- only in building.
> Collecting is only for those without imagination. I recently asked someone
> else what the point of collecting MISB sets was but did not receive a
> response. I think that there is no reponse save for the obsession of it --
> and that's more like a mental illness than a hobby.
These are rather sweeping statements.
I find them to be an interesting contrast to something else
you posted recently"
"Yup. People who put down other people for their interests are just trying to
boost their own egos by putting down those of others. It just goes to show
how limited their "Adult" scripts actually turn out to be. Its much better to
follow the Apollonian exortation to "know thyself," and to worry more (or
exclusively) about what's going on in your own eye rather than worrying about
what's sticking out of your brother's eye."
I'd ask why this credo doesn't apply to people whose interests
_you_ don't share.
> The idea of some nuts slobbering over their MISB set collections when someone
> could MORE IMPORTANTLY be building with those same sets annoys me (so I am
> raining on the collectors' parade, okay?).
I don't know how you can judge one fannish activity to be "more important"
than another.
I'd go by "what brings you the most pleasure?" It's entirely possible that
the collector may experience more happiness with an unopened set than s
/he (or you or I) would if it was opened. And unless you hooked up
electrodes to someone's forhead and measured the activity in
their pleasure center while they either played with just admired
in-box a specific set, that'd be awfully difficult to rate.
While I'm protesting the way you express this opinion, I'll say
that I actually share some of your sentiments about this. If someone
stumbled on a cache of 20 old 6077 Forestmen River Fortress sets,
bought them all, and just sat on them and hoarded them rather than
playing with them or selling them to people who could play with them --
that'd be strange and greedy, to my way of thinking, and I would
probably mutter dark thoughts about the person. I certainly wouldn't
understand why someone would want to hoard more than one or two
of a specific set (unless they thought that by hoarding them for a while
their value would increase, in which case it's not really hoarding,
as long as the sets eventually wind up on the market).
I don't see anything particularly wrong with someone like Jeff
Crites collecting a complete set of Castle sets. If I recall,
he collected two of everything - one to play with, and one to
keep in the box. If that's how he wants to spend his time and
money, I don't see any reason to begrudge him his collection.
I certainly wouldn't call it a sign of mental illness. And I
say that largely as someone who will tear into an MISB set no
matter how old it is. For me, the toys are for playing. But
I also like to keep a few unopened sets around, just for fun.
Typically small <$10 sets - something that I probably have already
bought plenty of. By keeping one unopened, I can admire it,
rattle its pieces, give it to someone else as a present, use it
as trading fodder, etc. I have about 30 small sets in this condition
at this time.
If I buy something expensive like a Metroliner, you can be sure I
will open it and play with it. I can stand to leave the small sets
unopened because of the cost / benefit factor - the sets are cheap
(when I buy them, although they may be worth more later), and so I
judge whether adding the elements in that set into my Lego
Collective would bring me more pleasure than having the set in
its box. For weensy sets, the answer is sometimes no - and so I
don't open some of them.
If you choose to characterize that as obsessive mental illness,
that's fine. :^)
--
Jeff <jthompson@esker.com> "Float on a river, forever and ever, Emily"
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: FOTY - Xmas in July
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| (...) Nope, sorry. I'm gonna keep it right here. (...) For the fun of it? To irritate you? But no, actually I don't believe in collecting -- only in building. Collecting is only for those without imagination. I recently asked someone else what the (...) (24 years ago, 26-Jul-00, to lugnet.trains)
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