There are folks I know who SERIOUSLY collect toys. Star Wars stuff, Spawn stuff, Anime stuff, video game themed toys, Batman, robots, Star Trek, etc. They never even take the stuff out of it’s packaging, they just squirrel them away, box and all, expecting it to mysteriously appriciate in value.
I bring this up after helping a friend move. After clothes and dishes the majority of her boxes contained Star Wars toys. Originals from the Seventies and Eighties, newer stuff from the re-release, and a great deal of Episode I stuff. Most of it unopened.
I asked her why she never opened them, she said it would negate the “Investment Potential”.
Investment potential!?
You would have to know this girl to realize what irony this is. Not long ago she was living in a basement apartment with three other girls, and countless grumpy cats, working days at a coffee shop and nights as a phone psychic. She never seemed to have the money to pay her phone bill, yet she managed to not only buy this stuff, but rent a locker to store it all in.
And this isn’t the first time I’ve come across this. Another animator friend has boxes and boxes of Matchbox and Hotwheels cars (had to be well into the hundreds) sorted by year. God forbid these two should meet and get married. The sheer mass of their combined collections might collapse into itself, forming a black hole.
Somebody in here has to know, I mean really, how much of an investment is a Seven of Nine doll? Should I cash in my mutual fund for a complete set of Batman Beyond figures? And whatever happened to that ridiculous comic book speculation craze from the eighties, when everybody seemed to be hoarding away any old rag in acid-free mylar bags?
I want to see what happens to all those Beanie Babies in about 20 years.
“Put that bunny down, Susie! It’s an investment!”
My parents periodically succumb to this sort of thing. I would really like to tell them to ditch the ugly Franklin Mint stuff BEFORE I have to decide what to do with it, but you can’t say that sort of thing to your mom and dad.
I have to chuckle at people who collect some of these fad items as investments too.
Let’s see. An original Darth Vader action figure from the 70s is worth about $25-40 (I am being somewhat generous on the $40). So, if you bought it at $2 and sold it at $40 you would have made a stunning $38 over 25 years. Hooray. Now, you would be able to afford that condo in Florida for sure.
On the other hand, some cultural items do go on to be worth a considerable sum of money (for example, Action Comics #1). The problem is in picking those out of the crowd of items to choose from.
If they’re an investment, they’re pretty damn risky and unlikely to appreciate particularly much. Collectibles are always a crapshoot. Their price isn’t based on any intrinsic value, but rather on what the market will bear, which can change in an instant.
Back in the 80s, a Howard the Duck #1 was one of the most desired collectible comics. going for $60-$80. Then the movie came out. Last I looked, they went for $10-20.
If Star Wars Episode II tanks, the same thing will happen to SW collectibles.
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.