You have no idea how much stuff you have until it’s time to pack it and move it. Collecting is different from hoarding, though the size of some collections may cause some casual onlookers to doubt that assertion. As collectors, we tirelessly pursue wave after wave of figures from various lines to fill these mini-universes we cultivate in our homes. We have shelves full of displays that have been carefully curated so as to reflect teams, scenes from comics, scenes from movies, or whatever configuration we find most satisfying. Basically a lot of time and care goes into this, and, over time, these collections become rather . . . “expansive.” I’ve discussed managing a collection previously, but the real challenge comes in moving a collection.
My wife and I are moving soon, this time from the West Coast back to the East Coast. This move has been coming for a while now, so for the majority of 2015 I made an effort to reduce the overall size of my collection. When we moved to Portland, OR in 2008, the majority of our moving expenses came from moving the collection, and it was expensive — this is something I wanted to avoid this time. So my eBay account got a workout in 2015. Still, what I consider my “essentials” still amounts to a sizable collection of Marvel Legends, Star Wars, Transformers, and Batman figures, so for the past week I’ve been wrapping and packing figures. And I’m still not done.
Wrapping a bajillion Marvel Legends for a move can be a tedious and never-ending task, but the worst, in my experience, is the Transformers. They move better in their vehicle alt modes, and if they’re being put back in their packages, many of them come packaged in their vehicle alt modes. I display them all in their robot modes, so that means transforming them before packing them. And given the complexity of many of them released since 2007, this means literally hours of work just to prep them for packing. It can be maddening, and it makes you start to view many of your “essentials” as being possibly expendable.
This isn’t a fun task, but it’s a fact of life for many of us. Those of you who are permanently in “forever homes” and can dedicate your time and resources to the fun parts of collecting, I envy you. Although, going through the process of moving can give you new perspective on your approach to all of this. It can make you rethink your approach to displays, just how important is it to be a “completist,” and just what “essential” actually means. I mean, in the past I’ve thrown whole video game consoles in the trash (I’m sorry, Atari 2600!) because I was so fed up with moving and felt I couldn’t move one more thing — stupid rash decisions made in the heat of the moment in a not-so-clear frame of mind. So part of the challenge for me is to manage that temptation and keep myself from taking shortcuts I’m going to completely regret in the long run (I wish I still had that Atari 2600).
What I’m looking forward to, though, is the rebuilding. Displays are going to be built completely from scratch — not even the same shelving will be used. So rather than focusing on the drudgery of the moving task itself, focusing on all the new possibilities for what I still have will make this whole process exciting — that pretty much applies to all of life, right?
