Do you collect anything? How did you start?

Comic books. I learned to read when I was 2, but there wasn't a ton of reading material for 2 year olds.

Back then, comic books were only a quarter and soooo... 52 years later...

The big one:

I also run the comic books community on lemmy.world. Pop by and say hello!

Hey just wondering if you saw this video about the Donald Duck artist by matttt?
Just happened upon it yesterday so it coincedentally makes me think you and your community might like it.
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  this video about the Donald Duck artist by matttt
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
- I didn't, but the video is kind of strange for me because from at least the 80s forward everyone knew who Carl Barks was. There were compilations under his name and all sorts of reprints and such.
  Bonus: At the end of his life, he lived like 80 miles away from me. (!)
What an awesome collection! Funny question, but do you by any chance have these backed up? Personally would be so scared that anything of the physical copies would be damaged or ruined by a house fire for example.. Guess I'm a little paranoid 😅
- Insurance, bug-out boxes, and digital copies. Yes. :)
I donated one to charity a couple years back, but I used to have two copies of the Spawn EWU cover variant. I suspect I was the only person on the planet to have two of those. Not sure what to do with the other one it's the only comic I own and I've never even opened it
- Only 400 copies of that made, not super valuable given the limited run:
  https://www.keycollectorcomics.com/issue/spawn-232-2,314047/
  You could send it out to have it professionally graded, that would help.

Steam library

Those damned Steam sales and humble bundles…
^ This. I have 3,225 games on Steam and I'm always finding more that I want to try out.
- No need for game pass when I already got a collection already.
Too accurate.

I collect hobbies.

I collect unfinished projects.

Ubisoft and EA: Mmmm fresh meat.
Do you create your collections or inherent them?

I don't understand "collecting"

Don't get me wrong, there are a few categories of things I have a lot of, like film cameras, but that's because I started with cheaper ones, and kept getting better ones as I became more sure that film photography was a thing I wanted to do.

But, for instance, I have friends who collect MLB bobbleheads just for the sake of collecting, and I'll never understand that.

An ex had a collection of anime figures that cost him around 15,000 usd in total. Actual worth?
I’ll give you three fiddy.

My wife and I collect souvenir lapel pins from places we travel to. We write the date on the back, and keep them in a shadow box on the wall in chronological order.

It's nice as it's not very expensive to buy them, and they don't take up a lot of space to keep, and we have a nice little history of our travels at a glance.

I collect games I do not play lol

Fountain pens and inks. Nothing like enjoying the mere act of writing meeting notes with my preferred pen, ink, and paper.

A5 Clairefontaine 90gsm, and usually Pilot Iroshizuku Tsutsiji.

It is the perfect color to be appropriate for signatures and the like, while also being interesting and having the tiniest bit of sheen.

Haven’t used a Bic in ages, I just fill pens as needed.

Got a safari in F that’s perfect for tsutsiji and I just keep filling it.

Yeah, FP are my “thing”, helped along by the insane vari lets of available inks. If I sign something [wet], it’s with a fifteen dollar safari and that ink, or on (diamine) Sherwood green.

Anything else, and it’s not my sig.

Vinyl records. I like to own copies of music I like. It's much more satisfying to go through and find something to listen to.

Bottle openers from breweries I go to. Fairly small and they have by the bar. I don't drink as much beer as I used to so that's slowing down.

Record collector here too. I can tell you exactly when I started, and it was when I saw a copy of Beggar's Banquet by the Rolling Stones for 50p in a charity shop. Didn't even have a record player at the time. Now I've got 471 records and counting and spend far too much money on the hobby.
Same here with the Vinyl. Started DJ big back in the 90’s and haven’t stopped collecting since.

I like to collect mugs - nothing better than drinking your morning coffee from a crazy mug :))

I collect mugs with my boyfriend (and the rest of my collective) and it is such a nice hobby. I can almost always guess who brought the mug into the house, based on people's interest.

Yesterday I drank coffe from a Friday the 13th Mug and I know one of my collectivists loves that series :))

the only issue, as with all collections, it takes up so much room in the kitchen 🥲

I'm mostly interested in what sort of collective you mean, if it's not too personal a question
On topic, I don't even collect mugs but they just.. accumulate. Luckily or sadly we have a pretty small cupboard so that keeps it in check
- the "collective" is just me, my boyfriend and two of our friends :))
  we've lived together for about 7 years and plan on keeping it going. I don't know if collective is the right word to describe our living situation but I can't think of a better word either :)

Carnaval Emblems! In the province of Noord-Brabant, Netherlands it is customary to decorate your carnaval coat or "boerenkiel" (farmer's coat?) with emblems from carnaval events or clubs.

I started because I completely fell in love with carnaval! Below is an example of such a traditional "boerenkiel".

I've never seen these before! Thanks for showing a pic. I always like collections that show off artwork/creative design.

I have a 15,000 card Magic: The Gathering collection. Some years I’m into it, some years it just sits in boxes. I used to make some money trading them but it’s more effort than my usual work. It’s nice to get them out sometimes and go through them, lots of good memories.

Ive only got a few boxes, mostly from drafting. Do you have a "crown jewel?" I'd also be curious if you have a favorite set.
- Not who you asked but I want to put a vote in for Urza's. That set was so batshit and I constantly find gems from it I'm adding to my commander decks

"Ooo... This is neat. I want it."

"Ooo... That one is neat too. I want it."

Bam! Now you're a collector.

Nintendo 64 games.
It was the first game console I really played much of growing up. I'd go to my dads on the weekends and he had it there, so it was this magical time, playing Ocarina of Time and Mario Kart 64. I've collected nearly all the games I grew up with, as well as some I never played as a kid. I like having it, knowing that at any time I can play them, in their original forms on hardware. Emulation is great but playing on hardware just hits different.

Do you have them displayed? I collect retro games as well and I've always been frustrated with the lack of spine labels on N64 games. It makes it harder to quickly find a game on the shelf. The system has some absolute bangers though.
- I really don't have a place or space to display them, so they sit in a bin on a small shelf w/ my other retro game stuff. I've never minded the lack of spine labels since I've always had them in bins, haha. There's even some hidden gems on the platform!

I collect vintage computers. I have a bunch of laptops from 2000 and earlier, as well as an Atari 800xl, an emachine, and a ti 99/4a. The reason I started was because when I started studying computer science, I fell in love with the history of computing

I seem to be collecting vintage lenses. I stared by getting an adapter for my mirrorless camera and I just fell in love with the lovely character their 'flaws' give them.

As a kid, we were so poor, it was scary. I remember living in a car, having to choose between going hungry or eating food that was past its prime, and learning Santa wasn't real too young (I couldn't understand why my friends got expensive dream gifts... I thought I had been good)

After going through all that and my mom overdosing, I started collecting things that would accumulate value or were an investment. Comic books and figurines are my go to, but I've also got machines for creating cosplays (as that's my career now). I won't buy anything that I can't pawn off in an emergency to survive, or use it to make money. I really should have been collecting coins/gold/silver, but I picked what was fun.

Also, shoutout to my elementary school's lunch lady, who noticed a tiny, thin girl using the free lunch program, and offered her seconds, after everyone else had been served. I don't think she knows how much she touched my life.

I collect decks of cards from different countries/places. Usually if someone from my family/friend circle travels just buys me one at the airport of that country, but I also have a few special ones, like the Norwegian Ice Hotel, or a spicy sexy one from Greece.

It started randomly, I realized that I have 3-4 decks from random places and that was it, I became a collector.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisca

I have a small collection of Lego sets. I mainly collect the minifigure-scale Star Wars space ships (yes, I have the crazy big Millenium Falcon), but only original trilogy ships. My wife collects the big Lego Creator cars.

You could say I collect websites (kind of). I have the world record for the most sites having signed up for. It just sort of happened and then it stuck through maintenance.

- You thought I was joking before? Well, it's true. I can't find it in modern Google, but one of the world record wikis has info about me listed under that world record. It's like my ship-in-a-bottle if you will.

I began collecting dwarf trees. They typically range in max height no larger than 12 ft. But most are under 2 feet.

Any pics?
- Here is what is planted. I have three others, a ginko dwarf, a Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine, and one other, but the name eludes me.
  Obviously very early in my collection, but enjoying the mini tree garden so far.

I'm with you on the houseplants, starting to branch out (lol) into hoyas now.

I collect magnets of places I’ve visited. I have two collections: one is upstairs on a magnetic chalkboard and it’s only amusement parks (along with my scratch-off map of parks) and the other is downstairs on the fridge and it’s a random mix of cities, states, countries, and attractions.

Flashlights, especially customized "Hanklights". I've stopped for now because it's hard to justify buying more at this point.

I know the feeling. I've got about 6-8 flashlights around the house at the moment and can't really justify buying more. My SO thinks I'm barmy.

I collect ttrpgs! I love reading how mechanics work together and I've never found value in collecting things I don't use, so ttrpgs it is. Plus there are some really wild ones out there that are fun to look at. It started with 3.5/Pathfinder but eventually I branched out to a couple other games that I like to play. I spend the most effort on my Car Wars collection, think I'm going to try getting a complete set of ADQ on that front next.

My single prized book so far though is a copy of HōL's supplement buttery wholesomeness. Specifically the second printing of it with the cover that's written like BUTTery HOLsomeness which ended up being so hard to track down over like 5 years that I started to question if it even had a physical printing or if it was just in PDF form. Finally found the thing though last year

Always love the feeling of finally tracking down a grail :)
Any scifi ttrpg books you'd recommend from your collection? I always love reading those.
- Depends what you're in the mood for:
  I personally love Paranoia. It is very much a comedy game but it can be played with a serious take with the right work. Plus it is just a fun read even if you don't play it.
  Rifts is pretty baller conceptually but I don't have first hand experience playing it.
  GURPS has a Car Wars crossover making it objectively one of the best games, can be played with any level of tech, and has buckets of supplements.
  The Burning Wheel is more fantasy but the book is basically a philosophy of play which could be adapted to lots of things, and the same author wrote Burning Empires which is more scifi but I haven't acquired that one so can't give first hand info on it either.
  Can't forget Car Wars. It is scifi though it is a mix of ttrpg and strategy/board. If you want to drive a car off a cliff while dropping mines on a helicopter as you go by and have your robot gunner leaning out the window shooting lasers at a tank it is the way to go.
  Finally I'll pitch HōL because the game is just so unhinged. It is all hand written and scanned, it's edgy and crass, and is a great parody of roleplaying games. It's engaging and fun to read with great art but realistically quite difficult to functionally play because the rules are intentionally a mess. The Buttery Wholesomeness supplement added character creation rules which don't exist in the base game because it is a mess.

Nah, I don't.

But yes, I also do need all these board games. 😛

(I got ~80 of them, was once >100 but I started selling more I never get to the table off. Still fills 6x4 Kallax spaces. Started uuuuh... about 20 years ago, buying Alhambra, the Spiel des Jahres 2003 at the Spiel 2003 in Essen. Since then been an avid board gamer.)

Star Trek playmates figures from the 90s.

A completionist's nightmare.

I'm almost there. 29 to go.

Pocket knives, and Swiss army knives in particular. I've loved them since I was given my first one as a child, which was the impetus for me to stop biting my nails.

I wish my Patents would have done this instead oft the bitter nail polish that's gone after 5 minutes oft nail biting
Still doing that shit 15 years later. I just cant get myself to stop. Tried a lot of things.
- Nail biting is a nervous unconscious obsessive compulsive tick. Treat the cause not the outcome.
  If you get a good new set of nail clippers and trim your nails every few days, there won't be anything to grab onto.
  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/onychophagia-nail-biting

House and techno vinyl records - got about 800 or so and always on the lookout for more.

Also, home shirts (and some away) for my football team, Dunfermline Athletic - got every home top going back to 1986.

What’s your favorite record you have, and is it “Baby Wants to Ride”?
- Ha, it's not, although I do have it (two versions actually, one where it's the b-side of Your Love)
  Favourite record is a tough one. Impossible maybe. One I finally got a couple of weeks ago, that I've wanted for ages, is Go by Moby. Probably still not my favourite, but I was delighted to get it :-)

I like to collect “hacked” retro consoles. It’s so cool to see them in action and what people were able to do with them.

I'm also into the retro scene, I just got my first console mod done. Whats your favorite system you have?
- I’d have to go with the PS3, 3DS, and Wii. I know that’s three, but they each have qualities that I just absolutely adore that I can’t choose!

I used to collect movies on DVD/Bluray but kinda fell out of love with it thanks to streaming, taking up room and being annoying when moving places. They are not worth anything so I don’t want to go through the trouble of selling, so I’m throwing away the cases and put the discs in CD organizers to make them more compact. Most of the labels got sunbleached anyways.

It’s a bit sad. I mean some films are not and will never be available on streaming but overall this became just a nuisance.

Do you have a copy of Cemetery Man?
- Unfortunately not but it seems wild. Have you seen it?
I totally get it. I love the extras like directors' commentaries, and streaming feels like it has lost so much. But I don't want the hassle/space of dvds, I just want to buy complete digital versions that have all the extra bits. And until they will sell me it...
- I was a total film buff. I watched every special, bought limited editions, even imports from Japan because the cut was different. I went to festivals, studied film techniques, watched 3-4 movies a week, old and new. It’s all gone. I don’t know, it was kinda pushed away by other hobbies and stopped being as interesting to me. Which is a bit sad because there are still amazing and obscure movies coming out. Now I watch 1, maybe 2 a week and I sometimes have to push myself to do that.

I collect all kinds of things! Vintage trading cards, vinyl records, comic books, pocket knives, old photos come to mind! I've scaled back somewhat in the last few years, but I like to add to them every now and then

Boarding passes. I fly a lot as part of the job, and in the beginning I kept them so I could register the air miles if they didn't tick in automatically. Then it became an archive of every air travel. Then it became a stack that I just kept adding to. It is now ~15cm high.

My parents each had things they collected (Dad actually owned a comic shop at one point) so I grew up with the concept.

I personally have a small collection of year 2000 memorabilia. (Was an important year in my life, and I also spent it gathering knickknacks that mentioned it)

Would digital collection count? I've been collecting completed TV shows.

I have an almost complete collection of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels. I'm missing about three of them published before Valhalla Rising, and I kinda lost track of how many he wrote after that. I was kinda into them in high school, and would pick them up for $6 or $8 here and there. Most are paperbacks, I bought them to read not to display (though like almost all books they sit on the shelf most of the time) and I would hardly call myself a "collector." But I own a thigh high stack of NUMA adventures.

I inherited a collection of prints from a relatively local artist called Ed Berger, who spent his working life as a civil engineer in Washington DC before moving to North Carolina to work on his artwork, much of which are kind of bleak and dreary landscapes focusing on old decrepit farm buildings, houses etc. I've got a dozen of them or so, the whole collection would sell at auction for almost $10.

Oh I forgot! I have a very small collection of T-shirts from theme parks I've visited throughout my life, usually one from my favorite ride in the park. My favorites among the collection are from Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Maverick from Cedar Point and Fury 305 at Carowinds. I've been thinking of pulling down Ed Berger's "It sucked when it was new and now it's old" collection and framing those T-shirts, as I never wear them.

Not exactly a coherent collection of a specific thing, but I like to gather older video game consoles and retro tech to hook them all up in the most interesting way possible. I've currently got an SNES, N64, GameCube, and Sega Saturn hooked up to an old decent quality CRT security monitor over s-video. I plan to get an s-video matrix to hook up all the consoles at once and switch between them easier, and I also plan to at some point add a PS2, Xbox, and Dreamcast into the mix.

I might also at some point try to find an old early 2000s or even late 90s computer and hook that up too. I don't have a lot of space, so I might have to hook it up to the TV, but as long as it can play the games from my childhood without issue, I don't care what wonky setup I need. Old games just aren't as fun on an LCD.
I do probably need to degauss the CRT though. When I first picked it up it looked fine, but I ran a metal fan a little too close to it for too long and now it's got distorted geometry on that side.

So I suppose I collect retro electronics. I don't even collect games for the consoles I own. I just bought them for the fun of hooking them up.

I have a very modest retro electronics collection but I find myself attracted to them as well. My prized piece is an amber monochrome crt. I borrowed a game cube a while back and played some games on that with the monochrome it was an interesting challenge lol

Yes

It’s just a thing I do because my brain likes it

I guess you could say that I collect data. After Ally I need to use as the storage space for something. Don't worry, not personal data.

Guitar pedals. My collection is fairly modest (20-30 pedals) but I have some neat pieces, like a couple Japanese Boss pedals from the 80's. They are functional so I don't feel like it's a waste of space per se. Also they look cool, so there's that.

"That'll be very handy in the future!"

I collect everything material-ish

Based on your comment, I collect obsolete and redundant cords for TVs, computers, and game consoles. I need to reevaluate things!

I started collecting digital album covers

A few Theory11 playing card packs, because they're beautifully designed. Besides that, some Bicycle sets too.

I started collecting knives which evolved into balisongs which I love to flip

Action figures, chef knives, Ramen, tinned seafood, winter coats, 4K blurays, keyboards are really tempting.

Knives. I don't know why.

I started collecting shot glasses when I was in my 20s. Somewhere in my 30s, I stopped. Now I collect shirts from 5k runs that I participated in.

I have a lot of small bottles and vials waiting to be filled. It started decades ago when I found a quaint little glass tube with a stopper in an antique shop at my favorite beach town and thought it'd be nice to take home some sand from my favorite spot, thereafter becoming a tradition for subsequent visits. Now I pick one up whenever I see one to have a cache available for any future adventures.

Thats a really cool idea! Like a science lab of memories. Might have to grab a vial if I see one thrifting/antiqueing
- It's super easy to just collect then when you see them (even at craft stores and plant shops) and then it ends up kinda encouraging you to think up adventures so you can fill them.
  I've got some with sand, dirt, ocean/lake water, gravel, some with just air (captured a cloud/fog while high atop a mountain), tears, paper, burnt campfire wood, etc.
  My secret sauce is that I don't label them so I have to try to call up the origin story in memory and I get an excuse to tell a tale whenever someone asks me about one.

Misery. I collect misery.

Playing cards. It started with me picking up a few decks because I liked the designs. My collection has grown over the last few years, but there is definitely room for more. If a deck looks cool and is reasonably priced it's an easy thing to pick up on a whim.

I wouldn't call it collecting in the sense of owning them all, but I've been building up my game library on GOG and archiving all the installers on an external hard drive. It at least gives me more of a sense of ownership than my Steam library does, because if GOG went away tomorrow I'd still have my games.

I thrift clothes! On top of that, I also curate digital media, like ebooks and music, for personal use. It's nice to curate and cull that which you don't like.

No, possessions are annoying to have, you just have to clean them, worry about them the more you have.