I used to be very gate keepy, it was MY hobby and i was WAY to overprotective of my collection to the point when my nephew was very young I would yell at him when I caught him messing with my figures. Instead of using it as a tool to bond with i would push him away. If i could go back in time i would punch my self repeatedly in the dick. Thats why it urks me to no end when I see others do it, wether its on the forums here, irl, and especially all those youtube channels that open up with "this video is for adults" bs. It just reminds me of how bad I used to be. While me and the nephew have a good relationship now, i always regret and think of how much closer we could have been.
You do know that people were forced a year or two ago to add that "for adults" by a change of some rule on Youtube... I forget the details but it was not something anyone wanted to do.
My darkest moments are probably when I am visiting relatives that are far away and trying to think of an excuse to stop by their local toy retailers to see if they have better stock than I have back home. “Hey, mom, are you sure you have enough toilet paper? I dunno…looks like you are running low. Know what, why don’t you just sit there and I will run out and get you more.”
Back when I was working at this hellish veterinary clinic, I was the IT guy, but often tapped to go do errands. Occasionally on-task for my job, like taking a printer to a service place, but more often not. Using my own personal vehicle, usually without reimbursement. But if there was a TRU on the route, I’d stop and check the stock on company time.
I’m generally good with the kids in my family enjoying my toys. My one rule is ask first. They all know that some of my toys are very old and very expensive, and those are off-limits. But my best friend’s kids got pretty good at remembering which ones were okay and which weren’t after a while. That helped a lot. I did read my godson the riot act for stealing my WSTF Optimus. He never did it again, either.
I have a few too many hobbies and collections. Thank goodness that toys (Lego, Transformers, etc.) tend to be on the lower end scale of cost. Unfortunately, that means that I still have a lot in boxes that I need to sort through and display. The problem I have is that I tend to start one remodeling project and move on to the next. I want to create some risers for my Detolf and get a few more to finally display the collection from Siege onward. Knives (and firearms) are my real kryptonite. I've spent far too much money on blades that I'll never use short of a Zombie Apocalypse. My only saving grace is that I have a wife who couldn't care less about what I spend money on as long as the bills are paid. Case in point, when Victory Saber arrived today, she asked what it was. I had to explain to her what Haslab was and I told her that it was $180. She asked if that was a lot and I told her not really.
Here’s a perfect example for me: pre-ordered something back in March. Finally came in stock this week, but payment didn’t go through, because funds were light. After payday, even though tuition and bills were due, the first thing I did was update my payment so my pre-order went through. Wife was NOT happy, but in my mind, I had already spent that money way back when.
I am worse about this. I have unabashedly enslaved relatives in 3 different states to send me pictures of their local Target and Walmart's toy sections. Some of them got so into it that they keep sending me pics whenever they go, lol. But it isn't always that useful because I'm like "Wow! Great! They have the thing I want! Can you grab it for me?" "No"
My curious attraction to multiple versions of the same figure. I have all four recent versions of Mirage, plus Crasher, and only barely managed the willpower to not buy Leadfoot, despite wanting his Fossilizer. Never mind the horde of Siege Seekers and Lambros looking at me.
Minor car accident. Wasn't paying attention at a red light when I was on a "hunt" for a figure and slightly rear-ended someone. Fortunately, no one was injured and there was no damage on the car I hit and my license plate took most of the damage (which you probably wouldn't notice unless pointed out) so we were both able to walk away from it. Figure wasn't even at the store I was looking for, lol. Definitely solidified in my mind if I can't get the figure at my local places or online than I'm not bothering.
I might get cursed out for this. I've literally thrown away $2000 worth of Transformers back in the day...
