Action Figure Resource Magazine March 2016 | Page 4

THE

SURVIVORS

ACTION FIGURE RESOURCE MAGAZINE

GUIDE TO COLLECTING

How to Decide What to Collect?

Choosing Your Theme

Very few people give much thought to WHAT they
are going to collect before they start, yet this is one
of the most important decisions you will have to
make and will affect just about everything else that
you do.
Many new or novice collectors start by collecting
what they think looks cool or will be a good investment and as a result their collections have no central theme or cohesiveness and therefore are likely
to be of little value to anyone else.
Also there is little personal pride or joy, in my opinion, to be gained by this. Just imagine for a moment
that you have two display cabinets.
The left-hand cabinet houses your collection of
anime figures, this is just a mix of figures you like
with no central theme.
The second display is your collection of Star Wars: A
New Hope figures. These are arranged into several
dioramas featuring famous scenes from the movie.
Now which do you think would look the most impressive?
Also, a collection with a central theme is likely to
sell for more, simple because you are more likely to
be able to sell them as a “job lot”.
There are several factors that you should take into
consideration when deciding what you want to collect:
• Cost
• Availability
• Time
• Quantity
• Theme
• Reason for collecting

When choosing the central theme for your collection you need to think of something you really
like, enjoy, and are passionate and knowledgeable
about.
So, the first thing you need to do is grab yourself
a pen and some paper, a cup of tea (or something
stronger, if you prefer!) sit down, clear your mind
and relax.
Now, think of all your favorite:
• TV programs,
• video games
• movies.
• movie stars.
• genres i.e. Horror, Action, Comedy etc.
• anime or manga.
• sports.
• sports stars.
• football, basketball, baseball or hockey teams.
Once you’ve made your list, look through it a few
times, and then choose 3 of them. These will form
the basis of your collection.
The reason for choosing three is so that if one of
them turns out to be too expensive, difficult or too
broad, you will have another choice to fall back on,
also it will give your collection a little variety.

Choosing Your Niche
What is a Niche?
A niche is like a sub-topic of a larger topic, it is more
concentrated and specialist.
Let’s say, for example, you choose Star Wars as your
main theme, now this is a HUGE topic to cover and
it would be impossible to collect them ALL, so it
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