I SMOKED A JOINT AND CAME TO WRITE ABOUT STATUES

In fact, I was writing in my Portuguese blog first but am still under effect of marijuana. I quite like to write in this state, it’s one of the greatest pleasures of my limited life. I think we, collectors have a very specific type of consumerism, we buy mass produced pieces as if it was art. We give up of one of the rarest commodities in the world and in everyone’s life that is the amount of space to live, to stock those products, that most people sees as strange, ridiculous or childish. And we pay a high price for this, much higher than the cost of production, especially with the market overcrowded with the most expensive capital, human capital, due to the change of traditional hand sculpted method to digital, the higher offer tends to lower the price of the service. Also because of the multiplication of digital artists and the blind eye media industry is giving to their intellectual properties in the statues market, the number of independent non-licensed publishers is multiplying, proving the market is expanding and there is more public to the segment than imagined. A public with high acquisitive power. Wait, I’ll put more Coke and smoke a cigarette an put List 6 in Spotify since I finished hearing The Bends from Radiohead.

“[22:47, 12/14/2018] Mário Barros: Quer ver um filme de zumbi realista. Assista "Extermínio". Foi o mais realista que eu vi, você pode gostar.”

22h48. This (above) was me suggesting my friend (with whom I smoked the joint) to watch 28 Days Later since is the most realistic zombie movie I’ve ever saw and because he had told me he didn’t watch zombie movies because were too unreal. I don’t know if it’ll work, I guess not, most people watch just what they want not suggestions from other people. This let me wondering why people who buy figures asks the community what figure to buy. To me it is a so personal matter it need to fits so exactly my taste that I accept no suggestions whatsoever. It doesn’t even make sense to me. Oh, I need to put the sound.

23h23. I had to go downstairs the apartment building I live to take some wine bottles to my mother and the neighbors gathering around the swimming pool. I live in Brazil. Yet I’m back and coming back to my theme, many of who answers these polls if I can call this way will not even buy the said figures. I say it because one time or another I myself do that. Give my opinion about a figure I’ll never buy. If somebody comes to ask about which Batman Sanity version to choose, I’ll gladly say the painted version because I think it to need a lot more handwork to do, the characters and the scene is more distinguishable understandable and because the great accomplishment of the piece is to gather so many characters in so constraint space harmoniously. But I’ll never buy it. It is way beyond my means (money and space). One just wonders what passes in the mind of the ones who say, “Get both”. I think it’s irony most of the cases. I’m starting to feel hungry. I’ll go smoke a cigarette to send it away since to eat always gives me sleepiness. And I want to write at least one Word page for it to be considered a post by my standards. Oh, and I didn’t put List 6, put a remix album from Radiohead whose name is too complex for me do write down here, especially under these conditions.

23h45. I will change the music. No, I won’t. Sounds like ambient electronic now. If this genre even exists. I finished my collection; to be honest I surpassed that point and bought a statue I don’t really want, Blitzway Vito Corleone. I found it to be the most perfect portrait I’ve ever seen but this isn’t enough to give me pleasure to have him in my collection. I think I’ll resell it. Hope it capitalizes once sold out and sell it. I never saw most of my statues because they’re on the basement of my brother’s in US and because they’re yet to be delivered due to a consumerist surge I had or because there were simply too many statues I deeply desired launched this year and the year before. Statues I really want to have in my collection. Statues that are not an act of pure impulse (like Corleone) but of carefully consideration and bonding. Most females. Since Red Sonja Queen of Scavengers, Sideshow really amped the game regarding female statues, producing some of the best pieces the market have seen. Several enchanted me. Four to be more precise. Here they are:

My most beloved statues? Are four as well.

I really hope the painting of Harley Quinn to be on par with the prototype, this is paramount for it to shine and succeed as a piece for me. More than the others. Specifically the unmasked portrait. If I find it non-acceptable when the production pics are released I will promptly cancel it. The positioning of the eyes of Wonder Woman is another essential detail that can destroy the figure to me. I saw some cockeyed EX portraits from Rebel Terminator that left me worried, I didn’t cancel it because I will display it with the usual damaged head. Well, how do the figures in the basement of my brother arrive here? Well when he travels to visit us or when my mother and I go visit him. Now with this rule of just one luggage for person it became even harder, even my brother having three kids. Thank god Sideshow lists the approximate size of its figures so I will be able to pass them to the architect who will plan my man-cave in February so she can take into account all of my collection. Although I said I finished my collecting, I’ll ask her to leave the space to two or three more figures, since nobody knows what tomorrow’s SDCC will bring. All I know is that every statue that arrives in Brazil stays in my collection since I throw the boxes away and there’s no way I can compete with people that ship their pieces from US. Plus, I tend to create a connection with them, they give me a sense of familiarity that I like. I always dreamt to display them properly, to have my magical fantastic room, unique, beautiful to me, friendly to me, that represents who I am. What I like and love. And the architect, or so I hope, will find a way to make it harmonious and cool (and creative, if possible). I spend 95% of my time (minimum), inside my room, I think it’s fair I transform it in the best place for me to be. I don’t mind no one else (well, I’m dating a girl I don’t know yet where it will lead but there’s one thing that I need to be aware about: the TV must be viewed from the bed for her to watch). I’m trying to like this girl and I feel I am getting attached to her, it’s the first girl I date in ten years, since my ex-wife. Loneliness has been my companion since then. I’m 41, she’s 19 have a slim body just the way I like, it’s a very hard to reach person, I have a lot of work to do to build affection on her. But if she’s giving a chance to a guy with my age is because something she saw in me. I don’t know what to be honest. It’s not the money because I don’t have any. All of my money is received and controlled by my mother. My credit card (which I’m not allowed to carry almost never) stays with her and he handles me the money I need when eventually I go out somewhere. Lucky me internet shopping doesn’t require the physical card, just the info on it otherwise it would be goodbye collecting a long time ago since my mother hates the figures. She swallow them as a bitter pill and I promised that by the end of March there will be no mores expenses in this regard. At least for a good amount of time if the architect finds a way to put some empty space in my room. Otherwise I’m pretty satisfied with what I have, not too many, not too much. Enough for me. And they will bring and keep bringing me the joy just like the first day with the aid of familiarity. Why want more? I know the answer: the urge never goes away and fantastic pieces are sure to appear. If I were to stop collecting for real, I would unsubscribe the Sideshow newsletter and stop visiting collectors groups. Avoid people and places that induces me to consume my “drug” of preference. It’s on the Narcotic Anonym’s textbook that saved me from the heavy stuff. So I’m aware I’m venturing myself through dangerous venues to my addiction but for now I believe I can help myself. I’m on the denial state as addicts call it. Thinking I can control the habit. Vito Corleone already proved me wrong. I shouldn’t buy him. But as I said on an earlier post it was 30% off using a trick to apply the discount for preorders which is not allowed by the shop. But I am Brazilian, so is my character, and I use the glitch on the system to my favor. I don’t know if they will charge me later, if they do, I’m screwed because I ordered Batman Beyond White Version, Sideshow new trinity Superman and Corleone among some smaller figures using this very trick, none of them available yet, amassing a total discount of over 500 USD. If the bill arrives to me I don’t know what to do, how my mother will react, though I said her about the trick and the possibility of it not work. It doesn’t matter, she’ll be completely enraged with me the same way. Hey, I wrote more than one page already. In fact I’m on the third page. Will finish with my most WTF piece. Thank you for reading, be you who you are. Sorry for my broken English. It was a pleasure to write about statues mildly stoned. Now, prepare the images, revise the text, post it, eat and sleep. First and foremost Coke and cigarette! Lol.

3h53. My mom came out drunk from the wine and talked to me since the moment she arrived. Was a nice conversation that only I will remember, she was too drunk and I presume will have a huge hangover later on. I don’t know if I have the courage to revise this now, think I’ll go to sleep as well. And eat. Ate nothing until now.

WHY IS SO DIFFICULT TO QUIT COLLECTING?

I’ve been on a struggle a fight with myself. I’m trying to quit collecting and am having a hard time achieving what seemed to me as a simple goal. It seems chance-fate shows me a highly desirable piece every time I think my collection is complete. I have to quit because I know there is no more space left in my room to display more statues, or so I believe, the architect is yet to plan my room (I have to pass her the measurements of all the 1/5 and up I have). However I’m not aiming for a crowded and convoluted display, I want it nice and clean although I know that for the smaller pieces (1/7 and under) some clutter will be inevitable and I can live with that but not with the main ones.

For me to choose to acquire a statue, what I call “click” must happen. I don’t know how to describe the feeling precisely but it’s something that touches me deeply, enchant me in a certain manner being the artistry or (mainly) the beauty of the figure. That’s why I focused the majority of my last investment on female figures. Almost. Yesterday Blitzway Vito Corleone clicked to me since is simply the most precise and detailed portrait I’ve ever saw, it beats Hot Toys accuracy and make Sideshow portraits look kind of childish. I don’t have a special affection by The Godfather trilogy, but the perfection of the piece made him irresistible to me. Add to this I could snag him with 30% off and I crossed the line once again. Hope it does not fall on the Hannibal Lector incident by Blitzway and that they present a figure on par with the prototype shown.

I will hope for the better and this includes the online shop to accept that I applied the discount coupon on pieces not valid in the promotion even though the site allows the discount to be applied either way and I used this breach to buy some of my pre-orders. Coincidentally the pieces that interested me weren’t under the scope of the promotions. Time, master of all things, will tell. Regardless of discounts, looks like a pull impedes me from quitting. Every time I think I’m done, some amazing picture pops out of nowhere, from some unexpected place and “clicks”. Before Vito Corleone, a piece (one of my forever favorite pieces since I stumbled on her) popped in my life because I was following a thread on Facebook about a totally unrelated figure and saw her in one of the comments. Was instant click and I’m deeply in love for this girl. So much so, I really thought I was done with collecting when I pulled all de complex strings to acquire her.

I really felt I had found my last piece, I wanted something beautiful and exotic, preferably an exponent of Chinese sculpture since I wanted to close my collection with Gantaku’s Azure Dragon but spent the money acquiring SS New Trinity Superman to use the discount of said shop though Supes never felt like the finishing piece of my collection. Before Superman another figure popped out of nowhere and made me believe that was the one to close my collection on a different meaningful artsy way. The Tell-Tale Heart from Australian Jack Of The Dust.

I was decided, since I had no more money on PayPal that my collection had come to a satisfying end to me with the skull-heart. It really speaks to myself as I see myself as I guy who more often than not acts and thinks with the emotions and the piece translated it very well, apart being very different from everything I had even kind of gross which I found interesting and funny. However, others popped in my way and I ended ordering Vito Corleone yesterday. When I paid the new Blitzway piece, I felt very bad, the thought that came to me was: “now I went far too far, it must stop. I’m out of control. Have to put myself together and though a figure ‘clicks’ to me again I won’t buy it. Enough is enough and I went far more than enough for a character that means almost nothing to me.”

I confess I’m afraid I’m addicted. I was addicted to drugs (I still am just chose not to use them anymore because the damage was more than I could bear) I cannot transfer my addiction to spend money on this ridiculously expensive figures. I live in Brazil, these figures are all the more expensive when compared with how the majority of the population here lives. Besides, my brother will get very pissed with me, since I send all my orders to his home in the US so we can bring one or two every time one goes or comes visit the other. I don’t expect to have all the pieces I have on pre-order and already in his basement before the end of 2021. That being optimistic. The architect will plan my room considering them, but there will be many empty spaces for a good time. My SS Captain Marvel is still at my brother’s for you to have an idea.

I tried to cancel my Vito Corleone order, I even sent an e-mail asking the cancelation but my fear of being caught using my coupon trick and have to pay all the discounts I expect to have that amass more than 500 US made me send another e-mail cancelling the cancellation. I hope very much that Vito is the last one. At least until the new SDCC if the architect could spare space for two or three more figures as I asked her. I never ever have so many P.O.s in my life this is a clear signal of lack of control. The worst part is that my credit card account is shared with my mother’s who hates my collection. I entered in an accord with her I won’t spend with anymore figures, that the payments finishes in February or March. I’m on that schedule (except for the Chinese girl who will only be launched in September when I have to pay the rest of her value plus shipping to Brazil) but she believes I just ordered one figure (Rebel Terminator) and I had to invent a big fat lie to justify the charges on the credit card. Told her the figure was launched ahead of schedule and that an overtax would be charged and the installments would be higher. This covers three of my pre-orders. The only excuse I have to give to Vito Corleone is that the site discovered my misuse of the discount and charged me the difference (she knows about the trick, I told her). I don’t like to lie to my mother but she controls my money given my peculiar juridical state of civil incapability. I don’t work, nor I can marry, vote or drive. She is responsible for me and responds legally for my actions. It was the way I found to free myself from the system and live a life that I could bear.

On a final note, my room is where I sleep, write, watch TV/play games and keep my clothes, DVDs, CDs, games, comics and books. I have around twenty 1/5 and up figures (here or on the way) plus two or three dozens of smaller figures, PVC anime figures, toy art, some videogame figures and some Black & White Batman. The architect will have a hard time figuring my room out. And I’m not rich because we hire an architect, in reality labor in Brazil is extremely underpaid and she is a friend of a friend of my mother.

The last question I leave to the reader is: is it possible to stop collecting and continue to participate the community?

Here’s my list of P.O.s. Hope you all have a great week! J

NOBODY UNDERSTANDS WHY I COLLECT FIGURES

Statues... statues...

Nobody, absolutely nobody I know understands why I collect statues of pop culture icons (in my case Marvel and DC heroes and foes mostly) and understands even less when get to know how much each piece costs me (I keep this info as secretive as possible because to the average person it is just too shocking). I quite don’t get why I do this. I guess I feel a mixture of passion, enchantment, obsession and compulsion for the statues and happen to find them pieces of contemporary art. All those surrounding me sees them only as pretty expensive and pretty big toys. I guess some part of me never grew old completely or normally, like an underdevelopment of the self that makes me wish the same things I wish to have as a kid but on a completely new level of artistry and beauty. Yes, my first drive to choose a figure is beauty. Not only female beauty (which is the new focus I’m giving to my collection) but an artistic beauty that makes me think and feel that The Thing and Hulk, per example, are beautiful artistic expressions of high-end technology sculpting. No one, even most of collectors, can grasp what I see or feel towards a gigantic head of Hulk with an ugly angry expression. But I see it and I see it every day, several times a day because he’s right beside my computer. I confess I feel a mixture of bless and guilty for owning my humble collection. Things weight heavier for a person living in the third world where so many need the basics to survive with some dignity, where misery is just outside the building for all to see. Yes, when I imagine what one of these poor people could do with the money I spent on my new statue I feel very guilty. I don’t know why I am so blessed, I’m here by a mere trick of chance and this hurts me as much as it relieves me.

It’s not easy to be a collector. If a date enters my room, the first thing that will probably cross her mind is “what a childish ridiculous man! I better leave as soon as I can!” Lol. This probable (or improbable) she will never understand my hobby as nobody around here gets it (apart from my nephews. They love my room and it is not even remodeled to accommodate my pieces yet, have just a few out of the boxes. What they dislike is that they cannot play with them. Lol). But there’s a prejudice regarding collecting figures I don’t know how to fix. Or if can be fixed on the short-term. It’s maybe a too new and niche market the society (especially in Northeast Brazil) is not ready or open to grasp. It’s too strange adults collecting super-hero figures to no end like most of us do. They already grasp women with obsession with shoes and purses and whatever woman beauty needs, men that collects lighters, cars, perfumes, stamps but they just don’t get 1/4 scale figures and up. I must admit I have a prejudice with 1:1 full body figures myself! Lol.

The fact that people don’t get my hobby will stop me from collecting? I wish they could but they can’t, because I’m addicted to it. Space is the only thing that can make me stop. And fortunately or unfortunately space is running low. I hope with the remodeling to have place to four more statues. There are some statues here that I wish I could sell but there are no boxes and I live in Brazil. In addition, I have a craving for non-grail sculpts that lose their value on the aftermarket. But this is not really an issue.  

Due to look so many times to them I kind of get tired of watching the same thing and feel my eyes ask for new sights. I hope with more statues at display it solves the issue. And I plan to change every month the statue that will be beside my computer so to always have a new sight even if the cycle repeats itself (I don’t have a huge collection, you see). I never thought I could get tired of see the same faces but this is happening to me. I don’t know if it happens to you. Would like very much to know your thoughts in this regard.

About addiction. I was far worse, I lost control once and spent seven thousand dollars in one month, almost all the money I inherited from my passed father. It was crazy, very crazy. I had a good explanation to myself to each and every new purchase I did. Later on, I sold most of the figures for ridiculous prices on eBay. I’m not a good dealer at all. Lost F4F Skull Kid, Bowen Chromed Jocasta (from which only 25 were ever made) and OG Chicken Deadpool to name a few. My life as a collector was a bumpy one. Thank god, I put the train back on track and became hyper-picky regarding which statues to collect. I have two I really intend to buy: Sideshow Little Mermaid and Sideshow Rebel Terminator. And have two very distant dreams that are Prime 1 Batman Beyond Golden Version and Sideshow Swamp-Thing (yes, I know it is made of PVC :P). Apart that I have a mild to intense interest in acquiring Sideshow new Harley Quinn (I think her expression unmatched but need to see the production pieces since she has a very complex painting scheme). I only have the money to buy Little Mermaid though. I plan to sell some figures I have at my brother’s in the US to gather money for Rebel Terminator and maybe Harley depending on the results of the sales. I have a pension that is controlled by my mother who is my legal tutor since I’m considered civil incapable by the law. She is very hand tight about money but I’ll try to convince her maybe by the end of next year to acquire Swamp Thing or Batman Beyond Golden Version but I have my mind prepared this just won’t happen. Of all persons she is the one that understands the less my strange habit. As a fellow community member said to me, Facebook groups are the place where we can find and discuss with people who really understands and loves what we do. That’s the plain truth. I feel ashamed to share my collection with others around me but I’m very proud of it with myself. I find relief to meet people like you who understands the hurdles and pleasures (and there are plenty of both) of this hobby no one dares to accept. Or that accepts with a strange expression on their faces. To like it, is too much to ask. Sometimes I stop to think and realize I’m the crazy one. That everybody around me is right. What they’ll gonna do with my pieces when I’m gone? What the purpose of acquiring so expensive figures? Why fill an already tight room with a ton of oversized super-heroes? And the answer that eases me comes from I quote my father repeated often: “a thing of beauty is a joy forever”.

Rest well my father your other two sons are doing great with their lives and you would be proud of them and of what they accomplished. I was always the failure and will always be. Now with a bunch of extra-expensive toys to look at. But I write. I said my dream was to write and you mocked me at the time. I fulfilled my dream. It’s quite different from what I expected. Wasn’t prepared for all this loneliness. But writing fulfills me. It’s what I love to do and what my soul needs as much as my body needs air. Of course, a new love would be the greatest aid I can dream to my life, the end of my loneliness. But who would love a man who plays with toys at 41? Lol.

IT

“It's tricky when you feel someone has done something on your behalf”
Desired Constellation, Björk

Thank you for reading this. You arrived at this post without the aid of Facebook, my main channel of divulgation. I chose not to use Facebook because this is a different post. I felt the urge to write in English and see where it leads me, just to practice my poor domain of the language and because I may talk about figures and the universal language to collectibles is English. Right now, I’m intrigued with the conclusion that when I write what I think and you read what I wrote I’m uploading my thoughts to your head. You and I become one. Our souls merge although in a different space-time since you’re not in my room in Brazil and cannot read as I write. Your present is my future at this very moment, as in this very moment, my present is your past, depending on who is looking at it, you or me. This space-time lapse set us apart. Your interpretation may also differ completely from mine and you can form an opinion of your own regarding this text, two other things that set us apart since you are you and I am I. However, as you read this is like my thoughts are rooting and manifesting in someone else’s mind. They are my thoughts and they aren’t since who are thinking them now is you. So my thoughts become your thoughts and this is all a very strange and powerful experience. I guess this is the marvelousness of writing or communication in general, though I think writing is more personal. More up close. More deep. It’s kind of hypnotic. This looping of me becoming you and you becoming me even though we never met eye to eye. Now you’re inside my soul, You’re reading exactly what I’m thinking, no holding ups. Now I’m think since I remembered that I’m writing on my collectibles blog about one figure, one specific picture of it you can only imagine if you saw and as I don’t know if you did I’ll will post the picture below so that our “databanks” stay updated regarding the subject. Here we go:

I gave up my Malavestros pre-order and all my reward points I put into that statue due to this piece. Hulk life-size bust. I believe its box will be bigger than the maximum size allowed to be brought to Brazil as checked luggage so I will have to send it directly to Brazil via Sideshow (that is the most inexpensive delivery service I could find). Even being cheaper, the shipping costs will be well over $300 not to mention the custom taxes of my country that are 60% over the declared price plus the shipping. In other words, I will have to pay more than twice for the figure. That is already expensive by its own, $980. This is very bad news and something I was not waiting since it’s the first (and last) bust I buy. You can add to the calculus the $184,50 I lost cancelling Malavestros pre-order and – boom – you have the most expensive figure I have ever bought. By a far margin.  How I dealt with the other figures I’ve bought? Very simple, I sent them to my brother’s home who lives in US and once they get to visit us here or we get to visit them there we bring one or two statues as luggage. No absurd taxes or shipping costs. Why did I give up Malavestros? Well, I am retired or better saying legally invalid so I’m almost not a citzen anymore. I can’t vote, I can’t drive, I can’t marry… the list goes on. And who responds legally for me is my mother who controls my pension. As you may imagine my mother just hates the figures and think they are an awful waste of money. As most people do. I don’t blame her, especially because I’m the only one who cares about figures and statues in my social circle. Everyone thinks is quite nuts to spend such amount of money on a “toy”.

Well, not knowing how to communicate my mother about the arrival of Hulk without getting her infuriated, I decided to write an e-mail telling about the Hulk and the two other figures I intend to buy before quitting collecting. In the e-mail that “stunned” her (in her own words), I forgot to mention Malavestros’ pre-order. Fearing a retaliation of some kind, like cutting my credit card, I decided to cancel the pre-order since I didn’t mention that on the e-mail and I was most certain she wouldn’t believe me I ordered it before the Hulk (what wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway). My mother is very tight-handed about money and a very irascible person so I saw myself with no alternative whatsoever than cancelling Malavestros. That was the only way to earn her trust and maybe be able to acquire besides Hulk, the two other figures I wish before I quit collecting once for all. The prices are raising too darn fast. I can’t keep up with them. My pension is not enough to keep collecting and pay all my bills and although maybe other figures come to arise my desire I will have to contempt myself with what I will have. Also due to space issues I can’t have the luxury of have many more figures. My bedroom is my “man-cave” (I think this term so sexist, since there are girls who collect too) and my room is not a big one. I need to reform it in order to be able to accommodate my collection. I hope for the reform to happen in mid-2018 to the beginning of 2019. In other words, more money to spend, even though labor is much cheaper here than in first world countries it will be expensive nevertheless. But which other figures I want to acquire?

I hope the Mona Lisa smile comes with the figure and is not a light and shadow effect from the picture. I found her to have an Art Nouveau style for the head sculpt making her the most beautiful female character Sideshow ever produced, in my opinion.

It’s obvious to me that she is a computer generated piece, but, although I consider myself a purist and prefer hand sculpted pieces, I think technology came in favor of the piece in this particular case. I believe it would be almost impossible to sculpt such a wonderful face with hand sculpt. Not to mention the details on the axe and overall armor and weapons. But especially the face caught me. And I like her body, less muscular than other sideshow female statues. All in all, a perfect sculpt I have to have in my collection. I’m expecting her price not to be over $500-550 since the Red Sonja She Devil with a Sword has a much more elaborated base and costed $550. I hope this one not to be different. It would be the fair price tag for a statue from the same character with a much less elaborated base. Got my fingers crossed on that. (Note: it came ot for $560 exclusive, $550 regular)

The final statue of my collection is this big boy:

A terrific hand sculpted statue that could not be captured like this with computer programs. This organic and manual feeling can’t be done on computers. It’s the exact opposite of Red Sonja. It uses all that only hand sculpting offers to thrive in glorious shape. I’m very afraid of the price of this piece, it can range from $700 to more than $1,000. I hope Sideshow keep its feet on the ground and offers this figure for $750-$800 max, so I can afford it. I also hope that the box fit checked luggage specifications so I don’t need to spend another load of cash to have it here in Brazil (apart the load of cash I will already be spending in acquiring it). But who I’m trying to fool? My mother will not allow me to buy any other figure anymore in my life after the Hulk experience she’s about to have. What will make really me sad. Or upset, since the money in the end is mine. There’s an inch of hope since I already communicated my plans to her on the e-mail. Maybe just maybe, after I pay Hulk, she allows me to go on with these two. Then no more statues for me, I’m done with it. For good. Then will be time to fix my room to accommodate my pieces and be able to watch them every day.

If I had to choose one of the three? I would say thank god Hulk bust came out first since is the figure I’m really in love. I never felt this way with any other figure in my life. I go to its page every day to watch the pictures and allow me to be enchanted by them. Enchanted, this is the precise word to describe how I feel about Hulk. To me is the best Hulk sculpture ever done. It oozes so much detail and personality is breathtaking. I think I will never get tired of looking at it. That’s why I don’t think in quitting it at all. It’s a huge problem. An expensive one. But if I have to have a great finale to my collection Hulk LSB will be it. As always, I seem to like statues that are underrated and have low revenue value. But I don’t plan to sell my statues anytime soon. Only when I am very old I will slowly selling them. Therefore, I will not bother anyone else with the burden to deal with them, an idea I got from a very wise collector from Facebook.

Well, thanks for visiting my mind, my life and my dilemmas. I wrote exactly as it came to me. Sorry for my broken English I never took English classes, I’m a self-taught English speaker/writer and not a good one at that, as I always say.

Many must be thinking I will not quit collecting at all. But none of you know my mother or my will.

I will only post this text after I publish Erick Sosa’s interview. He may read this and quit answering the questions altogether. (Note of the editor: Erick is taking too long to answer because he is very busy and I have the freedom to post what I want in my blog.) This Matrix thing in the beginning of the text is not for the faint of heart. And I don’t know if it’s true. It’s just the way I feel about writing and the power of the written word. I think is kind of a symbiotic experience where one mind entangles with the other, more in autobiographic texts but also in fictional ones though accessing different parts of a person’s mind. The fictional texts are more distant from the author himself than an autobiographic one. I the latter you get to know the real feelings and thoughts of the person writing and share in your own way the experiences the author is experiencing. I don’t know if it will touch the reader the same way, since we are two completely different persons but will be as close as it gets to dive into one’s mind. I think this kind of sharing what drives me to write, especially in Portuguese. On this blog I am sincere but I have a subject other than me, the figures. I can’t escape the figures in my Portuguese blog but they appear more like in this post, as an integrated part of my life, I’m not advocating nothing regarding them, just expressing my feelings and worries about them and how they mingle into my life. And I bring my mother a lot in my writing since she controls my life in more aspects that would be suitable. In part because I let her to. In part because of my legal situation. The only thing I know is that after much darkness in my life I like living and want to keep it that way. Be over-controlled by my mother is just a tiny detail. A big tiny detail. Nevertheless, she started going to therapy. Maybe this helps her to respect more my spaces. And let me live my life with a bit more freedom. A freedom that I don’t really need right now given I’m so anti-social nowadays. When I don’t go to the CAPS (Center of Psychosocial Aid) I’m in my room writing or roaming through the collectors groups. Looks like a very limited life but it suits me just fine. I do what I love that is writing. I don't have to participate in the theatre of social interactions. I can be me most fully when I write then when I talk to someone. I am strange I know. I feel strange and out of the place in this world. But as I said, I enjoy living, I’m glad there’s another day after this one. I spent a lot of time hating tomorrows, begging to today be my last day as myself, even trying to accomplish that. As I said, I come from darker times. I hated myself and wanted to die. All days. All day. Finally, when I find my comfort zone, find a way I like to be me I won’t abandon myself just because it’s a weird behavior in everybody’s eyes. I stick to what I have as tight as I can, since I found my formula of being happy. The loneliness can be sometimes tedious, but this feeling doesn’t come very often. It would be a joy to have a girlfriend. That’s why I still socialize, in search for a girl that fits my heart and I fit hers. Other than that I don’t see much point in go to parties since I don’t drink anymore and really don’t like to dance and really dislike the social circus where once I was the clown, the heart and soul of the party. I’m not this guy anymore. As I said I’m passing by a very anti-social social stage of my life. I like it but it bothers me because I didn’t want to become so weird. However, at the core I came to believe we’re all alone in this life, all of our social network is based in dependence, interdependence, codependence or supplying. I seek to be as independent as I can and it revolves in loneliness so I’m steadily becoming an urbanoid hermit. I thought and sometimes I still do think that true love can aid a lot to one’s happiness but I am not emotionally available to it right now. And yes I will come back to therapy by the end of the year. I know I need. I just don’t want right now. Again not emotionally or psychologically available. I guess this post went far too long. I will end it here. If I would trade my Hulk LSB for a girlfriend? Only if it was Aurora the love of my life. Yes she exists but is just a platonic passion as things goes at the time being. And you? How did you feel about being me for a while? Hope you can get the statues you want, I hope I get the statues I want. And by the end of 2019 have all of them exposed in my room. I wish I started to like gaming once again. And watch movies. Have so many to see. So much to play. But I don’t quite feel like it. My urge is to write. It’s the most fun I have and is the easiest thing in the world for me. Not in English but in Portuguese. By the way, I got to revise what I wrote yesterday. Until the next post I hope will be more targeted in figures.

P.S.: I know I seem like a complete social failure but look at the bright side I not going with the herd, I determined a modus operandi completely mine and most importantly I’m happy being this way. There are limitations. Several. However, there’s a kind of freedom few people experience. The freedom of the mind. My mind is as free as it possibly gets. Therefore, I can be free even on a jail. As long as I’m able to write. Writing is what ties me and liberates me from the world. It’s my meditation. It’s my way to connect to myself and explore me. There’s lots to uncover and discover yet and I think there will always be more. The human being, the human essence is endless.

Why the quote from Björk at the beginning of the text? I really don’t know. I was listening to it and happened to like the verses. Lol.     

ARE WE ADDICTED TO COLLECTING?

The adrenaline rush of buying a figure be it on the company site or after a good hunting and negotiation on eBay or Facebook is awesome and all collectors I believe experience that. I know I do. Closing an excellent deal or finally grabbing that XM figure you sought for so long is a great pleasure. As is receiving the box from the mail. The ritual of opening, assemble and examine the piece is the icing of the cake. But once the thrill is over and it goes after a short period of time once having the figure (ever shorter the more figures one have) and you (and me) are already thinking about the next thrill. This is imho means you (and me) are addicted to collecting.

SDCC and the other toy fairs and conventions are like drug spots where dealers – the companies – highlight us all the pleasures to come. The next thrills. Not to mention the customs side market. Many find special pleasure in doing business with their statues, so their collections are always rotating with old figures being substituted by new ones in a never-ending cycle. By new I don’t mean only new releases but figures that were never possessed before. There are those that even sell or trade a figure to regret and acquire the same figure later, possibly for a higher value. There are all kinds of behaviors regarding collecting but when they turn compulsive is where the problem begins. When the urge of the thrill becomes relentless. If one compromises his/her finances in order to acquire figures I guess it's time to seek for help. It means one lost control of the habit. I had very compulsive collecting moments. I spent a great deal of my father’s inheritance in three months buying figures on eBay on a time figures weren’t as expensive as they are nowadays. I entered in the manic cycle of my bipolar disorder and went completely out of control. Sold the majority of them afterwards, some grails, in terrible negotiations because I happen to be terrible in business. From 2016 to today I managed to acquire “only” six figures but given the figures prices nowadays I’ve spent a great deal of money, around $4k. Not counting the shipping.

From the rest of 2017 to the end of my life I intend to buy just two more figures, SS Swamp Thing and the new Red Sonja. The hobby just went out of my financial reach and I believe I don’t have more room to display properly the figures I acquire. I cancelled one order to be able to accommodate these two new figures in my collection and because I found the painting of the final production piece disappointing compared to the prototype showed on the site. Thank god I buy only Sideshow statues, apart some Bowens and one Gentle Giant piece I have. I would be in big trouble if I collected XM and in a huge trouble (pun intended) if I collected Prime 1 pieces. I happen not to like their styles I cannot exactly say why. I feel only blessed I think this way or else I would be on a much bigger trouble. My last acquisition was the Hulk LSB (my most expensive piece ever) and I have a problem since I live in Brazil. The custom taxes here are 60% over the declared price of the product plus shipping. I generally send the figures I buy to my brother’s home in US and he brings me one every time he comes to visit us or I bring another when I go visit him (what only happened once at the time being).  But with the Hulk LSB I won’t be able to do that because the box is too big to fit checked luggage specifications. So I’ll have to ask Sideshow to ship the figure directly to me what will cost me around $800-850 in custom taxes if the shipping cost is akin to Deadpool LSB. Apart the shipping cost itself of circa $300-350. It’s a very heavy hit. I will pay well more than twice for the figure. I won’t give up because it will be the centerpiece of my collection. I believe it is the best Hulk portrait ever done and I need a Hulk in my collection and I want the best. Or, in other words, I just fell in love with the statue as I only did with the new Red Sonja, Gentle Giant Babydoll, Bowen Man-Thing, and with Hatsune Miku Mebae Version. Yes, I collect PVC and vinyl figures as well. My collection is pretty varied. I happen to have even a Hot Toys Jack Nicholson Joker though I’m a terrible poser. Lol. On the other hand, regarding Hulk, this “in love” thing maybe mean I’m still on the thrill of acquiring it. The thrill of addiction. I cannot say for sure.

I cannot say for sure if I’ll buy Swamp Thing out of addiction or because he is my all-time favorite character. I don’t know if when I fall in love with a statue I’m on my “addicted mode” which I believe so. I don’t know if I will be able to quit after acquiring these last two statues I intend to buy. I don’t know what the next SDCC has in store for me. All I know is that my room is not yet prepared for display my statues and I’m planning to reform it in 2018. At least reforming costs are a lot cheaper in Brazil than is US (and in most first world countries for that matter). Sure won’t be cheap as well. However is a sad collection one that is being kept in the boxes. The only figure I dared to take from the box and keep out of it is my SS Daredevil because right now I only have space to display him in my room and because most of my figures are still in US. It’s an even more sad collection one kept in the boxes thousands of miles away from the collector. My brother won’t come to visit us this year so only god knows when I will get my hands on a new statue of mine. In addition, my brother already said to me “no more statues at my home”. That’s another reason why I want to send Hulk directly to Brazil. But my brother is such a good person I think he will forgive me for three more statues to come, Malavestros, Swamp Thing and Red Sonja. At least he will not receive the gigantic Hulk LSB box that would certainly piss him (and especially my sister in law) the most.

Then I guess will be it. However, when planning my room, I will try to leave space for a couple more statues. You know the addiction. One never knows what the next con will bring. But the only thing I could devise to tempt me is another beautiful female character. Other than that there are no more characters I want. I guess. Swamp Thing and Hulk were the last of them. Though I love Alan Moore and Watchmen is the best comic ever to me, statues based on its characters wouldn’t appeal to me. Nor even V for V for Vendetta would appeal to me even though is my second favorite character. So I guess there isn’t anything Sideshow could bring to the table that I don’t have already. And I can only wonder how high will be the prices next year. So I really hope I’ll be out of the game by then. Still I’ll try to leave a some space left. After all, one never knows what may come down the road. Moreover, there’s one thing I’m sure about addictions: once a addicted, always an addicted. You can quit but you’ll always be addicted to it. It’s like a dormant beast, if you tease it, it may wake up hungrier than ever. I’m addicted to other things. I quit them all. I guess collecting will be the easiest one to give up. And the prices are pushing me out of it already. Still the spaces will be there. Maybe for an Iron Man MK III Maquette, or a perfect comic Iron Man (maybe I end up buying a Bowen), a perfect Beast (which was already launched as a custom, that one will be tough to beat, and I missed it…), or a perfect Joker or… well, I thought there wasn’t nothing more I desire but you know the drill, you know thrill…

There is one addiction I couldn’t and don’t want to quit: smoking. I just changed to e-cigarettes. And I even happen to smoke one real cigarette when I wake up and another when I go to sleep. Is collecting another addiction I don’t plan to give up? I honestly don’t know. But I certainly would like to. And about you? Are you addicted to collecting? What makes one person addicted to it, in your opinion? Do you plan to quit someday? When and why? Is it really a bad thing if you can afford it?

One may wonder why I posted these making of images of Swamp Thing. Well,
because it's one of the figures I intend to buy and to remember that these figures
are a form of art of sorts and should be regarded so.

On a side note, there’s something in common about collecting and other types of addiction, most people don’t understand and even have prejudice about it. My family and friends just don’t get my hobby and don’t understand why I spend so much on it. They see my pieces as toys or junk I’m accumulating. It’s a bless to have these Facebook groups to share my passion and being understood in our addicting hobby. The only downsides are the desirable new pieces shared that tempts myself getting but it’s good to train one’s will power. Lol. Jokes apart these are places where I feel right at home and can discuss and share my opinions without being afraid of prejudice since we’re all on the same boat here. A boat we all love sailing.    

   

HOW IT FEELS TO BE BANNED :(

I am feeling really bad by being banned from a group of fellow collectors (I rather not to mention the group). They banned me for posting a affiliated link. I know, my bad. Should know the rule. Was stupid. But I am even sadder because they doubted I was indeed a collector. So I’m here to tell the two reasons because I don’t post pictures of my collection. First, most part of it is in my brother’s house who lives in US and from where he brings me one statue every time he comes to visit us here in Brazil (when he can bring one at all). Second, because my room is not prepared to display my statues, so I keep them in the boxes.

I don’t collect solemnly resin statues. Most of my collection is comprised of PVC figures, especially Evangelion, but not limited to that. I like Saber from Fate and Chun Li and other videogame characters. Since maybe more people don’t believe I collect I will enumerate the resin figures I have in Brazil and US and on PO.

BRAZIL:

- SS Daredevil;

- SS Captain America Allied Charge On Hydra (regular);

- SS He-Man (exclusive);

- Bowen Silver Surfer faux bronze;

- Bowen Man-Thing;

- Bowen Spider Man (museum);

- Diamond Selects The Thing;

- Gentle Giant Babydoll (artist proof);

- Beast Mode Wolverine (custom).

I don’t know if it counts but I have a 1/4 Rei by Volks hand painted. Have two other hand painted pieces and one Asuka on bike in the works by Yeti Art. Not to mention all the PVC girls.

US:

- SS Captain Marvel (regular, unfortunately);

- SS Boba Fett Ralph McQuerrie (exclusive);

- SS The Thing (movie maquette);

- Bowen Symbiont Spider-Man (museum);

- Silver Surfer chromed (kit from Phillipines).

- Zombee ZTC-Cat Woman (not the super-hero but a woman dressed like a cat)

I don’t know if counts too but I have a Hot Toys Jack Nicholson Joker apart several other PVC figures and three Black & White Batmans (only zombie Batman is in Brazil, I guess)

POs:

- SS Killer Croc (exclusive);

- SS Malavestros (exclusive);

- SS Hulk life-size bust;  

- Project Triforce Goliath (waiting forever for this one).

In a nutshell this is my humble collection. I know I don’t have any grails, no XM or Prime 1 but I’m quite happy with what I have. I may be forgetting some statue that’s on US but it’s pretty much it. I’m not ashamed that most of my collection is comprised of PVC pieces. I happen to like them and afford them, plus they’re beautiful and sexy. Sorry for the bad pics, my cell phone is old and I’m a terrible photographer.

It hurts when people doubt you. So I felt like I needed to share part of my collection with you. One day, maybe next year I’ll do a reform in my room so it can accommodate my collection properly. Once it’s finished I’ll do another post I hope with better pictures that these ones. Maybe with a couple more statues from US. In the meantime, I’ll write about the figures that grab my attention even if I don’t have the money to afford them. I’m pretty forked now that I ordered the Hulk bust but was a character I needed in my collection and I think the bust is quite fabulous. I just don’t know how the heck I’ll bring it to Brazil, since I guess the box will be bigger than allowed to go as luggage on an international flight. But that’s a problem to the future. Now I’ll have to learn to live without access to one of my most beloved collectors group. I made a mistake but was accused of so many things (especially of being a false collector) that I feel a bit heartbroken. But so is life with ups and downs. You don’t know how much these groups are important to me. I’m a retired guy, who has as hobbies to write a blog about figures (and one about my life, in Portuguese), collect figures and visit these vibrant Facebook communities. I left my home, my room, very sporadically. I guess it’s one of the effects of bipolar disorder, I’m becoming increasingly antisocial. But, that is okay because I’m happy where I am and with what I have. Sorry for this outflow, is that my soul is a bit heavy due to the denial. Denial isn’t a good thing to receive and takes a while to settle down in one’s mind. On the bright side you got to know my collection. I know it’s not much but it took me almost a decade to amass it. Now I’ll take a looong brake until my next statue. I need to save for my room’s reform as well as pay this three POs I have left. I’ll maybe loose the opportunity of getting the new SS Magneto, but, let me tell you: I’m not really excited about it at all. I’ll write my impressions when SDCC comes. I’ll finish this post here. Until then, folks! Best wishes and happy collecting.   

P.S.: sorry for the terrible English but I’m a self-taught English speaker and not a good one at that.

P.S.2: just out of curiosity to prove I didn't born to be a grail guy, here are some pieces I've sold:

- Bowen Jocasta Chromed Version (n° 8 of 25)
- SS Deadpool with chicken
- F4F Samus Varia Suit (first version)
- F4F Skull Kid (first version)
- SS Hulk Avengers (first edition)
- Bowen Gladiator Hulk 
Yes I regret I've sold them. Very. Much. 

THE CURSE OF THE UNBOXED FIGURES

There are people who are so caring about their figures that they never even take them out of the brown box. They just stock all of them, exactly as they arrive and never ever got the feeling of holding the piece in their hands, assemble it and just watch if it was a good or a bad choice to buy it. If you suffer from this problem know you’re not alone. I don’t know what passes in someone’s head to act like this, but it happens. Often. To many people. I would like someone to behave like that to testify about their feelings regarding collecting this way.

In a lesser degree, and the most common case, I think more common than it should be, there are those that take the figure out of the box, examine to see if everything is in place and lock the figure down in the box again never to see the light of day again. I think this is a trend that happens more severely on collectible figures collectors than in other collectibles cases, since in this hobby the box is as praised as the figure itself. Even the brown box has an intangible (to me) intrinsic value. Having said that I have to admit I have several figures I never took out of the box because I don’t have the proper place to display them… yet. It’s all set to 2017. Me and my mom will join financial forces to remodel my room so all the figures can be safely displayed. However, until then, all my guys and gals are jailed in theirs boxes. I know many of you suffer from the “Curse of the Unboxed Figures” as if take the figures and keep them out of the box was kind of dismantle something in or about the figure or in / about you. It’s like a comfort to know you have them and that they’re all protected. Even if one do not enjoy the pleasure of seeing his/hers beloved statues.

I believe that while inside the box, the magic is kept, like Pandora’s box, once open hell will in some form unleash and break up the magic of the figure. I guess these collectors content themselves with the utopian image they have from their figures on their heads. This is a very contradictory behavior to say the least, since the statues are meant to be displayed and appreciated. Physically not mentally. I hope I get rid of the “curse” once my room turns into a collectible friendly environment. And once it’s done I will commit the greatest heresy of all to any cursed collector: I will throw all the boxes away because simply there’s not enough space in my house to keep the boxes plus the statues. I bet some of you even feel a chill down the spine just to think in throwing the brown box, the artbox, all boxes finally away. But I don’t mind. I’ve selected very carefully what I collected along these years and don’t plan to sell any of the figures of my collections. All the ones that had to go are already gone. Some I really miss (like my Deadpool with chicken hand SS Exclusive or my F4F Skull Kid and Metroid Varia Suit). But they were gone to buy even better or at least equally good new statues. So my collection, apart from Japanese anime PVC and hand painted resin kit models and some Bowen and Diamond Select pieces, and lots of some other smaller stuff, as some B&W DC Collectible Batmans, is composed now by Sideshow Statues. And I’m dying of curiosity to see them all displayed together like one happy big family.

I forgot to tell. I live in Brazil and more than half of my collection is in my brother’s basement in US, especially the big SS ones (but also a ton of smaller ones). Every time we go to visit him or he comes to visit us each one tries to bring as many figures as possible. What is never too many. The first visit I pay him in US I was able to bring two big figures: SS Daredevil and SS Captain America allied against Hydra (or something like that) and a lot of smaller ones. I must admit that I only had space right now to open Daredevil, since there’s no room for the old Cap and his raised hand here in my room right now. I must admit too that I didn’t have the courage yet to throw Daredevil’s artbox away. What I should have done after all I’ve said. I hate to admit but I’m a little cursed myself. However, I promised to me that I’ll get rid of all of the boxes once the reform of my room is over. I hope I keep that promise and do that. I don’t want and don’t stand to be cursed anymore. And, most importantly, I don’t have space for the figures and their boxes. And I don’t want them inside the their boxes either. I want my figures at plain sight where I can spend all the time I want inspecting mesmerized each and every piece, switching an exclusive item or another to get a new visual to a given image etc. I think that’s the reason I bought the figures in first place. I don’t want to just pile them up in their box never to be seen and live surrounded by boxes as I live today. And will live even more because my brother is coming to pass the end of the year holidays here and will most certainly bring some new stuff. I hope my SS He-Man comes with him. At least this piece. And it will be another hell of a box in my room (apart some smaller anime pieces he may bring). I will open He-Man, of course, but will not assemble it because I don’t know how to put it back inside the box again (talk about clumsy) and, as I said, I don’t have space to display it mounted yet. Once the reform is done, box will be banished from this house. I am lucky that Sideshow put all dimensions of their figures in each reference page so I can give the architect who will transform my room all the dimensions of the figures that are still in the US so he/she can calculate the space of the shelves according (leaving some room to three to four more figures). Yes, I’m planning to give up collecting in the near future. It became a too expensive hobby to me. And indeed there’s only one figure I don’t have that still excites the hell out of me that is old rare Sideshow Hulk, green version (…for now, is good to add). I will most certainly leave a space separated to accommodate him, since I will join all the money I can to buy him and close my collection with the grail of all grails figure IMHO. And will get rid of his box too! I’ll leave an extra space though because one never knows what will launch tomorrow… ;)

So, to everyone who suffers from the “Curse of the Unboxed Figure” I want to hear your comments. How do you deal with it, if it’s not a problem at all, if you feel anguish, if it has to do with trading value so you never sure what to keep and what to let go; in one word, what’s your relation with the boxed pieces?

-x-x-x-x-

Oh, and to those interested in a good fight, or a fight for good, below is the link for the petition asking Sideshow to begin their payment plans as soon as the figures are out for pre-order, giving us more months to pay at smaller monthly fees. If you like this idea, just click the link below and sign the petition. It will take just a minute and can make a lot of difference to all of us average-pocket collectors.

Sideshow payment plans starting along with the pre-orders means more months to pay, meaning cheaper monthly fees, meaning more easier payments. If you want this to happen, sign the petition. It only takes a minute but can bring long term facilities to all of us Sideshow (and Prime 1 and Hot Toy and etc.) collectors.

https://www.change.org/p/sidewhow-collectibles-sideshow-we-want-payment-plans-with-more-and-lower-monthly-fees