Up until a few years ago i was primarily a collector of Star Wars action figures, i have been collecting off and on for over 10 years, mainly the small figures from all of the movies; that is until i worked with Taesoo Kim.
A few years back Taesoo and i were working on Mobile content for the mouse as in house contractors. One day Taesoo decided to bring in some of his prized collectibles; knowing that i was as big a WWII buff as he was he thought he would show me what he was collecting? I was amazed by the amount of detailing the figures he brought in had, every minute detail you can imagine was replicated in 1/6th scale. Now these are not your big brother's G-Joe's, these figures are what they call "Adult collectibles", not to be confused with erotic material. These figures run about $35-$50 on average, and can be as expensive as $250.00 a piece depending on the edition size.
Now i know there are those of you out there that can see no practicality in these figures, some would argue that it's a waste of money, to those of you who say this i say the name Walt Disney. Walt?!! Yes Walt, he was the ultimate collector of figurines, and model trains, his office at the Disney Studios in Burbank was adorned with collectibles from his various animated films as well as figurines from around the globe. Among other celebrated artist and creators who collect these trinkets of fancy are Ward Kimball, Frank and Ollie, Bruce Tim, and finally John Lasseter, who has his entire office dedicated to toys at Pixar.
I often wondered what makes people buy things like trains, model air planes, and toy soldiers, I think I narrowed it down to this, as artist we tend to see the world with eyes of imagination, we think and see the world differently from the average person. When we see the model train or airplane, or action figure our minds get kicked into overdrive. Some admire the design, some admire the color selection, others the craftsmanship of the piece, and still others are inspired to do stories, a drawing or painting. It’s amazing what a little inanimate object can do for an artist.
As for my collection of WWII figures I am writing and drawing a story based in the 1940’s and these guys really come in handy creating that world.
