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Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
In short, the most important step towards downsizing is reason. Why do you want to downsize? Why do you collect in general? And why do you keep each individual figure?
These are big questions, but you can approach each of them in your own time. Here's some food for thought: There is a painting by Ren? Magritte called The Treachery of Images. It is a simple painting of a smoking pipe with text underneath it saying, in french, "this is not a pipe". If you had this painting, you would have just that; a painting of a pipe rather than a pipe itself. You can look at a painting, you can smoke a pipe, yet both have value and use.
Are you getting any more use out of any one figure than you would out of a picture of that figure? A picture would take up less space, be easier to come by, and not have any parts to lose or dust. So why have the figure?
For me, I love changing my display. I love interacting with my figures, posing them, transforming them, combining them and so on. Say you keep everything sealed and arranged as if it were the toy store of your dreams. If it's worth the space to you, then that's valid. If it helps make your house feel like home, it's worth it.
What's important is finding your answers for yourself and your collection, not copying someone else. Find what you love about your collection. You can start with finding the difference between figures you prefer and figures you don't. Do you prefer articulation? Features? Colours? Sought after figures? Figures with a story or a happy memory?
I've found creativity loves chains. Getting the most out of my collection meant saying goodbye to a lot of it and focusing in on a few sub-collections I really love. I don't have some toys I really liked anymore, but I still have the memories. Plus, if I change my mind, I can track them down and have them again. Even the rare ones. It just takes time.
Now I have hard-set limits about my collecting budget and display area and my hobby is better for it. I'm happier, my collection looks better, and I feel like I'm in control of my collection rather than the other way around. I think about the time I showed my collection to a friend and they said "Oh, you're a hoarder". I need to know for myself that I'm not hoarding. I need my hobby to come from curiosity and joy, not anxiety.
Think about this. If you had all the money in the world, would you buy every figure you ever wanted as quickly as you could? I bet you wouldn't. Or, at least, I wouldn't. I like the hunt. A significant chunk of the reason to keep a figure is the story of how I found it. Wantonly consuming all my whims without considering their validity would sour the whole experience.
My point is take some time to reflect on your hobby and find what's right for you. Books are a good prompt to start the internal conversation, but only you can answer these questions for yourself. Take your time. If you get it wrong, try again. No one's perfect.
Best of luck. Show off your collection when you've made progress, okay? I'd love to see it.
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