Home Improved

Clutter and disorganization are the bane of the toy collector. Without space, a display scheme, and some semblance of a plan, collecting quickly becomes a matter of bringing the new thing home, admiring it for a while, then hucking it on the pile and looking for the next new thing.

I don't say this to sound pedantic, but because this is what was happening to me; figures and vehicles were just piling up in my 'study', covering every available surface. I'd get some new items and just sort of toss them in the room. It became a problem; not a problem for Hoarders or one that means collecting needs to end. I just needed to get a handle on it, and besides trading/selling/giving away stuff I genuinely don't want, the foremost issue was finding a better way to display stuff than on a few crappy plastic racks from Wal-Mart, the floor, and a ten year old Ikea table. The racks, seen in a classic LBAMToyreview post* here, were fine for a collection that size, and my use of pieces of cardboard shims was ugly and terrible. I let both become the status quo for almost two years; I just bought more racks as needed, till they themselves were taking up way too much real estate (and one had been completely overtaken by the Official Wife's My Little Pony Collection). The table had become unusable for work or paint; shit was starting to encroach on my desk. Stands and accessories were everywhere. How did I fix it?

Well, first I just started organizing all the stands and accessories; no need for pictures of that because it is, in a sense, just boxes of stuff. I bought some small, plain plastic tackle boxes at Target for about 2 bucks a pop, partitioned them as needed, and went to it; separate compartments for headgear, weapons, modular weapon parts, bladed weapons, assorted body parts, and so on. One box for loose Joe stands, one for Cobra. So on. Boring, but easily accomplished while watching a ballgame of an evening. Even better, I found a lot of stuff I'd either forgotten or thought I'd lost; I thought about actually drawing up an inventory list but....there are limits to the anal nature of my nerding.

Then it came time to do something about the godawful plastic racks; they were a good temporary measure but it's been almost two years, and we're in this townhouse for at least another year. So.

View from the door

I have no right to complain. I have no right to complain. I have no right to complain. Still, it breaks up the theme a bit, don't it?

Sure, they're just shelves; but they are level, flush against the wall, take up no actual floor space, hold a ton of figures, and I put 'em up there myself, by God. Let me emphasize how easy it really was, too. Later on I'll list exactly the tools and materials; I honestly believe anybody with opposable thumbs can probably pull this off.

Cobra Shelf

It wasn't enough just to have space, though, because if I just tossed figures on a shelf I'd be back where I started. So the easiest organizational scheme is by line and then faction. It ain't hard. Furthermore, for the most part, I decided to go with one version of each character for this part of the display, and that I'd try to make them look right together. It was harder than I thought, picking just one Cobra Commander (out of the, I don't know, 12? 14?) but ultimately the Resolute body with the chrome head won out. The luminaries of Cobra high command are arranged near/behind him and the 'legions,' such as they are, are grouped into teams.

I don't care what anybody says, I love the Dreadnoks and I especially love putting 'em on accurate, scale bikes.

Joe Shelves

Same general rules here; generally one version of a character, and, more or less loosely displayed by year of origin, so that means the Original 13 spread across the front, characters from '83 behind them, and so on. I am sometimes shameless and unimaginative in my sentimentality. I almost entirely abandoned that on the second Joe shelf, as you'll see.

Of course, Gung Ho can't fucking stand up long enough to take a picture.
He's had a gimp knee since I got him out of the five pack. Or he's drunk. Equally possible.

Naturally these three have to go together; I'll probably break down and pose Storm Shadow with them soon.

My Mayday and Jinx customs, along with a hand- painted Budo I won in an ebay charity auction by Alyosha of Broken Arrow Toys.


The long view
Marvel Universe Shelf

Rather loosely organized by team and/or theme, mostly by which I mean the X-Men are together and a core of Avengers are together.

X-Men

The Avengers
The Big 3, or the 'Avengers Prime,' as I guess their mini-series is now called. It ain't bad.


Alternates Shelf

No, the shelf isn't crooked, just my camera. A shelf full of other versions of characters I like; note Resolute Duke, several Snake-Eyes, some Shipwrecks, Destros, etc.

The Floor

One of the best things about getting rid of the plastic racks and going with wall mounted shelves is that I got my floor space back, providing me plenty of space to display vehicles without taking up additional floor room; the rest under the overhang of the shelves but have space to themselves.

Awesome print of Tom Feister's G.I. Joe Origins Cover of the Snow Job issue, signed by Feister and Merrill Hagan, gift from blogger, collector, and all-around great dude, Compulsive Collector. Once further shelves are up and the room is as I want it, I'll be hanging it above the Joe shelves, where it deserves to be. Tom Feister continues to knock his Joe covers out of the park.

The Balrog

What I consider the best piece in my collection, a gift from The Official Wife for my birthday/our wedding (which coincidentally are the same day, though that wasn't the plan). A reminder that I'm not done, that more shelves need to go up and I have got to find a way to display my Lord of the Rings Collection, the toys that got me into this collecting schtick in the first place.

So, there; a huge leap forward in the organization and presentation of my collection. I still have some stuff to get rid of, and I want to put up at least 3 more of these shelves and see what other space I can squeeze out of the room (the other wall is not nearly as long and is rather cluttered with framed degrees, so t hat's not really an option.

Oh, and as for how to do this? Well I'm sure there are plenty of kits out there, but I went to Lowe's, had someone point me to the 'decorative shelving' display, and bought two sets of brackets with mounting hardware (anchors and screws) included, $10 per pair, and two 36" by 12" $8 and change each. After the fourth shelf went up, I changed my bracket choice to uglier but just as functional $2 pairs from Wal-Mart, while continuing to use the shelves from Lowes (the 48" by 12" that Cobra is on cost a little over $10).

Tools I used:
A cordless, rechargeable Black and Decker cordless drill that goes for $30 (you can go cheaper than that, as well) and will last you forever as long as you take care of it. A hammer older than me, inherited, the price of which I couldn't guess at (only used for delicately seating the anchors into the wall; probably optional). A screwdriver (the drill doubles as one, too). A $5 set of bits, and a $6 level/ruler. Most of the shelves, though not all, have also been drilled into and secured with extra screws, bags of which go for about a buck. My point? This is NOT an expensive or difficult process, and it did wonders for my display and sanity. Less than $50 worth of brackets and mounting hardware (and it would be a LOT less if I'd used the $2 brackets from the start, sucker that I am), just under $60 for the shelves, and minimal amounts for the extra screws. So, if you need to buy the drill, you're looking at a total outlay of less than $150; in my experience you aren't going to find a decent looking shelving unit that offers as much space as I have gotten out of this for that cost. I know a lot of collectors out there are in love with the Ikea Detolf glass case, but my experience with Ikea stuff (other than really simple tables) is usually less than stellar, though I did once jury rig an ex a pretty nifty customized walk-in closet out of a whole bunch of their stuff. The Detolf looks, to me, like something that'd be easily broken in a house with two cats.

My point here is, this is ultimately a pretty cost effective measure to display my collection in a manner I enjoy, and it was easy. I'm nobody's Bob Villa, trust me, and I got this done with minimal fuss.

Now to go play with some toys.

*May not actually be 'classic.'