Collecting hobby turns into Addiction? Psychologist talks w Toy / Action Figure Collector of Dangers

I went to a therapy for my toy collecting addiction. Now the therapist collects too.

I think as toy collectors, we’re trying to attain the one thing we can’t have. A time machine that takes us back to a summer, or a Christmas as a 10 year old. When the world was more simple and we had our whole lives ahead of us. When our parents were younger and our grandparents were still alive. When my mom would take me shopping and buy me a He-Man Figure and everything felt right w the world. No matter what I buy to try and connect with these feelings, nothing comes close. Nostalgia, at its core...is sadness. We’re longing for something we just can’t have.

Collecting is about knowing what you want and knowing when to stop. I like to get just the figures I think are cool and not being a completionist or having full sets with every weapon.

I don't have a problem. I can stop whenever I want. Oh look! A Sweet deal on a 100% complete Dreadnok 1985 Sears Exclusive Ground Assault set!

My collection exploded and expanded after a highly stressful time in my life where the only solace I found was in items (toys/ collectables) that reminded me of being a kid, a much simpler and stress free time. The whole "chasing the dragon" analogy is 100% accurate.

I deleted my watch list and saved searches on eBay after watching this... thanks for the perspective

This is the first time I actually see someone taking a direct and serious approach on the potentiality of a problem driven by collecting. I really appreciate this and it's making me self reflect on what kind of items I want to collect. FOMO is real.

I have spurt of spending hundreds on figures, then stopping because I’m realizing I’m out of money. My problem is I see a figure a like and I know I want it, but I worry about the prices going up, missing the deal, not finding the figure again. I get it, I love it, but I feel guilty about it later on.

As much as I love watching Justice do his thing, I really appreciate that Justin let's us in to his whole life. Keep doing your thing!

I've been a collector for 12 years, and lately I started to feel bothered or suffocated by the need to buy more figures, I see that I am addicted, I spend around half of my year's income in action figures... I need to put myself some limits, and start selling stuff I don't really care or repeated figures, 'cause I'm also running out of space

I appreciate you and your wife talking about this topic. I think it would be great if she came on more often and had serious discussions about toy addiction.

That's one forgiving cat

For what it's worth...My collection is probably as extreme as yours, but I am still single at 43yrs. I wish I had a better half to argue with about my collection. I don't even have a pet cat to accidentally sit on ; )

I'm not into toy collecting, but I love collecting traditional knives, I think a similar idea applies to all collecting, enjoy the hobby, but just don't get attached to what it is you're collecting.

Dude big ups for being honestly and straight forward. I see people buying 2-5 hot toys a week yet they video themselves walking into apartments. This is a real problem in the toy community that I want to comment on but am afraid. I have a modest collection but don't feel the need to complete collection. More people should see this video and think about what they are doing. Addictions come in different forms.

Started collecting again this year. I got behind on my Bills. I realized I can't do that!!

You both just made a HUGE impact on me. Thank you for this. I needed to hear this. Thank you both!

I love this video. Thank you for making this video. I’m a new collector and can see some addictive traits in myself. This is a video I needed

My happy place is being able to share my passion openly on FB or in my home. I collect dolls. Most of them are realistic dolls, but not all. Thanks for your wife's expert perspectives as well. On the spiritual level I refuse to make gods or idols out of any of my collectibles. Balance and honesty is always a plus. If anything is a secret, it's probably not good to entertain.

Man I’m so glad you made this video man, it’s so therapeutic for me also. As a kid I had hundreds of GI Joe, Star Wars, He man and Transformers action figures. My younger sister gave them away, I found out a year later when I went to my mom’s and was looking for them in my closet. Fast forward to today now I collect Star Wars Black Series and Vintage Collection. It fells great but I also had to get control of the situation. Thanks again for making the video. 👍🏽👍🏽