Shot-Gunning vs Curating In Collecting

Every time we start a new collection there is an excitement to this new world we are entering where we find ourselves wanting to grow it & explore as quickly as possible. Where we find new items consistently with no thought to rarity, type, etc…we just want to watch it grow. So we do what I refer to as “Shot Gunning”. But this feeling can’t last forever & you will have to start moving into the later stage of collecting which would be “Curating”. Let’s take a look at these, talk about why we do them, & discuss the times you should move to this later stage in your collections lifespan.

The Reasoning Behind Why We Collect

Collecting is an infinitely complex…yet simple & personal…way of expressing yourself. We all love to collect in certain ways but do it for SO many different reasons. I wanted to take this post to talk about a few of those & to remind everyone…there is no wrong way to do it or get into it as long as it stays healthy (more on that in a later post). And remember that while I am defining some particular collecting styles, there are many who combine these in their own ways so treat this just as a general guide & let me know if you have other reasons for your collections below or as @Zenspath on Twitter or Hive.

So to me, collecting falls into a few categories: Personal, Financial, Curiosity, Activity, Aesthetic, & Inspiration. Let’s look a bit more into each one individually.

Personal Collections - Those With True Meaning

Collections come in many different types, sizes, & for many different reasons that we will touch on as time goes on, but this time I want to talk about the ones that mean the most to people…the personal collections.

These can be collections based on things that mean more than just the act of collecting…something that hits at a very emotional & singular purpose. They can range from an entire basis of a collection to just a small few items. Their financial value or rarity has no bearing on the meaning of these collections as they are truly irreplaceable to the people who hold them dear.

For me it’s the simple collection of three items based around a sci-fi series that I enjoyed but didn’t have a massive urge to collect called Battlestar Galactica. Specifically the 2004 series that ran for four seasons until 2009. There was a follow up series…but we aren’t going to talk about those.

The collection is small, consisting of just two main ships, and a piece of art that I recently purchased at Dragon Con 2022 to display with these two items. They aren’t generally very rare items, and don’t go for large amounts of money, but are the most irreplaceable items in my entire collection for one simple reason.

These are the two things my younger brother, Ian Bruce Brown, left me after he passed on November 18th, 2021.

The Wide World of Collecting - An Opener

Welcome back to the blog! With the dying of Twitter thanks to the manic reactions of a rich man with thin skin, my usual place to talk about things seems to be going away eventually as a certainty more and more each day instead of a possibility. So I wanted to bring this back online to get some thoughts out & share with the world somehow. So I figured I would dig into what I know best…collecting.

Not my best photo, but a great look at the Samus helmet I got recently.

My intent for this is to talk both the micro detail as well as the macro for the world of collecting. Not just for videogames, but for comic books, Transformers, cards, etc…all of the things that I have collected & curated over the years.

And as I am turning 43 this Christmas “years” doesn’t really cut it…this is a view & advice coming from DECADES of collecting & searching. Finding things locally, traveling from place to place, learning to buy things online with the rise of the internet, then rediscovering the fun of “hunting” out in the wild, & the challenges the pandemic brought to the hobby I love.

So in the end the point of this blog will be to share my collection with others…but more importantly to share the knowledge & experience around it with those both seasoned & new to this endeavor. And if all goes well, I’d love to feature some guest posts to get others views on their own collections to continue the discussions.

I want to dive into both the good & the darker side of collecting. The ideals of knowing your limits (financially, spacially, responsibility, etc) so that your collection doesn’t overtake your life & connection to others.

I intend to have posts based on single pieces, to sets of things, to entire collections, to the ideas behind collecting, my ideals behind what to do with said collections, & how I feel they should be shared to be truly appreciated.

I hope you join me in this journey & help keep me in line to get them posts done because another feature of this whole thing I want to cover is my severe ADHD & how that helps/hurts my collecting. While not a bad thing by any means…it’s a feature of my life that will have to be addressed & discussed as well.

So with that I will close out this initial post by asking you to follow & share this post to help build a group to talk, to offer suggestions on what types of things you want to see or hear about, to continue the talks over on Twitter (while we still can), & to be patient as I work out ways to share on Youtube as well.

Happy hunting my fellow afficianados!

Jeremy Powers, Sr.
Twitter: @Zenspath

The Nintendo Non-Switch

The Nintendo Non-Switch

This week Nintendo surprise dropped their upcoming Nintendo Switch hardware update, the Nintendo Switch Lite. Priced at $199 this is lined up (unofficially) to be the replacement of the Nintendo 3DS as it finally sunsets into its well deserved retirement. This new model is a unique one though, and even though it is named as a Switch, it is missing a few features including that very function.