The Thrill of the Hunt!

The Thrill of the Hunt! There is so much that can be said for this saying, as it applies to a broad range of topics. However, in this situation it’s all about collecting. Collecting what, you say. Well that’s the great part. It could really be almost anything during a lifetime of collecting. All collectors have a certain thing or many certain things that they are drawn to. Usually something that reminds them of their past, namely their childhood. We are all searching to be young again. Which leads me to where it all started……….

When I think back into my younger life, I’ve always loved toys. I was lucky enough to be born in the 1970’s, so I was a young kid during the 1980’s, and I’m still growing up here in the 2020’s. During that time frame quite a lot has happened, as it was the beginning of the Pop Culture Boom! Here we are over 40 years later still talking about Star Wars, Hulk Hogan, G.I. Joe, Mr. T., Ghostbusters, Masters of the Universe, Transformers, and characters from The Marvel and DC Universe just to name a few. Not to mention all of the iconic movies and the cartoons. Wow, I wish that you could have been there if you weren’t, and if you were then you know and congratulations!

The Thrill of the Hunt begins. I guess the first time I ever really remember getting the fever is probably around 1982. I was at the store with my mom and spotted my first G.I. Joe figure, Grunt. I wasn’t overly impressed with the figure itself as much as I was the packaging and the other figures on the back that I desperately needed such as Snake Eyes. So of course I needed to come back and keep searching for it again and again until I finally found the coveted Snake Eyes. I preceded to get them all for quite some time until I was introduced to other things as the 80’s had so much to choose from. I really enjoyed collecting the M.A.S.K. and M.U.S.C.L.E. toy lines, which I finally completed a full set of all 233 around 2001.

However, my true love became wrestling and collecting wrestling figures. I have been on the hunt for wrestling figures since 1984, because a collector’s collection is never complete. He is always on the hunt. I like to try and get a figure of anybody that has ever had one made. I have a lot as you can see in this video, and this video. The great thing about collecting is that you can make your collection anything that you want. They are all special and unique in their own way. As a collector you must search everywhere in order to find what you are looking for. So, speaking of searching……

Some of my favorite memories in my life as a kid was going to stores such as Hills, Sears, Service Merchandise, Woolworths, Kmart, Toys R Us, Zayre, as well as many local Sports Cards Shops (another article coming in the future about Sports Card Collecting), and Comic shops. Looking for that cool toy or that missing piece. Only problem I was a passenger, so I could only go to so many places. Luckily for me during my teenage years I had a Cousin Davy (yes, the other owner of Rememorabiliacollectibles.com) and a good friend named Layne. Collecting can create a lifetime of friendships, or possibly only for a short time. But it brings people together for a common purpose. The Thrill of the Hunt!

When I finally got old enough to drive myself, I was off to the races. Making new friends and going on hunts together along the way. Nothing like taking a day with a friend while looking for action figures at a bunch of stores like I mentioned earlier. Eating pizza or burgers, and maybe catching a superhero movie or something. Meeting up early in the morning and go until the stores were closed. Before some of the stores went to 24 hours of course. Or, maybe staying up all night with your good friends Lil Joe and Keith A-Hole playing video games. Maybe some WCW/NWO Revenge or Power Move Pro Wrestling. Or that time that you had record breaking attendance for you 6 A.M. WWF LJN battle. Waiting for the stores to open so you can be the first one in the door to hunt. Ah, the good ole days.

Which leads us to now. The collecting world has changed and many of these stores are now sadly closed. Walmart eventually went to 24 hours after putting most of the other stores out of business, and then back to closing normal hours. The current state of the world has changed everything not to mention how it has wreaked havoc on the collecting game or at least the hunting aspect of it. You can’t really hunt or have limited hours to do so. Many stores have reduced hours and policies in place for occupancy. The challenges have become greater and greater, especially to get these store exclusives. You can still hunt at Walmart , Target, Gamestop, Local Shops, and possibly a few others. Often times however you have to turn somewhere else. The Internet.

The Internet has changed everything. It’s more important now than ever, not just from a collecting standpoint but in general. However we are talking about collecting. So with the Internet its a different kind of hunting. I guess in a way you are still hunting. Cyber Hunting! Unfortunately now in all likelihood you are paying secondary market prices, which is what lots of people are having to do, because it’s hard to find. The regular release figures are hard enough to acquire most of the time anyway, then you start limiting production and making it exclusive to a specific store. Then the price of poker goes up, and I didn’t even get into distribution. Amazon and eBay have been around for a long time at least 20 years and things like Facebook Marketplace, Instagram and many other Social Media apps have added markets and shopping trying to get a cut.

More and more people are learning about the collecting game and it is more popular than ever, so there is a lot of competition out there. The companies simply do not produce enough products to go around. In some cases they do, but more often than not it’s going to be in short supply and high demand. So you can stay at home and Cyber Hunt and hope to get in online when the pre-orders go live, or possibly pay secondary market prices. You can always trade it from someone that you know or possibly through a collectors group. There are all kinds of ways in 2021 to track down that missing piece of treasure that you are so desperately searching for.

I know it gets discouraging going to stores time after time and coming up empty handed because there is so much competition and more people have the knowledge than ever before. In this day and age you are definitely going to miss a lot more often than you score, there is absolutely no doubt about that. I’ve been heart broken more times than I could ever count, but it’s 2021 and I’m still hunting G.I. Joe figures, or hunting them again. Along with many other things. The hunting is part of the fun, that’s why they call them chase figures. I guess that just means all of them now. As a life long collector you will never convince me that the agony of defeat is greater than The Thrill of the Hunt.