Click on the picture to see this Collection!! Name: Brent Brown Location: Horse Shoe, NC

1- What do you Collect?
Simpsons stuff, Marvel and DC lines from the large scale Marvel Icons and DC Deluxe Figures to the 6 inch lines of Marvel Legends and DC Superheroes as well as the boutique lines such as Marvel Select and DC Direct. The only smaller figures I collect are the Mattel Justice League Unlimited figures and figures from The Batman. I also like to collect movie figures from both comic-based movies as well as sci-fi, action, etc. movies; plus I collect all the movies themselves on DVD, but that's another story.

2- When and How did you start Collecting and what keeps you going?
I started collecting Megos in the 70s as a kid and still have them. I never got into the smaller Star Wars figures when they came out, it seemed like a step down to now be getting these small, molded plastic figures instead of large figures with real costumes on.

Unfortunately for me, that seemed to be the trend in action figures from then on and I got out of collecting figures for many years. I would pick up a figure here and there if it was cool and made me think, "wow, they made an action figure of THAT?" but did not get seriously into it until I saw the World of Springfield Simpsons figures and environments on the shelf back in 1999 or so. I got a Homer with nuclear plant playset because it looked just like in the show and before I knew it, I HAD to get the entire town and all the characters and I was suddenly and obsessed completist.

I was still not interested in comic book figures too much though (the minimal articulation in the Simpsons figures was alright for those characters, but would not suffice for action heroes) until I saw the first wave of Marvel Legends figures and I instantly got all I saw (except for Toad, like many others, who knew he would go from pegwarmer to valuable property?) Then, as the line kept growing and I discovered that DC had similar representations available online, I began getting more and more and that started me down the doomed path of slave to plastic crack that I have now become today.

3- Why do you Collect what you Collect?
There is just something very appealing to me about three-dimensional representations that I don't get from the 2-D world. Whether it's statues or sculpture or action figures, to me a representation of say, Etrigan the Demon, that you can hold in your hand or pose and take in all details from all angles is every bit as magical as gazing up on Rodin's statue, "The Thinker" (which I also have a reproduction of) and I derive a certain satisfaction upon having it and being able to control and change it and gaze upon in new ways than I ever could with a painting, comic book or movie. So, to have a bewildering array of choices of my favorite comic characters, movie characters or both available in this medium to display, pose and have interact is very compelling.

4- When did you begin to display your Collection?
Since I built an office in my basement around 1997, I put up various figures on the wall here and there with push pins as a whimsical nuance amongst other, unrelated items. Once I started collecting in earnest, I was keeping all my figures and playsets Mint-in-Box/Package/Card for a long time and just hanging them on the wall or stacking them on shelves. It was quite a site to behold, with all the various colorful packaging catching the eye more at first than the individual figures captive therein, but I was running out of space. I think I first started opening the Marvel Legends figures because they were just too well articulated to let languish in a static state, so from the first wave on, I have always opened them and that has continued with all my figures until now, even without the extra girth of packaging to worry about, I am running out of room again.

5- How do you get your inspiration to organize and display your Collection?
At first, it was easy enough to group them together by just Marvel or DC. As the numbers began to grow, they were divided into their natural teams or associations. Once I started taking photos and trying to pose them in realistic or comical situations, I felt the need to also have realistic backgrounds instead of a desk or kitchen table or other out of scale real life objects in the background breaking the illusion I was trying to create. So I ended up using what in-scale props and bit and pieces of set design came with the figures and eventually had to move towards making my own to fill in the gaps to create a full diorama to display and pose the figures in. The inspiration from the figures' documented history is apparent and easy enough to figure out: Batman goes in the Batcave, Gotham City, Wayne Manor, etc. Superman needs a fortress of solitude, Spiderman: the Daily Bugle and New York City, Doom a Latverian Castle, etc.

6- Do you "Collect 'em all", or just the ones you like?
Since the advent of Build-A-Figure marketing, I have been known to collect figures of characters I either don't care about or who I don't even know at all, so even though I would like to think I only get the ones I like, I know I can't say that truthfully. Also, a lot of figures are cheaper buying the whole set and it ends up being just as costly to buy only the ones you want separately than it is to get the whole set for a discount. That said, I own very few "chase" figures because I can't find them much and I refuse to pay a premium for them on the secondary market, so I am not a completist in that sense.

7- Do you have a favorite character that you Collect?
I don't think so. I probably have a lot of Superman, Batman and Spiderman figures compared to other characters, and I do like those characters more than most, but it's also because they are produced in such high numbers compared to others.

8- Which item in your Collection would you say is your absolute favorite and why?
It's hard to quantify my "favorite" in anything, but if I had to pick for this category, I would say the 13" DC Direct Deluxe Batman figure. Probably because it meets the criteria for my particular preferences in action figures the best. I still have an affinity for realistically-clothed figures as opposed to molded plastic ones and the larger, the better. So this figure with it's size and detail as well as the always-cool look that the Batman character has, makes it particularly appealing to me.

9- How much do you spend a month on your Collection?
Hard to say, it fluctuates a lot and even though I have been trying to cut down, it seems I am spending much more this year than I did in previous years. I keep track in Quicken and have assigned an "action figure" category to my purchases and included the stuff bought for dioramas and vehicles, etc as well as the figures themselves and I also subtract the amount I make selling off figures. In previous years I spent about $120 per month, but this years has been closer to $290 per month and the year is not over yet, so that may throw off the average, but that's how the numbers break down according to Quicken. Yikes! So much for cutting down!

10- Which item was the most difficult to obtain?
For what I want, nothing is all that difficult to obtain, especially in the age of Ebay. Now, obtaining it for a reasonable amount, THAT is difficult. I do wish I had bought more of the Sentinel series figures when they came out because once I decided I would like more than one Sentinel, the prices on obtaining the various parts was higher than I wanted to pay. I was lucky to find a lot of the figures on clearance price at a KB Toys outlet, but the savings would have been erased by the high prices I would have had to pay to complete the Sentinel, particularly the head and shoulders and upper torso that came with the FA Spiderman figure, so since I wanted to find that at a decent price, that was probably the most difficult to obtain for me.

11- What is the oldest item you own and the one with the most value?
I guess my old Mego figures are oldest, but since they were never kept mint in box and were played with, they are not extremely valuable.

12- What is your "Holy Grail"?
I never did get a glow in the dark "Radioactive Homer" in the World of Springfield line because it was too rare and expensive at the time, that would be good and my Mego Batman/Bruce Wayne with removeable hood was broken and lost, it would be nice to replace that. Really though, I'm not that committed to any one obsessive need for a particular collectible item. Although an exact replica of the poncho Clint Eastwood wore in all three Sergio Leone westerns would be great to have. (I found a company that makes them, but they are too pricey for me.)

13- What inspires your to purchase an item to add to your Collection?
Just if it fits in with my vision of what I want to display and if it is interesting visually. I love James Bond movies, for instance, but I have never bought any of the action figures that Sideshow or others make of the series because a guy in a tuxedo or suit or even scuba gear is not that interesting, visually, to me. Alternatively, even though I am still waiting on the DVD to see Grindhouse, I already bought a figure because a girl with a machine gun for a leg is an interesting thing to have standing around. The same can be said of getting a Swamp Thing figure over, say, a Maxwell Lord figure. Although I find with the more and more intricate and realistic dioramas I like to set up, I do have a more pressing need for plain, civilian-looking people to populate the background.

14- Customizing figures and statues has become very big, have you ever purchased a custom figure or statue and have you ever tried making one?
No, I've never purchased one and I have not really looked into getting started in the craft myself. Out of necessity, however, from the dilemma I mentioned before about not being able to complete another Sentinel economically, I did build my own Sentinel torso out of a can of beans and other household objects and that was a fun learning experience but real customizers would laugh at the results.

15- Where do you make most of your purchases from?
Looking at my Quicken reports, it seems to be an equal balance of retail and online stores. I prefer to walk into a Wal-Mart or Target or other brick and mortar store and find the figures I want on the shelves. It's a little cheaper in price and lot more satisfying to discover them there, along with the perk of instant gratification. There's no sales tax (usually) from buying online and sometimes it's the ONLY place to get particular figures, but nothing beats finding figures you want or need (in the collecting sense of the term) right in front of you and with a clearance sticker on them.

16- How does your partner (wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend) feel about your collection?
My wife is great about it, she just smiles indulgently about the whole thing. If anyone gives me any grief about, it's my own self-doubt that maybe I should not be spending so much on such relatively trivial items. My wife, however, never questions or criticizes my mania. Particularly magnanimous of her since at the moment she is  bringing most of it in.

17- Do you ever get hassled about being a toy collector?
I can't say that I have, no.

18- What will happen to your collection after you've passed away?
I wonder about that a lot. I assume it will be given away or maybe sold for fraction of it's worth by those who do not know its value, either marketably or intrinsically. I have two kids and neither of them is particularly impressed or interested in the collection, but maybe when I'm dead it will take on a sentimental attachment as a reminder of their crazy dad.

19- Is your collection insured?
Not specifically, just the contents of the house in general.

20- What is missing from your collection that you hope to one day acquire?
Maybe some of those chase figures I could never find. I've gotten a few on sale that I thought I would never see, so you never know.

21- What toy did you have as a kid that you most wish you had kept or, at least, kept in good condition for your collection?
Probably that removeable mask Mego Batman I mentioned or the Batmobile that launched missles out the back. My Evel Kenival figure and motorcycle would be nice to still have too.

22- If you needed to raise cash quick, would you consider selling (some of) your collection? If so, what would you NEVER sell?
If I thought I could get enough to make it worth it, I probably would. But it would either be too much of a hassle to try and sell them separately, or else take a bath by selling it as a whole.
 
23- What is the usual reaction when people see your collection?
Just astonishment to begin with and then either hushed silence or continual appreciation depending on whether they think it is a cool idea or the result of immature insanity.

24- Do you attend conventions for some of your purchases? could you tell us about that?
I've never been to a toy convention and I only went to one comic convention back in 1986 and I didn't like being surrounded by others just like me for some reason, so I never went to another one. Maybe it made me feel less special, not being the only freaky person for a change.

25- Most collectors today go on what they call a toy run, do you participate in that as well? And what are your favorite spots?
Oh yes, even though it is rare for me to make a trip (and living out in the sticks like I do, it's a trip to go anywhere) out to a store JUST for action figures, but I am at a Wal-mart, Target, K-Mart, Big Lots or Dollar General at least once a week anyway, so I know the path the toy department of each chain well. I will also scout out the local Toys R Us or FYE or Suncoast if I am in the area.

Tell us about your routine.
I mostly just did, but if I am out for other things, I will check the toy aisle first, then make my way to unimportant things like groceries or clothes for the kids.

26- How do you decide what to take out of the package and what stays sealed?
Unless it is some rare piece that will have value today and tomorrow, everything comes out of the package now. I have quite an impressive collection of twist ties as well.

27- At what stage do you think your collection will be at 10 years from now, do you think you would have grown tired of it?
Just for financial reasons, I hope it has not grown much at all. I don't think I could ever grow tired of looking at it, especially since it is not a static collection and I am always reposing and rearranging it. Dust collection and precarious, domino-like disaster is always a looming impetus for the evolution of it as well.

28- What advice would you give someone who just started a collection?
Don't go crazy trying to make up ground by paying a lot for items you don't have, you may regret paying a lot for items you think you need just to catch up, but upon reflection, you will probably wonder why you thought that was a good idea. Usually, if it's a popular line, the chance to purchase will come along again.

Buy lots of shelves.