Post
by overthetop17 » May 30th, 2018, 9:25 pm
I too find this interesting of course...I find it interesting on one end you have the people who have a wife, gf, or kids and enjoy the hobby and go to conventions and maybe do an occasional street meet once in awhile. Than you have others who have no kids, no wife, no gf and dedicate many many hours and days to this. I would assume it would be difficult to have any of those when so much time is dedicated to chasing celebs. Most females would probably find the time devoted to this to be very odd or they would have to be into it as well I would think. Sadly I have actually seen this be a problem in one marriage that eventually ended in divorce. If I told my wife I was flying out west for some random names in a movie I just happen to like she would be like 'huh?? Really? are you kidding me?" If I told her I was going for something she knows I genuinely love she would get it and we have had that conversation, (Stallone and MR.T are the only two at this stage in the game).
I have had a discussion with my wife and some of her friends and asked what they truly thought of my situation and what I personally do with the hobby. They basically agreed that there are those who treat this as a hobby and are "collectors" most often seen at conventions and not on the street, and there are those go to airports, hotels, and wait outside places who they find "creepy." My wife likes to go to conventions with me every now and then mainly to people watch, I too am guilty of this and if you see me walking around a convention with nothing to get signed and just wandering this is exactly what i am doing. My wife likes the items I get done and thinks they look good on display, but it in no way thrills her to meet anyone. We had a discussion on what we feel are the two types of people in the hobby. We call them the "collectors" and the "obsessors." She will point out people that I have seen at various shows and it is fairly easy to distunguish the two. When she shes some of the photos people get and hears about the time they put in to get them it baffles her, and I cannot argue. I am fascinated just like MikeyIcon...and I guess it's like Class always says. Photo ops must be like crack to some people because to me it is just impossible to truly "like" that many celebs. I like Scwharzenegger....photo with him? I would pass. I like harrison Ford...photo with him? Pass. So no...you don't get photos with people just because you "like" them in my mind. A study needs to be done....a book needs to be written, and a documentary needs to be made.....the behavior baffles me what I truly want to know from everyone is why do you do it? What exactly does it do for you? Does every photo op make you feel good even after the fact? Do you like to impress people with what you get? What is it? It has to be something....
For me personally I collect what I do because I have a connection to either something or someone I grew up watching that impacted me in someway. It cannot be just anyone or anything I happened to watch, but something that had a bigger affect on me that sticks with me to this day and still makes me a feel a certain way. As a kid I watched shows like "Alf" and "Full House" and "Family Matters." Fun shows and good times...but it does not go deeper than that. Today I could take those shows or leave em hence the reason I have no desire to meet any of those people even though I like the shows. When I meet someone I admire on another level and then go back and get them again, it's for multiple reasons. Seeing them again never hurts because it gives me a chance to ask something else or sometimes have a great conversation, and second I often find other items I have been looking for to get signed. The items will eventually be displayed nicely in a room where I hope to have people come and hangout and they will provide a spot for me to relax and surround myself with the things that had an impact on me or made me feel good at some point in my life and still do. As far as the amount of items I have signed by one person, I am guiltly of going overboard in some instances, but I have weeded out many items and have finally gotten it under control.
I recently sold 2/3 of what I have and re-evaluated everything and was able to select the key items I want and from this point on it will be just that, if Im on the fence about someone or something I'm just going to pass on it. I have to be all in at this stage of the game. So when Class says this hobby is like crack for him, I don't have that same feeling. What the hobby gives me is a sense of knowing when I see someone on my tv screen that I admire and knowing the affect they had on me that I had a chance to tell them just what it did for me exactly and to shake their hand and thank them for it. These people truly provided "magic" for me...Rocky...Hogan...Kilmer...they took me away from reality and still to this day provide that magic with the characters or roles they played...these have always held up for me. I don't get that feeling from anything nowadays entertainment wise. So when I get an item signed and I can match it to a particular thing that they encompass it really does mean something to me as corny as that sounds and to be sitting there watching a movie like Rocky glancing over and seeing that figure I had as a kid now with Stallones signature on it, it just brings it all together for me...it's a really cool feeling. I could only dream about meeting these people as a kid, they were larger than life and the guys I mentioned will always be that way for me.
Damn I wrote a lot....that's what a few drinks does lol.