I once had a collection of Pokémon cards donated to me by my cousin. 2 years later, I sold them all for £20. I’ve made worse decisions since but that was a pretty bad one.
However, Dan Larson of Toy Galaxy had a clear mind when he sold his toy collection back in 2018.
At present, Toy Galaxy boasts over 165,000 subscribers and covers a wide range of topics, mostly in the form of top 10s and historical overviews. (And it is awesome.)
Gone but not forgotten
In a video, titled “Why I Sold My Collection“, Dan discussed his reasons for selling and how a need to “collect everything” got quickly out of hand. In his own words, he sold his toy collection to save it and gave some sage advice on how he managed to take control.
“If I’ve learned one thing from 24 years on the internet, it’s that if a thing exists, someone is out there collecting it.”
Dan Larson making his own variation of Rule 34 and Rule 44
But collecting things can turn into an obsession as Dan mentioned in the video intro:
“[…] part of being a collector – any kind of collector – is knowing when it’s time to step away from the collection, from the neverending pursuit of the next piece, and reassess what you’re doing and why. What are you collecting? Is it even the same thing you set out to collect when you started? How far away from the original idea have you strayed? How far will you go to justify that something should be a part of your collection just to be able to add to your collection?
Dan’s story transcends the collection of toys, or any paraphernalia for that matter. Unless you’re one of those minimalists, you’ll have collected items, consciously or otherwise, and you’ve avoided getting rid of the things you don’t need. Then you’ll continue collecting until you have the “moment of clarity” as Dan put it in the video.
Hopefully, you’ll find your own moment of clarity.