The Life of a Toy Store Owner

Hello, I am the founder/owner of Madcap Toys. Now before I begin, this is a personal opinion and each and every other collector will have his/her own opinion so if you don't agree with this article then that is fine because like I stated before, this is an opinion piece.

Old and New Toys Getting Together

So let me tell you a little bit about myself. I have always loved the toy collecting hobby. I have owned a toy store since 1997 and thankfully it has continued to grow and prosper as time goes along. I learned to love toys as a child and especially enjoyed my birthday and the Christmas holiday season because like many of you, during my childhood years, that was about the only time I would really get toys unless there was a really special occasion.

Now like most of you, I started out playing toys such as plastic army men, GI Joe, Star Wars, Transformers, and MEGO Action Figures and the like just for fun and I would have pretend battles against several of my neighborhood friends and we oftentimes would discuss what toys we wanted or hoped to get during the late 70s and early 80s from the Sears Wish Book catalog.

We would then compare those toys and sometimes trade them off with each other so it would seem like we always had a new or exciting toy to play with and then of course we often traded back with each other after the new wore off of those other toys.

We talked about toys a lot and unlike today's children, we didn't have the internet, tablets, cell phones or any such thing to talk to each other about whatever toy topic we were discussing at the time.

No, we would talk at school or at a store whenever we saw each other or even us guys would talk sometimes for thirty minutes to an hour about toys on the old landline telephone.

But as I and the six or so guys that I played with most of the time grew up and got older, something began to happen.

We went out and got jobs and discovered the joys of having girlfriends and life outside of that good old imaginary world of ours. We started finding ways to make money and got more into collecting and discussing the concepts, art, and technical aspects of toys more than wanting to play with them.

A few years later, I came back from college and got married at the age of 21. I needed to find a job and as fate would have it, I landed a job at Circus World.

It was a small toy store that sat in a mall and sold toys to everyone. I worked there for a year and then came along KB Toys and they bought out Circus World so I worked there for them for about another one-and-a-half years and became a store manager at the age of 23.

I loved the job and the toy atmosphere. And as things happened, I met more fellow collectors, many of whom at the time I was a little envious of because they could come in and buy a few hundred dollars in mint in box or never removed from package toys and I was sadly poor in my eyes with a wife and a child and another on the way.

No complaints there, but as stated, my love for toys had to be put in its place for a more important love and that was being a man and a father to my children.

But as time went on and I got older, then things began to change. I went from buying toys that were always mint in box to loose toys for display for action scenes of various sorts.

I also got into some small groups and created stop motion videos and we also played various miniature battles dealing with different setups or scenarios to see what could be done or not with what given set of limitations and goals we had. You gamers will know what I'm talking about here.

The collectors and groups that I began to hang with as a young man were almost all friends or friends of friends and your group would grow, but since the early '90s and the internet, things have changed due to the fact that people oftentimes will join groups and the like such as Rebel Scum or other collector groups and often have very little personal interaction with each other in a one-on-one relationship.

I really feel that it's sad because though many of these groups have some great people in them, many also have people that don't show off the best side of the toy collector community and it limits our outreach to future toy collectors because of the way many act in these groups.

When I was a child, I loved the toys for play but also because they were special to me and I could enjoy them and create a million adventures for them and do things that only myself and my friends would dream we could do in our own lives.

But as I grew older and time has progressed, most of the people today are more worried about the stupid details in every area of toy collecting to the point of it makes us all look dumb and stupid.

I know vintage toys and its analogies are important and the difference between original toys, remakes, or reissues. But I have also seen people attack new collectors that were original toy lovers as children say they never want to be associated with toy collector clubs because some know-it-all comes in and publiclyhumiliates them in front of a whole group of collectors both novice and seasoned over a small exaggerated issue that really doesn't amount to a whole lot.

Most of the people like that don't get that some people are wanting to join toy clubs as a hobby and not as a passion. They love toys but not the nuances of the hobby, which are basic details most people don't care about. For example: The first released Star Wars Tie Fighter was released in 1977-78 and it was white like the X-Wing and then later on they changed it up and released it in a bluish design or color. That may be a big deal to a nerd or geek that lives in his mom's basement that has nothing to do but stay home and eat cookies while good ol' mom goes to work.

But to a toy lover, it really doesn't matter that much because he isn't looking at the date of release nor is he looking at the Tie Fighter and saying he has the first release variant. He is just thrilled to see and show off that he has an original vintage Star Wars Tie Fighter from the New Hope movie.

Now to the collectors it matters a little more but we need to separate the two groups and realize that some say they are collectors and are really just toy lovers seeking to get the toys that they had in their childhood.

I myself have had guys in my store where we had to almost get between them because on one side I have a toy collector sporting details, specs, and real facts, but on the other, I have a guy that doesn't care if the item is a first released original or just sometimes a recent released variant of a toy because they are just toy lovers.

When my friends anad I talk about toys were growing up and started making a business out of it, I thought and still do to a large extent that it's all about the toys and not so much about all of the little annoying things that seem important to some guys that really have more time in their lives. Yes, that sounds hard and it won't be popular but it's a bad thing about some toy clubs today and I've seen more than one group do this. They get to where they are a closed up group where if no one can spot the difference between why Snaggletooth from Star Wars was originally released by Sears in an exclusive bar scene in blue compared to his later release in his red or pink outfit then some clubs don't want a person in their group and that is a real shame. Like I said previously, I own a toy store and thank goodness it is running and going well and I want to encourage all of you to do your best to include newbies in our groups.

We all started somewhere and have all made bone-headed mistakes and and misnamed or misdated a toy or item. At least I have and trust me, some in a group are all too happy to let you know that you've screwed up. Correction is fine and needed but we need to first of all remember why we became collectors in the first place and what we got into our clubs/groups for.

It is our job to help others learn what they need to and answer questions as needed but we need to do it in a non-antagonistic manner and remember over and over again that not everyone cares about the little collector details. They are into collecting the toys themselves because something about those toys brings them back to a time in their lives when things were simpler and had brought them a moment of happiness.

I don't know but I have heard thousands of different stories from people that have come into my shop and purchased toys from me that when they see or buy or touch a toy, they share with me a specific memory about it. This is the exact reason why toy collectors get into the hobby in the first place, because they had a toy during their childhood that created a good memory.

Ask yourself this question. Why do you always feel the need to spot off to people about something you don't even know? Does it make you feel smarter? Does it make you feel powerful? Or is it a lack in yourself for not feeling truly fulfilled in your daily life?

I don't know and I'm not judging but from some of the clubs I've seen lately and the behavior and discourse that takes place, I get ashamed to be in some of the clubs I've been associated with and private message some of them to tone it down.

Because in the beginning and at the end of it all, it is supposed to be about the love of toys and not about the details that sometimes make others feel less than wanted in our midst.

Okay, thanks for hanging with me and I hope this makes someone think and helps some that have been turned off by our hobby. Not all of us think you need to be an expert in order to run with us.