WOW, Ive just had a look through the lime lighting section, and dead set the way you guys have your collections displayed, and the shear scope of them is breath taking..
I have been inspired !!!! some of the DIY cabinets in there are the bomb i live in a small unit in sydney, i dont have much room, not to mention ive got a lady, a dog and a few bikes in here, but im going to get started on a new cabinet to house my loose collection, with plenty of room for all my variants, mini rigs, ships etc.....
I just cannot believe the collections some of you freaks have, some of you have bloody toy shops in your homes, its like the twilight zone, you know who you are you freaks
I love to see the passion you guys have, here i am thinking im pretty cool with my collection, after looking in there im just a little tadpole in a big pond..
I must say that if my loverly lady came home one day to find a toy shop in our unit like some of those, she would wait till i was asleep, then she would kill be in my sleep, if she hadnt already stabbed me when she found it.....
Im going to have to get a bit sneaky with hiding the evidence of new buys, make sure i delete the evidence off the computer, and get to the post before she does, shes got a wild streak that can easily come out with new starwars buys, and it is not uncommon for her to attack whilst im sleeping or awake, i'll have to be carefull and sneakier.....

so what im trying to say is that you freaks have inspired me, its great to see your collections n passion, thanks for puttin them up for all to see, and what the hell does your other half say about some of your collecting issues n literal toy shops in you homes? my lady would attack you if she was your missus, lol, i bet your thinking now, thankgod shes not mine..
cheers from aus..........

Excellent post.

Looking forward for your limelight

Some advice from this freak: take your time & do not buy anything for a month (especially if the Mrs is going to kill ya )

It's a mixed bag on what replies you'll get with how their significant others' feel about their collecting habits.

However, mine is pretty cool with everything. She has her head shaking/scratching moments here and there (mostly with the new animation art stuff) but for the most part she enjoys it. I find that as long as I explain things to her and make her as much a part of the experience as I can, then she's fine with everything.

I'm actually really pretty lucky, there hasn't been many things where she's flat out said "no way!" on. As long as the bills are paid and we can still buy the things we want together, then I'm pretty free to spend on my toys how I want to.

I usually don't have to ask permission either! Right... honey????

RebelChris wrote:

I usually don't have to ask permission either! Right... honey????

I was going to edit your post to be more like

"I DO WHAT I WANT! DONT MAKE ME GET OUT MY PIMP HAND!!!"

I just thought I'd feel slightly responsible for you death

We just do a weekly "allowance" thing. Save up, spend, do whatever you want with it - no questions asked. She shakes her head at my toys coming in. I shake my head at her 4 different curling irons, 25 pairs of shoes etc.

She tried to get beer purchases put into the allowance expenses - that was quickly squashed as beer is considered grocercies as far as I'm concerned.

My girlfriend totally supports the hobby, and I am very happy with that.

KevinA wrote:

She tried to get beer purchases put into the allowance expenses - that was quickly squashed as beer is considered grocercies as far as I'm concerned.

you are right barley is a kind of vegetable, kind of...

KevinA wrote:

She tried to get beer purchases put into the allowance expenses - that was quickly squashed as beer is considered grocercies as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not so sure I'd consider it a grocery item. More like a necessity, like underwear or Advil. I just don't think you could go without it. Unless you are John, and don't wear any underwear, but then he drinks beer also. So it's a win-win.

I will not question how you acquired the knowledge of Johns underwear preference......

I thought John had Italian, not Scottish roots?

KevinA wrote:

I will not question how you acquired the knowledge of Johns underwear preference......

....Anyways.... My lady is 100% cool with my hobby. She enjoys purses, clothes and shoes like I enjoy vintage Star Wars toys.

Ironically I don't drink beer, the underwear however is between me and Chris (or lack thereof)



My wife simply hates it. At best it's tolerated. So basically I loathe you all for having more understanding and encouraging wives

Great post, ozzie Greedo

I would say I'm very lucky myself. Of course my collection was already many years in the making before my now wife came around. I really don't have any problems with buying stuff I can't live without. LOL As long as the bills are paid. I have two passions collecting vintage Star Wars figures and reptiles. My house is divided, my star wars stuff hangs out in a main floor bedroom and I have a full reptile room in the basement. My wife is overly understanding in both and helps out when she can.
I'll come home a toy shoy or a reptile with a bag or bags of stuff and shes always interested in what I picked up. Which is great because its show and tell. If she has the time she would go to the shows with me. This August she'll be 7 months pregnant and can't fly to Orlando with me for CVI so for a surprise she bought my airplain tics so I could go.

Being a single man myself... with two little girls to take care of, there is where my budget ends. I have to take care of them first, take care of my responsibilities, then it's my time.

I started my collection in 1978... but the past few years it's been collecting with the girls, more modern. Since I got to this board? It's been a little crazy and I've got to learn to slow down!

I've got a MOC ROTJ Vader, ROTJ Teebo and a ESB C3PO on it's way. That's not including more mint loose figures and one bootleg.

The point of my post? Be careful... it can get you hooked. It's got me.

TishomingoSith wrote:

The point of my post? Be careful... it can get you hooked. It's got me.

You are so right. After I decided to actively read and post on the forum I have been hooked. I think its because you learn so many new things just from talking to other people and looking at their limelights. Since I joined TIG I learned so much info that I never even knew existed.

I am luck that my fiance doesn't bother me to much with what I buy. When its something I know she might not like i just tell her "you dont want to know". As long as the bills are paid she doesn't care.

Jaybird wrote:

TishomingoSith wrote:

The point of my post? Be careful... it can get you hooked. It's got me.

You are so right. After I decided to actively read and post on the forum I have been hooked. I think its because you learn so many new things just from talking to other people and looking at their limelights. Since I joined TIG I learned so much info that I never even knew existed.

I am luck that my fiance doesn't bother me to much with what I buy. When its something I know she might not like i just tell her "you dont want to know". As long as the bills are paid she doesn't care.

Oh... forgot to add, I picked up a MOC Bib Fortuna.

TishomingoSith wrote:

The point of my post? Be careful... it can get you hooked. It's got me.

Absolutely, when I first looked through the limelights I thought I can't post my piddly collection in there so I started buying to try and complete my loose collection. Along the way I picked up some creatures, MOC's, vehicles, a board game and AFA figures. All cool stuff but I was just buying for the sake of buying.

I couldn't justify the couple of hundred for Yak Face or a Blue Snag so I would make many small purchases. Then I sat back and thought about what my initial goal was and that was the complete loose collection. I haven't made a purchase for a few weeks and don't look forward to checking the mail anymore, just going to be bills in there. What I have done though is save the coin to be able to be really picky on the Blue Snag that I will eventually purchase, have looked at a few and if it ain't got shiny boots I'm not buying it. Watch this space.

Oh and still haven't posted a limelight as the wife can't decide on a suitable display cabinet. I do have my collection sitting on other random pieces of furniture around the house so may just take some happy snaps.

I've considered myself lucky as both the ex and my current girlfriend have been very supportive of my Star Wars collection. (the ex is an "ex" because there were other problems). It's part of who I am and what I do, so my current girlfriend is cool with it. Does she always "get it", probably not, but she appreciates it because I like it. One of our tricks, which works for us but not everyone, is that we keep our money seperate. We both pay bills but after that, her money is hers to do what she wants with, and mine is mine. Keeps us with less arguements.

In regards to the set up, I have my own display room. That was a stipulation when I was buying a house. Granted.. I bought the house by myself, so I was able to specify what I wanted in it.

What you've realized from seeing all the stuff on display here is most likely what I was told many years ago by a John A. It's not the size of the collection but the quality of the collection and how well it is displayed. Check out Mattias's posts in the prototype thread for a truly great display. He captures both of these aspect perfectly and has a collection that is displayed that is nice and clean and comprised of just amazing items. I keep trying for something along those lines and fall short by a little. Still though.. it's very inspiring.

Don
who should be adding some stuff to the focus soon and then I'll really be screwed as I need to redo the whole display.

RebelChris wrote:

However, mine is pretty cool with everything. She has her head shaking/scratching moments here and there (mostly with the new animation art stuff) but for the most part she enjoys it. I find that as long as I explain things to her and make her as much a part of the experience as I can, then she's fine with everything.

I seem to be lucky like Chris in that my wife is very supportive of my hobby. I don't spend a whole lot of money on much else (that's just for me) and she genuinely enjoys seeing my new acquisitions.

In fact, we're in the process of building a new house and we made sure to build a room dedicated to displaying my collection. So she definitely supports me, and I know I'm lucky for that.

I have to share that my wife is really supportive aswell, she isn that found with my big displayplans for the future thogh
She thinks its fun to see me turn into a little kid when the mail brings me my latest acusision
She actually listens to me and remember some of the stuff i talk about regarding mocs, variants, ships etc etc. She tracked out a lili ledy scout trooper for my birthday a couple years ago, i sure were supprised. I have to say that i am very lucky to have her, it could have been the oposite. Its much esier to get this hobby to work out when you dont have to argue every time you want to bye something. To be able to mix them thing i love, my wife and my hobby, is really great

i must admit, that i am more than happy with my collection, there is basically not a loose production piece that i dont have, and i am very content with it, but it would be great to have it displayed really well, i do currently have one of the 4 tier glass cabinets, and i have an overwhelming amount of loose figures in there, there is no room for stands for the figures, i have tiny bits of bluetac holding them all up....
the limelight section has given me some great ideas on how to display my full set plus tonnes of variants, i might build one or look around for a double door bigger glass cabinet..
my lady is not really as bad as i made out in my post, but she does have a wild side, and she knows i have bought a few figures for a coupla hundred bucks, n she thinks thats crazy, but i have to say that she likes the look of the old school stuff, and shes pretty supportive about my toy collecting,
thanks for your replys to this blog ,they have been really interesting n a good laugh, this place has a warmth to it that i dont see over on RS in my time browsing on there, cheers n thanks

Tone - girlfriends cum and go, Star Wars is Forever

... now wives - that's a whole different ballgame! I've been collecting for 20+ years, married for 12+ both put equal strain on my finances and both can make or break my day but I'll always love'em both.

Best of luck collecting!

Cheers,
Christian

My wife is very supportive of my Star Wars addiction as long as it stays in my collection rooms and I can make the house payment!! We even built our new home (which I call Skywalker Ranch South ) around my Star Wars collection so that I had enough room to properly display and store my collection. I actually plan to post my first limelight here this weekend of a small part of my collection.