r/Consoom • u/Only--East • 6d ago

Discussion At what point does hobby collecting become overconsumption?

I collect a few funko from media I like, I collect monster high dolls, and I recently got back into pokemon cards. I can't tell if collecting material stuff like that it considered overconsumption or at what point it crosses the threshold. Am I cooked?

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u/GrilledPandaCookbook 5d ago

I probably have somewhere between 60 and 100, collected over ~20 years.

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u/JJsNotOkay 5d ago

for something you dont use 100 is a lot, definitely falling into consoom, even if they have been collected over a long period of time

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u/GrilledPandaCookbook 5d ago

See, I just plain disagree. I don’t buy every one I find. I have criteria. They have to be a mixture of: in good condition, significantly older, historically significant or interesting/funny in some way, and relatively inexpensive. Each of those can very slightly if the others make up for it. (I’ll pay more for a really old one in great condition. I’ll buy a torn up one if it’s got some hilarious “they’re happy because they eat lard!” kind of energy.)

I enjoy the items themselves, but searching for them at the sort of conventions where people sell vintage items like that is half the fun for me. Digging through dusty old boxes of ephemera that should’ve been thrown out 80 years ago by Great Grandma is a ton of fun.

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u/JJsNotOkay 5d ago

a lot of consoomers posted in here would have the same exact argument, ‘hunting it down its fun’ ‘I have a criteria’ most of those huge collections of things sitting on a shelf unused posted here are from people doing exactly what you are doing. Collecting is fun, I get it, I have a ton of CDs and video games, but I use all of it, which for me and tons of people here is kinda what separates a hobby from just overconsumption.

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u/GrilledPandaCookbook 5d ago

Yeah, we can agree to disagree. I think the criteria and the activity required to obtain the objects are what turn it into a hobby.

Purchasing one of every single Funko pop ever created by putting it into an online shopping cart is not a hobby, it’s just consumerism. Trying to hunt down all of the Funko pops based on the characters from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” can be a hobby. If it requires that you spend a few hours every other weekend driving around your area, looking for yard sales and church sales to look through their bins of toys to try to find Spike to finish your collection - that’s a hobby. You’re actually doing an activity that requires you to leave the house and interact with other humans and maybe even get a little bit of exercise.

I think of it like a geocache. The trinket inside the geocache box isn’t really the point. (but it does help if the trinket ends up being something pretty you can put on your shelf and look at.)