KARL D. writes:

From the files of arrested development among the young “adult” American male. You may not be aware of it, but a growing number of men in their 20s and well into their 30s are collecting toys, specifically, action figures and comic books from Sci-Fi TV shows and movies — collections that can, and do, run into hundreds of these figures. There are entire online communities dedicated to this. While I find this disturbing I have discovered something even more bizarre. The latest trend is to pose and photograph these action figures in little tableaus! Just think of the time and effort that goes into doing something like this? Grown men! I haven’t touched an action figure since I was around eight years old! I am all for collecting. For example, I like to collect antique pocket watches. Some men like to collect books, art or old records. But toys?? Yet this is deemed as acceptable behavior. Same thing with grown men and video games. As long as it’s “not hurting anyone and it makes him happy,” as the saying goes. I don’t understand how any grown woman could look at a man with these types of hobbies and have respect for him, let alone physical attraction? What about a child? Especially a son? How can a little boy be expected to grow into a man when his father is playing with and photographing dolls as a hobby? Whatever happened to re-building a car together on a Sunday afternoon. While young men in China and Russia are learning to be men, our guys are playing with dolls. I don’t know? Am I making too much of this?

Laura writes:

The staging of little tableaux is kind of clever. (Unfortunately, some of them are pretty crude.) But, yes, collecting action figures is for eight-year-olds.

— Comments —

Rusty writes:

I don’t see a problem with these toy collections nor do I think it weird that men would pose their figures and take pictures of them. It seems very similar to building model train layouts, and grown men have been doing that for decades. The biggest difference would be that a train layout is much more labor intensive. It requires more planning and design, expensive supplies, and patience because it is made of many smaller scenes. In addition to the building, painting, and decorating of the structures, the scenery, and actors in each scene, there’s the difficulty of placing the railways, laying the tracks, and maintaining them so that the trains run smoothly. Most people have little time or space to build large layouts, so it makes sense to do these smaller ones. The signs to watch for are what is portrayed in each tableau.

Please follow and like us: