What and when did you start collecting?

[Polaris]

Hey guys to help cool things off a bit with the Frozen release coming up I was just curious and wanted to know.

What else do you guys collect other than the Disney LE dolls, it doesnt have to be other dolls that you collect but absolutely anything else.

Also I would be curious to know how did you discover the Disney Dolls and when did you start collecting them?

Ill start things off, prior to collecting Disney dolls I was collecting Tomy Pokemon figures. I am actually really impressed with my collection because I managed to collect all of the first generation Pokemon, most of the second and all the starters and legendaries of all the other generations but a couple of others. So for those of you familiar with Pokemon you would know that this would amount to over 300+ figures. Other than that I didnt really collect much else other than limited edition video games but nothing near and exclusive as the Disney dolls.









I found out about the Disney Limited Edition dolls around July last year after I came back from a holiday in the US. I was considering buying the Disney doll set that the Disney Store released as I thought it would be cool to have something that had all the dolls together. I also thought it cool that it had the year on the box indicating the year the movie came out. Thing is due to the bulkiness I didn't want to have to bring it back with me and so I jumped online when I got back to Aus and that is when I saw the limited edition Merida. When I read the details about it I thought it was pretty cool so started researching into it and found out that Disney Store had released several other dolls before Merida. Rapunzel is my favourite princess so when I saw her doll I had to buy her. Unfortunately I didnt think to look on ebay so I bought both Rapunzel and Belle off Amazon which obviously means that I bought them at the higher end of what they were available at the time on the secondary market.

From there I became obsessed with these dolls and made every effort I could to collect each and every one of them. Even so far as to travel all the way to LA just to go to the D23 expo! LOL

I am sorta glad that Disney only started these dolls a few years ago, any earlier and I probably wouldn't have been able to afford them all. Then again I wish I knew of them earlier so that I didnt have to pay so much more for them on the secondary market, but hey at the end of the day I think what I spent on my collection was well worth it!

After collecting the dolls I started loving Disney more and started buying more Disney collector and limited items such as the Swarovski limited edition figures, the UK gallery prints, vinyls, plushies and now I am starting to build up a pin collection too. Dont get me wrong I was always a huge fan of Disney but that was more visiting the parks and loving the movies, I didnt really collect anything Disney until I discovered the dolls. To be honest at first I was sorta embarrassed because I am a guy buying dolls which I never thought I would do (as I always pictured Mr Smithers from the Simpsons and his collection of Malibu Stacy dolls) but now because how my impressive my collection is now I am actually sorta proud of it. Also the fact that it is Disney sorta makes me see myself more of a Disney collector rather than a doll collector.

For me the scary thing to think about is that yes these dolls have been around since 2009 however only now they are starting to become more and more popular. Which makes me question where Disney plans on taking these dolls in the future? Especially once they have released one of every princess. Because clearing it is a growing and very popular market and we all know Disney loves to capitalise on things that are popular and sell well.

 

[sappyanny]

I started collecting Dolphin figurines and knick knacks as a teenager. I at one time had a bedset, lamp, you name it I had it. Then asi got older my love for Disney became greater. I started collecting the Disney plushes, I would pick one or 2 everytime we went to Disneyland. Then when the vinylmations came out I fell in love with them. After the years of collecting them I have close to 200. I also started collecting Jim Shore pieces and WDCC. It wasn't until the designer princess came out that I found out about the dolls. And sadly I found out when the group of the 5 got released and I wasn't able to get the website to work to get any of them. So last October I bit the bullet and got them fro Ebay. I then was able to purchase the villains to go with them. Then with the preorder for Merida and Elenor I gound out about the 17 inch (which have now become my favorites). I have managed to get some of the ones I missed but know I probably will never get them all (dang fir not knowing about them sooner).

 

[jennisney]

I started collecting just everything disney I found cute, since when I was Young! But I ended up with so much junk... So i decided to just collect Pocahontas and batb things! But even then I ended up with silly junk I didn't really like! So I sold off a lot of mg batb and Pocahontas collection and now I only collect LE dolls, snowglobes and ornaments

I kept these items of my batb collection though! Along with my designer doll and my animator doll! I also kept my Pocahontas mini snowglobe, designer doll and animator doll !

I also try focus on pins too as they don't take up much room!

I keep special plush toys I have, but I have sold off about 30 of them :lol:! The ones I have kept are the Stitch my dad bought me when I got into the disney college program, the Duffy bear my boyfriend bought me for my birthday (I love duffy bear so much!!! Haha), my Mickey Mouse plush cause everyone needs a Mickey Mouse plush!! Haha, my Kenai plush from brother bear cause he's adorable, baby Pegasus for the same reason, remy, bolt, rhino and my lady and the tramp I got when I was young from DLP !

I collect the art of Disney books too, like art of wreck it Ralph etc! I only started last year so I only have about 6 or 7, but now I get the newest one every year for Christmas ! So excited for the frozen one!!

I have also clearered out a lot of space for the frozen stuff, I am planning on getting the 12" dolls of Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Hans. All the LE dolls they release, (hopefully) all the LE pins, the snowglobes and ornaments they hopefully release and anything else that takes my fancy! I love the sketchbook Christmas ornaments and I hope they release them in the UK!!


When I was younger I use to collect beanie babies and I have a huge box of them above my wardrobe, I'm going to sell a lot of them when I can be bothered to list them on eBay :lol: but they sell for nothing now, but I guess getting a few £s is better then none haha!!

I also began collecting vinylmations last year too... But I ended up not liking them and sold then all. I only have a beast one now because his is really cute! I also have a Knicks one which I plan on stripping and doing a repaint !

This was a really long and boring post I made ! Hahaha sorry

 

[Polaris]

Dont worry about the length of you post, it is interesting hearing about how people got into collecting.

 

[mrs_yunluoglu]

Here comes a very long post about me, my collection, what I collect and what I have collect.


I started to collect Britney Spears related things when she first came out with her debut song "... baby one more time",
I made binders, full of pictures, articles, front magazine pages and posters all of her of course And bought everything I came across with:
cds. dolls, magazines: you name it.


Also Pokemon came in to my life then too, Pikachu was my favorite (but now also Sandslash, Vulpix, Togepi, Eevee and Bayleef)
and that little collection came up again this year (2013) and I have bought so cute plushies that my son will get when he get older (he is just 2 months now).


I have been collecting many different things in my life I realize now haha...
As many other teenagers out there I had a huge celebrity crush on Orlando Bloom so guess who were all over my walls when I was a teenager xD
And who also got himself a binder haha...


Together with Orlando Bloom I became a Lord Of The Rings fan too, but the posters on my walls was all about Legolas.


And oh Buffy The vampire Slayer am I a big fan of too and I bought all the seasons on DVD but it took a while to buy them all since they were quite expensive...
and most of them I got as a present in different times like for when school finished during the summer.


The Twilight Saga came up in my life when I went to school, some girls talked about it so I got interested and went with my sister to see the movie on cinema
and after that I got stuck <3 I love my little babies Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart = Robsten and I hope and wish that everything is fine between them <3


It was not until winter 2009 I came across pictures of other peoples Disney doll collections and I was amazed by them but since I lived together with my parents
I did not do anything about it then. And my sister showed my again pictures of other peoples Disney doll collections some time in the winter, 2010...


So finally when me and my husband found our own place (in the beginning of 2011).
And for make a long story short, me and my husband met the first time in Turkey 2005, he was a waiter in the hotel me and my family stayed on.
The strange this is that we went to that city and just that hotel because the year before, we met the family we went again with when I met the love of my life.
If we had not met the other family we went on holiday the first time to Turkey, we had not got to know them and again traveled with them again to another city and hotel the wanted to go to. Which they told us one time we called them, that the already ordered holiday
and wanted us to come with them. So all because of them, I met my husband <3 Or like I say, destiny brought us together <3


I started slowly to buy beautiful Disney dolls and that collection just grows bigger and bigger
(the other collections do I not collect to any more, I am just concentrate on Disney now).
I wonder how it all will look like years from now... xD <3

 

[oktober1995]

I've always loved Disney, even if people were bullying me for it when I went to secondary school. One of my other passions is ballet. I started ballet classes really late, when I was 12. I wanted to dance, but I was afraid of jumping in at such a late age. When I watched 'The Tin Soldier' from Fantasia 2000, I always tried to copy the movements of the ballerina. This eventually pushed me over the edge to just start taking lessons, and I was so glad I did! I've even been en pointe for a year now! Anyway, 'The Tin Soldier' was always really special to me. One day, when I was 14, I was on the beach with my parents, and we strolled past the shops. One of them was a collectibles shop, and we went in to admire the wares they had. The first thing that caught my eye made my heart skip a beat: the WDCC Tin Soldier & Ballerina. It was truly love on first sight, but the price tag was working against me. This beauty would cost me 450 euros, which I didn't have as a 14-year old without a job, of course. Like an angel sent from heaven, the guy that runs the shop came to me. He told me he had seen me staring at the WDCC, and that it had very small damage, so he would let them go for only 100 euros. The damage is not noticeable AT ALL, about half an inch of her finger is broken off. I was over the moon when my dad told my he would buy them as an early birthday present for me (because I didn't have 100 euros either). I'm still amazingly grateful for all the circumstances that enabled me to get them, and they are always a special part of my collection. Over the following years, I collected some knick-knacks, snowglobes, books, blurays and a few Jim Shore figures. When I turned 16, I got a job, and I bought two more WDCC's. My collection really started to grow big time a year ago though. My parents took my to the Disney Store in Antwerpen for my 17th birthday. This was pretty special for me, since I had never been to a Disney Store outside of the parks I had been to, and the last time I had been in a Disney park was when I was 7! (PS. Come on Disney, please make a DS in my country! We need some pixie dust in Holland...)
I got a lot of birthday money, and I was planning on getting a new WDCC (Lady Tremaine LE 500), some Animator Dolls (the first dolls in my collection!) and some mugs and fun stuff. Then I walked through the store, and I saw two things: Designer Mother Gothel and LE 17" Wedding Rapunzel. This was a new chapter, and I didn't hesitate when I bought them both, as well as the Animator's. When I got back home, I started researching these dolls a bit better. When I was in Rome, I visited the DS there and bought my Designer Cruella. I got 17" Rapunzel (blonde) as a christmas gift for myself, and I got Merida as a present from my family. I now have all the Animator Dolls except for the three I didn't like (Aurora, Mulan and Jasmine), 17" Rapunzel (both), 17" Merida, 17" Merida & Elinor and 17" Ariel. I also have DFDC Snow and Rapunzel, DV Mother Gothel and Cruella, and I bought myself Designer Rapunzel. My newest love is Designer Aurora, who I got for my 18th birthday about two weeks ago!
It's a hard time for me right now, because I started university this year, which is really expensive. I already had to let DFDC Belle and Ariel slip because I simply didn't have the money. I do have the money for the Frozen 17" dolls luckily. I hope I'll get used to it, and can't wait until I have a stable well paying job, and I can buy ALLL the collectibles hihi.

 

[KGdiva]

I have always loved Disney things (had all the VHS tapes growing up) but I especially loved the Disney Princesses. As a child, I got all the toys and played with them relentlessly, but I didn't save anything was I was past the playing age.

What really got me started was the Toddler Animator Dolls line. It started innocently enough - I bought Jasmine on a trip to the Disney Store in Florida with my boyfriend. Before I left I went back to stare at them longingly, and my boyfriend decided to buy Belle for me. Few months later I was back again, and we were told by one of the CMs that the line was going to be discontinued. I bought Ariel at that point, and when my boyfriend shipped her to me a week later she arrived with a friend - Rapunzel. And at that point, things got out of hand. I wanted them all. And with the help of a sale at Disney, my wonderful loving boyfriend, and a combo pack on eBay for the sold-out dolls, I managed to get them all, plus Merida. I unboxed them all, and have them set-up on a bookshelf in my room. Can't wait to add Elsa and Anna to the shelf!

From there I'm beginning to branch out to the LE dolls. The older designer collections don't really interest me, but I loved the Fairytale dolls, and I now have Jasmine/Aladdin and Belle/Beast. I am looking forward to Anna's release, as I hope to make her my very first 17" LE doll. I am strongly considering (if my bank account allows) really going all-out and trying to get lots of Frozen things - the classic dolls, the plushes, the little mini-playset. I am really looking forward to Frozen and I hope that it lives up to all they hype!

 

[Polaris]

I think it is pretty interesting that people were originally collecting other items, or were looking for other items first and then as a result ended up finding out about the collection as a coincidence. It makes me wonder if Disney actually advertised these dolls at all? It makes me think that the info and news of the dolls are just spread throughout Disney news and through word of mouth.

Because I dont think very many people went into a store or online looking for these dolls based on an ad by Disney by the sounds of it I think most people only discovered the dolls through chance and coincidence which is pretty cool. By dolls I am referring to the LE dolls, the designer line appears to have been pushed and marketed by Disney more so than the LEs.

Also for those that collect only merchandise of certain characters I have to say I commend you for your resolve as I could never just collect certain ones for a certain set as I am such a completest. I think the only things I never collected the whole set of was the gallery prints and the animator dolls. For those I just got the ones that I liked. Which reminds me Jennisney being a huge Pocahontas fan did you get the Pocahontas Gallery Print that was released and exclusive to the UK last year. I think out of the Gallery Prints she was one of the best because she had a fire type background and it just looked amazing.

 

[auroradawn]

I don't remember when, but I just started kind of accumulating miscellaneous Sleeping Beauty collectibles like vintage storybooks and plates.

When really got it going was with the Designer Princess collection. Disney put out that little promo vid with the concepts and the dolls, and as soon as I saw Rapunzel I was in love!! Aurora is my favorite princess, but I really hate her Designer doll. Rapunzel was my first collector doll and she's gorgeous. I missed her on Dollmagedon, but my friend was looking out for me and snagged one at her store.
The rest is history I guess! After that I started looking at other collector Disney dolls and got my first 17" (secondhand) - also Rapunzel.

I've tried to keep up with them, but I missed out on Snow-Alice. I knew about Wedding Rapunzel, but wasn't compelled enough to get her (I like her blonde ). I also "missed" the DFDC because I couldn't handle the prices and the ones I liked don't fit my collection. I was too deterred by Rapunzel+Flynn's terrible box pose and their price to buy them, but I would still like to have them if I ever found some cheaper (as if haha :lol.

But my doll grail is 17" Snow White (of course!). And I'm super looking forward to Aurora's year and her hopefully stunning LE doll! And Phillip too :drool: !

 

[sharyn]

I just want to say I love reading about this, it's very interesting to see how people started collecting even if it wasn't LE dolls ^^

Well almost two years ago I was just on ebay looking up alice dolls (Barbie or disney store) because I loved alice in wonderland and wanted something to put on my shelf, I came across the LE 17 alice (I was 17) and fell in love but at $400 and no knowledge on any of the dolls I thought she was a little expensive and didnt have that much to spend on a doll (I know, I regret it every day -_-) then around feb last year I found out about the designer dolls, I fell in love with them, but living in Australia I couldn't get them for a good enough price so I let them go for a while.


When I found out about the villains I wanted mother gothel, and that was the same time my parents were going to America on holiday so I asked if they could try and get me her, when they came back I not only got mother gothel, but they surprised me with cruella, maleficent, queen of hearts, Ursula and the LE 17 lady tremaine (I love you mum and dad!! ><) I was so excited! That was also when I learnt about the LE 17 dolls (and about the alice that went by)


I left it for a couple months and giving up hope in ever getting the 2011 designers because I was happy with what I had before searching on gumtree randomly one night, i was actually looking for some pokemon games and ended up finding a designer mulan and Pocahontas instead, they were both local, and were a much better price then ebay (aus ebay anyway) after picking them up he pointed me in the direction of this forum and myUS (thankyou Polaris!! )


Since them I have collected all designers (except the D23 Cindy), LE rapunzel (both), LE ariel, LE Eric, LE cinderella, LE Merida, LE Merida + queen Elinore, LE Sargent calouhan, and LE queen of hearts. I also have some little figures my favorite would be the KH figure of king Micky dressed as sora from kh1 (thankyou you my brother

 

[LittleMermaidAriel]

I have been collecting since I was a little girl. I love collecting Disney things in general, but my main focus has always been The Little Mermaid. I have things that go back to her release in 1989 that are still sealed.
However, I purchase whatever Disney item catches my eye. While Ariel is my favorite princess I am a huge fan of the princesses in general. Specific Disney things that I collect besides dolls are pins, snowglobes and plushes. While I wish I could post some pictures of my collection, a lot of my things are stored away, but I will try to post some of my Little Mermaid Pins

@Polaris, my husband and you would get along very well. We used to be crazy pokémon fans, while it was more his thing, I got into it too. He used to collect pokémon and when I showed him your pictures it brought back a lot of memories. He still has some things that he says he will not get rid of until he is old like some cards and special edition pins Out of curiosity, whose your favorite pokémon? Mine is Vaporeon ♥ loved eevee and her evolutions, my husbands is Charizard. We can't believe how many there are now, its crazy. We used to be able to name them all, lol.

 

[Polaris]

I have been collecting since I was a little girl. I love collecting Disney things in general, but my main focus has always been The Little Mermaid. I have things that go back to her release in 1989 that are still sealed.
However, I purchase whatever Disney item catches my eye. While Ariel is my favorite princess I am a huge fan of the princesses in general. Specific Disney things that I collect besides dolls are pins, snowglobes and plushes. While I wish I could post some pictures of my collection, a lot of my things are stored away, but I will try to post some of my Little Mermaid Pins

@Polaris, my husband and you would get along very well. We used to be crazy pokémon fans, while it was more his thing, I got into it too. He used to collect pokémon and when I showed him your pictures it brought back a lot of memories. He still has some things that he says he will not get rid of until he is old like some cards and special edition pins Out of curiosity, whose your favorite pokémon? Mine is Vaporeon ♥ loved eevee and her evolutions, my husbands is Charizard. We can't believe how many there are now, its crazy. We used to be able to name them all, lol.

It would be awesome when you eventually get to display your dolls if you could post pics as I love seeing other people's collections. Even though I know that I probably have those dolls as well there are people like yourself that have a specific character they love and tend to buy more of that character. For example even though I have a lot of the princess dolls I also love collecting anything Toy Story especially if they have movie-like Toy Story toys. Usually from other peoples pictures I can not only see how they display their items but it is also a great way to see what other great merchandise Disney has around.

I have been a huge Pokemon fan since I was a kid and started that collection since I was about 14-15 years old so even though it may not mean much to people it means a lot to me because it is a collection I built on over the years. I agree with Vaporeon out of all the Eevee evolutions that one was always one of my favorites by the way I also collected the cards as well but found I preferred the figures as it looks a lot more impressive when displayed haha. I am still able to name most Pokemon from the first four generations but the fifth was just a mistake but it looks like they learned from it and gone back to normal with the 6th generation. Out of all the Pokemon my favorite has always been Dragonite. I just loved the fact that it was a dragon and could do almost anything because it could learn, fire, water, ice and ground moves and was even able to fly so I thought it was one of the coolest Pokemon around.

 

[disneykid85]

For me I started collecting Toybiz Marvel action figures like Spiderman and the X-men from the 90's. I got into collecting these in the 3rd grade as well as X-men comic books (good times!). They weren't the most articulate figures, but they were awesome! Back then my folks weren't fond of me collecting toys and would occasionally throw them out when cleaning my room, so I lost a good number of them. All that changed once I got into college and bought back all the figures I've lost plus the ones I had difficulty acquiring. Since then I've been quite protective of my collection and I continue to do the same with my new collectibles. Also aside from Disney dolls, I collect vinylmation, GI JOEs, Walking Dead, Gundam model kits, and the original 151 Pokémon figures from Burger King lol!

 

[Sanzoline]

I think the first thing I started collected was American Girl Dolls from back when I was about 3 and I got my first Bitty doll. she has blonde hair and green eyes (hey sadly do not make this one anymore) I have most of the very first outfits they ever made for Bitty since she had only been out for about 2 years when I got mine. I think I was 6 when I got my first Historical Doll, it was Molly =) Hahah I wanted her because she had glasses like my mom and I had always wished I had glasses (This wish came true about 10 years later, and I have no regrets! I love my glasses!) I don't have very many of her outfits, but I am planning to get more soon since she is being retired this year. Next i got Kit the year that she came out and she is my absolute favorite now, I looove reading about her time period because that is when my grandmother grew up, so I always found it quite interesting. After Kit, I got an Asian Bitty doll, who I named Kimi. After I got her I bought my very first doll with my own money when I was 10, she is an American Girl of Today (Now known as "My American Girl) with dark brown hair and blue eyes who I named Audrey. A couple of year later I got the first generation of Bitty Twins, who I named Morgan and Christian. Then I stopped collecting the doll for quite a while, and only recently got back into getting clothes for them for my future children. However, last year they came out with Caroline, whose stories take place during the war of 1812, and I absolutely had to have her! First of all my name is Karaline as well, and I also had blonde hair and green eyes like her at that age, and I adore her!!! She currently shares a shelf with Kit and Molly, with all the bitty dolls on the shelf below them, while Audrey resides on my window seat until I can get her a stand.

I also grew up collecting Madeline things. Madeline was my favorite book series as a kid because I really related to her (Being the smallest one in my family at the time) so I have lots of stuff for her. I have 2 rag dolls (One of which I actually just got), different clothes for my original ragdoll, the 8" plastic doll, along with Ms. Clavel, Pepito, and Chloe from the same set and the Old House in Paris dollhouse for them and the Genevieve bean bag dog to live in, also plenty of clothes and furniture =) I have every book that has come out (except the newest one) felt board playsets, a magnet playset, a teaset complete with picnic basket, a lunchbox, 2 movies, a notepad set, and the desire to name one of my future daughters Madeline.

When I was about 15 a very close friend of mine got me into Kingdom Hearts and anime and it has been a love the has grown into massive collections ever since. As far as Kingdom Hearts goes I have since obtained every game that they have released in America (Including re-releases such as the original Chain of Memories and the PS2 remakes and KH 1.5 even though I don't own a PS3), the original manga releases and the re-releases, phone charms, a shirt, 16 mini keyblades, and one full-sized steel Kingdom Key, all of the Gamestop pre-order bonuses since Days, posters, plushies, keychains, and figures. And a Kairi cosplay that my best friend made me

As for anime, my main loves are Saiyuki (Hence my username and picture) Fullmetal Alchemist, Kobato, Tsubasa, Digimon, and Fairy Tail. But I have the most merchandise for Saiyuki. I have all the mangas released in the US, 8 artbooks, anime guides for the 3 different series and the movie, the first series, the movie, and Saiyuki Gaiden on DVD (I refuse to buy the other ones until they are redubbed with the correct voices), the Anthology book, and a Sanzo cosplay also made by my best friend, complete with fake cigarette, scripture, and I used to have a paper fan until my friend "ate" it while cosplaying as Goku from the same series. For the other series I listed I have several manga from Fairy Tail and a Leo key chain, the complete Kobato manga set (And hopefully soon a Kobato cosplay, complete with Ioryogi plushie and bottle), the complete Fullmetal Alchemist manga collection, novels, and almost the entire second anime, OVAs, and both movies, sadly for Digimon the only things I have though are a patamon phone charm, and a Pegasusmon figure, although I am planning on cosplaying as TK some day from the second season, and obtaining a Patamon plushie, a green D3, and the crest of hope (Even though he did not have it in this season) for the cosplay

When I was in highschool I had to read Lord of the Rings for one of my classes and I fell in love with it, and boy did I fall hard! I have 3 different copies of the books, soon to be four as I am going to be getting beautifully illustrated versions soon to match the one I have of The Hobbit, and the same version of The Silmarillion. I also have 3 different version of all the movies, Standard on DVD (VHS for Fellowship), Extended on DVD, and Extended on Blu-Ray, Lego Lord of the Rings for Xbox 360, The Hobbit on Blue-Ray (Gonna be getting the extended for that soon too!!), PEZ dispensers, and two Lord of the Rings themed Ocarinas from STL Ocarinas. And I plan to get some Lord of the Rings themed board games in the future as well

It was only in 2009 when the LE Snow White doll came out that I started collected Disney stuff (Although I had always had a loved the movies growing up, even dressing as Nala and Tinker Bell for Halloween when I was 4 and 5) My mom surprised me with Snow White when she first came out at the Disney Store and suggested buying all of the dolls that came out, and now where we are 4 years and 17 dolls later! Hahah, last year I also began getting the Animators Collection dolls and putting them away from my future children to play with when they are old enough.

My sister also got me into The Hunger Game last year, and while I am not sure I would say I have a collection of Hunger Game stuff I do have all 3 books and a Katniss Everdeen Barbie, and I am planning on getting the ones that come out this year as well, although the only one high on my priority list is the new Katniss one.

My final active collection in one that I have started based off of characters that I have made up from stories my friend and I do, named WaterLily and Hope. Lily is mainly just stuff that has to do with her name, but Hope is a medieval character from a book my friend is writing that I made up and whom I cosplay at Renaissance Fairs. I of course have a dress that I designed for her and I am hoping that before the next fair we go to my friend and I can make the traveling/fighting outfit I designed for her as well. And almost anything I get that I see as medieval or "foresty" (As my brother would call it) or that just plain reminds me of Hope gets added to this collection (One of my LotR Ocarinas is shared in this collection because it is green and has leaves on it, even my Merida LE doll is half part of it because she looks like Hope to me with her curly red hair and bow and arrows, although I made Hope up years before Brave was out)

In addition to all of that I also have small Key (Stemming from Kingdom Hearts), Owl (From my love of Owl City), and Stuffed Animal collections

Pictures of Lily and Hope if anyone is interested: Lily (http://ilovesquirrels.deviantart.com/art/If-I-Die-Young-360406560?q=gallery:ILoveSquirrels&qo=1) and Hope with her Boyfriend (http://ilovesquirrels.deviantart.com/art/Hope-and-Aris-on-Apollo-and-Artemis-360407562)

 

[Polaris]

I love how much your collections have grown over the years and what I find interesting is the fact that the items you have been collecting are similar in a way. You are also very lucky to have been made aware of the LE line during its initial release back in 2009! Means that you would have bought all of them at retail and would have been the first owner of them all which is pretty impressive.

 

[shooting4ownhand]

The first things I collected was horse figurines and plushies. I have a couple of the Breyer horses from when I was a kid. I still have the majority of my horse stuffed animals and collectible figurines. It wasn't until after I graduated college did I really start collecting things. My first collection was Brave (well really Merida) which got me into collecting Disney things. Merida is one of my favorite characters and I just had to have everything related to her. I never got the LE doll but I got the talking Merida doll which has a similar face mold. I couldn't justify spending a hundred dollars on a doll when I had no job. I ended up started collecting Snow White merchandise last year because I fell in love with the movie, the movies history, and the art of the movie. Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs has become one of my all time favorite movies and I collect anything related to it. My other collections are Jasmine, Pocahontas, Ariel, Belle, and Rapunzel. They are my favorite Disney characters and love them each for different reasons. My newest collection is Frozen because I love everything about the movie.

I collect everything from dolls to ornaments. I am slowly starting a Disney ornament collection, regardless of the fact I dont have a Christmas tree to put them on. :lol:

 

[MountedArcherPrincess]

All your stories are so interesting! Gosh thinking back I've collected so MANY things....

When I was like 3 or 4 I remember I liked collecting baby dolls. Then from there I collected My Little Ponies and Barbies. Then is was Marvel cards, marvel action figures, Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures, Star Wars action figures, then I collected a bunch of anime. Rayearth and Sailor Moon were the big ones I collected from. I use to have this gorgeous Hikaru from Rayearth doll, she was still boxed and everything, and I gave it away (still kicking myself for that one). I collected stuff from Buffy, mostly Spike item because he was hilarious! Oh and beanie babies which I still have a box of my favorite ones left. When I use to play D&D I would collect different dice. Gosh there is probably more but that is so much!

I didn't start collecting LE Disney Dolls until June of 2012. I actually knew nothing about the dolls, I stumbled upon Merida online. I was actually recovering from surgery and most of my time I would spend online. I remember that Disney was doing this trip to Scotland giveaway and I would enter it every night. Then I saw a picture of Merida and went to the main blog where they announced that she would be available June 22 I believe. She was so gorgeous and I loved every detail. Plus I had already started collecting stuff from Brave. I thought this doll would be perfect and I will buy the Angus plushie to go with it. However, I had to get my friend to drive me to the store because I was only two weeks out of surgery and still hobbling around...lol. I couldn't even carry the bag but I had to have my dolly!

Then because I was still laid up from the surgery I started looking on eBay and found all the other dolls that had come out before. I think the next dolls I bought were both the Rapunzels, Tiana, Alice, Queen of Hearts, and Mother gothel. I basically had everyone except Snow and Belle. (This is what happens when you can't do anything for six weeks!) LOL. However, after getting all my doll including all the new releases I decided to slow myself down on which ones I would collect. So now I only collect my favorites.

Of course I have Merida, Merida and Queen Elinor since it is my FAVORITE movie. I also have Blonde Rapunzel, Ariel, Eric, and all the DFDC set including D23 Snow White. The only reason I collected the DFDC set as a whole is because I liked the story behind the design.

 

[Sanzoline]

I love how much your collections have grown over the years and what I find interesting is the fact that the items you have been collecting are similar in a way. You are also very lucky to have been made aware of the LE line during its initial release back in 2009! Means that you would have bought all of them at retail and would have been the first owner of them all which is pretty impressive.

Hahaha yeah dolls, figures, books, and props are mainly what I like to go for no matter what the collection that I am looking for =) And I am the first owner of all my dolls except for Mother Gothel, Alice, and the Queen of Hearts since I was not aware of them until later on, but considering how much they go for now I got them at a steal (They averaged about $300 each) I just posted pictures of my LE doll collection most of which contain glimpses at my other collections too

Oh and I forgot to mention in my last post I have a rather sizeable Panda collection as well due to my love of pandas =)

 

[moorhunhe]

I started collecting Lion King in 1994.

I've also had a "huge" Diddl collection somewhere in the 2000's, together with my sister.
(yes, the German mouse, hehe) but I've stopped collecting that. Though, I have all the stationary sheets complete up untill 2009 or so, I feel I should go on ebay and get the rest, just to keep it complete, haha!

 

[Shivatopia]

Oh dear, what a great question to reflect on!

I've always been a hoarder/collector. Whenever something came along with merchandise I liked, I would get more and more of whatever it is. That said, I am seldom a completist with most of the things I buy.

Looking back, it started with the toys from the cartoons I loved as a child in the 1980s: the Transformers, He-Man and She-Ra, My Little Pony, and G.I. Joe. My siblings and I always overlapped in liking these shows and the related toys, so we never bought duplicates of anything and collectively ended up with more. We did play with all of our toys, so none of them are in collectible condition now. We also collected DC comics of our favorite series. These are also not in any sort of collectible condition, as we read and re-read them often, even now.

With Disney, as a child, they did not have near as many nice things as they do now for dolls, so I remember that I did buy a few of the porcelain figures that were sold in the 1980s. I still have my Briar Rose and Prince Philip (though I need to repair his extended arm which did break off years ago). The actual VHS movies were more precious to me, and whenever a classic was released for the first time on VHS, it was a really big deal. Remember that VHS tapes were quite expensive back then. I also bought the storybooks for my favorite Disney animated films. Starting with The Little Mermaid, I started buying the CD soundtracks for the new Disney Renaissance films (which I still have).

In the 1990s, my collecting turned toward things from Japanese anime & video games. I have complete series of manga (in Japanese) and laser discs (also in the original Japanese), the related CDs (for the many series and albums from some of the Japanese voice talents). I also bought figures (all of which are now in storage)... Yeah, I spent a lot of money on that stuff!

Starting in 2001, I started buying Collector Barbie dolls, starting with their Princesses of the World dolls. That exploded into a major collecting focus for me, which lead to designing my own OOAK dolls for themes that Mattel just did not explore.

As for Disney dolls, I started buying them back in 1989 with The Little Mermaid. There really weren't any other good toys for the movies in my opinion back then other than the dolls, so I continued with the dolls for Belle and the Beast, Aladdin (but I did not care much for the Mattel Jasmine doll), all of the original Mattel Pocahontas dolls, Esmeralda, Megara, Mulan & Shang, and Tarzan (I would not get Jane until much more recently). The 2000s were pretty much a dead period for me with Disney merchandise, other than buying DVDs and also the Disney Fairies mini doll set with Vidia and Terrence. In 2010, after I made a great return visit to Disneyland with my family, I started dabbling in Disney pins. That same year, Tangled was released, and I started buying Disney dolls again with the first DS releases of Rapunzel and Flynn. Then in August 2011, the Disney Designer Princess Collection was launched, and I was immersed into it completely a few weeks before the product launch and I also found DPF at that same time. I did not start buying the 17" LE dolls until early 2012, just after LE Wedding Rapunzel was announced. After I pre-ordered her, I bought the Blonde LE Rapunzel and LE Queen of Hearts from eBay, quickly followed by LE Snow White, LE Alice, and LE Mother Gothel... The rest is history, with an inevitable new desire for more of a completist outlook for the Designer and Princess-film-related 17" LE dolls. D23 Silver Designer Cinderella is a bit out of the picture, but otherwise, I have the rest of the Designer dolls with a lot of luck and some much-appreciated assistance!

 

[merida33]

What a fun topic! Its funny because until reading other people's post I never considered what I was doing as a kiddo collecting but it definitely was and back then I was a completest!

As a kid I collected lots of things and while I played with them they all stayed in perfect condition. I only had one Barbie who I would let anyone brush her hair. I collected mostly Barbies, My Little Pony, Pound Puppies, and I really like McDonalds toys and getting complete sets. All of that was lost after my mom's divorce when my step-dad gave it all away without thinking. It wasn't vengeful or anything he just never considered I might think it had some value.

I collected Barbies for awhile as an adult, nothing fancy just whatever struck my fancy. Again divorce struck, my own this time and when all you take is what fits in your car you leave a lot behind.

I just started collecting again in the past year. It all started with the Merida toddler doll. I have a picture of my step-daughter where she is making that EXACT face. It's hilarious. And its a face my man makes too so its extra special. So, I started out buying three of that doll. One for our house, one for her mama's and then one for me to pack away with that picture of her. Then I needed MORE!! I bought most of the animators but I don't worry about complete sets anymore. I skipped Jasmine, Snow and Cinderella. My first 17" was the Merida/Elinor set and I also got Ariel and am waiting with bated breath for Anna!

Trying to keep everything under control my focus is Merida, Anna is looking like a close runner up but I'll try to keep a handle on things until I see the movie. Also, princess-wise, Mulan and Pocahontas. (see the theme here? Tough cookies.) Rapunzel gets some love but mostly because Flynn reminds me of my man. He was kind of a super self-centered jerk at first but is ridiculously lovable once he opened up. I passed on the fairytale designer set because of the cut bangs. It would have driven me crazy! Lilo and Stich and Despicable Me (not Disney but super mega awesome!) Not that I don't venture outside of these but I'm trying to keep things from getting out of hand.

Finally, I'm a de-boxer. I like to touch things. My SO always laughs when we go shopping because apparently I am like a three year old and have to touch EVERYTHING. I plan on using the IKEA cases once we move into our own house (currently in a 400 sq foot cabin with half of that being the kitchen so things like a dresser take precedence. Buh.

The End.

 

[sheldoal]

At some point in my late teens, I began collecting tigers. I have too many plush to count. I have metal, plastic, resin, and stone figurines. I have paintings and posters. When I was a classroom teacher, I had a large tapestry pinned to a bookshelf. Kids would give me drawings they made of Tigger--I kept all of those. My nicest piece is a large resin tiger that my husband bought me at a small zoo in VA. I don't really go out of my way to collect tigers anymore. If I find a really nice piece, I might buy it.

In my late teens-early 20s, I bought Barbies. I have Madame du Barbie and Faberge Barbie, and Star Trek set, and maybe twenty other Barbies, but I lost interest in collecting those years ago. I do buy the Katniss Barbies because I love the book series.

My largest collection consists of books. I love books. I have way too many. I need to cull my collection. I specifically collect children's picture books. We have a wonderful book fair in Virginia called the Green Valley Book Fair--I buy most of my picture books from there. Very affordable--brand new with dust jackets. For example: The Three Questions has original price of $18. Goes for $14 on Amazon. I paid $6.25 at the book fair.

My second largest collection consists of teddy bears. I had a few as a kid, but I didn't start collecting them until my husband bought me a Vermont Teddy Bear for Valentine's Day. I started finding Boyd's Bears, in really good shape, at the local Goodwills. I also started finding Vermont Teddy Bears for like $2-3. My husband stopped buying me the Vermont ones after I found my third Vermont Teddy Bear at Goodwill. He paid $70+ (I have a pirate one and a Valentine's Day one bought by him), and I paid a couple of bucks for my three. I gave one to my mom: I put baby clothes and shoes on it that I bought at Goodwill. I really like the Goodwill, in case you haven't noticed. A student bought me a tiny Boyd's Bear that she found at the Goodwill--I talked so much about the great finds and great deals that she asked her mom to take her. *I regret not buying a large Jim Shore Christmas Minnie Mouse, in box, that I found at my nearest Goodwill; it was really cheap (maybe $5-$6?), but I didn't think I had space for it. Huge regret. I went back, but it was gone. My own fault. In addition, collecting teddies, I had to buy Duffy. I have three sizes of him (e.g. wristlet Duffy, the keychain Duffy, and the 17" one).

After honeymooning at WDW, in 2010, I discovered the Disney Store online. That is when I first started learning about the Disney dolls. After Brave came out, I loved the movie and wanted to start a collection from the start of something. I bought all the Disney Store Merida dolls (love the box set with Merida and Angus). I missed out on the snow globe, so that is on my wish list. I also missed out on LE Merida. Not knowing she would come back to US Disney Store, I bought her on secondary market--but not too much over retail. From there, I have bought the LE Merida and Elinor; LE Ariel; hope to buy LE Frozen dolls; and bought the Fairytale Couples (except for Snow White--and she is now on my wish list). I also own all the Animator dolls and plan to add the 16" Frozen dolls to my collection (even if they are not technically from the Animator series).

Looking back at the original Designer series (for future acquisition), I only like Jasmine and Ariel. Ariel is out due to cost. Of the LE 17" dolls, I wouldn't mind owning Mother Gothal and Wedding Rapunzel (she seems pretty affordable). Snow White is out due to cost.

If I had more money, I would love to start collecting Disney figurines by Jim Shore. Just love his stuff. Think that is it.

 

[Amarian]

People have been posting in the Animators Doll thread that those were the dolls that got them to start collecting and that got me thinking on how I started collecting. At first I wasn't collecting toys, I was obsessed with Anime and Manga so thats what really covered my shelves. I've always loved Disney, and Disney toys, but I never thought my collection would turn into what it is.

Tangled is what got me started. I got a kick at looking at the toys, but it was Rapunzel's unique face mold that had me hooked. She was just so adorable that I couldn't walk out of the store without her. From there is was to Brave, to Wreck It Ralph, to Frozen.

I love the hand drawn movies, but for some reason I am obsessed with the computer animated movies and merchandise. Be it the characters uniqueness, sass, or the soundtracks I can't stop listening to, I'm in love.

 

[Matthewlondon]

I have always collected disney things, as a child I had all the disney VHS, plushies, figures, dolls and snowglobes but as I got older I shifted into collecting other things and then once the designer Villians were released became obsessed with Disney dolls! I now just collect the LE disney dolls of my favourite characters. Don't see point in collecting them all if I don't like the character or look of the doll and they take up too much space! I'm so excited for Maleficent and Aurora this year as well as Anna!

Growing up apart from Disney I collected Pokemon trading cards and figures,WWF/WWE things, Sideshow collectibles and other movie dolls/figures, also went through a stage of collecting starwars figures lol.

My main collection when I was a teen was Buffy the vampire slayer, my room was full of merchandise.Figures,dolls,books, everything. Now I just have the DVDs.

Now I spend my money on beauty products, Hello kitty and LE disney dolls
This year I started to collect the Disney infinity figures and nearly have them all.

 

[blairbearbear]

i just started collecting dolls a few month ago.

it all started with Jim shore disney figurines.
Then one day, while surfing ebay for jim shore deals, i thought: "hmm, let's see what other disney products there are out there". which is how i found out about the dinsey animator collection dolls (and subsequently bought a closet full of them)
THEN, while looking at other disney dolls on amazon, i came across a tinkerbell dal, which is pretty much where my rationality ended and impulsiveness started...

pullips are probably the dolls i have the most of. i just love them and their little outfits.
here are some of my pullips reenacting a scene from an agatha christy novel:

spoiler alert.

the butler did it.