how do you decide what to collect?

as I look through everyone's pins here it makes me very interested to know how you decide what to collect. I've only been trading for a year. The first time I did it at Disney we didn't start till the end of our trip and I just pretty much traded for whatever I liked. The trip I just got back from though I still traded for stuff I liked but I tried to get sets of stuff that I liked (like the hidden mickey pins or things that are such and such out of 5).

so for those of you that collect the certain characters.....Do you get everything that they release with that character on it or only certain stuff?

My primary theme is Halloween. Its our favorite holiday. I collect the pieces that most appeal to me. I look at the quality of the art and design, the use of color, it has to be readily identifiable as a Halloween-type pin. As with any collection, one should collect what they enjoy. If it becomes a high-demand piece, all the better.

Welcome to the club! :wavey:

I mainly collect Aladdin Pins~ but there's a LOT so I mainly stick to Aladdin himself. Jasmine of course comes with the territory, but I don't necessarily go out of my way for pins of her unless it's something really different (Like the Designer Pin and a few stylized ones).

My minor collections are just that-minor collections. Just other movies/series I like. I don't necessarily get all the pins from that movie/character/series but I get pins that I think are just awesome

I just started collecting pins and have started to collect Stitch pins. I am especially enjoying the Stitch invasion pins since I like how his menacing qualities are being portrayed in the pins. I recently decided to collect Then and Now pins (the set) simply because I remember both the before and now attractions that are featured in the pin. I think I just dated myself....

Collecting is a very personal thing and no two people collect alike. There are major differences, I collect Alice in Wonderland (everything) and you collect HM's. I might collect everything Alice related and someone else may collect just Alice. I started collecting with pins that I liked and then narrowed my focus down from there. I still collect other pins that I really love, like Christmas, but it takes time to discover what you want your collection to be. And there is nothing to keep you from changing your mind and changing what you collect years from now. Just rely on your desires and you will do just fine.

Hmmmm...as the others have said, people collect for different reasons...

I think, with very few possible exceptions, we all collect things we like/are attached to- our favorite movies or characters, childhood memories, holidays we love, other things we're into (trains, etc.). Some collectors aren't picky about characters, but love collecting itself, and have to have all the pins in a series. The game itself is what they're into.

What's interesting is how we collect (our "guidelines"). Some people feel like we have to have all of them, some just collect the pins they like, some say "no words", some won't touch jumbos, parks only...

Personally, I just collect what I like, for the most part. My inclinations are towards my favorite characters and movies, but I do collect Halloween and Christmas...and, you know, if I really, really like a pin, I'll buy Fab 5 or Chip and Dale or whoever. My only attempt at being a completionist was with Jessica (and a little with Duffy). But the combination of art/styling I love and characters/movies I like are what gets me to plop the money down.

Why I like the ones I like is a different story...LOL!

I keep a personal group on PinPics for each Pixar movie. Each group is a list that includes every pin that features any character from that movie, as well as every related park/attraction pin.

So for instance, the Finding Nemo group includes every pin featuring a character from the movie Finding Nemo, and every pin related to "Nemo's Submarine Voyage", or "Turtle Talk with Crush", etc. which are attractions at the park. These are all of the pins that would fit into my collection.

But since I am not a completist, I do not/will not actually collect them all. Not all of them are on my wants list. I have gone through each group from each movie, and added only the ones I like to my wants list.

My advice to you would be to think of a character that you think you might like to collect, then type that character into the PinPics search engine, and look through all of the pins that come up. You may decide that you don't really like very many of the pins featuring him or her, and decide to look for another character. Or you may decide that the T/W ratios are crazy, and the pins will be too hard to get, and decide to look for another character. Or you may decide that since there are only 50 pins featuring him or her, you will try to get every one. Or you may decide that you really like most of the pins featuring him or her, so you will collect him or her, but only certain ones.

Hope this helps!

I mainly collect Haunted Mansion pins because that's my favorite attraction at DLR which stems from being a horror film fan and of all things macabre. I also collect any other HM souveniers as well, especially from DLR's HM 40th ann. in 2009. I've been collecting since the ride first opened in 69'.

One thing I've found is that our "collections" tend to evolve. At least... mine do. I felt like I collected too many different things so I decided to narrow it down a little. But like most of us... there are those pins that are just SO AMAZING that we add them to our wants even tho' there's just nothing about it that even remotely fits in with any other pins we collect!

I now try to stick with Mickey Icons, Minnie alone, and Mickey alone. I don't like pins with backgrounds or generally with dates. We all have our personal "rules". I think you'll just have to start with what you like and pretty soon you'll realize there's a "theme" developing. And if you decide to eliminate some from your collection... just think! You'll have new traders!

yeah I already have a large collection of pins and I know who I like.... I was just kind of asking to see how everyone else decided who to collect.

I used to have no clue what pin trading was! I never noticed it at the parks either until I met my bf. He had been collecting pins for some years before me and showed me his collection. I saw all his Stitch pins and they were all so cute! I still wasn't convinced that this hobby was for me. He showed me hidden mickey's and how cast lanyards worked. From that point I noticed these lanyards everywhere! I was just so amazed how I did not notice before. I was hooked and stopped every cast member I saw with a lanyard. At the time I still wasn't really a collector. I just liked the aspect of pin trading. He took me to a Pin Trading Night for my first time. There were so many people! I saw a Dumbo pin. That was it for me just then and there. I remembered the movie from my childhood and thought he was the cutest guy ever! My bf and his friends made some trades for me and got me my first Dumbo pins. It was just so fun and since then my Dumbo collection has grown. I also collect other stuff such as Walle and Lion King due to them being some of my favorite movies. I also collect some pins that just appeal to me. Whatever looks "cute" to me at the time. I try to narrow my collection down, but sometimes there is just a pin I must have!

i collect pins from the 50 animated feature films, as you may guess this is getting big. But i like them and i find it relaxing to fiddle with them in their books, i keep them together by movie in date order...lol pathetic. I found a cheap way of using 2in black school binders, cutting sturdy foam sheets (hole puncher needed) and dividing them with photo album sheets so they dont scratch and i can put the movie name and year on those sheets.....yeh fillin up and i like black and white mickey pins and older 80s pins.

jess_rn said:

yeah I already have a large collection of pins and I know who I like.... I was just kind of asking to see how everyone else decided who to collect.

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Hmmm, well, if that's the question...

Tink, because she's pretty and they make nice looking pins. For me, she's a purely visual character...I never much cared for her one way or the other in the movie, personality-wise.

Jessica, because her pins are gorgeous *and* I love her character. I love that old Hollywood feel WFRR has. I love her because she's both sultry and sweet, and loves her husband, despite being able to attract any man she wants.

Tower of Terror, same reason- classic Hollywood. Unfortunately, a lot of the pins are lame, so I'm really selective. Love that ride...

Duffy...I love him. Full-stop.

I'll collect Robin Hood, Fox and the Hound, etc., when it gives me a childhood pang and I love the pin.

Princesses when I like the pin (those tend to be my favorite movies, anyway)

Chip and Dale when the pin is cool/cute. I love Chip and rather hate Dale, funny enough.

Mulan...love the movie, and the pins are usually very nice.

Stitch when he's closed-mouthed and the pin is cute. Love the character, great movie.

There you go- way too much information...LOL!

My favorite character - Pooh...
Second - his Friends....
Third - Other pins I like.. which ends up to be pretty much ALL of them LOL

I started collecting about 2 years ago with a Si and Am pin & picked them because I had a siamese kitty & Lady and the Tramp has always been one of my fave Disney movies, and then just got whatever pins I liked, but it finally came to me which ones I really wanted to collect & have been concentrating more on those lately. For instance I started picking up Chip and Dale pins but realized there are so many that I am going to still collect them, but just holiday pins of them. I say just collect what you like & it will come to you which ones you really want to collect, maybe your theme can be "pins I like", and if you decide to collect something else, and you can always trade what you already have for whatever theme you decide to do. I narrowed mine down to Lady and the Tramp (especially Si and Am), Bambi, Piece of Movie History, Holidays, Cats, the Dressing Room Door set, SHAG, retro, and whatever pins I like.

I collect :

Lady and the Tramp - It's the one 'romantic' film I like and I just love Lady's voice hehe! I only collect lady and tramp together or lady with the puppies, or the puppies on their own. I don't really collect any of the other dogs though I have a few pins of jock and trusty. It was also the first disney film I ever purchased myself when I was about 9.

Fox and the Hound : This was the first disney film I ever saw, the friendship of Tod and Copper just makes me smile a lot and even though they suffer through some bad times they come out together again int he end. I do only collect Tod and copper not everything from the film.

Aristocats : This is really purely because I love kitties XD! Though I do only collect duchess & O'mally and the kittens, I don't collect the other cats / sundries of the film.

Oliver and Company : My kitty is named after Oliver. I love this film though because it's such a weird and wonderful interpretation of 'Oliver'.

Bolt : when I saw this film it made me cry so much because of how loving Bolt is. Bolt also reminds me of my doggy Polo. I also love mittens and I named my other kitty Penny because of this film XD!

Duffy : I have been a teddy bear collector for as long as I can remember, and when I started pin collecting I found out about duffy so he has become a part of my collections.

Penguins : I really only have a few but penguins are my second fave animal after cheetahs so I collect penguin pins and it doesn't matter what show/attraction / etc they are from.

I also collect some what nots from fave films / shows that are just single pins or two pins, like the emperors new groove, Pirates of the Caribbean, Kim possible, etc.

I pretty much just go by 'if I like it I get!' lol but . if im getting a pin thats in a set ill normaly look to get the whole set, and i like to group my pins, ie Princess / pins from hoildays i been on, ie hotel year and festvial!

other than I mostly get Tinkerbell pins as shes my favouite character!

Hello Jess,
I've only been collecting for about a year as well. As for "what" to collect it was an easy decision for me anyway. My wife and I are HUGE Nightmare Before Christmas fans. My wife has been collecting Jack Skellington items for a few years. We have LOTS of Jack stuff. We had no idea about the pins! On our first trip to WDW for a wedding my daughter and I were in we saw the NBC pins for the first time and that was it LOL. We also collect anything that catches our eye. It's very hard for me to only collect one particular item or series. There are just to many nice ones out there. Price is very often a deciding factor with us, some of the older NBC pins are out of our range unfortunately and I'm sure it's the same with most all of us who collect these.

Bottom line is collect what YOU like not what someone tells you you should like. If you collect what you like you can't go wrong and it will make the hobby a whole lot more fun at the end of the day. I have been collecting coins for MANY years. I tell new coin collectors the very same thing. It is your collection, have fun with it!!!!!!!


Anyway, not sure if this helps you at all but that is my basic philosophy in reguards to collecting anything at all.

Thanks for your Time!
Mark

From reading the posts on this thread, I have to say that if I were to "guess" what others collect that all I'd need is to look at their username, avatar, and signature. Anyone want to "guess" what I collect? Answer: Tron (mostly, surprise, surprise) - I think there are 9 Tron pins that I still need to find.

And, I have a nice Virtual Magic Kingdom collection and am always looking for Oswald!!

If we're only talking about character collections here, the only character I made a conscious decision to collect is Pluto. And that wasn't even my decision. It started out as my hubby's collection and somehow I took it over. But I don't mind because Pluto sure makes some cute pins!

My other character collections just sort of happened. I collected what I liked and then noticed that I had a lot of Jiminy Cricket and Merlin pins.

I think I like Merlin because he represents education, knowledge, and even technology. I'm a chemist myself so those kinds of things are very important to me.

And in Pinocchio, Jiminy is a voice of wisdom. He's also used as a narrator a lot and I kind of think of him as the voice of Walt Disney. Plus he's on a lot of environmental pins, which I also collect.

Sets i like to collect sets so frame work or monthly pins

imatronaholic said:

From reading the posts on this thread, I have to say that if I were to "guess" what others collect that all I'd need is to look at their username, avatar, and signature. Anyone want to "guess" what I collect? Answer: Tron (mostly, surprise, surprise) - I think there are 9 Tron pins that I still need to find.

And, I have a nice Virtual Magic Kingdom collection and am always looking for Oswald!!

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Did you get the 2011 d23 tron donald