Along with having many fans who love the content, many popular movies, TV shows, and comic books have been based on action figures or have spawned their own line of figures. These figures have helped to bring these characters to life and allow fans to connect with them on a more tangible level to connect to their childhood either by teens and adults setting them up on shelves to look at them or kids getting the figures to play with them.
There are different things you can do with action figures like you can showcase your collection on shelves, in display cases, or on specially designed stands to admire and enjoy, plus you can pose your figures how you like in any dynamic of iconic poses to recreate scenes from movies, comics, or your imagination.
Some people who might not fully know may ask, what is an action figure? According to Wikipedia, “An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually marketed toward boys and adult collectors.”
The unique thing about action figures is that they can be used for all sorts of things.
“You can use them as a fidget, you can use them to expand your animation, you can collect them, or play with them,” said Luke Wilson, a senior at New Hartford Senior High.
“Action figures can also be used for nostalgia purposes,” said Mrs. Piazza. Nostalgia is “a warm or emotional affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations” according to a Google search.
“Since many collectors grew up playing with action figures and collecting them, they can evoke fond memories of their childhood and create a passion for a franchise,” Mrs. Piazza explained. “Fans of specific movies, TV shows, or comic books often collect figures of their favorite characters, allowing them to express their enthusiasm for those franchises.”
Many people have a sincere love for action figures because they remind them of their famous childhood memories and help them think back to a simple time in their lives.
“Some of us would like others to be able to admire our collections or certain pieces of our collections the same way that we do. There are so many places online for collectors to congregate these days and share images and/or videos of their pride and joy: their action figure collection. You can join Facebook groups for Transformers, Marvel, Star Wars—whatever figures you collect, there is likely a Facebook group dedicated to that niche. Another great place to find other collectors is Reddit. Many people share images of their action figures on the action figures subreddit, which is a place for action figure collectors of all types, but you can definitely find subreddits dedicated to specific action figure lines if the general action figures subreddit is, well, a little too general. There are also still some active message boards dedicated to action figures where you can discuss and share your favorite figures as well as discuss action figure news.”-Reported by Collector’s Headquarters.
Some figures that I’ve collected over the years or anybody could collect are TMNT figures, Imaginext figures, Funko Pop figures, and most recently WWE wrestling figures. The best thing to take away from the idea of action figures is that no matter how old you are or what you want to do with them, they can be used to be played with or just simply remind you of your childhood (nostalgia) and most importantly you can have fun with them any time.
