I need some serious help with my Marvel pin collection!
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I started trading for Marvel pins a while ago when my primary Alice in Wonderland collection had gotten pretty stuck in place and I just wanted something fun and easy that I liked to trade for in between adding new Wonderland pins to my main collection.
I basically started trading for anything and everything Marvel without particularly thinking about what I liked best. It was just something new and fun and easy to do while I was stuck in place on Wonderland.
I really enjoyed just going back to the old fashioned easy trading style of 'here is my trade bag of rack pins and hidden mickeys - anything you'd like for those common Marvel pins?' It was classic old-school pin trading at the parks and I loved it.
As time went on, I started to realize I was particularly drawn to certain pins that I really wanted to make keepers - my two tops were Loki pins and Skottie Young Comic-Con pins. As the past few years have gone by, those are still tops/keepers for me. However, while I'll basically trade for anything Skottie that I don't have, I'm finding myself slightly pickier with Loki, preferring pins just focused on him rather than in any other context. I was really just focusing in on the Loki pins I really like.
Problem is, that's not my collecting nature. For anything. If I collect, I like being a completist, not a curator. But I don't like all Loki pins so I've been at war with myself going 'but do I really need that one?' on some of them and 'OMG LOVEEEEE' on others. But I'm at war with my natural inclination of 'gotta catch 'em all'. lol
Secondary problem is - I started finding other random Marvel shinies that I was really drawn to. Other Comic-Con pins like a big head characters set they did and an emojis set. Think I have all the big head ones but just a small handful of the emojis - still wanting to grow those.
And then I found I really love HKDL Marvel pins pretty much above everything else other than Comic-Con pins. So those started growing in my keeper bag.
And then I found I was really attracted to character icons and symbols.
And then I wanted to collect all the Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! pins because I have so much fun over there. And that collection was actually complete until a handful of mystery pins including TK and Avengers Campus ones just came out over the past few months, so now I'm incomplete but wondering do I really want those? And if I don't, do I really want all the ones I've collected or should I narrow it down to the ones from that grouping that I really am drawn to?
And now I really want Avengers Campus logo pins, so that's developing, too - but really it's more of an extension of the icons and symbols.
I've continued to weed things out to the point where I have two full trade bags of Marvel pins that I've decided aren't keepers, though many of them I still quite like, or duplicates of things I traded for.
Basically I think my confusion and meandering with this collection stems from it being the opposite of the way I naturally collect - I do everything or nothing. I don't know how to pick and choose. So I'm winding up with tons of extras that I like in general because of my big love for Marvel overall. But I really want to focus this collection in better. So I thought I'd throw it out there for help and suggestions.
I'm going to post some pics of some of the keepers bags just to try to help me see if I see a good path forward to focus better. The Loki pins are keepers, as are my Skotties and Comic-Con pins. I'm not bothering to post the Skottie/Comic-Con pages as I'm clear on those and they're my more normal 'go for everything you can' style of collecting. But I'm posting everything else that are theoretically keepers or at least strong likes with hopes others can see something I'm missing or guide me on how not to be a completist on some things.
Pics and thoughts:
Figpins and full body pins. Thor was an early Marvel grail and I love that one and the Star-Lord and Cap Figpins, too. I also really want to get the Bucky/Winter Soldier and Baron Zemo Figpins. I'm not sure if I want to keep the Goose Figpin, but I have the jumbo Goose Figpin, too, and I really do like that one. And I don't know how to keep the jumbo and not the little one. lol
Disney+/live action page basically Loki and Bucky - still not 100% sure what I'm keeping here - some are definite, some are not sure
My main Loki page - all but maybe two or three of these are forever keepers, but not fully committed to one or two and not sure how to let go of anything when it's my primary character
Random character pins - so many I like but a few I'm not sure if I really love or just like
More pics incoming!
I basically started trading for anything and everything Marvel without particularly thinking about what I liked best. It was just something new and fun and easy to do while I was stuck in place on Wonderland.
I really enjoyed just going back to the old fashioned easy trading style of 'here is my trade bag of rack pins and hidden mickeys - anything you'd like for those common Marvel pins?' It was classic old-school pin trading at the parks and I loved it.
As time went on, I started to realize I was particularly drawn to certain pins that I really wanted to make keepers - my two tops were Loki pins and Skottie Young Comic-Con pins. As the past few years have gone by, those are still tops/keepers for me. However, while I'll basically trade for anything Skottie that I don't have, I'm finding myself slightly pickier with Loki, preferring pins just focused on him rather than in any other context. I was really just focusing in on the Loki pins I really like.
Problem is, that's not my collecting nature. For anything. If I collect, I like being a completist, not a curator. But I don't like all Loki pins so I've been at war with myself going 'but do I really need that one?' on some of them and 'OMG LOVEEEEE' on others. But I'm at war with my natural inclination of 'gotta catch 'em all'. lol
Secondary problem is - I started finding other random Marvel shinies that I was really drawn to. Other Comic-Con pins like a big head characters set they did and an emojis set. Think I have all the big head ones but just a small handful of the emojis - still wanting to grow those.
And then I found I really love HKDL Marvel pins pretty much above everything else other than Comic-Con pins. So those started growing in my keeper bag.
And then I found I was really attracted to character icons and symbols.
And then I wanted to collect all the Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! pins because I have so much fun over there. And that collection was actually complete until a handful of mystery pins including TK and Avengers Campus ones just came out over the past few months, so now I'm incomplete but wondering do I really want those? And if I don't, do I really want all the ones I've collected or should I narrow it down to the ones from that grouping that I really am drawn to?
And now I really want Avengers Campus logo pins, so that's developing, too - but really it's more of an extension of the icons and symbols.
I've continued to weed things out to the point where I have two full trade bags of Marvel pins that I've decided aren't keepers, though many of them I still quite like, or duplicates of things I traded for.
Basically I think my confusion and meandering with this collection stems from it being the opposite of the way I naturally collect - I do everything or nothing. I don't know how to pick and choose. So I'm winding up with tons of extras that I like in general because of my big love for Marvel overall. But I really want to focus this collection in better. So I thought I'd throw it out there for help and suggestions.
I'm going to post some pics of some of the keepers bags just to try to help me see if I see a good path forward to focus better. The Loki pins are keepers, as are my Skotties and Comic-Con pins. I'm not bothering to post the Skottie/Comic-Con pages as I'm clear on those and they're my more normal 'go for everything you can' style of collecting. But I'm posting everything else that are theoretically keepers or at least strong likes with hopes others can see something I'm missing or guide me on how not to be a completist on some things.
Pics and thoughts:
More pics incoming!