Collecting action figures is self-therapy, says toy collector

KUALA LUMPUR - Guests who enter two special rooms at Adam Shahruddin’s residence in Dengkil, Selangor, will be in awe seeing thousands of toys neatly arranged to decorate the rooms.

The two rooms, measuring 1,000-square foot, house popular action figures from television series, movies and comics which were the craze of children from around the world in the late 80s and 90s.

Among his collection of rare action figures are a Darth Vader (Legend Edition) helmet (Star Wars), hoverboard (Back to the Future), Proton Pack (Ghostbusters), a life-size replica of Han Solo in carbonite (Star Wars) and Magneto's helmet (X-Men).

Adam, 38, said he started to collect these action figures from the time he was still schooling with some of the toys initially collected as gifts from his family members.

"I started collecting these toys when I was still in primary school and at that time there were many animation series screened on television such as Ninja Turtles, ThunderCats, Power Rangers, Transformers and others.

"These series had big followers among children including myself. There were also some toys received as gifts from family members for excelling in exams and I still keep them today.

"When I started working in 2007 as a duty manager at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), I started to spend my salary, little by little, to buy toys and action figures. To be honest, I am not sure how much the actual collection is worth, but I have spent thousands of ringgit to collect all of them,” he said.

Asked about the satisfaction of collecting toys, Adam who is also the eldest of four siblings, said it was a form of therapy for him to recall beautiful memories from his childhood days.

"Some people say it's a complete waste, that it's better to spend money on other things, but collecting these toys is the same as other hobbies like fishing, it has its own fans, so I don’t think it is wrong.

"My wife and family also gave their support as this hobby allows me to spend more time with my family,” said Adam, who obtained the his toys from local sellers and abroad.

Adam, who now runs a business selling nasi lemak, explains that his collection of action figures has a high market value, especially among collectors, depending on how he looked after them and the edition available.

For example, Adam said, Spiderman comics signed by Stan Lee, he bought them for RM2,000 but now the value reaches RM5,000 to RM7,000.

The same goes for the Darth Vader (Legend Edition) helmet produced by Sideshow, which was bought for RM1,500 in 2011 and is now worth tens of thousands of ringgit, he said.

Presently, Adam said he did not have any plan to part ways with his collection. He sees them as a long-term investment to be used in times of emergency and for his children's education in the future. - BERNAMA