Round Robin Challenge: Obsession

"THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE IS OBSESSION!

WHAT IS YOUR COLLECTING OBSESSION?"

This is my fist post/response to the Round Robin Challenge.  It was hard to nail down exactly what my collecting obsession is, but after some soul searching I finally figured it out:  I AM OBSESSED WITH CREATING WORLDS!  This obsession with creating worlds explains why I  love building toys (LEGO, Construx), micro toys (Mighty Max, Micro Machines, Trend Masters), hobby toys (model trains, Christmas & Halloween villages, etc.), table top gaming (D&D, War Hammer, Brik Wars), and good old play sets!

Custom minifigures I created.  Space is my favorite LEGO theme.

Basil The Bat Lord, Fright Knights Castle sub-theme

Salt Lake City Comic Con 2015, UtahLUG display

My earliest toy memory was when I was 4 or 5 years old, building the Blacktron Message Intercept Base (Set 6987-1).  I still have bits and pieces from that set, and I hope to one day rebuild it.  I have always loved the customizable nature of the LEGO brick.  You really can create anything!  I really miss the modular Classic Space base plates and I wish I had stocked up.  Even considering just custom minifigures, there are millions of possible combinations of head, torso, legs, weapons, hats, etc., it is mind boggling!  You really can build your own little world out of LEGO, though it can become very expensive.  This is why I enjoy others' amazing creations, like Jang Bricks on YouTube, and the Construx Custom Designs Gallery.

My brother and I were huge fans of Galoob's Micro Machines and I still have a large collection of Z-Bots.  This inevitably led to my love of Bluebird's Mighty Max series and all the other micro toys that flooded the market in the 90's.  I loved that my parents could afford to buy me playsets, because they were so much cheaper in micro form.

Z-Bots Combots line, Tomahawk in custom desert scene. I simply used an old tan sheet as sand.  Army men buckets are perfect for little accessories, like the barbwire fencing.

I also recall with fondness our family trips to the Intermountain Train Expo.  I really want to visit again this year with my Dad and bring my kids along too.  It was so cool seeing all the work and detail that went into those model trains and the surrounding landscape!

I recently started building a Halloween a few years ago when Tombstone Corners hit Dollar Tree stores. Ever since I visited Gardener Village in the fall as a kid and saw the Halloween villages there, I have wanted to create my own village.

Check out my latest Tombstone Corners post, with links to every post HERE.

I have never played D&D or War Hammer, but I appreciate and marvel at the creativity of the games! I love the imagination and creativity that goes into a D&D game; and dedicated War Hammer players have created some incredible terrain and structures from everyday household rubbish!

And lastly, playsets and toy dioramas have always interested me.  I did get some traditional playsets as a kid, like the Swamp Thing Swamp Trap playest (1990), and one of the Bat Cave playsets (I can't even remember which one to be honest, and a few others of note.  I will be making a top 10 playset list of my personal favorites that I owned or really want).  However, I always ended up creating playsets myself using cardboard or whatever else I could find.  I recently created a playset from a cardboard apple box, Frogacuda's lair/toy room basement/sewer or something.  The great outdoors is another quick and easy playset of sorts.  Retroblasting puts it best with their video "Greatest Playsets you didn't 'buy'":

Frogacuda & Froggy Jr. in their toy room.  Micro toys are perfect toys for bigger toys.

Old Sheets are perfect for a quick and easy landscape.

Another part I love about dioramas is crossing toy lines.  Here we have Imaginext, The Real Ghostbusters, and Playmobil.  The more the merrier!

I enjoy building in many different mediums.  My 2015 ginger bread contest entry at work, Eversweet National Forest.  I won first prize for Most Creative.  That is real maple syrup in the candy lake.

What is your obsession, collecting related or otherwise?  tell me in the comments below!