Stage 4/5 of collecting toys: The Guru stage

This is not necessarily a self-proclaimed stage.  It will come naturally because by now, the toy collector would surely have gathered quite a substantial amount of experience from the toy collecting hobby to qualify as an expert.  At this stage, the toy collector is usually recognised and looked upon by Newbies as a Guru because he or she has been there and done that, and is like a senior and consultant to those in his or her toy collecting community. 

Some Gurus build fantastic and comprehensive websites with very detailed information of the toylines; from the years of manufacture, what toy was in which set/series, how many versions of the same toy was made, what accessories went with which toy, what were the mail orders/exclusives, what complimentary products were made and marketed back then (e.g. story books) to the latest news/rumours regarding the toyline (e.g. a possible live action movie to be filmed soon) and many more.  View an example of a comprehensive My Little Pony accessories information website here!

In the early days of my toy collecting hobby, I relied extensively on the identification websites built by the early Gurus and pioneer collectors to identify the many loose My Little Pony toys I picked up at the flea market.  It would not have been fun if I could not find out the names of my weekly ‘finds’.  Some Gurus subsequently came up with websites that allowed you to type in keywords like the color of the pony’s body, hair and then the websites generate a photo list of pony symbol IDs for you to pick and eventually identify your pony!  View an example of a G3 My Little Pony identification website here!

Gurus also write and publish books like price guides or contribute articles regularly to toy magazines.  Many Gurus are also the senior and founding members in the toy forums.  You can tell by the dates they joined the forums, their roles (e.g. moderator) in the forums, number of posts that they have made and the quality content of their posts.

There are also Gurus who specialize and are experts in customizing toys.  They know how to ‘take apart’ the ‘bait toys’ and re-assemble them without damaging them.  They know which kinds and brands of cleaning solutions can remove the original paintwork efficiently and what paint to use for customizing.  They can re-hair toys with brushable hair like My Little Pony and even sew customized clothing for the toys etc.  The amazing customs that some of these gifted Gurus make can even look better than the original factory made versions! 

Other Gurus are experts at fair market prices that you should be paying for the toys, know which toy matches with which original accessories, which toy character appeared in which cartoon episode/s etc.

The best places to find the toy Gurus are on the toy forums.  Once you get yourself familiar with the members there, you will gradually identify which member is the Guru that you are looking for.

Come back again tomorrow for Stage 5: The Casual Collector.