Ah, miniatures. Here at Radar, we love miniature collectibles. It's an odd thing to think about really, when it comes to collecting miniatures, but if you give it some depth of thought you'll arrive at some good reasons as to why people love to do it. For some of the team here, it comes down to a few key thoughts that make sense of it all.
First, is space. Collecting memorabilia of your favorite characters takes up room, and while you can always pick up another figure here and there, you can't always pick up more room. Miniature figures make building a collection a lot more feasible. Also, sometimes you want to bring your favorite characters to another space which is severely limited, like a cubicle or a desk at work. Bigger collectibles make that hard to do, and hey - let's be honest, it is an imperative that you let everyone know who breezes by your office that you're a Iron Man/Tony Stark kind of guy. Miniatures allow you to do that.
Another thing about miniatures that's great, is the variety of fixtures that you can use to display them. For example, let's say you've amassed an epic Transformer collection with the crown jewel being an original Starscream that is mint in box. Sidenote: You found it at a garage sale for three dollars and it's an epic story that you tell everyone all the time, etc. Well, displaying your collection is rather limited in the creativity of how you can do it due to the size of the figures. Miniatures let you find a way around that, and that can add a really fun aspect to displaying them. We've seen some really creative avenues that people have traveled down in this arena.
Let's talk about rarity for a bit. It seems that a good percentage of companies in the world of miniatures understand rarity and why it's cool. It makes collecting fun, and sometimes you have to work at it, but ultimately it gives supreme satisfaction to a collector that finds that ultimate "treasure." Sports cards have been doing it right for about a decade or so now, and miniatures are on the same path. For example, our favorite things at Radar these days are mystery boxes or blind boxes. It's simple, you buy a random figure of a genre or franchise you like, you don't know what you'll get, and you hope for the best. Each character usually has three or so variations of heightening rarity. Super fun and super cool. Here's a visual example of two franchises and the breakdown of a rarity chart:
It's a great idea and provides for some sweet collecting. Lastly, let's discuss detail. All of us like our favorite collectibles to be detailed. What's cool about mini's is being amazed at the level of detail for something smaller than it normally should be. People enjoy the craftsmanship in the world of miniatures. It's just neat. All that being said, this is not an article about why collecting mini's is better than any other size. It's just a look into the world of miniatures and understanding the allure and appeal of it. One things for sure -it's fun to collect mini's. Plain and simple.
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