As humans, a fascinating part of psychology is questioning in scientific debate as to why we collect things. But I rather ask less "Why do we collect?" And more "What do you collect?"

For me, I collect cutesie Japanese\South Korean toys (Hello Kitty by Sanrio, Pucca by Vooz and Molang by Hye-ji Yoon), CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (Home Audio\Video libraries aren't dead yet and during the seasonal changes where I live, the Internet gets knocked out due to change in weather) and Barbie Fashionistas\Made to Move Dolls and dolls from high school-themed franchises. (I swap out heads of dolls for different bodies for my projects of artsy photos.)

The first is just part of my adoration of both Japan and Sanrio, both perfection in the art of kawaii culture and the latter is my fascination in the uniquities of South Korea's take on kawaii culture.

The second is because a lot of content hasn't made the jump to digital or contains banned content (in children's and primetime, so mainstream media) and I also collect banned books as LeVar Burton put it "That's where all the good stuff is..."

...and my high school doll collection comes from my memories of being the big woman on campus and some control of my PTSD, which psychology can back the use of dolls as part of teaching children, both verbal and nonverbal to cope with emotions within trauma. The wall of dolls is just another reminder that I am getting better...but I have to address it more often.

Records. Vinyl records. I have hundreds of them.

Well the jokey answer is debt and heartbreak

But it's an interesting question.

When I was a little girl I collected bath oil pearls, all shapes and sizes, some were shaped like little animals, hearts, stars etc., all nice colours and scents - then in my teen years I decided it was a waste, and used them all, I had some nice baths with them and enjoyed using them up.

I also used to collect coins and small toys, I loved animal ones especially.

But as I grew up and housework became a larger part of my life, I discovered I disliked all the dusting more than I liked adding to my collections, so I got rid of a lot of things. Looking back, I wish I had kept some, but here we are.

As an adult, I keep my house very minimal and have no clutter, I put everything away in cupboards, drawers etc., so I have lots of furniture for storage and to keep dusting to a minimum. I like having a clean, tidy house, with minimal upkeep, so I can concentrate on having a social life outside of work, and hopefully have some time for simming too.

But I do still collect small things and things which are easily 'put away'.

I've been a huge Rocketshipper since the late 90s (you can probably tell from my profile picture!). I have loads of Rocketshippy doujinshis (the romantic ones, rather than the overly pornish ones), including the old classic canon one whre they end up married and pregnant, which cost me over £70, a few years ago. I have lots of different figures of Team Rocket which were horrendously expensive, but mean a lot to me. They're in a drawer for now, but if I ever move somewhere bigger, I might get a nice display cabinet for them. I also collect the old Bandai cards, they aren't proper Pokemon cards, but feature scenes from the anime, so I buy any featuring Team Rocket, and I will pay more for shippy ones (such as ones with fearhugs etc.).

Some of the first sims I ever made were my Team Rocket ones, of course they got married and had twins!

Aside from Rocketshipping, I have quite a few books, computer games, DVDs and CDs. Younger people sometimes don't understand, and ask why I don't get rid of them, but it took me years to build up my collection, and as each item cost around £20 at the time (more like £50 for games), I can't quite bear to part with them! It's hard to explain the thrill of buying a new CD or computer game back then, and reading the book that came with it first, before even playing it

I love collecting video games. I don't have a job so it's kinda hard at this time.......

I went through one of my doll collection that was sitting in a box in my room and I have like a diverse collection. From Hasbro and Mattel, I have like quite a few dolls from various different franchises besides Barbie. From MGA Entertainment, I focus solely on the Rainbow High and any related franchises.

@PANDAQUEEN Do you display your dolls as well as using them for your art projects? Some people display their records, but I have too much other stuff on my walls to have space for records!
What about the others in this thread who collect- do you display your collections?

I display my Rainbow High\Pacific Coast High dolls on wall\door hanging shoe storage units (They are about 11 inches (28cm) in height and today, I was recently rearranging them by series while cleaning up my room) and the Barbie Fashionistas in reusable PVC zip boxes on giant pushpins via the hook used for the racks in retail.

My doll photos are currently on my phone. Some have filters from Facebook (My family is on Facebook, and I am trying to keep them from drifting apart) and others is the default camera app

In my art projects, I remake characters from other series from dolls I have doubles of, yarn for hair, and modern doll clothes that fit the 4 Made to Move Barbie body types. Prior to that, I was a Volks, then Obitsu doll crafter.

I have a Danish butter cookie tin that holds needlenosed pliers, tweezers of varying types and size 18 gauge hand sewing needles for rerooting doll hair with worsted weight yarn (We have a cat that chews everything in sight. Yarn is easier to pick up than nylon doll hair) and once the yarn is separated into thin strands, it requires little effort to style it into any dramatic look.

I really want to make Sailor Guardian dolls, but that requires sewing the uniforms and my mother keeps saying no to teaching me how to use a machine because I found a tutorial online that works best with the use of a machine and has said no for the past 20 years. I'm 34 years old and she treats me like I'm 14. Problem is, I look 14.

Names of weird Windows processes.
Today's funny one: Windows cabinet maker.

Yeah, I need you to work, not having a go at DIY projects behind my back
No wonder Windows update likes using using all the available disc (desk?) space, because cabinets are HUGE...

Woodwind and brass instruments. Wish I was joking, but I have enough instruments to almost make a wind ensemble. It was not my intention at first. For real - clarinet, bassoon, saxophone and oboe I all got with the full intention of playing and stopping there. But that didn't happen. lol. During a particularly empty part of my life I went out to vintage & antique shops with my mom and I had money to spare, so to fill the void of emptiness, I picked up a number of instruments from those places. Believe it or not, most of them are decent and in working condition. And then I got brave enough to try eBay and got myself a bass clarinet! :O lol.

Still can't believe I actually have a bass clarinet.

I also collect toy ponies. Yup. I don't know how this happened, but it did. I did play with them when I was really young, so I guess there's that.

@bassoon_crazy I have a lot of instruments, too! Mainly string (guitars and violins) but also keyboards and trumpet. The only wind instruments I have are flageolet and recorder, though!

I never intentionally collected things, it was always more of an impulse thing... does that make me a hoarder rather than a collector? A few years ago I used to work in a second hand shop with a huge furniture section and happened to drive a people carrier with a cavernous back end. I lost count of the amount of times I drove home with a cute new (to me) piece of furniture, especially if it was sturdy and/or vintage but needed a little tlc. I realised I might have a problem when my husband pointed out that we had 17 different tables crammed into our small 3-bed house. We moved house and now my nearest second hand furniture shop is 40 minutes away... it's probably for the best.

My fabric and notions supplies also tripled whilst working there. I used to save bags, clothes and belts that weren't good enough to sell on and harvest all the hardware and fabric with interesting patterns to upcycle them into new projects. Still have a load of it but haven't got out the sewing machine in a while.

Hey, that's really neat. I'm very ashamed to say that I, who has read many books on the history of woodwind instruments, had to look up what a flageolet is. lol

I'm very happy to have a tenor recorder as part of my collection. It's a beautiful instrument, so underappreciated because of the reputation of being a shrill elementary school instrument. When I got into early music I came to appreciate the instrument. I hope to get more recorders when I have money to throw around again.

I collect plush dolls of colorful creatures like Angel and Stitch, Care Bears, Pokémon.

The dolls I mentioned earlier were plastic fashion dolls.

i collect digital game assets to use in my own games. i have bought so many asset packs from those humble bundle developer sales. over 100GB in audio and visual assets alone. a majority i will never use, but a bunch of the soundtracks i've bought in these sales are fantastic to listen to on their own, too.

i'm also a bit of an oddball and collect ethically sourced animal skulls and bones. my collection also includes teeth, claws, two paws and a tail. i have a particularly weird bone that i carry with me as a good luck charm. i am fiercely protective of my bone collection lol.

In my CD collection, I have Dancemania collections of songs (the intercord\i-dance series from Japan with European dance music, not to be confused with the Dancemania featuring Tito Puente's music, FYI.) and full albums of featured artists from Dancemania as well.

Ohhh!! Anything birds!
I love just about anything that either is a duck or has a duck on it. Oh and chickens. Big fan of antique shops--I rarely ever leave empty handed.

I also collect how to draw books, both reference and step by step from Japan, USA and through Impact's translations for the English language market.

However, I rarely buy any in public because my mother has this expectation that I will immediately get to work on it and in an icy tone like Lady Tremaine from Disney's Cinderella, it sends a chill down my spine when she says "I expect great things from you...". My mother and I are still working on those toxic expectations of each other.

Otherwise, I have drawn: Phineas of Phineas and Ferb, Winnie the Pooh, Squidward Tentacles of SpongeBob SquarePants and Stitch of Lilo and Stitch. I also drew freehand (without instructions) Charlie Brown.

In fact, Charlie Brown and Phineas were drawn for a Christmas card I ended up scrapping because of my sloppy handwriting in speech bubbles.

And when it comes to these types of books, I tend to be guilty of tsundoku, the Japanese practice of purchasing books, only to pile up unread until a future date.

I've started collecting books and, where affordable, games I liked as a teenager. It's incredible how valuable some of these are, now. Makes me regret selling so many to Gamestop at a huge loss, geez.

I collect coins, like a lot of people. Not particularly unique.

I also collect things on the 1:6 scale or Playscale for those in the know. Essentially, every 2 inches is equivalent to 1 foot in a 1:1 size. Puzzle erasers from Japan, small plastic toys from the dollar store or online novelty shops.

My most recent Playscale purchase was a set of 10 shopping handbaskets like at a grocery store. I would go into stop motion animation, but I have duties at home slowing down the process and like animation of any sort, nothing comes free. Things have to be purchased or built or constructed.

Recently started collecting the Rainbow High blind packs of shoes and bags and in autumn, they're releasing special outfits in blind pack format.

Yes I collect stuffed animals, Porcelain dolls, and trading cards of all types. I started collecting porcelain dolls because my mom collected them and I wanna continue where she left off.

for me I collect stuffed animals, old perfume bottles(weird ik ik), & old journals I've had throughout the years

I collect porcelain dolls. How I love them... I've already got 27 of them

I think its become books now I have 23 on my desk right now and they're all about different things. Def gonna have to rearrange the bookshelf to squeeze them in