Getting into collecting at 23. How old are you guys?

[stoneage]

I'm 72 and I started with Marx toy when I was 9.  When Carnegie came out I use to buy what ever they had using the mail.  Eventually there was more to buy and then the internet happen with E-bay etc. and the ball kept rolling.

[ceratopsian]

Thanks @Halichoeres!  I stand corrected!

[Cretaceous Crab]

I just turned 40, and have been seriously collecting for about 10 years.

[WebDragon]

I'm 39, and started collecting around 5-ish when I received my first dinosaur toys as gifts (Dino Riders! The Pteranodon, Struthiomimus, and Diplodocus ) Subsequent gifts and things purchased with my precious allowance made up the bulk of my collection until Ebay became a thing, and I could chase after what I hadn't been able to find in stores. Working in museums has helped too (and led to a lot of regret after passing up figures that would later become rare treasures, haha).

It's never too late to start!

[Crackington]

I am 55 going on 56!

I loved dinosaurs as a kid, had a gap for some slightly wild years in my later teens and then got back into them again by chance in the late 90s, around 30.

Interesting seeing the different members' ages, some I'd have guessed but others not!

[Fembrogon]

Welcome to the forum, D @dinofigurehobby. I'm currently 27 and have been collecting for at least a decade, I'd say. I grew up enthralled with prehistoric life, so I've had dinosaur toys (Safari, Imperial, Hasbro, etc) around me for as long as I can remember. After I started becoming more aware of the differences between brands and the sheer variety of toys, I found my way here to the Dinosaur Toy Blog, which quickly proved to be invaluable in gauging the quality of new releases. I hope you will find the Blog & Forum a valuable community as well!

[GiganotosaurusFan]

11 right now

[SRF]

I'm 38 right now and after my childhood I started purchasing some models again when I was 28 years old. But when it comes to really collecting models, I actually only started in 2020 by collecting Safari figures and in late 2020, PNSO figures. My humble collection now consists for over 50% of PNSO figures I think.

[Nimravus]

I am 44. I have always loved the paleontology,  but I really started to collect seriously 7 years ago. I do collect extant and  prehistoric animals, but dinosaurs form most part of my main collection.

[GojiraGuy1954]

16 in a month, but started in 2013 at the age of 7

[Dinoguy2]

I'm 40, and I would say I started actually collecting dinosaur figures when I was in middle school around 1994. Probably not a coincidence it was the year a science toy store opened in the local mall AND we got our first modem! Without the internet I don't think I'd have ever heard about Battat.

I got my first dinosaur toys when I was 4 (the original Bullyland set which features in my YouTube intro) but I don't really count that as collecting... Though maybe I should, I definitely tried to get all the Playschool and DinoRiders figures when I was little.

[dinodamage]

I'm about to turn 32 next month, and I've been collecting dinosaur toys since I was a kid. In fact, I still have many of my childhood figures on display! The thing that really kicked it off was the Kenner Jurassic Park toys, the oldest in my collection being the 1994 Series 1 JP10 Raptor that I've had since I was 4.

I've collected a LOT of dinosaurs throughout the years, but this past fall I started collecting more seriously/intentionally for perhaps the first time vs just randomly accumulating them here and there.

It's really cool to see the age ranges here! Quite a mix of young and old, which is really exciting- I really need to learn about some of these older toy lines.

[Concavenator]

I'm 21. Since I was very little, I have always been interested in science and nature, so that's why I started collecting extant animal figures when I was around 5-6. After approximately 1 or 2 years, I started collecting prehistoric animal figures as well, even if I wasn't very interested in prehistoric life at that point (I was more into extant creatures). But as time went on, my interest in prehistoric animals (mainly dinosaurs), as well as collecting them, kept growing and my interest in collecting extant animal figures started disappearing. I started collecting Schleich and Bullyland, when I started buying from Internet I moved on to Carnegie / Safari Ltd and CollectA. And from then all the way up to these times!

I will say, though, that my collection as it currently is looks nothing like it was from the beginning. I have sold / have for sale the vast majority of the figures from when I was younger, I have only kept some Carnegies. So if I were to start my collection from zero again it would be identical to how it currently is, except, as I said, for the Carnegies, since they are discontinued and pretty hard to find nowadays. I'm not a collector who aims for the vintage and / or rare, but for the new stuff that comes from the companies that bother producing scientifically up to date prehistoric animal figures. And right now is a great time for this.

[CarnotaurusKing]

I'm 20 now. I've had a few dinosaur toys for as long as I can remember, though I never cared much for them, until I started collecting dinosaurs at the age of 13. Exactly 7 years ago now, I believe, was when I bought the figure that kickstarted the hobby for me. It was either February or March of 2015, and the figure that began the craze for me was the Safari Acrocanthosaurus.

[Ikessauro]

I think the AGE field in the blog registration form should be mandatory.
Sometimes I don't know how to respond to someone's comment -
and the respond depends if the member is 8 or 40 y/o.

Or at least there should be a 'value list' to choose from, like :

- a kid
- a teenager
- young adult
- adult

Second that

[Crackington]

Sorry @Ikessauro and @BrontoScorpio but I can't agree with this. Making child and teenage members easily identifiable would be very risky, probably against data protection, child protection and any duty of care the Forum has. I would strongly advise it not to do this.I wouldn't want my children visiting a site where this was the case - easy pickings for predators.

[BlueKrono]

I agree with @Crackington. I don't think anyone should have to disclose anything they'd rather not share, for whatever reason. Plus there's no one checking IDs here, so a child trying to pass as an adult could easily do so, and vice versa. Conversation on the DTF should be characterized by respectful and courteous dialogue. Every child and adult is deserving of that.

[Ikessauro]

Sorry @Ikessauro and @BrontoScorpio but I can't agree with this. Making child and teenage members easily identifiable would be very risky, probably against data protection, child protection and any duty of care the Forum has. I would strongly advise it not to do this.I wouldn't want my children visiting a site where this was the case - easy pickings for predators.

That makes sense, hadn't considered that side of the equation.

[Avian]

I am 16, and have been collecting on-and-off for 5 years. As of late, rather than collecting figures (due to lack of time from school), I have focused on cataloguing figures for myself and other members of the community. Welcome to the Forum!!

[dyno77]

im now in mid 30s,not only do i collect dinosaur models ,also i try to obtain some replica skulls and fossils. I read alot about dinosaur models and all the main companies and their history...iv always had a interest in not just dinosaurs but sci-fi and fantasy films, the fight scenes in the harryhausen films and king kong 1933 are why i still like monsters fighting in any movies...iv got all the main books about harryhausen and also some books about history of monsters in films....
Also being a fantasy fan,i read alot of mythology ,and have an interest in the history of paleoart and old retro dinosaur sculptures and models ....but nothing is better than monsters or robots and aliens fighting in movies..