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How did you get started collecting?

Why do we love the things we love. To most people owning the "perfect" white mask isn't top priority. Halloween is a very popular holiday but what caused your pason for horror? Just kind of curious as to how everyone got started collecting?

When I was younger I loved super heroes, movies and cartoons. I would wear my pajamas with the capes that had Velcro on the back and run around the house as a different hero everyday. I started just wearing the top when I went out with my mother to do everyday things...lol. I had the ghost busters jumpsuit and would wear that to preschool and that was a blast. I started getting into how they made movies and how the props were made and when I started to make money years later I began to collect the replica props. I have always loved action and sci-fi movies but horror movies always were the best for some reason. I started to collect myers masks years ago and before that every Halloween I would buy a few masks that I liked and I still have them in boxes in the garage to this day.

My entire collection ended up in those boxes over the years slowly one by one until they were all boxed and stored. One day about 2 or 3 years I was cleaning out the corner and needed to make some space for some audio products left over from my shop when we closed and I found all of my old masks. Halloween was around the corner so I took them all out and made stands for them and displayed them again. A few of the masks turned into melting goo inde the plastic bags but they were mainly ones from my childhood trick or treat sesons. To replace them I searched the net for the new masks on the market and bought a few that I liked. I decided to start quiet on the set with two partners Ian and Alex.

I still have some masks in the garage that are up high and I should really take them down and see what is in there. I have been on a myers kick lately and it has been cool.

Thanks Scott, that was cool ^^^ collecting for me also stems back to childhood also.

When I was 3-4 yrs old my mom use to have a chart hanging on the fridge.

Whenever I'd do something good for the week I'd get the all mighty "GOLD STAR".

When I received enough, I'd get to go to the store and buy one (1) star wars figure (these are the originals).

Well over time I collected tons of them (figures and vehicles) and the collector inde me was born.

nce then I've collected basketball cards, comic cards, comics, action figures, swords, ornaments, masks and DVDs.

However, I've sold off most of my collections over the years but I still have the old Star Wars collection.

When I lived in Northern Indiana a few years ago I had an entire room degnated just for displaying it.

Ships hanging from the ceiling . . . it was pretty fun.

I only wish I had taken a picture of it before I took it down.

(it is now all boxed up).

The mask end of it.

Well, my love for horror goes back to 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade (can't really pin point it).

Myself, BooMan and other friends use to get together at each other's houses on the weekends and watch . . . . "R" rated movies Whooooooo

(it was cool for a grade schooler back then lol).

For some reason we stared renting horror movies like; Tales from the Darkde, The Cats Eye and the one we often give the most credit for our horror addiction . . . THE EVIL DEAD.

From then on I'd always watch any horror movie I could on tv like Nightmare, Fridays and Halloween.

Then, during our Senior year in High School I was running the School's TV show that aired once a month.

It came time for the Halloween episode and for the show's intro we had a girl get murdered by Michael Myers (what a crappy mask we had . .. and I paid $40 for it at Spencer's ts).

Still, It will end up on youtube one of these days in case you guys are ever interested in seeing it.

Anyways, I ended up giving that mask to Booman for helping me out with the show that eventually turned into a 45 min-movie (long story).

That was the very beginning of the mask craze for me . . . after that I always kept my eyes out for a good myers mask but It wasn't until BooMan and I reunited that I went full swing into it (learning the names of all the different artists . . .etc...).

Then a little thing called HorrorBid.com came along and you know the rest.

It's a really difficult question to answer because there was never really any one moment when I decided to be a horror collector. As with most, if not all, of us it was something that just evolved from childhood.

When I was a kid we got a lot of American TV channels out of Buffalo NY and one in particular used to show all the old Universal Studios clasc horror movies on Saturday mornings. When other kids would be watching cartoons I would be watching these along with the Hilarious House of Frightenstein (not sure if any of you guys in the US got this show). It was in this time when I bought my first mask, a Topstone Frankenstein that I still have:



That sparked the interest then I started sneaking into horror movies I was too young to get into, starting with the original Halloween. Surpringly even with this interest in horror I wasn't really into Halloween (the holiday) until I was a teenager and started decorating my parent's house. This was when I really started buying up a lot of horror/Halloween items that really started the collecting.

My first real serious collecting was my Universal collection, tracking down autographs of Karloff, Lugo, Chaney, Lanchester, etc. along with old stills and posters. It was around this time I picked up my most prized collectible to date, a pair of Frankenstein head cufflinks that belonged to Boris Karloff and were donated by his daughter to a charity auction.

Shortly around this time I got married. My wife was a good sport and agreed to a Halloween wedding where our guests came in costume. Because I was in my first year of law school and we were married in a different city, we had to get married on a weekend and that year Halloween fell on the Sunday. We had a huge Halloween party the Saturday night (we were Frankenstein & Bride) then shortly after midnight we got changed, the JP came over, and then the wedding took place. We even had Frankenstein & Bride of Frank wedding cake toppers.



It's only been in the last few years when I've been able to start really adding some quality masks to my collection. You can see a lot of my collection in my HMA Gallery (link in g).

Anyhooo...that's how my collection evolved.

My wife was a good sport and agreed to a Halloween wedding where our guests came in costume.

Ok Lee, we HAVE to see some pics of this . . .. LOL.

My wife let me play the star wars theme as we walked out . . . which my friends thought it was the coolest thing but to go all out with a Halloween style wedding . . . that is incredible!!!

My wife was a good sport and agreed to a Halloween wedding where our guests came in costume.

Ok Lee, we HAVE to see some pics of this . . .. LOL.

My wife let me play the star wars theme as we walked out . . . which my friends thought it was the coolest thing but to go all out with a Halloween style wedding . . . that is incredible

Well, being a sleuth and all... I ran across this a while back. It comes complete with wedding pictures. Don't be freaked out Lee, I'm just really good at finding things.
href="http://www.geocities.com/thecoronerstore/index1.html">http://www.geocities.com/thecoronerstore/index1.html

My story is not much different than some of the others posted. As a child I was able to watch the clasc monster movies as well as other sci-fi shows such as Ultraman and Star Trek. On top of that on some family vacations to x Flags and Astroworld, I would find myself mesmerized in the t shops that had Don Post masks tting on the top shelfs. So my 1st mask was a Don Post Wolfman I got in 1974. Then a Post Frankenstein a few years later. There were a ton of masks I wanted, I would see them all in the pages of Famous Monsters and Starlog. I would even go as far as filling out the order sheets but never got to mail it off because my parents didn't buy me much of that kind of stuff. I was able to get some, but not nearly what I wanted. I remember seeing the Post Star Trek masks back then, but as much as I liked Star Trek, I condered those masks boring. I really dug the Trek props(phasers, communicators,ect....) I was more into the monsters, vampires and creatures masks.

it all started with ultraman, Johnny Socco, Godzilla and Jaws!

the mask end i guess i was just tired of finding total crap to wear at halloween usa and spencers every year so i went out to find a good one

Well, being a sleuth and all... I ran across this a while back. It comes complete with wedding pictures. Don't be freaked out Lee, I'm just really good at finding things.
href="http://www.geocities.com/thecoronerstore/index1.html">http://www.geocities.com/thecoronerstore/index1.html

No creepy stalker vibe or anything... Actually I'm surprised that te is even still up...we haven't used it in years!!

Here's the more up-to-date one (although it hasn't been updated nce November of '06):

http://members.shaw.ca/lambertlaw

Wow Lee, you had by far the coolest Wedding Cake I've ever seen . ..

I wish I could have done something this elaborate for my wedding

Thanks Joel...the cake pan was an "Over the Hill" tombstone that they sell for 40th & 50th b-days. That was the main cake and there were small bite-zed ghosts & pumpkins surrounding it.

That was one of the most stressful Octobers of my life but also one of the most fun. We had just moved to a new city so were still settling in, I was starting law school, and my wife was just starting a new job. We were responble for the decorating and everything for the wedding so we had to travel back to my mother-in-law's place on 3 of the 4 weekends to decorate, meet with the JP to go over the vows, etc (it was a 9 hour drive which we did one weekend and a 1 hour flight we did the other two). To top it off, my folks had sold their place and were in the process of moving and we were helping them scope out houses that month as well.

^^LOL! Lee ther more and more I learn the more and more I likes. You bleed horror my good man.

Alright I guess I got involved in horror more out of curioty than anything else. I remember tting on a swing set at recess when I was a youngster hearing stories about Jason murdering all these camp counselors. Having gone to summer camp for years these stories really got my attention to say the least. I remember watching Friday the 13th for the first time. I don't remember which movie it was, all I remember is seeing this hockey masked nut case roaming the woods killing people like I had never seen before. The funny part was I was young enough for it to really inflict fear into me. I was scared this guy was going to show up at Camp Honorbright (my summer camp, lol) and take out ole BooMan. My buddy Josh would reassure me and probably himself at the same time and say look Jason doesn't kill children only teens, you see Justin (he would say) Jason was killed when he was are age so he will protect us. LMAO!

Just to think back at those kind of times really makes me smile and that story along with many others really make up my love for horror. It is almost a nostalgia thing with me. It doesn't hurt that the fall is my favorite time of year and I have a deep down love for trick or treating. Sorry for being long winded and the sad thing is I could keep going, that is just the point in my life that I really remember it sparking my interest especially for slasher movies.

Tough question to answer. Idk. For some reason as a child I just liked everything horror. -Dexter

.It all started when I was young! My parents would use to change the channel to a movie channel. And it would not be a school night. And I started watching it when I was 5-6 years old. The first HALLOWEEN movie I watched was H6. I used to get a little scared,but I would be the one just staring at the tv. I had 2 blings.I had another bling,but she was around 20 years old..Then as I got older,I started to remember these movies.So I started collecting horror movies. I started with H8.Then got to all those other movies. I thought the hobby was fun! So I started watching other scary movies!.What I forgot to tell you was that when I was young,I used to get scared of Chucky! MY ster used to watch it on tv,but I would ask her to change the channel.I was so terrified! But when I got to around 8, I started watching Chucky! I then got to love Chucky movies! I started to buy the Chucky dolls from eBay,but do you know what was my favorite Chucky Doll? It was my LIFE ZE CHUCKY GOOD GUY! I was loved alot by my aunt and uncle,so they're the one who bought the doll. IT WAS 1,000 dollars! But I always adored HALLOWEEN. I remember I would close my eyes not see the naked parts. I wouldn't try to look at the parts! So then it goes on and on in my collecting till today! So that was my story of collecting!

I guess you could say I was born into it...literally.

My birthday is on Halloween so I've had the luck to be a ghoul my whole life.

I got to see Halloween when I was like 7.

The first movie I ever requested to see when my parents finally got a VCR (when they were a new thing!!) was the original TCM.

The first real costume I ever wore for halloween was a creepy child clown and my first adolescent one was as Myers, knife and all for which I got escorted back home by the police when I unintentionally scared an old lady by standing outde on the street and doing the Myers "confused dog head tilt".

I used to take all my "normal" toys out of my long wooden toy chest and get inde and pretend I was a zombie or a vampire ring out of it

.

My parents never really minded nce I liked all things scary and was really pretty harmless, not setting things on fire or torturing animals or anything

.

I started seriously collecting just a year or so ago when I discovered all the great talent out there for making premium props/masks.

Prior to that it was mostly all action figures/books/posters and stuff like that.

When I got my first job out of undergrad college in 02, I had little to do, so I spent a lot of time on the net. I had a 85 DP the mask nce I was in 5th grade, and every year I would t on my parents porch and hand out candy and scare the kids. Well, after all those years, the mask turned to goo and I needed a new one. One day, I did a search for myers mask on yahoo, and found the CS 02 masks. I ended up going to a costume store and getting one, and then realizing it was not as good as my old DP. After an ebay search and another yahoo search, I came across mm.net. From there, it became an obseson.

I've always been a horror fan, always loved Halloween (the movie and holiday).

I guess my collecting bug started in Oct. of '97 when I picked up a DP Myers

at a costume shop. I had so much fun that Halloween scaring people at the Wal-Mart where I worked, in town, and even a high school football game that

night. After that I was hooked. That mask lasted me 5 years, back when I didn't know how to properly care for them. I've nce had a couple of CS and DP's.

When I got to where I could afford a quality mask I came to M-M.net to find what I liked. The rest is history, and now I'm an addict.