Shanie and The Hall of Plastic
Ever had a hobby that completely consumes you? [Origin Story]
Once upon a time, in the looooong long time ago of the 1980s, I was a tiny little child with tiny little child thoughts and dreams. I wanted to ‘play with rocks’ for a living (I later learned the profession was “geology”). I wanted to have a giant house with a million rooms. I wanted to have a beautiful princess dress with high heels like Cinderella.
I was a normal American girl.
At least, as much as anyone knew.
And among this Normal American Girl Stuff?
Was Barbie dolls.
Early on, I… didn’t understand how to play with Barbies. I was a ‘chewer’ as a child, chewing on anything that was handy. (This included my own hair.) And, I discovered, Barbie dolls had very chewable feet.
But also, Barbies were fun back then.
We had Astronaut Barbie, in 1985.
We had Deluxe Tropical Barbie and Ken, in 1986
And in 1990, we had Ice Capades Barbie and Ken, which were based on a figure skating show that was popular at the time.
Barbies were fun in the 80s and early 90s.
But… not all fun lasts forever
The year was 1987.
And a new toy juggernaut was about to be born.
Based on the comic book series/characters of the same name, a fun little cartoon was born to show to kids during their regularly scheduled cartoon block.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I don’t remember the first episode I ever saw, all I know is I was hooked immediately. The bright colors, the stories, the action, and the one token human hero who, holy crap, was a GIRL.
I wanted to be April O’Neil from day one.
And, with a successful TV show, came a toy line that would change the damn game.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures, or as we would call them “Turtles figures” were a smash hit. And, to a newly hooked 5-year-old fan like me, a new hobby.
I say hobby…
I was hooked.
And Barbies were out the window.
(Or rather across the room. I started using my unwanted ones as projectile weapons, pretending they were ninja weapons while singing “Bye Bye Barbie!”)
I had many of that original line. Not all, I was missing Donatello. But the rest I had.
Except one that I wanted more than anything.
April O’Neil.
Now, I was 5. I didn’t know anything about “Blue Stripe” or “No Stripe”. All I knew was that they made an April figure and neither me nor my parents could find her.
But my cousin?
SHE did.
SHE had one.
And it only made me more jealous.
Cue my grandma and her seven sisters.
Now, my grandma loved me dearly. I was her favorite and she wasn’t afraid to tell people.
And she wanted to make sure I was happy.
So, she enlisted every one of her (many) sisters to start scouring every K-Mart and Woolworths they could get to to find me an April figure.
The result came about six months later.
When my grandma’s youngest sister was on one of her hunts and came across a young man unpacking a box in the toy aisle.
If you are a figure collector, you know this drill.
She asked him if she had any Aprils in the box he hadn’t yet unpacked. The young K-Mart employee, kindly, opened the box.
And, sure enough, inside the package was one crisp, minty fresh April O’Neil figure.
It was kept a secret from me until the next time I went to see my grandma but, sure enough, when I got there, my grandma presented me with the April figure.
I don’t remember if I said anything, or shouted, or cried. I just remember the JOY.
The feeling of absolute plastic BLISS.
I would never be the same again.
That day, holding that one perfect (2nd Edition) April figure in my hand lit a fire in me that never ever stopped. From that day on, Barbies meant nothing. Action figures were my new love, my new passion, my new PURPOSE.
I would go on to collect the Playmates Turtles figures for as long as the line ran, although as time progressed, I got into other lines. The ToyBiz Xena: Warrior Princess line caught my interest once I got into that show and, of course, when I became a wrestling fan, I was just GONE.
Wrestling figures.
My bread and butter.
There were other loves along the way, such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who, but wrestling figures were the ones that I couldn’t get enough of. I was old enough to buy my own figures and I started my own hunts. eBay was just getting going, I began trying to shop on there.
And, in my very earliest days of college, I made my first ever wrestling custom.
I don’t have a photo of it, not as it originally was made. But the figure was a Molly Holly “Rulers of the Ring” Jakks figure with her pigtails cut off and painted with nail polish, sharpie, and white out to make her into a Mighty Molly figure.
20 years later, I repainted her.
Sadly I don’t have her available to photograph right now, but lets just say that I’ve been told she looks better than the official Mattel one.
And now?
Well….
This is me.
Dressed up in a Kevin Owens cosplay, modeling it in front of the “Hall of Plastic”
And if you look behind me, directly under my right elbow (on the left of the image) you can see that original April figure, still proudly displayed, along with two other April figures I collected during that original run.
I likely have over a thousand figures now, between Wrestling, Doctor Who, Buffy, and Marvel Legends. So many figures that there is an entire room in my house dedicated to them.
And I’m still going strong.
Right now I have a package with a loose Kevin Owens arriving in the mail today.
I have another several wrestling figures I ordered yesterday.
And a half dozen Doctor Who figures mid-shipment as well.
I won’t stop.
I will never stop.
When I run out of room, I will get a bigger place. Again. For the third time.
Action figures are my passion. My love. They are the thing that gets me out of bed most mornings, and the thing that keeps me going in my darkest moments. Even the smell of “New Figure Smell” hits me like a dopamine rush.
My name is Shanie.
And I really really REALLY love action figures.
And when the day comes that I am taken out of this world, I hope they hollow out the bottom of my coffin and dump them in.
I have spent almost 40 years building my collection.
As a whole, it is my prized possession.
I am Shanie: The Toy Addict
And this is my story.