Dr_OruThere are plenty of ways one can go about displaying a collection, with different focal points.
Making a shrine for a specific character or series, displaying its figures, acrylics and other sorts of merch together on one single spot. Going the subtype way, where you have all your manga in one place, doujinshi in another, artbooks somewhere else, cds with cds, all your figures maybe in a few detolfs or display cabinets, etc. In recent years, we've also seen the rise of "aesthetic" displays, where you go about organising by colours.
And then, of course, we have the daredevils, them lawless folks, where anything and everything goes and so be it.
■ All is fine and dandy, left solely to personal preference. But what happens when your collections have taken quite the growth spurts and you sorta, kinda, happen to suffer from mild OCD and gotta sort it all out from 0?
the context you can skip That last part is me, hi ~~ So the short context is that over the years my OCD has gotten very under control, highly functional yada yada mental stuff that is completely irrelevant here, except for one aspect: ORDER.
Now, I've been good allowing chaos into my life without going into full meltdowns (heck, working in healthcare, chaos becomes me, tbf). However, it is slightly different when it comes to my clean home and personal belongings. Specifically, my room aka sanctuary of order and purity. Everything there has its place. Always. ALWAYS And it only gets touched by me. Mostly. I've become good accepting people in there and touching stuff now so long as it gets put in place after, and then I'll sort it again for good measure.
Said home sadly got destroyed 3 years ago and, in a rush to save as much as possible from water damage, all belongings got thrown into bins. Now, as construction and renovation of the apartment draw near, certain emotions and anxieties are surfacing.
There isn't really a problem with remember where stuff belongs to (not only do I remember, there are pictures to help). The "issue", if you can call it that, is all furniture is gonna have to be replaced and new additions thrown in. And having grown said collection three to four times its size, minimum, everything will undoubtedly need a new place. The correct place. And it already fills me with dread and nausea since there is just so much and it has to be just right. If it doesn't start off right it'll only be worse down the line. You might be thinking this sounds devoid of logic, since objects could be changed later on, the next week, the next month, etc. But it doesn't work like that, logic unfortunately won't apply here, there will only be reaction once the time comes and everything gains their "spot", which will be extremely hard to change after.
Since four of my collections became huge and still growing, was thinking of just having a full cabinet for each (billy+oxberg doors) and placing everything within those franchise > chara together. For the rest, keep them arranged by subtype > character, so figures with figures, doujins with doujns, etc. But then what about the smaller collections that are only smaller by comparison? Should there be a Nitro+Chiral corner or keep it disperse by subtypes? Do I place the Uramichi manga in the Uramichi shrine? If so, what about the other manga and artbooks with a lot of merch that can't simply fit in front of it? Will there even be enough space for all these "corners" and "shrines"? Queue gag reflex.
■ How do you guys go about sorting it with big, multifaceted collections? Do you give it much thought at all and, if so, what is the process behind it? Do you freehand try fitting it all to see if it sticks, do you do grid planning first, other...? Furthermore, what feels like the optimal way, do you prefer shrines dedicated to specific series/charas with everything together OR split and neatly organised based on genre and subtype? Do you often rearrange those spaces entirely or keep adding to them and expanding out? How do you live with your decisions? jk Does it ever make you anxious in any way?
Would really, really, really love to hear your thoughts on it, regardless if you might struggle with OCD as well or not c:
Making a shrine for a specific character or series, displaying its figures, acrylics and other sorts of merch together on one single spot. Going the subtype way, where you have all your manga in one place, doujinshi in another, artbooks somewhere else, cds with cds, all your figures maybe in a few detolfs or display cabinets, etc. In recent years, we've also seen the rise of "aesthetic" displays, where you go about organising by colours.
And then, of course, we have the daredevils, them lawless folks, where anything and everything goes and so be it.
■ All is fine and dandy, left solely to personal preference. But what happens when your collections have taken quite the growth spurts and you sorta, kinda, happen to suffer from mild OCD and gotta sort it all out from 0?
the context you can skip That last part is me, hi ~~ So the short context is that over the years my OCD has gotten very under control, highly functional yada yada mental stuff that is completely irrelevant here, except for one aspect: ORDER.
Now, I've been good allowing chaos into my life without going into full meltdowns (heck, working in healthcare, chaos becomes me, tbf). However, it is slightly different when it comes to my clean home and personal belongings. Specifically, my room aka sanctuary of order and purity. Everything there has its place. Always. ALWAYS And it only gets touched by me. Mostly. I've become good accepting people in there and touching stuff now so long as it gets put in place after, and then I'll sort it again for good measure.
Said home sadly got destroyed 3 years ago and, in a rush to save as much as possible from water damage, all belongings got thrown into bins. Now, as construction and renovation of the apartment draw near, certain emotions and anxieties are surfacing.
There isn't really a problem with remember where stuff belongs to (not only do I remember, there are pictures to help). The "issue", if you can call it that, is all furniture is gonna have to be replaced and new additions thrown in. And having grown said collection three to four times its size, minimum, everything will undoubtedly need a new place. The correct place. And it already fills me with dread and nausea since there is just so much and it has to be just right. If it doesn't start off right it'll only be worse down the line. You might be thinking this sounds devoid of logic, since objects could be changed later on, the next week, the next month, etc. But it doesn't work like that, logic unfortunately won't apply here, there will only be reaction once the time comes and everything gains their "spot", which will be extremely hard to change after.
Since four of my collections became huge and still growing, was thinking of just having a full cabinet for each (billy+oxberg doors) and placing everything within those franchise > chara together. For the rest, keep them arranged by subtype > character, so figures with figures, doujins with doujns, etc. But then what about the smaller collections that are only smaller by comparison? Should there be a Nitro+Chiral corner or keep it disperse by subtypes? Do I place the Uramichi manga in the Uramichi shrine? If so, what about the other manga and artbooks with a lot of merch that can't simply fit in front of it? Will there even be enough space for all these "corners" and "shrines"? Queue gag reflex.
■ How do you guys go about sorting it with big, multifaceted collections? Do you give it much thought at all and, if so, what is the process behind it? Do you freehand try fitting it all to see if it sticks, do you do grid planning first, other...? Furthermore, what feels like the optimal way, do you prefer shrines dedicated to specific series/charas with everything together OR split and neatly organised based on genre and subtype? Do you often rearrange those spaces entirely or keep adding to them and expanding out? How do you live with your decisions? jk Does it ever make you anxious in any way?
Would really, really, really love to hear your thoughts on it, regardless if you might struggle with OCD as well or not c:
Comments14
Meliodabeth MeliodabethMeliodabethsnip I've actually seen your amazing display templates before and they are kind of a small inspiration for me x) Was initially attempting to do the same for my detolfs with scales but unfortunately it gets a bit harder to apply to big shrines that involve pvcs, badges, straps, stands, book, etc... Though I'm still using your idea just to at least try and write down the overall spaces / shelves and what type of series or media should go where.
Also, specially love your nun/cleric shelf c:
hasturmishhasturmishhasturmishsnipSeems organising by colour is pretty popular nowadays, even in the poll it had more votes than expected! c:
When it comes to books, think it looks stunning when people pull off rainbow like libraries.
GhostFaceFox7GhostFaceFox7GhostFaceFox7snipBelated welcome and thanks ;v;b! While you might be starting off, you have very based tastes so your collection will grow to be splendid, surely.
drendrendrendrendrendrendrendrendrensnipHello, fellow cat lady ~ Your line-ups then tying up by company sound extremely satisfying x)
TheCliveTheCliveTheClivesnipIf it feels right, it is right after all c:
Personally thought, I'd fry a circuit if I had a figure shrine for a character but then one of them happened to fit on a themed place (like the bikini area, as per your example). Which is why I'm having such a hard time now deciding how I'll split things up OTL
jshinmoe18jshinmoe18jshinmoe18snip Aaah, very cool shrines you have and they definitely are full-on shrines, not just subtypes > chara, so it is great to see c: Thanks for sharing ~
MissMagsMissMagsMissMagssnipThose sound very neat and visually appealing ~
Thanks for all the great advice! For sure need to plan out how many shelves, cases and nookies I'll be needing for everything to fit but tbh, in this hobby, there is no such notion as too much space, is there? Also, that last bit of finding someone to take over is a really interesting idea, even if not possible for me. Never seen anyone mention similar yet can see how helpful it'd be for many struggling or feeling overwhelmed.
gwendal738-2gwendal738-2gwendal738-2snipAha, "almost BL". Your arrangements sound lovely. Do you also insert all sorts of media inside your main display cases?
Might try and pull something similar to your manga shelves organization ie. make a little Harada corner with her works and display some of the merch in front, and then just have it transition in line to other BL works, etc. Thought not sure if I should keep her artbooks there or in an artbook corner.
RotfleaRotfleaRotfleasnipAhaha, apologies for the disservice! Also, ot but amazing collection and superb tastes ~
Panda_RollPanda_RollPanda_RollsnipHey, it's not about the size, it's about the quality x)
Ahaha, ofc, the accidental Aoba corner, who never stumbled upon one of those xdd Tbf, I'll soon be having a Towa corner which was never planned for either.
Thanks for sharing. V You're spot on that variety is the spice of life and having things be unique does give them more personality. Alas, for me, order also implies consistency, be it visually or "logical", and too much divergency will send my brain to overdrive ;v; though I love appreciating it on others.
merychristmas13merychristmas13merychristmas13snipThat's a beautiful notion. Happened to have seen your work before too, and it was truly stunning and well thought out to match the character ~~
How i would personally go about it is the representing the best of what that character has to offer. The main idea off the top of my head is making Dioramas with probs that are unique to them or fitting thematic wise.
One, grouped by series. These are few, actually only two groups in that but they're very much fixed in their location and only move around once another from the same series gets added.
Two, by "type". I don't mean figure, acrylic stand, puppet...etc. I mean they share an aesthetic. In my case hot-topic gothic! That one is my favorite not going to lie.
One that sorta just happened is the Aoba corner. I didn't mean to make a character shrine but... one day it'll be the DRAMAtical murder corner, I promise!
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Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, it doesn't have to be one thing. More so when you have a larger collection. Have one that is grouped by series, another by type, a shelf that is a character alter...etc.
Maybe it's just me but that way each will have it's own identity and therefor a place. (everything NEEDS to be in it's place)
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Other figures I display out of the main cabinet and onto my manga shelves go by series/author/genre. I have my CLAMP figures on my CLAMP shelf, Natsume Yuujinchou and Hitorijime My Hero have their own shrines, other misc BL figures are on the BL shelf, and a Vocaloid (Miku and Kaito only as they're my 2 favorite Vocaloids) and Jujutsu Kaisen shelf.
My other miscellaneous figures go on my miscellaneous manga shelf.
So in short... I guess I do more grouping by shrines, and also by series. And it's much easier for me to organize because I mostly collect nendos, so I really just need to slap some risers on a shelf and I can display them all however I want.
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my madoka magica shelf
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and my evangelion + nobara shelf
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so everything is arranged by either series or type of figure (kinda!)
As for how you can do your organizing, I highly suggest creating a planning image after you've determined where you want your furniture to be. Also try to be open to potentially needing to move a case but I know that's easier said than done. I've also found it helpful to have someone who can step in and "take over" if planning a display ends up overwhelming me. Depending on what you ask of your take-over assistant, they could get a preliminary plan started for you and then you can adjust as needed.
What that means is some shelves are grouped together by character (like my Zero Two or Ryuko shelves) or grouped together by aesthetic (my swimsuit shelf, my wedding dress shelf)... but outside of those, the other shelves are a mix of different figures that I just 'feel' go together. Maybe it's by color, maybe it's by theme, maybe it's by size, and maybe it's just what fits the best, but I don't have a definitive method for the rest of it.
My manga shelves are the same way: while I group manga and Light Novels separately, beyond that, I organize series by just where I 'feel' a series should be on the shelf.