There is nothing wrong with a collection. Something as simple as a curated collection is enough to keep one going and bring constant joy.
Advice that collectors always give is to focus on something. A niche or a set or whatever it is.
It can be something as simple as a crayon color or as niche as sleeping Pokémon cards or Trainer cards.
It's just that trends by themselves are simply trends. Some might be good food or a small trinket that brings happiness.
The point of overconsumerism is just how wasteful it is. It might look aesthetically pleasing, but when it's not personalized and little thought is put into it beyond generic items, it strays very far into the unnecessary. Sure, it looks good, but does it do anything other than the basics? Even coloring seems to gain more consumerism just based on how the product can be done, instead of just the necessary pens, pencils, and crayons. Even the best coloring can be done with minimal shades.
These are hobbies that are meant to be enjoyed and gifts with thought and care for the person receiving it. Curation of a collection and gifting matters a lot more than the aesthetics of them all.
For example, my only Flins is PSS topper for Intertwined Fates that I can surround with ghost and fairy Pokémon of my choice. It's the closest thing I would do to actually make a Pokémon team or Pokémon where he lives and keeps company in pin form rather than just imagination.
I'm not even a Pikachu collector. If there were a Pikachu, they would have to be so cute and bring me some immeasurable kind of joy. My Pikachu collection is very much smaller but very curated because Pikachu is the mascot. Similar to Charizard, Gengar, and the Eeveelutions, I tend not to be picky...well, except for the Eevee Fusions, which I'm unmoved on collecting everything but the shinies, which is a bonus only.
That's curation. That's the intention for a collection.
Heck, let's look at another collection, my general Rapunzel. While half of them are Tangled, I still want to make it clear that I include original art and other series that adapted the fairy tale into the mix. I'm still looking for a good Barbie Rapunzel pin. Any pins that invoke the iconography of the fairytale, such as the tower, the flower, and the long hair, as long as they are in the fairytale. I also include the Tangled event from TWST because, other than the underwhelming story, it could've been so much better, it's Tangled adjacent, and I mean Riddle and Punzie with the mothers. I at least have to get Riddle with his getup, else I wouldn't be satisfied. I'm still so happy with my choice for Eugene/Flynn pop that it would be hard to top any future Eugene/Flynn pin, even though I still plan to get Silvy's version in the future.
That's the intention.
Heck, my Genshin and HSR collection is slightly more varied. Hilariously, one of my fave pins is Witchxing Furina, which is still so beautiful I want to give it a good picture one day. Ahh, I was so happy that other Furina just pale in comparison, and if I were, I would dedicate a single board to them. I just don't know I would. Sure, my Full Body Dan Heng IL will be the centerpiece of the Dan Heng collection as it expands to all forms.
The thing is about intention. If you really like them all, then get them all. I know some completionists who collect whole original art. Heck, I collected Califlair's Angel and Friend pin collection.
I feel so bad for completionists of the Pokemallows, though. With Mamo’s great ideas and adding effects, the Pokemallows are taking up a lot. I even stopped and only collected those of interest to me.
I'm only a completionist when it comes to certain stuff in my collection. My Mamo Eevee Fusions collection only has the shiny as a bonus. My KPDH collection will have the girls plus Jinu if it's a series I like. For example, the Huntrix Senshi and Jinu Tuxedo Mask from Silvy Celestial Vanguard series, while I'm not a fan of the KPDH series from PinHut, wherein Elsa is mashed up with Rumi. If you know me, you know why I was a fan of one series and not a fan of the other.
I think about these microtrends, and the way it lends itself to overconsumerism is the very fact of Fear of Missing Out, something that is so prevalent.
For Godoka's sake, each new trend seems to be piling up every time to appeal to instant gratification in that moment, which is definitely an effect of short-form media appealing to that instant gratification.
At least my pins give me gratification and satisfaction in the long term because they are so pretty displayed. Thinking of how pretty they would be when I finally get them up makes me happy. Pin mail just gives serotonin and all the thoughts to have them displayed.
Trinkets can bring instant joy, much needed after awful, restless days. Curating that requires more than mindless FOMO. FOMO is not your friend in any hobby.
Do you need that complete collection of so on and so forth? You certainly don't need to have a complete selection of all that is trending right now. If one thing from the current trend makes you happy, sparse the feeling whether you need more or not.
Are you one of those people who is just going to donate these trinkets to a local charity/thrift store? Or you are going to give it as an inheritance to future generations for them to sell it? I'm pretty sure what looks like junk to others can cost a pretty penny in getting money at least in the sphere of the hobby?
I have definite grails that others would like to have. Fuck for one person, I have about three of their impossible-to-find pins. Of course, one of them I'm going to put up for trade only and it would be so hard to move. I feel so sorry for those who wanted it, but it's going to be so hard to move.
In the pin community itself, there are trends. Mamo's Pokemallows exploded the popularity of dyed metal pins, even though other popular makers who outright specialized in them have always existed, but Mamo has a huge reach. Think of any popular media, and you will see pin art. I'm not even surprised to see Frankenstein pin art ready after the blitz of KPDH, and that has died down already.
Honestly, either be ready to start a new collection or not if you are in any collecting hobby that is already expensive as shit. I’m pretty sure the deluge of KPDH fan merch in all sorts of collecting hobbies is all sorts of crying wallet.
Trends are a thing in order to be relevant, unless an artist has built enough of a base for their original art that people are willing to buy them in droves. Nuwa does have an original art tier for her Patreon, but I don't think she ever has public original art pins for sale outside the Patreon shop at when I joined but there were some original stuff she sold such as handmade necklaces but that's only one time. Califlair has original art, too, in both the public and the pin club shop.
Hitting a niche is always the way to go since I’m aware of artists getting a fanbase.
Hence why there are people who don’t care if an ‘artist’ is using AI even subterfuge to be seen as an actual artist because they fill a need, never mind other artists with similar interests have done those before. For them, it’s all their gratification.
Buddy, people, artists had done NSFW art before Asamiart even existed. Her way of suggesting the person has seen her character is not even new. Asamiart garnered a parasocial base, which is why she stayed so long after the dossier. I don’t know how else to even decide what the Google Doc even called but dossier seems perfect.
Still, artists, if they establish enough to be reliable for commissions and/or small business, should be able to at least make something. Not every artist can be Mamo, who can withstand the tariffs with open preorders. Sure, some artists can make a living, but it's so rare that, of course, not everyone can do it no matter how talented or hardworking they are.
And even commission work must be completed on time and not be ghosted, as usual. Please don't ghost because the point of commissions is to build trust and you want to get money, right?
Just don't ghost in general when it comes to your small business if you are building one. Why the fuck have an online shop if you aren't gonna ship anything and will be more active at conventions? Just advertise your shit and only sell at conventions. Looking at you, Shinnoyume, because that's what he did and unrepentant, no matter how much customers hounded him.
This is a capitalistic society where a socialist society is deemed more and more appealing. For these small businesses, they have to keep up with trends. Yet if they are going to scam or not even bother with their part in even components of a business. Treating a business like a hobby should not be a thing. Once you have a customer's money in your hands, it should go towards production, not essentially defrauding your own customers.
Hobbies are expensive enough, and whatever trends there are that normies get caught up in are just little trendy trinkets. Whether they actually keep it in a collection it's their issue. My cousin still kept her Labubu in her purse.
There are nerds at my workplace. One has a Pochacco collection, and another has a Lucario acrylic keychain on their backpack; I'm pretty sure he also collects Pokémon cards, as another coworker commented about it. I overheard them playing online games pretty often, though I mentally cringed that one is playing Hogwarts Legacy. Another is a lover of K-Drama and will recommend stuff.
