I am an investigator by trade (intellectual property investigations, specifically). It is a direct result of reading a crap ton of Batman comics and Sherlock Holmes as a kid. Over the past couple of weeks or months (I have lost track of time) I have been diving deep into the subject of collectible storage and displays as part of Nerdlocker’s new mission. For me, it started with not having a storage solution that I liked for my Funko POPs collection (more to come on that subject later*). But I wanted to find out what other problems collectible nerds were having. I mean if we are going to be a place for your inner nerd again I needed to investigate what issues are out there. This need-to-know led me down a rabbit hole that I am still going down but I figured blogging about it would allow me to come up for air. After watching countless hours of YouTube videos, joining Facebook groups about collectibles, and reading pages of comments on what people like or don’t like about the display options available, I have learned a TON! So far I have been able to identify a couple of problems that Nerdlocker is going to tackle.
- Lack of Options - This is pretty obvious to me, but you don’t see many purpose-built products for displaying collectibles at home or in the office. I guess that’s why many resort to using bookshelves and other furniture as display options. I believe there is a way to bridge both worlds with a multi-functional display option. Instead of making purpose-built bookshelves that double as display cases, what if we made purpose-built display cases that double as bookshelves?
- Pricing - Because there’s not a huge amount of options, pricing for the options available can get pretty high. There should be a way to provide solutions for the beginner collector or modeler up to the ballers with 80k to 100k collections. This looks to be a design and materials thing, which means way more research.
- Lack of Styles - This is more of a “me” thing, but the only options I have ever seen are in black or white cases or clear acrylic boxes. I’m an Earth-tone kind of guy. I want to bring in some flavor and give people some options that make the displays look a little more “living room” and less “game room”.
So far this is what I have noticed and I know I will uncover a lot more as time goes on. But that is the great thing about investigating the unknown, right? Let us know what you think if I am off or did I hit the nail on the head.
PH