If you have an epic action figure collection, chances are, you want your family and friends and yourself, of course, to be able to admire that collection in all of its glory. The absolute best way to achieve this goal is by displaying that collection, or, at least, a portion of that collection. But how should you go about doing this? What are the options out there for displaying an action figure collection?
There are numerous different ways you can go about displaying your collection—way too many for me to cover in this post. The number of different cases, shelves, and cabinets you have to pick from is almost unlimited, relatively speaking. So, instead of creating a huge list of all the different options out there, I’m going to run you through a list of questions you should ask yourself when selecting a display method, and try to give you some things to think about before you make a decision. In the end, I’ll give you my recommendation.
Are These Open Action Figures or Unopened?
First off, answer this question for yourself, because the display methods for a collection of open action figures may be drastically different than the display method for unopened (or carded) action figures. Now, that’s not to say there isn’t plenty of crossover and a lot of what will be discussed here will apply to both opened and unopened action figures; however, there will be different options available to you.
How many figures will you be displaying?
The number of figures you will be displaying is going to have an impact on the amount of surface space you are going to need. The more figures you are going to be displaying, the more surface space you will need. Think of the length and width of the shelves. Are you going to display many figures over a couple very large shelves, or are you going to use a more narrow shelf case with about five or six shelves and spread your figures out amongst them. Perhaps you’re only going to be displaying a few figures, but each one is going to get its own acrylic display case. Figure out how many figures your will be displaying, whether that be 10, 50, or 500 and take that into account.
Also, remember that you don’t have to display all of your figures the same way. Let’s say you have about 100 figures that you want to display, but there are 10 that you want to display in a special manner, let’s say, in acrylic cases. You could, for example, buy some rolling shelves for your 90 figures that you want to display together, and then get a few acrylic display cases for those figures you want to display separately. It’s entirely up to you, and you don’t have to settle on one method for displaying your whole collection. If you want certain figures to stand out, do something different for them.
How Much Space Do You Have?
Are you displaying your figures in your 10×10 bedroom or in your 1000 square foot basement? Also, how high is the ceiling in the room you’re thinking of putting up that 8 ft tall bookcase? Remember that the room you are displaying your figures in is going determine your options to a large extent. If you have a small space to work with, maybe look for something with four or five shelves instead of only two if you want to display a lot of figures. This will give you more surface space to work with.
If you have a large number of figures and only a small space to work with, it’s possible you may need to be more selective about which figures get displayed. Perhaps try displaying different figures at different times and switch them out with others from time to time.
What Room Do You Want to Display Them In?
The Room you’re going to display your figures in is also very important to consider, because displaying your figures in the wrong room could actually be hazardous to the health of your action figures. I’ve already sort of discussed the size of the room, and how that is going to have a big impact on the type of display shelf, cabinet, etc. you choose to get. Also be aware of any windows and how much sunlight the room gets. Sunlight will cause discoloration in your figures over time such as yellowing of white figures (you can read more about that here).
Basically, it’s a good idea to display your figures in a room that is kept at a moderate, comfortable temperature, doesn’t get too humid, and gets little to no sunlight. Specifically, you don’t want the sunlight hitting your figures at any point. Keep the blinds closed unless your figures are behind UV filtering glass—even that may not be effective if the glass only filters a certain percentage of the UV rays.
Garages, attics, basements, and sun porches should generally be off-limits for your action figure collection due to the sunlight and/or environmental conditions. Closets are probably good place to display them since its highly unlikely your closet is getting any sunlight. Closets with shelves already built in are probably a great option.
If you have no choice but to display your action figures in a room that gets sunlight, I’d recommend storing your figures in a storage cabinet. That way you can keep the cabinet doors closed when there is sunlight coming in the room and open them when there is not.
What Will You Use to Display Them?
There are many different ways to go about displaying your action figures, and there are simply to many options for me to cover them all. I will run through a list of a few and you can decide whether or not one of these suits your needs. Some things you’re going to want to consider when making a decision:
- How much assembly is required?
- How adjustable is it?
- Can you adjust the shelves to suit your needs?
- What is the weight of the case, shelves, cabinet, etc.?
- How expensive is it compared to your other options?
- How difficult would it be to move if you had to rearrange things?
- Can you easily add different display elements like LED light strips and stands?
- Does it offer UV protection?
- How much surface space will you have?
- What are your other options?
Those are questions you should be asking yourself in addition to everything I laid out earlier in this post. There are literally so many options out there, and it would be impossible to cover them all, but I think what this really comes down to is finding a balance between a something extremely fancy and something more practical. I’ll cover this next.
Fancy vs Practical
It seems like a popular option for a lot of dedicated collectors is a glass display case of some kind. There are many cool options for you. Something like this cabinet tower for example, or this tempered glass table top display case. These look really cool, and I’ve seen some amazing looking collections that are displayed in these types of glass display cases, especially when you deck them out in LED lights. You can see your figures through the glass, which keep them shielded from excessive dust build-up in the short term. Also, some of these cases even offer a degree of UV protection.
Personally, I feel that these options are too much of a hassle. These display cases tend to be heavy and cumbersome, which means they are difficult to move if you ever need to rearrange the room or move them to a new house or apartment. For me, I would go with lightweight, plastic storage cabinets—sort of like this one. Sure, it’s not the sexiest option in the word, but it will get the job done and comes with a number of benefits:
- It is lightweight
- It will block harmful UV rays
- The shelves are adjustable
- It will prevent excessive short term dust build up
Obviously, the major downside to this option is that when the cabinet doors are closed, your figures won’t be visible. Maybe this is going to really bother some people, but, for me, it’s not really a big deal. This option is not for everyone, clearly, but, in my humble option, out of all the numerous options out there, lightweight plastic storage cabinets are the best option for displaying your action figure collection.
Conclusion
Now that I’ve thrown in my two cents, I’ll leave you with this: make your own way. Choose the display shelf or cabinet that suites your needs and desires. There are so many options out there from glass display cases, to rolling shelves, to book cases, to these super modern looking display shelves, to cabinets—I could go on and on, but the point of this post wasn’t to give you a comprehensive list of all the possible options out there. The point is to help you to pick which option is best for you based on your needs and taste. Hopefully, I’ve managed to do that.