He once took pride in calling himself a collector, but the consequences of the fear of missing out (FOMO) can be catastrophic.
At first, it felt harmless when a friend introduced him to Bearbrick and Labubu figures. They were playful, artistic, and strangely captivating. Buying one or two seemed like a tasteful way to decorate his home, a subtle signal of personality and style. Then he joined a few collector groups, and that was when things began to shift.
RM200,00 spent just to be a collector
Every day, someone posted an unboxing. Others flaunted rare editions and talked about “limited releases,” “market value,” and “future appreciation.” The language was persuasive, almost hypnotic. Slowly, a quiet pressure grew inside him, the feeling that if he didn’t keep up, he was falling behind.
At first, it was just a few hundred ringgit, then a few thousand. Before long, it escalated to ten thousand, then twenty thousand. What began as a genuine interest quietly transformed into competition. He was no longer buying them because he loved them.
He was buying because others had them and because they were “limited” and because he feared missing out.
Step by step, he sank deeper. By the time he finally stopped to think, he had spent nearly RM200,000.
Now, the collection fills his home, shelves upon shelves, visually impressive to anyone who walks in. But to him, they feel hollow, merely objects gathering dust. He tried selling some of them, and that was when reality hit even harder.
For illustration purposes only
The market had cooled. Prices dropped. Some pieces couldn’t even fetch their original cost. Demand had vanished as quickly as it once surged. One evening, sitting alone in his living room, he stared at the display as a single thought lingered: What if he had made different choices?
That money could have bought him a car, or gone towards a home. Instead, it sat frozen in plastic figures, according to his confession shared on the Facebook page 李大叔.
In the end, he finally understood something simple, yet painful. Not every “limited edition” gains value. Not every collection is an investment.
Sometimes, what feels like investing is just paying for a trend.
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