Visit toy heaven

Mike Avery’s basement is a child’s dream come true.

Thousands of action figures line the shelves and fill the boxes beneath his Kitimat home, the result of a collecting craze inspired by now nine-year-old daughter Eden when she was just three.

“His basement is a kid’s heaven,” marvels friend Jim Peachey. “Seriously. You have to see it to understand.”

Eden’s friends get a “deer in the headlights look” every time they come over to play, said Avery, who does not know of anyone with a larger collection of action figures.

His collection currently fills two rooms upstairs at the Kitimat Museum and Archives, on display under the title of “Out of the Box.”

A quick walk-through reveals an incredible variety of action figures from X-Men to Star Wars to Family Guy.

The hobby started when Avery purchased a box of Star Trek figures in the ‘80s. Then, when his daughter was old enough to begin playing with the toys, the fascination took off.

“All of a sudden, I had a collection,” said Avery, who describes himself as 43, going on 12. “I only have one rule - no duplicates.”

The collection took two weeks to classify and set up at the museum, and Avery admitted his basement still appears full, despite the toys on display.

“He’s expressing his creative side through these figures,” said museum curator Louise Avery of her husband’s hobby. “So for me, that’s a good thing. A hobby is really important.”

Mike has always been into collecting something, she added.

“It really adds to his life. He basically does at home what I do as a day job.”

She chuckled at some of the memories of her husband’s 15-year obsession with the toys.

“The action figures must be a male thing,” she said. “I’ve noticed a lot of men are closet collectors - just like baseball cards.”

Although Avery has a plethora of action figures, he has no Transformers or G.I. Joes and only one Weeble.

Part of it has to do with “becoming more focused as the collection gets bigger,” but Avery admits he’s only found one original Weeble in the last decade.

He added he cannot take credit for the Cars and Pokemon collections on display. They are his daughter’s.

As for the value of his collection, Avery said he’s not too concerned about that.

“You could sell this collection in a heartbeat,” he said. “But you could never put this back together.”

In the past month, four art workshops using Avery’s extra action figures have occurred at the museum, with kids of all ages - three to 81 - coming out to participate. The various artwork created has been hung in the exhibit as a complement to Avery’s plethora of action figures.

The “Out of the Box” exhibit opened October 9 and runs until November 14.

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