Long Islander Seth Buckley has a massive collection of toys at his home; many thousands of individual pieces, in fact, kept in a separate building on his property that he has dubbed “Toyland.”

 

That collection is going to be the subject of a nostalgic television series called Collector’s Call on the MeTV channel, hosted by actress Lisa Whelchel (who starred as Blair from 70s sitcom The Facts of Life), who explores the rarely seen private collections of the nation’s biggest collectors of pop culture memorabilia.

 

Watch a preview of the show below:

Video: MeTV

 

Buckley got bitten by the bug in the early 1990s. His parents had held on to his most cherished childhood toys, kickstarting his collection.

 

“My parents had the foresight to keep the ones that were most important to me,” he said in an interview with LongIsland.com. “So I had them with me all my life.”

 

After high school Buckley began as most early collectors did, visiting the dealer’s rooms featured at local conventions where, pre-Internet, most transactions for the rare and retro toy market took place.

 

“Eventually it took over and it got out of control,” Buckley said with a laugh.

 

That cache of saved toys has grown into a collection of thousands of individual items, 90% of them figures interspersed with some other types of toys - 7,000 by Buckley’s best estimate - that he houses in a separate structure on his property.

 

“I had a jumping off point to start me from the 1970s and 1980s,” he said. “I ended up wanting to collect all the ones I didn’t have as a kid and ones I lost.”

 

In addition to the conventions Buckley added to his collection at yard sales and anywhere else he could find them. Today, all of those other venues still exist but, Buckley says, the online marketplace has taken over.

 

“Since 2000, eBay has been the main way to add to the collection,” he said.

 

Buckley can’t even tell you how many he adds every year.

 

“That’s too hard to answer but it took me 30 years to get the number to 7,000,” he said.

 

Checking the math, that’s over 230 every year.

 

“I have honestly lost track of what’s in there,” he said. “I have a rough idea and it’s all stored in my brain. From what I know they’re all unique.”

 

It’s not just vintage figures either. Buckley generally will buy anything that excites him even modern versions of his favorite characters.

 

“[Vintage] is the stuff I love the most though,” he admitted.

 

Buckley is surrounded by his beloved collection - he also has a few hundred special ones in his home elegantly displayed behind glass. But most of it is in Toyland.

 

Toyland itself goes back to before Seth even played with his first Star Wars figure as a little kid.

 

“My grandfather had this house built in the 1950s,” Buckley said. “He was a competitive powerlifter - he built this shed that was an exercise gym. I turned it into Toyland.”

 

Toyland is basically a museum in his backyard to the action figures that Generation X grew up playing with. It has a wide array of models and brands.

 

“It looks like a store where nothing’s for sale,” he said. “Less than 50 people have actually seen it.”

 

It takes some work to curate the collection and they are packed in there pretty tight.

 

“It literally is like dominoes,” Buckley said. “If we have an earthquake on Long Island I’m doomed.”

 

Buckley submitted his massive toy collection to the show after watching. Collector’s Call on MeTV. Show producer Mike Schmiedeler said when they saw Toyland, they couldn’t stay away.

 

“The volume and condition of his collection is top notch,” Schmiedeler said. “And the building where he has all of them displayed made this an unforgettable collection for Lisa [Whelchel] and our crew."

 

On each show, Whelchel enlists the help of professional appraisers and experts to value what different collectibles are worth. The experts will try to tempt the collectors with a trade, offering a coveted item that could be the perfect addition to their collections. The collectors must then make an agonizing choice and decide how much they’re willing to give up for a new addition to the collection.

 

Did Buckley make the trade offered to him on the show? You’ll have to tune in to find out.

 

This is not the first time Buckley has had his collection featured on television.

In 2015, on season five of Kevin Smith’s Comic Book Men, Buckley appeared and sold an item of his on the show.

 

“It had the same premise as Pawn Stars,” he explained.

 

On that show Buckley sold a rare Mego Wolfman figure.

 

“I sold it for $1,100,” he said. “I had it for 20 years.”

 

He originally purchased it for ninety bucks.

 

While impressive and expensive, his collection is probably most valuable to its collector mostly due to nostalgia, according to Buckley.

 

He plans on growing the collection until he retires then instead of working a part time job he will sell it off piece by piece.

 

“But first I have to stop buying and come to a place where I can let it go,” he said wistfully. “Once the people who have interest in it die off it becomes worthless. It’s gold for 30 years.”

 

He says that in 50 years he doesn’t think anyone will care about an action figure from the 1970s. He’s put in the work to grow and maintain the collection and it has taken on a life of its own.

 

“I own this massive collection but in a way it owns me,” he said.

 

The “Collector’s Call” episode titled “Meet Seth Buckley - Toys” airs Sunday, July 9th at 6:30pm on MeTV. Want to watch? Click here or tune to channel 687 on Optimum.