Novi man has elaborate action figure collection

NOVI — Thano Karimalis, 51, of Novi, has developed an extensive and elaborate collection of action figures over the years. 

Karimalis’ collection goes from floor to ceiling and takes up an entire room in his home. The action figures range from G.I. Joe, Batman, Superman, anime characters and even the Muppet Babies.

He said he has no idea how many action figures he has and does not keep a written inventory of them.

“I collect mainly Marvel, G.I. Joe and Star Wars,” Karimalis said. “There’s some random stuff in there. There’s some He-Man, not a lot. There’s some Ninja Turtles, but not a lot. There’s some Power Rangers, but only, like, one shelf, and then random stuff like the Terminator, you know, a lot of ’80s characters.”

Karmalis said he purchases characters that he cares about and doesn’t base his purchases on their collectible value.

“Just because they make a figure, if it’s not like a character that I care about, then I don’t want to probably get them. Usually, I go to characters I know the backstory, like Superman, Batman, Spiderman. Stuff like that. If there’s little obscure characters, I just don’t get them. I only get what I like,” he said.  “But there are people out there who are completists and they’ll get the whole line of stuff, which to me is just a waste of money. Where are you going to put them?” 

He said he got into action figures as a child. He said there weren’t many kids to play with in the area at the time, so he just started collecting for about 15 years.

Karimalis resumed collecting action figures at 30 and purchases a few new figures each month, primarily from online sources. He said he does enjoy going to conventions but has found the best deals to be online. His favourite place to purchase figures is bigbadtoystore.com , but he does shop at Target and Walmart occasionally.

“I got rid of all the stuff that I collected when I was younger, that I grew up with, so I could concentrate on the 1/12 scale,” he said.

He said that collecting the 1/12 scale figures by lines like Hasbro and Mattel provides him more bang for his buck, and the size allows him the space for a larger collection. 

Kamimalis said he customizes his collection from time to time.

“If there is a character missing in a collection that the company hasn’t made yet, I’ll try and customize that character,” he said. “Sometimes you can find the head online, and you’ll have to make a body for it with just different parts from other figures. So, it kind of, like, makes the character you want.”

He said that there are thousands of collectors out there like him and many of them will talk through social media and meet at conventions.

“But my group is small. I have one friend who is interested in this kind of stuff, and then I know a guy who goes to a bunch of cons and stuff,” Karimalis said. 

He said he does have a few pieces that are worth some money. He said that they never are valued at more than $400, but most figures go for about $30. He said that he has a couple of Wonder Twins figures that are worth $250, as they are rare. 

He said that on average he spends about $1,000 to $1,500 a year.

“It’s not an expensive hobby. It really isn’t,” he said. 

He said that the figures often will go up in value within a year as they are no longer being made.

Karimalis’ mother, Pat, said that she is very impressed with her son’s collection and shocked. She said she had no idea that he had that extensive of a collection. She said that she knows his collection is at least three times bigger than when she last saw it.

“I think it is amazing. It’s from the ceiling to the floor. He sets up new things all the time and I don’t know how he finds the room to put up all that stuff, you know?” she said. “But he loves it.”

Kamalis can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok at Thanokarimalis.