Forum - View topicQuestion about shelving...
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luffypirate
 Posts: 3187 |
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How do y'all organize your collection? Alphabetically? By distributor? Genre?? Color??? Packaging? Do you seperate DVD from Blu-ray? I'm trying to find a new way to sort mine because alphabetically hasn't worked well for me in a looooong time. I have three Atlantic Elf racks that I jimmy rigged together with some threaded rods (21 shelves that hold roughly 35~40 DVD amarays/Blu-ray is 45ish each) I call it THE ELFENSTEIN haha. A majority of my collection is artboxed and some of them are annoyingly huge (Beck, Haruhi, Kenshin etc.) I want it to look neat and hopefully as uniform as I can get it. Shoot me some ideas!! Thanks!
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24308 |
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Alphabetically.
I don't have any BDs yet, but once I do, I'm going to mix them in with my DVDs. Alphabetically. Right now my collection is spread out: starts on the top of my computer workstation (I have a cabinet thingy that sits on the right wing of my triangle configured work station); a chunk is stored inside the cabinet; then it jumps over to the top of a small bookcase that holds some of my manga collection; from there it leaps over to the monstrous TV unit (which has a number of separate shelves). I had to pack all my non-anime TV series that had been in the TV unit into cardboard boxes to make room. I have two six foot high bookcases that are crammed with my non-anime DVD movies. In other words - I ain't the guy to be giving anybody storage advice. This is all temporary. Once I get my HDTV et al, I'll get more six foot bookcases and everything should fit all proper like. |
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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Currently my collection isn't very organized due to not having enough space at my apartment for the whole thing but before I had to move, I organized by packaging mainly. I've got a lot of art boxes so same-size art boxes were together, keepcase collections were together, singles were together, etc. Exceptions were made to keep series together with OVAs, related movies, etc. If an OVA or movie was an alternate continuity, I might put it in a separate section.
And yeah, Blu-Rays (all 1 of them back then) were separate. I like to go by packaging because art boxes eat up so much space it's easier for me to judge how much I have to work with by putting them together first. |
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FaytLein
 Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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Oh, alphabetizing is an absolute must have for good displays. One thing I've picked up from seeing collections posted on here is dsiplaying artbox spines face out, as opposed to my previous disc spine out. The number of Blu-Rays I have are pretty small, maybe 20 or so, so they get stuck up near the top, since smaller cases look odd next to the full size ones. My collection is woefully not alphabetized fully, since my DVDs are in 6 different locations throughout my room.
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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I have crazy compulsive person rules for how I sort my collection.
My few anime BDs are placed on a separate unit entirely on the other side of the TV amongst my other BDs. Anime DVDs are sorted first by series versus movie. Anything that either has more than four episodes or is packaged across multiple disks is considered a series. Everything else is considered a movie and placed on a separate shelving unit next to the main unit. ------> The movie shelf is further sorted by distributor. ------> The series unit is further divided by packaging: Artboxes (defined as anything with a hard, inflexible box), loose singles and, complete collections. ------------> Artboxes, on the top shelf, are further sorted by colour for maximum visual appeal. ------------> Loose singles, on the bottom shelf, are grouped by series and in order from first to last, left to right. Series are then sorted by distributor. ------------> Complete collections, on the middle shelf, are further divided from left to right by type: Soft box, stack pack, thin pack, irregular. ------------------> Soft boxed sets further divided by colour. ------------------> Stack packs further divided by distributor. ------------------> Thin packs further divided by distributor. ------------------> There is only one irregular. When all the above conditions are met, further sorting is done by appearance for maximum visual appeal. |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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Alphabetized with BDs mixed with DVDs and I couldn't imagine doing it any other way. But if you want something else, perhaps sorting your art boxes from biggest to smallest and keepcases afterwards could work.
So you'd start with your tens and work all the way down to you threes with chipboard thinpacks sorted in there as well (a 3 disc thinkpack would be after 3 disc art boxes). After those come the alpha sets like the old anime legends and the big old school ADV bricks, also sorted biggest to smallest. Then your keepcases and Funimation thin packs. Of course, you'd have alphabetization inbetween there, but it's not in the normal sense of it. Now, for special LE boxes and the upcoming Funimation LE boxes that don't fit a mold like Haruhi and Beck (assuming you lay them horizontally), I'd suggest putting them either first or last or have them act like bookends; it's your call. If you sit them vertically, then all you have to do is place them where they belong on the size chart. Season separation is also a problem, but you could give those there own shelf. So, if your imagination is as vivid as mine, you would notice that your collection looks like it's evolving. It goes from big, burly chipboard, to slightly smaller plastic, to small plastic cases. |
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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Semi-alphabetically, BDs mixed with DVDs and most movies/shorter series/odd artboxes seperated.
My main shelf is an IKEA Besta bookcase with extra shelves put in. I keep 1 row of DVDs/artboxes vertically in the back, and 1 row horizontally in front of that (which lets me read the spines of the back row without taking out the front one.) By my math, it should be able to hold about 560 standard-sized DVDs in this way... of course, most DVDs these days are thinpak, so it's really filled a lot slower than I expected (yay!) This is where artboxes and series 4 cases & bigger go (the number of discs in case isn't important.) Shows are arranged by series, regardless of title or form- for example, I keep Ah! My Goddess the movie with Oh! My Goddess the OAV. Even though they're different formats and don't go alphbetically, it's the same series, so together they are. Also, I rearrange to fill the shelves as much as possible... if one shelf has enough space for a 5-disc boxset but the next one alphbetically is 6, I'll go out-of-order and put the next 4 or 5 disc set in the space instead of leaving a huge gap. Movies and shorter series go in the now-discontinued IKEA Journalist cabinet I bought back when I thought a series of pull-out drawers that can hold 360 standard DVD cases would be enough for my growing anime and game collection. (I outgrew it in about a year.) I do seperate BDs and DVDs in here- since the shorter BDs would be hard to get to flipping through the DVDs, I keep them in front. My current BD collection is only about 6 discs total- perhaps when I have more I'll keep them totally seperated, but for now it's easier to mix them in. As for the oddball stuff, like the .hack//sign hexagon artbox- it goes on top of the shelf with the VHS boxes, where the oddness doesn't affect anything. I did make an exception for the Toradora boxes, since they do techincally fit the shelves (I just can't have anything behind them.) I've long since given up on true uniformity- too many artboxes are just a bit bigger/smaller than the others mean you can't get a good straight line going anyway. I've opted to maximize space while retaining accessibilty- it works a lot better. |
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asimpson2006
 Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
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Right now it's alphabetical, but I have a lot of stuff that is not on the shelf yet main because I don't have enough room for everything yet. My plan which I would like to do next year is to buy three brand new shelves and put all of my anime, non anime, and video games in my room in shelves and not having a bunch of boxes in my room. If I do have the room I might be able to get my manga in my room as well for ease of access, but that's wishful thinking.
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mglittlerobin
 Posts: 1071 |
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My shelf is organized alphabetically, but I have to move some stuff over to the other side soon because I'm getting more anime and it's going to have to shift over to the other shelf which is not full.
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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By hand. What, not funny? Fine. I organize alphabetically because it helps me find what I'm looking for. Doing it any other way would be difficult, I'd think. Here's a tip when sorting alphabetically: leave about 6" off the side of each row to accommodate new purchases. If you're a heavy purchaser, widen the gap by 2-4". Then, once every six months, shift your collection and repeat the process. Makes maintaining the alpha sort so much easier. As for those collections containing boxes which aren't the same size, remove the DVDs from them and use the boxes as art on empty racks or shelves nearby. It'll have the same effect at garnering the "Dude, aren't you a little old to be watching cartoons?" remarks from visitors. Although I don't own any BluRay titles, I'd pack them next to standard DVDs just to maintain the alpha listing. I have to say I'm shocked those shelves have held your collection without failure and spilling your collection all over the floor. *jinx* |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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I stick it all inside a box. As much as it can fit. I tape afterwards. I stack the boxes, too. So right now the other room looks like a warehouse with all the crap I never unpacked when I moved out of mom's house. See you in 5 years, [series] DVD. If I ever get my own house, which will be something quite big somewhere close to the beach in the northeast region of Brazil, or somewhere 200 miles away from the capital and pretty close to the jungle, I'll definitely have a single room dedicated to it. But first I'll need to find a British wife who looks and acts very similarly to my favorite fictional character. You know what, forget that last one. I'll fill the house with body pillows. That should be cheaper and a lot less stressful than marriage. |
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Cabal17
 Posts: 63 Location: Texas |
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I sort my collection by a basis of where stuff will fit most efficiently for the most part. I have four sectioned media towers that can hold up to 420 DVDs each (3 for DVDs, 1 for videogames).
Really I sort by a combination of format (blurays and DVDs are separate), packaging style, genre, and director. A rough breakdown of my system follows from bottom up. Anime series with large art boxes (Gurren Lagann, GiTS SAC 2nd GIG, etc) Anime series roughly divided by genre (comedy, mecha, etc) Anime movies (not part of a franchise) by director Western "kid" animation series (Avatar, Batman TAS, etc) Western "adult" animation series (Simpsons, the Boondocks, etc) British TV American TV by genre Non-English language live-action films by country English live-action films by genre, sub-divided by director when possible Bluray Anime series Bluray Anime movies Bluray British TV Bluray American TV Bluray Western animation Bluray Non-English language live-action films by country Bluray English live-action films by genre, sub-divided by director when possible Really though the biggest thing that breaks up my sort is fitting as much as possible in as little space as possible. My system is often seems chaotic to others, but it works well for me. |
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EricDent
 Posts: 997 Location: Georgetown, TX |
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Well I currently have 5 "locations" for my DVD collection.
One is a TV stand that holds mostly TV series, and some other regular movies. 2 Bookshelfs (with 2 shelves each): 1 has the "Romantic Comedy" anime section (with a couple of spillovers from the next shelf) on the top I put several figures from Tenchi, Negima, and a stuffed turtle (from Hawaii) that looks a lot like Tama off of Love Hina, the other has more normal movies, and an entire shelf of "Giant Monster" movies (like Godzilla, Gamera, King Kong, and the like) on top of this shelf I put some Godzilla plushies that I have. 2 "Media" shelves (those really cheap ones you get at Walmart for about $20) with about 7-8 shelves. 1st is the "Action" section with mostly action related stuff. Also since it has the SDF Macross stuff on it (along with some other mecha shows) I put some fully transformable Veritechs (the Bandai kind), and some other Macross related toys on the top. On the 2nd one it is the "Fantasy" shelf, which features Slayers, and other anime that did not fit into the other categories (or I did not have room for them elsewhere) on the top I put 2 pictures (one is Lina Inverse, and the other is Amelia Seyruun that I traced using Adobe Illustrator (which is what my Avatar is done in as well) it is a lot harder than it sounds, since I did NOT use the "instant" trace feature, but did it by using the pen tool. I don't really keep them orginized in any specific methood, but I do keep the series (or spin-offs) together. I have not gotten into Blu-Ray, and really have no plans to do so. Mostly cause IMO there is no reason to purchase them, when DVD works just fine for me. If need be, I have another couple of small bookcases that I could use for future purchases. |
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Sanosuke_Inara
 Posts: 1662 |
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As a relatively new collector, I don't have enough DVDs to start putting them on any sizable shelf, but I'll probably just end up putting them in the order I get them, with those I consider to be some of my favorites being moved up with my other favorites.
That probably won't go well. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7359 |
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For me there's only one way to go: organized chaos. If I try anything else it just settles back into organized chaos so now I don't even try. I do have a very basic system though of trying to put all the thinpacks and thickpacks in one place, movies and short OVAs in their own, and anything single base sized (regardless of whether or not there's actually only one disc in there or if it's a litebox) in one section. And Robotech and Avatar: The Last Airbender are both of mixed variety packaging so they just stay together in their own classification. But it's mostly by packaging type.
For manga it's even more chaos! The oversized stuff is in one section but then I began to run out of room so I moved all of the Tezuka stuff to its own shelf (that immediately became full because Astro Boy moved with it although it's not oversized, but man, it makes such a nice shrine!) And I finally put ongoing stuff in its own area to try and alleviate rearranging stuff (not that it really helped all that much). But yeah, the complete series section of regular sized manga is utter chaos yet I can find anything with ease despite the shelves being double deep. I mean I still keep all the books of the same series together, it's just not organized by publisher, spine color, alphabetically (by title or author), year it came out, year I started collecting it, number of volumes, genre, nothing. The only thing is more favored series get front display, less favored ones get back shelf but that's about as close as we're getting here. As long as it makes sense to me I think the system works, if even I can't find anything then I probably need to fix something. So yeah, I don't think there's any right or wrong way to organize something, just have it look "right" to you and be able to find things and you're fine. |
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