METAL GEAR COLLECTION is a site created by me, Walleye. It is hosted by Zone of the Enders: The Unofficial Site, where I act as content manager and provided much of the site's information based content for the series.
I decided to set up a website to showcase my collection after seeing a few other collection sites linked in the "Your MGS Collection" thread on the forums at Metal Gear Solid: The Unofficial Site. Possibly my largest influence at the time was "Arsenal Gear", a nice little collection website showing off some exciting items. After initially playing around with a few layout ideas in Photoshop out of boredom, I went on to set up the site with some assistance from my brother.
Shortly after launching the site in February 2008, I decided I wanted to offer more than just my collection. I wanted to create a site that would benefit the Metal Gear Collecting Community. This was when I decided I would set up some form of news system, eventually settling for a Wordpress blog. Through the blog, I intended to bring the latest news relevant to collectors as well as adding a personal touch with collection updates, site news and announcements.
The original version of the site didn't hang around long. The original design featured a rather dark colour pallete and some of the more subtle touches in the site's design were a little hard to see. This needed to be corrected and so the site was rather quickly relaunced as Version 2 with a fresh facelift and colours that were easier on the eyes. That design has evolved somewhat since being put up and has now been carried over to Version 3 of the site.
I first discovered Metal Gear in 1999 when my brother rented Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation. After watching him play it for a while, I decided to give it a try myself. I've been a fan of the series ever since. It wasn't until the release of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater that I decided I would try and get the soundtracks, strategy guides and figures for the games that I had. A goal that is still largely unacheived.
With the release of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops I found myself expressing more of an interest in different versions and games from other regions. This is when I started to take my collection more seriously and started to track down some of the more obscure and limited edition items. In particular, the Promo versions of games that get sent out to stores and magazines for reviewing.
With the build up to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots I was finally able to meet two of my heroes, Hideo Kojima and Yoji Shinkawa, obtaining my first ever signed item in the process. Ideally, I'd like to keep collecting Metal Gear items until I have everything that has ever been made, but of course tracking down and obtaining many items is almost impossible and so I'm happy with whatever I can find at a fair price.