History Main / TheCollector

* ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' has the Grandmaster, a hedonistic egomaniac who collects strange and unusual beings to fight each other in gladiator battles[[note]]according to the creators the two are brothers, but other than a picture of the two together in the aforementioned ride there's no canon confirmation of that[[/note]]. The film focuses on two - namely, Thor and Hulk - but others include Korg, a being made completely of rocks, and Miek, a small, larva-like alien in a metal exoskeleton. The edifice of his palace suggests that [[Characters/MarvelComicsOlympians Ares]] and Characters/BetaRayBill were once champions of his as well.

''This page is about the trope. For the 1967 movie, go [[Film/LaCollectionneuse here]]. For the 2009 movie, [[Film/TheCollector2009 go here]]. For the Canadian TV series, [[Series/TheCollector2004 go here]]. For the 1963 novel by John Fowles or the film based on it, [[Literature/TheCollectorJohnFowles go here]]. For ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' character, [[Characters/TheOwlHouseTheCollector go here]].''

''This page is about the trope. For the 1967 movie, go [[Film/LaCollectionneuse here]]. For the 2009 movie, [[Film/TheCollector2009 go here]]. For the Canadian TV series, [[Series/TheCollector2004 go here]]. For the 1963 novel by John Fowles or the film based on it, [[Literature/TheCollectorJohnFowles go here]]. For WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse character, [[Characters/TheOwlHouseTheCollector go here]].''

* Done in the ''Manga/{{xxxHOLiC}}'' film, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' when Yuuko gets an invitation stating that her 'collection' is not complete. She brings Watanuki and Doumeki along with her into a mansion where there are several other collectors that collect rare things. It later turns out that the person that invited them there [[spoiler: is a collector that collects collectors who collect unusual things. He keeps both their souls and their collections in individual rooms. He started because someone who was close to him collected something, and asked him to start a collection too]].

* ''Series/MastersOfHorror'': In "Cigarette Burns", the millionaire collector Bellinger collects various films depicting extreme acts. He's also keeping a mutilated angelic creature locked up in his gallery as part of his collection of ''[[ArtifactOfDoom La Fin Absolue du Monde]]''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'': In "Ticket to Ride", the others are revealing their hobbies (painting, science, etc.), and it turns out that Ringo likes to kidnap women and ''put them in bird cages'' ("bird" being Liverpool slang for "girl"). Fortunately, he's really bad at it; he's only managed to trap one girl, and she escapes during the course of the episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'': One villain, a toon that collected other toons, was actually called "The Collector". [[spoiler: Only it turns out he wasn't actually a toon. He was a crazy human who ''thought'' he was a toon. He remained in denial even after his mask was torn off, screaming "I'm a toon! I'm a toon!"]] [[NightmareFuel It was incredibly creepy]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'': In "Three Men And A Booby" -- stop that snickering, unless it's because of the ''Film/ThreeMenAndABaby'' reference -- an obsessed egg collector collects a booby egg. The mother booby enlists the Rangers' help in reuniting the egg with her. [[spoiler:They end up hatching his entire collection.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' had a VillainOfTheWeek, Skulker, who collected various kinds of ghosts, and wanted a [[UniquenessValue half-ghost]] for his collection.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Spoofed in "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E11WhereNoFanHasGoneBefore Where No Fan Has Gone Before]]", where a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien is the galaxy's biggest ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan (actually second biggest, after Fry), and kidnaps the cast of the show.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'': General Tsin in "The Most Dangerous Po", who capturing the most dangerous villains in China and imprisoning them as his personal collection. Also an example of HuntingTheMostDangerousGame and TheJailer.
* ''WesternAnimation/MuchaLucha'', "The Collector" features an alien trying to collect masked wrestlers.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' has [[spoiler: Collectors, which are mysterious cosmic beings who like to observe all living things, and then, as the name implies, collect them so that they can be preserved for all eternity. If the life-forms don't give in, then they [[DisproportionateRetribution just destroy their planets]]. The show features one particular Collector, simply called "[[ADogNamedDog The Collector]]", who is young member of their species. The Collector doesn't seem to know many other members of their species, so they aren't fully aware of what they like to do. They view other life forms as their playmates, and in their own, strange way, seem to care about their playmates deep down]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': "Collect Her" finds our titular heroines being captured by Lenny Baxter, a comic book geek who has collected every piece of Powerpuff Girls merchandise in existence and, desperate for more, has decided to add the Girls themselves to his collection. He is defeated when the townsfolk track him down and torture their whereabouts out of him by removing his valuable toys from the boxes.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'': An Anti-Villain called the Collector appears in "The Brooklyn Triangle". He has been "collecting" random things for 10,000 years trying to find the key to escape, as he was an ancient Ghostbuster imprisoned by a demon. When he finally finds it, he escapes and returns everything back to Earth.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickandMorty'': In "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E8MortysMindBlowers Morty's Mind Blowers]]", Rick and Morty are shown to have been captive in a menagerie, and escaped by replacing themselves with unwitting doubles in a parody of Film/{{Contact}}.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Parodied in a Halloween episode, wherein the Comic Book Guy kidnaps his favorite celebrities, including Tom Baker, Matt Groening, and Lucy Lawless, and encases them in mylar bags. The villainous alias he chooses really ''is'' The Collector.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': As in the films, General Grievous repeatedly mentions his collection of lightsabers taken from slain enemies.

** The two-parter "The Main Man" featured both Superman, the [[LastOfHisKind last surviving]] Kryptonian, and Lobo, the last surviving Czarnian, being captured by an alien called The Preserver, who kept a menagerie of such creatures (he even had a dodo among them).

* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'': "Freebird" has a couple collecting birds by tempting people into drinking tea from their magic tea pot so that they can turn themselves into birds and enjoy the freedom of it. After the transformees have had their fun and return for the antidote, they're put in a cage until they succumb to TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody.

* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "Cigarette Burns", the millionaire collector Bellinger collects various films depicting extreme acts. He's also keeping a mutilated angelic creature locked up in his gallery as part of his collection of ''[[ArtifactOfDoom La Fin Absolue du Monde]]''.
* In an episode of ''Series/NightGallery'', a gangster seeking safety from his many enemies ends up under the "care" of a retired doctor who collects rarities, and promises the gangster a safe, long and comfortable life -- as part of the doctor's collection.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S5E30StopoverInAQuietTown Stopover in a Quiet Town]]", a married couple wake up in a small, deserted town, only to find out at the end that they are toys in a giant alien's playset.

* The vampire Luthor Harkon in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy Battles'' collects dead sailors (as zombie pirates in his fleet) and {{Mayincatec}} artefacts in a hope to get his magical powers back. He is also utterly insane.
* Trazyn the Infinite, a Necron Overlord in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', has this as his particular quirk, with an entire planet dedicated to collecting and preserving artifacts, vehicles and living beings for pleasure and posterity. Notable exhibits include an ossified Enslaver husk, a gigantic man in baroque power armor and the severed head of Sebastian Thor, one of the Imperium's most beloved saints.

* The main antagonist from the first ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'', appropriately named The Collector, goes around the various levels kidnapping major characters in the background.

* The entire plot of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' revolves around fighting an enemy known as the "Collectors," who are named for their tendency to "collect" samples of unusual and unique biological specimens for genetic experiments. They are abducting human colonies, are actually working with the true villains of the series, [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], and are [[spoiler: repurposed Protheans from the last time the Reapers invaded]]. In the end [[spoiler: Shepard's own crew is abducted, and the final part of his/her mission is a rescue op to bring them back. Unlike many of the other examples on this page, their goal is not to display their victims, but to ''dissolve them into their genetic components'' and build a new Reaper from human goo]].

-->'''Joker:''' ''(on Thane)'' Oh, another dangerous alien aboard, Commander. Thanks. Why can't you collect coins or commemorative plates or something?
* Sirius in ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' ''3'' who collects planets and stars with a black hole.
* Conroy Bumpus in ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'' does a VillainSong about being one of these.
* Cyrille Le Paradox, the BigBad in ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime''. He is introduced as a wealthy museum owner who collects historical artifacts via time travel [[spoiler: and plans to steal the Cooper clan's canes throughout history to form his own collection to achieve revenge on them]].
* Admiral ZEX, in ''VideoGame/StarControl II'', who owns a "menagerie" of creatures that he personally finds fascinating. Unfortunately, among the creatures he finds fascinating are humans and other sentient life forms.

* In what may be the strangest example ever, Music/RingoStarr from the cartoon ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles''. In the episode "Ticket to Ride", the others are revealing their hobbies (painting, science, etc.), and it turns out that Ringo likes to kidnap women and ''put them in bird cages'' ("bird" being Liverpool slang for "girl"). Fortunately, he's really bad at it; he's only managed to trap one girl, and she escapes during the course of the episode.
* One villain from ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'', a toon that collected other toons, was actually called "The Collector". [[spoiler: Only it turns out he wasn't actually a toon. He was a crazy human who ''thought'' he was a toon. He remained in denial even after his mask was torn off, screaming "I'm a toon! I'm a toon!"]] [[NightmareFuel It was incredibly creepy]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' episode "A Zoo Out There" features the Chlorms, who regard every other species as "lesser beings", kidnapping members of the Galactic Senate (and eventually Team Lightyear) to put in their zoo.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' episode "Three Men And A Booby" -- stop that snickering, unless it's because of the ''Film/ThreeMenAndABaby'' reference -- an obsessed egg collector collects a booby egg. The mother booby enlists the Rangers' help in reuniting the egg with her. [[spoiler:They end up hatching his entire collection.]]

* Spoofed in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before," where a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien is the galaxy's biggest ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan (actually second biggest, after Fry), and kidnaps the cast of the show.
* D.N. Amy from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' is an obsessive collector of Cuddle Buddy animal dolls, which plays a part in her MadScientist theme of creating animal hybrids. She eventually makes [[NonHumanSidekick Rufus]] and Steve Barkin into one giant living Cuddle Buddy for her collection.

* Big Mitch, the EvilPoacher from ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb.''

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': The episode "Collect Her" finds our titular heroines being captured by Lenny Baxter, a comic book geek who has collected every piece of Powerpuff Girls merchandise in existence and, desperate for more, has decided to add the Girls themselves to his collection. He is defeated when the townsfolk track him down and torture their whereabouts out of him by removing his valuable toys from the boxes.
* An Anti-Villain called The Collector appears in the episode "The Brooklyn Triangle" of ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters''. He has been "collecting" random things for 10,000 years trying to find the key to escape, as he was an ancient Ghostbuster imprisoned by a demon. When he finally finds it, he escapes and returns everything back to Earth.
* In the [[WesternAnimation/RickandMorty Rick and Morty]] episode "Morty's Mind Blowers", Rick and Morty are shown to have been captive in a menagerie, and escaped by replacing themselves with unwitting doubles in a parody of Film/{{Contact}}.
* Parodied in a Halloween episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', wherein the Comic Book Guy kidnaps his favorite celebrities, including Tom Baker, Matt Groening, and Lucy Lawless, and encases them in mylar bags. The villainous alias he chooses really ''is'' The Collector.
* As in the films, General Grievous repeatedly mentions his collection in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars.''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SushiPack'' episode "Collect 'Em All," The Collector captures the Sushi Pack to add to his collection, but gives them one chance to win their freedom in a remote controlled car race.
* The episode "Freebird" from ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'' had a couple collecting birds by tempting people into drinking tea from their magic tea pot so they could turn themselves into birds and enjoy the freedom of it. After the person had had their fun and returned for the antidote, they would be put in a cage until they succumbed to TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody.
* Safari Joe in ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'' was a guy who was the equivalent of an EgomaniacHunter for such a setting, and as racist as any example of that Trope. Deciding to try to hunt the Thundercats simply for the thrill, he didn't even see them as sentient, even when they spoke to them. (Or if he did, he just didn't care.) What made him dangerous was that he was savvy, and had a robotic assistant named Mule who could analyze his prey beforehand and figure out the best way to prepare. Unfortunately for him, Lion-O was too hard to analyze, and the villain found himself seriously OutGambitted against him.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Giolla/Jora]] is a MadArtist who turns people, usually combatants she defeats, into works of art she keeps at her residence once they're dead as part of her "permanent collection."

* ComicBook/{{Galactus}}'s ship was found to contain mementos from the planets he devours, fragments of the various civilizations lost.

* At the height of his madness, Kraven the Hunter's son Alyosha kidnapped [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing animal-themed superhumans]] (including Bushmaster, Gargoyle, Tiger Shark, Kangaroo, Aragorn, Vulture, Mongoose, Man-Bull, Dragon Man, Swarm, Mandrill, Grizzly, Frog-Man, and Rhino) and kept them in a "zoo", until it was sabotaged by Characters/{{The Punisher|FrankCastle}}.)

A variation sometimes seen in children's shows has the collector stealing the character's unusual/unique pet. Vulnerable to InterrogationByVandalism. If they have somewhat altruistic motives, their "collection" will be a comfortable FantasticNatureReserve. Of course, it may just be a GildedCage... Compare LivingDollCollector and LivingMuseumExhibit.