A superfan of The Walking Dead is proud to say he has more memorabilia than anyone else.
The largest collection of The Walking Dead memorabilia consists of 3,053 different items and is owned by Rashid Al-Olayan (KSA).
Rashid, who lives in Dammam, has toys, artwork, books, games, statues, autographed items, and even costume items from the post-apocalyptic TV series based on the comic book series of the same name.
“I believe The Walking Dead franchise is the best out there,” Rashid said. “Who doesn’t love a zombie show? It’s the perfect show for me.”
As he gave us a tour, Rashid explained why he’s such a big fan.
He said: “I believe the characters in the show and comic books are relatable, you will cheer for them and want them to survive, but unfortunately in this show you lose a lot of the main characters.
“But that’s part of the reason we love the show, because you don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Rashid also enjoys thinking about the decisions the characters have made and waiting until the next episode to see what the consequences will be.
He thinks the show is so successful because of its “big moments” and the “emotional rollercoaster” the episodes take you on.
He said: “Who can forget, for example, how Negan was introduced in the show? The ‘eeny, meeny, miny, moe’ moment, or what happened in the prison and even what happened in season one.”
Rashid’s collection began in 2015 with a set of toy figures depicting Michonne and her pet zombies.
After that, he started buying up anything and everything he could find related to the show and comics.
His collection also includes a large selection of Funko Pop! figurines depicting characters like Rick, Carl, Daryl and The Governor.
Rashid even takes his figures along when meeting stars of the show to get them signed.
So far, he’s met four of the cast members – the actors behind Eugene, Simon, Aaron, and Jerry.
Rashid said: “They were all really nice, I talked to them and they explained their characters to me and we talked about my collection.
“I’d love one day to meet the rest of the cast and I’d also love to meet Robert Kirkman, the author of the comic.”
The most expensive item in his collection is a shirt worn by Abraham in the show, that he got his hands on through “hours of bidding”.
He’s purchased his entire collection himself and spends a lot of time searching online to find things he may be missing.
“As long as there are some pieces that I don’t have, I’m going to aim to get them all,” he confessed.
“My goal is to get every single thing and I won’t stop until I achieve it.
“I’m proud to receive this recognition from Guinness World Records.”
