What rules do other people use when they catalouge their collections?

I agree with most of Goki's UCM as well, however if I ever get around to the mind numbing task of counting, I'd amend Article 1 :p, as I have a few unique CHMS KO's (Sunstorm and Decepticon Seeker Clones) and quite a few third party robots. These figures are all dear to me, and if it deserves a place on the Classics shelf, then it deserves a place in the count. ;)

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Originally Posted by Trent

Meh. Will never have enough to have these worries.

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That's what I thought too! But whenever non-TF friends ask, I do wish I had a straight off the top of my head number.

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Originally Posted by SuspectimusPrime

I agree with most of Goki's UCM as well, however if I ever get around to the mind numbing task of counting, I'd amend Article 1 :p, as I have a few unique CHMS KO's (Sunstorm and Decepticon Seeker Clones) and quite a few third party robots. These figures are all dear to me, and if it deserves a place on the Classics shelf, then it deserves a place in the count. ;)

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Yeah, I love my Quintesson Judge and Procecutor, if Hasbro wont make the figures we yearn for and someone else does we should be able to buy them and pop them in the count.

I live in fear of a fire, considering the hassle to get them cataloged, let alone replaced, a blaze would wipe out 28 years of love, sweat and bots The most RACV have said they would insure the collection for was for $10,000 which may replace a fraction of what I have, but so much is simply irriplaceable! Plus so, so much is no longer produced. Am having a kid and wanted to buy him his own Slumblebee and Softimus Prime and it was $90 the pair on ebay!!?!? Think I paid about $12 each in the shops 6 years ago

If the Actionmaster partners are just AI and don't count then it stands to reason that the Vehicons from Prime and the drones from Beast Machines who are also described as AI don't count.
I always read the Actionmaster partners bio as having personality so I think they count. Combiners with individual robot modes count individually but not their combined mode.
King posiedon (spelt right? probably not) from Masterforce was 4 drones and Turtler who combined so what does he count as?

Article01 is based on the 'legal' or 'technical' definition of a Transformer product would be any product manufactured and marketed by Hasbro or Takara(TOMY), or manufactured by another party but under licence from Hasbro or Takara(TOMY) and explicitly sold as part of Hasbro's/Takara(TOMY)'s Transformers franchise/brand.

That's not to say that third party or pre-Transformers etc. stuff isn't cool, but simply that these toys just aren't part of the official Transformers brand. I used to have a Macross Valkyrie VF-1S from the 1980s (preTF Jetfire). It was a cool toy - every bit as cool as Jetfire - but it's just not a Transformer. The UCM was devised for counting toys of the Transformers brand, not simply transforming robot toys. If we were to allow that, then people could start counting all their Macross Valkyries, Go-Bots etc. as part of their "Transformers" collection, which would skew the results when comparing them with other people who only collect Transformers.

Remember that the core purpose of the UCM was to allow for comparative results, especially for the purposes of the annual survey project. Outside of this context, you can amend the UCM or use an entirely different counting method to your heart's content. If you want to have a "Transforming Robot toy collection count" instead of just a "Transformers(TM)" collection count, then go for it. :) Unless you intend to compare your count with someone else's, it really doesn't matter how you count your toys. I personally like to make my collection count number comparable, so I use UCM. Unless someone is using the same counting method as you, no two collectors can really accurately compare their collection counts. Some collectors don't care (like Sharky ;)), and that's fine. I like to have a comparable collection count, so I use the UCM -- but that's me. :)

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Originally Posted by LordCyrusOmega

I always read the Actionmaster partners bio as having personality so I think they count.

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Yeah, thats pretty much the kind of thinking I've been using to catagorize my bots. Suppose it depends on the Action Master though.

*Push-Button (Mainframe's partner) definetly has a personality so I count him seperate.

*Jazz's turbo-board or Bumblebee's helicopter pack don't have personalities so I don't count them (actually come to think of it - I dont even have them lol)


I can understand Gok's point about the rules for collection comparison and discounting 3rd party products - especially if Hasbro has been involved in the discussion. Apparently Hasbro is giving strong consideration to banning all 3rd party products at Botcon next year! But as he and many of you have said, for our own personal collections, it's up to us :)

It all seems really technical :-S Plushies count but mighty muggs don't? Only licensed items count too? Oh well. No pre transformers or go bots, even though the go bots where officially taken into the TF world as an alternate universe. Personally I feel as long as it transformers (and isnt a drone), licensed or not it counts, with the exception of cheap KO's.

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

Apparently Hasbro is giving strong consideration to banning all 3rd party products at Botcon next year! But as he and many of you have said, for our own personal collections, it's up to us :)

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IIRC they banned them this year already.
I so want those Cassette-bot/con pillow cases.

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Originally Posted by LordCyrusOmega http://www.otca.com.au/boards/images...s/viewpost.gif
I always read the Actionmaster partners bio as having personality so I think they count.

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

Yeah, thats pretty much the kind of thinking I've been using to catagorize my bots. Suppose it depends on the Action Master though.

*Push-Button (Mainframe's partner) definetly has a personality so I count him seperate.

*Jazz's turbo-board or Bumblebee's helicopter pack don't have personalities so I don't count them (actually come to think of it - I dont even have them lol)

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That was my first counting method, but as the collection grew, there were too many contradictions... so eventually went with a method that went closer to how they were sold, or more accurately, how I'd buy them (or sell them).
Take the Actionmasters. At first I was counting their partners too (if they were sentient), but then I realised, if I had Treadshot & Catgut, would I sell them separately... or more importantly, would I buy Treadshot without Catgut. If I couldn't answer yes to those questions on anything in my collection, it couldn't count as a separate figure.
It did mean "losing" a couple hundred in my count, but since then, it has been easy to keep count.... to keep track of how many I get each year (to compare years or break records).

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Originally Posted by theheretic

It all seems really technical :-S Plushies count but mighty muggs don't?

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That's what the majority voted for.

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Originally Posted by theheretic

Only licensed items count too?

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Yep. Because otherwise the product simply isn't part of the Transformers brand.

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Originally Posted by theheretic

No pre transformers or go bots, even though the go bots where officially taken into the TF world as an alternate universe.

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Yes, and the Go-Bots who are produced and marketed by HasTak as part of the Transformers universe do count as Transformers (e.g. BotCon Bug Bite, eHobby Gobots, Fracture etc.) Even canonically the GoBots didn't become part of the Transformers universe until after Classics Megatron had inadvertantly caused the destruction of the Gobot universe and some of the Gobots had fled to the Transformers' universe as interdimensional refugees, integrating themselves into Cybertronian society.

Also, if you're going to let people count non-TF toys that have been integrated into Transformers like Gobots and let them count the Tonka Gobots, then a similar argument could be made for other such toys, like Star Wars, Marvel heroes, G.I. Joe, Garibo, Disney, iPod, Nike, USBs, Bathing Ape, Pepsi and other franchises that have crossed over with Transformers at one stage or another. So people could use the same rationale to include their Kenner Star Wars toys, Toy Biz Marvel toys, G.I. Joe toys et al. as part of their "Transformers" collection.

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Originally Posted by theheretic

Personally I feel as long as it transformers (and isnt a drone), licensed or not it counts, with the exception of cheap KO's.

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If that's how you want to personally count it then go for it. :) But for the purposes of the UCM anything not officially part of the Transformers Brand doesn't count. And remember that UCM rules cannot be changed otherwise the results from previous surveys becomes incomparable, which defeats the core purpose of the UCM in the first place. The UCM isn't saying "This is the best way to count," because there's no such thing as a "best" way to count toys. It's simply, "This is a way to count if you want to compare collection sizes and conduct comparative surveys." Outside of this context it doesn't matter how you want to count your toys; count however you want. :cool:

I just held a survey and everyone voted on a new way to count transformers collections where everything I previously said is now used... It is called the ICM, Infinity Counting Method.

Please note that I only surveyed myself, but I was in total agreeance with myself :-)