I haven't actively collected for months. I have questioned for ages about quitting the toy side of collecting completely. Sell everything. I even considered leaving the boards :eek:. I decided to give it another chance and after reading about the discounted price for 2012 subscription Breakdown on BBTS I decided to pop over there and put him in my POL. I ended up buying 5 figures... so I guess the bug is still in me:D
Unless some dramatic life event happens I dont think any of us will be quitting, yous will be back in your 40s after your mid life crisis. While there has to be an end I personally find myself having a greater focus and buying some quality items too round of my already small and decreasing collection. There are plently of ways too enjoy this hobby than purchasing, but if you find joy in collecting why slow down or stop
I can understand slowing down when the franchise hits a point where it has little appeal. This happened to me during the G2 years when there was little stuff on shelves that tickled my interest. I only purchased about 50 Transformers between 1993-95 (representing approximately 2.8% of my entire TF collection today). :o 2002 was also a pretty slow year for me too, with little new stuff out until Armada came along (which I personally didn't see in stores until early 2003). I only bought about 40 Transformers that year, a lot of which were reissues, and some were shelf-warming stock from 2001 that I just bought because there was nothing else to get (e.g. RiD Optimus Prime, RiD Galvatron etc.). :p So there have been times when my collecting has slowed down, but it's never actually stopped though. :o
I've started winding down, I'd like to divest myself of more of my collection and move onto more customising toys.
That and paying rent, bills and buying food come first :D
I've mentioned a few times that my collecting has slowed pretty much to a halt, but I wouldn't say that I've quit. There's a distinct difference IMO as quitting is a conscious decision whereas at the moment, there is nothing out there that I am interested in buying. Come on new Generations and MP Shockwave :cool:
My collecting is slowing down. Anything that doesn't meet my new criteria or cannot be displayed is out the door. I'm sick of seeing boxes and having to open them each time to remind myself what is in them!
Last night I was ready to get rid of nearly every Transformer I've collected over the last 20 or so years (childhood G1/2 is still untouchable).
Today, I've backed away from the edge, but I still have too many TFs that I don't do anything with. And with all the videos and photos online and knowing so many people that have many more than me, maybe I could get rid of more and appreciate the toys via the web.
I'm finding this a common thought these days: there's so much "new" stuff to consume that the "old" stuff I have just doesn't get looked at.
for me latley the collecting is a very very slow crawl with picking up the odd figure where i can generations and masterpiece mostly.. the AOE toys turned me off pretty hard where i even focused my attention on some side collections i have (lego, league cards etc)
but for me the family has alway been the priority and the sharkticon will not go without for the sake of a new toy, so while i have not really given up it is a pretty heavy handed cut back and it is more my priorities have shifted and when the time comes the attention will focus back on transformers....
but the thing about collecting is it is always evolving and shifting and it will always be there in 5 or 10 years.. there will be resources around to track missing figures down i am sure
This is actually a very good idea and I can relate to it in many ways.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulbot
Way back when I was young, I couldn't afford to buy much stuff, cause well I was young, still at school. The greatest thing to have is dreams and imagination. Instead of having the stuff I would spend time thinking about it, I would collect catalogues and save them for years just so I could look at the pictures of all the toys and games eg, Kmart, Big w.
Getting older I purchased game magazines, read about the games, characters, screenshots and reviews, great memories. I ended up with more games than toys, I basically moved on from toys to games. Nowadays I have more toys than games, so it would seem I have regressed :p
So rather than actually owning all the stuff, its almost just as good to have pictures, and hold onto the memories. Sometimes these are actually better than the actual items themselves which in reality may turn out to be disappointments.
With the internet, Its possible to collect the images. However photos can only tell so much, but in person some things are just amazingly awesome!
I too am like this. In my childhood, I often cut out toys from catalogues or just looked through them to see all the cool toys I knew I couldn't get. There's just some sort of thrill looking through a catalogue to me, I still enjoy it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Defcon