Like any collecting, people do start and then sometimes lose interest in collecting for whatever reason. As the title goes, How do you know it's time to move on from Transformers collecting (if it ever got to that point)? Or what scenario would steer you in that direction?
Please note I'm not asking to pass judgement.
When it's not fun anymore.... That's when I'll bail
Or financial difficulty... I'd cut off my hands for my wife and son, selling my collection would happen in a heartbeat if I needed money for them.
Let's hope it never comes to that! Lol
Friend of mine lost his job and now he wants to sell a majority of his collection. So yeah I think money would be a big motivator.
Never.
Like many of us here, I've been collecting Transformers continuously since 1984. Never stopped before, don't intend to either. Even if the franchise itself were to perish (knock on wood), my passion for Transformers would live on (as it did during some of the weaker years of Transformers when my collecting significantly slowed down (but never actually stopped), e.g. early to mid 1990s))
My buying has slowed to almost nothing but I still consider myself a collector, it's just that there's little product that interests me these days. I still get immense enjoyment from the collection that I have with no plans to EVER sell it off.
I guess my point here is that there are two kinds of collectors - those that are not actively purchasing and those that are mainly in it for the thrill of the hunt. The later are the ones most likely to sell off what they accumulated because they no longer feel the rush they once did.
Having been a fan for so long means that you get used to waiting patiently for toys to be released e.g. Generations Arcee, therefore there is always something to look forward to.
Since I have started collecting only 2 years ago, the amount of any form of regret or anything like that has diminished (it wasn't very big from the get go) to nothing. I just keep getting sucked in. I'll watch TFTM every now and then and bam, I go wanting all these figures, or I'll have a play with my MP Thundercracker and feel the need to get more Masterpiece figures. Just when you think you're out, you get sucked back in. And I like every bit of it.
I guess when the financial cost outweighs the derived enjoyment?
Or maybe when you find yourself packing your whole collection away into boxes, with none left on display? (This happened to me with Zoids).
Even if I quit collecting, I think I would probably only part with about 50% of my figures.
I'll be collecting as long as i can comfortably live & afford to. I'm not going to let my purchasing habits affect my way of life.
If i was faced with a situation where it was necessary to sell them, then so be it.
I have considered selling off parts of my collection, and have done so. Its just normal part of collecting. Many of these were originally planned purchases, a desire to build a line and have most of the characters. But over time when I purchase new items, some need to get evicted :p its the perfect time to act and get rid of those figures which I feel are lacking. Im able to let go, cause its not impossible to buy again, or a 3rd party figure or masterpiece figure will come along, but these are expensive.
Besides this hobby is really a nasty habit at times, alot of time over the years has been invested in it. That worries me more than the expense. I have other interests which I want to invest time and money in, so eventually Im going to press the pause button and give it a rest.
30 years of TF collecting and I've never considered doing that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Defcon
I choose to incoorporate thisQuote:
Originally Posted by Defcon
hobby^religious lifestyle choice into my life. ;)
One funny thing is when some of my students think that they saw me in public outside of school. I always ask them if the person that they thought was me was wearing Transformers apparel and holding or playing with Transformers toys -- if the answer is "no," then I say, "Then you know that couldn't have been me." ;) If the answer is, "Yes, you were with a big group of other men playing with Transformers in a Parramatta food court," then alright... caught me red-handed. :p
My collecting has slowed right down as of late. I have pretty much everything that I want it's just any new stuff that I want which is mainly masterpiece items. I have started selling parts of my collection but nothing that I will regret getting rid of.
I have also packed away a stack of stuff away for any kids I have so they can still enjoy transformers (mainly animated figures) without destroying any of my good stuff.
You see For Sale Threads such as Goodbye Forever Sale, My Wife Says I can't Keep them All and the like. :( :eek:
Good answer :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinnertwin
Also good :)Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
Excellent Answer :DQuote:
Originally Posted by janda the red
Personally I took a decade off. G1 finished and I wasn't much interested in any of the toys after the Predator team came out - didn't think much of G2, and didn't like BW or BM at all. What I did collect at that time - believe it or not - was stuff from the Home Improvement sitcom. Ended up with nearly 100 bits of clothing (boxer shorts, ties, dressing gowns, socks etc) as well as posters, swap cards etc etc.
Anyway, that ended too, and I was more interested in my late teens and at Uni with hanging with friends, partying, getting laid etc etc. It wasn't until a friend gave me for my (first) wedding in 2001 a G1 Optimus, Chop Shop and Wreck-Gar that the TF collecting spark reignited within me. At the time I had one gross of figures (144), now I am only about 50 figures off having timesed that figure by 10 :D
Like Janda, I'd sell the collection in a heartbeat if I needed the money for an operation for my wife or son, but otherwise I can't see me ever really stopping collecting - it's a hobby I love too much :)
I've tried giving up collecting a while back. But you basically have to give them away so decided to keep collecting. But very selective in what I buy now.
I've thought about 'kicking the habit' a few times, and selling most of the collection off while just keeping a few favourite items. I've actually managed to acquire a lot of the TFs I want already, so the collecting has slowed right down over the past year to year-and-a-half-odd. Japan's good like that.:D
Then I'd look through my packed-away-due-to-lack-of-display-space assorted TFs (most of them are in boxes in Tasmania, most of the rest are in boxes here in Osaka) to see which ones I'd want to keep, and I'd come across some I'd forgotten I had, and/or others that I'd forgotten how they were actually pretty fun to mess around with or how the design was actually pretty clever, and realise that it's less that I'm 'over' TFs than that I'm just too busy with work to have the time and energy to really enjoy them - my priorities are mostly about teaching my students and daily life stuff these days. I have 3-odd boxes of TFs I've yet to open and/or mess around with (I buy most of my TFs second hand, often loose) and some of them have been sitting there for well over a year. I actually don't open them or get them out and transform them very often, but sometimes I'll just be in the mood to see how a 'new' TF works, or to fool around with an 'old' TF, and that's when it's still 'worth it' to me.
So, for me the time to move on from TFs is when I'm not getting any (or just sufficient) enjoyment out of them anymore. Like most of us here I'd sell them off without hesitation if I needed to raise funds for something more important - they're just toys after all - but that's not the case at present and they're still an enjoyable hobby for me.
As one of the guys going through this at the moment I should probably put in my 2 cents :p
I'm sure a lot of my thoughts mirror those that have posted before me, but the biggest thing for me has been the imminent arrival of my baby girl.
One night I was lying in bed mulling over the thought of all the credit card debt, the personal loans we'd amassed, and the little one we would be bringing into the midst of it all and a strange phenomenon swept over me. All of a sudden I felt like nothing else mattered and that I had to get my life sorted no matter the cost.
Then there's the time factor, I just feel like I don't have enough hours in the day anymore, and the baby isn't even here yet! Many of the wonderful figures that I would've wanted to transform immediately in years past still remain sealed and it really saddens me that I'm not getting enjoyment out of them anymore. On the odd chance I do get to open one, 9 times out of 10 I feel ripped off by the quality and size of the figure, but I've whinged about that enough in other threads :p
Maybe this pressure is something that just comes with growing up, as my wife and I are a young-ish pair of newlyweds. Though I know a lot of you fine gentlemen have done the kids thing and kept up with your hobbies for all these years... seriously I have to hand it to you, good job :)
This is pretty much where I'm at. Since DotM, there hasn't been much by way of new TFs that's really interested me. For the foreseeable future, I'm looking towards getting maybe a few movieverse toys and MPs, and that's about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by loophole
Other collecting interests also mean that I'm spending less on TFs.
I haven't even been able to take 10 minutes off Transformers since 1984, let alone 10 years! :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
I've just to become better at managing finances. I gave up collecting any other toy lines and solely focused on Transformers, and I've become more thrifty too. My personal habits which make TF collecting more affordable include:Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirokaze
+ Continuing to buy toys while they're current, thus avoiding increased aftermarket prices. This is something I've stuck with since 1984, so it wasn't any lifestyle change for me. :p Always good to take advantage of sales, and be aware that big/expensive toys are more likely to shelfwarm and later become discounted (e.g. Ultimate Class TFPBH Optimus Prime and Predaking are selling at considerably reduced price)
+ Stopped collecting all non-Transformers toys - and thus have also sold off a lot of my non-TF toys.
+ Where possible, pre-order more expensive toys (e.g. Masterpieces). Makes it considerably cheaper than paying full retail prices (which are already overpriced IMHO), let alone appreciated aftermarket prices. :eek:
+ At times, you may just need to skip a toy or two. The original MP Grimlock came out just a few months before my daughter was due to be born, so I skipped that toy. But fortunately the Hasbro version was released locally later, so I jumped on that faster than Barry O'Farrell on vintage wine. :p I also skipped TakaraTOMY's MP Rodimus, even when I had the opportunity to buy it at RRP without shipping (because I was overseas) -- just couldn't justify the cost for that toy. Again luckily I grabbed the much cheaper local Hasbro version. ;) I also skipped MP Alert (aside from price, I'm not a huge fan of the MP Lambo mould) -- it looks unlikely that Hasbro will release this toy, and so far I've been unable to find the re-release at its original RRP. Either I'll find this toy at close to its original RRP (approx. $65), or I'll skip it again - simple as that.
+ Save up for big purchases well in advance. e.g. I've already saved up my money for all the Age of Extinction toys that I intend to buy, so come May 17 I'll be like, "Just take my money!" :p The downside is that I've been scrimping a lot lately and cutting down on other expenses like less dining out and movies etc. e.g. Captain America 2 is the only new movie that I've seen in months; when most movies are newly released on DVDs, I wait until they become ex-rentals and purchase them then (also because DVDs & even BRs these days are just "bare bones" with bugger all special features and options, so I don't feel like paying full RRP for them)
+ We have a separate account where money gets saved for our daughter. That account hardly ever gets touched.
And if you think having a baby is expensive... wait until they get older! My daughter just started school this year, and that's really been hitting the hip pocket (moreso when you've chosen to send your child to two different community language schools on top of her regular school :p). ;)
I will definitely be taking some of that on board Gok, one of my problems is that I have far too many hobbies. Between modifying cars, anime figs, transformers and games, things can get especially tight. I can't cull an entire part of my life so I feel like it's best to cut back a little on each. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
For me, non-toy franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, anime etc., the toys are just the icing on the cake, but for Transformers the toys are the actual cake and the movies, cartoons and comics are the icing. I can easily enjoy non-toy franchises like Tolkienverse without the toys, but not with a toy franchise like Transformers. So it was relatively easy for me to give up collecting toys from non-toy franchises... which was basically everything else that I was collecting at the time other than Transformers. ;) I kept a few of my favourites from those lines but sold off the rest -- because what time I get to play with my toys is mostly dedicated to Transformers. And if I'm not playing with a toy, then I don't see the need to keep it. I play with some of my non-Transformer toys like once in a blue moon, but my TFs still get played with on a daily basis. :D
Once I have completed my G1 collection (9 left) that will be pretty much it for me. My collecting will slow down.
I will continue with MP & Generations, I will just pick up stuff for my kids like Rescue Bots etc...
:eek: Are you talking about ALL of G1 (1984-93; 453 figures not including variants) or just the G1 toys that you're aiming to complete? :eek: Cos I'm missing 45 toys from G1 all up, but I'm only about 2 away from what I really want to complete. The rest I could live without (e.g. Action Master Elites - their after market prices are exorbitant and I don't even like them).
How do you know it's time to move on from Transformers collecting?
When this guy shows up, you're done.
http://31.media.tumblr.com/be773cfc9...guy1o1_500.jpg
Im pretty much in the same boat. Ive virtually completed 1984-1989 (inclu most Japanese stuff). My interest has moved to MP and MP scale 3P. Its actually nice collecting modern lines for a change. Exciting to see new news and pics come out slowlyQuote:
Originally Posted by MayzaPrime
Awww - I didn't know you were having a kid - congrats dude! Best thing you will ever do! :):D:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirokaze
The time thing is a major factor. Take my last shipment from BBTS. 5 Generations toys, 2 Masterpiece toys and AM Frenzy. So far in the 3+ weeks I've had these figures I've only gotten around to opening MP-G2 Sideswipe :eek: Between a job, a 16 month old and a hobby farm, I'm lucky if I get around to opening one figure a fortnight. Hell - my Kreo Menasor and Computron have been sitting on a shelf unopened since Dec! So yeah, your concerns are pretty valid.
I still haven't unpacked (I have opened the box) a BBTS shipment from December. I have found my interest to be dropping off a bit. But that is mainly due to time as I have a few other things going on in my life that take priority. I still have some TPB comics in the plastic sleeves that I haven't read either. I feel guilty sometimes and then I realise that I am still a fan of Transformers I am just time poor. Also the basis of my collection (Generations/Classics/Whatever you want to call it) is pretty much complete at the moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
If only there was some way I could get someone to pay without having to work:p, that way I would have a lot more spare time and I would be able to finis sorting out my TF room.
My buying has also slowed down due to really poor offerings from Hasbro/Tomy for a long tome now. The MP line is not released often enough to fully sustain interest and even 3P stuff is not as exciting as before, possibly due to saturation (3 Predakings, really?). Despite that, 3P also don't release stuff I would be intereste din often enough to maintain interest and prices forces you to be discerning so no 'off the shelves' buys.
Very far away from quitting collecting but certainly not as exciting or motivating as before due to the extremely poor official showings.
I've been getting back into Lego a lot more recently as a reault of what we'vehad on offer. Of the movie lines, i only really want a handful of figures & they're just variations of the Evasion Mode Optimus & Legends Devastator. Apart from the MP & Generations releases, the rest doesn't really impress me all that much right now. That may change once i see the other figures in hand
Thanks very much Trev! I'm really looking forward to it. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's not finding the time to open things. Life must be too easy for MISB collectors :p
I am very much the same as a lot of you, time poor.
I work (including travel time) about a 65 hour week, the time I do have at home I prioritise my 2 beautiful children and my wife.
Take out some ( very little ) socialising and also the one or two shows I watch and that leaves very little time.
In saying that my passion will not die and I am still looking forward to opening my last very large boxes from BBTS I got a month ago. When the time is right I will very much enjoy my purchases and be happy with them.
I don't think it matters if it takes months to enjoy purchases as long as you still have that joy when you get them in your hands.
Like Sinner though I too have ventured into some other lines (MASK, Motu, TMNT) as there has not been a lot of joy in what TFs are being offered.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
Congrats Shirokaze, great news about the little one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bartrim
Huh, i'm married, no kids, I only live 10 minutes from work and I still only manage to open maybe one toy a week on average. I've been buying faster than I open for years now. I need to open more because they take up less space but then, I'd also need to move some off display into boxes.
My Phantom comic stack of unread grows steadily, I'm nearly two years behind at the moment, when we go away I burst through 5 - ten issues at a time but otherwise it's something I don't get around to anywhere near often enough.
I suppose time poor is part of it, perhaps time management for me is a bigger issue.
I decided to just collect MP... then I get dragged back in by Generations... My partner is very understanding... I often combine watching my favorite TV show while opening new Transformers I bought... it's all about multi tasking. :)
Well, I dunno about stopping, prolly just slowing down.. after I've completed the US released G1 figures I pretty much have been buying just what I want. based on Goks list though I still have 11 figures to get, mostly the insignificant ones which really doesn't count for me ( those red and purple "erasers", the minispies, pfft) Granted that I want a lot of figures (G1 Jap and Euro)hahaha :D, but I'm back to the old collecting routine before I decided to get the whole G1 series completed. Buying only the ones I want and skipping those that doesn't tick my interest. Also I'm quite patient to sit back and wait, if I can't have the toy coz it's too pricey (hello AM Elite!) meh...Which has saved me heaps enough for me to send more money overseas to my mum and help out in the expenses for the new house construction plus buying a lot of items for interior décor for that new house. :D:) I'm just enjoying the collection as it is.
If ever I did need to desperately sell the collection - it's the Bayverse first then the Unicron trilogy , then RiD next and then the Sealed doubles of generations. I won't touch my G1s if I can help it.
I have slowed down a lot. Mostly because I have most of the things I wanted but at the same time because in the last year, I had to be a bit more financially conservative.
There is also the factor that there really isn't much currently released that is interesting. I went to TrU the other day and was a mess with shelfwarming movie toys, some could barely even be called that as they look like KOs. They have begun to pile them up as they don't fit on shelves any more.
So mostly 3P toys for me and since the ones that interest me have huge development times, collecting is a lot slower than it was and as a result far less exciting.
Not stopped but certainly hibernating a bit as too much 'meh'.
If you really need to ask yourself that, maybe it is time.
i'm at that stage in my life now where i'll be calling it quits soon.
There are still quite a few loose ends to tie up in my collection & depending on how long it takes to take care of them will determine how much longer i'll be actively involved in buying more plastic -no more new ranges of toys, just plug the gaps & that's that.
:eek::eek::eek:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinnertwin
haha,Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinnertwin
yea I said that when Animated was coming out, now post animated, post movies, post TFPrime, I'm still going strong... not to mention MP's
let me know how you go with that :D
People have been pretty much asking me since 1987 when I would be giving up Transformers. It got pretty intense in 1988-89 as more and more other kids dropped out of Transfandom - by 1990 people had pretty much given up asking me and accepted the fact that I was a TFer for life ;) So no, I have absolutely no intention of ever giving up Transformers.
Having said that, I do feel that it's time to move on from something when I'm no longer using it; in terms of toys, playing with them (or at very least displaying them). I'm currently going through a massive purge of non-TF toys which I've been keeping in storage... an idea which I personally find silly, as I end up feeling more like a toy hoarder than a collector. Transformers is something that I'll always continue to actively and passionately love and play with, but yeah... I'm currently offloading a lot of m--- wait...
7 minutes later
Woo... just got rid of about half my Marvel collection! Where was I? Oh yeah, I'm offloading a lot of my non-TF stuff which has just been sitting in boxes. :rolleyes:
Gok you have inspired me in a likewise fashion. I spent last night rummaging through storage and grabbing out all the old transformers that I know will never realistically see the light of day in one of my display cabinets.
I spent the evening matching weapons to the bots and photographing them. If I get some time tonight they are all going up here for free.
Back on topic... I was a huge fan as a kid in the late 80s-early 90s but never had the money to really buy the transformers I wanted. Once it hit the late 90s I'd mostly stopped collecting.
However, once the 20th Anniversary came around and I picked up a Masterpiece OP I was hooked again and I don't see myself stopping. So for now I will keep collecting unless for financial reasons I am required to give it up.
Side note... you know you should slow down collecting when you have a little too much wine one night and end up ordering so many transformers online that you dread the wife reading the credit card bill this month...