Are You A Completist? (And If So, Don't You Ever Get Disappointed?)

I noticed that Griffin's acquisitions for the day had the word "meh" as his basic summary and it got me wondering.

For Transfans who are completists in any way, (whether it be almost all-encompassing like Griffin's collection or a focussed completism [like... I think maybe Kyle collects Optimus Primes for example] or even just people who collect everything from a single line like ROTF toys) - don't you get disappointed? Do you ever get to the point after buying the umpteenth badly-designed/badly-quality-controlled/just-plain-bad toy where you think you should stop buying things just because they fit a certain completist criteria you once set yourself? Or are you blissfully happy to keep running over these potholes in order to keep yourself on the road to completeness? Or are you seriously never disappointed by any Transformers toy?

Personally I understand G1 completism a bit more than I understand devoutly collecting modern lines - in my life (with a few exceptions) I have rarely been underwhelmed by G1 designs or toys, as long as they're in good condition. Similarly, I think the first year or two of Beast Wars was fantastic and I can understand people wanting to complete a great toyline like Beast Wars Neo. On the other hand, I find the Transformers of the 2000s disappoint me constantly and as a result I've stopped buying them completely at this point.

Thus, I was just thinking I was interested in knowing how other people feel regarding this topic. :)

Great topic Sky Shadow. Touched on lots of stuff I have been wondering myself.

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

For Transfans who are completists in any way, (whether it be almost all-encompassing like Griffin's collection or a focussed completism [like... I think maybe Kyle collects Optimus Primes for example] or even just people who collect everything from a single line like ROTF toys)

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I guess I fall into the 'focused completism' category.

I'm mostly only interested in G1 but sometimes marginally interested in some later line of Transformers. I think the Binaltechs and Masterpieces are great toys and have completed collecting them up to date. Once in a while there would be something from a line that catches my fancy for example Galaxy Force Starscream (which was based on the DW War Within designs).

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

- don't you get disappointed? Do you ever get to the point after buying the umpteenth badly-designed/badly-quality-controlled/just-plain-bad toy where you think you should stop buying things just because they fit a certain completist criteria you once set yourself? Or are you blissfully happy to keep running over these potholes in order to keep yourself on the road to completeness? Or are you seriously never disappointed by any Transformers toy?

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I do get disappointed, and at times seriously pissed off. To be honest, Hasbro's toy quality is getting from bad to worse - paint apps are shoddy, plastic quality is cheap, packaging design is horrendous and unnecessarily complex.

I have in my time bought various toys from Armada, Galaxy Force, Energon, Transformers Movie (1st one), and have been disappointed and appalled time after time after time. For example, I think that the Deluxe Brawl toy from the first movie is one of the worst designed and put together Transformer toys in recent memory. And then there's the sorry Titanium series, man, they suck.

There may be others. But I'm not aware. Because I'm so sick of the bad quality and the constant 'repaints' that I'm just not buying anymore.

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

Personally I understand G1 completism a bit more than I understand devoutly collecting modern lines - in my life (with a few exceptions) I have rarely been underwhelmed by G1 designs or toys, as long as they're in good condition.

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Completely agree with you there. No matter how simple the toy may be, G1 toys just has the class and elegance that the later lines can only aspire to.

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

On the other hand, I find the Transformers of the 2000s disappoint me constantly and as a result I've stopped buying them completely at this point.

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Yup. Like I said above, I'm not buying into your crass anymore Hasbro.

Admittedly, I have difficulty understanding the need to 'complete a line' just for the sake of completing it, or buying Transformers 'just because they are official Transformers products'. Why spend good money on bad products, I'd ask. So what if its an 'official Transformers product' if it sucks all the same?

I don't rule out that there could be good reasons, that are subjectively valid from any buyers' point of view though.

I consider myself a selective completist, but I have a lot of exceptions that can get me out of buying really awful toys if I don't want to. Having said that, I often do anyway. :o For example, this time with the movie, I am not buying the Robot Heroes, FABs, Gravity Bots, or most Legends. I'm only getting the "main line" figures. And I rarely if ever buy repaints.

I manage to justify this, if only to myself, that awful toys serve to remind one how good the good toys are. If everything was Teh Awesome™, we'd get spoiled. :D

Im selective completionist.

The first toyline I actually started collecting is the Kaiyodo Revoltech Series.

I have most of them. I would love to see more G1 Transformers made for this line as rampagesss revoltech customs are pretty awesome.

anyway back to point, I buy the revoltechs I really like and buy the others if they're super reduced at hlj.com. I didn't buy all the revisions from the Neon Genesis Evangelion line cause thats just pointless.

With Transformers I've bought some MPs but am mostly interested in completing the Henkei line. There's no point in me collecting G1 - thats too much of a financial burden, but i do fondly remember them from childhood.

Not anymore.
Been down that road and it failed .. Was spending to much on crap.

Since sold most of the un-wanted items,

Selective completist. I buy one toy for each character who appears in TFA and the Bayverse movies. I try not to buy more than one toy of the same character, and if I do it's only because a nicer toy has come along to replace the old one (looks like Leader Screamer will be a good example of this). One exception to this rule is I've also bought Legends Class toys for each character in the Bayverse movies.

I also collect various G1 and classics/Henkei, and once again would have bought one of each character from the latter if Takara didn't make the coneheads/seekers so freaking expensive. Vintage toys deserve those kind of prices, not new ones that are in no way technically superior to the comparatably modest priced classics/henkei Ramjet.

Don't really have much interest in any other series so I stick to these ones. :)

I'm only completist towards certain groups of Transformers that catch my eye. The two cases here are the Animated Dinobots and the Universe Beast Wars deluxes.

I'm not a completist because I don't want to spend money on crap toys for the sake of having them all.

Completist? I can't even complete my own sentan

But enough joking. I'm no completist, and I don't really understand it to well either. yes sometimes I fall into completing a sub group or team of figures because its nice to have them together, but I wont go out of my way usually.

In the end I collect transformers based on the combined value of ingenuity, design, nostalgia and sometimes originality.

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

Personally I understand G1 completism a bit more than I understand devoutly collecting modern lines - in my life (with a few exceptions) I have rarely been underwhelmed by G1 designs or toys, as long as they're in good condition. Similarly, I think the first year or two of Beast Wars was fantastic and I can understand people wanting to complete a great toyline like Beast Wars Neo. On the other hand, I find the Transformers of the 2000s disappoint me constantly and as a result I've stopped buying them completely at this point.

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I don't understand devoulty collecting either modern or classic. While I like the first 2 Microman years of G1 I find later years fail to impress me a lot of the time, it feels like they went backwards. While I appreciate the value of Nostalgia it will only take me so far with some toys. As such I sold of a lot of my G1's and tend to just have sample figures from the various era's a sample Deception Target Master, A sample Brainmaster etc etc. I have no real desire to ever complete G1 or in fact any of my TF collections.

And to be honest most of my favourite TF toys come from the 2000's now, be they Masterpieces or Binaltechs, even Henkeis. While of course these do not form the majority of modern TF lines I still have to personally disagree with the idea that modern Transformers are somehow less than there forebears, for me they are often more (but I do like to see where it all began).

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Originally Posted by SofaMan

I manage to justify this, if only to myself, that awful toys serve to remind one how good the good toys are. If everything was Teh Awesome™, we'd get spoiled. :D

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I personally try and avoid toys that don't appeal to me, but what you have said makes me want to ask another question about collecting And this is for everyone.

When we do get an awesome toy that really knocks our socks of it's great, but as we get more similar but equally awesome toys do you ever find that the impact of each new toy is lessened? Or does acquiring each toy excite you more and more as you get nearer to collecting the whole set? For me it is the former and that's probably why I'm such an anti-completest. I buy into a fancy new toy line (or and old one) and then keep going until I'm no longer impressed. Of course if most toys Impress me I can go for quite some time. I guess that's why a lot of my collections are more like sampling’s than complete sets.

I try to but seems its going to be a very expensive thing to be one. Although yeah G1 Im trying to complete- though my version of "complete" may not be another collectors version....All the other lines I just get what I like and what hits my fancy at the moment. For Beast Wars - Im only trying to complete the series cast and in their Transmetal version at that, so a little more specific selective completism I guess... thats about it. the Unicron Trilogy... meh. G2 ,well, why not ...meh not so complete, there's a few there I dont really like... but then so is in G1 but, that Im trying to complete.. at least the US released ones.

I'd probably be classed in the selective completionist category but have made exceptions.

I came from the G1 era and so I got back into Transformers when Hasbro brought out the Commemmorative reissues and Takara gave us the TFC collection. My aim was to get back the G1 figures I lost in my youth and the ones I didn't have.

I wasn't interested in vintage G1 due to the expensive prices and the difficulty in getting a decent condition figure. However, I've made an exception when this year I bought Sludge as he was one of my favourites as a kid as I don't forsee a legit reissue coming out.

I have to admit, I felt a great sense of joy and satisfaction when I managed to complete both the Hasbro and Takara collections MISB. I also have got all the Classics and Universe figures as well and I admit I do enjoy playing and displaying these a bit more. I'm not strict completionist whereby I have to collect the same moulds e.g. Stormcloud, Darkwing.

However, recently I've become less motivated in collecting as I have quite a bit already. More to the point of this topic, I have a great collection of four toyline releases so I'm not really interested in trying to start something I can't complete.

For this reason and personal finances, I haven't collected Alternators, Binaltech, Alternity, or due to personal tastes e.g. I don't like the Animated toyline (but I did buy all the Dinobots).

Also I've given up collecting the superior Henkei range as due to the number of variants and high priced hard to get figures. I've done my risk-cost-benefit-analysis and can't stand having half of them and it costing me and arm & a leg to get the rest.

Besides any new Universe and Encore releases, I think this may be it for me TF collecting wise.

But to contradict myself, I've been collecting DC Universe Classics figures knowing full well, I'm not going to complete each wave. I just buy them for the characters I love reading about and their homage to the old Superpowers toyline.

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Originally Posted by Lord_Zed

When we do get an awesome toy that really knocks our socks of it's great, but as we get more similar but equally awesome toys do you ever find that the impact of each new toy is lessened? Or does acquiring each toy excite you more and more as you get nearer to collecting the whole set? For me it is the former and that's probably why I'm such an anti-completest. I buy into a fancy new toy line (or and old one) and then keep going until I'm no longer impressed. Of course if most toys Impress me I can go for quite some time. I guess that's why a lot of my collections are more like sampling’s than complete sets.

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So far I have bought -

Transformers Masterpiece (I own 3)
- Optimus prime was so awesome compared to the G1 i had when i was a child. The joints and all the clicking sounds when playing with him is so satisfying.
- Starscream sucked.
-Grimlock is curently the best toy i have in my opinion. The way it was designed made me wet. Though i wished both hands would light up his weapons. The tail wagging making his head shake and snapping jaw were little things but they just made him feel so complete.

Transformers Henkei (I own half)
- So far I hate Octane. But the rest is pretty sweet. They're fun to transform.

Transformers Animated (5)
- I bought the leader class that were on sale at TRU and like bulkhead and megatron but i hate ultra magnus alternate mode.

Revoltech (A lot)
- I have a few of the bad ones but they're fun to take apart and mix so thats the only way the bad ones are redeemed.

Figma (2)
- They're nice.

So i can say that of the toys i collect, i haven't had to endure bad toys much. I tend to buy what i like and if the less desirable ones are on sale, then i'll think about buying them but usually i do anyway.

bw mw movie are my lines
im fed with the crap q/c issues:mad: takes the enjoyment out of collecting tfs

i wont get repaints such as bb jolt fabs but will get diff mainline repaints if new character

it may change depending on the new nest recolours

I'm a selective completist; I usually collect toys that interest me, but I am also biased toward toys that have made a "common" canonical appearance (i.e.: cartoon, movie or readily commercially available comic book rather than say a convention exclusive comic).

This has recently annoyed me with Transformers Animated and Revenge of the Fallen. Animated Blitzwing is a classic example of a toy that I would've otherwise easily passed on if not for the fact that he appears in Animated canon. RotF Megatron is just all kinds of fail (no matter which version you get).

I'm annoyed by Animated not giving us toys for Scrapper, Mixmaster, Omega Supreme, Perceptor and Arcee (so far). I don't believe that the cartoon should repeatedly feature characters that you're not going to release as toys. I'm still waiting for my Botanica toy, dammmnnit! Dirt Boss I don't care about so much cos he only appeared for one episode (although if they did make a toy of him I'd get it); but I really want Scraps and Mix!

I'm also annoyed at RotF Transformers whom we don't have toys for and probably never will: e.g.: Alice, Reedman etc. We got toys for every Transformer that appeared in the first movie. Alice and Reedman got more screentime than poor Sideways!

This might surprise some people, but I'm actually not a G1 completist... at least, I don't _mean_ to be. Most of my G1 collection is from my childhood (I've been obsessed with collecting TFs since '84). But having said that, I probably will end up with a complete Hasbro G1 collection some day. :p Don't really care about completing Japanese G1 as I never grew up with it. I'm totally just opportunistic when it comes to collecting G1, especially Japanese G1. If a G1 toy I don't have gets reissued or if I come across a G1 toy for a bargain, then I'll get it. Otherwise I usually pass it. I'm not one of those people who are like "zOMG! There's a G1 toy I _must_ have!" and throw lots of money at it. I don't even have an eBay account. :p

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

RotF Megatron is just all kinds of fail (no matter which version you get).

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+1, hence the reason why Megafail is the only Bayverse character I don't have a toy for as yet (not counting Legends). :( A silver repaint of the voyager is the only real hope I hold out for this guy as I'd be pretty surprised if he doesn't 'galvanize' at the start of TF3.

Interesting topic.

As much as I'd like to consider myself a G1 completist, after much discussions with crab, who is one of the most knowledgeable individuals for variants that i know, we've come to the conclusion that it is near impossible for a person that collects sealed samples. Of course there are various levels of completeness, I am of course referring to the absolute pure insane completist.

A pure completist in my words, will have all the variants, I'm not simply talking about seeker variants, various forms of production line changes, card borders, bubble sizing variants (e.g. seacons), peg-hole, patches, I believe these are manageable. I do not consider different languages as variations.

The thing that really prevents a MOSC/MISB collector from having everything is when you start talking about decoys and mail-aways.

52 decoys were randomly inserted for 'later' Throttlebots, Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots, Combaticons, Technobots and Terrorcons, The Throttlebots could come with either Autobot or Decepticon pieces, while the combiners only had decoys of the faction they belonged to. While the Autobot pieces were only available in red, the Decepticon pieces came in both red and purple. I cbf doing the maths, but can you just imagine if a person wanted to get every single MOSC variant. Theoretically its possible, realistically not so much.

I have set myself a more realistic goal, and that is to get every single one of those above with a decoy (regardless of who it is) and one without.

Now mailaways, first of all MISB mail-aways are near impossible to find. Secondly, people had the choice of ordering several or rather, varying combinations of some mail-aways, specifically i'm referring to the omnibots and dashers, not too sure about the cars/jets, (OP & Megs came by itself).
What I'm saying is that, you could have a LARGER mail-away box that fitted (lets say, 3 omnibots + 3 dashers), as opposed to a smaller mail-away box that fitted only 1 omnibot. And yes I have seen this discrepancy.

As much as I'd like to consider myself a pure g1 completist, I know that ultimately I am a selective one.

Of course the above can be easily (relatively) achieved for a non-boxed/carded collector.

Aside from the monetary disadvantages, personally I'd consider the inability to attain everything due to the MOSC/Mail-away variants as one of the main drawbacks for been a sealed collector.

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Originally Posted by kaiden

So far I have bought -

Transformers Masterpiece (I own 3)
- Optimus prime was so awesome compared to the G1 i had when i was a child. The joints and all the clicking sounds when playing with him is so satisfying.
- Starscream sucked.
-Grimlock is curently the best toy i have in my opinion. The way it was designed made me wet. Though i wished both hands would light up his weapons. The tail wagging making his head shake and snapping jaw were little things but they just made him feel so complete.

Transformers Henkei (I own half)
- So far I hate Octane. But the rest is pretty sweet. They're fun to transform.

Transformers Animated (5)
- I bought the leader class that were on sale at TRU and like bulkhead and megatron but i hate ultra magnus alternate mode.

Revoltech (A lot)
- I have a few of the bad ones but they're fun to take apart and mix so thats the only way the bad ones are redeemed.

Figma (2)
- They're nice.

So i can say that of the toys i collect, i haven't had to endure bad toys much. I tend to buy what i like and if the less desirable ones are on sale, then i'll think about buying them but usually i do anyway.

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I admire your restraint.

My collection is rather excessive for someone who claims to be anti-completeist, I guess I should say I'm a collective/opportunist collector. it is interesting you mention MP Starscream as he is the toy I had in mind when I posed the question. I like Starscream despite his flaws (yeah I'm a a big transforming Jet fan), but then I got Sky Warp who is generaly a better toy. However getting him was not as exciting as getting Starscream even though Skywarp is better. Now I have Thundercacker to, and though he excites me, he still can't reach the same heights at Starscream.

BTW I notice you got Revoltechs and Figma figures to. I've become a bit of A Revoltech fan of late. I found some of the early ones had questionable QC, but the newer ones are better, and they seem to be getting more ambitious all the time. Which Revoltechs and Figma figures do you have?

Hmmm I think I feel a Revoltech/Figma thread comming in the other toys section.

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Originally Posted by Doubledealer

+1, hence the reason why Megafail is the only Bayverse character I don't have a toy for as yet (not counting Legends). :( A silver repaint of the voyager is the only real hope I hold out for this guy as I'd be pretty surprised if he doesn't 'galvanize' at the start of TF3.

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Hey! I like the voyager even with the oddball colouring. I'm quite fond of the toy, the design is just the right level of alien for me. But hey that's the wonder of collecting for you, one mans treasure is another’s junk.:)

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Originally Posted by jgon2098

52 decoys were randomly inserted for 'later' Throttlebots, Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots, Combaticons, Technobots and Terrorcons, The Throttlebots could come with either Autobot or Decepticon pieces, while the combiners only had decoys of the faction they belonged to. While the Autobot pieces were only available in red, the Decepticon pieces came in both red and purple. I cbf doing the maths, but can you just imagine if a person wanted to get every single MOSC variant. Theoretically its possible, realistically not so much.

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Man, that's messing up my head...

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Originally Posted by jgon2098

Now mailaways, first of all MISB mail-aways are near impossible to find. Secondly, people had the choice of ordering several or rather, varying combinations of some mail-aways, specifically i'm referring to the omnibots and dashers, not too sure about the cars/jets, (OP & Megs came by itself).
What I'm saying is that, you could have a LARGER mail-away box that fitted (lets say, 3 omnibots + 3 dashers), as opposed to a smaller mail-away box that fitted only 1 omnibot. And yes I have seen this discrepancy.

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this is messing it up even more... I think I might not get to sleep tonight just thinking of the possibilities and improbabilities...

I'd like to say that I'm not a completist, in that I have most of the figures I want already (in G1 and Beast Wars). Only a few figs would really round out my collection.

Good thing i'm not as fussed over condition or completeness as others because for me, as long as it looks like the character in 'bot and alt' mode its good enough for me.

I'm not really out seeking out anything in particular, but one line that Im totally hooked on getting most of is the Classics/Universe one :p
I really love the look of modern reinterpretations of G1, even certain repaints into homages can look good to me.

As for the movie line, a lot of the TF1 line sparked me back into TF collecting properly and as a result I have most of the cast. However the pricing on the TF2 line compared to that at the same time during TF1 has been a major barrier. Supreme Devy would be an instant buy if it were priced a lot closer to that of Animated Rollout Prime, the previous recent Supreme sized figure.

I think everyone will set rules for themselves on what they're 'allowed' to buy... or rather what they feel they MUST own.

What I've found, over the years, is that the bar just keeps moving and moving as my collection goes along.

My current policy is fairly simple -- I want one of every new mould. The proviso to that policy is that if a toy doesn't come out in Australia I won't feel a desperate need to try and hunt it down. So if I can't find it, I don't worry about it.

It's a fairly good policy -- but it has landed me with some utter turkeys as far as toys go.

It's... understandable. As far as I know the Transformers toy team is not that much larger than it used to be -- but the turnover times on the toys, the number of toys produced, etc. etc. are much quicker than they used to be. The Tomy guys must be starting to burn out by now.

As my collection evolves I find myself engaging with different lines in different ways. With the first movie I *LOVED* the Cyber-Slammers and so I bought craploads of them. But I soon realised that despite loving the gimmick to death there was only so much I could get out of them.

I bought a bunch of Bumper Battlers from Animated -- but I knew that it wasn't going to last -- and finally I bought only *ONE* RPMs Battle Charger for Revenge of the Fallen.

The problem is that the play pattern is the same every time -- and I've gotten a bit too old to get the same pleasure out of them that I once did, say, the Throttlebots.

I find myself setting different goals as things go along. For example -- I have never, ever, ever had a desire to own Fortress MAximus... but these last few months I've been really pondering it. It's out of my reach, I know it... but it's tempting.

There will be little changes -- I'll pass on a toy once, then decide later that I want it simply to look at that mould again in a fresh light. As I approach the 'finish line' with a toyline I might realise how little I'm missing and go back and get toys I wasn't otherwise going to buy.

That's how I ended up with Bumper Battlers Soundwave and Lockdown.

--Boltax.
(Transformers changes SO MUCH I can't imagine anyone staying the course and collecting it in the same way year in year out, unless they only collect vintage toys.)

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Originally Posted by Lord_Zed

Which Revoltechs and Figma figures do you have?

Hmmm I think I feel a Revoltech/Figma thread comming in the other toys section.

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I started collecting Transformers (not including the revoltech ones) in August 2009. So its hard to say if i've restrained myself.

As for Revoltech you sure you want me to name them all? and yeah, the early ones werent made very good. they were simple, but the latest releases still suffer from shoddyness. The new Neo Getter i bought had one broken back rocket thingy.

Figma - i have lelouch and kanu unchou.

As for a revoltech thread, if there isnt one i'll make one soon as im waiting on a shipment of Revoltech Assemble Borg that should arrive at my door tomorrow.

I don't think I could ever justify spending my money on figures just to have a "complete" set! What's the point? There has to be some level of desire/yearning/interest there... I can't complete a line just so that I can say, "Hey! Look at me - I've got the complete set!"

I'm finding more and more, with Transformers figures, that as the years go by the quality seems to be diminishing in one aspect or another. I really REALLY love the Classics/Universe line... but I will happily pass on a figure if I think it looks crappy, or is a repaint of a figure from a previous line!

About the only TF line I ever intend to "complete" is G1... but even then, I won't go after any figures that I don't really want!

Happily non-completist.

Before I was buying lots of Transformers toys (like 5-10 a year rather than my current levels) I was buying lots of Transformers comics. I would still like to get a copy of each issue (despite having some issues and stories in collected or reprinted form areadyl).

But there's no way I'd be completist in this collecting to the point of getting each variant cover for each comic with the way IDW spits those out. Some of the comics are disappointing, for instance I don't like most of the movieverse stuff, but I feel I need to have them all.

In the toys, I'm not acompletist because there's always some toys I'm just not interested in or repaints that aren't worth it IMO. This can lead to disappointment too though: I almost have one of each of the first Movie deluxes but I just can't bring myself to spend any money on Camshaft.

"Six little Maximals. Hahaha, well, I've almost collected the whole set!" - Megatron (Beast Wars)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nsKj...eature=related (7:25)

:)

I would consider myself foolish to be a completist unless the company of whom I am basing my hopes, holds perfection (in design, production, and storyline) as its highest value.

Really fond of TFA, and am a proud and foolish selective completist (around 95% of deluxes, voyagers, leaders). No unecessary repaints like Elite Guard Bumblebee, but Stealth Lockdown is awesomeness, and the seekers and Cliffjumper are must-haves. Love the consistency in toy designs and storyline, with its forgivable production restraints (like Lugnut's size compared to the other Decepticons; then again those differences are subtle if you look at Universe Cyclonus:cool: and Universe Powerglide:exclamation:), and its almost forgivable production flaws (but then popping-out parts is more bearable compared to breaking parts or chrome-paint aps).

But then again look at the botched up job that marketing and Bay-deadlines did on the ROTF fembot motorcycles. The designs are compromised by cost minimalisation and a bogan idealist (Bay). We now have a trio of would-be combiners, where the best chance of closure is to pray until you bleed for some awesome guys like FansProject to come alone and make sense of it.

Also, how many Movie Blackouts (awesome) are you willing to collect if Hasbro releases one or two repaints in both Autobot (as Evac and as Whirl) and Decepticon (as Grindor) factions for each movie?! Its not the same as collecting Seekers. Unfortunately, it gives me the bleak view of Bay having the great financial power to father a lot of grandchildren in this world.

Would've been able to completely withold myself from the ROTF line, until those first photos of ROTF Bludgeon came out with ROTF Mindwipe (too bad no ROTF Bugly).

Looks like I'll always be a selective completist...

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Originally Posted by SuspectimusPrime

with its forgivable production restraints (like Lugnut's size compared to the other Decepticons; then again those differences are subtle if you look at Universe Cyclonus and Universe Powerglide:exclamation,

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Yeah, but I think Cyclonus is well worth $30, whereas at $45 I felt ripped off with Lugnut.

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Yeah, but I think Cyclonus is well worth $30, whereas at $45 I felt ripped off with Lugnut.

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Cyclonus rocks!! :eek: too bad they won't be making a TFA Cyclonus!

I managed to get Lugnut for $25 at the beginning of the line from one of those China sellers on eBay selling them apparently as "new without packaging".

The figure was new without packaging, as it retained those little translucent rubber bands, but it was missing its front landing gear. I think it either failed the final phase of quality control or was smuggled out of the factory. When I contacted the guy about it, he actually sent me a second set of Lugnut's back landing gear free of charge. At that stage I just left it as it is :p

The TFA line as its perks and faults, but one thing for sure, whether the figs produced were pieces of engineering art or miscarriages, because of their specific cartoony designs you won't find them popping up repackaged as themselves or any other characters in TF Universe/TF Movies or any other lines down the track.

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Originally Posted by SuspectimusPrime

I managed to get Lugnut for $25 at the beginning of the line from one of those China sellers on eBay selling them apparently as "new without packaging".

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Okay, but I was responding to your comment of, "Love the consistency in toy designs and storyline, with its forgivable production restraints (like Lugnut's size compared to the other Decepticons" -- I'm saying that I don't find Lugnut's lack of size terribly forgivable due to the fact that he retails at $45 RRP. The fact that you acquired one at a discounted price doesn't change this, and thus the toy may not be quite worthwhile for most other people who would be paying the RRP.

It might be more accurate to say something like it's a nice toy and worth getting if you can find it on sale. For example, I think most Leader Classes are NOT worth their full RRP of $100, but they are nice toys and certainly worth it if you can get them on sale, like the Animated Leaders currently selling for $35 each atm.

Non-Completist for the most part. Whatever my interests, the collecting aspect needs to be anchored to something - for example I might buy every toy released with the names Starscream, Megatron and Soundwave and the Combaticons because they were my favourite G1 characters. Unless the toys seem really "cool" or interesting to me on their own (I bought a lot of the Japanese Beast Wars toys for this reason) or at its worst, I like the paint job and tech specs. If I was rich beyond my wildest dreams I might become a completist, but that is unlikely to ever happen for any number of reasons.

The only time I continued collecting something despite intensley disliking the current quality of the product was Spider-Man comics during the Clone saga to the Byrne/Mackie run. And that is because at the time I could not imagine my life without Spider-man in it (now lets not interpret that the wrong way!).

I am a completist at the individual figure level. I need to have it complete and in decent condition or it drives me mad. As you can gather, Roadbuster is a nightmare for me.

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Originally Posted by kup

I am a completist at the individual figure level. I need to have it complete and in decent condition or it drives me mad. As you can gather, Roadbuster is a nightmare for me.

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^^ this. with beast wars tech specs / intructions argh:o

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Originally Posted by kup

I am a completist at the individual figure level. I need to have it complete and in decent condition or it drives me mad. As you can gather, Roadbuster is a nightmare for me.

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totally understand what you mean. I bit the bullet and bought a complete MIB Roadbuster a couple of years back for what was a pretty hefty price back then (and with the AU dollar not as strong). No more nightmares.

Hehe:D thank goodness Im not that much of a completist...my roadbuster i s missing its gun viewfinder scope and missles but I dont care much for those accessories.
I complete my figures by piecemeal over time..which somehow as luck would have it works fine for me as I do find these pieces.... I prolly end up paying a bit more for a figure than what's it worth complete (G1s anyways) but Im more an opportunistic buyer in my collecting approach - as in, its there, it may be missing a certain accessory but I know i'll find it someday, so I buy it - so long as its not broken...:):)

I only need the handles and the brown driver's seat so I am not far off but I may need to buy a junker to get the seat.

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Originally Posted by liegeprime

Hehe:D thank goodness Im not that much of a completist....I complete my figures by piecemeal over time.... I prolly ended up paying more for figure than what's it worth complete (G1s anyways) but I more early on in my collecting an opportunistic buyer- its there it may be missing a certain accessory but I know i'll find it someday so I buy it - so long as its not broken...:):)

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I can deal with broken if all the pieces are there.

I'm very much the same. If I see an incomplete figure for a bargain price, I'm more than likely to pass as not having all the accessories / weapons will bug me to no end until I track them down on Ebay. Then I have thoughts about 'what if the accessory / weapon was a KO from a figure that had been KO'd?' because it's so hard to tell as most are just small, moulded, one tone pieces of plastic. The very thought of having one of my G1's 'tainted' by non-authentic parts sends shivers down my spine.

Yeah.... I got a problem :o

So in summary - I am also a completist of individual toys :D

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Originally Posted by 5FDP

I'm very much the same. If I see an incomplete figure for a bargain price, I'm more than likely to pass as not having all the accessories / weapons will bug me to no end until I track them down on Ebay. Then I have thoughts about 'what if the accessory / weapon was a KO from a figure that had been KO'd?' because it's so hard to tell as most are just small, moulded, one tone pieces of plastic. The very thought of having one of my G1's 'tainted' by non-authentic parts sends shivers down my spine.

Yeah.... I got a problem :o

So in summary - I am also a completist of individual toys :D

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I don't mind pulling together a figure if the accessories are readily available and inexpensive - Several figures in my collection have been completed that way.

However I am having difficulty 'properly' completing a second G1 Prime that I bought as I only have reissue fists for him.

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Originally Posted by kup

However I am having difficulty 'properly' completing a second G1 Prime that I bought as I only have reissue fists for him.

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I might be able to help you out with this Kup. My neighbour has a box of G1's in his garage and I know for fact that he has Optimus complete with fists. I passed on it as I kept mine (from my childhood), but just say the word and I'll see if he wants to part with them.

Sure, thanks. I will give you a list of what I need when I get home and depending on the price I may get the Complete Prime too. If he is broken or in poor condition it doesn't matter as I can fix him as I have several spare parts.

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Originally Posted by 5FDP

So in summary - I am also a completist of individual toys :D

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Yup. Me too. I just can't deal with incomplete TFs (figuratively and literally).

If I get something incomplete, its going ot bug me. And I just don't have the time to hunt for parts. So that's just going to bug me more.

Solution is that I only get complete TFs or not at all. Most of the time, I'm happy to pay a slight premium to get TFs complete (definition of complete = complete, nice stickers, w/ box or card).

Exception to that would be duplicate pieces of TFs, which need not be complete.

I don't mind if the TF is without box, stickers, instructions, etc. As long as he has all his accessories I am fine. I do however look for those extra bits once I complete the figure but they are not a priority and only get them on opportunity buys when found cheap.