Who 'plays' with their Transformers?

[LordCyrusOmega]

I tend to transform them back and forth quite a bit and will occasionally have the impromptu battle. Then my daughter got a big lego Fire Station and some decepticons went on a rampage when it was constructed. All in good fun though; she helped.

I don't really have the imagination to do it anymore. I'm envious of people who can onnect with that part of their childhood though.

Toys are meant to be played with.

[UltraMarginal]

I tend to take one out of the display and pose it, around the lounge or study, but as for playing, organized battles, etc, I tend to not really have the time.I certainly have them facing off in the display though.

[5FDP]

I only open some because I have run out of room to display them (which is why I voted 'No, never - These aren't toys, they're display pieces'), but would generally prefer to keep them all MISB.

[christalcase]

Every time I open up a new toy I transform it into robot mode (or if it's packaged in robot mode, I transform it into vehicle and then back), admire the engineering and put it on the shelf. Then whenever I have a couple mins spare I will pick one up and either transform it, or most likely, I imagine some battle or some other thing happening (basically whatever's in my mind at the time, I don't have a continuing 'story'), and wave it around a bit, with the sound effects usually only in my mind, I guess that counts as playing. I don't smash my toys together like I used to as a kid, as I want them to be in the best condition they can be given the situation, so I usually only play with one toy at a time.

I find it great fun to do this, and it passes the time very quickly (usually before I know it, 30 mins to an hour has already passed), but a lot of the time, I just look at the figures and that's it without even touching them.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I consider transforming and posing my figures playing with them. It's just a different kind of playing then you did as a kid, but they're still toys and we're still playing with them, IMO.

I concur with this as well.

A while ago we had a similar topic and I think the majority of us were classed as 'Fiddlers.' IN that we transform them and pose them usually while doing something else as well.

I usually have one around and fiddle without for about a week to get a good feel for the toy. RTS Jazz has been sitting on my foot stool since I had it and I like it more and more.

I have found that procuring a G1 Transformer makes me play with them a bit, the last good go I had was when I recieved my Encore Omega Supreme. I had some new ANimate toys who used as their base of operations. This all occured in the lounge. My wife was shocked

I just don't get the time for battling much anymore. Plus tiles aren't the best to use when lying on the ground I was tempted to have my Thunderwing do some bridge busting when I opened him. Complete with sound effects

*edit* Bing! Just found the old thread here:
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=5581

[Gutsman Heavy]

Gears got stuck in my girlfriends (of that time) cleavage, I sent warpath in to blast him free. Blammo! Now that's playing!

[GoktimusPrime]

I voted for "Always" (surprised? ) -- even though it's not really always but more accurately as often as I can, which sadly isn't nearly as often as I'd like.

However I don't 'play' with them in the traditional sense that a child does, like getting Optimus Prime to battle Megatron in the imaginary world that is my living room couch for example, but I do know that there are some of you out there that do play with their figures like this.

It's more than just "battle". I've never been one to play with toys as just "Enough talk, let's fight!" -- even as a little kid I always wanted some kind of story. Even something as simple as the Decepticons are attacking a source of energy and the Autobots need to stop it, and maybe there are humans (Lego men) caught in the cross fire. Think of Toy Story when Andy's playing with his toys and makes up a story for it - that's what it was like. As I got older the stories became more complex and involved. During my high school days I would run massively long epic story campaigns -- often with days or weeks to "tell" an entire story (often not finished). As an adult I seldomly do crossovers with other toy lines... I do sometimes, but not often.

But yeah, playing with toys is a lot more than just mindless battling -- and I NEVER physically bashed my toys. I saw a lot of other kids doing that as I was growing up and naturally a lot of their Transformers broke. I _never_ understood why kids did that... even as a little kid I would never do that; always tried to take the best of care of my TFs. That's why most of my G1 Transformers are from my childhood -- most of them having survived my childhood. Some of them are broken, but most of those were broken by other kids. Which is why I quickly learnt to HATE sharing my toys as a child... but of course, mum always made me share. Which led to more broken toys. GRARGGH!

I quite frankly find it odd that an adult would have the inclination to want to do this, let alone actually do it - but whatever floats your boat I suppose.

Why should it be odd? I find it a very fun and creative past time. I find it more fun than say playing a computer game where the story is pretty much pre-programmed so that the story campaign has a limited set path (or paths) to follow. But when I play with my toys, the only limit is my imagination.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
- Albert Einstein

I personally find it odd that anyone would spend money on a toy and NOT play with it. Makes about as much sense to me as say collecting books just to display them on a book shelf but not bothering to read them (having said that, I read somewhere once that there ARE people who do buy books and never read them!). Or buying a car and never driving it -- my father recently bought a car from a guy who owned it for 20 years an practically never drove it.

But hey... people can do whatever they want with their toys - play or not play... but I do find it odd that someone would spend so much money to buy something that they wouldn't use. If I wanted to look at some, I'll just take a picture.

i personally never play with my toys...i'm a 33 yr old man and my wife already thinks i'm a big kid! haha

Don't let that stop you! My wife frequently sees me playing with my TF toys in the TF room. Often she'll come in with a book or DVD while I continue playing on the floor.

but in saying that.... i have no problem with anyone that does.... IMO it kinda shows a creative imagination, which is one of the things i miss about being a kid.

I don't see why being an adult necessarily means you have to give up imaginative play.

I can't regress to the stage of 'playing' with toys.

I don't need to regress, as I never "progressed" from it!

Toys are meant to be played with.

Damn straight!

Gears got stuck in my girlfriends (of that time) cleavage, I sent warpath in to blast him free. Blammo! Now that's playing!

Sure beats getting stuck in your man-cleavage! (re: plumber's crack) <shudder> :P

As others have said, there is a previous thread and poll about what kind of player you are, here:
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=5581

According to that poll:
1: Majority of OTCAers engage in fiddle play (74%)
2: 2nd largest section don't play (14%)
3: 8% of us engage in fantasy play
...and 4% of us engage in "other" - such as customising, kitbashing, restoring/reparing toys etc.

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Edit: My 23 month old daughter has picked up some of my play mannerisms - and she's done so for quite some time now. Whenever she sees a Transformer in vehicle mode or even a toy car, she'll start sliding it along the ground and making car noises. Now one could argue that she's merely imitating real life cars that she's seen - however she also picks up a toy light sabre and tries to make light sabre noises (those of you on my Facebook list can check out a video I uploaded where she does this ). Also when she sees a Transformer in robot mode, she'll now make "battle noises." About 20 minutes ago she was making Lugnut "fly" and making wooshing noises. I quickly snapped a pic...




Here she is at approx. 12 months playing with PCC Huffer in vehicle mode making it "drive" around.

[tjparkside]

i don't play with my transformers in the child's sense.
i (too?)transform them a couple of times,photograph them in robot mode & then display them or repackage them to display mib.
so in summary...while i don't run around the lounge room,making whooshing noises with G1 jetfire in jet mode...i don't panic when i take him out of the box/foam to transform him & put his armor on..if that makes sense!?!

[GoktimusPrime]

There are different things that people like to do with their Transformers - and really, I think almost all of us are a mix of all the different "types" of collectors, but I'd also so that most of us are predominantly a certain kind of collector. For example, I predominantly enjoy engaging in fantasy play with my Transformers, but there are some Transformers that I don't do it with -- e.g. Masterpiece TFs; I find them too fiddly to really play with, but I enjoy fiddling with them. Grimlock's okay as the simplest MP, but he's way too out of scale with any other more "playable" Transformers, so I mostly fiddle with him too. I also have a few (very few) number of Transformers that I keep sealed. They're all doubles or variants. And I'd say that most sealed collectors have a few loose toys in their collection that they'll occasionally pick up and play with (whether it be fiddle play or fantasy play).

But I think most of us can identify ourselves with one "category" of collector... and as Vector Prime said, this is really all just for fun anyway. So here's the old visual guide. We have...

The Fiddler

Likes to fiddle around with their Transformers. Pose them, transform them - but doesn't actually engage in any actual fantasy play.

The Curator

To them, Transformers aren't toys (even though they are ) - they're precious artifacts to be preserved for prosperity. My... PRECIOUS!!

The Player

Toys are meant to be played with! They love to be played with! To Infinity... and Beyond!

The Artisan

Customisers, kitbashers, restorationists. We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better... stronger... faster."

[loophole]

Gears got stuck in my girlfriends (of that time) cleavage, I sent warpath in to blast him free. Blammo! Now that's playing!

pics or it didn't happen