Who 'plays' with their Transformers?

[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.