Does anyone else just not care anymore?

[Decepticon]

Im a Hotwheels collector also. And over the years I find myself switching from HW to TFs and back again. Right now Im in my HW phase. TFs are not interesting me one bit at the moment. It will change though

[liegeprime]

Thank goodness for other toy collections hehehe really helps to "ride" away during these lull momnents in collecting - as I mentioned before I have quite a few others - MOTU, DCUC, GiJoe(Cobra's only actually) and comics, oh and Ghostbusters ( the old 80s ghosts only), MLs and when I come accross a figure iI might find cheap and want another - another G1 character figure (Ive completed mine US released, except for Overlord)... but then I army build as well - Insecticons to make a swarm SO as everyone has said, keep the collection, sit on it for a while you never know when the urge will come back and you might feel sorry later that you'd have to repurchase the stuff you sold but now at a higher price ( though I doubt with the newer stuff) than what you previously paid for it. But honestly the newer stuff (Bayverse toys) aren't worth for me huh, I got them packed up in a 94 liter plastic box ini my toyroom closet - I was thinking of reselling em but thought... hmm best to hang on for now, I might later on feel that they should be "on display" once again and well you never know.

Interesting though, through all the heaps of response I haven't seen a reply from daveanix hope he's mulling it still over and has read all the reply as well before he makes a decision he might regret later...

[GoktimusPrime]

I think this whole thing about this year being Transformers collecting's "Darkest Hour" is highly exaggerated. Atm the Transformers franchise is enjoying the most popularity it's had since the 1980s - possibly even moreso because the children of the 80s are now adults with more spending power compared to when we just begged our parents.

I understand that we're in quite a lull atm with bugger all new products hitting shelves, no new TV series being aired here and a sporadic toy line for the movie (WHERE are Soundwave, Mirage and Wheeljack, dammmmnnnnnit?!?!?) etc. - but on the whole, while it's not great, it's not that bad. Certainly nowhere near as bad as previous seriously bad years we've had like...

+ 2002: we had next to NO new moulds hitting shelves in both Hasbro and Takara markets. In 2000-2001 we enjoyed all kinds of new toys with Beast Machines and Car Robot/Robots In Disguise -- then suddenly it all kinda stopped. The only new moulds we got were Megatron Megabolt and Air Attack Optimus Primal -- and the last two were "carry ons" that were initially intended to be released for BM but ended up being released in RiD (so they were never purpose-designed for RiD). Takara gave us lots of reissues... but still nothing new (and Japanese fans did complain about this a lot). It wasn't really until Armada came along at the end of that year (which meant that in most other places like Australia it didn't come out until 2003 - so I consider Armada to be a 2003-commencing line) that we finally got new toys. So we spent almost that entire year with bugger all new moulds! You know how frustrating that was?? I bought Robots In Disguise Optimus Prime even though I already had Super Fire Convoy... because I had nothing else to get! I skipped Devil Gigatron previously because it was too similar to Gigatron -- but I got RiD Galvatron which was still shelf-warming, cos again... wanted to get something! Tell me that wasn't a bloody frustrating year for TF collecting... but it gets way worse...

+ 1996: <tumbleweed> Much like 2002 there was BUGGER ALL new TFs out this year. And unlike 2002 where we'd come off the success of the Beast Era and Car Robot/RiD franchises, in 1996 we had just come off the failure of Generation 2. We desperately needed something! Beast Wars came out later that year, I didn't start seeing most stores carry them until 1997. So again, for a long time that year we had sweet bugger all.

So while I understand that we're in a bit of a downturn atm, I don't see the need to "give up" on Transformers. Especially considering that we've remained faithful in MUCH tougher times than this... why give up now?

I just use times like this to take a "breather" from constantly hunting and collecting new toys and just thoroughly enjoy the toys I have. I spent yesterday playing with Animated Leader Megatron and today I'm taking Legends Movie 1 Brawl out for dinner. I've spent a lot of time and money building my collection -- it's nice to have time like this toy enjoy it!

[liegeprime]

oh noes Gok, Brawl eats like a tank find someone else to bring to dinner heheheh

[SkyWarp91]

oh noes Gok, Brawl eats like a tank find someone else to bring to dinner heheheh

bring leader class bulkhead

[Decepticon]

Oh, and for the record, I am glad there are so called 'Bayverse' TFs. I love the majority of them. Im not a G1 collector as Ive been there, done back in the 80s and feel that todays TFs are alot better engineered than the blocky TFs from the 80s........just thought Id add that cos am noticing alot of Bayverse toy knockers in this thread.

[Skullcruncher]

Yep, me.

I couldn't give a rats about collecting TFs anymore to be honest - I will still hang onto single copies of what I have but I plan on selling off all the doubles/triples/quadruples that I have sitting in storage.

I just don't find collecting them 'rewarding' or as 'fun' anymore - so much so that I have reduced my display to only about 10% of my collection and have put everything else into storage.

Unless something comes along that's revolutionary and sparks my interest again, it's all 'meh' for me at the moment.

Same here, I have purchased several over the last couple of months but really just to complete groups or individual transformers but have kind of lost my interest... heck a friend brought her kid over and I let it (the kid whos 4 not the friend) play with my G1 decoys! Only 1 got some goobers on it.

[GoktimusPrime]

Oh, and for the record, I am glad there are so called 'Bayverse' TFs. I love the majority of them. Im not a G1 collector as Ive been there, done back in the 80s and feel that todays TFs are alot better engineered than the blocky TFs from the 80s........just thought Id add that cos am noticing alot of Bayverse toy knockers in this thread.

I don't actively collect G1 either - did most of that in the 1980s and 90s (remember that G1 didn't end until 1993) -- I mostly just collect whatever's in shops (been doin' so since '84) ... but in defence of G1, you gotta look at it in context.

G1 toys, particularly early G1 toys, were exceptionally well engineered for their time. If you take a lot of toys from the 1984 line like Soundwave, the jets, Jazz, the cassettes, Bluestreak, Mirage, Sideswipe etc. -- by the standards of the day they were bloody impressive toys, especially Optimus Prime who was the biggest and most articulated figure and was also a freakin' playset that interacted with other Transformer figures by either holding cars in his trailer or as part of his combat deck which could also shoot out the Mini-Cars (and Roller of course). Not even DOTM Ultimate Optimus Prime's trailer can boast that level of play versatility -- it just transforms from a trailer into Optimus Prime's butterfly wingalings with a ridiculously oversized MechTech weapon which awkwardly stows below the trailer in truck mode. Without the trailer the cab robot has no weapon. 1984 Optimus Prime had his own rifle which he could use to fight independently of his other two components and of course, the trailer was a fully armed combat deck with missile launchers, radar and a clamping arm (da clamps!!). Okay, Roller just had a fuel hose, but I used to detach it and pretend the mount was a gun.

Now you could argue that Ultimate Optimus Prime's trailer does merge with Optimus Prime, unlike 1984 G1 Prime, but then look at 1988 Powermaster Optimus Prime. The trailer not only combines with the cab robot - but it creates a more proper looking "super robot" mode, whereas let's face it, Ultimate OP's butterfly mode is essentially a Mega Pretender Shell (and the Pretenders are considered by some to be the downpoint of G1). Not only that, but PM Prime's trailer can still open up to hold small vehicles and it can transform into a battle platform! Oh, and both the cab robot and the trailer are suitable armed - with Prime having two rifles and the trailer having two dual-barrelled cannons. And in Japan the equivalent toy (albeit different character) could combine with a second trailer (Godbomber) to form a super-super-combined robot with wingalings and missile bazooka. Yeah sure, it's a brick, but by 1988 standards this didn't really count against it... remember that it wasn't until mid to late G2 that articulated robot modes started really coming in -- and even then, it wasn't until Beast Wars that it became a more standard feature.

And Optimus Prime is one of the better engineered movie toys -- arguably among the best. As I said, G1 toys were generally considered to be exceptionally good for the standards of their day... what about movie toys? Do you think they're exceptionally good for today's standards? Compare the average "Bayformer" to say the average "Classicsverse" Transformer (being of similar vintage).
e.g.
+ Voyager Movie 1 Optimus Prime vs. Voyager Classics Optimus Prime
+ Movieverse Deluxe Jazz vs. RTS Jazz
+ ROTF Deluxe Sideswipe vs. Universe/Henkei Sideswipe
+ DOTM Deluxe Starscream vs. Classics/Universe/Henkei Starscream
+ ROTF Ravage vs Universe/Henkei Ravage -- while the latter may be a small "accessory" figure that came with Hound, I'd say it was relative to its size/cost, it could be seen as a better toy. For one thing, it transforms into a proper alt mode (cassette tape) whereas ROTF Ravage just folds up his robot mode into a "Huh?!" -- so-called "Re-Entry" mode

Now I know there are lots of really nice movieverse toys which are well made by today's standards, like Deluxe Movie 1 Bumblebees, the Leader Optimus Primes, Bludgeon, Powerglide, Wreckage... and heck, I think Fast Action Battler Decepticon Frenzy doesn't get enough love. And sure, there are plenty of G1 Transformers which were poorly executed even by the standards of their days, e.g. Battlechargers (the Jumpstarters which came before them were better designed), Firecons, 1988 Pretenders (what epically fail alt mode designs), Action masters (<shudder>) etc. - and to be fair to some movie toys, they have the additional challenge of being based on screen models (highly complex ones at that) which are difficult to translate into toys - whereas the majority of G1 toys were designed as toys first (thus HasTak had more creative freedom)... but even then that only covers the toys that appear in the film. We have had some movieverse toys which didn't appear in the film and were designed as toys first which are still sub-par by contemporary standards, e.g. Breakaway (I like this toy cos I got it for free as a bday gift, but I probably wouldn't be so fond of it if I'd paid money for it - esp. full retail). And I'll give credit to HasTak that they are - in general - getting gooderer at designing movie toys.

But on the whole, I don't think movieverse toys are generally as well designed by today's standards compared to early G1 toys by the standards of their day. There are exceptions on either end, but generally speaking when examining both lines on the whole, that's how I feel.

Put it this way, when I first saw 1984 Jazz my first reaction was like "Wwwhhhooooaaaaa! This toy is AWESOME!" -- when I first saw 2007 Movie Deluxe Jazz I thought this toy was mediocre at best by the standards of the day.

[SkyWarp91]

And just what exactly do you expect in today's standard of toy engineering Gok?

[TypeTnT]

During the quiet times of Transformer collecting, I aim my sights towards another love of my childhood: LEGO.
Lots of LOTS of Lego!