For me, I have a tendency to collect G1 Starscream toys when they come out. But upon some recent introspection, I realised that I don't actually like the Starscream character as much as I thought I did. As a child, I liked the idea and look of Transformers that turned into jets more than I liked car alt-modes. I also liked the white, blue and red colour scheme. Upon discovering a G1 Starscream toy, I picked him as a favourite character without knowing much about him (the first Transformers fiction I watched didn't have Starscream in it). To this day I still like the aesthetic design of Starscream, but personality/character-wise, I find him hard to root for. If there was blue, red and white (or gray) jet with the personality of Optimus Prime, he’d be the perfect character for me. That’s an example of me liking a toy while disliking the character.

On the flipside, there are many instances when I liked the character, but didn’t like the toy because it didn’t line up with my aesthetic preferences. An example is the Marvel Legends Vintage Wolverine. I’m a big Wolverine fan, but I’m not fond of the mould Hasbro used for the ML Vintage figure. To me the neck looks too long for my liking and the legs are a bit short. It looks a bit dwarf-like. It’s not bad, and it’s accurate to the comics; but I like my action figures to look tall and heroic.

Another example (TF-related this time) is the Cyberverse figures. I like G1 Optimus Prime and Megatron’s characters and their aesthetic designs, but the Cyberverse figures (G1 inspired) don’t do it for me.

Yeah, I know. I’m being really REALLY superficial. But the way I see it, these are toys that are made to be objectified