Buying for the sake of buying

[sideswipes brother]

I don't know maybe all the versions of A Christmas Carol in the last days have got to me, but I'm questioning my TF Collecting.

I have about 1000 TF toys (including non-Transforming action figures) now but I wonder do I really need that many?

Taking stock today I have all of these still MIB, most of them MISB. I keep buying more Transformers but if I'm not even bothering to open them then I need to stop and ask why.




I used to be quite happy just buying a handful of toys from each line; the ones that interested me the most (design or character). I was first and foremost a fan of TF fiction not of TF toys.

But starting with the Movie Line I've just been buying all of them! This started because I assumed every toy from the Movie line was in the Movie (Swindle and Wreckage I'm looking at you..) and then when the Movie came out and the stock flew off the shelves it was a matter of buying them while I can and not stopping to think about it. This has continued with Universe and Animated and so now is the point I am thinking about it.

I have maybe at most 50 TFs that I can easily access, the rest are in numerous storage continers (or as above still in their boxes). If I don't have them on display, if I'm not playing with them... do I need them?

Some, particularly the 23-24 year old veterans are of huge sentimental value (and due to disrepair very little financial value). But many others aren't: Real Gear repaints that I opened transformed once and put into storage for instance. Would I miss them? I can't even name most of them!

My collection has expanded incredibly in the past two years and this forum has contributed to that, but am I really getting as much out of the toy collecting as I should or could be? Or am I doing it just for something to do, something to talk to the other TF fans about (since most are toy orientated)?

I've been a TF fan for nearly 25 years of my 30 years so it's not something I think I could ever give up. But you could only call me a "toy collector" for the past two, and maybe that I could stop. It does feel a little like an addiction and I'm someone who does get addicted to things easily if he doesn't watch out.

Obviously collectors come and go, the names on the members list today are very different to the names when Griffin first invited me into Ozformers. Does anyone else ever feel like this? That they are buying toys for the sake of buying and forgetting what and why it is that you kept buying toys long after you left the "target demographic"?

PS your Encore Skywarp and Thundercracker are packaged incorrectly. The OCD in me needs you to fix that asap.

[k.wong23]

I almost caved into that addiction for Universe 2.0 line but since getting S.E dragstrip I honestly can say I'm happy at where my collection stands now

I use to be hunting 24/7 on ebay, stores etc now it has died down a bit. I'm just waiting for the ones that interest me

But I am happy I came to collect even if it is minimal as I have met some good blokes and gals on this forum

[jimoinj]

I can really relate to all of this. I used to buy only G1 reissues, but then it expanded out into G1 likenesses as well. But since G1 likenesses and remakes have now come to flood the market that has become financially unsustainable. So now I'm looking to just keep the G1 toys that I can't do without, otherwise just want the classics line and most of the masterpieces. Financial constraints mean I'd feel too guilty to get straight repaints of masterpieces like thundercracker and Skywarp, even though they are very nicely done. I agree with the OP that once you get too many toys it becomes simply unmanageable and impractical and it's good to cut down. Fun though it is to just buy, as it ends up being, buying for the sake of buying. Not so fun for your wallet however.

[loophole]

I just try to buy the ones that i think look cool and sort of on scale with each other so they all fit together or the toys that are in the show/movie even then not all of them except for Animated because i absolutely love the toys. Also now that i have set myself some goals for the next year collecting wise im hoping that it will keep my spending and acquiring down instead of just buying toys all over the place and getting out of control.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I thought the same too Paulbot, I think I will need to take a rest when the movie comes out as I have been going nuts with the animated figs.

It was odd though, coz I ended up with more movie figs than I thought I would and most of them I think are quite ugly. I mean I still have leader megatron!

Animated is the first line I have actually felt passionate about since G1, so I have decided to tone it down after Animated has finished.


Although I said I would retire form collceting when Energon finished, then I saw the Galaxy force figures, so I said "After GF I will stop." Then Classics, then Animated......

[kup]

I am very selective in what I get so unopened retail toys that I have no interest in are very rare (none existant, actualy).

Like Gok, most of my sealed toys are doubles and compared to the loose ones on display, they are very few.

The only line that I am actively collecting are Universe Classics/Henkei. The other non directly Classics 'G1nish' Universe toys such as the Comic book repaints and so forth are not must haves but mostly indulgences so I pick and choose what I like and ignore what I don't like.

The advantage with this system is that now I am buying newly released toys spaced out witihin the month due to their release schedule so it doesn't hurt the wallet too much and the only real 'G1nish' repainted Universe toys that I have liked are the two Comic book versus packs and the Special Teams leaders set.

Golden rule that I follow: Don't buy because its there, buy because I like.

[blackie]

ive ended up buying things because i didnt want to pass up the oppertunity, mainly in relation to the older toys, mainly because i have passed up some opertunities that i shoulnt have, but did for a number of reasons, and they ended up costing me more in the end. With G1 etc i collect the characters/toys i like/think are cool, so im in no way a comepletist, which is a good thing, becauae i cant afford to complete a G1 collection in the near future, and im uber impatient :P.

However, luckily with the classics line im able to get them when i want, even if they take a while to turn up again, ala acid storm

[Eruntalon]

I only started collecting G1 transformer toys back in September this year, after pulling out the remaining 10-15 G1 transformers I still had as a child, wondering if I should sell them for cash (as I have done with a few of my other childhood toys from various other lines i.e. crash test dummies, dinoriders). I decided to hold onto them all this time, keeping them in a separate box away from any other memorabilia from my past. My collection is now around 130-150, but I need to count it again. I also have one Masterpiece transformer, but this is as far away from G1 as I intend for my collection span. As a child I had friends who always had larger collections of transformers than me, and so instead of being intimidated by this I started collecting other toys.

Before Transformers I collected Star Wars figures. I have about 350-400 of these, half are vintage, loose and MOC, the other half span from the 1990s Power of the Force Line right up to the Legacy edition comic packs released this year, again loose and MOC. I also have about 20 vehicles, including the Legacy edition Millenium Falcon which I imported from America for AUS $170. This vehicle alone seemed to warrant me to stop collecting as I thought my collection was complete enough with this toy. This year I narrowed down my Star Wars collection to consist only of action figures, canon-related books and comics, which from last count I have a combined total of approximately 450-500.

I can now safely say that I have stopped collecting transformers for the foreseeable future, due to the fact that I have lost my car in a recent accident, and now need to conserve my money. My accident has made me more conscious of the fact that my money is precious, and that if I'm not careful one day those hundreds or thousands of dollars that are just sitting there in the form of plastic and metal gathering dust could have been paying for my new vehicle in part. I would probably be really shocked to find out the total price of items from internet shopping which I have bought in the past year that I don't really need to survive, it would probably be at least $2000, maybe as much as $3500.

[liegeprime]

I used to trawl ebay since I discovered it 2 years ago. Which in turn boomed my collection from a measly 120+ to 500+ in said 2 years. I do concentrate more on G1's so thats hte burn in the wallet part of it. With regards to every other line its more of if I want it Ill get it. That is not to say I havent done what Paulbot is now reflecting on - buying for the sake of buying - I have lots of instances - Armada, Energon, RiD, Movie - as these are the lines Im not really into - not like im into G1. Heck I even have beast wars /machines stuff and Im NOT into em at all. Some of em are bought out of spur of the moment - "its cheap and its there so I buy since I can". But with the events of a mortgage, it has curtailed my buying to back to 3 criterion - Do I really like it? Can I afford to buy it? Do I feel deep down that it is a must have/ need it?

These three questions have helped me put down a lot of items put out there TF wise. there are times I just pick up 3-5 items when Im on shopping mode and end up with none coz I keep walking while asking myself these questions only to end up wiht a naaaaah answer, so I put it down and go for groceries instead. Which is good. Although its not foolproof though - Ive been backsliding at times to impulse buying especially whe I see cheap priced stuff sold here. But Im trying less and less too. Reason is that I feel somehow guilty when I walk into my toyrooms. just looking at them , and not playing, or playing but I cannot possibly play with all at once and there are figures that have been neglected for so long it kinda saddens me as well. Oh well another thing to rectify. It is an addiction , but one I hope to set bounderies and hope to stick to these bounderies so that I dont burn it out.

[kup]

Since we are focusing on vintage toys, I am still actively collecting G1 but due to the low dollar value I have not been seeking them out as much as I used to since many of the secondary market G1s are from the US. So currently I only wait for opportunity buys now. This isn't so bad for me since I have already got most of the toys that I wanted but there are still a couple I am seeking such as Carnivac and G1 parts which I look for when restoring figures.

When it comes to Beast Wars, I have already collected all the toys I wanted so as far as I am concerned, my collection is complete but I do keep my eyes open for other BW figures that I don't have but I would only get them if they are opportunity buys such as finding one at the Parra Fair; I am not actively seeking them.