Buying for the sake of buying

[Paulbot]

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"?

[TheDirtyDigger]

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"?

Yes. Absolutely.

[Zippo]

When I started collecting, I brought everything aside from exclusives and insanly hard to get items. I am glad I have gotten out of that trap and now I am a selective purchaser.

I still do collect entire lines, but only of the more adult focused lines or those that appeal - ie, Alts/BTs, Classics/Henkei, Reissues. Main lines like Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Movie and Animated are only purchased if I like the toy and want to open.

However there are still a few I purchase because they are cheap. For example I just opened Movie Premium Megatron. He was $50, and was a large Decepticon that I neeeded to fill a spot in the display case...

[roller]

Buying for the sake of buying, done that once in a major way.

With the R.I.D line, just bought them without any thought about the quality of the fiction or quality of the toys. Now ive wasted alot of cash on them and have no real love for them.

Right now im not buying many figures due to a mortage, bills and price o food rising, and im a big eater

[Trailer Park Ninja]

I'm not a huge collector when I compare my collection to the ones I've seen here and my purchases in the acquistions threads to other Ozformers.

More and more recently I've been reflecting on my TF collection and hobby and it may be a Xmas end-of-year thing or something deeper.

I ask myself on a constant basis; "How much is enough?" and this pertains not just to Transformers but in general to a lot of things in this increasingly materialistic status-driven society. Sometimes it feels I'm buying something for the sake of buying and the "hit" wears off pretty quickly.

I've experienced this with videogames and as my purchasing power has increased and there are more bargains due to retail competition, I've bought a lot of videogames. Some of these games have 40+ hours of gameplay and I'm just too time poor to play them through.
It really was a case of buying for the sake of buying as I would say that I'd find time to play them but never did.

Thus, I've stopped buying videogames and won't be buying any future gen consoles as my interests have changed. I have more than enough if I feel like having a gaming session.

I'm selective with buying transformers for the fact that I have limited space and wants. I'm only into G1 and have all the Hasbro Commemorative reissues, nearly all the Takara reissues and will aim to get most of the Encore series. These are all MISB and my Classics Universe collection are the only loose figures I've got.

[griffin]

This is why I refer to it as an addiction or habit. I buy them because they look nice and want to play with them, but then find I just don't end up with enough time to properly explore them all because there are just too many of them now.
I can relate to your predicament on getting more toys than you can keep up with opening them, as I find that I have various figures that have never been transformed - which should never happen. The moment a figure is bought and not 'played with', the point of me collecting it is lost. And if more figures were packaged in robot mode, there would be even more that would just go straight from packaging to display shelf...
I might like how impressive a room full of toys look, but I don't like having a bunch of recent acquisitions that I don't get time to properly play with/explore, which is happening far too frequently in the last year or so, thanks to all the product being released now.

[GoktimusPrime]

wow... it's never gotten so bad for me that I would end up with a big load of unopened TFs in storage! There are two things I personally cannot do:
1/ Leave a toy sealed (most of my sealed toys are doubles, so I have one open to play with)
2/ Put my toys in storage, I _have_ to display them all and have them all ready to be played with at any time!

It's the whole reason why I started displaying my toys in the first place as a kid. Unlike other toys which I would happily throw into boxes and rummage for them when I wanted them, Transformers was always a toyline that I liked so much that I needed to be able to access them at a moment's notice... and I've honestly been doing this since 1984 - but I consciously and purposely started displaying them (and divided by faction too) in 1985.

If I had to name one point of senseless addiction it would have to be buying Supreme Cheetor at full price, especially when I already had Mega Cheetor. (-_-)

[Golden Phoenix]

I usually one get the ones I like dues to my limited cash flow.
There have been only a few exceptions.
Like for example the Universe Special Editions. I like the look of the package as a whole, with the figure sealed inside. It looks really nice. Hence I aim to get them all and keep them MSIB, and if I really like the look of the figure I'll get a 2nd to play with. I have done that with Megatron.
Another example would be if it is cheaper to get an extra one since it is part of a wave or bundle or what ever.
Animated Jazz was an example of this. I only doubled up on him because it was only a little bit extra to get Wave 4 as a set of 4 instead of the 3 others (EG Bumblebee, Sentinal Prime and Swoop)
Otherwise I just can't justify it. I don't have enough money to buy things I don't like.

I always likened it to buying as many video games as you can and not playing most of them

[Fungal Infection]

I used to collect everything that came out for a particular line, repaints, mold changes, everything. Even if I hated the toy I'd get the repaint anyway because of the completist in me. Then one day I decided enough was enough, sold the majority of my collection (which included toys such as Scorponok, Trypticon, Star Saber, Brave Max, the entire Beast Wars line and more). I downsized my collection by about 75% and concentrated only on items I wanted. Now my collection consists only of the first 2 years of G1 toys, along with toys I actually like and even then I collect only the one mold from each line unless the repaint is significantly awesome enough to justify buying. Plus the fact that I have a mortgage to pay off and other toy lines to collect means I have to be more selective with what I buy.

[sideswipes brother]

I am VERY selective. I'm not a completist by any means. I am mainly G1 driven with a few Beast Wars thrown in. I do not and will not buy any of the toys after Beast Wars as i'm just not interested in them. The G1 reissues are the only things i pretty much buy and i now buy 2 of each. One for MISB and the other to be displayed. Even though i love G1 i didn't buy the TFC Astrotrain as his colours made him a stranger to me and Stepper as i had no affiliation to him growing up. As i said, Very selective.