2010 Transformers Collection Survey Results

[swoop]

How many voters have there been each year gok?

[GoktimusPrime]

Sorry, I haven't kept track of that information. But we have collectors from various regions around the world who vote each year.

[heroic_decepticon]

Sorry, I haven't kept track of that information. But we have collectors from various regions around the world who vote each year.

hmmm... just wondering what the statistics are representative of in that case if every year there is a chance (but unknown %) of different people who votes. A variance in percentages for any one category could very well be due to a different spread of voters as opposed to any 'growth' or 'decline' in the collection of an existing pool of voters?

[Hursticon]

hmmm... just wondering what the statistics are representative of in that case if every year there is a chance (but unknown %) of different people who votes. A variance in percentages for any one category could very well be due to a different spread of voters as opposed to any 'growth' or 'decline' in the collection of an existing pool of voters?

A very good point Heroic, as the number of voters for any one year would directly impact the results if that number of voters were to variate between years - I look forward to your thoughts Goki but as it stands at the moment, it certainly seems like:

1. More voters have collections ranging up to circa 500.
2. 2010 and 2008 are the only years to see an increase in every category.
3. The GFC certainly seems to be reflected in 2008 and 2009's figures.
4. A clear gap between those with collections of 1-500 and 1000 or more exists - a reflection of personal incomes perhaps?, showing certain barriers to certain ranges of figures?

If, Goki we were able to break down the data further to say specific lines (G1, Movieverse, etc) or classes of figures (Deluxe, Voyager, etc) in each voter's collection, could we be able to discern collector's preferences in collecting too?
(Perhaps Paulbot might be able to help in this regard with reference to his annual surveys? )

Do you think Retailers and Hasbro would be interested in these sorts of figures? - I know it's not taking into account a larger customer base but it certainly is a good reflection of Collectors purchasing habits.

[GoktimusPrime]

I think retailers and Hasbro would only be interested in sales statistics, which they already have info on anyway with sales and stock records etc.

Well, participation in the survey is voluntary - and I suppose the variation in numbers of voters might be similar to what some countries may experience where they have voting is non-compulsory (unlike in Australia). But it's not as if I'm in any position to make voting compulsory. I suppose what I could've done is grab one small sample of individual fans and make them promise to keep participating every year - similar to the "7 Up" programme from the BBC where they took a small group of children from various socio-economic backgrounds and revisited them all in 7-year intervals and comparing how each of their lives have changed (for better or worse). But then I don't know if such a small sample would be terribly indicative of the overall fandom in general. For years before developing the UCM I would compare my collection with other fans who I knew well... like you'd say "How many Transformers do you have?" then you'd say stuff like, "But are you counting Nebulans separately?" - then you'd easily agree to a common consensus and make a more fair comparison that way. I wanted to take a wider 'snap shot' of TF collectors in general.

And I think we need to allow new collectors the chance to vote and not exclude them from participating simply because they weren't collecting when this project started in 2006-07 (well, 2005 really, but we didn't start forming the UCM until 2006). Because new collectors would certainly effect the average collection size as well.

If, Goki we were able to break down the data further to say specific lines (G1, Movieverse, etc) or classes of figures (Deluxe, Voyager, etc) in each voter's collection, could we be able to discern collector's preferences in collecting too?

Well, that's a whole different kind of poll which isn't what this particular project is about. Not saying it's a bad idea or anything, but I think it's just a different idea. Unfortunately recently Hasbro's been making it difficult to tell which toys belong in which series now, like say Sea Spray -- some people think he's movieverse, others think he's CHUGURverse. :/

Anyway, I'm considering making this year the final year for the survey -- because the entire reason why I started it was to answer the question of "What's the size of an average Transformers collection?", and every year the majority of respondents have elected "100 or less", so that pretty much answers the question. I'd like to do it for one more year just to have a 5 year sample... cos it's a nice round number (well, 10 is even rounderer, but I'm not sure if I wanna keep doing this that long )

But hey, if either of you guys wanna do your own survey projects, I think that would be neat. Maybe HD could do a "7 Up" style project where you take a small sample of different collectors (e.g. novice, experienced, etc.) and track them for a couple of years. Maybe Hursti could run some series-specific polls. One advantage of series specific polls is that you could have more specialised and fairer rules. This year there were concerns (both on this board and on other boards) about how PCC Mini-Cons count because they're more like Nebulans rather than like Armadaverse Mini-Cons. If you had separate series-specific polls, then for example in the Armadaverse poll it could be agreed that Mini-Cons count separately and in the CHUGUR or PCC or whatever the hell series PCC belongs to poll, the Mini-Cons could be excluded from separate counting.