25 Years of Transformers according to us!

[GoktimusPrime]

Okay, I've read heroic_decepticon's story and here are some of my thoughts...

We stupidly, really stupidly, authorised our Mum to give away all, yes ALL, our toys to a worthy cause and to people that need it more than us. And my Mum did just that: she gave to the Salvation Army every single one of our He-Man (MOTU), Secret Wars, Super Powers, M.A.S.K., Transformers, Visionaries, Centurions, Ghostbusters, Bone-Age, Dino-Riders, Silver Hawks, TMNT, Starcom and She-Ra toys.

Every-single-one.

I look back at this period with extreme sadness and pain, tormented till this day. Thinking back, that is one of the worst decisions I’ve had the misfortune to make.

...this was the most painful part to read. When I hear about people whose parents dispose of their toys without their permission then I'm filled with great sadness. But in all honesty when I hear of people who actually _allowed_ their parents to dispose of their toys, then this sadness is coupled with some frustration.

You obviously already regret this decision now, but what I'd like to gain further insight as to why you chose to make that decision in the first place. What was going through your mind when you gave away all of your toys like that? At that time did any part of you think that you might regret the decision in future? Or did you think, "I'm too old for toys and I'll never have need for them again."

I have decided to collect Transformers again.

Well maybe not ‘again’ unless we consider Transformers given to a kid as toys which he smashed into one another, used for fights and Transformed more than a dozen times a day ‘collecting’. This was, I decided, to more serious, more precious, or so I wanted myself to believe.

I still enjoy using my Transformers for fights... I guess this doesn't make me a collector then? <cheek> The only reason I ever started putting my Transformers on shelves wasn't for display but for easy access for playing and also to reduce damage to the Transformer toys (because the alternative was to chuck them in the toy box in which case I would have to rummage to get the toys I wanted). By time I was in year 7 I started arranging them for display in a more aesthetically pleasing sense - but the primary reason has always been for play access.

Thanks for sharing your story with us heroic_decepticon.

[kup]

Heroic_Decepticon has already explained that he believed to be doing a charitable action by giving poor kids in misfortune a toy to play with and therefor try to brighten up their lives at least a little.

As a kid of good concious, one would very easily give in to such rationale (I know I would although I didn't have a choice in the matter). However now I know its not that simple and likely those toys were sold for profit or discarded rather than given to a child in need.

The thing about 'the child in need' factor is that unless the kid is living in Somalia or some place where he has never seen a toy in his life and would appreciate receiving one, its very unlikely that a poor kid in a city such as Sydney would want a toy that is 'out of fashion' and would likely be wanting something that is more contemporary and put aside the 'old toy' as junk once received.

[GoktimusPrime]

Heroic_Decepticon has already explained that he believed to be doing a charitable action by giving poor kids in misfortune a toy to play with and therefor try to brighten up their lives at least a little.

As a kid of good concious, one would very easily give in to such rationale (I know I would although I didn't have a choice in the matter).

I know it was for charity, and I don't mean to question the nobility of that charitable act at all. Personally if in 1991 I were asked to donate toys for charity, I would have agreed, but I also would have been quite selective in terms of which toys I wanted to give away and which ones I didn't. I'd given away some of my toys to younger relatives, like my Voltron toys. But it's something that I don't regret - I have no desire to get back into Voltron or repurchase those toys I gave away.

What fascinates me with heroic_decepticon's story is that he voluntarily gave his toys away, which he now appears to deeply regret. What I'm curious to know is, in 1991 at the time heroic_decepticon's mother presented him with the choice of giving toys to charity, precisely what was going through his mind at the time he volunteered to surrender his entire toy collection for charity, only to deeply regret it later. I've encountered plenty of people who've given their toys away. In fact a lot of kids I used to play Transformers with growing up have since given their old Transformers to me. None of these people have ever contacted me and asked for their toys back.

If someone were to now ask all of us to donate toys for charity, would any of us immediately voluntarily give away our entire collection, or would we be selective in which toys we wanted to donate and which ones we'd want to keep?

I hope I'm not coming across as being judgemental, as it's not my intention. I simply wish to gain further insight into what would make someone want to give something away that was still precious to them (otherwise why else would they later regret it?).

Thank you.

[Sky Shadow]

I hope I'm not coming across as being judgemental, as it's not my intention. I simply wish to gain further insight into what would make someone want to give something away that was still precious to them (otherwise why else would they later regret it?)

Goktimus, you don't quite seem to get the concept of regret. Regret is an emotion one feels with hindsight "after committing an action or actions that the person later wishes that he or she had not done." If HD knew that he would later regret the decision then he wouldn't have done it. It's like breaking up with someone and later wanting them back. Countless people on this board have gotten back into collecting Transformers and regret selling/giving away their childhood collection. In your whole life, have you yourself seriously never done anything you regret? If so, then it should be approximately the same concept.

[kup]

Heroic_Decepticon is the best person that can answer your question but again, I think that he already has.

Here is a little scenario that puts the situation as I understand it within some perspective:

I think that his act is more like an act of selfless charity in giving a toy he appreciates to someone he believes needs it more than he does. Like if you are in a disaster area with nothing to eat but then you find a piece of bread and although you are starving, you decide to give it to the severely injured kid who lost his parents because you feel that he needs it more than you do.

You will continue starving and the thought of regret in giving away what little food you had will cross your mind as you don't even know if the kid survived but due to the situation and information you had at the time, you believed it to be the right thing to do.

[roller]

oh my buddha

like this stuff even needs discussing

[GoktimusPrime]

Why, it's almost as if this place is some kind of discussion board or something, eh!

Okay, let me start over and ask another question which I think is more pertinent to what I actually want to know. heroic_decepticon, at the time you volunteered to have your toys given away to charity, did you still consider Transformers to be relevant/important to you?
Did you think to yourself:
1. "I don't really care about Transformers anymore, so I might as well give them to needy kids.", or
2. "Despite the fact that I really care about Transformers, I want to give them to needy kids." (kup's bread analogy), or
3. Something else?

Of course I've done stuff that I regret. And when it happens I later ask myself, "Gee, why did I do that?" But my curiosity becomes piqued when I sometimes hear about people doing regretful things that I've never experienced before (and would be unfathomable for me to do). If someone told me that they regret being overweight, then it's a form of regret that I'm all too familiar with. But if someone tells me that they regret parting with something precious to them, especially Transformers, then it's a more foreign concept to me and I'd like to know more. It's not the core concept of regret that I'm not familiar with, it's specific kinds of regret that I may not have personally experienced.

[heroic_decepticon]

I think Sky Shadow said it pretty well here.

Regret is an emotion one feels with hindsight "after committing an action or actions that the person later wishes that he or she had not done." If HD knew that he would later regret the decision then he wouldn't have done it.

The key word is hindsight. If I'd known I would regret it, I might not have taken that action. But having taken that action, and then thinking back, and thinking that I should not have taken it - that's the regret I was talking about.

Of course I've done stuff that I regret. And when it happens I later ask myself, "Gee, why did I do that?"

This appears to be the 'same' regret Sky Shadow and Kup are talking about

Okay, let me start over and ask another question which I think is more pertinent to what I actually want to know. heroic_decepticon, at the time you volunteered to have your toys given away to charity, did you still consider Transformers to be relevant/important to you?
Did you think to yourself:
1. "I don't really care about Transformers anymore, so I might as well give them to needy kids.", or
2. "Despite the fact that I really care about Transformers, I want to give them to needy kids." (kup's bread analogy), or
3. Something else?

Ok, memory is slightly hazy on this point but it was something like this...

Even at that point TFs were important to me. The toys were all in boxes and stored in a way that did not crease the flaps, so they were taking up literally half my room's floor space (and even more space was taken up when my brother gave me all his toys, including Transformers). Space was an issue.

And this was a point where I was fast growing up and had other things that take up space - mountain bike, stun bike, roller blades, snooker cues, skateboards and etc. All of these were competing for space with my toys, which to be honest, I have not touched in years by that time.

So TFs are still important, but like I said elsewhere, its the memories that are truely important and a part of me. So while I gave away my toys, I did keep all my US issues and all my UK issues. I also kept my Optimus Prime, Grimlock and Japanese boxed Predacons. My brother also wanted me to keep his Japanese box Cyclonus. These I kept and still have with me.

At the time, I believed that the TFs above, the memories and comics were sufficient to sustain me in terms of TFs.

A part of me also did want to give the toys to children that need it more than me and my brother. We had so many toys, so many. I wanted someone else less fortunate to be able to experience that joy (whether someone actually did or not, I don't know).

So I guess its a little bit of each of what you said above.

You gotta bear in mind that back then, and even now, I do not live a life that is substantially TFs centric. There really were other priorities at the time - friends, snooker, basketball, long distance cycling, roller-blading, RPGs, and etc.

And I just lived life to the fullest, just that TFs for that period took a back seat.

[heroic_decepticon]

I have decided to collect Transformers again.

Well maybe not ‘again’ unless we consider Transformers given to a kid as toys which he smashed into one another, used for fights and Transformed more than a dozen times a day ‘collecting’. This was, I decided, to more serious, more precious, or so I wanted myself to believe.

I still enjoy using my Transformers for fights... I guess this doesn't make me a collector then? <cheek> The only reason I ever started putting my Transformers on shelves wasn't for display but for easy access for playing and also to reduce damage to the Transformer toys (because the alternative was to chuck them in the toy box in which case I would have to rummage to get the toys I wanted). By time I was in year 7 I started arranging them for display in a more aesthetically pleasing sense - but the primary reason has always been for play access.

It's a good point you brought up. It is a point I thought about at the time of writing that article.

I do not mean that a person who plays with their toys is not a collector. A collector can surely play with his/her toys.

What I mean is that I do not consider the toys that were given to me when I was young "collecting". Thinking back, they were just toys. Toys that were given to me. I did not "collect" them, I simply had them.

A kid may have a "collection" of toys, but that does not mean that the kid is collecting or a collector. A person is not a collector simply by having a "collection" of something in his/her possession. To be collecting, a person must consciously turn his/her mind to the act of collecting and be conciously seeking more and/or having particular milestones or objectives for the collection.

This might be something you have turned your mind to at a young age, but I certainly did not.

In short, collecting is a conscious decision and should be something more than just "sitting" on an assortment of figures that were given to the person.

[kup]

A kid may have a "collection" of toys, but that does not mean that the kid is collecting or a collector. A person is not a collector simply by having a "collection" of something in his/her possession. To be collecting, a person must consciously turn his/her mind to the act of collecting and be conciously seeking more and/or having particular milestones or objectives for the collection.

That's very true. As a kid I had several TFs, MOTUs, Thundercats and Ninja Turtles but I never considered myself as a collector of any of those toy lines despite having most of the toys released for each (at the time).

They were just toys that I asked for depending on whatever 'franchise' phase I was into at the time and they accumulated.

When it comes to shelves, I had wall mounted ones at a very early stage and used them for toy display but like Gok, it was mostly for easy access. However I had a massive wooden toy box in the shape of a truck in which I stored all my older toys. Only the toys that I was into at the time went on the shelves and it cycled accordingly.

However older toys that went into the truck toy box were not forgotten, there were times that I would suddenly get back into them or use them as 'extras' during play. I remember clearly that I had several GI Joes in the box forgotten for a couple of years and then for some reason I briefly got back into them and pulled them all out for play again and displayed them on the shelves.