How do you know it's time to move on from Transformers collecting

[loophole]

My collecting has slowed right down as of late. I have pretty much everything that I want it's just any new stuff that I want which is mainly masterpiece items. I have started selling parts of my collection but nothing that I will regret getting rid of.
I have also packed away a stack of stuff away for any kids I have so they can still enjoy transformers (mainly animated figures) without destroying any of my good stuff.

[jazzcomp]

You see For Sale Threads such as Goodbye Forever Sale, My Wife Says I can't Keep them All and the like.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I'll be collecting as long as i can comfortably live & afford to. I'm not going to let my purchasing habits affect my way of life.
If i was faced with a situation where it was necessary to sell them, then so be it.

Good answer

Never.

Also good

When it's not fun anymore.... That's when I'll bail

Or financial difficulty... I'd cut off my hands for my wife and son, selling my collection would happen in a heartbeat if I needed money for them.

Let's hope it never comes to that! Lol

Excellent Answer



Personally I took a decade off. G1 finished and I wasn't much interested in any of the toys after the Predator team came out - didn't think much of G2, and didn't like BW or BM at all. What I did collect at that time - believe it or not - was stuff from the Home Improvement sitcom. Ended up with nearly 100 bits of clothing (boxer shorts, ties, dressing gowns, socks etc) as well as posters, swap cards etc etc.

Anyway, that ended too, and I was more interested in my late teens and at Uni with hanging with friends, partying, getting laid etc etc. It wasn't until a friend gave me for my (first) wedding in 2001 a G1 Optimus, Chop Shop and Wreck-Gar that the TF collecting spark reignited within me. At the time I had one gross of figures (144), now I am only about 50 figures off having timesed that figure by 10

Like Janda, I'd sell the collection in a heartbeat if I needed the money for an operation for my wife or son, but otherwise I can't see me ever really stopping collecting - it's a hobby I love too much

[Omega Metro]

I've tried giving up collecting a while back. But you basically have to give them away so decided to keep collecting. But very selective in what I buy now.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I've thought about 'kicking the habit' a few times, and selling most of the collection off while just keeping a few favourite items. I've actually managed to acquire a lot of the TFs I want already, so the collecting has slowed right down over the past year to year-and-a-half-odd. Japan's good like that.

Then I'd look through my packed-away-due-to-lack-of-display-space assorted TFs (most of them are in boxes in Tasmania, most of the rest are in boxes here in Osaka) to see which ones I'd want to keep, and I'd come across some I'd forgotten I had, and/or others that I'd forgotten how they were actually pretty fun to mess around with or how the design was actually pretty clever, and realise that it's less that I'm 'over' TFs than that I'm just too busy with work to have the time and energy to really enjoy them - my priorities are mostly about teaching my students and daily life stuff these days. I have 3-odd boxes of TFs I've yet to open and/or mess around with (I buy most of my TFs second hand, often loose) and some of them have been sitting there for well over a year. I actually don't open them or get them out and transform them very often, but sometimes I'll just be in the mood to see how a 'new' TF works, or to fool around with an 'old' TF, and that's when it's still 'worth it' to me.

So, for me the time to move on from TFs is when I'm not getting any (or just sufficient) enjoyment out of them anymore. Like most of us here I'd sell them off without hesitation if I needed to raise funds for something more important - they're just toys after all - but that's not the case at present and they're still an enjoyable hobby for me.

[Shirokaze]

As one of the guys going through this at the moment I should probably put in my 2 cents

I'm sure a lot of my thoughts mirror those that have posted before me, but the biggest thing for me has been the imminent arrival of my baby girl.
One night I was lying in bed mulling over the thought of all the credit card debt, the personal loans we'd amassed, and the little one we would be bringing into the midst of it all and a strange phenomenon swept over me. All of a sudden I felt like nothing else mattered and that I had to get my life sorted no matter the cost.

Then there's the time factor, I just feel like I don't have enough hours in the day anymore, and the baby isn't even here yet! Many of the wonderful figures that I would've wanted to transform immediately in years past still remain sealed and it really saddens me that I'm not getting enjoyment out of them anymore. On the odd chance I do get to open one, 9 times out of 10 I feel ripped off by the quality and size of the figure, but I've whinged about that enough in other threads

Maybe this pressure is something that just comes with growing up, as my wife and I are a young-ish pair of newlyweds. Though I know a lot of you fine gentlemen have done the kids thing and kept up with your hobbies for all these years... seriously I have to hand it to you, good job

[Magnus]

My collecting has slowed right down as of late. I have pretty much everything that I want it's just any new stuff that I want which is mainly masterpiece items. I have started selling parts of my collection but nothing that I will regret getting rid of.

This is pretty much where I'm at. Since DotM, there hasn't been much by way of new TFs that's really interested me. For the foreseeable future, I'm looking towards getting maybe a few movieverse toys and MPs, and that's about it.

Other collecting interests also mean that I'm spending less on TFs.

[GoktimusPrime]

Personally I took a decade off.

I haven't even been able to take 10 minutes off Transformers since 1984, let alone 10 years!

Maybe this pressure is something that just comes with growing up, as my wife and I are a young-ish pair of newlyweds. Though I know a lot of you fine gentlemen have done the kids thing and kept up with your hobbies for all these years... seriously I have to hand it to you, good job

I've just to become better at managing finances. I gave up collecting any other toy lines and solely focused on Transformers, and I've become more thrifty too. My personal habits which make TF collecting more affordable include:
+ Continuing to buy toys while they're current, thus avoiding increased aftermarket prices. This is something I've stuck with since 1984, so it wasn't any lifestyle change for me. Always good to take advantage of sales, and be aware that big/expensive toys are more likely to shelfwarm and later become discounted (e.g. Ultimate Class TFPBH Optimus Prime and Predaking are selling at considerably reduced price)
+ Stopped collecting all non-Transformers toys - and thus have also sold off a lot of my non-TF toys.
+ Where possible, pre-order more expensive toys (e.g. Masterpieces). Makes it considerably cheaper than paying full retail prices (which are already overpriced IMHO), let alone appreciated aftermarket prices.
+ At times, you may just need to skip a toy or two. The original MP Grimlock came out just a few months before my daughter was due to be born, so I skipped that toy. But fortunately the Hasbro version was released locally later, so I jumped on that faster than Barry O'Farrell on vintage wine. I also skipped TakaraTOMY's MP Rodimus, even when I had the opportunity to buy it at RRP without shipping (because I was overseas) -- just couldn't justify the cost for that toy. Again luckily I grabbed the much cheaper local Hasbro version. I also skipped MP Alert (aside from price, I'm not a huge fan of the MP Lambo mould) -- it looks unlikely that Hasbro will release this toy, and so far I've been unable to find the re-release at its original RRP. Either I'll find this toy at close to its original RRP (approx. $65), or I'll skip it again - simple as that.
+ Save up for big purchases well in advance. e.g. I've already saved up my money for all the Age of Extinction toys that I intend to buy, so come May 17 I'll be like, "Just take my money!" The downside is that I've been scrimping a lot lately and cutting down on other expenses like less dining out and movies etc. e.g. Captain America 2 is the only new movie that I've seen in months; when most movies are newly released on DVDs, I wait until they become ex-rentals and purchase them then (also because DVDs & even BRs these days are just "bare bones" with bugger all special features and options, so I don't feel like paying full RRP for them)
+ We have a separate account where money gets saved for our daughter. That account hardly ever gets touched.

And if you think having a baby is expensive... wait until they get older! My daughter just started school this year, and that's really been hitting the hip pocket (moreso when you've chosen to send your child to two different community language schools on top of her regular school ).

[Shirokaze]

I haven't even been able to take 10 minutes off Transformers since 1984, let alone 10 years!


I've just to become better at managing finances. I gave up collecting any other toy lines and solely focused on Transformers, and I've become more thrifty too. My personal habits which make TF collecting more affordable include:
+ Continuing to buy toys while they're current, thus avoiding increased aftermarket prices. This is something I've stuck with since 1984, so it wasn't any lifestyle change for me. Always good to take advantage of sales, and be aware that big/expensive toys are more likely to shelfwarm and later become discounted (e.g. Ultimate Class TFPBH Optimus Prime and Predaking are selling at considerably reduced price)
+ Stopped collecting all non-Transformers toys - and thus have also sold off a lot of my non-TF toys.
+ Where possible, pre-order more expensive toys (e.g. Masterpieces). Makes it considerably cheaper than paying full retail prices (which are already overpriced IMHO), let alone appreciated aftermarket prices.
+ At times, you may just need to skip a toy or two. The original MP Grimlock came out just a few months before my daughter was due to be born, so I skipped that toy. But fortunately the Hasbro version was released locally later, so I jumped on that faster than Barry O'Farrell on vintage wine. I also skipped TakaraTOMY's MP Rodimus, even when I had the opportunity to buy it at RRP without shipping (because I was overseas) -- just couldn't justify the cost for that toy. Again luckily I grabbed the much cheaper local Hasbro version. I also skipped MP Alert (aside from price, I'm not a huge fan of the MP Lambo mould) -- it looks unlikely that Hasbro will release this toy, and so far I've been unable to find the re-release at its original RRP. Either I'll find this toy at close to its original RRP (approx. $65), or I'll skip it again - simple as that.
+ Save up for big purchases well in advance. e.g. I've already saved up my money for all the Age of Extinction toys that I intend to buy, so come May 17 I'll be like, "Just take my money!" The downside is that I've been scrimping a lot lately and cutting down on other expenses like less dining out and movies etc. e.g. Captain America 2 is the only new movie that I've seen in months; when most movies are newly released on DVDs, I wait until they become ex-rentals and purchase them then (also because DVDs & even BRs these days are just "bare bones" with bugger all special features and options, so I don't feel like paying full RRP for them)
+ We have a separate account where money gets saved for our daughter. That account hardly ever gets touched.

And if you think having a baby is expensive... wait until they get older! My daughter just started school this year, and that's really been hitting the hip pocket (moreso when you've chosen to send your child to two different community language schools on top of her regular school ).

I will definitely be taking some of that on board Gok, one of my problems is that I have far too many hobbies. Between modifying cars, anime figs, transformers and games, things can get especially tight. I can't cull an entire part of my life so I feel like it's best to cut back a little on each.

[GoktimusPrime]

For me, non-toy franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, anime etc., the toys are just the icing on the cake, but for Transformers the toys are the actual cake and the movies, cartoons and comics are the icing. I can easily enjoy non-toy franchises like Tolkienverse without the toys, but not with a toy franchise like Transformers. So it was relatively easy for me to give up collecting toys from non-toy franchises... which was basically everything else that I was collecting at the time other than Transformers. I kept a few of my favourites from those lines but sold off the rest -- because what time I get to play with my toys is mostly dedicated to Transformers. And if I'm not playing with a toy, then I don't see the need to keep it. I play with some of my non-Transformer toys like once in a blue moon, but my TFs still get played with on a daily basis.