What is the Primary Motivation for the TF's you select to collect?

[DELTAprime]

Vélocitor.

Sounds much better than Cheetor. To this day I still think that name is lame even tho I like the character.

[GoktimusPrime]

^Totally agree. As much as I love Beast Wars, I gotta admit that some of the names are absolutely horrid. But that's what happens when you get toy execs to come up w/ names instead of comic book writers. And there have been some pretty bad post-BW TF names too, such as Scattor (Scattorshot, Scattorbrain), Wind Sheer, Skid-Z, Tankor etc. (-_-)

[BigTransformerTrev]

^Totally agree. As much as I love Beast Wars, I gotta admit that some of the names are absolutely horrid. But that's what happens when you get toy execs to come up w/ names instead of comic book writers. And there have been some pretty bad post-BW TF names too, such as Scattor (Scattorshot, Scattorbrain), Wind Sheer, Skid-Z, Tankor etc. (-_-)

That'll have to be the next thread topic. We've had 'What is the stupidest alt-mode' and 'What is the silliest alt-mode'. Now we need to have 'What is the stupidest/silliest' Transformer name? Of course there are a million damn contenders for that coveted prize

[doublespy]

A combination of engineering, character design and media appearance, and homage factor.

That's why I've never been a completionist until the new Masterpiece line. Engineering is the first priority though. For the things I don't get I'd still figure out the transformation one way or another (my main reason to watch "video reviews")

[Sinnertwin]

That'll have to be the next thread topic. We've had 'What is the stupidest alt-mode' and 'What is the silliest alt-mode'. Now we need to have 'What is the stupidest/silliest' Transformer name? Of course there are a million damn contenders for that coveted prize

That's an easy one for me, anything that ends in -or. It reminds me of names i'd see on the Gobots or He Man figures. The TF franchise has seen some corkers over the years

[5FDP]

I voted 'The toy/character appears in comics/cartoons/movies/games' For me, how the character was portrayed in the cartoons was the biggest selling point. An example of this would be Rodimus Prime and how he came across in season 3 of G1. His character annoyed me to no end and because of this, I passed on the toy. It also helped that most of the season 3 / movie toys were based on their animation models

[GoktimusPrime]

When I first came across the toys, they hadn't appeared in canon yet... I actually didn't realise that Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime were the same character. But while Hot Rod always impressed me as a neat toy, Rodimus Prime was always underwhelming. I knew some friends who had Rodimus Prime and I played with theirs... but didn't get one for myself. I later ended up getting one for free as my friends started "growing out" of Transformers and giving me their toys for free, then later I got the reissue. But yeah, the lack of appeal of Rodimus Prime primarily came from the inherent lameness of the toy. Hot Rod has a more articulated and better looking robot mode... Rodimus Prime is more like "half" a Transformer (i.e. it's mostly the upper part of the robot that transforms). On the other hand I quite like Hubcap and he never had any canonical appearances in Anglophone continuity during the G1 period! So yeah, the appeal of a toy is usually/mostly down to the quality of the actual figure itself.

[Skullcruncher]

I voted 'The toy/character appears in comics/cartoons/movies/games' For me, how the character was portrayed in the cartoons was the biggest selling point. An example of this would be Rodimus Prime and how he came across in season 3 of G1. His character annoyed me to no end and because of this, I passed on the toy. It also helped that most of the season 3 / movie toys were based on their animation models

Most of the main autobot cast annoyed me in series 3. Rodimus, Kup, Grimlock who seemed even more of a dimwit - except when he made the technobots, that was something. But only Ultra Magnus still annoys me to this day - in fact I am going to sell my only remaining Magnus (myclone not counted) in my 2014 sales thread

Oh I voted era of the toy - G1 as my primary motivation.

[UltraMarginal]

This is a tough question, I've been thinking about this for a couple days.

I'd be happy to say

YEP.

thats my motivation, .

I'm honestly not sure what my "Primary" Motivation is?
I bought a lot of the prime stuff because it was in the show, I bought other prime stuff because it was a mold I didn't have yet even though it wasn't in the show.

I buy Masterpiece because it's G1 and interesting engineering and sexy alternate modes, especially the recent cars for their alt modes, and the early seeker molds.

I bought most of the movie stuff because it was on-screen but I bought other versions because they were molds that I didn't have, and in some cases it was a coincidence that it Homaged a G1 character. There was also a lot of Movie stuff that I didn't get because I didn't like the design of the robot mode (an example would be the drones that were in the first movie game.) I bought Skyhammer because of the awesome robot and vehicle mode.

Most Generations stuff that I buy is a G1 modernisation, I draw the line at repaints that are there more to re-use the mold than to represent the character. If they did 4 more repaints of wreck-gar with differnt heads, I'd buy them all though.

I bought Alternator/Binaltech that I thought was a nice modernisation of the G1 character. I didn't get Grimlock because I had Wheeljack and I thought the car and alt mode much better suited Wheeljack. I didn't get the Prime mold because I had MP-01 and I only bought the Nemesis Prime mold so I could experience the mold and I found it for $20.

I buy Encore/reissue G1 figures that I never had, or to be a handleable version of one of my original toys that has seen better days. Very rarely I buy a vintage G1 toy if I have the cash, and see it for a price that I am happy with. I would oneday like to have a full set of G1 but being that it's already been 30 years since I started collecting them, I'm not in that much of a hurry to get them all, I'd probably rather reissues over slightly worn originals for the remainder of that part of my collection.

I generally only buy Third party if it enhances some part of my existing collection. the Fansproject Headmasters look like being an exception to that rule though.

G1 was my introduction to Transformers and it does factor heavily into my collecting but it is often not a primary motivation for modern purchases.

Based on my above discussion it's looking like my purchase motivation is primarily media focussed with a high secondary motivation being toy engineering/design and G1 homage.

[GoktimusPrime]

Most of the main autobot cast annoyed me in series 3. Rodimus, Kup, Grimlock who seemed even more of a dimwit - except when he made the technobots, that was something. But only Ultra Magnus still annoys me to this day - in fact I am going to sell my only remaining Magnus (myclone not counted) in my 2014 sales thread

All these characters were so much better in the G1 comics.