TF Views

I started on this board when I was 12 or 13, though I had been browsing Ben's site since, oh, '97 or so? I was a young bastard. Now I'm nearing my 18th birthday (Saturday! OMG!). That's a good decade I've been "part" of the fandom by keeping up on news and stuff. The last time I saw Totally New Toys I Had Never Seen Before was like Wave 2 of Beast Wars. Fuckin' Toyfair ruined all the surprise of Transmetals and further.

Anyway I'm not likely to leave the fandom anytime soon, if that helps the statistics any.

Actually, I started coming here at age ELEVEN... I'm not even sixteen yet. Yeah, I'm making you feel old and, I feel, my age lets me take an approach to this fandom as "on the outside looking in". And yeah, you're all getting older, and yeah... even I am feeling odd buying toys. On the other hand, I'm seeing a lot of 'fresh meat' to the fandom, people as young or even younger than I (though I maintain the fact my grammar was IMPECCABLE for an eleven year old). The fandom will go on, but the 'old vanguard' will, literally, die out. In my mind, you all used to be about 20... but more and more of you are entering your 30s and no longer have the nostalgia excuse. It's kinda morbid, actually.

Actually, nostalgia is my main excuse.

Misanthrope Prime wrote:. The fandom will go on, but the 'old vanguard' will, literally, die out. In my mind, you all used to be about 20... but more and more of you are entering your 30s and no longer have the nostalgia excuse. It's kinda morbid, actually.

Well, hell's bells, I feel old and useless. Excuse me, guys, I'll be off slitting my wrists, now.

Nah, I don't care, really. I may be getting, as some say "a lil' old for this", but y'know, I just have a hard time caring. I still get entertained by robot toys what turn into something else. Of course, I'm also still into comics, cartoons, and other goofy shit when society tells me that the things I oughtta be interested in are, say, sports, vidya games, and seventies rock. Pass.

And yeah, I edited my response. It's been a long day, but I calmed down a minute.

I never really started 'collecting'. I got G2 Hubcap for my sixth(?) birthday, and just never stopped getting Transformers. Of course, nowadays I buy them in much greater quantities, and with my own money, but still. Anyway, DvD's page got me into the TF collecting scene/fandom about when I was in junior high, I found Ben's page (Which for me at the time, was an absolute treasure trove of information) through his links section shortly after, and joined the forums just before I got into High School (I think? God it's been ages it seems. I think RiD was just wrapping up...). Now, I'm 21, and juuuuuust about to start my last semester of College. And move out, 'natch.

So yeah, I'm one of the 'younger guys' ('86 and I are about the same age, IIRC, with O6 being a bit younger. And CrossRook and AU being younger still), so I'm not really feeling my own mortality yet (though this Hyperthyroid thing has me just a wee bit jumpy). Anyway, I don't plan on leaving the hobby anytime soon, unless Hasbro confirms my fears and just totally G.I. Joe-s the whole line, giving us nothing but slightly improved Classics versions of the same twenty characters for the next five+ years. But as long as they keep treading new, interesting ground (EG: Animated), then I'm still in.

I'm not feeling too much social wierdness either. Most of my IRL friends are cut from the same fanboyish cloth (be it anime, videogames, or a couple who are as into Warhammer 40,000 as I am into TF), so they don't see it as out of the ordinary. And anytime they come over it devolves into playing with toys in my room.

I gotta say though, when I'm out buying toys, I begin to reeeeeaaaaaally hate Target's apparent policy of only hiring young, attractive girls to work the cash registers. Now THAT makes me feel self-conscious when I plop a bunch of boxes on there for them to scan...

BWprowl wrote:('86 and I are about the same age, IIRC, with O6 being a bit younger. And CrossRook and AU being younger still)

Nineteen, yo. Turn twenty next year. Damn, I'm old.

I gotta say though, when I'm out buying toys, I begin to reeeeeaaaaaally hate Target's apparent policy of only hiring young, attractive girls to work the cash registers. Now THAT makes me feel self-conscious when I plop a bunch of boxes on there for them to scan...

I've got a girlfriend, so, y'know, to hell with those girls.

Heh, I briefly went out with a girl who recognised me from buying toys at her work, and now work with another who remembered me from her last job.

Right, well, there's several factors at play here. Personally, I never stopped buying toys. Grew up with late G1, bought some G2, drifted out during BW, got hooked during BM. It was a combination of Mega Tankorr and a secondhand Onslaught that hooked me into collecting proper, Since then, just as with Prowl, I now buy a ton more toys, and they're my monies, so things have changed somewhat. Occasionally get asked if I'm buying toys for my kids, heh.

With regard to it being a sort of reclusive, insider hobby, the movie has given us social acceptance if nothing else. I was well known as the Transformers geek during high school, and smirk most royally whenever I encounter an old school chum who raves about how great the movie was. Mock me then, would you! Eh, it got me lots of secondhand stuff cheap, so no regrets.
I now regularly show friends of friends through my room. They ooh and ahh at the relatively small portion of my collection I have with me, exclaim that they had 22nd Prime and Masterscream when they were kids, and tell me their Prime was bigger and had more metal when I show them an actual G1 Prime. It's a process, I guess.

As the 80s generation grows older, previously 'uncool' hobbies have become the norm. Look at the sheer force that video games have become. Now gamers are the new jocks, and it's not just socially acceptable, it's genuinely appreciated as a cool thing to be into.
Admittedly I work for a telecommunications company, so it's full of gamers and geeks and people who spend way too much time online, but I've decorated my desk with assorted TF stuff, and everyone knows it as my thing. I also have Star Wars pillowcases, and am stubbornly proud of them. I've had good comments on those Star Wars pillowcases, I'll have you know.

So, in brief, I doubt I'll ever age out of collecting. I don't collect out of nostalgia, I collect out of a sense of wonder and appreciation for clever engineering. Chances are there'll be plenty of times when I'll tone it up and down - right now I'm single and have money to burn, so why the hell not. But it's such a harmless and fun hobby to take part in, not to mention all the great friends I've accumulated along the way, that I can't see myself ever stopping.

Misanthrope Prime wrote:Actually, I started coming here at age ELEVEN... I'm not even sixteen yet. Yeah, I'm making you feel old and, I feel, my age lets me take an approach to this fandom as "on the outside looking in". And yeah, you're all getting older, and yeah... even I am feeling odd buying toys. On the other hand, I'm seeing a lot of 'fresh meat' to the fandom, people as young or even younger than I (though I maintain the fact my grammar was IMPECCABLE for an eleven year old). The fandom will go on, but the 'old vanguard' will, literally, die out. In my mind, you all used to be about 20... but more and more of you are entering your 30s and no longer have the nostalgia excuse. It's kinda morbid, actually.

I used to forget how young you were.

In terms of feeling old buying toys, your age is when I was feeling it. Around 20 or so, I stopped feeling old buying toys, and settled into "adult collector" mode.

I am not seeing the "fresh meat" though. Right now, toys (not just TF) remind me of comics when I was a bit younger than you. There were a few younger guys, and a bunch of older ones who remembered the good old days. You and Crossrook may be planning to stick around. But, there do not seem to be many of you guys around. Back in the day, I was one of the younger guys at the comic store. There were a few guys younger than me. And, a few others about my age. We were out-numbered then. And, I am one of the few of those guys who is still into comics, and there are fewer youngsters at the comic shop I go to now, despite it being more relaxed than the shop of my youth.

In terms of being socially awkward, after one passes the teen years, it becames a question of preference. For example, a few of the once younger guys from the comic store have given up the hobby more out of lack of interested/annoyance than feeling pressured. The only time I really hid my collecting was from some professors at school who I did not think would take it well. (Of course, this is more a practical concern than a social one.)

Nostalgia has never been a motivation for me. I prefer new engineering and new characters to old toys. O86 and I seem to share an appreciation for engineering and sense of wonder. I like fiddlin' and readin', and TFs fill both of those needs nicely.

scourge wrote:
Nah, I don't care, really. I may be getting, as some say "a lil' old for this", but y'know, I just have a hard time caring. I still get entertained by robot toys what turn into something else. Of course, I'm also still into comics, cartoons, and other goofy shit when society tells me that the things I oughtta be interested in are, say, sports, vidya games, and seventies rock. Pass.

I agree here completely. It is hard to take injunctions about "appropriate hobbies" seriously. First, hobbies are supposed to be fun, and barring public safety questions, outside social and legal regulation. (A case could be made that toy collecting is resource intensive, but I can think of plenty of other more wasteful elements of our economy and infrastructure, so it is hardly unique to toys, including sports.)

For example, a man of my age and station "should" be getting drunk at local townie bars and gambling. Scratch tickets are acceptable. Like Scourge, I do not care operationally, but (it seems like Scourge), I do get annoyed with it at times. Never mind that many people I know with "proper" hobbies are some of the least interesting and creative who I know. And, ya know, hobbies are, as has been pointed out by others, supposed to be social.

BWP wrote:

So yeah, I'm one of the 'younger guys' ('86 and I are about the same age, IIRC, with O6 being a bit younger. And CrossRook and AU being younger still), so I'm not really feeling my own mortality yet (though this Hyperthyroid thing has me just a wee bit jumpy). Anyway, I don't plan on leaving the hobby anytime soon, unless Hasbro confirms my fears and just totally G.I. Joe-s the whole line, giving us nothing but slightly improved Classics versions of the same twenty characters for the next five+ years. But as long as they keep treading new, interesting ground (EG: Animated), then I'm still in.

Take care of that thyroid thing there. That can get real dangerous real fast. (Ack, I see this place turning into CA, where for a while, all of us were having some kind of meltdown. Ah, memories.)

I can tolerate a bit more of the "endless variations on a chracter" with TF than with "GI Joe", as there is at least some new engineering that goes into it with TF. But, I do see your point.

I'm not feeling too much social wierdness either. Most of my IRL friends are cut from the same fanboyish cloth (be it anime, videogames, or a couple who are as into Warhammer 40,000 as I am into TF), so they don't see it as out of the ordinary. And anytime they come over it devolves into playing with toys in my room.

I gotta say though, when I'm out buying toys, I begin to reeeeeaaaaaally hate Target's apparent policy of only hiring young, attractive girls to work the cash registers. Now THAT makes me feel self-conscious when I plop a bunch of boxes on there for them to scan...

My friends are not allowed to fiddle with my toys. Just ain't happenin' WH 40K is bad mojo. Dammit, I have seen drug addicts who enjoy their hobby more and seem saner. As a friend of mine put it, at his gaming group, conversation consists fo how much GW sucks, how much everybody hates GW, how hard GW screws people on mail order, and how that reminds people that they have to order more stuff from.....GW. I really do not get it. That buddy of mine who got into coke a few years ago actually seemed to like coke. But, nobody seems to hate GW more than actual GW players. I just read a few of the books, and I have noticed that GW's distribution makes Hasbro's seem perfect. (It does not help that GW stores will try to force people to buy what they want to sell, almost refusting to sell the items customers might actually want to buy.) Okay, erm...sorry.


Do not worry over the girls too too much. If toys are a big problem for them, they are probably not a good prospect for ya anyway. And, I know people who have met their ladies through toys collecting or similar hobbies, so hey. Toys are not the near perfect screen that a dog is. But, they are hardly the worst one, and they are much cheaper. (Mind you, if trading in my toy collection meant I could have a dog, I would do so in a heart-beat.)

O86 wrote: Right, well, there's several factors at play here. Personally, I never stopped buying toys. Grew up with late G1, bought some G2, drifted out during BW, got hooked during BM. It was a combination of Mega Tankorr and a secondhand Onslaught that hooked me into collecting proper, Since then, just as with Prowl, I now buy a ton more toys, and they're my monies, so things have changed somewhat. Occasionally get asked if I'm buying toys for my kids, heh.

It is beyond me how Tankorr could inspire anyone to collect toys.

As for the movie, I am not seeing the "social acceptance". I have seen a good many people who think the "old skool" stuff is okay, or the movie, but say most anything else is junk. The movie increased the hobby's profile, but not its level of acceptability, at least from what I have seen.

I do agree that the hobby is social, and that (for the most part) we fans are pretty open. But, I am not seeing the mainstreaming or even "fresh meat" others seem to. Of course that does not make this a bad hobby, but it is not necessarily good for the hobby.

Dom
-seriously, Tankorr?

There was another part of Dom's post that inspired me somehow, but I can't seem to find the bit I wanted to quote.

Dominic wrote:It is beyond me how Tankorr could inspire anyone to collect toys.
...
-seriously, Tankorr?

Tankorr's awesome, as is BM in general. He's a giant death machine with saws in his arms and a flamethrower. And one eye! I love Vehicons.

This "new meat" is seen a lot on TFW, at least, drawn in by either the movie or the kid-oriented Animated.

Since you guys, well, DRIVE to the toy stores and all, and are also twice my age or so, there's a huge difference in our methods of collecting. I take the bus or the train, buy my stuff with cash and I'm usually about the same ages as a bunch of the cashiers. Also, aside from my somewhat "metal" hairdo, I look pretty damn normal, there's nothing to suggest that I am NOT buying toys for my little cousin, or, heck, even myself, some toys may be marketed at me. The fact I usually buy a more socially acceptable vidjagame at the same time lessens the awkward sentiment, somewhat.