Done collecting?

[andersonh1]

This is one of those "food for thought" type of posts. It occurs to me while going through the "hauls" threads every month that a Transformers purchase for me is a very rare thing these days, and really has been for a few years now. I've got a ton of the things in my house, and don't really want to part with the ones I have, but by the same token I find that nothing's really tempting me any more, even figures I get enthusiastic about when I first see the pictures online. I suspect part of it is finite resources... there's only so much hobby money to go around, and if I'm buying expensive Doctor Who DVDs and expensive DC archives, it's hard to find any extra for a Transformer, particularly with the price increase of the last few years. But there are probably other reasons too.

- The itch has been scratched. I have the figures I wanted when I started collecting, by and large. As someone who grew up with the original line of Transformers, I was delighted to discover that they were available on Ebay, and as reissues, and I was able to go back and pick up the ones I always wished I could have had. At this point, I can't think of very many figures I want that I don't have in one form or another. In particular, I've got the entire 1984 lineup, which was one of my collecting goals.

To some degree, this is true of the fiction as well. There was a time in the 90s and early 2000s when there was a limited amount of G1 material out there, be it comics or videos of the old show. Now there are multiple comics every month and have been for years, and that desire to see more adventures of those old characters has largely been fulfilled. I still enjoy the comics, but they're not at the top of the 'must read" stack any more.

- I've got enough remakes - as much as I enjoy Classics/Universe/Generations, and intended to still collect them, I find that I'm pretty happy with the ones I have already.

- Storage space - I've got my fairly large collection stored away so it doesn't take up too much space in my house, but that storage space includes 2 cabinets and about 8 plastic bins, with the Alternators and larger figures sitting on a closet shelf. That's a lot of real estate already. I'm not sure I can justify taking up any more.

- The expense: I didn't think twice about a deluxe figure when it was $10. That's not bad at all, but there's something about the line between $10 and $12-$15 that does make me think twice, and which really makes me question how badly I want a figure when I've already got so many. Generally the answer has been "no, I don't think I really do want it for that price."

I'm not done collecting. I still want a few G1 figures that I don't have yet, and a few more Alternators, but they're not a priority. I'll get them one day. I don't see myself as giving up the hobby, but I think the high point of buying figures has definitely passed for me. I get more and more selective as time goes by.

So, what keeps all of you collecting? Anyone going through a similar phase with the hobby as I am?

[Shockwave]

As someone who has had a lot and now has so few, rebuilding the collection is going to take a while so I am far from done. But, I could see being done collecting a certain line. G1 for example. I think once I have all of them from 84-86, I'd be more or less done. Maybe a few from 87. Alternators would be easy enough to collect and be "done" collecting. Same with RID and, heck, even MOTU Classics. Generations is my main focus right now and I could see being done with that line once they stop producing characters I'm interested in.

[Almighty Unicron]

I was mostly "done" after Cybertron (I had a soft-spot for gimmicky toys) and to a lesser extent the movie line- I got a few guys from there but nothing near a complete collection. I was done until 2013 when I picked up 6 BH and 6 Generations guys... and now once again I feel I have "enough". It'll probably be in fits and starts, but eventually peter out for you.

[Dominic]

Yeah, I am pretty much done.


My money situation has not been the best this year. And, that definitely has played a role. Putting aside the price increases, the fact that I have less money makes me less willing to spend it. If nothign else, the fact that there are fewer larger toys makes it easier to take a hit on more costly, if smaller, figures. But, even if Hasbro were using the old prices, I would only be marginally more willing to spend the money on toys.

And, (as Shockwave said in a recent phone conversation), Hasbro is making it easy to be broke. The quality and complexity of the toys has declined over the last 3 years or so. Much of their recent product would have been acceptable a decade ago. But, it ain't a decade ago and the toys compare badly to stuff from 3-5 years back. The "excellent" toys from recent years would have been average in the past. And, there are fewer "excellent" toys than in previous lines.

This is not just a problem for TF. Hasbro is releasing Marvel figures with only 5 points of articulation (which is almost reason enough to make me pine for thigh swivels). GI Joe is funtionally dead at the moment. But, the "Retaliation" figures did not offer much temptation. I actually bought the Night Viper and was amazed at how bad it was. The figure stand itself is more cheaply molded than stands going back to '07. It looks like it was meant to have painted detail, but that is just a guess on my part. And, the Night Viper figure cannot even properly peg on to the stand.


And, it is easier to purge while not adding new stuff. So, I am also starting to prioritize for space. (After a year of aggressive purging, I am starting to see results.)



So, yeah, I am more or less done.

[Shockwave]

I've found myself collecting the old Playmates Star Trek line. Most of them go for dirt cheap so it's a good opportunity to pick up figures I wanted but couldn't find for good prices. And, I have specific figures that I want. Once I have them, I will be done with Star Trek. I am functionally done with Star Wars. I have all the figures I'd want, with a very few exceptions and since I don't have any ideas for anything to do with them anyway, I'm in no hurry to acquire them.

[Tigermegatron]

These days,I rarely buy Seven newer TF toys per year. I thought the 2011 DOTM toys were awful,So I only bought Two toys from DOTM,Which were leader sized Ironhide & Leader sized Sentinel Prime.

I simply refuse to be a Transformers toy line completist. Because Hasbro these days makes more inferior TF toys & much less superior TF toys.

For the Most part I am not a fan of the super tiny TF toys like legends/legions,Basics/scouts/commanders,Deluxes,Botshots & Minicons,So I don't buy any of them. I will only buy a Deluxe if its a really superior or close homage to a G-1 character toy/media. For the most part I only buy Voyagers,Ultras,Supers & Leader sized TF toys. Sometimes I'll buy the occassional Supreme/ultimate/titan sized TF toy if it look like it was made for teenagers/adults,not toddlers & the toy looks like it has superior sculpt+engineering.

[Sparky Prime]

I haven't really been collecting Transformers in a few years now myself. I'd say there are a few factors as to why, but mostly, I just can't say I've been all that interested in a lot of the figures or characters. There are still occasionally some figures I still want of course, but they seem to be getting more rare. I do feel like the quality of toys (in general) has been declining in the past few years so that's probably a factor as well.

[Onslaught Six]

I'm far from "done." Which is weird, I guess, considering how few purchases I've made this year--but then again, I didn't have a job for a very long time. So there's that.

I still see dudes that I immediately want to buy, though, and I'm sure a lot of that is habit and impulse. I know I'm going to go on a binge in about two weeks when I get my first paycheck...but after that? I dunno. We'll see.

Also, Dom: the reason the stand sucked is because it's from the 2009 movie line, which all had shitty stands. Most of the Retaliation figures didn't have stands at all, as a cost-saving measure. (Hasbro swears they learned their lesson.)

[Dominic]

I do not recall the '09 stands being bad so much as simply being different from the '07 and '08 stands.

I worked this week for the first time in nearly two months. But, even if i were making more money, I would have a hard time finding something in the action figure aisle. The local hobby shop recently restocked with Joes and TFs (the latter being new for that place). Had I known that they would be selling TFs, I would have waited on the comic pack figures (back when I was working at Cavalia). But, as it stands now, I have the comic pack figures that I want. And, those purchases were rare occurances after much deliberation.

At this point, Hasbro needs to get me back.

[Mako Crab]

I got nearly all the show-only characters from Beast Wars and since then I've only picked up 1 or 2 favorite characters from each show-line since. And of those ones, I've sold off most all of them anyway. Even got rid of Armada Unicron. I've been collecting the entire show-cast from TFP, and as of this moment I only need Predaking and Breakdown to consider it complete.

I do want to pick up Generations Rhinox and Waspy, simply because they're not in my BW collection at the moment. But aside from the stray character like that, I'm all but done. I'm not a completionist and I don't have any real desire to run out and buy Transformers unless they're characters that I really, really like. My collection is super tiny. Just the BW and TFP show-only cast. And personally, when I see pictures of giant collections, where everything is crammed so close together, that you can't tell one character from another, I don't see the point. It's too much.