What I want to know is why you buy the toys you do. What drives your collection.

Do/ are you a:

Impulse buyer? You buy anything you can get your hands on.

Buy TF's from 1 series only? (G1, Cybertron etc)

Buy only exclusives?

Do you only buy toys of a specific character?

Does the quality or uniqueness of the mold affect your purchases?

Japenese toys only?

Or are you just a completist?

Me, I buy based on characters and exclusives. Anything Jetfire and Ultra Magnus I must have. I also try and pick up as many exclusives as possible, to make my collection more unique. I do not want to become a completist, as I like having money.

 

My collection is G1 driven. Anything I Can relate to G1 I buy. From the main lines I only tend to purchase at least Prime, Megatron and Starscream. From there I only purchase the figures that receive great reviews. The only lines I care to be a completist on are ALternators and BT.

 

I tend to buy 'bots that interest me regardless or origin, series or character.

Also, I avoid Transformers with very simple transformations. This manifests itself as a rabid need to buy all things Masterpiece and Binaltech. Frankly, if transforming from bot to alt mode doesn't pose a challenge to me, then I will not buy it.

I don't buy that much these days simple because the bots are not interesting enough or, and this is usually the case, the missus will not let me  

 

My collection is entirely G1 driven. I have a handful of BW, but I prefer machines. I'll grab any decent figure that fits the G1 cartoon "look". I tend to avoid the annual redesigns of Prime, Megatron & Starscream since I prefer their original looks.

 

I pretty much buy show/ anime characters only. That means a lot of repaints for the last couple of shows. I try to keep to japanese figures for better details and overall better show accuracy.

Though I do buy around this rule. 6" Titaniums, revoltech, Binaltechs, Masterpiece, figures that really draw my attention (Like Cryotek or super posable stuff) Sometimes I see stuff so dirt cheap I just need to get it. Oh and minicons, I can't say no to minicons.

This means that my collection will never look as complete as some of you guys' because for each series I only have about half a shelf full instead of one and a half shelf.

iDD

 

I pretty much just get what I think is cool.

 

I wouldn't say I'm an impulse buyer...unless its an Alt I don't have.

The majority of my collection is Alts, although I do have a few Classics, (Mirage, BB and Jetfire) TRU Soundwave, and I recently got Revoltech Megs.

If its something outside of the Alt line, then yes, I do base my purchase on the uniqueness/cool factor of the toy.
For instance: I got KP Autolooper and HR, I thought the added gimmicks were pretty cool (new head molds, the little Kremzeek, plus the cone weapon and the fishing rod arm blaster)
I will get Movie Ironhide (maybe Ratchet and a few others), I think he'll blend in well with the Alts I have on display, and he looks pretty cool too.

Completist?....yes, with the Alt line

 

I'm a little all over the place with my collection. I don't think that i have one distinct direction with it.

I have a lot of G1, which will always be my favorite series, but only based on nostalgic reasons. It's what I bought as a kid, so it has a lot of good memories behind it.

I more or less skipped right over the Beast era. There was a lot of stuff going on in my life at the time, and I took a step back from a lot of things, TFs being on of them.

I really didn't get back into TFs until Armada, and then I stuck to pretty much 1 version of each mold and kept that way through Energon; skipped Universe (ugly paint schemes, IMO). I tried being a completist with Cybertron only to give that a try for a mainline (it was fun, but probably won't do it again - too expensive and lack of room). I completed the Alts and Classics, but since those were small lines, that was easier.

Now, I more or less buy what I find interesting and also find myself purchasing more of the more expensive molds (the Masterpiece molds, eHobby repaints, etc). I'm on the fence about the movie toys; it's always been the toys that has driven my love of TFs over anything else (cartoons, comics, now movie), but I'm not really feeling these designs all that much. I love the Real Gear TFs, so will probably get those, and I'm sure I will pick up a few of the movie toys, but I think that I will be on a buying hiatus through most of the movie toys, which won't be such a bad thing.

 

I was only 'coolness factor' driven during Armada and Energon, through Cybertron I was more or less a completist, until the tail end of the line, where I went back to buying based on the coolness. With Alts/BTs, I was pretty completist, but not to the point where I had to track down every single figure. I skipped Dead End for Sunstreaker, and never picked up Camshaft, Ricochet, Rollbar, Swerve, and I never saw a Prime more than once. And the one time I did see him, I didn't get him because I got Mirage. I started out completist on Classics, then dumped a couple of my less favorite figures like Starscream. Then I sold off most everything I own, and unless something is rediculously cool AND I have a very comfortable margin of extra cash laying around, I'm not going to buy anymore anytime soon.

 

Because I restarted my Transformers fetish with Car Robots I used to be a Japanese only buyer, no RID until it actually hit the UK, and that was only Impulse.

Most of my Armada stuff is actually Japanese Micron Legend, because back then the Takara stuff whooped Hasbros stuff in terms of stuff/paint (Hot Shots light up hand made all the difference with that guy).

My buying habits changed with Energon though, apart from making a conscious effort to cut back during this time Takara's QC was lacking, I still remember getting the Jetfire repaint and going 'WTF!? No Electronics?!' and I think the Hasbro and Takara stuff was on a par, in terms of bits and paint jobs. So to cut back I made the effort not to import either, US or Japan, and only grab stuff from the shelves over here. So impulse buyer.

Cybertron is again something different, all the toys are super sweet, so I end up finding myself buying loads again.

Through all this mainline buying habit changing I also import the premium Japanese stuff, Masterpieces and stuff. So I'm all over the place really.

 

My Collecting is usually....it starts off based on the characters I like from whatever cartoon is currently on......and any other character I think looks cool. I admit...I don't go for getting them all mentality!

Example: Of the classics I don't have yet...I still want Classic Prime & Jetfire.....but I'm really not interested in Rodimus & Mirage!

 

I buy mainly blatant G1 Homages. I get my hands on as many g-1s as I can and in the misc. catagory (the microchangers devastator and superion), Revoltech, Hybrid, and the Tekdeck dude homages, etc. I do grab all the alterantors I find that I don't have, and all the classics as well.

I'm nit picky with the damn minicon classics though. I want to complete all the classics line but shit..i hate minicons.

I've got a buttload of optimus figures, and I love the dinobots, so I'm a sucker for anything like that. I did a completist thing on energon, and hated half the figures but just wanted to see what it would be like. So NOw I just pick up whatever is cool in my eyes.

 

I buy what I want when I have the means to buy it. I don't go after any one TF line or character specifically, with me if I look at a toy and I want it I buy it, simple as that.

 

Mix of "I like that character", "that looks cool in robot mode", "yay new transformers!", and "ooo, shiny" ... sometimes I get something I later really don't like, such as Energon Arcee, but mostly I end up satisfied.

 

I only buy things based on how they look/work/feel. If I don't like the mold or the color, I won't be getting it. I can never be a completist because I can't see myself ever spending money on a toy I do not like. Compared to many here, my collection is very small, but seeing as collections are not competitions(unless it's a collection competition) I could really care less. I will fill my collection with the things I like and can afford.

As for what's in my collection, it's mainly Beast era/Armada/Energon/G1(including re-issues) stuff. Energon Decepticons seem to make up a large part of my Decepticon forces, with my wishlist containing many more of them. While my Autobots seem to be more Armada/Classics. As for buying specific characters, I was never really into that. Though if I did I'd probably focus on Prime, SS and Jazz, as they're some of my favorite characters.

 

I just like buying Transformers from everey generation. I have most of what I want from G1, excluding the items like Liokaiser or Overlord that I'd have to sell a testicle or three to afford...there's still a few BW/M items I'd like to get...but overall I just enjoy the hobby as a whole since every generation has something new to offer! Though I am admittingly a bad impulse buyer. There have been several things I hadn't intended to buy, like Alt Ravage, the Armada Dinobots and the initial 6" Titaniums that saw in stores, and the next thing I knew I was walking out to my car with them. Gah!  

 

Same here, that and my resistance is weak, like when I picked up the BW10th Dinobot, I dont even like Dinobot.

EDIT:
Also, Dragons and Dinosaurs are a must buy for me, sucks that I missed Cyb Scourge for the whole 1 day he was available over here.

 

Mostly I buy whatever I like from every generation... that being said, I do like collecting G1 stuff, but I'm not fanatical about it.

 

My collection is entirely going to be G1-driven when I'm done with it. BW show characters only. If there are some figures I really, really like, I'll buy.

 

For me I buy if it if looks cool. I like G1 based but I have a few BW and other lines although I really hate the extra bulk or "kibble" as its referred to on charachters from BW on to present, just depends really, I'm in no way a completist, but if it looks cheesy or crappy then I wont touch it. Also helps if its based on a cool character like Starscream or Prime.