I'm just curious to see different takes on this. Like most hobbies, I'm sure, for the majority, it brought joy and escape from daily responsibilities. But has it been all good? Or has there been drawbacks as well? Let's hear stories about your specific experience.

As far as I'm concerned, it's been mostly positive. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, it has brought me a nice escape from daily responsibilities. Distracting me from whatever problems I may be going through that day. Somehow, I feel it has even helped me deal with experiences in my life that I couldn't really control. Regardless of how powerless I may have felt towards certain things, I could always find a sense of control again through collecting, weather it be artificial or otherwise.

It's weird though, at times, during the beginning, I kinda felt like I was unsuccessfully trying to fill a hole in my life through collecting. Later on however, as I got close to owning most of the stuff I wanted, I truly felt like some hole had indeed been filled somehow. It might be a shallow thing, but I felt a genuine sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

That being said, it hasn't been all positive. I have spent a crapload of money on this hobby. Money that could have been used for other aspects of my life. I have come to terms with this over the years though, by telling myself that it is not lost. I know that I can make a good portion of my money back, if not all of it, by selling. This can't be said for all pass-times. Alcohol and drugs come to mind.

Last but not least, collecting has helped me forge some true friendships, that might last a life-time... You guys know who you are.  

Sorry if I kept this mostly serious. It's just in the mood I was in I guess.
Now it's your turn, feel free to lighten things up if you wish.  

 

Well let's go see:
- I never go to parties because of collecting, thus am never exposed to alcohol
- I'm broke a lot, so some random idiot can't sell me drugs
So yeah, it's affected my life positively.

 

it havent affected me

 

The biggest impact it's had on my life is the ability to stay young. There are so many responsibilities in life that it can literally break a person. Being able to stay innocent and keep the kid inside of me alive has helped me be a better father. I'm able to connect with my daughter on levels I doubt would be possible if I didn't have not only the collector's mentality, but the kid mentality as well.

Thanks for posting this thread Hyperoptic; it should be a good one for sharing some feelings  

 

positives: not to sound like a broken record but it has also helped me make some friends and help forget about all the bad things in life  

negatives: I have major anxiety about getting that "1 holey grail expensive item" that never turns out to be just "1"   i also spend most of my time on the internet comparing prices on figures ill probably never own.

 

Yea I think it has helped me keep the kid inside of me alive and it has satisfied a want I always had as a kid to be able to build on a toy collection and get things that I love and have fun with.

I have definitely not stopped growing as I have gotten older.

 

It keeps me from being bored some of the time.

 

Well;

1. I have no girlfriend
2. I barley have friends
3. I'm scared to be seen in public with a TF in hand

So, basically that. Damn Transformers.

 

When you start watching transformers again, you become a transformers collector. When you become a transformers collector, you continually become "that guy" when going out in public. When you become "that guy" without TFW, you become a manchild.

Don't become a manchild. Stop lurking & sign up with TFW today.  

 

it relives stress basically when i see my collection and looking at the iconic characters threw the ages.

Cons
My friend showed a picture of my collection to his Girlfriend in 7th grade off his phone because he took the picture when he was at my house. Yeah............ she basically shit her pants you could say.......

 

Well... here's the sad story...

I was born in 84. So I pretty much grew up with Transformers in my life especially the 86 movie. My younger sister and I had quite a large collection of G1 figures and it was mainly large because we could not share and thus the parents had to get 2 of each figure.

When I was 10 or 11 my mom was reorganizing the house and somehow my father ended up throwing away our transformers and our TMNT figures.

Needless to say I was beyond devastated.

After that I wasn't so into it anymore. I did the teenager thing and tried to not be geeky... geeky girls weren't exactly the rage then.

When I got to college that was when it was okay to be geeky again for some reason and after the 07 movie I really got back into it and I've been collecting ever since.

Now the only con I have with it is my collection it growing faster then I can accomidate space wise... other then that it's been nothing but positive. It's my retail theropy. I have a horrible day or week, I treat myself to a toy I've been wanting as a way of saying I got through it. I've met some awesome people who I wouldn't have if not for the love of Transformers and I get to feel like I did when I was a kid. I think that's the best part because we grow up and lose what that feeling was like. It gets lost in the job, the bills, the car payments and growing up in general.

It's nice to have something that connects me back to times when life wasn't so bad.

 

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

With everything I have to worry about and deal with in day-to-day life, the occasion of opening up a brand-new toy and transforming it brings back the days of being a kid, when life was free of worrying about bills, money, gas prices, etc, etc. Case in point - MP11 showed up about a week ago, and both my daughter and I couldn't break that BBTS box open fast enough.

 

I've reduced my limited living space. I also regret buying certain TFs also which mean the money could have been spent elsewhere.

 

good thread Hyper,

It's given me an outlet for my creative side with customizing, and helped me learn how to sculpt and paint better. Also for some reason or another, the purchase of my first transformer as an adult (G1 Trailbreaker) coinsided with a major positive transition in my life.

 

 

Happy people are responding

Good point guys, it helps keep me grounded and young at heart as well.  

 

Positive...met cool people and have cool stuff

Con...got ripped off once and spend too much on transformers