Oddly enough, my mother-in-law thinks it's absolutely amazing. She's bought me a slew of Alts before as well as some random extra TFs that she finds. She's utterly fascinated with the whole concept of Transfomers. My father-in-law hasn't really said anything one way or another.

No disrespect to my own parents, but they're not cool with "toys" in general. I really hate that this section of my life is closed off for the most part. Long story short, it's just healthier this way.

My wife actually thinks it's pretty cool. I made sure of this before we started getting serious while dating. In the past, I've had mixed experiences with my peers and my hobby. Lisa is fine with things, for the most part, though TFs ain't her thing. I do have to say that she enjoyed the 2007 movie just a tad more than I did (and I really enjoyed it). We'll every now and then watch it together  

My co-workers at the YMCA actually think it's pretty cool. I draw TFs for the kids all the time, and they love that. As far as kitbashing goes, I don't think many people know what I really do outside of the few that actually saw the Radicon article in November.

Not many have seen my customs anyways. Lisa has a friend who thinks it's a bit odd, but it doesn't really bother me much since they don't hang out alot. This person is a friend of mine too, and I just blow it off for the most part. The cable guy once saw all of my Alts and my customs table and inquired about things. He took a closer look at my whole collection and simply responded, "I really can't tell which ones you made." That made my day.   I had a classmate at seminary absolute light up when I showed him my customs collection, especially when he learned about an Alt Jeep Wrangler (which is what he drives). He thoroughly enjoys my work. I've shared my hobby with some teachers and other classmates while I was at seminary, and the response was really positive, since they found out that I'm really trying to do good with my hobby  

 

Does anyone get a hard time when they work on their figures?

When I was popping them out before my wife was rolling her eyes because I would spend way too much time with the customs. Needless to say, right now I'm on a break to make sure I hang out with my family more.

Anyone else?

Also, I have not met anyone physically that do or love what we do here in the radicon community. I am still dying to meet a fellow customizer in the flesh to shoot the sh!t and throw ideas around. I'm glad I at least found YourReflection on IM during the day to help keep my sanity.

 

Does anyone here get weird looks at the toy section? I get looks everywhere I go but I definitely get looks when I'm looking at TF's. Looking like a total metalhead looking at toys gets attention.

 

Moe, I'm down in Jersey. We should get the rest of us around here. I know macross and Jaf and a few others are nearby. we can get drunk at a random bar in the city and shoot ideas around.

 

I stopped caring about that stuff years ago.

 

I may have a stray thought about it now and then, but it doesn't really bother me any. I tend to go hunting over my lunch hour which has me still in uniform. I don't seem to get any odd looks my way. I get more respectful views from other people who see me there.

 

dude I 100% disagree with this, and I'm disappointed that a GF would tell you that garbage.

 

I'm 6 foot 7, 320 pounds. I get weird looks everywhere I go! But in the toy aisles, people always ask me to get the stuff from the top shelf! LOL!

 

I never care but I find it amusing. I'm actually very helpful with confused parents.

 

LOL Me too! All to many times I end up helping a complete strangers kid pick out a cool new transformer Marvel Legends.

 

Heh...

I get the weirdest looks when I walk around with a cart full of Transformers and kids pointing "I WANT THAT WHAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"...

Most times the weird looks are from the girlfriend because she feels bad because I have something a kid wants in the cart especially if its the last one in the store...
 

But I also have her trained to look for stuff for me as well, It's so funny when she calls me after she gets out of work and askes me: "Do you have this____? and am I to assume if you don't that it should go into my cart and that I should pay for it and wait for you to repay me or hold it ransom for certian intimate favors?"

 

When I go to like the toy isles in like Walmart, Target, or etc. the young kids kinda surprise to see me looking at toys, but the adults they pretty much ignore me and move on. So it really doesn't bother me all that much.

 

Well, the truth is there are better artists out there and many of them have stepped up to contribute. It's not like I didn't feel this way before. Skill and experience were factors in my decision to stay out of it. There's still a lot that I need to learn before I can actually make something intended for someone else. It'd be one thing if I had made this for myself, but it's different. My g/f just echoed that sentiment. So it's not as if what she said came totally out of left field.

 

I 100% agree with this disagreement! IMO your skills are MORE than up to par.

 

Hilarious...I helped out a mom who was on the phone trying to find a Ben 10 figure. I said: Excuse me, but I know which one you're looking for. Then unzipped my...nevermind....I don't get many weird looks myself.

But I have to admit....at one time in my life, before I'd go to the toy aisle....
I'd also grab a birthday card and sometimes even wrapping paper so it looked like I was buying a gift.

 

that's funny. I used to be shy about getting the figures in the store, sometimes these "mom's" give me weird looks. I think it would be a good way to strike up conversations if I were single lol.

 

If anything, I've probably gotten weird looks from Walmart employees while standing in the aisle, contemplating what I wanted to buy.

I find it sad that people look down on those with hobbies. It's not just Transformers either. Think of the Star Wars/Trek, lego, or model train collector. Or a person that sews, collects state coins, works on model planes, etc. There's almost this loser stigma attached to it. Like, you're single live alone or w/your parents.

And yet these are the same people that do nothing but work and watch TV.

 

LMAO, i see what you did there.

 

I feel the same way. But somehow I just try to ignore it.

 

YESSSS!!!! I love it when I get a whole bunch of figures and make little kids jealous.

One time I was in line waiting to pay and I was holding a bunch of figures and I fan into a former guitar student. Her mom was like, "Are those for you?" giving me a weird look. I said "Yes."