I've been spending my free time as of late getting rid of a bunch of TF figures that I've amassed over the last several years. I think before I started selling last year, I must have had close to 200+ figures. Once I get rid of the remainder of what I don't want, I'll be at about 50.

Question is, is that still too much? How many figures do you think a grown man of 36 should reasonably have? Ideally, I'm sure that number should be zero, or close to it lol.

I look at my current collection and still think I have too many, even though I've cut a lot of figures out. Most of my CHUG collection is gone except for some really cool ones like Deluxe Drift, EX Deadlock, EX Windblade, Voyager Prime & Nemesis, and I'm limiting my 3rd party stuff to combiners (Shuraking, Feral/Nero Rex, etc.), really cool Prime & Grimlock figures (PE Leonidas, WeiJiang Commander, Tiny Rex, Vulcun), and unique collections like the Planet X Dinobots.

Sorry for the post, but I wanted to bounce my thoughts with the community. I figure there must be board members here who've been in or are in a similar situation as I am. What did you guys do? Do you guys have a small core collection? Got rid of them all? Is there a limit to the number of figures you have at a given time? Or a specific theme like "I collect only G1/IDW/MP/3rd party/Prime-only"?

I've been very contemplative over the last couple of weeks as I've been eBaying a bunch, clearing stuff out, and keeping what I thought were the ones I definitely wanted to keep. The more I clear out and get to my core figures that I planned to keep, I'm looking at even those and asking myself now if I can part with those too. Scary thing is that I think I actually could! I want to make sure that I'm just not in house cleaning mode though, and not regret getting rid of everything.

It'll be cool to read your thoughts and experiences. Post if you can, thanks!

 

250+

It depends on what one of collector you r

 

My collection is tiny. Just the show-only cast of Beast Wars and TFP.
I'd have to count, but I'd say about 30 or so.

 

Just the right size.  

 

I had a lot more, but only downsized because I just wanted to focus on the Masterpiece-style figures, so I sold all my CHUG ones recently. As far as how many you "should" have, i think that's up to you. As many as you want that makes you happy, as long as you aren't skipping your electric bill to buy toys, I say have as many as you want

 

Yeah, I downsized about a year and a half ago. Without counting (most are in storage in another country), I'd have to say I was down to somewhere between 30-50. Before that? Somewhere between 200-300.

Part of me would really like to limit myself to a single line or theme, but then there's the odd figure that doesn't connect to anything else I have but I can't bear to part with, like Fire Convoy.

Leaving those oddities aside, I'd like to focus my collection down to figures from G1 years 1987-1988, along with modern representations of those characters, like we're getting this year. For the most part, if a character didn't appear in Sunbow season 4, The Headmasters, or Masterforce, I don't need it.

For the most part.

Anyway, my main reason for limiting myself is space issues. I'm married with kids, so any space I'm using for myself is space taken away from the rest of the family. So any time I get something new, especially something big like the upcoming Fort Max, I try to have it replace something old, which I'll either sell or give away to nephews or something.

 

Same approach here. Once the MP-10's and onward started rolling out, it made no sense to own CHUGs. Why collect those when you have accurate G1 representations? I still do own a few, but they are the super unique ones where I appreciate the design, like I mentioned Gen Drift and repaints, Straxus and Skullgrin, Windblade, and the Voyager Prime and Nemesis. Does TFP count as CHUG? Not sure if they are their own line. I own the FE Prime and Bulkhead, and Takara Nemesis for those.

BTW, do you buy the MP repaints like Bluestreak, Smokescreen, Red Alert, Ratchet, etc?

I thought owning all the figures I thought were cool made me happy, but owning so many without being able to appreciate them like you do when you only have a few was becoming a headache. I was the happiest when I first started collecting and I had Leader ROTF prime, Jetfire, and a couple of others. By the time I had boxes of unopened figures, it was more about collecting stuff because of my "fear of missing out".

 

i keep hearing that, what does CHUG stand for?

 

What country? Nice to know we both have a similar figure count!  

With you there. I posted in the response to D-Unit, but I got a few CHUGs and the TFP figures I can't bear to get rid of. I kind of regret getting rid of TFP Wheeljack and Ratchet though. Great designs on those.

Noted. Mine is similar. MP and combiners. I don't think I'll go past G1 Season 2. I'm also a fan of FOC's designs so I'll probably be picking up some more of the Planet X line.

My main reason is that I move a lot for work. I've already made three big moves between CA and the Midwest since I started collecting, and half of my shipped boxes when I moved last year were just the figures I owned! I'll be moving again, not sure when, so I guess I'm just preparing as much as I can, lol.

 

I was gonna say something like this.  

Even though I wouldn't call myself a full-on collector, I do still like to collect figures. Now that I have more room, and a place to display them, they make my Transformers bookshelf look more lively. I usually purchase figures of characters I like, along with some various odds and ends that I've picked up along the way.

 

Holy crap, that's a lot. How do you do it? Do you display them all, or are they in storage?

I think my problem with collecting all that I did was that I wanted to be a completionist. Like my MP collection. I realize there are a few figures I really like, and the rest were just to say that I could. I don't really care for Tracks for instance, but I own him because he's there. And if I'm meh about it, is it worth owning? Probably not.

Stands for "Classics, Henkei, Universe, Generations"

 

You're asking this on a toy board with mostly 30 something (and up) collectors and you think ANYONE's going to consider ''0" as the ideal?      

Seriously, tho, the actual answer is "as long as you're meeting your obligations and its not interfering with other parts of your life, its 'As many as you goddamn want because you are a goddamn adult and can decide these things for yourself and not give a damn about what anyone else thinks.'"

--Moony

 

I stopped counting at 300-something.


That was in 2005.

 

Roughly 160, give or take a few. Honestly, its been a while since I counted.

Also what Moony says.  

 

I restrict my collection to one cabinet and it shouldn't be too crowded by figures, as they need to be posed. More figures would look out of place. Which doesn't mean, that I'm not impressed by other people's large collections. That's just not for me. My collection is very focused.

I have 53 figures, bigger than legion class. Limit is probably around 10 to 20 more, I guess. I'll see. There are not much characters left, that I need and want   worked out pretty well so far.

 

CHUG:

Classics
Henkei
Universe
Generations

Anyways, my collection count is currently at 409. Eventually I'd like to get rid of the ones I don't really care about (Beast Hunters and movieverse mostly) but for now I'll keep them.

 

This is timely. Mine is in the process of being downsized with a large offering on an online auction site as we speak. I lost track of the actual count years ago but I can say it's too much. I do not need to be the Transformers Museum and Historical Preserve, let someone else do it. I'm ready to buy a house.  

 

150 odd Generation 1
7 Generation 2
2 Beast Wars
100 odd C.H.U.G, half of which are WfC/FoC
56 Masterpiece, counting the cassettes and Exo-suit as separate figures

And probably a dozen or so more including the WST's, Bayformers, Q Transformers, 3rd party and 3 KO's. And a few other odds and sods. So 300 and a bit.

Crap, I just realized that approximately half of my collection was purchased in the last 4 years since picking up FoC Optimus.