Recently I've been looking at my collection of generation one figures and thinking about selling them. When I started collecting my goal was to collect every character that appears in the cartoon. I achieved this goal two years ago. I also have a lot of pretenders and other figures that never appeared but I liked from the comics.
Now the reason I've been thinking of selling them has nothing to do with me not liking them anymore. When I look at all the masterpiece and generation figures I've collected over the years I realize I have a lot of characters in better versions, versions that I wish the figures were like when I was a kid. But they do not have the nostalgic value, or all the characters, I can't help but wonder why I have you originals.
With that in mind I've been looking at some of my older figures. I've come to the realization I'm afraid to touch a lot of them. Be it figures that suffer from gold plastic syndrome, or figures that joins just seem way too tight after sitting on my shelf for a decade. I've seen figures that are yellowing, and made the mistake of taking helmets off of pretenders and having paint come with it. I was looking at my thunderwing and was way too afraid to move his wings to put him in jet mode as they were extremely tight. Another figure that has me worried is my shockwave, as his hose is known just to disintegrate.
With all of this it is just got me thinking why do I have some of these nearly 30-year-old figures that I'm afraid to touch. It has made me ask the question. Do I hold onto them until they fall apart, or hold no value? Or do I sell them now and have money for future figures?
Am I the only one who has thought of this? Am I the only one afraid to touch my generation one figures for fear of them breaking?

 

Nope. Feel the same way about some being fragile, but i love seeing my progression from g1 through generations to masterpiece. And my yellowing /damaged ones go to my son for him to play with as a kid does. And i get to continue the collecting hint finding minty replacements as i go. Wouldn't get rid of them for anything.

 

Wow , if i don't transform my figs every sow often ill go crazy. Sow how did u not transform a fig for ten years ? Any way i don't collect for the money just for the fun . I decapitated a fig and his a combiner leg just need to get a new one. If the figs don't make u happy any more then sell them . There are ment to do that right? . just my 2 cents.

 

I've always had glass cabinets to keep them in. So I've always just like being able to sit on my chair and look in the cabinet and see my collection while I play video games or watch a movie. I never really get the urge to transform them again I know some people really do I just never been one of those. As for the collection making me happy it does I'm just afraid to do anything with it at this point. While I've never collected for value. It does kind of bums me out when I think how much money I put into something and that it might not be worth anything because of it deteriorating.

 

If you don't like them anymore you might as well sell it off so you can buy something you do like- or at least drastically downsize your collection.

 

My G1 wall *is* a different and unique part of my collection, in that it's the museum wall. I don't take them down and transform them or mess with them like I do the rest of my collection.

This has indeed slowed me down on buying G1 that I don't yet have: $100 worth of museum figures vs $100 of figures I'll transform and mess with... The latter keeps winning.

That said, it hasn't pushed me to sell any, it's just slowed me on collecting more after I got the "key" ones.

 

that's pretty much where I am too. Every once in awhile, I'll pull out Kup, Land Cross or God Ginrai and give them a spin. But otherwise, I pretty much leave my G1 collection alone as a display piece.

 

Not with all of them.......but there are some like Computron for instance that I would be willing to sell.

It occurs to me that with Computron that I'm not too fond of him.....but know there are guys that love him and cant have him without being fleeced. So If I could help a fellow collector out I would.

feeling similar about my Headmasters too. there are some guys I would NEVER part with like the Dinobots , PM prime, Overlord ,Galvatron etc etc etc but some I'm just not that attached to.

 

Between the original toys, the MPs, and the CHUGs. CHUG is the only G1 line I bother collecting and the only one I enjoy. The original toys do nothing for me. They look weird most of the time and are pretty much bricks, and they don't really look good on the shelf either.

 

Im the same. I dont transform mine either. They go from box to desired form to display case and thats where they stay. Regarding G1 toys, I dont collect them. While I appreciate the hell out of them because its what I had to play with as a child, the engineering is grossly simple & archaic.

 

I have no desire to own g1 toys myself. i began seriously collecting with Beast Wars. and have stayed with the modern lines since then (skipping a chunk of Armada, Titanium series, and alternators. I'm not even a diehard on masterpiece due to the price and rarity. one of each mp mold is fine for me. where my love belongs is with CHUG. and I feel, with enough time, Hasbro, Takara, Million Publishing, and whoever handles Botcon (or 3rd party) will eventually hit the entire g1 cast. and then some.

 

They might be bricks, but G1 toys have an aura that says "I'm a piece of ass-kicking machinery" that sometimes the CHUG versions fail to capture. Masterpiece usually does a better job...but since it tries hard to capture the anime appearance, sometimes the G1 toys with the most character kind of get shunned at the design phase.

 

I thought about collecting G1 and even had a fair amount of figures on my self...but I'm kind of not interested in them anymore. They're really boring and not a lot of fun to transform due to their fragility.

Think I might sell mine down the road.

 

Oh man, I love the G1 figs. The pride of my collection. I started off like you (OP) and collected cartoon figs up to JP Headmasters. Then some important Marvel characters like Bludgeon and AM Grimlock.

I wish they continued the Encore line. I'd LOVE a reissue Overlord so I don't have to mess around with the original.

I love nostalgia and the G1 figs are going to be the last part of my collection I sell.

 

Which G1 figures are fragile? Most of them will probably outlast modern toys, aside from yellowing sooner.

 

This. There's something special about the G1 aestetic. *Warning: Minor Bay movie bashing incoming* Some people like the Bay movie designs because they seem more "robotic" and "alien" compared to other designs like CHUG, the Masterpiece/G1 Anime look, and so on. But I've always felt the G1 toys did a better job of looking Robotic and Alien. Sure, most of them are Vaguely humanoid, but not overly so, they look more robotic.

That said, I've never prioritized G1 collecting, mostly because of cost and availability. But I cherish the few pieces I do have. Probably my favorite is the Hasbro version of the reissue of Powermaster Optimus Prime (the one the came with the "Apex Armor.") Such a fun toy, so much better than original Optimus Prime. I still fiddle with it every now and then, going back and forth between the three primary modes, only very rarely putting him in full Armor. The other I still regularly fiddle with and love is G2 Megatron, big version. (yes I know, not technically G1, but I always considered G2 the last hurrah of the G1 era.) He's mine from when I was a kid, and I always loved it. I lost all the accessories, but the core figure is still robust enough to have lasted this long.

 

G1 had good alt modes, so mp robot mode and there g1 alt mode in front makes a excellent display

 

Interesting. I still have all my original G1 toys from childhood and some of them are still on display. I find them more durable than a lot of new toys. The chrome is still perfect on most of them. I'm less afraid to play with them because they've survived me as a kid and I'm way more careful with toys now.

I however have no interest in buying G1 toys at all. Just happy with the ones I have and I will always keep them.

 

I never considered them fragile, just "parts-y." Lose Starscream's wings or Prime's or Metroplex's fists and it can ruin the figure for you. At least the modern figures tend to be less so. even if you lose an accessory like a gun you can usually still have a whole, intact figure.

Of course, with Titans Returns "parts-yness" has come roaring back to the modern line, especially on leaders like Prime, Blaster and Soundwave.

 

Grew up with G1, loved the toys when I was a kid.

Now I just look at them with amusement at how incredibly archaic and primitive they are. I'm completely fine leaving those bricks behind, preferring to get modern updates to them with the perks of design, engineering, and aesthetics in today's HasTak and 3P offerings.