Hi guys, how to know if a Metroplex comes with rubber wheels rather than plastic wheels without physically openning the box?

 

Sorry for the belated reply.

I don't know. i haven't touched any of them yet. The G1 are still MISBubble inside. The clones are MISB and the TFC just got the tape removed to prevent leaving stains on the box ( beginning to relized may not be a very intelligent move, oh well,  ) techinically still MI"S"B, So I don't know.

 

Thanks man. Definitely one of the highlights of my collection.

Wow! You have no idea how jealous I am right now!   I've been hunting the English Gold release Stunticons forever! But I've only managed to find Dragstrip and Motormaster. I haven't even seen the other 3 pop up very often recently either, especially Wildrider and Breakdown. Very, very nice!  

Thanks Cordy, I'll give that a go  

Totally agree Jeffafa. To be honest, I never understood the hype about a boxed Jetfire before. But then I snagged one and I completely understand now. Haha

Mine's 1984. I'm hoping mine is one of the lucky ones. Lol

 

24. I took a break for a few years in there.

 

I am still looking for the answer. But only have found that there was a 1986 release and a 1987 re-release. But I have no clue if they just mean Hasbro.

So if it is the 1987 re-release, it has hard plastic wheels. If it is a 1986 release, there might be a 50/50 chance the wheels are rubber.

Sorry for not having a better answer. And I will ask Hasbro the next time I find the time to ask them my own Metroplex question.

 

Thanks! I think I'll pick up a box eventually. It is hard to find originals without chrome wear.

 

Sorry guys, no polemic intents here, but I read a lot of people saying that they started collecting when they were six or eight.

That wasn't collecting, that was being kids and getting the toys out in that age.

Collecting, to me, has to do with adulthood or, at least, teenagehood, and looking for things that were already from another age.

 

Not sure that's entirely true. I've compared how I felt about my Transformers toys as a child to the other things I received, and even how my daughter likes and received toys and there was definitely an element of collecting in how I chose my childhood Transformers. I went back to the store repeatedly with my parents and instead of buying by character or new toy/mould, on four repeat occasions I got Seeker moulds.

As soon as I had Apeface I went back for Snapdragon. Sideswipe bred Red Alert.

And then there are collectors who received toys as children, even as children they used their allowance to buy TFs and then bought other children's TFs when they didn't want them, and continued to do that through adolescence and early adulthood and are still doing it.

The lines are more blurred and there are grey areas, it's not as simple as saying a child receives and an adult collects.

I also don't think something has to be from another era to constitute collecting. I collect Titans Return and Legends right now as they are released. The toys are new but the mentality is still 100% collecting.

Also thank you, you've given me a great idea for an article!

 

All the best
Maz

 

I always grew up with the idea that collecting meant curating (among other things). I played the shit out of my toys when I was a kid. I've since replaced most bots I used to own as a child as they had too much wear. And when bedtime came around I had to dump all things toys in a crate and that was it. It didn't feel like collecting. I had another stint of buying TF's when G2 and classics (G1) were released and gotten a couple bots to complete some teams. From this point on it felt more like collecting because this was buying TF's for the sake of completing certain gestallt teams and getting molds I had previously missed out on. Even later I would discover the internet and buy those TF's I had never seen IRL to complete other teams. Swoop, cassettes. This was back in '98 or '99 and that was really the start of my collecting years as from that point on I got nervous handling old TF's and displaying them proudly.

I mean when kids come over here and they see any transformer anywhere in the house they are immediately hypnotised and focused on that one thing they recognise as a toy. For that reason alone I have leave some new TF's I don't have much interest invested in in the display cases so I can open up the case for them and pick it out for them to play with. The poor bots are in 5 pieces (hoorah for ball joints) within 15 minutes but it takes their focus away from the thousand euro pieces.



iDD

 

Fair enough but I can tell you that's not how I was with my Transformers as a child. My first Starscream has fared quite badly, but the condition and completeness of my childhood collection from the age of 6 onwards is testament to the mentality I think I must have had from early on in my relationship with TFs.

The only extra step I could have taken with them was to keep the packaging.

And the collection of another person I have been buying is exactly that step better preserved than mine, and all of his stuff was childhood.

All the best
Maz

 

I have to disagree. Because I had every original Star Wars figure made from the days they did do reissues to the day they capped it off with the coins as a bonus. And when I was not playing with these, or losing their tiny add-ons, they were always placed into the collector cases specifically made for them. So I did pretty much start collecting as a kid.

Just not with Transformers. As much as I loved those as a kid, they made efforts to keep that to a minimum. Which is pretty much why I am collecting these and not Star Wars.  

 

I's funny, I did have a couple of Transformers starting back in 1984 / 1985, but those were never 'a collection'. However, back then I was far more interested in M.A.S.K., and with M.A.S.K., there was a definite intent to collect all of the vehicles, and to play with them, but always keep them in good condition. I still have all my M.A.S.K. toys from that period, and since then I've completed my collection of all regular released M.A.S.K. vehicles and playsets. I most definitely started that collection back in 1986.
I started collecting transformers 'for real' back in 1996, with Beast Wars Polar Claw. Back in those days, I was in college, but spent quite a few hours travelling around the country, searching for new Beast Wars toys to acquire.
Collecting G1 Transformers started again when I bought 'Scorponok': still my favorite G1 Transformer.

 

My Hasbro Metroplex has a 1985 stamp and rubber wheels.

And lovely lovely chrome tenderloins.

When I was a small person (kid) we collected trading cards. If often said "collectors cards" on the packet.
I don't thing age has anything to do with it.
Marketers kind of rely on that.
Hello Pokemon.

 

Okay, if we are sayin' when we started collecting AND wearing big boy pants, for me it was when Alternators Smokescreen came out.

Otherwise I would say I was an eight year old collector, I just didn't have the resources to, you know, actually collect. The 8 bots I had were treasure and I kept them in as good a condition as I could until now.

Childhood collector, adult hoarder.

 

It probably varies from person to person, but as far as I'm concerned I did start "collecting" TFs as a child. Maybe not at first, but eventually I had a shelving unit I displayed everything on, and I learned to take better care of them and not lose parts. Most of my other toys at the time were just thrown in a box.

When I think about it, the only differences between then and now are that I played with them more often and my parents bought them for me instead of me buying them myself (though I did make a list for them so they bought me the specific ones I wanted).

 

Does it say the year on the back of the box or anything?
Does anyone know if their any subtle differences in the boxes for the rubber version or plastic version?
I've never seen the box, so I'm just throwing out ideas here for anyone with superior knowledge on these things.

 

It could be that as a rule of thumb, poster box Metroplex has plastic wheels and non poster box is the earlier 1986 release pre-movie and has the rubber wheels. I've never studied its box but those could be giveaways?

All the best
Maz

 

What is a poster box?

 

Hi, do you guys keep a spreadsheet/excel for your Transformers? Trying to do that at the moment and it's painful.

 

I use Shmax.com, which also has the option to enter the value you paid for your figures. Indeed, painful...