Living the bachelor life right now. Marriage didn't work.

Have my own house and when I bring girls over none of them are turned off by it. If they are they can kick rocks.

 

Dad
"Looks just like the cartoon! A kid on the block owned *insert character*." (He proceeds to play with it for a little bit)

Mom
"Whose that one?"

Sister
"I am gonna take your Transformers and run off with them!"
Or
"Can Shockwave stay in my room?" (She really likes Shockwave)

Brother
"Oh that's *insert character*." (He proceeds to play with him)

Grandfather from my mother's side
*points at Predaking* "Is that Optimus Prime?"

My family supports my love of Legos and Transformers. And it's fun to bond over them with it! All I need is a job and MP Megatron will be mine.

 

That part about the gundams cracked me up.  :

 

I suspect that a number secretly are envious of the collection - they just don't have the time or they haven't figured out how to sneak it into the house. That said, I have managed to encourage one to start a collection of their own, "for their children".

My own family think it's great. I literally squeal with delight when one of the new ones come in, and they think it's adorable that I fawn over these guys to get the staging and photography just so. It's had some nice side benefits of improving my photography skills, too.

 

My mom looks at me as a disappointment. She warned me years ago to drop this hobby while I'm still in high school so I can have my life and career path figured out.

Roughly two years after graduating: I now look at myself in pure disgust, knowing that I'm still stitting on my ass, living in the past and she's always been right. I've worked a horrible part/full-time job at Sams Club and have constantly blown my money away to try and impress the users of this site. I failed to realize that the world has change and I was supposed to change with it. It's a humiliation on myself.


I never once listened to her because I always looked at this community as a family with like-minded people who I thought would provide substance to my ongoing love for Transformers. Instead I find myself shunned and still getting treated like an outsider by roughly half the people here.

I receive vicious attitudes, disgusting remarks, and personal attacks by members and even a mod on most of these forums. "Get over it!", "Grow up!", "you'll never listen!", "stop acting like a child!", etc. Sometimes I'm in over my head, my emotions get the best of me on certain topics. I'm not as perfect as I aspire myself to be but in the end; I still have more respects for you guys than you do of me.

I've lost a lot of potential loved ones going down this path. Not a day goes by when I think about the friends, girlfriends, and closer family members I could've had . Based on all the terrible things I've done for the sake of TF toy/games, Looking 12 years back at myself is a nightmare in itself.

I've chosen to be this because of a Hummer H2 autobot and it's become one of my biggest regrets letting it overshadow my well-being. The toys hasn't gotten me anywhere in life and neither has my desire for acceptance here.

My only hope is that I still have a chance to come back from this, straighten my priorities, and prove to the world that I'm born for greatness.

 

They're fine with it, now. A couple of speedbumps throughout the years, otherwise okay.

I know some aren't as fortunate, I'm sorry.

 

Don't give a shit what they think as long as the bills are paid.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

my loved ones are my transformers. optimus prime is the only father figure i'll acknowledge.

 

My family regards my plastic army with fond incomprehension, as they do with all my hobbies. My sisters’ boyfriends are envious. My small kids love them, especially my son. They get veto rights on what I get, and I don’t sell what they like. Mp-10 and repaints, seekers and bots with a dinosaur/dragon alt have two tiny guardian angels.

I have no current plans to remarry or get into a relationship as I’m focusing on the kiddos, but I daydream about someone who understands this hobby or, even better, shares it. In the words of Prince, you don’t have to be beautiful to turn me on, you just have to like robots.

 

I kinda wished i had family like that,...that understood about what i do. So instead my parents are all about flowers and the way the house looks outside and the lawn etc. My dad before his stroke last yr was all about fishing,hunting,gardens,and working in his shop to improve his house with flowers as mom is a green finger flower nut. My parents look at figures as baby stuff and it's for kids and adults do the "hey honey,..... whatda think about that,(fill in blank) idea". That's how my family is and the funny thing is my parents don't even know i play (drums,guitar). They basically fell out of touch of who i am years ago anyway.

 

You can do that AND have collections of things. One of the guys I used to play Warhammer with in Ft. Wayne had no less than 6 armies for the game. That's a TON of nerd models. He still managed to have a 6 figure a year desk job because the two things aren't a binary choice. I make very good money in skilled labor, and the only reason I ever get behind on robots is because my family's needs come first, not a lack of source funds.

You can still excel without sacrificing any core aspect of your personality. Once you DO, though, they own you.

 

Same. As long as I pay my parents rent and my car insurance, what I do with my money after that isn't their business.

 

Christ this is depressing, but I appreciate and respect your honesty. The good news is that you understand your situation and you’re young enough to do something about it. If you were forty saying the same things you’d have a bigger problem.

Basically, you’ve allowed your priorities to get completely out of whack. A hobby like this should be 5% of your life, with your career and relationships forming 95%. It sounds like it’s almost inverted here. Here’s some unsolicited advice, which you can take or leave.

1. Go back to school. Unfortunately, nowadays a high school diploma is not sufficient for anything. Think about your strengths and get an additional qualification. Make that your focus and get the best grades and qualification possible.

2. Focus on what you can control and what actually affects your life. Stop wasting time on things that don’t enrich you.

3. Set goals. It’s the only way to accomplish anything and assess your progress.

4. Get off here. This is the hard one. This is an amazing community with a lot of good, but it’s evident that it’s become poisonous to you. Stop looking to online relationships for validation. You will never get it. You, and your life, are not your transformers collection. It should be a bonus, the icing on the cake. Not the cake.

5. Keep your collection. Don’t throw it out because you will regret it. At most, box it up and keep it. Use it as an incentive for achieving your goals.

6. Talk to your mother. It sounds like she loves you and would appreciate hearing this. I’m sure she wants the best for you and will help however she can.

As I said, it’s unsolicited advice. You don’t have to take it. I only wish you the best. As a final thing, I might recommend you read Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” I think you’d benefit from it.

EDIT: And finally I should reiterate: its not too late. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done so far. It matters what you do from here on out.

 

I'm a single dad and make sure the bills are paid and kids are taken care of before any of my collecting wants. My friends are intrigued by it, but not really interested in it. My oldest kid loves transformers and has his own collection. My ex was fine with it as long it didn't interfere with other things. It's just a hobby I have. It's cheaper then some of my other hobbies I've had in the past.

My collection stays in my home office which is my sanctum, so it doesn't migrate to other parts of the house. I've had a couple of girlfriends since my divorce and it never bothered them. They are usually intrigued that I collect something like TF's since I'm a retired military combat vet that used to do missions where you weren't aloud to ask too many questions on some of them.

I tell them you can be a tough guy and a nerd at the sametime....lol

 

My family likely considers it benign compared to my flagrant alcohol abuse. Potential mates can piss off of they don't like it. Pretending to be someone you're not often will lead to resenting the person that accepts you on those conditions.

 

A lot more than they think of my other hobbies.

 

Your wife is probably like me: She shows you that she cares by pointing out what she considers annoying/Flawed behaviour but she understands and doesnt want to change that part of you. BUT for our type thats our daily way of saying "I love you dumb ass". Is she a Virgo or Cancer ?

If you run out of space, I can point you out to a small ditch or two.

 

Funnily enough while driving my mother into town a few months ago, I asked her come she and my father never gave me a hard time about the Transformers.
She said, "You could be doing worse!"

A few years ago, the day before my 40th birthday, I made a complaint about my manager at the time for bullying. I was naturally worried as I've never complained about someone like that in my life. I don't like causing trouble for anyone.

I was talking to them on the phone and my dad who's a real man's man, told me don't be worrying about it. "We're here for you whatever happens" and go buy a few Transformers. Not in a sarcastic or harsh way, he just wanted me to try and cheer myself up.

I have truly been blessed with my parents and both of my younger brothers. If everyone was as fortunate as I am with my family, the world would be a better place.

 

Gemini, maybe? Whichever one mid June 16th falls under.

 

My family considers two bookshelves to be 'way too much' lol

I should show then the glass case displays some of the people here have