Had a think about it and it's pretty easily summed up like this.

Kid me- Oh my gosh that robot turns into that vehicle.........How do they do it?
Teenage me- Re-experiencing that euphoria of getting that first big figure into HOLY SMOKES FIGURES CAN DO ALL THIS NOW!!!!!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!!!
Adult me- Appreciating figures what they are and not what they can't do or "should do" while excitedly waiting to see what new things lay out on the horizon.

 

I was a child of the 80s. Transformers was one of the things that inspired me to get into computers and robotics at an early age. That ultimately led me to a life where I get to (among other things) develop systems that run some of the most famous “robots” in existence.

Like many people, I got rid of my childhood collection when I became a teen. Ultimately it was after I watched the first Michael Bay transformers movie that made me pick up a Cliffjumper figure (don’t believe he was even in the actual movie.). Since then, my collection has grown considerably. I guess they kind of represent a reminder of what drove me at a young age.

 

Well it bring me back to my childhood to those winter rainy days when the only thing i had to think was my mother nagging at me because i was watching cartoons while playing with transformers, motu etc.
Also a way to get some characters I didn’t have the chance to get back in the day was it because GIG never imported them or because given the price my mom never bought them for me .
Last because they are cool

 

I ask myself this all the time, I continue to fail in providing a rational answer.

 

That I might actually one day have a full collection including a good representation of every character that I want.
Most of the people I have met in the toy collecting community are nicer and way more fun to talk to that 99% of the people I meet in real life.
It's funny how I keep thinking with all of the figures I have so far, I can't be more than a few dozen away from having everyone(plus as many troop builders as I can afford)...then I remember I also still need AT LEAST 6 combiner teams...

Gotta catch em all!!

 

What drives me to collect is just getting to play with these figures. Posing them, taking pictures. It's much more fun than I ever thought it could be.

 

Transforming robots is the greatest concept most fun concept ever.

 

For me part of it is the customizing potential. All the hidden details that aren't brought out in the sculp that would enhance the presentation of the figure. The WFC and SS lines are a customizers delight.

 

i'm autistic and transformers is a special interest, so i feel an extreme passion to invest in said interest. it makes me happy, it's fun to play and fiddle with them. it reminds me that there's little things to live for. i always loved toys, i see them as a work of art, just as any painting or sculpture, and i find it pleasing to examine them for details and such. and i really like robots, and would never invest in transformers franchise if it wasn't about those. i like to look at a toy and imagine how the robot works and sounds

 

This is my goal, I'm sort a few characters sureshot and pointblank then I'm likely checking out kingdom galvatron and Rodimusprime are the only replacement toys I need, the ark is a must have and maybe zarak, but unless the mainlines go heavily into jap g1 I don't see myself collecting past this year, it's taken me about 15 years to almost have g1 complete and have beast wars, rid, amarda, energon, cybertron, animated,prime and the movie lines complete along with things like alternators and other odd lines like power core, if you want to see my out of date collection I should have a link in my signature, I haven't had the room in 3 years to out them all out

 

I just like transforming toys and gives me a sense of being part of a community.

 

I love looking at them, just like some people have pieces of art hanging on their walls (like an artistic picture from some famous painter or a scultpure), but I rather look at those awesome bots that I watched when I was a kid, they're pretty interesting because I know their background, their story that was told through comics and cartoons and the act of looking at them brings me back the joy I felt when I read about them the first time, or when I watched that episode where this bot did something cool or unexpected.

I collect other figures but mostly it's just 1 or 2 figures from every show except for Dragonball and Transformers, they're just too awesome to look at

 

I loved transformers back in 83 when I was first introduced to them on a school bus when I was in the 5th grade. Unfortunately, my parents bought me very few(I can count on one hand) and whatever else I could manage to get was through saved up money. It then became uncool to play with toys or acknowledge that I owned them when I hit the 7th grade so I caved to peer pressure. For the past 20 years I have had good and steady income. My wife thinks I am nuts, but I am driven to collect because I felt a toy depravity when I was a kid. I now collect most of the stuff that is based on 80s designs. My collection in enormous at this point an encompasses MOTU, GI Joe, Legos and DC & Marvel. I enjoy what I collect and my collection gives me peace, tranquility and allows me to relive a point in my life that sucked at the time, but was probably better than life is now even with my income. I hope the 80s nostalgia keeps rolling!

 

Staring endlessly into the dark void long enough to realise fuck it may as well enjoy life

So i spend thousands of dollars a year on plastic robots

 

Oh that's easy. I'm a software engineer / project leader. My life is very stressful. Most things I do in and outside of work are, and have long been about other people. Including my other hobbies.

Transformers and collecting is the ONE thing that is unapologetically about me. I don't do it to make other people happy but myself. It's stress release and the only egocentric thing I really do. It's an outlet that allows me to focus on the needs of others in other situations.

Why Transformers specifically? That's a bit complicated. I'm not quite sure exactly why. It was always my favorite franchise, but I was a later-half G1er (my first Optimus Prime was Power Master Optimus prime, and most of my toys were 1987/1988/1989). Growing up my brother and I played far, far more with G1 Joe, TMNT and later X-Men (Toybiz). We really never played Transformers. It was always a "me" thing then too, though oddly (or not), two very important characters to me are Topspin and Twin Twist, because G1 Topspin was my brother's and G1 Twin Twist was mine.

I think part of it at some time was that it was ALWAYS the best cartoon growing up, but I never got anywhere near to having the toys to complete the cartoon characters, well, until the WFC trilogy really. We had every TMNT and GI Joe imaginable, so that was easy enough. And the X-Men, we got those. But I would watch the 1984 show but not have a G1 Ironhide or Prowl.

 

Other than the “I like cool toys” reason, it’s also definitely tied to my OCD-like behaviors.