Warning long post

Intro: I'm a new collector who recently spent the better part of the last 2 months collecting a moderate collection of CHUG figures (76+ Currently). I figure a detailed and objective account from a new collector who amassed a collection like this in a short time is a rare opportunity for others to learn from my mistakes and successes when tracking down figures and the costs associated with collecting a moderate to large collection; What the current market is looking like for mainline figures and my general thoughts on my experience and collecting. Before I link my collection and data here are some prefaces.

Preface: Almost all my figures in my collection are in the CHUG scale (Classics, Henkei, United, Generations), with the rest in the core class scale. With most coming from the Siege, Earthrise, and Kingdom lines. All figures were purchased either new in box or with their original packaging included (with most of my collection falling in the former, Earthrise Ratchet & Mirage are the only outliers as I bought those figures loose). The price I paid for each figure also includes all relevant taxes, fees, and shipping. Tax is also taken into account for total MSRP prices at the end (MSRP Prices are rounded up to the nearest dollar for simplicity). Current market values are taken from a variety of sources including recently sold listings from Ebay and data from actionfigure411.


Data sheet


All at the end of a roughly one and a half month period I spent about 3k USD, for a collection with an MSRP value of $2675 (after tax) and a market value of roughly $3.7k USD. Below are most of the resources I used to get my figures.

Resources: During my collecting I used the following resources to track down stuff. Rated on a scale of 1-5 from my personal experience.

Amazon (3/5): Good for finding common figures for below MSRP but that's about it. Their exclusives either never sell out (Battle Across Time) or sell out immediately to never restock again (Terrorsaur). Warning: at least in my city Amazon has a habit of shipping figures in soft envelopes instead of boxes leading to figure and box damage.

Ebay (3/5): Good for tracking down rarer figures or out of print 3rd party stuff but beware you will be paying above average most times as shipping and tax add up before you know it. Can occasionally find good deals if get to them fast enough or try to haggle if they have offers enabled.

Big Bad Toy Store (4.5/5): Good for preorders and occasionally finding something on sale. They tended to have some items in stock that I couldn't find anywhere else for MSRP. Their $4 flat shipping no matter how big your order is, is also very convenient and unlike Amazon they pack their items very well. In addition, their customer service is the best I've ever dealt with and very responsive (You rock Bryce!).

Facebook marketplace and buy/sell groups (5/5): They are your best friend. I found most of my best deals from FB without looking for them. I'm subscribed to 2 buy sell/groups there so anytime a new listing is posted it pops on my feed, you can snipe some absolute steals there. The groups are private but usually approve new members pretty fast. Also being polite when dealing with and messaging people will go a long way, we're collecting plastic toys at the end of the day please don't be rude.

Mercari (3/5): I don't think I bought a single thing from there but it's another resource to buy figures second hand and see what things are generally going and selling for.

Aliexpress (3/5): Only good for buying 3rd party stuff for the most part. Will also have some excess stock of older official figures for ok prices.

tfw2005 forum (4/5): This very forum! Though not as active as the above resources I did find some pretty good deals from there in my short times here. Note if you're a new user like me you have to wait 30 days and have about 25 posts to use the "Wanted" section of the buy/sell section of the forums.

Target/Walmart/Walgreens/Gamestop (???/5): Either bountiful shelves of transformers or desolate wastelands depending where you live (the latter for me). Your mileage may vary.

Hasbro Pulse (2.5/5): The official Hasbro online shop. Another source of some shared retailer exclusives. Shipping is a bit expensive at least here in the US but they tend to have decent exclusives when they aren't sold out.

Dorksidetoys (1/5): Made an order with them and over a month later my items still haven't shipped (all items were in stock and nothing was on preorder). Good prices on clearance stuff, waiting to hear back from their customer service on why my order is being delayed so long. Update*: changing my score of Dorkside and advising people to generally avoid them. Made an order more than a month ago, after some more inquires as to why the delay they revealed that half my order wasn't actually in stock like the site indicated and they have removed those items from my order and will only offer store credit and not a refund. Mind you the items removed account for 80% of the money spent on the order. Will probably try to fight this with paypal as store credit with an unreliable store is worthless. Will not due business again.


General thoughts

Things just got out of hand: Collecting is a slippery slope. I originally only intended to collect the new Kingdom Beast Wars figures as I had a fondness for the original show when I was a child. I then got into G1 style figures after watching G1 and the 1986 movie recently. That was further influenced by my completionist nature and before I knew it I had over 70 figures in less than 2 months. I don't necessarily regret my purchases, but really keep track of your buying habits as things easily add up over time. Even with my meticulous documentation I didn't realize how much I spent until I added everything up. Collection addiction is a real thing and while I say I don't think I'm in that boat, you can easily find yourself there if you're not careful. Don't let bits of plastic interfere with paying for basic necessities, relationships, and getting what you need to get done.

The "Late Tax": You may have heard this term before. It refers to paying over the MSRP of a figure if you try to buy it long after it has come out and isn't available in stores anymore. I paid about $356 in "late" tax versus if I had bought each of these at release for retail. Though that number seems high I think it could have been worse as a lot of items I acquired seem to have appreciated greatly in a short time such as Pit of Judgment, Siege Jetfire, and a lot of exclusives.

Speaking of which exclusives and scalpers were the bane of my existence while collecting figures. I found Walmart and Amazon exclusives to be the most troublesome to track down.


What scale? And why I went CHUG: In collecting there are 3 main scales.

CHUG or mainline: Divided into different classes that all generally scale to each other (Deluxe, Voyager, Leader, Commander, and Titan). With a medium size of 6 inches on average though Titan class figures and Combiners can exceed that by alot.

Legends: Smaller (3.5 inch) figure with either very simple transformations like found in the current core class line offered by Hasbro or very complex rivaling that of Masterpiece scale figures from 3rd party companies like Magic Square and FansToys. Some are comparable to the price of their mainline counterpart while others are priced at almost MP numbers.

Masterpiece (or MP): Larger figures (8-12 inches). These are less toys and more display pieces for serious collectors. They often have very complicated transformations that allow for seamless bot and alt modes that perfectly capture the figure from their screen appearance. Very expensive and very space intensive.

To me CHUG seemed the logical conclusion because its the perfect balance between availability, playability, price, and size. Figures in this scale may not be as detailed as MP but they aren't as expensive or delicate in their transformations. They are bigger than Legends and can command better shelf presence, but not so big as to take too much room like MP. In addition more characters are available in this scale than any other. Price especially is a big factor, many Legends and MP figures, especially ones long out of print can command ridiculous prices on the secondary market which makes completing certain themes very hard. If budget was less of a concern I would have possibly gone Legends as the figures can be as detailed as MP but take up much less space.


Think outside of the box: If you're a new collector and don't care about boxes or buying new, you will save substantially more than I did. Very frequently I saw some very good deals for expensive figures that didn't have their original packaging. On the flip side remember this goes both ways as if you need to sell your figures they will command a lower price if they're outside the box (generally speaking). I choose to always get figures with packaging because that's just how I am with collectables even though I play with and display my transformers outside of the box.

Patience is a virtue: If a figure isn’t an exclusive or a very popular bot, there isn't a need to preorder it or buy it day one. Many times most non exclusive releases will go on sale at one point or another, even figures like Siege Jetfire went on sale when it was initially released, just don't wait too long! Likewise don’t pay scalper prices for figures, you're only rewarding them for your impatience (I learned that mistake once). I know its hard because you feel like that figure is only going to keep going up but chances are you wait you can either score a better deal from a fellow collector (see forums and FB groups), a better mold of that character comes out (see Studio 86 Ironhide), or in the best case scenario a reissue occurs (see the recently announced reissue of Siege Jetfire). Also buying a lot of figures all at once is a great way to get burn out or buyers remorse. Take your time, enjoy the hunt, have fun.

Is it too late to get in?: In short no. Especially if you're not a serious collector, while physical toy aisles and shops have shrunk in modern times, Transformers toys are as popular today as they ever were with many online retailers carrying them and various secondary market avenues to explore to hunt down out of print figures. However if you're somewhat of a completionist like me there are obstacles to collecting; certain figures out of that production have seen quite large price increases over a couple years time and retail exclusives (especially short packed ones) are frequently bought out by scalpers, but that's less of a Transformers specific problem and more of an issue with collectable trading today. The price hikes by Hasbro are also a bit troubling as well, but in terms of Hobby expense I would say Transformers collecting is only as expensive as you make it.

Closing thoughts: I always found Transformers pretty cool, I started with Beast Wars as a kid in the 90s owning several of the original toys. I was always drawn to stuff that involve building things (legos) and robots (Gundams, Transformers, Power Rangers, ect..). As with many I grew out of a lot of these things in my early college years. Now as an adult in my 30s with a bit more disposable income I’ve revisited a lot of the things that made me happy as a child to see them in a new lens. I’m pleasantly surprised to see my childhood toys also grew and became more sophisticated, lego sets are more complex and now marketed to adults as well, same with Transformers not just for kids but also aimed at serious collectors in mind, with unparalleled poseability and accuracy compared to the last 30 years. The engineering in modern mainline figures is fun and complex enough to enjoy as an adult while not being too easy as to compromise overall looks in most cases. Though my time in the hobby is very small, I feel like this has to be the golden age of Transformers toy collecting and I’m glad to have started now.



As the great Emgo says “You don’t stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing!”

 

Welcome to the club. Just wait till you’re in the market for Titans.... My collection started out as only G1 84/85 Autobot cast. Anyways, I now have 10 shelves filled with nothing but autobots plus the 84/85 deception lineup. This does not include my additional animated and TFP collections.

 

Very nice write-up, thanks for taking the time. It mirrors a lot of my experiences (started around Nov 2020 and have gone thru much the same process as you).

One other thing I'll add is that my best resource has been friends. Make alliances with people in your area, or in other areas, and do each other favors. Give each other heads-up and keep abreast of what each other are searching for. In other collecting circles, when you help fellow collectors obtain items "at cost" that is sometimes called "fairying" and is a great way to obtain retail items without having to pay the ebay tax. Mutual assistance!

 

I enjoyed the read.

 

Great write up! I have a similar story in that I started collecting again around Nov. of last year and have a spreadsheet to track purchases. I totally agree that you can get good deals even on some exclusives, but it takes patience.

I had a feeling that FB would be one of the best places for deals, but for professional and privacy reasons I have never been on it. Glad it is working for you.

 

Someone start a new collectors club please. How about a membership card we can stick in our forum signature?

Bought my first two transformers circa 2000. Bought #3 in 2012. Bought 63 over the last 11 months (#4 being kingdom optimus primal).

Word for word, exactly the same for me. Also kept a spreadsheet to record the damage.

 

Amazon just wants to save on shipping as much as possible. This is why they want all of their exclusives packed in completely closed boxes. That way they can just slap shipping label on it and send it like that. You need to specificly select an option to pack it in amazon packaging but that more often than not turns out to be just an envelope.

That was also my plan when I got back to collecting with Kingdom but then it expanded into G1 because minibots looked good, then I got those Mirage and Sideswipe from Battle Across Time so I decided to go into G1.

 

My collecting has DRASTICALLY dropped since the end of Siege. The whole exclusivity of Earthrise and the FOMO mentality was a huge factor.

Same with comics. I was getting close to 20 books a week, now I'm down to 8 or 9 a week

I'm set to retire in a couple of years and I'm in that prepping to retire mindset. I just wanna retire and enjoy the rest of my life

 

I respect that, FB is rather intrusive.

Yea it sucks they do that and it always forces me to order a replacement. Also for me it was getting the leader kingdom 2 pack from BBTS just for Megatron but then seeing how good the G1 Optimus Prime was, and one thing led to another and now I have more G1 bots than Beasts lol

 

So if my math isn't wrong, you paid about an extra 12.5% in late-tax? That's actually really cheap, especially considering how expensive things have been for the past few years.

Patience definitely helps with this stuff. I've missed figures occasionally that I really wanted from retail, but a lot of people "upgrade" once a new version of the same character comes out. If you just like collecting interesting figures and gimmicky stuff (like me), that helps a lot, since the new figures tend to eat the demand for the older ones (think T30 Skids and CW Menasor as recent examples).

Personally, I expect eBay prices on a lot of figures to come down and scalping to become less profitable in the near future. Pre-2020 it wasn't so bad to wait on a figure every once in a while, but the COVID lock-downs brought a bunch of bored people into toy collecting, so prices on everything surged in accordance with that. I'm noticing this year demand is really dropping for things like toys, probably because of the sinking economy, but it's nice for those of us looking to fill some collection holes.

 

True 12.5% seems small, but remember that if I had bought everything at MSRP. At one point or another many of out of print figured were discounted. Combiner Wars Devastator was at one point $50 at target during it's run! So while I can't exactly calculate it, my savings could have been substantially better had I been collecting earlier. But that also means I may have also bought inferior versions of figures that now better ones exist. So it's all relative. But I agree patience is the key. I scored some really good deals being patient, though I did over spend on others that ended up going down since. Overall I agree I did pretty well all things considered for a month and a half of collecting. Just got a NIB Siege Omega today for a decent price.

 

Great post! I really enjoyed it. It echoed a lot of my own experiences. I got in in 2019 with Siege and consider myself really fortunate to get in at that time as that for me is when the figures really leveled up in quality. I have picked up a bunch of prime wars trilogy figures and while they are cool in their own way, WFC and beyond is just so much better.

It is interesting reading some of your experiences with retail. Probably the biggest difference from my own, was that Hasbro Pulse used to have free shipping for purchases of $50 or more. When I started Premium hadn't started yet, but some people had gotten in on the ground floor with a free trial premium membership that was only supposed to be a year but lasted longer. But even then Pulse wasn't a great source because they always sold out so fast. It was pretty rare to find something there you couldn't find elsewhere. My feelings for BBTS are similarly strong. When I started they had just started doing their 20th anniversary sale that went on for about 6 months, every day they had new sales. It was really awesome. And they were an awesome source to get older figures that just weren't on shelves any more or available at retail.

You seem to be getting to the 'where do I go from here' part of collecting, and I think this part is really tricky. You get so used to buying things you start buying repaints that you don't really care about. (Be honest, did you buy the Walmart Beast Wars exclusives?) It's really easy to know where to go next in the begining, but when you start getting all the stuff you sought out originally it can be hard to decide what's next. For me I just kind of started going backwards to PotP trilogy, to Binaltech to now I'm at G1, lol. (and I took a side tour to Studio Series (both live action and 86, and have mostly a full collection of that)

 

This would be an Unpopular Opinion, but I feel that a good way to collect is to Limit yourself, and be Content with what you already have.

For example, if Henkei! Henkei! Convoy is already good enough, do I REALLY need the Earthrise version? I find that Collectors have the tendency to go Overboard when a newer, and better version of a character gets released.

 

Neat analysis, thanks for sharing!

If I was starting fresh, I don’t think I would worry too much about trying to pick up items I had missed, unless maybe I found deals on eBay or forums.

Almost everything shows up again in some form eventually…and the newer version is usually better (but not always).

Also, like others have said, it’s worth being picky…and not being lured in by crazy sales. I have wasted so much money and space buying things I really didn’t like, but I gave in because they were 75% off. And then I end up getting rid of them five years later.

This is more like a cautionary tale than my personal philosophy…seeing as how I just spent $120 on clearance items that I don’t need at Dorkside and Deep Discount!

Don’t end up like me! Save yourself!

 

You amassed a third of my own collection total in less than 2 months? And I thought I had a problem!  

Welcome.

One of us, one of us.

 

Nice post..

As a very old collector that's been on and off from the lines, due to life, finances, availability and the likes, I can say that the game changer was the internet... prior to it we were limited to local stores and events, something that many might take for granted.

The challenges used to be about availability for so much, and it's kind of sad that even with all of the options we now have, it is still happening, but now more due to simply being about low numbers being produced.

The pricing has been another challenge of late between Hasbro pushing prices up at a fairly fast rate as of late, but that the secondary market has never been as bad as it has been. THere are still decent deals at times, and one of the good thing with some collectors, is that some do "clean house" or reboot their collections with the newest versions and sell of their older figures at reasonable prices.

There's the 3rd parties (and 4th/KOs) market that's been very interesting, with some providing better or different versions of some figures, some staying within competitive pricing, but while others being a bit over the top (I find anyways), but still, options are great.

Being more of a "floater" collector (would get the figures that stroke my fancy only, so just a few here and there), with the latest lines starting at the Combiner Wars trilogy that opened the door to the original lines being redone with modern articulation and more was a huge game changer (to me at least) and with Siege that brought in a refreshing take on actual esthetics of G1 toys and a return to better plastic, the last 5 years at least) have been huge in many ways. I feel that it's starting to slow down at this point, which is not a bad thing, as it's still offering so many of the characters that either needed a refresh or had simply not been done in a good way or at all.

So yeah, hunting down for a collection now, if money isn't a problem, this is a great time to do so as just about any character has been done fairly well at this point and very few are "missing", and that includes so many "obscure" or such figures that one needs to be very difficult to not find a figure that "fits" their take on such characters.

My peeves are as stated in my signature, I just wish that Hasbro would stop doing so many with the "cut-corners" take on them, especially with the price increases, but with kits and such (customizing), one can have definitive figures of characters if they choose to, as so many that may be rehashed again, won't really add much if anything (more than just some slight differences), but those newer versions at least provides an option for those that missed out on the last one so that they can get the character without the second market pricing (late tax).

 

Hasbro pulses terrible, there's almost no value in what they offer other than when they have exclusives. You would think that they would get things first but they tend to get things last

 

Hahah yea, though I substantially slowed down. After getting Omega Supreme this week, all I have left are 2-3 preorders (Inferno, Terrantulas, and SS Ironhide). Though I probably should have slowed down a bit more if I'm honest. Less than a week after I shelled out $60 for a Earthrise Ratchet and $38 for a 3rd party Brawn they announced both are getting new figures. I figured Ratchet would be coming but not this soon as Hasbro sometimes takes years to do obvious retools and I figured they completely forgot about Brawn like they did with Gears...though at least this means a new Gears might be coming eventually. Still stings to basically waste almost $100

 

Just a quick update, changing my score of Dorkside and advising people to generally avoid them. Made an order more than a month ago, after some more inquires as to why the delay they revealed that half my order wasn't actually in stock like the site indicated and they have removed those items from my order and will only offer store credit and not a refund. Mind you the items removed account for 80% of the money spent on the order. Will probably try to fight this with paypal as store credit with an unreliable store is worthless. Will not due business again.

 

Hindsight’s 20/20. Don’t beat yourself up over not knowing what no one could know at the time you made a decision.