That was Tony's. His is one of those huge collections I mentioned earlier. Hell I can claim every US toy and most every other country as well, but that don't mean spit to someone who say started with RID and has twenty of just about every toy made since. Or the Guy who's collects nothing but G1 Dreadwinds. He must have hundreds of the damn things by now.

But do you stop with toys? How about those of us who collect the Artifacts like Sheets, toothbrushes, puzzles, games, t-shirts, etc... Wouldn't that count to a collection too? To some of you yes, to some no. It's all subjective.

I collect what I like as much as I like. I show it off to a few friends once in a while. As far as I care that's cool. To those who show what they can online, that's cool too. BuT I hate how alot of these threads go about who has the biggest collection cause all it does is cause envy in those who don't have them.

I knew a kid in TX who had his whole collection ripped off by a fellow student durring his graduation. By the time he got home, the guy blew town and sold off the toys and pocketed the cash. I'm a little careful as to who I tell what I have. I've spent two thirds of my life on this hobby, but one jealous prick can wipe all that away in one day.

 

And before I forget, Nice collection DJ. Tho I have to say I'm more impressed by the SW collection than the TF one. I use to have a large number of SW toys, but I couldn't afford both hobbies. Kuddos to your dedication.

 

Like how someone has already mentioned, its all subjective. If I had infinite time and money I wouldn't go out and try to assemble a "complete" collection. I like how some collectors do a really good job of displaying their collections. I love G1 art and packaging and I like displays that have the figures in dynamic poses, maybe with realistic dioramas as settings. Sort of like a fine art museum style display with artwork and dioramas. I could day dream all day...

 

For those interested - I found the ebay shop of the guy who won. There are lots of the items still listed there.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/raviscollectables

 

I wonder how much money that guy is going to lose. I thought most of that collection was sealed, but its just MIB, most pulled off their bubbles. He WAAAAAAAAAAAY overpaid.

 

Who cares? Really.  

 

I don't understand. How was she lumped with $900 in auction fees after failing to sell it twice?

 

I have collection envy.  

 

And i thought my collection was big.

 

Wow, those prices are crazy!

The biggest one I've seen in person was Tony Preto's at Botcon '04. Really cool to see it all displayed on tables. I could've run some laps around that.

 

QFT. I've seen two TF collections in-person that were absolutely amazing--in one guy's house, and another guy who was married an living in a 900-square-feet apartment and yet had one entire room devoted to his loose TF collection. And that didn't count what he also had on display in the rest of the apt. It was the single largest unboxed collection I have ever seen. And he said that was just what he had on display and didn't even include what was in storage.

He had 4 Energon/Armada Unicrons. And he said those were just the ones he had on display. Said he had "several" that were still MISB because it was his favorite TF toy ever.

It's also just what's in the eye of the beholder. I met up with a guy in the Atlanta area who was a member here to sell him one of my Alts. At the time, my wife and I were moving out of our apartment into a house and I had about 6 huge boxes of boxed and loose TFs in my car. He said it was the biggest collection he'd ever seen, and I told him he just hadn't taken the time to browse the collection photos here. My collection is weak compared to many others. I may have "volume", but I like collecting loose because they're usually cheaper and I freakin' just like transforming them...after all, they are called "Transformers" for a reason. But if people like keeping theirs sealed, that's their preference. To each their own. I keep some boxed, but it depends on the toy.

I did not know that. Thanks for the update. That widow really misrepresented the collection then, didn't she? The pics make it look like it's all still MISB.

There was a guy who posted here (can't find the thread) about his roommate cleaning out the garage while he was gone and donating his toys to charity. The roommate actually thought he was doing him a favor. That sucks too.

And I'm sure there have been some nasty divorce splits where someone's collection got sold off for practically nothing or donated to charity, or just thrown in a landfill. My wife "threatened" me with that once because I had gotten a couple huge boxes of loose TFs in an amazing trade and I had them scattered all over two rooms of the apt to see what all I got, but I'm lazy and left it that way for like a week. She said if I didn't organize and put them away ASAP, I was going to come home and find an empty room where my Transformers used to be.

I knew she wouldn't really do it, but it still lit a fire under my ass to get them put away. Also, you never know when a woman might do something like that during "that time of the month."

 

Just one question: By what means?!?! I mean, are you the real Fidel Castro to have gotten all those awesome figures?!?!?

 

No I am not Fidel Castro.......... I've worked quite alot and hard to build up my collection............ and if I didn't also collect GI Joe ,Star Wars , Marvel , DC , Mcfarlane, and somany other Toylines, I guarantee I'd have the largest collection............


But for no one who's seen my collection ,here's a little peek at it.......










Note , that what's in these pics are only about 75% of my entire collection...

 

What I meant is how did you afford to get them and what connections do you have in order to get that sweet sweet treasure trove. I mean seriously dude, Im getting ready to stalk your house.

 

Most of the larger collections I know of are owned by extremely private individuals. The ONLY reason I went public with my own collection is that my sorces dried up and any e-mail with "hey man, I'm looking for the dino -cassettes" for example met with the response of 'yeah, you and everybody else buddy'. Once I posted those pics it opened new doors and pieces I wanted started to come to me   Those pics posted here are now years old, I just haven't felt the need to update them...maybe someday.

 

Well , one thing..... At my store , I have a sign that I buy used/old Action figures from the 80..... I've had alot of people come in and trade me old toys for new stuff ........ another thing, I have been getting alot of international TFs online ever since 1998, when alot of rare things weren't that expensive......in addition I've had alot of TFs since I was a kid in the 80's..... Also thoughout the past 13 years I've always went to Yardsales and fleamarkets and found alot of nice things........


Those are just a few of my tactics that I've used thoughout my whole technique of collecting.

 

DJ Soundwave, where did you get those smallish portable showcases?

 

That's okay. One of the reasons why I dismissed the collection early was because it was never what it reported to be. A million dollars was alot for a MISB/MOSC collection. For a mostly opened collection it was far far too much. In fact what was eventually paid was too much IMHO.

My collection is looking at breaking the 1,000 figure mark soon and I'm currently in the middle of cataloguing it.

As I use some of those techniques, it's good to know I'm on the right track.  

 

Actually they are fishtanks..... Ten gallon Fishtanks.

 

Ahh! Don't give away our sources! A third of my collection has come from yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores.

My most recent score was right after Christmas at a thrift store. Got an Energon Unicron, RiD Prowl, Cybertron Red Alert, Armada Powerlinx Optimus Prime, and Armada Jetfire all loose and in pretty good condition for a grand total of $5. RiD Prowl was only 15 cents.