So recently I've had a bit of a splurge on some new 'Cons. The way I see my collecting is the equivalent of how other people might collect vinyl, memorabilia or whatever. But the difference with Transformers is that it's a live children's franchise as well of course. So whenever I get a new TF for myself my kids will give me the look...where's mine Daddy...in a way they wouldn't if I collected more traditionally 'adult' things.

Now just to make it clear my kids don't go without. Over the last few weeks they have got two Warrior RIDs, two one step changers and two of the Hot Wheels style RID cars. But if I get mine separately I always get that guilty twinge. I feel like explaining "I earned this money and I choose to spend it on my hobby which happens to be this" but of course they're kids, they don't get it.

Any other collector-parents out there empathise?

 

Yeah, I know the feeling. I just try to explain to them that Daddy has his toys, and they have their toys. My brother in law and my sister got my three year old boys some of the "Hero Mashers". I'm thinking about getting some Rescue Bots to add to their collection.

 

Im having that trouble at the moment my little monster is upset im getting moe toys then him.

Im going to have to be more sneaky about it. Lol

 

My kids are always excited when I get a new toy, even though they know they won't be able to play with it. They still like to watch me transform them and I get requests

 

Totally. But I just let the monsters play with them. The problem with that is that stuff these days is very fragile or have parts that pop off easily I mean RiD are just about the worst in that regard.

So I have a bin handy of my old Cybertron toys that have no balljoints and no loose parts for the kids. So I open my RID Paralon and they smash up Galaxy Force Optimus.

 

I have two kids, a 3 year old and a 1 year old (both girls). They've both been around my collection since birth, so they don't really pay much attention to it. Plus, I have 99% of my figures either behind the glass doors of a display case, or on really high shelving. I have a few things that my 3 year old could reach and play with if she wanted, but she (oddly enough) respects the fact that daddy's toys aren't really toys. It also helps that I make sure she has her own Rescue Bots (which she LOVES).

Whenever I get a new figure, she'll ask what's in the box. I'll tell her it's daddy's action figures and she'll just say "Oh...open it!". If it's something expensive and/or fragile, I'll say "I can't open it yet, I'm too busy to play with my toys. Let's get some of yours". If it's something I don't mind her handling, I'll open it up and (without fail), she'll ask to see it.

The problem with my 3 year old is that she's REALLY rough with toys. You would think girls would be gentler than boys, but it's so not the case (my 3 year old nephew was REALLY careful when playing with my figures). She also has a penchant for taking things apart to see how they work. So without fail, she'll try to see which panels she can pop off and which ball joints she can take on and off...which is why she won't be seeing any of my expensive toys any time soon. But I'll occasionally let her see one of my junkers. Plus, she's usually pretty satisfied with her Rescue Bots since she loves cars, dinosaurs, and robots (much to my wife's disdain).

 

My kids understand that my transformers are mine. I'll let them look at them and sometimes touch them but as I don't have them displayed they are out of sight and out of mind. Sometimes I get asked why I got a new toy and I tell my kids it's because I take care of my toys and try to encourage them to take care of theirs to get new ones.

 

I made a mistake about a year ago, when my eldest son was 2 and a half.... I got him to sit with me while I opened a parcel that had just arrived from Canada. Inside was a misb G1 Thundercracker in Canadian packaging.... he got so excited until I wouldn't let him open the actual toy, he lost his little bundle! I had to grab an unopened legend class Prime I had lying around and calm him down by "opening" this toy!

Looking back, I don't know what I was thinking! lol

Lesson learned

 

 

I have a 6 year old boy and he respects my transformers that I tell him are very fragile. He's loves Transformers because of me, even loves watching Japanese G1 cartoons even when he can't read the subtitles! He was happy collecting some RID and Rescue Bots for the past two years until I got him BC Optimus and all the Autobot limbs for Christmas last year. Now he wants nothing but what I collect (minus MPs) and I can't afford to buy two of everything so I have decided to share my hobby and (mostly) all my new toys with him. He is my new toy hunting companion and we have a blast. This has really renewed my spirit for collecting and my appreciation for Transformers in general. I was his age when Headmasters came out so it's pretty cool to see him open a new Chromedome!

 

Good to see I am not alone in my experiences!  

My kids (boy aged 5, girl aged 3) tried out the G1 cartoon but weren't really into it sadly. However they LOVE RID, and my daughter was immediately drawn to Strongarm as a girl character she could relate to. It's so good that more girls could get into Transformers because of this. It's a fantastic change to the usual Disney Princess stuff. Anyway, since watching RID they love their RID toys more, although the boy has all the CW Protectobots and many of my inherited toys also.

Interesting advice on how to deal with opening new TFs with the kids around. I share almost all of them at the moment but I think in future I may share the basic ones then keep some of them 'just for me' as it were.

 

I have a 4 year old daughter and I must admit I have been fascinated to see how her appreciation and interaction with toys (not just Transformers) has changed or been affected by my own obvious engagement with Transformers - both the collectible variety and the mainline stuff that is fiddle fodder. I've never tried to impose a love of TFs on her, allowing her to explore what she likes herself. She's been through phases of loving Frozen toys, Duplo, dinosaurs, dolls, cuddly toys, small animal figurines and now it's MLP.

She still loves to watch robot cartoons like Rescue Bots and RID, and she does take an enormous interest in my animal-based Transformers (I lost Mindwipe, Wolfwire and Skullcruncher to her for a few days there!) and the G1/MP stuff I have in my cabinets has never been off limits, they were de-mystified for her right at the start and she could touch and see whatever she wanted. As a result nowadays she doesn't even blink at them. I could have MPs about the place and she'll walk right past them.

What I have had to be very mindful of is not passing on the collector mentality to her when toy shopping. I have had to stop myself buying that extra pony because she needs it for the set, or getting her the exact Princess Luna to match her Princess Cadance figure because they are of the same style/gimmick. The collector in me was most satisfied when she picked up a pony to match her own, but a different character - it reminded me of buying Dirge, Thrust and Thundercracker as a kid on repeat TRU visits even though I had Starscream...three subsequent visits to toy shops and I bought the same mould instead of a brand new toy with a new experience. So, I was initially a bit anxious when she put that pony down that matched hers at home and went for something different, then I just had to shake my own baggage free and accept that there's no need to complete the set  

To answer your question, I do find myself buying something for her too if I come home with a new Titans Return bot - whether it's a toy or a book (she loves books). Somehow, she's become quite ok with me receiving TFs in the mail and opening them without asking me if she's got something. Maybe it's because she knows we will play with them together anyway so it's not off-limits, or maybe it's because she has sooo many damn toys of her own already  

Sometimes I'll even buy a TF I want but know it will end up with her toys because it's kinda aimed more that way, such as the RID 3-step Bisk. I just had to have it after seeing my friend's one and enjoying how cool a figure it is, but I knew my daughter would love it too and she's engaged with it a lot more than any of her other Transformers (the ones that live in her room now), and Bisk is considered her toy now, but I have visitation rights  .

All the best
Maz

 

I love this thread thank you everyone.

 

I assume you haven't been a parent very long.. I say this because you haven't figured out the tricks yet.. lol

What I do is.... Hold on to my new acquisitions until the kids go to bed, then open what I got for myself and put it up before I go to bed. This way the kids don't know when I get new stuff. Also, I've been teaching my kids since day 1, that my bookshelves are mine and are not to be touched. They don't touch them, ever, without asking. If they decide that they do want to play, then I have a few of them I allow them to play with but, they know some of them are just off limits and that is all there is to it. If they do decide they want to look at my "off limits" ones, then they only do it when I say so and only in front of me.

Don't be afraid to stand your ground and set limits and then make sure you don't let them see when you get new stuff and you won't have to deal with them asking for something as well.

 

I am also an expert now at coming up with Transformers/Frozen/Sylvanian Family/Finding Nemo cross over stories.

 

  Oh this is so true. The number of times Elsa or Nightmare Moon have been imprisoned by MP Soundblaster and Terminus Hexatron, only for oversized Wei Jiang Commander, MP Ironhide and now 3-step Bisk to come to the rescue escapes me...

All the best
Maz

 

I've got a boy who will be two in a couple months who loves Transformers. As for Daddy's toys, he's pretty good about respecting which are mine and which are his as we've been pretty consistent about that since his birth. I let him play with some of mine (but he has to ask first, which he does) and others I tell him he can't touch now, but will be able to play with them when he is older. If I have one of those out (and sometimes he'll ask me to get one out), he'll tell me what to do with them ("form robot mode!" "stand here!", etc.).

He also of course demands that new toys in package be opened immediately, haha (open! open!), although he likes to keep the packaging for a while afterward and look at it.

I think one thing that has been helpful is having some toys he can play with in the same vicinity as the ones he can't. It gives him something to help distract him from the temptation to go for stuff he can't have.

 

My children are 8 (girl) and 5 (boy) right now. They show some interest in TF's and have a few of their own. I make sure to open new purchases with them around, especially mainline releases. It still feels a bit weird to have daddy's toys and their toys. I'm actually contemplating slowing down on MP's and concentrating more on the mainline TF figures so we can play and share more together. Some of the MP-style figures are so complicated nowadays that even I don't really want to mess around with them all that often. I love my MP's, but they're not exactly great for sharing with the whole family.

 

Yeah, I get jittery with my 5 year old boy sometimes with my deluxes, an MP would be too much! I think Transformers are great for kids. The manual dexterity you need to develop to change them as well as the role playing/imaginative aspect and of course the good old 'two toys in one' thing.

 

I suppose I got lucky. My daughter is 12 and could honestly care less. She isnt materialistic and never wants anything. Every year she gets money from various relatives for birthday or holiday and she never spends a dime unless I force her to. And when I do, its usually part of a shopping spree that involves new clothes, shoes, etc.

 

I had a similar thread last year, so you can check there for some helpful responses as well: The Parenting Thread

Current situation: my boy is ~14 months old and every once in a while we (re: my wife) will take him down to the TF room. He usually gravitates towards Titan Metroplex (standing on the floor), probably thinking "who is this 'white' guy similar to me in height?" lol
Only other time he went after anything else was a few weeks ago when he grabbed some Throttlebots off the shelf (gasp! G1!!) but that's because he LOVES cars and the colour red. I closely monitored as he push Chase and Wideload around for a little bit.

Seems like my overall stance may have softened a bit [buy him his own if he wants, keep most fragile stuff away if possible] however I'm really looking forward to when he's more with it and we can enjoy play time together!