Ahhh.... I have to say, this is the most confused I have been as a collector. I am not sure where to go or what to do. I am at war with myself and not sure where to go from here. For those of about to read this who are new to collecting, take this as a warning. For those of you who are where I am, or been here for years, I hope you can find solace that your not the only crazy ones.

Today, I think just put it over the edge. Yesterday I got Jetwing Prime in. Today I opened him. While I was never a fan of the new Movies or even the toys, this figure single handily changed my mind about the toys. He is one amazing figure.

His size alone with all of his cool factor make him display worthy. Then I open Leader Class Ironhide. While not as cool, he is also display worthy. Then I opened Leader class Sentinel Prime. I think you know where I am now going with this.

The problem is, unless you have a basement and can display all of your figures like Sentinel can, then you really have to think carefully about what to display and what not to display.

Sentinels Basement. I hate you!


Now, to make this decision, you have to decide one small thing. How do I display my TFs? Do I let each figure have their own breathing room, so for anyone who is to look in, they can see the charm of each figure OR do I just throw as many figures on a shelf as I possibly can?

I have seen both of these from the various collection threads. To me, once a figure is completely lost on the shelf, the idea of a display is lost. It is a storage area at that point.

So that brings me to next issue. I am a collector of TFs. I have decided this is what I am. I use to think I was focused. I had a game plan. I knew what I wanted to do and had a clear vision on how to get it done. That vision, I can now admit to myself is long gone. When you look over your collection and you realize you are collecting 7 different lines of toys and you are close to over 300 figures, your "focus" has long left the building. So there is no more lying to myself. I am a fan of collecting these toys. So the nightmare begins. When I started collecting these were my rules:
- Stay focused. G1, Classics, MP
- Display everything you buy.
- Make sure the display has breathing room to let each figure shine.

So now rule 1 is broken. I personally cannot break rule 3, as it does a disservice to the figures. So that leaves me at Rule 2. Display everything you buy. Argh. Well, I cannot. I don't have the room! So what to store? What to store? And can I store it? ARGHHHHH!

Well, this is where I am today. I was so close to starting to take down the following shelves:



This shelf I pretty much bought when I was bored. So that shelf may have to go anyway. So I almost feel like I am starting to get somewhere.

Then I went to put this shelf away:



I first took drift off the shelf. However, him standing by himself really showed of how cool of a figure he is. As I was taking one by one down, I was thinking these cannot go. All of these figures are sweet in their own right.

Then I looked at my MP shelf and thought, "Damn it, but the large sized figures scream display worthy". These smaller figures don't. Having a quick glimpse at them on the shelf is cool, but all these are, are toys. They are not Display pieces.

So I stepped back further to judge again. OK. So what is a "Display piece" and what is a "toy", considering they are all technically toys. I think this is the conclusion I came to myself:
- G1 are display pieces, because they have a history and sentimental value. Even visitors I get know what these are. So this is a display piece, because people know what they are looking at.
- Large figures like MP, and Leader+ sized figures are Display pieces because they are large and easily catch your eye.
- Some Third Party Toys, but not all are display pieces. You tell Hercules he is not Display worthy.

The rest are toys. Yes, the classics, the FoC line, the Prime Line, everything else are toys. YES they are awesome, but they are toys on a shelf. If I need to restrict myself to just what I need to display, those have to be considered toys.

The problem is, the toys need to be stored. They need to go away. As I write this, I look over at the PRiD FE line I have and think, but they look awesome. How do they go away? So I again stand torn.

I know what needs to go away. What needs storage. But I am a collector. A transformer lover. How do I box up FE Prime or Bulkhead?

Fine, you say, keep just the ones you like out. Or the best of the best. Fine I say, but that still does me no good. I don't like mixing my lines. So even if I do that, I just have less toys on the same amount of shelves. Argh.... Enough to make you go mad.

On top of all of this, what good is a toy that sits in a storage bin? I have come to the conclusion that at one point or another, I will take these back out to play with them. But I don't know if I will. I never stored any of my figures before. So out of sight out of mind, maybe?

But I also realized that this will not stop my purchases. As a collector, I want to find out what is cool about this toy and that toy. So I get them, especially when you have sales like we do this time of year. Makes it easy to spend $20 and get 2 figures you never thought you would get.

So I come to this crossing point. I use to be a display only collector. But my limitations in display area is forcing me to be a displayer with storage bins of toys.

How do we deal with that?

When did you guys realize this for yourselves?

Was it the count of toys or the display space that made you finally realize this?

Better yet, how do collectors like Tigerblade and Chrisr291 stay so focused? I know that Chrisr291 has sold his collection multiple times. I know that Maz speaks of the freeing feeling he got selling his collection to refocus. I just don't have the strength to let these go. I am hoping that storing these may help me gather that strength.

Then I ask collectors like Trailbraker77, how do you keep a nice display and how do you decide what to store, especially as the collection grows?

Thanks all for reading this far. I hope you can share my pain.

 

Going through this right now and it's not easy at all. If you're like me, you don't really have any intention to sell anything. I don't. But there's no room left in my now smaller office to keep everything I like out. It's just not happening. Space is definitely the biggest concern. If I had a bigger house I wouldn't care.

Once I hit that, and I knew I couldn't do anything more other then store figures, I just said eff it. My loved animated figures are in a bin. My kreos, in a bin. My movie stuff (aside from a few key figures) was already still in bins from a move this summer. And tbh, once you got it binned up, and you're not missing it, you realize you made the right choices.

If you are missing something in your display, you can always fish it back out. If you organize stuff well enough, it won't be a problem. But I highly recommend just packing away some stuff and seeing how it goes. Try the prime line...I got to prid dreadwing when I said this isn't happening and put them back on the shelf  . But you may be ok without them.

It's different for everyone and you won't realize the attachment you have to some toys until you actually try to take that step and get them packed in.

 

You know what is even harder. Thinking I am going to store the Prime line, however at the same time thinking that I want to finish it off by buying Breakdown, Air Vehicon, Skyquake and Smokescreen (possibly even Nemisis Prime, Unicron and Silas Breakdown).

How do I spend the money to complete the line and just throw it in a bin? It seems like such a waste of money. But I want to see those figures. Photograph them and so on. EVEN FREAKING DISPLAY THEM. I envy Sentinel more and more by the day!

 

Honestly, as much as I also hate storing some guys away it's gotta happen once in a while. For example, last time I arranged my displays to be less cluttered I chose to display 2 sets of shelves, one for classic bots and one for classic cons. A few MPs got their own special display sections but I put away all my movie leaders and human alliance. I recently went through some boxes while I was updating my sale thread and came across the movie toys again and it was like rediscovering them all over again. Now my movie guys are on display on one set of shelves and the other has select classics on it (Unicron and Primus are now having a never ending battle in a rubbermaid tub downstairs).
Basically, IMO when you store toys that you know you will want to have down the line it can reinvigorate you into switching your displays and having fun with them again.

 

Never. Lose. Focus.

When price is no longer the obstacle, but space is, then you just have to focus and be disciplined. It is not easy. I think the Amazon DOTM Jetwing Prime is a great example. My short story is this:

I recently resolved to re-focus my collection and begin selling my movie figures; they just don't hold the same sentimental/cool factor as my Classics and even the Prime line. Then Jetwing went crazy low in price and I am really tempted to buy. But I never intended to get him, even if that price makes it "a no brainer" as many here can attest to. And, I just resolved to limit my movie collection, particularly in the interest in saving space for ones I hold in higher regard. No matter how low the price is on him, I simply don't have room. If I had to chose (which I do) between displaying Jetwing or displaying Masterpiece Optimus Prime, MP wins. And this thought process reminds me of why I decided to pass on Jetwing in the first place - I'm just not that into the movie designs anymore. I don't need them. I don't want them - no matter how good a "deal" it is. It has a low $ price but there are other "costs" involved here.

Alucard, I really understand your dilemma, but I fear you are losing your focus. You cave on Jetwing and then say "oh well now I MUST have other movie Leader class guys to keep him company." Believe me, I've done the same thing, it's how I ended up with more movie figures than I really care to have. If you really must have Jetwing, then maybe just have him stand on his own. I think given a choice, I'd be 100% comfortable with selling ALL of my movie figures and owning only this one piece, as a nice tribute to a particular chapter in TF history. But that is still a conscious decision to focus rather than to say "welp, I like this one guy, so I'm all in on the others in this line."

Hope this helps your thinking a bit. I'm not trying to sound judgmental, just trying to offer another way of thinking about it.

 

Is this an actual TFW article?

 

Not judgemental at all. To be honest, the rational side of me thinks exactly what you are writing here.

But the collector side is saying, LOOK AT IT. WOW. I wonder what that toy is like.

I have to find a way to shut up the collector.

Also, the price points are a big deal for me as well. When something becomes so affordable and it looks so good, it makes it so hard to say no. I mean, I got Sentinel Prime, Jetwing and Ironhide for $100?! I mean, that is nothing for what I got.

But as you said, unfocused!

Unsolicited.

Initially, I didn't have that in the title then I changed the title to say a TFW2005 article because as I was writing this, I was thinking I sound like one of Maz's articles when he looks in on his collecting. Since I don't write for TFSource, I wrote it more as a joke on it. But if that is a no no, then mod is more then welcomed to change the title.

I for one would like more people to share their collecting experiences. Gives some more depth to coming here as a whole. That is why I always enjoy Maz's articles.

 

1st off nice collection! and second i will be scared looking at all the TFers and wathing tv! LOL!

 

Do what I do.... Only buy what you have room for  

 

I think the term "focus" is being used as something set in stone as well. Focus can shift, interests can change. Even if you got jetwing at a bargain, taking the plunge on that one might have sparked an interest on some specific movie toys, and a shift in focus to want to include them. It's not wrong in the least, just means you have to re-evaluate what else you have displayed to make that shift happen.

Nothing is ever set in stone with this hobby, it is what you make of it. You may be missing out on quite a bit of stuff you'd love if you strictly limit yourself to specific lines, unchanging. It sounds like jetwing fits that description for you, and if it's something you really enjoy then I'd say go with it.

 

With great displays comes great responsibility.  

 

If you're worried about displaying figures that you just bought versus throwing them into a bin, then keep that line out for a while until you either feel the need to change the display up, or that line's production stops, and you have everything up that you can. Display only a couple lines at a time, and give them space, but don't leave so much that you can clearly see that you can fit another figure there. You get to keep a clean looking display with as much as you can fit on the shelf. I have two sets of display shelves and a case. The shelves consist of the movie verse figures and the Masterpiece/ Binalternators lines, and the case holds my favorite and most iconic G1 figures. And every once in a while with the G1 figures I switch them out with others that I don't have the space TO display them. I'm actually in the middle of thinking of how I can combine the Masterpiece and G1 figures together, but I honestly can't think of a great way to do it just yet,  ... Are you indifferent about not displaying everything, by chance? I was like that once, and I can tell you this. I far more prefer having a couple lines out over having everything and being overwhelmed by it all, all the time.

 

I went through this in a couple of different degrees.
When my wife and I lived in our rental apartment, we had a full 18' x 25' basement. It was my domain and I was able to display everything I bought. I was a bit of a completionist at the time. That was 2003-2007.

Then we bout a condo. I now had a 10' x 11" den that also needed to serve as an office. I was limited to (3) 72" Ikea floating shelves for my display. I did a major purge. And I limited myself to 1 version of all of the new molds. I was able to keep the rest of my collection in 3 large Rubbermaid containers in the closet. I regularly rotated my display between Classics, Movie and Animated during that time. That was 2007-2010.

Then my little guy came and took over that room. I did another major purge and decided to be much more selective on which molds I bought. For main line toys I stick to a firm "on-screen character" rule. I am limited now to the top of the 36" bookshelf in our family room. My displays now consist of 8-10 figures at a time. I usually do several versions of 1 character at a time. Right now I am displaying Optimus Prime. MP 1&10 ROTF, Prime FE, Classics, RTS w/ Battle Tanker, G1 and Alternators. I like to keep it clean and not try to cram 30 figures on one shelf. Those 3 Rubbermaid continers our now in storage and I have a small container in the bedroom closet that acts as a transport between storage and display.

It can be done. It's never easy ($52 Jetwing Prime....Pass)

Side note: At the end of 2011 I bought my first 3rd party toy (FP Protector) and I went off the rails a little for the first half of this year. I picked up DIA Commander, Insecticons, Munitioner & Explorer and a bunch of other great 3P toys and upgrades. I have since dialed it back again. Skipping quite a few offerings (Steelcore/Assaulter/Cogz/Dunerunner).

 

The Answer is easy Master peice toys stay out always and same with classics

For everything else i keep the current toy line out intill its complete then it gets added to the rotation

how this rotation works i go from beast wars to RID to amarda and so on i change my toys once a month always displaying them in robot mode but packing them away in vercal mode why do i do this so all my toys get some awsome play time   if you use this to collect by you never get board of your collection  

 

It's easy to focus when you are only interested in owning a certain aesthetic on a strict single season basis and never double up (unless the character requires it like Ironhide/Ratchet, Sideswipe/Red Alert).

Even when we move in the next few years and I finally get my mancave and therefore more space I will not budge on my limit. I did waiver for a few days last week....but I've essentially allowed myself two of my fave characters in Red Alert and Menasor.....the rest I can pass easily. Maybe MP Inferno may tempt me to display with Red but that's it.

By then I'll be more interested in building a Hyperspin sit down driving arcade system to go with my stand up version and getting a few slot machines as my collection will pretty much be complete.

 

"TFers" means "Transformersers", you know.

 

Believe me I really hear that same voice/line in my head. I looked at Jetwing review pictures over and over this week, thinking about it, wondering what it would be like to have in hand, etc. But I think it has to be more compelling than that. Not just a "I wonder what that one is like" but a true "I really want to have this in my collection, display it, pose it, play with it, etc." And that was the key difference to me, why I decided to pass. Do I really want this behemoth in my collection, taking up valuable display space? No, there are other things I want to display more. Am I really going to play with it? No, everyone says it's a b**** to transform, I don't really have the time for that. And so on.

And back to my point on price: sometimes it's not just the $ amount involved. Yes, $100 is a great deal for those 3 figures. But the added cost now is the stress you are having about where to put them, who to put away (and you didn't really want to put them away) - in short, how to use your valuable, limited resource of display space. I think if you factor that into your purchasing decision, you might - just might - pull the trigger a little more selectively.

Good luck! To be honest, I have been struggling with this myself lately and by no means have I been 100% true to it, but like I said before, it's a matter of discipline. Discipline takes effort.

 

Selling off and rebooting your collection works for some, but not all - you have to be sure of the fact that you are one of the people that this works for if you are to do it. Bare with me.

I had to reset 3 times:

1. My first collection was stored and got thrown out by my ex (by mistake) it was 4 plastic bags of loose g1s and 2 bags worth of BW...I was not happy. Granted, they were in used condition, and a few mosc tapes made it, but damn, that reset hurt.

2. Second time around was after having completed armada - It was all unopened, and it seemed like a smart thing to do - it was a few monthes shortly after Armada vanished off the shelves, and people were trying to complete their collections and were paying premium prices for the ones they had not been able to pick up.

3rd time around was after I ran out of space (sound familiar?) and I had to store some stuff at my moms...great sollution, right? Wrong - she got herself a cat that pissed all over my my MISP CR, Armada & Cybertron collection

sooooo, where am I going with this? Well, the loss of these vast portions of my collections and having to get stuff like Armada 3 times over just takes the fun out of all of it. I ended up missing the toys that I had lost and that just made me crave them all over again - even the really shitty ones like Armada scavanger...only now that POS had gotten expensive.

So, my advice would be that if you do go the route of selling stuff off and resetting to first store any toys you see yourself potentially getting rid of first - see if you miss them.

Which brings me to my second and last point. You lost focus. That is breaking the cardinal rule. You must...not...lose...focus.

Refocus after you complete a set, fine. But don't lose focus like this. You need to sit down and re-define what your focus should be. And this time, you need to take things like storage space and display space into consideration, they are every bit as important as cost...even if you could afford to be a gotta-catch-em-all collector you might not actually have the space for them.

 

I can understand what you mean. I didn't have anywhere to display my TFs for years. I mean I was space-less between 1999 and this year which gave me plenty of time to toss ideas around for display. When designing my display setup, I had to take into account that I wasn't going to have room to display everything. The idea I came up with has been working out so far for me.

I have 4 wall mounted shelves. Here is a pic of when there were only two mounted to the wall:


Lonely shelf space by Tripredacus, on Flickr

Due to the height of the top shelf (which would be above Shockwave there) it causes a sight-line issue. So I have 3 shelves for my main display. The main display type has 3 items per character. For my first attempt, I have sections for each character that appears in MTMTE Part 1. Each character will have 1 boxed and 2 loose items per spot.

Ravage Example:

Ravage by Tripredacus, on Flickr

Now, I change my focus on a month to month basis. Last month was Wheeljack, this month is Bumblebee. The focus is used to populate the top shelf. Boxed items in the back, loose items in the front. By using this method, it allows me to rotate my display (at least the top shelf) every month.

Top shelf example:

G1 Prowl by Tripredacus, on Flickr

When I rotate through all the cast of that selected episode, I will reset everything based on another episode, movie, comic book issue, etc.

It was my best idea on how to handle limited space. Then for things not displayed, I keep some items in a closet on shelves for storage, and then other items are split up into bins future displayable items and other TF items that probably won't see the light of day on that shelf unless I end up moving to somewhere with more room.

 

I finally hit the volume that I need to start storing some as well. The first ones to not make the cut were the Star Wars and Marvel Crossovers. No big loss. Some I genuinely like, most were just impulse buys. Next on the chopping block is probably the few Animated toys I didn't sell off, but that really doesn't free up much space at all. Now I've built another small shelf onto my existing ones and I still think I'm going to have issues in the near future about what I can display and what goes into storage. We'll see what happens.