I’ve got a few I’ve developed over the past few years:

1. Commanders are an instant preorder. They usually go fast.

2. Wait for sales on Titans and Wave 1 figures. I paid full price for the Ark and Metroplex, only to see them on deep discount in a month’s time. Never paying full price for Titans again. Same with Legacy Wave 1 Deluxes.

3. If a mold sucks, I won’t buy any repaints, even if it means leaving holes in my collection. A new paint deco isn’t going to change how crappy a mold is.

4. If I’m going to buy a figure, I have to have shelf space cleared ahead of time, otherwise there’s no point in me owning the figure for display purposes.

5. Keep track of PO’s, and if they’re not paid off when I place the PO, then have and keep the money needed at least 2 months in advance, as early releases are increasingly common.

 

My rule is quite simple: No masterpiece and no third party toys, I prefer sticking with Generations. UNLESS, it's a Soundwave, then that's when I break that rule.

 

Basically only G1 characters. Every time I deviated from that I would regret it later.

They have to be in an aesthetic I like. So cartoon for the season 1-4 bots and Marvel Us versions of the post 87 stuff. But I do like characters that weren't in either like the Deluxe Insecticons and Jumpstarters. Then they can follow the Dreamwave versions. No reinterpretations of characters so the IDW style characters are a no.

I want them in relative scale so basically following the Sunbow chart. I want them to look premium and uniform. And since space is limited I want them to not take too much space.

So I basically ended up with NewAge.

I don't buy everything they put out. Only the G1 characters I like ( and that's quite a lot).

I sold off almost my entire Generations collection, keeping only some Takara Legends stuff that probably will never be done by NewAge.

I occasionally buy a Diaclone Reboot release when I feel it would interact nicely with the legends. So I have some troopers, some suits and a couple of Waruders.

The past year I've been more busy selling things than actually buying stuff. I like that I have a more focused collection now.

 

Become an Oscar worthy actor when my wife says "haven't you got that one" when I buy an upgraded version of a character and I have to explain I haven't got this as he/she is a completely different bot

 

4. Shockwave only.

 

This is a good rule. One and Two. I use to hope for Ollie's but Hasbro got wise and I think the right price for Titan is about 109$ but you have to risk waiting two years. Commanders are a tricky thing and if you wait too long, could end up on the short end of the stick

 

Don't buy for the sake of buying

Don't spend too much for a single item (no HasLab Unicron)

Don't be afraid to get rid of things that have better versions come out, or that you don't really enjoy anymore. Streamline that shit!

And most importantly... NO TRANSFORM NO BUY!

 

1. No 3rd party or masterpiece at all- its too expensive and too much of a hassle to collect and most 3rd party offerings look like a circle jerk of g1 and the same combiner teams for the billionth time how many god damn devastators and menasors are they going to make.
2. No legends size collection - never been a fan of this i always thought legends size masterpiece like figures were a niche and core class has been a mixed bag the only core class figures that are really worth buying are the actual characters that are supposed to be small.
3. If its stuck in a multi pack its better to wait for it to be sold individually- i hate it when hasbro sells a character i like in a multi pack i couldn't give two shits about siege slamdance is a good example i had to wait for 2 years to find a slamdance that didn't have the burden of two extra figures to be sold with him.

 

1. No Bayverse
2. No full-price Titans
3. Check Amazon warehouse specials before buying
4. For larger purchases, check BST board. Would rather spend monies on other's sales than give to retail stores where possible
5. A multi-pack is fine if the right price as I can use a figure I do not want for a present. Saves monies later.
6. Keep them dusted
7. If stored for more than 6 months, may want to look into why and make a decision on getting rid of it.

 

I buy whatever catches my fancy. I'm too grizzled to get worked up over arbitrary restrictions I place on myself.

 

- The focus of my collection is Transformers that are dinosaurs, reptiles, dragons and similar.
- I don't care about scales
- The aspect I most value is the transformation project, it doesn't have to be complex, it just needs to be creative and well executed.
- For space and financial reasons (and also because I live outside the US, due to shipping costs), I prefer smaller toys if possible.

 

With extremely rare exceptions, no Masterpiece/Masterpiece adjacent. They aren't very fun and don't really fit with the anything else in my collection. MP Grimlock is the exception as he's a great size to go with a CHUG collection.

The other rules are basically to look at reviews extensively and if the figure is crap/easily breakable I'll pass.

And generally: Very rarely will I buy at retail now due to insane prices. Anything above voyager is cartoonishly overpriced.

There are at least three guys in my city that buy practically everything and then flip them on the aftermarket within a month and I just wait for them to post. One of them is now flipping a mint Commander Rodimus for literally have the retail price.
Citybots and Commanders don't appear on the aftermarket without an increase in price, buy practically everything else that isn't stupid-rare/exclusive can be attained for much less than retail.

I started this hobby back in the day when finding used things at flea markets and yard sales & ebay etc was the ONLY way to get stuff. I'm perfectly fine with that. Unlike some, I don't get FOMO and I don't really have any burning desire to get everything.

 

My rules : 1. got to be a cool looking car I like , i.e. Legacy Dead End. Studio Series#87- Bumblebee ; Earthrise Tracks
2. Interesting/innovative transformation i.e. Studio Series Ironhide;
3. Deluxe /Voyager size regardless Autobots or Decepticon.
4. Not repaint/not redeco exception was Legacy Knock Out that is redeco of Studio Series 86- Jazz.

 

1. I've learned to never ever pay full price for an overpriced, constantly lowering qc Transformer these days thanks to @OptimusTarzan.

2. Don't just buy shit just to buy it. To be more specific, unless I'm truly attached to or have history with said character there's no need to really go outta the way for it.

3. This one is pretty recent but being wary of buying figures that are part of combiner teams. We've seen with Motormaster how they'll release good ass figures like Dragstrip only for the rest to be(in my opinion) lame in comparison. That's kinda shady and low in my honest opinion.

 

My collecting goal has always been the cast of season 1 and 2 from the Sunbow cartoon, and I started that collection with CHUG so that's the "scale" I go for.
I said I wasn't going to but I've ended up getting a lot of the 86 Movie/Season 3 characters too, but I'm firmly stating NO JUNKIONS and NO QUINTESSONS!
Trying hard to resist the Headmasters etc.
I do have a few smaller and larger sized TFs (mostly 3P) that were filling in until a larger option was available- I resist the urge to collect at those scales too!

 

Only one rule these days: I buy what I like and don't try to complete lines.

 

The first rule of collectors club is you don't talk about collectors club.

 

Decepticons only*

*exceptions go to BW S1 Predacons, TFTM86 core cast, Victory Autobots and the Dinobots.

That’s not to say that I buy every Decepticon, just ones I like. When Runabout/Runamuck came out in Earthrise I thought they both looked really dull and wasn’t willing to jump through the hoops to get them (mass retail one never showed up in this area, Target never stocked the exclusive one in this area), so I passed.