a little weak but given your age understandable. But say it Loud say it Proud! "I'm a Transformer fan!"
Heh, thanks dude. It's so much easier owning who you are than hiding it from people. "hot girls" have their own dorky secrets, as a rule almost all human beings do. And if they don't, who'd want to deal with them, because they'd almost always have a problem with yours. Like that girl on the phone. One time a buddy of mine gave me flak about it, and he's a moderate drinker. I asked him how much he spends on beer a week, and he said between $50-75. I said "and you drink it, and it goes away. Mine stays on the shelf and provides years of entertainment." He never said another word.
I'm almost 30, so I've really stopped caring what the cashier thinks. At times I'll say yes to the gift receipt for the hell of it. But usually when a cashier asks, I'll tell him/her straight up "I'm a collector" and smile. But everyone should keep in also mind the OP's specific situation and cut him some slack. We all know how the psyche of an 18-year-old male works: "This cute chick is being nice to me, I totally have a chance to score!" Kidding...but not really. Hell, I know guys in the 40's who still think like that. My advice, show some self-deprecation and that you're okay with laughing at yourself ("Nerd alert!") and you'll find most girls will dig that. Chicks usually find going in the other direction (with any posturing or over-compenstating machoness) a major turn off.
I work at CVS, so we carry some TF stuff. I've yet to ring up a collector though- we don't have a lot other than stickers, coloring books, ROTF deluxes, RPMs, and the occasional Universe Spychangers and Legends. I wanna chat up TF stuff with a customer sometime. ...Other than arguing with the usual little kid who can't pronounce Godzilla character names. :T
Yeah I fib if asked. I have an 8 year old son (who shows only passing interest in TFs) so I just say they are for him.
I actually got a date out of admitting that the toys were for me.I was at Target some months ago and was picking up a ROTF leader prime and the cashier who was extremely cute asked me "This isnt for you is it?!?" Im 28 years olds and not afraid to admit it at all.I told her that i was a collector and was adding another to the collection.She proceeds to tell me how much she is looking forward to the new wave of deluxes coming out and how she was glad the Armorhide figure didnt have that damn "Allspark blue" paint job that it had from the first movie line on landmine.My jaw dropped and asked her out on the spot.Sadly no relationship came from it,but it just goes to show as has been stated here some girls cane be just as geeky.
I always tell them it's for me & I used to have these things when I was little & I still love them. Always starts a conversation. And I don't care of she's hot or not, after you get to know them they're all bitches anyway.
I love going to Wal-Mart to buy condoms and toys. It's the funniest damn thing seeing the look on the cashier's face trying to put it all together. That's my cashier story! I always have admitted the toys were for me. I echo what a lot of people have said, you gotta be proud of who you are. If a girl doesn't accept your hobby, to hell with her. Or anybody else for that matter.
I rarely buy TFs in the store because I don't really like the movie transformers or the PCC stuff they have now. I only buy MP or combiners that I didn't have as a kid. On the rare occasion where something catches my eye (mindwipe) I just throw it in the cart with the rest of my stuff and pay for it. Now, Toys R Us on the other hand I just go in and buy what I want. They don't care since kids rarely buy toys there, their parents do. I had no idea Khols sold transformers. I figured they were just a discount clothes store. My wife makes me buy christmas ornaments there every year.
No one ever asks me, honestly. I'd tell them it's for grandpa - the old man likes to keep his motor skills sharp.
I think the reaction in the first post is totally normal. I know I've done it countless times and hidden my true intentions with my purchase. I have no shame in saying it either. I care what other people think...apologies for not being normal.
no need for apologies. hell none of us are normal. but just my 2ยข, that need to make sure others think okay of you, especially strangers, will only add extra stress to you as you grow older. just ain't healthy...
"who's the lucky kid?" "Me." (I'm 33) Funny story, I was giving a guitar lesson to some new kid. I was just telling him about me practicing guitar in high school and then he asks me "So when did you graduate high school?" I told him, "I graduated COLLEGE 10 years ago". He was like "OH! You made it sound like high school was a couple of years ago." I still feel like high school was a couple of years ago.
For what it's worth, I'm in my 30s, I collect toys and could really give a damn what any "cute cashier" thinks. If a grown man collecting toys bothers her that much, she's not worth getting to know nor caring about what she thinks. Cute or not, shallow is shallow.
I went to Walmart once, with my girlfriend, and there were a couple of kids in line behind us with another lady, and the cashier tried to hand my TF to the kid "would you like to carry this out?" "Um, it's for me, and I don't even know that kid"
Being 30, I get the same question and looks at stores on occasion, but I just tell them they're mine. I dont know that anyones ever been rude but a couple certainly thought it was odd. Oh well. I guess you would call her an ex-girlfriend now, as I live a thousand miles way from her but were still very close so I dont know what to call her, but thats not the point. The first time she came to my house and saw my collection, she wasnt quite sure what to think. Once I showed her some of them a little closer, she thought they were kinda neat. She ened up really liking g1 soundwave and laserbeak. All she knows him as is the tape deck and the little bird that goes inside him, but it was pretty neat. She really ended up liking them I think. She'd ask me if I was gonna check out the toy aisles when we'd go to a walmart or target or such. Hell, one day while I was work, she sent me a pic of RID Fort Max laying beside her in bed... That one caught me off guard!
When I got back into collecting in my early 20's I used to say it's for a brother or cousina lot, even asking for a gift receipt. Now I realize I'm not out to impress anyone so when tey ask if it's me I tell the truth. Most of the time the cashiers (old, young, hot, whatever) love it and tell me it's refreshing to finally hear a collector tell the truth. I'm totally glad I'm not a closet collector anymore. I love sharing my intrest with my friends, even if they flip me a little shit over it. One of my best friends is in town for my wedding and we were talking about this last night actually. He said that as long a someone is openly proud about somehing like this they no longer become nerds lol. I like that.
