I am but I'm just worried right now because they don't know I collect since I'm not really an open kid on what I do behind closed doors. All they know for now is that I'm just a quiet kid with a mask to hide myself.

 

Tell them that you do play with them. Just with a little "dis" in front of it.

 

Oh dear. Am I too stupid? I cannot tell what that meant.

 

Like this: "I display"

 

Play with some dis in front of it.

Display.

 

Wow, I'm dirty minded and stupid. Oops.

 

The GF has her geeky hobbies (anime) and I have mine. (DO NOT bring up Scarlett Johannsen in "Ghost in the Shell" around her...) So while we don't share the same hobbies, we at least try to support and understand each other on having them.  

 

No I was right there with you. Sounded like he was suggesting to open with a yo momma joke.

 

 

Yeah, my jokes fall flat sometimes.

JUST LIKE YO MAMMA

 

She does, it's the rheumatoid arthritis  

 

Inside Avalanche's mind:

 

That escalated quickly.

 

S'all good. I mean, it's terrible to live with... but we're cool here.  

 

At this stage they definitely should know  

 

Eh you're right LOL  

 

I've been running an anime website for 22 years, my geeky hobbies are also a part-time job so nobody bats an eyelid these days. I'm putting my apartment on the market and spent 2 hours with the Estate Agent showing him around (should have taken half an hour, max) - he was in his late forties and was genuinely excited to see all the toys, original comic pages and movie props I have scattered around my place, mostly in glass cabinets. He asked if he could bring his 9 year old son over sometime to look around and have the same tour  

In my office, I have a cabinet with Hot Toys Iron Man, a functional replica of the transforming gun from the anime Psycho Pass, Mightron & Quakewave transformers and a few other odds and ends. My company makes suiting cloth, and we sell a lot of it to costume departments of film studios (all the suits in Gotham are made from our cloth for example) so I usually link my collection to that aspect of my job.

Despite the fact that I work in a very blue-collar manufacturing industry that isn't geeky at all, nobody has ever walked into my office and given me shit for my odd collecting habits. They are occasionally baffled, but always interested and respectful. They tend to then feel comfortable about sharing their hobbies with me.

Bottom line is people should accept what you love, and the bolder you are with your choices, the more people will respect them.

@Gallade - if your parents are struggling to understand your hobby, and so long as you aren't obsessing unhealthily over it, just try and explain what it is you like about Transformers. For me it's the nostalgia I get from over 30 years of living with these characters and the skill of the engineering that goes into them. Like Rubik's cubes with personalities   There's the community and social aspect too of course. Maybe try linking Transformers into your long-term career interests. Our last Editor has just been made head of marketing for a major UK anime distributor, turning his hobby into a dream job, and I travel to Japan at least once a year to cover an anime event and visit studios/developers for the website. Your parents might understand more about why you enjoy the hobby if you explain that it's not just about buying toys.

And by the way, everyone has something they love, be it trains, cars, board games, sport, whatever. Maybe try and relate your hobby to one of theirs.

 

25th anniversary is Silver.
26th is Reveal Your Secret Hobby.
27th is Marzipan.

 

Thank you for this. I've actually tried telling my parents that it's just the diversity of characters there are and that each character has a personality that just grows onto me as to becoming one of my childhood characters, if that makes sense.

So far, my dad is okay with the whole collecting thing. He says it's great that I'm doing something that'll get my mind off of like stuff that goes on in the family sometimes. He just kinda fiddles around with my TFs and just sits there wondering what's so special about them lol. It's funny to see him to do it at times as it makes me think he actually might want to transform the thing or play around with it.

 

Also I just wanted to say to those who shared their experiences, thank you so much. I'm quite happy that you guys have people who are very accepting of what you guys do and nobody has really judged you on what you do. I kinda wish the people at my school were accepting of that if I were to tell them.

 

Well, luckily basically all of my friends are nerds like me, so while they might not be into Transformers they don't make fun of my collection. My mum complains that if I keep buying toys we'll run out of space in the house but doesn't actually try to stop me (also, given that I'm 38 and I have a stable job I'm free to buy what I want ad long as I can afford it). I don't have a girlfriend but if I'll ever find one she'll have to be at least tolerant of my hobbies.