Hi there, I finally got the room to start collecting vintage G1 transformers... The thing is, I have no idear where to start. I want to start a MIB collection, but where should I start? Should I start collecting just autobots or decepticons? Or should I start to collect them by year? Does anyone have some advise for me?
Well i guess to start with it all comes down to finances, collecting G1 can be a pretty expensive task. I started of my G1 collection with just collecting my favorites from my childhood and then started going by each year of release, but thats just because ive always been the completist type, guess it all depends if you want to collect the whole line, or just certain characters.
Depends on where you want to start, if you like G1s, then start there. I do have some stuff that I am thinking to sell and would be a good kick off to starting off the collection. PM me and we can discuss there. Welcome to the collecting world. Hope you have a big wallet
Yea, my only suggestion would be to get those characters you liked the most and go from there. Me, I've never been a MISB guy, nor do I focus on G1, so I don't really know what it's like to hunt those guys down. Especially if you want only vintage or if you don't mind high quality repro-knock offs and official re-issues or whatever. But other then going after the ones you liked most, the only idea I can think of is simple. Start with Prime. Can't go wrong with the original Optimus himself.
I would suggest you look at two things first. What figures are you most nostalgic about and what figures are the most affordable, (upcomming and recent~ish reissues). If you go after the most expensive stuff first, you likely won't stay at it for long. Save your big purchases for special occasions, the right time, ect... In between the larger purchases pick up cheaper stuff. Basically spread the heavy hitters out between the figs that are more bang for your buck. Just my 2 cents, afterall if you are talking MISB, then they will all be rather pricey, so just don't rush things. I am not much of a MISB guy unless they are extra copies. I sold my MISB BT collection off, so all I collect MISB now is the Encore collection.
Pick US, Japan or both, then pick a year with your favorite bots. I would start with 84 and go year by year. If you have lots of cash to burn, you can probably set yourself up on eBay today. Otherwise it's going to take a lot of patience to wait for good deals. I find that most of the sellers in the Junkion Exchange here are aces, and give more than fair deals. Although, I hardly ever see anything exceedingly rare (for examples of exceedingly rare, look for the following collections in the collections showcase: Ras, cobra zartan, yigal, malach ra, hotspot17 just to name a few off the top of my head). If you go the Japanese root, I'd start searching yahoo japan. If you're not from Japan you may want to get an account with Rinkya (http://www.rinya.com), it's a service which allows you to purchase items from yahoo japan (as many sellers don't like to ship outside of Japan). Good luck! ~X
Yeah I'd say start off not being picky and just trying to find good deals on whatever comes (as others have said here). Don't chase individual figures into high bidding wars yet as you'll find you'll extinguish your funds very quickly. To start, I'd try to get a little familiar with price ranges and KO/bootleg figures and boxes before even starting in too far.
As with what was stated above start off with the characters you like. I would suggest starting off with the Classics as well. They are a great modern version of the G1s and its cheaper right now with the exclusion of the Botcon Exclusives.
Thanks for the advise, it really helps! I guess I´ll stick to what I liked most as a kid. I always had a thing for bad guys, so I´ll start from there. I already have three sealed giftsets (2 japanese and a hasbro version), that I got three years back. I´ll focus on the decepticons from ´84 to ´87 mib or misb. I also want ´84 and ´85 loose, but I´ll keep it at that for the moment. To start up my collecting frenzy, I just made my first six purchases. I bought a mib devastator, a misb set of insecticons, a misb blitzwing and a misb astortrain. I hope that I will have completed my decepticon collection from ´84 and ´85 in the next two to three months. Than go on to collect all merge groups and gitsets up to ´87. Thank you guys for your help
Awesome! Remember to post your collection up when you feel like it's presentable! Too bad you can't change your user name, it doesn't sound like you're going to be a newbie much longer. ~X
Wow, jumping right into things, congrats on those pickups. With that selection (84 to 87 Cons) watch out for new fake/bootleg boxes and inserts for Devastator and Soundwave, as well as misb Gnaw (a bootleg is just coming out).
Yeah I saw some of those on ebay. Thanks for the warning... I also just bought a misb octane and shockwave! Now I just have to wait for them to get here...
Merge groups and giftsets up to '87... not that's one expensive proposition, good luck and I mourn your wallet.
Some more tips: • Unfortunately there are bootlegs and knock offs of some of the more popular/sought after figures. A bootleg is an unlicensed copy of an official figure cast from the same mold used to make the official figure. Usually shortcuts in the mfg process make the quality inferior to the original article. A knock off is similar. It is a figure that is based off of an original figure to make the molds for the figure. They too are generally made of poor quality materials. Lately there has been a trend to make these fakes look more and more authentic by copying the packaging of the authentic figures but they can be spotted as fakes. Unfortunately the internet makes it hard to have the figure in hand to check it out to see if it is authentic. Check out the following sites to help you spot the fakes from the originals so you don't waste your money on something you think is authentic and avoid getting ripped off. bootlegs knockoffs pre transformers (I included this site because they are official releases but came out before TF were released). Generally speaking, the G1 figures tend to get the bootleg treatment while the newer TF figures get the knockoff (aka KO) treatment and end up in the dollar stores. THe KO's are usually a bit easier to spot because the colors, size and packaging are usually different. THe G1 bootlegs you have to watch out for. While some do come in different packaging, there are some new ones from China that are apparently using some of the original G1 molds and have tried to copy the G1 style from the boxes to make them look real but they aren't. G1 Mirage is one to look out for. So is G1 Optimus Prime. • Reissues are official toys reissued by Hasbro or Takara/Tomy. They may differ slightly from the original reissue but all and all are good for filling in missing figures. They generally cost much less for a MISP one vs. G1 and are great for opening up to have loose figures instead of opening up vintage boxes. • Check out the TFW galleries to see if you remember certain figures you had as a kid that you remember having/playing/wanting and go for those first. THen start branching out to other figures in the lines you like. Also check out the galleries at the following sites: tfu.info seibertron transformerland cobraislandtoys I hope I didn't scare you away from collecting Transformer figures (esp with the top point) but I hate to see new collectors get burned because they thought they were buying vintage G1 and ended up getting garbage instead. I am just trying to give you some info to make you aware of some of the pitfalls in this hobby. Oh and don't be afraid to ask for help in identifying figures on this board most of the people are very helpful and knowledgable. (Just make sure you try to keep the questions to the same thread). Good luck and happy hunting.
Can someone tell me what the best place is for buying mib/misb g1 transformers? I know about eBay, but I can´t find all the decepticons I´m looking for...
Good luck with your collection, man. I honestly considered starting a MISB collection of G1 years ago, but gave up and decided to just go with loose figures (some not even complete). I realized I'd be just as happy having them in-hand to transform. I had a huge G1 collection when I was a kid and over the years, I either sold some, lost some, or had them broken or taken by younger cousins. Since then, I've mainly gone for the ones that I've really wanted and I haven't kept it to "G1 only". I've also picked up plenty of the e-Hobby releases from 2002 (Ironhide, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Red Alert), the Japanese Takara re-releases right after that (Megatron, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus), Japanese Takara bookstyle releases (Prowl, Jazz, Tracks), and the US re-releases from Toys R Us (Silverstreak, Inferno). Before I jumped on all of these in recent years, I hit eBay back in '99/'00 and picked up a loose set of all 5 Dinobots in what I'd say is great condition. Other than that, I kept up with the ones I still had from my younger days (original G1 Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Ultra Magnus, Rodimus Prime, Devastator, Bruticus, Superion, Shockwave, Wheeljack, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Chromedome, Hardhead, Bumblebee and nearly every "little bot" in his size-class, and the list goes on). I just know this will be a very tough collection to amass, so as I said GOOD LUCK! You may want to narrow it down to a loose/complete w/box collection as the MISB ones are a bit expensive. It can be done, we've seen it happen, but I don't think I'd have the time or patience like you do with this. Are you planning to go all-out now? Or collect one at a time until it is complete? (You can often find auctions on eBay for very large G1 collections--though I'd watch paying that much when people have been burned so easily there). Sorry for the long post--keep us updated on your collection as it comes along!
Keep a check on the sales in the Junkion Exchange here. Also, you could try posting a list of your wanted items just below the sale board.
