Love the Hunt. But during the 1st movie when we I couldn't find anything I ended getting caught up in the Hype and bought more figures then I should have even if I didn't like em that much. Ended up with six G1 Jazz and Starscream at one point. For ROTF I'm on the hunt again but this time I'm telling myself it's okay to leave the stores at the end of the day without anything.
I love the hunt. I do get that thrill when I see a figure I want on the shelves. While I don't go on as many as I used to, the 'toy run' is a great time to spend a day. Hitting up every Target/Walmart/TRU in the area looking for stuff. Sure it uses some gas but I get instant gratification, can make sure it is in good shape. Online, you just have to hope for good paint jobs, paying shipping & have to wait days/weeks. I live near enough to stores that I can just hit several them after work and it really only adds a few extra miles to my trip home. If you can't afford the gas for a few extra miles, you shouldn't be collecting toys. At least for me, ordering normal stuff on-line is just lazy collecting. The only stuff I order online are items only released in Japan & they are not stocked in local stores. The only US released figure I never saw in the store was Energon Ultra Magnus. I've seen every other normal released figure (since RID) in the store at least once.
The hunt is tedium, a necessary evil. Especially when one is OCD about proper and undamaged paint apps. Well, okay, it can be exciting too. Especially when I finally find something that had screwed-up paint on the first 100 that I looked at. Or when there's good paint on the only one I've ever seen in a store (I love you my Animated Skywarp).
And, oh yeah, I do enjoy a good local hunt to feed my plastic addiction, however, nothing beats the feeling of coming home sometimes to a box full O' goodness from BBTS that you just know you wouldn't find that stuff anytime soon in your local area. I guess I just enjoy getting new toy robots.
For me and other collectors who only nab a few lines tops, the thrill of the hunt is a necessary evil. Actually finding something is the true joy. I saw the proto greys of Universe 2.0 while I was in Iraq, and spent every day til release looking to see if they were out yet. I'm not really looking forward to that, especially not for three repaints and two G1 reissues.
Hunting brings the glory of staying on top of the hot toys. Mere desire is not enough, power flows to the one who knows how. I'm in a location favorable to the U.S. toy distributor trinity (target, walmart, and toys r us) So store exclusives are my real quests.
I like the hunt in stores but TRU is forever and a day away and my local Wal*Mart is in perhaps one of the most sketchy neighborhoods I have ever seen. I have been convincing myself that I don't like the Wal*Mart exclusives rather than braving the possible theft of my car stereo. So all I have to go by is Target and if there is a certain toy I want and Target doesn't have it, I have to turn to HTS or other online means, which I think is as much of a hunt as going to the stores. The online hunt is just as fun though, because some figures aren't in stock anywhere! Like Animated Wreck-Gar: the hunt for him has lead me all over the internet and back to the forever and a day away TRU in a quest for him, and I still have nothing to show for it. So I think that the hunt also includes internet hunting for me, and I love both! My local Target just put out the second wave of ROTF Deluxes and I got Chromia and Skids when I stopped by on my way to see a movie with my friends, so they were just sitting in my trunk, unloved for two hours. I was so tempted to open them in the parking lot and go into the movie late. But alas, I did not.
I don't even bother with the hunt anymore. It's just that it's always a pointless, fruitless exercise that seems to never yield any results. With the ROTF figures hitting the shelves simultaneously, the only figure I'd like to acquire is Ransack - because he's a biplane... Otherwise, I'd say about 95% of my acquisitions arrive in the mail (Well, You can't find G1s, BWs etc. on the shelves anymore... heh)
I absolutely hate hunting for toys now. Years ago, I'd enjoy it, but now I really don't have that much free time and I figure I have better things to do than to be driving around looking for them. Since a lot of my purchases have been imports as of late, hunting for figures hasn't really been an issue. However on the few domestic ones, the latest being TRU Darwkwind, I was lucky enough to grab one on the TRU right next to my local grocery store.
I used to love the hunt for new Transformers now I have grown to not hate it but strongly dislike it. I would spend an entire Saturday afternoon driving around North East Mass. and even Southern New Hampshire. Now with gas prices and owning a gas guzzler it doens't make econimical sense (and ecological sense burning all that gas either). Also with just getting married I much rather spend a weekend afternoon with my wife. So I pretty much just preorder stuff I really want from BBTS or order from HTS. In fact just placed an order for Deluxe Ravage and Mudflap along with Voyager Mixmaster on HTS in place of going out a hunting these down. Hopefull Ravage and Mudflap will be here by weeks end and Mixmaster sometime next week.
I enjoy the hunt most of the time collecting with my son looking for those ones that we are interested in. Its those hard to find items that I hate looking for it took me 3 years to get cyclonus instructions.
i enjoy the hunt and the constant need for new toys. i'm eagerly anticipating the new Generations figures.
Got back into collecting after the first movie, and I honestly think that the hunt was half the fun (especially for GI Joes for my cousin). I used to make midnight runs to Walmart on a regular basis, know all the stock days, drive all over. That has all changed in the past six months, and I think there are a number of reasons: 1. The lack of new product I want (searching for HA Mudflap and Red Rampage sent me over the edge) 2. Other Interests (weather is getting better, softball, hitting the gym, less time) 3. Wasting time and gas 4. Going in for Transformers and buying other crap that I don't need 5. The people shopping at Walmart (random people returning oddball items at midnight, people with their 6-year olds there on a school night, people passed out in the parking lot). Sadly, I think the hunt probably gave me a boost of adrenaline (as sad as that may seem), that I used to get from gambling, sports, lifting. Now that I am picking some of those things back up, I no longer need to be running around looking for toys.
The hunt is nice when it occurs naturally, like when you pop into Tesco or Toys r Us not expecting anything new and bam! there is a ROTF Lockdown for £8.68, and I enjoy the hunt when I visit the States because its new and different, but I don't think I could do a weekly drive around to 6-7 places, that would drive me mental. I tend to prefer to wait for the bargains nowadays. As I'm old and cantankerous.
I enjoy the hunt of priceless figures that discounted for cheap, Just a couple of week ago I got a henkei smokescreen (who I think it's pretty hard to get, especially here) for about 12 us
Agreed. I dislike spending resources going to retail stores or even looking on eBay for things. Granted I do like to shop as a leisure activity, and I do frequent retail stores for things like toys. I also like to "toy hunt" with friends, but I don't enjoy "the hunt" as part of toy collecting. For me, it's all about having a new TF in my hands. That being said, no hunt has EVER equated to making a new custom and holding that new custom in hands for the very first time completed. Few things in this world do, actually.
I like going to the store and getting stuff. I also live in an area where there's about 5 of every store within about 45 minutes of me, so it's pretty easy. I only order things online that aren't currently available in US stores. I also really don't like paying one large number for a toy, which is pretty much what you have to do to not be over-paying for something when you add in shipping if you're buying online. If I stop by Target on my way home from work and pick up a $13 toy it's really only coming out of my weekly "whatever" money that I carry around and buy coffees, sandwiches, and happy hour booze with. If I order that one toy online alone it costs me $20 after shipping. If I wait and do one large order then I'm dropping $100ish on a toy package; and to me that's a bill. I'd still be buying my coffee, sandwiches, and beer. And I get sick of things really fast. So not caring about a random $15 toy buy (that would've been 3 beers at happy hour) doesn't bother me.
