You'll never own everything.

 

That's often a good thing, sometimes the repaints look far better then the originals.

This is an issue with Collecting anything in general

I prefer my Prime big and my Megatron bigger, sadly I still don't have a version of either I'm 100% satisfied with (just a personal gripe)

Not really, though the Takara versions are often targeted towards collectors specifically while the Hasbro ones are specifically aimed at kids.

Eh, he always comes back.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, people use to miss Bumblebee, Jazz and Starscream too.

True, but it also gives more leeway to Transformers branching out into far more things.

Agreed, but they can still be fun.

Eh, what movie isn't?

It is ridiculous....ridiculously awesome!

Actually Transformers are pretty much a minor fandom in Japan, where as here (NA) it's a much large pop-culture phenomenon. For Japan, since Transformers sell to such a niche market, they can (and have to) focus the toys to collectors as much as possible. However this leads to longer, slower release schedules and far more limited availability on many items, which also come with a higher price. For the west, Hasbro can't just focus on collectors, too many other people want in on Transformers funness as well, mainly the little kids. So Hasbro goes through a very delicate and always constant balancing act trying to please as many fans, both young and old, as possible.

It's not that Japan as a culture appreciates Transformers more, in fact it's almost the opposite. Transformers have such a smaller audience there, Takara has to put in more effort to make them look "better" so the collectors will be more willing to buy them since they're not as popular in general.

 

Have a family of four and eat out twice a month....boosh already there.

 

When you've got a plastic crack addiction, sacrifices must be made.  

 

For every toy where you say "I'll wait for a better redeco", there is a 50-75 percent chance it won't happen at all, or will be worse.

Saying "I'll wait" or "I'll wait until it goes on sale/clearance" makes it sell out faster.

You have at least one toy in your collection which by your own standards you shouldn't like, but you do anyway.

 

are these the murphy's law to transformers? because most of them sound pretty pessimistic ;P

 

Murphy's Law of TFs? Sure, why not!

-If you pay a premium for a fig you think will never see, it'll show up at your local store the next day and become a shelf-warner for the next 40 months.
-Corollary: if you hold out on buying a fig right away hoping for a sale, it's all of a sudden nowhere to be found and FP just announced a badass upgrade kit for it.

-GPS strikes again!

-If you mention "the 80's Transformers cartoon", that includes B.O.T. and Carnage in C-Minor
-If you mention "the 80's Transformers toys" that includes the Jumpstarters and Quickswitch

-That windowless MISB G1 grail you own is really a bunch of bundled carrots, but you won't find out until you've decided to open it on your 80th birthday. The shock results in you dying from a heart attack, and thus the ultimate irony is you never got to transform and fully enjoy said grail Transformer. And you poop yourself.

 

Our beloved G1 Jetfire will NEVER be reissued, encored, or turned into a Masterpiece.

 

Any time you buy something for your collection, you're asked if you want a gift receipt.

 

As an adult collector, you get strange looks from parents (with their kids) while you browse the various TFs.

 

For me, there are only 2 main uncomfortable truths:

1. You will never be rich enough

2. You will never have enough room.

Everything else I can deal with.

 

1. The painful dilemma of having to buy the targetmaster for Scourge, the headmaster and small guns for Fort Max, or the antenna for Roadbuster.

2. The pain at buying a figure brand new in the store you really want to display, and then having second thoughts at cutting the tape or tearing the package open.

3. The pain at having to buy any of the original G1 Japanese exclusives. The jap exclusive headmasters and cassettes, I'm looking in your direction.

4. When your girlfriend/wife mentions having kids in the future, and all you can think about is how you're going to protect your toys from them.

5. Knowing that no matter how high you bid on ebay, there's always someone willing to bid higher.

 

Not to mention that the opening exposition text scrolls by in an eerily familiar way.

Mine:

01. When you go looking for "clean" fan art of your favourite characters, you will always find badly-drawn porn or humanised TFs. (I honestly don't know which is worse - at least in the porn they're still frickin' robots).

02. When you kneel down to look at the TFs on the bottom shelf in Sainsburys, a little old lady will always rear-end you with her trolley because they are kept right beside the greeting card aisle. THEN you get the weird looks.

03A. Living in the UK, you never hope to see most of the cool stuff all of the American fans post about. Unless you want to pay $60+ in postage for a figure that costs $8.00.

03B. Or you live in London.

03C. As a UK fan you will also pay extortionate mark-up fees on all of the toys which have nothing to do with the currency conversion rate. (Honestly I don't care what the real reason is, I just know I lost a can of Sprite over my keyboard when an American friend casually mentioned how much Scouts cost in America.)

04. Hasbro hates Wheeljack.

05. The most fun you will ever have as a forty-seven year-old female is telling the gawping male teen on the till in TRU that the Leader Class Megatron you're buying is for your daughter...and yes, she's the twenty-one year-old stood beside you holding the basket full of TFAs. Thanks Mum, you're the best. <3

 

That was only the UK version. The US release had a Superman style 'swooshing' title sequence.

I prefer ours.  

 

That's only a staple for the UK release of the animated movie. Audiences in America did not see it until the Rhino VHS release years ago (if I am correct).

EDIT: Auto Morph beat me to it. BTW, I prefer the US version.

 

You mean the UK actually wins at something with Transformers? Yay us!

 

Well, he did specify that these were uncomfortable truths.

Anyhow, here's a few more:

-Because of hasty, rushed decision-making in the mid-80's, we are forever saddled with godawful names like "Rodimus Prime" and "Kup."

-G1 was so jam-packed with characters that no modern line will EVER re-create a full G1 lineup. It's just not feasible anymore.

-the fandom is so huge that you'll always be able to find a few passionate, vocal people who love or hate any given figure/character/series/idea, but the fact is that most fans probably fall into more of a nuanced, reasonable middle ground.

-no matter how we may try to rationalize it and stand up for it, the vast majority of the world will always view toy collecting as, at best, sort of a weird hobby.

 

I think it's probably whichever version you are used to.

 

 

Probably true. I grew up watching the "swoosh" credits. However, when I finally got to see the UK opening, I did like Victor Caroli narrating. That was a nice touch. Blended well with the other narration parts he did.

 

Fortress Maximus is just too freaking expensive for the average collector.