I'm sure this has been done before but I was watching a video where someone mentioned types of collectors so I then made a video discussing it. Then I thought it'd also be a great idea to get forum level feedback!

So, there's the "THEY'RE ADULT COLLECTABLES!!! ><" who maybe take things a little too far. And at the other end of the spectrum you have "WOOOOOO! TOYS!!!" where it's just for the love of the plastic.

Of course there are many more types and to categorise them might be a bit difficult. So...

1. why do you buy the toys
2. what do you get out of them?
3. Do you play with them at all and if so how? (ie, setting up battles, vroom vroom noises etc.)
4. Anything else?

I personally like them for the transformation aspect. Sure they look cool and have the character backing them up but I buy them, transform them back and forth and an awful lot then shelve them until I feel the need or want to fiddle with them again.

Oh and here's my video......(shameless plug).....

Vigalog - Standardised Collecting - YouTube

 

Because they look cool.

Happiness.

I transform them when I watch tv, am bored or sometimes,   (always wanted to use that one) and I like to arrange them in imaginary battles with Lego Clone Troopers.

I don't have a plastic addiction.

 

I'm that type of collector.

Which type buys to complete a set, opens every figure out of the packaging, transforms it at least once through, doesn't play with the figures but displays them in "action" poses, and stares at them every so often dazed in a sense of accomplishment. That type.

 

Sounds about right.

 

I'm a "woooo toys!" type  

I don't display much, but I play with them all on a rotating basis.

It's my personal entertainment.

 

1.Because I like them.

2.Some cool displays.

3.I occasionally fiddle around with them when changing my displays around but I don't really play with them.

4.I open all my purchases, I buy the vast majority of them online and am currently collecting 3rd party only due to a total lack of intrest in the official lines.

 

1. why do you buy the toys
For love of the series/characters. Most figures I buy to take out of package and fiddle around with. That's the default purpose. OCCASIONALLY (one in every hundred, let's say), I'll buy something to keep MISB specifically for display purposes.

2. what do you get out of them?
a kick. I get a mighty kick out of them.

3. Do you play with them at all and if so how? (ie, setting up battles, vroom vroom noises etc.)
As I said previously, they usually always come out of box to be fiddled around with. I transform em back and forth (it's a sort of fun jigsaw puzzle procedure for me), I pose them with other figures (sometimes I'll recreate scenes from favorite series of mine), and once in a blue moon, i'll play with them in a silly, overtly childish manner, just to relive the glory days.

4. Anything else?
This isn't a personal attack to anyone, but I /disdain/ the idea that common figures one can pick up at retail are adult collectibles, meant to be kept in box forever, and away from children. I can understand the former, and especially the latter, for figures that are actually of collector's value (rare exclusives, masterpieces, etc.), but a common figure off the shelf is a toy. That's really all it is.

 

1. why do you buy the toys

That depends on my motive for buying it but usually it's just to own it

2. what do you get out of them?

Again, that depends on my motive for buying a certain Transformer. If it's one I've been wanting for a long LONG time, I would have some sort of personal acomplishment.

If it's just your normal everyday transformer, I'd just probably hold back the prastic clack for a while.

3. Do you play with them at all and if so how? (ie, setting up battles, vroom vroom noises etc.)

Sometimes I like to transform them and examine all the fine details via Alt Mode and Robot mode. Just shows you how much detail really goes into making these figures.

4. Anything else?

Mmm, not really.

 

1. because i'm going through a mid life crisis  

2. a lot of nostalgia value

3. no they do not get played with all on display as i like to look at them ( maybe transformed once to see the alt mode or into the mode i want them displayed as )

4. i collect vinyl as well so this is just like that as i am starting to get addicted to hunting for a tf that is hard to find or expensive and getting the same buzz i get out of vinyl when i find it , get it at a good price and when it arrives in the post

 

I buy whatever TF catches my eye (not that many, mostly third party or MP) and throw it in my detolf and torture my 2 year old by telling him he can't touch.

 

I try to complete domestic Transformer Lines. Though I'm kind of a cheapskate, as I either pay retail or lower. Markup is only acceptable for vintage G1.

so my collecting style is to emulate the expansive ageless warzone of cybertron, its many cultures of living machines. Partially because of nostalgia growing up with late G1. Powermasters, and micromasters for example.
but I really do get into the modern fiction as well and don't want to miss out on what the next generation has for Transformers.

 

1. Because they're representations of my favorite characters. I only buy toys of my favorite characters, and then only if the toys are good.

2. Fulfillment.

3. Yes. I transform them from robot mode to alt mode and back again. I roll them around on the floor if they've got ground vehicle altmodes, and maneuver them through the air with my hands while making pew pew pew noises if they've got aircraft altmodes.

4. I'm not a virgin.

 

I'm somewhat of a cheapskate-cherrypicker. I'm not a completist or loyal to any one line. If it looks cool and the price is right (rarely above £25, though I'll splurge on a good leader).

I fiddle with them at my desk, and have a rotation of display figures on the shelf above my PC. Keeps things interesting!

 

1. why do you buy the toys
Because I like the way they look, I like the engineering, or am a fan or have some other connection to the character.

2. what do you get out of them?
Enjoyment, pure and simple.

3. Do you play with them at all and if so how? (ie, setting up battles, vroom vroom noises etc.)
depends on the toys, some get transformed a few times some just get posed and put on the shelf. The more fun they are to fiddle with the closer they end up to my desk/workspace to I can grab them easily.

I often set up battle scenes, and ones with spring loaded missiles have been know to attack my wife . . .

I also play a game called "How many weapons can you attach to Breacher"

4. Anything else?

Its Fun so I like and will continue as long at it remains fun.

 

1. Nostalgia and because they look awesome.
2. A huge kick  
3. Sometimes recreate scenes, but mostly just posed dynamically on the shelf  
4. I keep a lot of figures MISB, but currently leaning to open a lot of my newer and not as rare figures  

 

That type too.

 

1. why do you buy the toys

As a kid (back in the 80s) I liked TF, GIJ, Thundercats, Masters, etc...
I held onto G1 Jetfire through the 90s.
As I went shopping for supplies (as a young adult) I would always see Tfs on the shelves. Beast Wars and RID. I never bought them. But the presence was always there.

Then I saw the Alternators on the internet. Could have been TFW2005! I cant remeber the site... And MP1. WOW! My mind was blown!

I basically had the money and had the desire to reclame a touch of my childhood.

I LOVED the whole Alternators / BT line. And the Masterpiece line, too.

I stuck around with A/ E and Cybertron. Then the movie hit and I was hooked!


2. what do you get out of them?

A strange sense of peace (for warring robots. Ha!). Its complicated to explain...
I focus on the robot and admire all the details and colors. I imagine what it would be like to design and engineer a "robot" that changes form. I've got a background in art, so I've always been very visual...

3. Do you play with them at all and if so how? (ie, setting up battles, vroom vroom noises etc.)

No. I just pose them as dynamically as I can in my bookcases. I bought doll stands so they dont need to have thier feet on the shelf. When the feeling strikes me I pick one up and convert him. And (thanks to the TFW community) now I'm modding TFs. Especially HA Leadfoot... He's my best mod to date...
4. Anything else?

As an adult when you have some extra time and little bit of extra money a hobby becomes a life choice. Some buy cars, clothes, drugs, jewery, etc.
I collect Transformers and video games... Thats it. I'm off the streets. I'm safe. And I'm happy. I go to my job. I love my wife. We go on trips. Its a simple life...

But I feel much better knowing I have ROTF Leader Class Takara Buster Optimus Prime waiting for me when I get home.

I look at the amount of detail and thought produced into that toy and a calm washes over me... It's great to be a TF fan. And a part of this community!

Thanks guys!

 

1) i check out what i want and aim for those ones. my wants can be categorized as the ff:

- kitbashing purposes
- play
- complete a display area
- nostalgia

2) it makes me smile. i bring it to work and i'm pretty much zen the entire day not even the worse work day can bother me.

3) i do stop animations sometimes. yeah make vroom vroom noises when the the wife is looking once in awhile. take nice action poses and maybe take picutres.

4) dunno but most of the time i just have it display there or i bring one or two maybe three to work. i kitbash once in awhile.

 

1. why do you buy the toys

At the moment I only buy Movieverse leader class and some HA class
I buy them because mostly to see the design/engineering that was put in making them

2. what do you get out of them?

enjoyment, its like puzzles for me to solve and the "how did they think about that, cool" effect
seing the evolution of toys from simple transformation into complex "ROTF OP"

3. Do you play with them at all and if so how? (ie, setting up battles, vroom vroom noises etc.)

I transform them from robot to alt mode and vice versa, looking at the engineering that was put into these toys

4. Anything else?
can't afford TF toys when I was a kid so I buy em now
I'm a mechanical engineer by the way haha

 

1. why do you buy the toys
2. what do you get out of them?
3. Do you play with them at all and if so how? (ie, setting up battles, vroom vroom noises etc.)
4. Anything else?

1. I buy them because I think this is the only way robot toys are cool.
2. I get fun and happiness out of them
3. I pay with them. I set up battles to display them and I fiddle around with them while watching tv. I once made a blaster boom box out on Animated Ironhide.
4. I mainly collect stuff for my CHUG battle, though I have gotten stuff from other lines.