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Once I got some Movie 2007 TFs, I fell in love with the aesthetic and complexity and even though I also got some Animated and Classics, I never really got into them. At a point during RotF, I decided to focus fully on collecting any unique bodytype that has the movieverse aesthetic.

Bodytype meaning I only have one Ironhide (DotM leader), but three Bumblebees (classic Camaro, Trans-Scanning Protoform & HftD Battle Blade) for example. And no repaints, remolds or same-body new toys (in other size classes).

There was an exeption in the case of Chevrolet Aveo Swerve, a Universe release. His styling just screams movie-but-not-quite and now that we're lacking a true Dino figure, I'm including him to play that part.

All was well until the dreaded year of 2010. Hasbro threw any pretense of continuity overboard and released four different lines, Hunt for the Decepticons, Generations, Power Core Combiners and Reveal the Shield. Featuring G1, Movie, Animated and new characters, it was truly maddening. What continuity was PCC? Or Hailstorm, or RtS Deluxe Optimus? At first I could simply follow my own rules. But when PCCs hit retail, I felt they were borderline movie-ish. The lack of background, plus of course Smolder featuring in Cyber Missions got me in the end. Ignoring all repaints and Classics rereleases for HftD wasn't too hard either, leaving only a scant few new molds which were complex enough (Lugnut for example) to make the cut. And what about WFC/FOC?

Long story short, the releases from this year really kept pestering me. More and more molds found their way onto my wishlist, at this point all unique sculpts originating from the 2010 lines. Okay, fine, have it your way darn completism.

Then came DotM, which was easy enough to break down to want/don't want. And then... Prime. And those Alternity molds look pretty Bayformerish too.

At this point I feel like I'm making excuses to make figures I want fit my own rule. And I'm starting to believe I should just drop all pretenses, get whatever I want and fit them into one giant all-encompassing personal canon. But that just opens the flood gates for I am a completist and getting all of Prime means turning my attentions toward expensive Takara-exclusive molds like Breakdown and all Arms Microns and Beast Hunters remolds...

It's maddening. Has anybody else experienced such personal headaches which just keep pestering every purchase which isn't really part of your planned worldbuilding?

I use separate "worlds" or contexts, if you want, for each shelf or section.

Going by shelf, I currently have Animated, Prime, WfC/FoC, dinos (PCC, Animated and Classics) and PCC commanders. Oh, plus a corner for Sentinel Prime with HA Jazz, Whirl, Icepick and Sandstorm.

I did try focusing solely on the movieverse, as that's what brought me back into collecting, and I do go for only one of each character (my recon Ironhide and RotF have been replaced by their DotM and HftD counterparts), but then Generations, RtS and HftD hit. I just place non-movie aesthetics on a different shelf - and they're all in Italy right now, in my cabinet in my house over there.

As a recovering completist of numerous things in my life (ready to fall off the wagon with TFs), I say completist for one line, and for everything else buy the molds you really like.

Then take a deep breath and slowly get the rest

I've taken Prime as my completist line, and am nibbling at generations, G1 reissues and masterpieces. I'd love to have one of those rooms with 20 glass cabinets all full of TFs, but lets be realistic.

Sabreblade in 3... 2... 1...

RhA wrote:Sabreblade in 3... 2... 1...

Don't forget JelZe.

As a rule of thumb, I usually never buy figures from a TV show line that aren't actually on that show. However, with TF Prime I have been breaking that rule. I recently bought Kup, Rumble, UM and Thundertron and none of them are in the show (yet at least). I'm not bothered by this though because they are all great figures. Yet I did not buy Airachnid because she is simply not worth my money or hunting time.

So, for TFP I didn't follow my own rule that helps cut down on my purchases and keeps me from buying the many needless retools/remolds. But like gavinfuzzy said, I guess I just buy what I like and not buy what I don't. You just have to ask yourself if you really want that figure or not and don't talk yourself into something you only sort of/don't really want. Sometimes this is easier said than done!

i like to get the cast first then get ones that were not part of the cast last. i break this rule a lot.

My rule is pretty simple: never pay full retail price except for a "favorite character" (which usually implies a universe G1 homage).

The last time I broke that rule was to snag a Cyberverse Clone Trooper-to-bomber figure. It was the only one I have ever seen in the wild, so I dropped ten bucks for it.

I also have a general guideline against buying vehicles for my action figures, but I bought the Cyberverse Ark for eleven bucks in order to get the exclusive Roller.

I tend to stay within my collecting rules. I have, unfortunately, broken them from time to time. Later I ended up regretting most of those purchases because they don't really fit into my collection. They are just kind of sitting there by themselves.