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First of all...cant believe I am the first one to say; "you jelly?". LOL.

/ahem.

Anywho, seems to me OP wasn't really opining (see whut I did thar?) about peer pressure, per se. Personally I dont feel any pressure from this community at all, even when I see posts about Duque's entire 3-wall collection or Kanrabat's latest haul...all that stuff has, is, and always will be more about giving up props for people and supporting each others collection habits (like, 10 steps for robot nerds!). Aside from that its basic exchange of opinions and information about the community (releases, reviews, etc).

Seems to me OP has a bad case of teh jellys, in all honesty...but you gotta remember that's a fact of life. Everyone has a reason to be jealous of someone else, whether its a cooler car, higher paying job, hotter wife, etc. Maybe its just the fact that I am one of the "have's" as opposed to the "have nots"...but his post, as I read it, basically boils down to him complaining about how members of this community talking about their collections/collecting makes him feel bad.

Well, tough rocks pal. I don't have 1/10 the amount of figures Duque has, but I don't go getting my panties in a bunch and being all like "could you not post those pics please...makes my epeen feel real small..." When I see people who have rare and/or expensive bots (especially those few around here who have the entire MP line), I ignore that giant Big Gulp of Hatorade and realize that, either they have made sacrifices in their lives to be able to afford it, or they have made good decisions and worked hard in life so the don't need to sacrifice.

I feel almost NO competition around here at all...and I have NEVER read a post by someone and gotten the inclination that they were being haughty or snobbish, rubbing some new acquisition in the forum community's faces. Admittedly, there is a little bit of a "bragging" undertone occasionally...but I mostly attribute that to excitement brought on by "shiny new toy" syndrome than anything else.

Also, since this thread has quickly degenerated into a Fort Maxx debate...I am firmly in the Negative on him, scorponok and tripticon, for three reasons:
1. In the series, the characters basically sucked anyways. All three were the Keanu Reeves of the TF universe.
2. The toys Sucked also...thats right, with a capitol S. The originals were big, bulky, had crappy articulation/posability, the transformations mostly sucked (I am looking at YOU, tripticon!), and they broke more often than not.
3. I am intelligent enough to understand that, in this case, these companies are not pricing a toy based on the value of the actual merchandise, cost of production, etc. Fort Max is basically half a dozen square blocks of plastic that stick together and rotate around a little...how much production cost could that be? I could design him on Shapeway. The reason these people are charging $350 for him is because they are trying to sell nostalgia...and I find it insulting that a company would put out a chitty product with a ridiculous price tag because they assume I am an emotional sucker.

Now, Omega is a different story...HE had a personality, actual backstory, and depth within the series.

DJrasmo wrote:
Anywho, seems to me OP wasn't really opining (see whut I did thar?) about peer pressure, per se.

Yeah, I admit it wasn't quite the right turn of phrase, but I couldn't think of a better way to put it.

Well, tough rocks pal. I don't have 1/10 the amount of figures Duque has, but I don't go getting my panties in a bunch and being all like "could you not post those pics please...makes my epeen feel real small..." When I see people who have rare and/or expensive bots (especially those few around here who have the entire MP line), I ignore that giant Big Gulp of Hatorade and realize that, either they have made sacrifices in their lives to be able to afford it, or they have made good decisions and worked hard in life so the don't need to sacrifice.

You're totally misreading what I'm saying. I have never asked anyone to stop posting anything and never would. If I feel jealous the impetus is up to me to back away. And I already said that I understand that other people worked hard to be in that position and that no criticism is levied against them.

I feel almost NO competition around here at all...and I have NEVER read a post by someone and gotten the inclination that they were being haughty or snobbish, rubbing some new acquisition in the forum community's faces. Admittedly, there is a little bit of a "bragging" undertone occasionally...but I mostly attribute that to excitement brought on by "shiny new toy" syndrome than anything else.

Agreed. I have never encountered a bragger and I don't really want to.

1. In the series, the characters basically sucked anyways. All three were the Keanu Reeves of the TF universe.

I have to disagree with this. The Rebirth is a fantastic story, partly because of the epic feel that the escalation of giant giant robots brought to the scene. Neither of the giant robots are especially well characterized but then it is a 3-part 80s cartoon that introduced a good 50 or so characters.

The Japanese cartoon? Both of the above giants have amazing characterization with Fortress as a far more pragmatic and uncompromising leader than previous Primes and Scorponok manipulating and deceiving everyone.

The Marvel comic? I admit I don't like the Spike/Max characterization but the Scorponok/Zarak contrast is great.

2. The toys Sucked also...thats right, with a capitol S. The originals were big, bulky, had crappy articulation/posability, the transformations mostly sucked (I am looking at YOU, tripticon!), and they broke more often than not.

Of course they were big and bulky! That was the point! Who the hell wants a city that isn't big enough to hold their other figures. And yes, they weren't articulated, but that's like criticizing the SNES for not having 3D games; it was the norm at the time and the technology wouldn't allow for it. Even today too much articulation would be counterproductive on a figure that huge. I admit that those are relevant factors now, but sometimes nostalgia is more important than gimmickery. As (I assume) a toy collector you must understand that.

And I have never heard of cityformers being any more breakable than their smaller brethren. Maybe you were too rough on them?

3. I am intelligent enough to understand that, in this case, these companies are not pricing a toy based on the value of the actual merchandise, cost of production, etc. Fort Max is basically half a dozen square blocks of plastic that stick together and rotate around a little...how much production cost could that be? I could design him on Shapeway. The reason these people are charging $350 for him is because they are trying to sell nostalgia...and I find it insulting that a company would put out a chitty product with a ridiculous price tag because they assume I am an emotional sucker.

You don't seem to know what you're talking about at all here. Currently Fort Max is $330 on BBTS. That figure includes the markup that BBTS makes their profits on, AND the cost of shipping and importing such a large item in large quantities when they could be making a bigger mark up on tiny items like Revoltech. Then there's the strength of the yen compared to the dollar. Add that to the fact that this is a collectors' item, not a toy, and the amount produced will be far lower accordingly. When a Deluxe class figure sells at Botcon for $50 you should understand how expensive a smaller run is. Don't forget that in Japan living space is at a premium so buying a figure this size will be very daunting for a lot of people; the price reflects that risk. And finally the original Fort Max was produced at a time when petroleum was more plentiful and the toy industry was at its absolute strongest and it still cost $100 in MID-EIGHTIES' money.

Cant say ive ever fealt any kind of peer pressure from anyones posts or collection pics.

for me it usually comes from watching youtube...all the reviews of expensive or hard to find items.

most of the videos make me really want what ever the video was about...then i check ebay and think well i probably wont ge that unless im really lucky.

I like this topic. While admittedly all of my collecting is based on the principle of buy it now it won't be there later; I do sometimes feel the need to keep up with the Joneses.

Primarily I collect because it's what I do. But I pull an early trigger on a lot of items due to the PS1 version of Valkyrie Profile. For those who aren't into games, the PS1 version of VP is among the most expensive PS1 US releases evar. It fetches a few hundred dollars. A year after its release I held a copy in my hands for $20 and put it down. I have not been able to find a decent copy for under $100 since (though I haven't looked in quite some time). The same with the Universe line - picking up figures I missed then is now costly. I should have picked them up closer to release.

Third party products make me want to keep up with the Joneses. I see other people enjoying these and would like to join in too, but as a collector of Transformers and video games my hobbies are costly as it is.

Beyond that I limit myself to series. I want all of Prime and the Generations line; both of which are currently in focus. I want the NA released MP figures because they're amazing. And I have plans for Cyberverse so I collect that. This holiday season has seen a lot of Prime and Generations exclusives occur; which is costly. With Encore releases I tend to pick up what I missed out on as a kid - and Fort Max is definitely one of those releases.

So yeah - collect what you want, but sometimes it's best to pull the trigger now than it is later.

datguy86 wrote:
So yeah - collect what you want, but sometimes it's best to pull the trigger now than it is later.

This is another concern of mine. This is literally the only time this toy will be available for this low a price again, in a year or two this figure will be at at least the $500-600 mark.

Been collecting tfs not because of peer pressure. Ever since the pilot episode back in 1985 (when it first aired in my country), I got hooked.

What I get from our peers here about are the massive info dump on trends, what to and what not to do in collecting. Do I envy my peers? Human nature allows for it thus......well, collections like Ryan's is a standard I want to emulate, more like a pipe dream, but hey, we all are allowed to dream no?

I don't allow peer pressure to go out of hand though. My target figures are finite (that's why I only focus on G1 and a few MPs or something that arouses my fancy and of course economics.)

P.S.

And thanks btw Diem for the fast replies.

fenrir72 wrote:
What I get from our peers here about are the massive info dump on trends, what to and what not to do in collecting. Do I envy my peers? Human nature allows for it thus......well, collections like Ryan's is a standard I want to emulate, more like a pipe dream, but hey, we all are allowed to dream no?

Well Ryan managed to make a career out of owning Transformers. Obviously that's a reason to complete work on our voodoo dolls of him but fair go to him for making a success of what he loves.

And thanks btw Diem for the fast replies.

No problem. I hope we can cut a deal in the future.

Diem wrote:The Rebirth is a fantastic story

...


I think I just had a stroke.

I understand you're entitled to your opinion, but I had to say something. Rebirth is so inadequate when it comes to the story of the Headmasters and Targetmasters, especially considering how good the Japanese Headmasters and the comics versions of the story were. If those hadn't existed, maybe Rebirth could pass, but this way? It's kinda sad knowing its wasted potential. I do understand it was made that way because the cartoon was canceled, but then they should have just left it alone and ended it with the Return of Optimus Prime. But, there were toys to be sold, so of course the promotion had to be done. But that's the only purpose I see to "season 4."

I'm not feeling the pressure. I salivate over certain things but I take the time to consider whether or not the price is worth it for the play value it'll give me. Fort Max for example takes up way too much space and won't keep me occupied for long so no, I wouldn't buy him for more than £50 and even then I'd think I was paying too much for something I wouldn't really play with.

I feel grateful that I can afford this hobby at all. Yes, I wish I had more money to spend on it but then maybe I wouldn't appreciate the figures I have as much.

No peer pressure at all. I buy only what I like and what I can afford.

I don't care if, for example, a thousand people tell me they bought Encore Sixshot, and that he's the most awesomest toy ever. To me, he's a brick with six rather forced alt modes, and I won't be buying him.