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paul053 wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:Wow, this sucks, but it's good to know no life was lost.

Don't take this the wrong way, but somehow that half melted Soundblaster looks kinda badass, it sucks that it's destroyed but still.

I was about to say that too but erased it. It looks naturally battle damaged...... sorry.......

If melted is natural battle damage than yes.

I think most of my figures, at least the G1 stuff, is completely gone. They were either melted together by plastic or to something else (by plastic), or in some cases there is nothing left. I even pulled off a few of them which were melted to the rug.





This one is a nice mix of G1 and G2 stuff. The big one on top is Blaster.



These were in a cardboard box, which did little to save them. Galvatron was melted on one side, his back, and his head. I did pull out the Jetfire and a Punch Counterpunch from that box.



This was the melted chunk I pulled off the carpet. You can't really see it from this shot but Pretender Grimlock's shell has been melted away from the waist down and there is still a good chunk of Scattorshot there as well as a few G2 stuff. I don't think any of these can be broken off.



Reissue Grapple and Inferno made it since they were behind something else I think. The boxes are soaked.



I guess you can tell who this one is. It's a 20th Anniversary Prime. All that's left of him are his legs and a melted torso. The other one I had didn't fare much better and is hardly recognizable.



This bin had a bunch of backing from late G1 and G2 figures, but nothing could be salvaged due to damage. I'm not even sure I was able to get into the bin. The part you can see in was the side of the bin that melted away.



Not really transformers, but my Legions of Power were also lost. They melted to the shelf, each other, and also to other pieces of plastic and cardboard.

I did pull out some Robot Heroes, some movie figures, and a reissue Astrotrain. I didn't bring them out of the house yet.

Wow, that is utterly painful to look at.
You could clean them up and sell the remains as "art", I'm sure somewhere someone will pay quite a bit of money to have these exclusive pieces of "modern art".
Could help with replacing a couple of your lost collection.

Too painful to watch.........

Dead Metal wrote:You could clean them up and sell the remains as "art", I'm sure somewhere someone will pay quite a bit of money to have these exclusive pieces of "modern art".

The first thing I thought about after the initial shock of having everything melted was "wow, this looks like modern art."

That sucks man, it really does.

But no one was hurt and Transformers are a lot easier to replace.

Wow, I'm not even sure what to think about that. It makes me realize how fragile our collections are.

Now I think if I get the opportunity to build my own house, my showroom is going to get some special precautions to be as fire proof as possible.

So what are your plans to replace this stuff? I'd hate to think of the dollar amounts needed to do that.

robofreak wrote:Wow, I'm not even sure what to think about that. It makes me realize how fragile our collections are.

Now I think if I get the opportunity to build my own house, my showroom is going to get some special precautions to be as fire proof as possible.

So what are your plans to replace this stuff? I'd hate to think of the dollar amounts needed to do that.

I did have plans that once I had a house I would display them, but now my collection is much much much much smaller. The best precaution I can think of is to make sure the walls and ceilings have some fire rating since cement board and tile kept the fire located only to one area of the house. I also don't think it would hurt to have a fire extinguisher if the fire is small enough to handle.

As for replacing them, I had made a list to the best of my knowledge for the figures I had collected. The list I had included around 140 transformers from G1 to current, boxed and opened. With the list I included some prices (as for other items they wanted either original cost or cost to replace the item with a replacement or current model), but gave up after I reached half the maximum allowed by the coverage for collectibles and still had half a list of TF figures not including other things that were there (like Legos, gas station trucks, Legions of Power, Dino Riders, hockey cards, Star Wars figures, etc).

To replace them is possible, but even with what little I could salvage due to the policy limitations I do not think I can get it all back. It's like selling your collection and getting around 1/2-1/3 of what they are worth (like Pawn Stars). You just can't replace a collection without getting full value or at least majority of the value of the items so you can actually replace them.

So when you have an insurance policy, check your limits and try to keep a running list of what you have (how long you've had it with a current price of the item).

Now that I know this, I'm goig to go back over all my records and have the current values punched in.

I'll think I'll start a thing where every year or so, I go through and keep the values of my collection up to date.

That and plan for making an indestructible room for my collection.

Also, you should totally sell the melted figures as modern art. For all you know, some art collector might buy them for a high enough price in which you can replace the entire collection.

Art is weird that way.

robofreak wrote:Now that I know this, I'm goig to go back over all my records and have the current values punched in.

I'll think I'll start a thing where every year or so, I go through and keep the values of my collection up to date.

That and plan for making an indestructible room for my collection.

Also, you should totally sell the melted figures as modern art. For all you know, some art collector might buy them for a high enough price in which you can replace the entire collection.

Art is weird that way.

Melted plastic looks very much like modern art. If the mounds of figures weren't melted to the shelf I would have liked to have taken them out of the basement, but I was stopped from spending all day down there with a hammer. The 20th Prime figures, at least one of them, has melted wires from the ceiling (I suspect) on it. I don't really know how that happened.

Keep me posted on making your indestructible room and for those who do not have lists of their collection I would recommend making one with prices (somehow I'm also missing MTG cards from my room , which I luckily had lists of so I know what I'm missing).

My indestructible room is a ways from being made, but I'll definitely post how I make it when I can finally afford the project.

Basically, when I'm done making my showroom it will be the one room that won't burn down in the event of a fire.

Definitely chisel all your TFs out when you get a chance. You never know if it actually might be worth selling.

I can't stand seeing soundblaster looking like that

lazerwave217 wrote:I can't stand seeing soundblaster looking like that

On the plus side a Soundwave TRU reissue MIB might have survived (it's not mint anymore) and I think so did a lose one. Soundblaster is still in better shape than Blaster was.

Seeing Soundblaster like that made me wanna cry. Poor Soundwave.

Sustain wrote:Seeing Soundblaster like that made me wanna cry. Poor Soundwave.

On the plus side, I think both of my TRU anniversary ones survived. I think. One wasn't in the same room as the fire while the other one was further away from the fire itself.

crazyfists wrote:

Sustain wrote:Seeing Soundblaster like that made me wanna cry. Poor Soundwave.

On the plus side, I think both of my TRU anniversary ones survived. I think. One wasn't in the same room as the fire while the other one was further away from the fire itself.

That's good. And you're alright that's a plus.

crazyfists wrote:Back in December there was a fire in my house located, of course, in the same room where my figures were stored. I'm pretty sure that majority of them were destroyed (re: melted) so as I slowly progress my way into the ground zero site I wanted to post some pictures of what I pulled out.

I'm so sorry to hear about this, crazyfists. I didn't see this post until today. I hope that you and your family are OK.

How did the insurance company help you with your collection?

Seibertron wrote:

crazyfists wrote:Back in December there was a fire in my house located, of course, in the same room where my figures were stored. I'm pretty sure that majority of them were destroyed (re: melted) so as I slowly progress my way into the ground zero site I wanted to post some pictures of what I pulled out.

I'm so sorry to hear about this, crazyfists. I didn't see this post until today. I hope that you and your family are OK.

How did the insurance company help you with your collection?

Everyone is ok, thanks.

Our insurance only covered up to a specific amount for all of my collectibles. That being said, I reached that limit easily with just my TF collection. I have no idea how much of it I'll actually be seeing or what was agreed to or if I'll even be able to get back what I lost. Everything was deemed a lost and any pieces I was able to recover I could keep. Sadly I think the only things that survived were not my G1 stuff or the stuff I had left sealed and what did make it has not been gone through yet. So to answer your question they only really help with giving money that won't cover your entire collection.

crazyfists wrote:

What I pulled out of the house are still locked up in a storage unit, but I was in there briefly to pull out some stuff (one of which was a TF poster to have framed - the condition was good and there was no fire/smoke damage, just regular wear). That Jetfire is in far worse condition than I thought it was. I think his head is melted. The Punch-Counterpunch (not pictured) I think is ok. I also saw an Astrotrain reissue (this one) which I have not taken out, but it does not look very good, just okay. I had to pry it out of the package like Soundblaster.

More pictures will come once we start to go through the junk (everyone else's stuff) in there.

Wow that was painful to watch, but I'm glad no one was seriously hurt.

That is really sad. Looking at fireproof boxes and cupboards online now. Best wishes mate

Jesus, I couldn't imagine. Almost cried looking though the pictures. It's great to know there were no KIAs, MIAs, and WIAs in the family. Best of luck to you and the rebuilding of your collection!

One of my Jetfires lived, but he was also in a separate bin then the rest of my G1 figures.





The yellowing was "normal" but worse post smoke damage such as seen below.

crazyfists wrote:

Grapple was mostly okay except for some melted tires and side/front chrome. He was melted to the plastic inside the package.



Inferno came out perfectly fine.

The damage to my reissue Astrotrain was quite extensive like Soundblaster. Melted front, wings, and aft. I didn't have time to try to transform him, but I think he's too damaged to do so properly.