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Recently I came to terms with some thoughts that have been lingering and brewing in the back of my mind for a long while. Let me start by saying that the focus of my collection since around 2007 has been Classics and Generations.

For a while, I was collecting these figures in two distinct ways, buying official releases and buying unofficial/3P figures. I've talked about this a lot on the podcast in terms of pursuing the best version of a character regardless of maker.

One of the biggest problems with this approach over time has been the waxing and waning of quality and availability. Both sides of the equation have had their problems. Official product for a long while, especially in the early days of the branded Generations line was outright bad. Unofficial product often looked amazing, but was utterly dreadful to handle. Neither option kept a consistent 'look' to their lines often making one group or product look out of place or out of scale with the rest.

Eventually I came to a place where I would say I was buying 60-70% unofficial and looking to official product as a second choice option. Something really interesting happened for my collection during Titans Return though and it all kind of started with Hardhead.

Fansproject had been forever in releasing their version of Hardhead and to make it more complicated, their Highbrow pretty much sucks. In short order, Hasbro/Takara put together a set of the main Headmaster dudes and well, they looked really good together. Individually, perhaps they weren't superior to the FP versions, but the group absolutely was in its completeness.

I kind of accepted this and just carried on, moving my unofficial Headmasters to some remote corner of my collection. As months went on, I found that for the sake of consistency, I was doing this more and more. Sixshot, Greatshot, Astrotrain, Octane... A play environment was evolving and where some unofficial figures might have looked nicer on their own, they were increasingly sticking out among the cohesive wave after wave of the official figures.

Something else curious happened to me in that I began picking up and messing with my figures again. To be frank, most unofficial stuff is not fun to play with. Not only is it difficult, but there is a hint of fear in possibly breaking something on an expensive collector piece. It was something I never really factored in but elegant designs were beginning to win me over especially with how it brought me back into actually transforming rather than just looking at my figures.

Now, don't get me wrong. There are still a whole host of excellent unofficial figures. My take on it has changed more to the realm of pursuing them when there is a character I do not think can or will be done in an official capacity now. So, more like seasoning rather than the meat of the meal.

It also has to be said that there are many official releases that need a little more to be truly...good. Combiner hands and feet on most official combiners are almost mandatory. Sticker sets help rescue vacant decos. All this though...its a fun thing for me and not really a burden.

tl;dr this is the story of how I came back around to a much more normal state of collecting and enjoying my toys. I really appreciate the way that Hasbro and Takara have made a Transformer ecosystem and are making stuff that no longer exists in a wave by wave or series by series vacuum.

How have your habits with your collection evolved, especially with the line-wide changes of the past few years?

I haven't been on the boards in earnest for a few weeks and I'm disappointed such a detailed and well thought out post has no replies. Wtf Seibertron users, sheesh.

My habits haven't really changed but I think your points speak to my almost always tempered excitement for unofficial product reveals. Iron Factory and MMC Reformatted are about all I go after regularly anymore and those are two lines with more-or-less uniform aesthetics.

My biggest issue with lines like Cyberverse and RiD before it is the lack of a real, as you phrased it, ecosystem. Armada had toys that were very much aimed at kids while also providing some uniformity in its approach. Cyberverse is a choice of 8 different trash versions of the same 4-6 characters ad nauseum.

My change in collecting is a little different. I don't collect third party figures but I took a break lasting about 5 years because I was tired of my only option being crap movie toys. Now me calling movie toys crap is my opinion and if you like them than there's 1 more toy on the self for you. Now the change in my collecting happened when I started again and decided to buy what I like not just because it says Transformers on the box. When I open a new toy or open the box a used toy came in, I feel good opening it, transforming it, and than displaying it. I'm enjoying collecting bots again.

My collecting habits haven't changed all that much overall with a couple of small changes over the past couple of years. I'm a Has/Tak official product only collector. Not that I have anything against 3rd party offerings, but budget pretty much rules them out for me.

My collection up until recently has been strictly universe/classics/generation type bots, and I was a near completionist in collecting the lines. I started back up at the beginning of Combiner Wars and went with mostly Hasbro product, except when Takara put out something that Hasbro didn't (Megatronia/Grand Galvatron/Bauldigus). Same thing went for Titans Return. I backwards put together most of the T30 lineup as well (with a number of Takara Legends supplements).

TR Arcee was one bot I collected that started me taking a longer look at my completionist tendencies. See, I already had T30 Arcee, and by comparison, TR Acree sucked, and while a die cast UM head is kind of neat, it is also kind of useless (except for making a mace of faces with the Throne of Primes mace).

So after that I started questioning getting a new version of a character I already had, especially when the new version is not as good as the toy I already had. As an example, I would have skipped Siege Chromia (I already have T30) if I didn't get her at the $9.99 mistake pricing from Hasbro Pulse when they went live. I did skip Selects Nightbird, already having the Takara Legends one.

The next thing that made me change up my collecting habits a little bit was the TLK line and specifically the clearance prices at Walmart. I already had a Nitro Zeus to serve at Thunderwing's body at this point and snagged a Cogman to be a body for TR Shuffler. But when Walmart started clearancing out the line to make room for Studio Series, I snagged a $13 Leader Megatron, $4 deluxe Barricade and a second $11 Nitro Zeus. This opened the door toward supplementing my collection with some movie toys as well.

The most recent change in my collecting is driven by money and space, and I've implemented a rule (that I will most likely break, probably more than once) that if I get a new version of a character I already have, then I have to sell off the older one.

I can't tell you how liberating this actually was for me. Especially for toys that have pretty much been sitting in a bin untouched for a year or 2 since I last played with them. Deciding which ones to put up for auction made me really take stock of what I already had versus was was new and incoming. I really began to think about what I liked about the older version and whether any potential new version was going to be better. For the ones I decided to sell off, transforming them 1 last time for the ebay photos was a very satisfying farewell before they hit the auctions.

So no really big changes to my collecting habits, but rather a number of smaller ones that have me now more satisfied overall than when my collection was bigger.

From what I remember from the early episodes of the Twincast podcast and from the posts made around this time,most of the active user from the forum were trying to build the "Neo G1",but there was this rush to get it done.People were buying toys not because they were interested,but for the sake of "Neo G1".
I remember how many people were after the henkei Ratchet and Ironhide or the third party city commander(if they were lucky to have the classics Ultra Magnus toy).

I was tempted to try having a collection like that,but realized I didnt have any interest in some of these characters or toys.

I guess it was a good thing I didnt have the money at the time,it makes you reconsider what you actually want in the long term.

Well, I suppose it all started, as for many of us, back in 2006 when Classics started up. I hate and love that line so much. But yeah. I wanted the new versions of G1 now! I don't care about the price! HasTak won't do it. I mean they only put out a recolored version of Onslaught for Hardhead! Gimme those Fansproject and third-party combiners!

And... yeah. Like what Counterpunch said about the third-party stuff feeling delicate and difficult to transform. MMC's Feral Rex was a big cludge, but Titan-class Predaking? I love the guy! I started selling off my third-party stuff and going with the smaller, simpler, and most important, more fun HatTak stuff. I think at the moment, I've got some upgrade kits, MMC's Hearts of Steel toys, Impossible toys' Quintesons and Unique Toys' Sharkticons. And those Quints might be going bye-bye really quickly.

Overall, I think I just want to get less of things since I have less space to work with.

I started out wanting to get every character from the original cartoon until the movie. And then some! And ... mission accomplished. Between 3P and official toys Tripticon was the last major character I needed. Greenlight was the last minor character.

Of course we have scope creep. Toys just keep on getting better and better. The MP line drew many CHUG collectors into it and 3Ps all do MPs now. I didn't want to replace my entire collection just for the sake of getting the latest. Don't even have the room. Now we have all new lines and it seems like the same sort of problem. Do I really want to get the whole cast all over again?

And I find I just .... don't care to have the latest, best iteration of the character. I don't think I really want to have THE BEST Omega Supreme or THE BEST Jetfire. Heck, I don't have room for the ones I already enjoy. I have both Seige and Titans Ultra Magnus ... but I honestly like old City Commander more. Even if he is the inferior product now. We have a new Hoist and a new Grapple coming out. A part of me wants them because they ARE better. But another part of me is saying "uh, do I actually like Hoist all that much? Ain't he just a checkbox to me?" And there's SO MUCH I could replace. I could replace all the Combiner Wars combiners with larger, more impressive, KOs. There's a ton of better Devestators out there now. Making "the BEST" collection, at this point, is another giant rabbit hole in my eyes.

So I think I'll refocus on things that would make me happy and not worry about "the best." Maybe don't get the guys who are only kind of "meh" to me and focus on the guys I really love - like the Seekers! They are finally making the Seeker mould of my dreams! Right after I had to put everything away, lol. Maybe I'll break everything out one day to have a nice photo session.

My TF collecting had been through just a single major change, but it's been a big one.
When i got back into the TF world, i started buying everything i could find, from every line.
I had almost everything, from BW, RiD, Prime, Animated, Unicron trilogy, Bayverse, alternators and MP. This in addition to actively collecting Lego, Super Sentai mecha, Figuarts and Gundam kits, and lots of books to top it off.
Ofcourse, when you're doing this, money goes fast, and it also takes up huge amounts of space.
So, shortly after i moved to my previous house, i decided to purge. I kicked out all TF's except MP's.
I did start buying Micromasters, to have something G1 that doesn't take up a lot of space and money, and i have almost everything i want from that line.
Nowadays i still have my Micro's, and i only buy MP's as far as TF goes, both HasTak and 3P (but only Fanstoys, it keeps the pace and thus the spending in check).

Getting to this, the major shift in my collecting was in late 2013.

Prior to that, I got toys solely based on motion fiction I.E. movies and tv shows. I didn't even pay attention to things outside of that. I wanted to complete show and movie casts.

But starting then, I got T30 Trailcutter, and started reading the comics. From there, I started collecting generations and things that didn't really have fiction or were comic fiction. And then I started going completionist on all categories, vastly expanding what I wanted to get.

After the past 5 years, I have a fairly large collection that I enjoy, and now I am shrinking it back down some, focusing on filling in holes, I'm not the type to outright replace an older figure, I just display them side by side. and I only get dups if I like the character or if the toys themselves are really good.

Scale is also not really a concern for me, I have no qualms about mixing toylines for the most part

I've not really dabbled into the 3P stage either. I have 1 3P guy, and it's something generations would never give. And a few upgrades, but that is it.

The Prime Wars trilogy had a profound effect on my collection. Firstly Combiner Wars caused me to get rid of all of my third party combiners (I still have nightmares about transforming Fansproject Menasor), followed by Titans Return where for the first time absolutely any character seemed possible. That there was hope we might get figures of obscure characters changed everything for me.

I got rid of just about every third party toy apart from Perfect Effect Warden and iGear Huffer and Pipes.

Now I'm happy to wait for Hasbro and Takara to deliver the goods. I'm also keeping multiple versions of the same characters if the toys mean enough to me, rather than trying to get the definitive version.

Only big issue is my weekend budget. I can only afford most of the smaller figures. Laying aside additional money from each weekend to get bigger figures like voyagers is a real pain after toys became more expensive in iceland (scandinavia) after 2013.

Primacron's Little Helper wrote:The Prime Wars trilogy had a profound effect on my collection. Firstly Combiner Wars caused me to get rid of all of my third party combiners (I still have nightmares about transforming Fansproject Menasor), followed by Titans Return where for the first time absolutely any character seemed possible. That there was hope we might figures of obscure characters changed everything for me.

I got rid of just about every third party toy apart from Perfect Effect Warden and iGear Huffer and Pipes.

Now I'm happy to wait for Hasbro and Takara to deliver the goods. I'm also keeping multiple versions of the same characters if the toys mean enough to me, rather than trying to get the definitive version.

Same, here. Especially trying to transform FP's menasor. heck, that can extend to most third-party toys overall.

Rogue-Primal wrote:Only big issue is my weekend budget. I can only afford most of the smaller figures. Laying aside additional money from each weekend to get bigger figures like voyagers is a real pain after toys became more expensive in iceland (scandinavia) after 2013.

What happened in 2013 to change the price so dramatically?

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:

Primacron's Little Helper wrote:The Prime Wars trilogy had a profound effect on my collection. Firstly Combiner Wars caused me to get rid of all of my third party combiners (I still have nightmares about transforming Fansproject Menasor), followed by Titans Return where for the first time absolutely any character seemed possible. That there was hope we might figures of obscure characters changed everything for me.

I got rid of just about every third party toy apart from Perfect Effect Warden and iGear Huffer and Pipes.

Now I'm happy to wait for Hasbro and Takara to deliver the goods. I'm also keeping multiple versions of the same characters if the toys mean enough to me, rather than trying to get the definitive version.

Same, here. Especially trying to transform FP's menasor. heck, that can extend to most third-party toys overall.

It's like we collectively forgot that toys should be fun.

The other thing that changed for me was moving from US/Asian e-tailers to European ones which meant deciding what I wanted much more in advance because of the limited stock they tend to have.

ScottyP wrote:I haven't been on the boards in earnest for a few weeks and I'm disappointed such a detailed and well thought out post has no replies. Wtf Seibertron users, sheesh.

Busy time of year, bro. Lots of beer to drink, and not much time for coherent thought.




The beer, however, has been drunk, so here we go with the thoughts....


The changes in my habits have actually been the opposite of CP's. While I still buy a lot of mainline stuff for my kids, I've really only kept Studio Series for myself, and I'm getting ready to liquidate a large amount of that. I don't get much enjoyment out of the regular figures anymore. There are a few stand out exceptions, but for the most part, I just see them as kids toys. That is totally my hang up, and nobody should feel insulted by it, I hope. I thought that maybe I would continue to pick up the Takara LG releases, as I tended to love their superior decos, but when Hasbro forced them to cheapen the product, that ended that. While I appreciate what Hasbro is doing with the lines, its just not for me anymore.

I have focused almost completely on Masterpiece figures, which I include 3rd party figs in. What I want is the best possible representation of the characters. Primarily focusing on the original G1 lineup, but any character I enjoy I'll pick up. My standards are quite picky as well, and I have no problem replacing a much loved figure if a better one comes out. The complicated transformations are something I quite enjoy, as long as it makes since. I'll admit, this tends to give Takara the edge over 3rd Party.




At one point, many years ago, I was a completionism, and had a couple thousand figures. It was more of a compulsion really, and at times I made bad financial choices to get the latest figures. Eventually I came to my senses, around the time of the second movie, and I sold off over 90% of my stuff, and made a pretty nice dent in the mortgage. Since then, my collecting has only continued to narrow and I find much more enjoyment and contentment from a smaller, focused collection.

I used to cherry-pick until the introduction of the Classics line in 2006, and then I was all-in on Hasbro Universe 2.0/Generations through Thrilling 30 (except for Mini-cons and convention exclusives) as I contracted Neo-G1 fever. I stayed away from third-party releases except for an early attempt at Arcee and the Paradron Medic, which turned out to be both horribly over-priced AND horribly constructed. I had a similar approach to most of the main-line Bayverse figures from the first two films, but a tighter budget in 2011 led to picking up only DOTM figures that specifically appealed to me. Of those, some were of favourite characters like Shockwave and Sideswipe; others were picked up because Hasbro was starting to simplify the conversions, making them less fiddly and more stable (read: more FUN) than their ROTF counterparts. I really disliked a lot of the character designs from Age of Extinction, so the only figures I grabbed from that line were Evasion Mode Optimus and Deluxe Lockdown.

When Combiner Wars launched in 2015, I decided my days of Neo-G1 completionism were over. I know I'm in the minority, but I never cared for the combiner gimmick, and I wasn't about to sink a ton of money into a year's worth of figures that I didn't expect I'd like, including new versions of previously non-combining characters (all those Autobots!) that had already been given more suitable CHUG updates. Giving up that goal was also very much a result of looking back at my collection and seeing just how much time and money had been invested in figures I didn't actually like, just for the sake of having them. I did wind up picking up a handful of the Combiner Wars deluxes, and I've been surprised to find just how fun some of them are as stand-alone toys, but I'm still quite pleased with my decision to scale back. Titans Return and Power of the Primes have both yielded a lot of figures that I'm really happy to have, but I also feel like I can enjoy them more individually than I probably would as mere components of a complete line-up.

Long story short, I am now quite happily back to my old cherry-picking ways. I have grabbed various Studio Series releases here and there -- again, primarily favoured characters -- though I'm ultimately disappointed by the line for its fussy engineering, sparse paintwork, and habit of making nearly every Deluxe figure wear the top and hood of its vehicle mode down the length of its backside. I didn't expect to get suckered into Siege as deeply as I have, but so many of the figures are better designed than their old CHUG counterparts, making them quite hard to resist. I haven't seen a lot from Earthrise that I MUST have (yet), but I suspect that may change once the line is released. And really, that's what I'm digging the most about collecting Transformers these days: buying something on a whim and discovering a toy so enjoyable that I don't want to put it down.

I got into the TF collecting game late. I was there for G1, but took a huge break. It was around the time of the first movie that I started thinking about Transformers again. The movie didn't do much for me, but Prime got me hook, line and sinker. I bought a lot of Prime figures, learned about Generation figures and started filling in the back log. After that I was buying everything and everything, basically just throwing **** at the wall to see what sticks.

When the Prime Wars Trilogy ended and Siege started I finally found my collector's voice, "Neo G1" in the Gen line. The wake up call was that I realized that they are going to just keep releasing the same characters over and over again and there's no hurry or need to get each and every one of them. Now I'm looking for fun figures that best represents a character to me in the standard retail line. Siege was the first time I stopped to think if I really wanted or more importantly "needed" a figure for my collection. I am also forcing myself to consider if I get a new figure what am I going to do with the older version. The end result left me with several boxes of figures to sell, but a cleaner, concise and more enjoyable display.

After being lost in a whirlwind of plastic and purchasing, it feels nice to finally have a focus

Primacron's Little Helper wrote:

Rogue-Primal wrote:Only big issue is my weekend budget. I can only afford most of the smaller figures. Laying aside additional money from each weekend to get bigger figures like voyagers is a real pain after toys became more expensive in iceland (scandinavia) after 2013.

What happened in 2013 to change the price so dramatically?.

Honestly i've never been so sure my self. Could be that around the time that Transformers toys became more detailed the Icelandic króna (ISK) while never has a strong economic value against other currencies and thats why stores rack up the prices so they afford the cost of getting them.

That's all i can guess.

I started collecting transformers as a kid; I was around for RID 2001 and had a couple figures, but I got into it really in 2007 with the movie. In college, CW started, and I bought my first couple figures online, and it all just kinda spiraled from there. For most of that, I was really stressed out a lot of the time, and that was reflected in how I collected. I put a really heavy emphasis on aesthetic perfection, and eventually it got to the point where the toys I used to make the standards didn't meet them. Like Counterpunch said at the beginning, I pretty much forgot this was for fun. And then I graduated and I finally chilled out, and I remembered that, yeah, I bought Bruticus because I was super worried about missing out on a combiner, but also because those summers in middleschool watching G1, I thought Swindle was the greatest, and I really liked their faceplates. I looked up and realized, I really enjoyed most of what I had.

Since then, I've moved from buying a lot to buying a few more expensive things, although lord knows Siege and Studio Series make that inconsistent. I really try and keep an eye out for favorites. I always thought Astrotrain was amazing, and yeah, Siege A-train was pricey, but it's the best version of a boy I really like. Same for Studio Series Blackout. I've got, I think, the bulk of my collection. Now I'm just filling out those boys like Optimus Exprime from TF GO or BWN Big Convoy that I always thought were super cool and that I never had the opportunity to pick up. And I keep up with retail, because man HasTak is killing it these days. Just what's announced of earthrise contains like three grails for me, and I never thought we'd get an allicon.

I guess the big change in my habits is... I like Transformers more now.

And you're doing it for the exact right reason: you're having fun.

Recently, I've had a breakthrough regarding my collection. I had gotten somewhat out of control in the last year with both Siege and Studio Series. I was buying everything. Except the Constructicons. But when this whole virus problem started and I started spending more time at home, I had the time to look at my collection as a whole, as well as its parts. I always separated my figures by line. So here I was, taking account of everything I have, and I started realizing that a lot of these figutes are here for the sake of completion, not because I actually enjoyed handling them. Sure, I picked up all of them at one point or another, but some of them I haven't touched in years, such as my Animated figures, which have since found a better home.

But I feel the same way about some if my other lines as well, including my movie figures. I think they will be the next ones to go, as I refocus my collection more on G1. I am also trying to stay away from deluxe and even voyager figures, and concentrate on leader pieces (true leaders, not "voyagers plus extra stuff") unless a particular voyager figure just really strikes a chord with me. I believe this will do a couple of things: it will make my collection easier to handle, and it will give each of my pieces more of the focus they deserve. When you have a lot of figures on the same shelf (as with deluxes or legends) there tends to be less focus on each figure as opposed to what they represent as a whole. And that's fine, because it's different for each of us how we look at our own collections. Personally, I like to focus on my figures individually, and now I have so many (though I'm sure a lot of you have a lot more) I can't seem to get the enjoyment out of them that I should.

So the changes in my habits now consist of paring down the non-G1 stuff as well as even some of my G1 deluxes. As I get older, I find that I enjoy Transformers for different reasons than I did when I was younger.

No clue if there is another thread more appropriate, but recent news events in the US have just perfected part of my collection's headcannon.

Before recently, the Botcon Waruders went by that name as a group and were Waspinator's crew. They are still Waspinator's crew, but they are now known as the Murder Hornets.

I'm much more selective about what I do and don't buy now, I own two Ikea Detolf cabinets, one for Autobots and the other fr Decepticons, and I'm trying to limit my collection to only what can fit in those two cabinets. As for specific toys, nowadays I only collect characters I either really like or have nostalgic attachment to, primarily main characters from either G1 or Bayverse, and anything Beast Wars related. So I'm unlikely to buy the likes of Seige Spinister, Earthrise Ironworks or Airwave, Studio Series Overload, or the Generations Selects Seacons, even if I hear they're all fantastic toys.
The main exception to this in my current collection are Nautica and Quickswitch from the Titans Return Chaos on Velocitron box set, because I managed to get that entire set for just £30 on deep discout a few years ago, so I feel as if I NEED to display at least a couple of them somewhere. As for the rest of the set, Titan Master Rodimus Prime is on the Deluxe Hot Rod body, Laser Prime is in storage under my bed, and Fastlane now lives in my nephew's toy box).
As far as price, one of my oldest collecting rules is to never spend more than £50 on a single figure, unless it's something that justifies the high price tag like a Titan or Combiner, and while there have been times where I have broken that rule, I'm trying to stick by it a lot more now.

I started out only collecting Cybertron. That was my gateway series, but the only toys I got while it was in stores were Vector Prime and Starscream (. As my interest in the G1 cartoon grew, I started collecting G1 toys too. A lot of the Classics and Universe stuff felt kinda off to me, like it didn't represent the characters that well; certainly, say, Universe Galvatron is not a great representation of Galvatron as he appeared in the cartoon. Plus loads of characters were missing back then. I did pursue a few, such as Universe Cyclonus.

I was also interested in movie toys, especially ROTF Leader Optimus Prime (, but my Cybertron focus led me to miss him while he was in stores.

I at first didn't really have much of an interest in collecting Armada and Energon except for the Mini-Con weapons and maybe a select few figures. Back in 2009 and 2010, people on TFW2005 were really dumping on those two series and I let that influence me overmuch. I also wasn't quite as interested in RiD or Beast Wars, although those did seem cool to me still.

I had a brief phase of trying to kitbash G1s for greater articulation. As I was delusional with regard to my skills, it didn't work out so good. I've reversed some of it, but Mirage still bears the scars....

I was a bit too fixated on collecting for my own good for a while, which combined with a slow-burn mental breakdown in college... Urgh. I made one big splurge that I had to sell back off, and it was stupid even though I really wanted the figure in question...

What I don't regret buying is this $50 mixed box of kit Gundams in various states of completeness (several of which have been cannibalized for custom parts because the kits seemed cheapo and were largely partial...), the Special Size Galaxy Megazord, assorted random junk, Armada Unicron, RiD Galvatron, parts of RiD Optimus and Ultra Magnus, some of Side Burn and X-Brawn's weapons, Armada Thundercracker and Skywarp's swords, assorted Mini-Cons, RiD Midnight Express, Energon Hot Shot, Energon Ironhide, Armada Galvatron's antlers, Energon Jetfire's legs (which I ultimately wound up cannibalizing years later to fix an idiotic early customizing attempt of mine), Energon Optimus' gun, missile, and trailer, some Animorphs Transformers (the complete ones, I finally got rid of by gifting them to cousins in 2018), and some other parts.
I tried on and off to sell or trade most of them, although everybody but the Animorphs were growing on me. I did ultimately sell Hot Shot, Ironhide, Midnight Express, and the Mini-Cons in 2016 because I was eager for extra spending cash. Unfortunately, I misprinted the address and having to re-mail the package gobbled most of the profit... And I regretted it. I came to miss those figures. Over a year later, I contacted the person I sold them to and asked about buying them back. But it turns out they were a gift for her now-ex boyfriend, so that was a no-go.

A big change came in 2017. While at Target to look for an Imaginext Red Ranger (as a source for a replacement Power Sword for my flip-head Red Ranger, the original got eaten by the Floor Monster) I discovered Titans Return Hot Rod on the shelves. I liked what I saw. He looked more G1 than Classics Hot Rod did, I liked that the gimmick made him have a working cockpit, and his price tag was far more appealing than what Classics Hot Rod had been going for on eBay for the past seven years. I snapped him up, and started collecting Titans Return with vigor. And that got me starting to actively collect more CHUG figures, since at the very least things like the CW torsos and limbs, and Deluxe-class Autobots, scaled better with the TR stuff and were better-articulated. And I've been actively collecting current CHUG stuff since. Especially after seeing what the CW limbs go for on eBay, which is obscene.

I've never been too fussed about the amount I can display, although displaying is certainly fun. I keep most of my collection put away in a bin or in my closet when not playing with the figures.

My collection started with a Classics. All I wanted was the big name characters. Then the movie came out. I bought those. Then Animated. Had to have those. Then I found MP figures. Had to have those. I was also picking up G1 and reissues when I could.

Then I realized I was spending more money than I should on toys. I also realized that I couldn't display everything the way I wanted to. I reevaluated what I really wanted. I wanted a CHUG g1 cartoon cast along with MPs. I recently sold off/traded a bunch of figures that didn't fit in anymore.

Thankfully I never got into 3rd party figures. I have a couple add on sets but thats about it. They were always more expensive and I play with my figures.

So my collecting habits have changed over time. I am very happy with it at this point.

Now that I look over my toys, I've stopped buying newer versions of MP toys. I do not need a third MP Prime, or a new Starscream. if I've already got a toy of the character, then that's it for me.

Covid-19 along with all the potentially great stuff coming out right now have me on the verge of a major shift and smaller sell-off of my collection. Combiners were always my favorite and CW/UW was what brought me back into collecting. I was only interested in Generatinos at the time. I went completionist on the regular Hasbro releases and supplemented those with some of the more UW sets and a few random TFCC releases I got on ebay.

Has/Tak continued to hold my attention with TR, PotP and now the WFC trilogy and I was a near completionist until just recently when space/money/time made me rethink my collection. When TLK came out, I was interested in Nitro Zues and Cogman for titan master purposes, and I loved Nitro Zues so much it had me start looking at moving toys that were on clearance. I found a few more fun ones and started picking and choosing movie bots to supplement my collection.

Once Covid-19 hit, I was current on WFC, and knew I'd have a bit more time to myself on my hands, and that lead me down the movie line rabbit hole, which I and entirely enjoying.

So now, I'm getting close to selling of quite a few CW and UW figures or sets. Because, I really don't need everybody to be a combiner anymore, I've moved beyond that in my collection. I'm probably going to wait until God Neptune arrives, to have 1 last mega combiner battle royal. Then I'll start working on the next collection purge.