The Energon Pub

Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:34 pm

Hey there everyone. Just registered on the forum there 2 mins ago. Ive been a massive fan of transformers for years and i've only just got into collecting recently. Basicly over the years as a joke mates have bought me the odd small transformer or for a joke ive bought one as i love transforming them.

After a while i realised ive a modest collection(41) and ive decided to display them as such. Anyway to the point of the matter im looking to expand my collection, been on alot of site's ebay etc and im just wondering if a) Anyone could give me some pointers in what to look for and websites to go to incase ive missed anything and b) In the real world where is good to check out, again incase im missing out somewhere good o visit. Problem for me is i live in the UK, Northern Ireland to be exact lol. Its a pain to get anything here.

Any info is very welcome.

News Credits: 1 · Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:42 pm

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Main_Page

This helps A LOT.

News Credits: 241 · Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:47 pm

Hey, welcome to the boards

Another from the UK, huh? Then I do advise getting to know the Disgruntled Brits, if they still exist. Not that the rest of Europe is any better.

O, here's the obligatory welcome/warning:

:twisted:

WARNING: Seibertron.com contains nuts! :twisted:

With that out of the way, what is your current collecting focus? Checking out any of the site sponsors is a good start (I want my Kickback now), as well other online stores. I know Kapow Toys is a good one, and it's based in the UK to boot.

As for brick-and-mortar, they're only reliable for the first wave, 2 waves if you're lucky. If anything, you can also check out our Carbombya Buy/Sell/Trade forum. Just avoid EBay whenever possible as you *will* get ripped off.

Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:56 pm

Hey man thanks for the warm welcome. Yea ive checked a few ive sent some emails to get a feel for their shipping costs to the UK.

Im probably more of a shallow collecter as im looking some of the more modern toys. On my list is pretty much all of the FoC line and the new Ultra Magnus when it comes out. On Ebay for my next purchase im looking at Animated Megatron and my two personal Holy Grails are War for Cybertron Prime and RotF Prime. I love them both so much!

News Credits: 7 · Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:58 pm

The UK sightings thread united-kingdom-transformers-sightings-t42.php (referred to among ourselves as the ODB) isn't as busy as it once was, but is still handy for getting a grasp on what's available at retail and any promotional prices at individual retailers that we find out about. There's a few of us that tend to offer up any figures for sale or trade there before putting them up in the sale/trade forum or on ebay as well. If there's a particular series or aesthetic that appeals to you then concentrating on that to begin with is probably a good way to go, although tracking down older figures can get expensive pretty quickly.

Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:32 am

Got a new addition, got an Animated Megatron last night. Brings me to 6 Primes to 5 megatron ratio lol

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

Welcome to the board! I do have some advice for you as I found myself in the same boat when I first started getting serious into my collection.

Keep a set limit on what to spend each month. There have been times where I've dropped 500 dollars in two week on various figures. It doesn't seem like much while you're clicking around on the Internet, but it adds up real quick. Most of this time figures that you can't afford one month will still be around the next month.

Find a good online retailer. Being in the UK it limits your choices, but http://www.robotkingdom.com would be decent since it's in Asia. That way you only pay for shipping once, rather than US-based stores who will charge for the product + shipping to their store + profit markup before including shipping to the UK. I know there's a UK-based store but I can't for the life of me remember what it is at the moment.

Figure out what you want to collect and stay with your guidelines. There are cool figures from every TF line out there (yes, even the movie-based ones) but they may not be cool on your shelves.

tfu.info, TFWiki and our own site's toy galleries are very useful for learning about and ID'ing figures, or finding repaints or similar figures. And of course there are all sorts of members on here who love to help and answer questions.

If you're just starting out, I would strongly suggest avoiding third party products such as FansProject and TFC. They make damn good stuff (most of the time) but they're also very expensive. Focus on building our collection with the easier-to-obtain figures that you want first, then worry about enhancing it.

Welcome to the hobby. You're in for a wild ride.

News Credits: 9 · Tue Oct 09, 2012 5:53 am

That's good advice from Mkall! Don't be afraid to ask questions, there are plenty of nice people who are happy to help.

I'm also in the UK and so brick n mortar purchases are rare for me. http://kapowtoys.co.uk/ are quite good. Someone said avoid ebay but I find ebay is good, as long as you set a reasonable price limit and don't be tempted to go over that limit. The figure you want will reappear one day for a reasonable price if you're patient (unless it's a really sought after collectable).

As for FOC, I don't know where they'll appear. Toys R Us told me they have no plans to stock them but that may change. As for a release date... I've no idea.

News Credits: 2 · Tue Oct 09, 2012 6:15 am

Hi

Yes I agree, Kapow is decent and eBay can help you fill some gaps as well - just stick to sellers with impeccable feedback and you should be fine. Hong Kong sellers tend to be a good bet if you want to avoid customs charges as they are more inclined to embellish the item descriptions. I have never been hit for charges on anything from Hong Kong/China but with USA items I almost always do. I'm guessing postage to Norn Iron would in most cases be the same as mainland UK.

Do you have particular toylines you like to collect other than the videogame based ones? Keep your focus narrow initially as things can get expensive quickly!

Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:43 pm

Outside FoC and WFC its Revenge of the Fallen Leader Optimus Prime. That is it. Ive stopped looking at other figures till i have that Prime!

Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:53 pm

Maxman wrote: Basicly over the years as a joke mates have bought me the odd small transformer or for a joke ive bought one as i love transforming them.

Any info is very welcome.

in a month or two this will read "as a joke I have around 500 or so Transformers" :))