The Energon Pub

Between all the voyagers and deluxes ive purchased so far, plus the encore series I just preordered, I think I have spent about 300+ dollars so far. Not a cheap hobby.

But compared to other hobbies, like collecting cards, figures, etc, this one's alot cheaper, and you get what you pay for.

Blurrz wrote:But compared to other hobbies, like collecting cards, figures, etc, this one's alot cheaper, and you get what you pay for.

Unless you buy everything.

No, setting up an aquarium is an expensive hobby. The tank itself can cost anywhere from $20 for a cheap 10 gallon box up to several thousand for a nice designer Acrylic box. Not to mention you can spend hundereds on just one fish in some cases. The most expensive fish in mine was $16 and he spends the majority of his time hiding and the decor. Still a very cool fish.

And then there are the car modders. That one is insanely expensive. Transformers is relatively cheap compared to some.

Meh, a hobby is only as expensive as you let yourself make it. You just have to make decisions about what you can afford and in turn what items you want to own the most.

I've spent £1400 on my collection so far, and I'm expecting to add another £300 odd before March next year!!





Pricey, but worth it.

Any hobby where you attempt to put together a large collection is going to be expensive. I've spent over $200 on Alternators and Binaltech over the past month but they have been worth every penny. I enjoy them much more than I would some expensive back issues of comics or cards.

i kinda wonder the completists collectors and getting curious how much they spent already...

Koloth wrote:No, setting up an aquarium is an expensive hobby. The tank itself can cost anywhere from $20 for a cheap 10 gallon box up to several thousand for a nice designer Acrylic box. Not to mention you can spend hundereds on just one fish in some cases. The most expensive fish in mine was $16 and he spends the majority of his time hiding and the decor. Still a very cool fish.

And then there are the car modders. That one is insanely expensive. Transformers is relatively cheap compared to some.

Well said! (Actually my friend told me yesterday that a shark can cost like $1800!).

One thing that I do is that if the price of the TF encroaches on another hobby, it makes me weigh in on if I want to purchase it or not.

hobbies that involve collecting stuff are relatively expensive. but what sets TF apart from hobbies like trading cards & comics (i used to collect both too) is that you never really fear to actually open your collection, admire them and play with them. you cannot do the same of you're into cards & comics as everytime you open them & read them, you're basically deteriorating the quality of your card/comic.

plus, spending hundreds of dollars on an autographed MJ card? i'd rather get a MP-04.

yeah well i rather spend my money on figures rather than cards or comics... they are so magnificent to see when displayed...

zemper wrote:plus, spending hundreds of dollars on an autographed MJ card?

For me the MJ card (assuming MJ is Michael 'Air' Jordan), might be worth it, but I'd much rather get him to sign the card in person, rather than buy someone else's memory.

Air Jordan was such a large part and important part of my teenage childhood that I think getting his autograph in person would trump any piece of transformers collecting I have done.

Buying autographed memorabilia is a very 'Buyer Beware' market. After all, how much does it take to copy a scribbled signature? That is probably the reason I have never purchased anything MJ signed. Mostly because the biggest part for me would be in meeting him, not in having his name scribbled on something.

Oh yeah.

Just think of the Alternators line, which many of us on here have completed. MSRP of $20 plus $2 in tax (if you managed to buy them all in stores, ha) so 22 each, times, what, 25+?

Oh yeah, lots of coin.

Everything is expensive these days. Look at 1984 when TF's only cost $10-$20. For a G1 collector, getting them all can be extremely expensive& some hard to track down. I spent a little over $300 on the Movie toys, plus Robot Heroes. I must've spent a good amount of money just on Power Rangers when it was really in is heyday. I still spend a lot on it because it, like TFs, has become a big hit & is now worth more than it was 14 years ago. Not matter what you're into, you're bound to spend a lot of money.

--B-- wrote:Oh yeah.

Just think of the Alternators line, which many of us on here have completed. MSRP of $20 plus $2 in tax (if you managed to buy them all in stores, ha) so 22 each, times, what, 25+?

Oh yeah, lots of coin.

I've decided it is best to not dwell on money already spent on a hobby. I would have done something horrible to myself long ago if I spent too much time reflecting.

--B-- wrote:what, 25+?

There were 25 retail figures plus the two convention figures Nemesis Prime and Hotrod. And if you really want to reach you could go for the alternative BIN, BTA, and Kiss lines.

Well said! (Actually my friend told me yesterday that a shark can cost like $1800!).

All depends on what you want. And keep in mind that is just the cost of the fish itself not the tank and all the nice stuff to make it look nice and livable for the fish. And up keep is a real pain too. You can do it yourself which takes a lot of time and effort. Or you can pay someone a bunch of money to do it for you. Very not cheap. Oh and lets not forget that on occasion these expensive fish might need to see the vet. Unless you want your $1800 pet to die.

tigertracks 24 wrote:

zemper wrote:plus, spending hundreds of dollars on an autographed MJ card?

For me the MJ card (assuming MJ is Michael 'Air' Jordan), might be worth it, but I'd much rather get him to sign the card in person, rather than buy someone else's memory.

Air Jordan was such a large part and important part of my teenage childhood that I think getting his autograph in person would trump any piece of transformers collecting I have done.

Buying autographed memorabilia is a very 'Buyer Beware' market. After all, how much does it take to copy a scribbled signature? That is probably the reason I have never purchased anything MJ signed. Mostly because the biggest part for me would be in meeting him, not in having his name scribbled on something.

meh, true.dat MJ roxors, i was hooked on NBA 'case of him, watching him grow from rookie to superstar. though what i mean by "autographed" are those NBA cards with factory-made signatures (i.e. the gold stamped ones). i wouldn't pay git for those.

lemme see... for the past 4 months i spent about 8,500.00 pesos on various TFs, mostly classics & movie. converted, that would have been $187.00, not counting my previous purchases for the past year or so. not exactly in the high $300's as some you have shelled out, but still VERY expensive.

you guys are lucky you get deluxe figs at your toy stores for $10; here, the MSRP for all toy retail stores nationwide for deluxes are 700.00 pesos, converted equals &15.00 USD. voyagers go for $30.00 MSRP.

our leader classes here are $66.00 USD. ouch.

and primus sells for $77. and THOSE prices are from the retail stores. the local hobby collectible stores sell them for MUCH, MUCH more, though for rare figs, they're the only choice we collectors have.

zemper wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

zemper wrote:plus, spending hundreds of dollars on an autographed MJ card?

For me the MJ card (assuming MJ is Michael 'Air' Jordan), might be worth it, but I'd much rather get him to sign the card in person, rather than buy someone else's memory.

Air Jordan was such a large part and important part of my teenage childhood that I think getting his autograph in person would trump any piece of transformers collecting I have done.

Buying autographed memorabilia is a very 'Buyer Beware' market. After all, how much does it take to copy a scribbled signature? That is probably the reason I have never purchased anything MJ signed. Mostly because the biggest part for me would be in meeting him, not in having his name scribbled on something.

meh, true.dat MJ roxors, i was hooked on NBA 'case of him, watching him grow from rookie to superstar. though what i mean by "autographed" are those NBA cards with factory-made signatures (i.e. the gold stamped ones). i wouldn't pay git for those.

lemme see... for the past 4 months i spent about 8,500.00 pesos on various TFs, mostly classics & movie. converted, that would have been $187.00, not counting my previous purchases for the past year or so. not exactly in the high $300's as some you have shelled out, but still VERY expensive.

you guys are lucky you get deluxe figs at your toy stores for $10; here, the MSRP for all toy retail stores nationwide for deluxes are 700.00 pesos, converted equals &15.00 USD. voyagers go for $30.00 MSRP.

our leader classes here are $66.00 USD. ouch.

whoah dude!! you on the philippines too? wicked!

Actually, if you're just buying movie toys you're really not shelling out a ton of money for a hobby. Say that you've bought all of the deluxes, voyagers, and leaders so far. That's only a couple of hundred dollars.

If you ride motorcycles that just bought you one piece of chrome.

If you start buying vintage transformers you can easily spend that much on just one or two figures. But yes, eventually collecting anything will end up being expensive.

Actually, if you're just buying movie toys you're really not shelling out a ton of money for a hobby. Say that you've bought all of the deluxes, voyagers, and leaders so far. That's only a couple of hundred dollars.

For Americans maybe. By my count, we've had 11 deluxes, 6 voyagers and 2 leaders released in Australia so far.

11 x $25-30 = $300
6 x $40-50 = $270
2 x $90-100 = $190

Total = AU$760 = US$630 or thereabouts.

TFs are a crippling expense outside the US.

any hobby can be expensive. i've had several and collecting transformers seem to be( at least to me!) worth it more than the rest! i've collected cards, comics, books, figures, etc. but these damn robots display so damn well, i'm hooked i admit that!! yes i have all the movie versions, now i'm going into uncharted territory!!! G1 !!!! and G2 !!! Omega Prime and Ultra Magnus are tops on my list right now, but if i come across a Fortress Maximus, well................

voice of hoist wrote:

Actually, if you're just buying movie toys you're really not shelling out a ton of money for a hobby. Say that you've bought all of the deluxes, voyagers, and leaders so far. That's only a couple of hundred dollars.

For Americans maybe. By my count, we've had 11 deluxes, 6 voyagers and 2 leaders released in Australia so far.

11 x $25-30 = $300
6 x $40-50 = $270
2 x $90-100 = $190

Total = AU$760 = US$630 or thereabouts.

TFs are a crippling expense outside the US.

That's actually about the amount of money that I was referring to. That is not a huge amount of money for a hobby. It is a large sum of money, but not a lot to put into a collection. I'll give you another example.

Warhammer. In order to even start playing that game you need to lay out money for a basic army, the rule book, the army book or codex, glue, paints, and brushes. That easily comes to over $200 just to start playing. And if you want a larger army you'll be paying almost $35 a box. That adds up quick as well.

It all depends on how deep you want to get into collecting.

Naw this hobby isnt expensive for me, its expensive for my parents though

softimus_prime wrote:

zemper wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

zemper wrote:plus, spending hundreds of dollars on an autographed MJ card?

For me the MJ card (assuming MJ is Michael 'Air' Jordan), might be worth it, but I'd much rather get him to sign the card in person, rather than buy someone else's memory.

Air Jordan was such a large part and important part of my teenage childhood that I think getting his autograph in person would trump any piece of transformers collecting I have done.

Buying autographed memorabilia is a very 'Buyer Beware' market. After all, how much does it take to copy a scribbled signature? That is probably the reason I have never purchased anything MJ signed. Mostly because the biggest part for me would be in meeting him, not in having his name scribbled on something.

meh, true.dat MJ roxors, i was hooked on NBA 'case of him, watching him grow from rookie to superstar. though what i mean by "autographed" are those NBA cards with factory-made signatures (i.e. the gold stamped ones). i wouldn't pay git for those.

lemme see... for the past 4 months i spent about 8,500.00 pesos on various TFs, mostly classics & movie. converted, that would have been $187.00, not counting my previous purchases for the past year or so. not exactly in the high $300's as some you have shelled out, but still VERY expensive.

you guys are lucky you get deluxe figs at your toy stores for $10; here, the MSRP for all toy retail stores nationwide for deluxes are 700.00 pesos, converted equals &15.00 USD. voyagers go for $30.00 MSRP.

our leader classes here are $66.00 USD. ouch.

whoah dude!! you on the philippines too? wicked!

shyeah dude, didn't you notice in my sig and my location? mabuhay ang mga pinoy!

Geekee1 wrote:It all depends on how deep you want to get into collecting.

exactly. if you wanna collect them all then heck yeah, it's expensive. that's why i only choose to buy those figures whom i like or am a huge fan of, and also those whom i think will be more valuable in the future. [/i]