The Energon Pub

Started out pretty simple - I just wanted to collect certain characters I liked from fiction. Of all those, Bruticus always stuck out to me; so when CW Bruticus came around I decided to finally start collecting, just at the end of last year.

Decided to gradually build up to it, just get Bruticus and maybe one of those third-party add-on kits and I'd be fine. I'd known a lot about the collecting business and third party stuff beforehand, was always a big Transformers fan, just never actually made a physical purchase... partly because I was kinda afraid of what my family'd think. But now I was finally independent and have my own place (kind of. University accommodation is basically your own place, right?) I could finally get toys - so I started off with Blast Off. Easily my least favourite of the Combaticons at the time (though thanks to IDW he's now my most favourite), I figured just build up to the best so that it'd feel even sweeter.

And then when Blast Off finally arrived and I broke out my first new Transformers toy since 2007 or so and started messing around with him to find the best configuration for Bruticus... I realised something strange. I was enjoying it. That wasn't something I had expected - my stance was basically "they're toys so I probably won't have fun with them; but hey, great display pieces, right?" and that's what I was gonna do - only ever transform them for display or transport. But Blast Off was fun. His articulation allowed him to pull off a ton of poses, both modes looked great, the transformation was fun and fresh - this was my first combiner wars toy remember - and just... in general I enjoyed it.

My next toy was not a combaticon. I started jumping on any cheap deal I could find. I got Chromia, I got Roadbuster, I got Nightbeat, I got First Aid, I got Legends Bumblebee, I got Alpha Bravo, I found an incredible deal on Toysrus for both Classics Prime and Evasion Prime for £20 which I immediately jumped on... and bought alongside Rook. Months passed and I had even gotten myself a couple of Takara imports before finally Kapow showed that Brawl and Swindle were in stock which I finally jumped on... and hoo boy, when I planned to get Bruticus, I didn't imagine I'd be buying these two while looking at a shelf or two stacked with a ton of Voyagers, Deluxes, Legends; I'd even got a Leader Thundercracker because he was cheap on Forbidden Planet!

And that's when I started to cool down on the purchases a little because I'd realised a little something - a lot of these purchases? I was justifying them because I was telling myself they'd be the start of a massive future collection. A shelf for every year of the G1 toyline re-imagined, and then I realised why on earth do I want that? It's pretty hollow when I don't care for a ton of these characters; I don't really have a pressing need for Gears or Omega Supreme or god forbid the Titan Class guys. So I decided to start relegating my purchases to characters I liked... and another thing I'd found along the way. Figures I thought looked fun. This is why I recently got Wolfwire for instance - I don't really care for him as a character. I mean I guess he has potential but he's not one I ever enjoyed or favoured or anything - I just bought the toy because the toy itself appealed to me, not the character.

So I guess at the end of the day, these days it's figures that are either characters I care about - hence my Lost Light shelf with Nightbeat, Chromedome, Tailgate, Cyclonus and a KO DL Ravage - but also figures I think look really fun, like Sky Reign or Skullsmasher. Though I certainly can't say the hobby isn't bleeding my wallet dry ;;

I'm still mostly buying Third Party toys not because of any deliberate intent it just works out like that what with the terrible distribution on official toys in my area. But since I just got 4/6ths of the Sarus Ryu-Oh which I am enjoying immensely I'm looking forward to getting the other 2 as soon as I can find them and not at £70.00

I hope I can find an actual RID warrior Bisk and Ratchet in an actually shop in November though and I also plan to buy some Minicons next month too.

I'm not anticipating finding any Titans Returns toys at all beyond the ones I have that I bought online in an actual shop as store seem only interested in stocking girls toy lines in my area it seems. Even Rogue One is being mostly ignored outside of Argos. I've even noticed a lack of LEGO and I don't even buy Lego.

Oh well I'll do what I always do buy what I know I will get some use out of and an hopefully enjoy playing with.

I'm likely going to be a great many KO's in the next 2 or 3 months too.
More Oversize Throttlebots the Oversize Combiner wars Protectobots too.

I'm also considering a Black Version of the commander toy (Oversize Evasion Prime) just because he's so darn handsome.

------

It's not like unoffical Transforming Transfomers style robots are the only thing on my to do list - I also have Diabattles on there and the Machine Robo stuff. I'll try get some of that too.

I would buy more Marvel Figures if they were not impossible to find... Though I did belatedly find a 4" Korg the other day.

Official wise I'm tinkering with getting that ridiculous looking RID Power Surge Optimus - mainly for the Minicon and his weapon if he dips closer the £30.00 mark. Likewise TK Maxx has had some Rescuebots sightings so I might get something there too - the new stuff isn't likely to show up unless Sainsbury's gets it.

Perhaps the December / Jan sales might show some promise too.
I might not bother though with to much and keep some money buy me in case of surprises.

I got my first Transformer the December after the first live action film. It felt amazing. I had a toy that could change forms! After that, having my collection of robots from the first movie felt like a must. I wanted to have all the characters so I could play with them.

Then, around Dark of the Moon, when Prime came out, I really wanted to look deeper. I wanted to expand from movies into other things. I didn't even know the term "G1" existed until I came to college in '13. 6 whole years of no "G1" ever. I wasn't even that into comics.

but since I have been in college, I have fallen in love with comics. They last longer than TV shows and show so much more character, simply because they have more to work with sometimes. It gave characters nice personalities that I could enjoy and made me like them for who they were, not just because they were there. Trailbreaker has become my favorite for this reason, same with Brainstorm and Sideswipe.

As I like characters and series, I've wanted to collect those that I really like. Hence, I want to collect as many MTMTE crewmembers as possible, since it is my favorite series, comic and TV alike, and I want to have that crew, many of which are so little known or original that only a toy or 2 exist, or none at all yet.

So for me, I don't buy just because. I buy because I like the show/movie/comic the character showed up in, and that show/movie/comic had an impact, so I want to have part of it. And for me, the Funpub stuff of crossing universal streams is simply imagination unbounded, which is why I like crossovers and things like Shattered Glass so much. It isn't anything else, it is entirely unique and it means that crossing over is canon. So, my new RiD Ratchet will be my MTMTE Ratchet. He looks the part, and that works for me. It's also why MP SG Prime is so appealing: something thought of 20 years into the brand that feels so fresh and it is a nice mixup of what we've got (also a reason I want a classics Cliffjumper now: he's famous for his role in Shattered Glass).

so that is why. It's because I like the character and the show it came from.

There actually hasn't been a time in my life when I didn't have Transformers. I was four when G1 started in '84 and got Skywarp. I was flipping through Marvel comics (starting with issue 7) before I could actually read them. When I was in middle school I stopped getting Transformers as gifts, but would use the money I earned to buy G2 figures. In high School I had my first real job and would spend quite a bit on Beast Wars. After I graduated I just kept going so I've bought from every major line (and some of the minor ones) as they were coming out. So yeah, if I ever say I've been a fan since the beginning I really mean it.

I even came really close to getting the Hasbro release of Lio Convoy and Galvatron (something most people don't know about) which would have been my first online order in 2000, but the uncertainty of of the early online marketplace made me hesitate. Instead my first online Transformers order (I had already been using HLJ to buy random non-TF stuff since 2001) was a big box of clearance stuff from BBTS in I believe mid 2003 consisting of a Micron Legend Starscream, Beast Wars Neo Bump and Crazybolt, and Beast Machines Battle Unicorn among other odds and ends.

I can't quite remember my first eBay Transformers buy, but I think it was random lot that nabbed me my second Powermaster Optimus Prime and third RID Optimus Prime along with some other stuff for cheap.

I honestly can't say why I like Transformers. I mean, I have always had a natural affinity towards robots and there's something very satisfying about the idea of getting two toys in one so maybe that's all there is to it. I tend to think "toy first, character second" so if I see a really nice looking figure I'm probably going to want it regardless of who it is. Every single one of my RID/Adventure buys have been purely superficial. I got Adventure Thunderhoof because his paint was amazing and his transformation was surprisingly cool. Same goes for Scorponok who has some amazing colors, but I wasn't expecting his transformation to be so compact and intuitive. I don't really care for these characters, but their figures were just too nice to pass up.

Of course, like many of us, I also have a bit of a completest mentality so sometimes I do find my self buy stuff just to complete a set. I had originally passed on the CW Autobot cars because I didn't need them, but now that I've got UW Lynxmaster on order I kinda want to backtrack and get the first four and Smokescreen...

Emerje

Bumping this thread for a reason, but first...

Emerje wrote:There actually hasn't been a time in my life when I didn't have Transformers.

[...]

I tend to think "toy first, character second" so if I see a really nice looking figure I'm probably going to want it regardless of who it is.

This has been my approach a lot of the time - I got out of RID (the current series) for reasons of time, but I still picked up Thunderhoof. I got Alpha Bravo because of new toy joy after a bit of a slump. I got MP G2 Sideswipe . A number of movie figures never had character, just toy, e.g. ROTF Lockdown.

But then I also got Victorion because Victorion (comics, campaign, people involved), Clobber because tinysaur, TR Hardhead because of childhood memories, BH Predacons/Abominus because tiny beasties. So I think I have no pattern at all.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:I buy because I like the show/movie/comic the character showed up in, and that show/movie/comic had an impact, so I want to have part of it. And for me, the Funpub stuff of crossing universal streams is simply imagination unbounded, which is why I like crossovers and things like Shattered Glass so much.

There have been other responses like this, and I keep circling back to that thought - but as I show to myself above, it doesn't have as much relevance as I thought it once did, either. Hm.

Kurona wrote:But now I was finally independent and have my own place (kind of. University accommodation is basically your own place, right?) I could finally get toys - so I started off with Blast Off. Easily my least favourite of the Combaticons at the time (though thanks to IDW he's now my most favourite), I figured just build up to the best so that it'd feel even sweeter.

[...]

And that's when I started to cool down on the purchases a little because I'd realised a little something - a lot of these purchases? I was justifying them because I was telling myself they'd be the start of a massive future collection. [...] So I decided to start relegating my purchases to characters I liked... and another thing I'd found along the way. Figures I thought looked fun. This is why I recently got Wolfwire for instance - I don't really care for him as a character. I mean I guess he has potential but he's not one I ever enjoyed or favoured or anything - I just bought the toy because the toy itself appealed to me, not the character.

I recognise that very same pattern, but you also seem to have gone through the motions much faster. Impressive!

So, with all that said...

New year. New movie year. New thoughts. Clearing out old stuff, looking at what has been able to resist on shelves vs what is stored for future keeping/reshelfle (shelf reshuffle, obvs), picking out favourites and attachments. I find myself thinking this:

Is there a place for hidden collections? Pieces that you know you will not give away, sell, throw out, donate, but do not have a spot on display? Noideaforaname mentioned, a while back, BH Ripclaw, and I agree. The Tinycons from the same line also persist in the same box. ROTF Sideswipe, my new first toy since getting back into the hobby. A lot of Optimus Prime figures, boxed after a reshelfle.



What do you think? If something stays hidden for a long time, is it time to rethink its place in your home, or do you hang on to it a little longer?

As a follow up to my previous post.

I was right so far still no actual Titans Returns toy in my immediate area I was able to pick some up when I went further afield to a place with a Toys R Us.

But all the ones I've managed to get so far had to be ordered online - though TK Maxx was a reasonable source of RID-16 toys.

The sales were reasonably kind to me but I still have a job locating wave 1 & 2 TR toys.

There is some UK sighting of Combiner Force though so perhaps that maybe what I find in the coming weeks.

Bisk never showed up - except as a 3-step though.

RAR wrote:As a follow up to my previous post.

I was right so far still no actual Titans Returns toy in my immediate area I was able to pick some up when I went further afield to a place with a Toys R Us.

But all the ones I've managed to get so far had to be ordered online - though TK Maxx was a reasonable source of RID-16 toys.

The sales were reasonably kind to me but I still have a job locating wave 1 & 2 TR toys.

There is some UK sighting of Combiner Force though so perhaps that maybe what I find in the coming weeks.

Bisk never showed up - except as a 3-step though.

I'm not entirely sure how this follows, or fits in the thread, other than highlight distribution speedbumps.

Va'al wrote:Is there a place for hidden collections? Pieces that you know you will not give away, sell, throw out, donate, but do not have a spot on display? Noideaforaname mentioned, a while back, BH Ripclaw, and I agree. The Tinycons from the same line also persist in the same box. ROTF Sideswipe, my new first toy since getting back into the hobby. A lot of Optimus Prime figures, boxed after a reshelfle.

Ripclaw found a spot, actually. I blame (thank) Star VS the Forces of Evil making me fall in love with the 'high fantasy cartoon evil minions' archtype:

I was THIS close to selling her, though, had an ebay listing and everything, convincing myself that no, I really DON'T want to hang onto a Transformer that I don't transform and who doesn't fit with my other bots and who's just been buried in a ox somewhere.



It can be weirdly tough getting rid of toys you haven't even thought of in years. On one hand, you clearly aren't using them so why ARE you still holding onto them? On the other hand, since it's been so long it's sorta like a new toy all over again (but for "free").

Still, have far too many of these things, unless I reeeally like something but just don't have the space for it at the moment or whatever, there's not much sense hanging onto the practically-forgotten ones.

Noideaforaname wrote:

Va'al wrote:Is there a place for hidden collections? Pieces that you know you will not give away, sell, throw out, donate, but do not have a spot on display? Noideaforaname mentioned, a while back, BH Ripclaw, and I agree. The Tinycons from the same line also persist in the same box. ROTF Sideswipe, my new first toy since getting back into the hobby. A lot of Optimus Prime figures, boxed after a reshelfle.

Ripclaw found a spot, actually. I blame (thank) Star VS the Forces of Evil making me fall in love with the 'high fantasy cartoon evil minions' archtype:

I was THIS close to selling her, though, had an ebay listing and everything, convincing myself that no, I really DON'T want to hang onto a Transformer that I don't transform and who doesn't fit with my other bots and who's just been buried in a box somewhere.

Aw bless her, glad she stayed with you.

It can be weirdly tough getting rid of toys you haven't even thought of in years. On one hand, you clearly aren't using them so why ARE you still holding onto them? On the other hand, since it's been so long it's sorta like a new toy all over again (but for "free").

Still, have far too many of these things, unless I reeeally like something but just don't have the space for it at the moment or whatever, there's not much sense hanging onto the practically-forgotten ones.

Yes, this is the toughness I'm considering too - as you can see from the photos above, not much is hidden, but I'm very reluctant to get rid of it despite, y'know, movieverse not coming out at all, too many Optimi, Hot Spot existing because ScottyP did wonders to the box, FE Prime figures that I know could make a good sum, but .. I dunno, something just keeps me hanging on to them.

Boy, does this ever hit close to

Ironhidensh wrote:Boy, does this ever hit close to

..the suspense is killing me.

Va'al wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:Boy, does this ever hit close to

..the suspense is killing me.

Whoops. I was going to finish this post later, and it looks like I hit submit out of habit.

Longer thought coming later.

I can keep it short and sweet. Aesthetics and Nostalgia.

I love keeping sealed tfs for the packaging and artwork but I also like having them in hand to tinker with and figure out. Also, let's keep it real, investment value.

Chillyn wrote:I can keep it short and sweet. Aesthetics and Nostalgia.

I love keeping sealed tfs for the packaging and artwork but I also like having them in hand to tinker with and figure out. Also, let's keep it real, investment value.

What if you never resell? All of the figures I've got rid of were either donated to charity shops, other collectors, or to my brother. Pretty sure a few could've made some money, if I wanted to put the time into it.

That's where my thoughts are right now, in any case!

Va'al wrote:

Chillyn wrote:I can keep it short and sweet. Aesthetics and Nostalgia.

I love keeping sealed tfs for the packaging and artwork but I also like having them in hand to tinker with and figure out. Also, let's keep it real, investment value.

What if you never resell? All of the figures I've got rid of were either donated to charity shops, other collectors, or to my brother. Pretty sure a few could've made some money, if I wanted to put the time into it.

That's where my thoughts are right now, in any case!

That's a good point actually. A large part of the reason I haven't sold any of my unwanted figures is because I can't be bothered to sell them, but giving them to charity is... something I actually feel really guilty about for not thinking of
Guess they'll be getting themselves a Thrilling 30 Legends Bumblebee!
But then I don't know what to do about Takara Arcee. I don't know if the resulting "KURONA WTF" from giving her to charity is a reason to not do it or a reason to do it.

Va'al wrote:
What do you think? If something stays hidden for a long time, is it time to rethink its place in your home, or do you hang on to it a little longer?

Totally depends on your attachment. See, I've been going through this this year a lot. Shrinking down my collection has been harder than I thought. Some of the stuff I've sold off. A lot I've boxed up to slowly give out to my boys. of the stuff that I've sold, some I haven't missed, and some, I've regretted it as soon as I walked out of the post office.

Since then, I've learned to take some time and seriously think about an item before it goes on eBay. What looks unused and unwanted today, maybe just gathering dust in the corner, may become tomorrow's centerpiece. So I came up with 3 basic questions to answer before getting rid of a figure:

1) Why did I buy this item?

2) Why did I keep this item?

3) Why do I want to sell this item?

What these questions do is help me frame my thoughts on the item and put it into perspective.

So, things I don't need and/or want get sold, or put into storage for my boys. Things that don't have a current place in my collection, but still have a place in my nostalgia heart, get put into storage for later use.

Just because something doesn't get a lot of use, doesn't always mean you should get rid of it. Just because you bought something doesn't mean you have to keep it.

Kurona wrote:

Va'al wrote:

Chillyn wrote:I can keep it short and sweet. Aesthetics and Nostalgia.

I love keeping sealed tfs for the packaging and artwork but I also like having them in hand to tinker with and figure out. Also, let's keep it real, investment value.

What if you never resell? All of the figures I've got rid of were either donated to charity shops, other collectors, or to my brother. Pretty sure a few could've made some money, if I wanted to put the time into it.

That's where my thoughts are right now, in any case!

That's a good point actually. A large part of the reason I haven't sold any of my unwanted figures is because I can't be bothered to sell them, but giving them to charity is... something I actually feel really guilty about for not thinking of
Guess they'll be getting themselves a Thrilling 30 Legends Bumblebee!
But then I don't know what to do about Takara Arcee. I don't know if the resulting "KURONA WTF" from giving her to charity is a reason to not do it or a reason to do it.

KURONA WTF



In all seriousness though I'd consider trying to sell Takara Arcee on eBay, if only because the cheapest she goes for over here is, like, £30. You could make a pretty penny off of her.

I mean I have no idea why you'd want to sell her considering she's the best Arcee we've ever got (the shiny Platinum version has no guns, the Edgy DeviantART Shellsuit Combiner Hunters version is...well, yeah, and at least IMO the Hasbro version looks a bit "meh" with those random black bits) and short of a hypothetical Masterpiece/Maketoys Re:Master figure, we're unlikely to get a better version, but if you do, you do.

I wouldn't give her to kids if only because she's a delicate little thing and it would be a shame if she got hamhanded.

Ironhidensh wrote:Just because something doesn't get a lot of use, doesn't always mean you should get rid of it. Just because you bought something doesn't mean you have to keep it.

Very much so, yes! I like your three questions, by the way, but still find it hard sometimes to apply them in a productive way. You've seen the photos of the three 'spare' boxes above - those all have reasons for not being empty, but still being in storage. But I took another two figures out of them today, and am staring at them as I type this (sorta, they're to my right).

I suppose a fourth question has evolved from the previous three: Why did I hold on to them this long, if now it's not an issue to get rid of them?

Va'al wrote:

Chillyn wrote:I can keep it short and sweet. Aesthetics and Nostalgia.

I love keeping sealed tfs for the packaging and artwork but I also like having them in hand to tinker with and figure out. Also, let's keep it real, investment value.

What if you never resell? All of the figures I've got rid of were either donated to charity shops, other collectors, or to my brother. Pretty sure a few could've made some money, if I wanted to put the time into it.

That's where my thoughts are right now, in any case!

That's all fine and good but the fact that it has investment value makes sure your (hypothetical)kids aren't just going to throw them away after you pass them on. In fact, the hope is usually if your kids decide not to keep them, they can sell at a handsome price to pay for something they may need. Ideally.

The investment capitalist stuff is on the bottom of my list. Aesthetics and nostalgia are my primary motivators. Investment is what I tell myself to justify the thousands I've spent on this hobby.

WHY : Because I buy toys and I'm a bad person
WHEREFORE : My name isn't Romeo
WTF : I don't listen to that Podcast anymore I got sick of them talking about everything but Transformers.

"Wherefore" means "why".

Ha! Almost exactly a year from the last time I looked into here. Coincidence, for sure.
I started talking about this in my collection thread, but I thought I might reopen this old dusty thing, and get a wider perspective too.

Va'al wrote:Here's a thing I noticed, as I was working on the 2017 longpiece: Transformers sort of stopped for me, this year.

Let me explain: I am still getting the trades for all the comics, bar some crossovers. I am still invested in the site, and TFNation, and any other nerdy activity connected to Transformers. I still take robot pics when I travel, or just for the sake of it. But.

I haven't bought a single* Transformer in the entirety of 2017.



*this is not entirely true, but the one I did buy I resold just a couple of months later:



What have I got, robot-wise, this past year?

Back in January, my partner got me these two cuties:


In February, my brother gave me this tiny terror:


Megatronus sent me this in October, from NYCC and Dan Khanna:


I made myself some new business cards:


And I received this commission from Jack Lawrence in December:


So by the end of the year, I got pretty art, a small group of decorations, and some leftover nerd cred, effectively:

(The Optimus craft and tiny Jazz are also from my partner, and Arcee is currently on my dashboard. Alpha Bravo tree decoration is from Bronzewolf, as I said in a post above.)


What does this say about the collection, the hobby, the interest? I have no idea. But I'm also not unhappy with the result or the outcome! I'll definitely be thinking more about this as I keep collating opinions on the main YIR piece, but I was talking to Burn, and we both sort of went '..huh' at what happened in my TF 2017. So there you go. Some musings.

carytheone wrote:I don't think it's just you. You might be a little more extreme though. I've noticed a lot of board members seem to be rethinking things, clearing out bots either via sale or just storage. I've even found a new direction and I'm on the verge of moving some bots out the door.

Maybe it's over-saturation/exposure fatigue (certainly is for me). Well that's my half-baked 2 cents

I mean, I've always been open about not being that interested in the whole physical aspect of the enjoyment of the fandom, and had some seriously interesting discussions with Counterpunch, Ironhidensh, and others in other parts of the boards (may go poke those actually..). I also noticed something interesting in the TTTMU first episode, about the 'the human need to touch or hold something physical that represents something intangible' (that Cobotron also picked up while watching), which I still don't entirely agree with, but I can see it working in some ways, as I did after all pick up that anniversary Digimon figure in November.

But yes, I'm not sure if it's: saturation, as I never had that much to begin with; exposure, as I enjoy just looking at images of how people play, much like I enjoy visual media without needing to own it myself. It may be something to do with financial matters, and not being able to justify expenses that are not necessary, but again, not to the point of not even realising that I hadn't bought anything.

gonna keep chewin'.. (*wookie noises*)