The Energon Pub

I was perusing the forums and I got to thinking, why do so many people collect transformers? I am sure some for fun, some to turn around and sell, others to play with. I thought it would be interesting to see what other reasons motivate folks, especially the older ones, like meself!

My reason? Up until I graduated high school in 1990, I had every Transformer that had come out....I think. I had long since stopped playing with them, and instead was buying them to collect. I had them set up on my shelves all nice and whatnot, displayed for the world, or anyone who went into my room, could see. Then, I joined the US Navy and went off to boot camp. When I returned, my mother handed me about $100 bucks and told me that, since I was all grown up now, I had no need for toys, so she sold em all at a flea market! I was understandably pissed!! So, ever since then, I have been poking around flea markets and whatnots trying to reclaim my collection. Now I found ebay and this site and a few others, and I expect to have most everything back in a few years (much to my wife's chagrin!) Just the G1 and some of the G2 stuff. the rest to date you can keep!

Thats my sad story. whats yours?

I like to accumulate lots of stuff and overload my home office with it. My room is literally overflowing. I have more Transformers and LEGO sets than I ever have time to do anything with or display. Sometimes stuff sits in the box for months, even years, before I even open it. I think I have a problem, but I love my obsession.

I was traumatized as a child when I ran into Target as they opened and I filled the cart with G1 Prime, Tracks, Ironhide, Ratchet, Megatron, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker etc...

The trauma came when my mom told me we could only afford 1 or 2... so my mom made me put them all back except for Megs and Sideswipe.

Since then, I have always had a place in my heart for TF... and now with the resources and time and energy... I can now inflict that trauma on the children of the world by buying every concept BB I find...

MUHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

just kidding. only kidding though on the part about intentionally inflicting trauma on the children of the world.

Well, I allways collected something, but I started with Transformers, and after years, I returned to them. They are one of the (if not the only) perfect collectibles. How else do you find cars, tanks, animals, robots, spaceships, and comics in one?

Chaoslock wrote:Well, I allways collected something, but I started with Transformers, and after years, I returned to them. They are one of the (if not the only) perfect collectibles. How else do you find cars, tanks, animals, robots, spaceships, and comics in one?

WOW well said!!

When I was a kid, my day was not complete until I watched an episode of Transformers. I had a dubbed videotape of the movie which was watched so many times, the audio was a garbled mess before the tape broke! Needless to say, I was a fan. However, I didn't have a lot of Transformers as a kid because they were pretty expensive for their time. I remember asking my mom for an Aerialbots giftset when they first came out and getting shot down... But she did get me what she could. My most memorable Christmas present was getting a Powermaster Prime.

Now that I am older, have a steady job and some cash flow, I am FINALLY getting to catch up on getting all the characters that I watched in action every afternoon as a child. Nostalgia folks......pure nostalgia. (and its the best toy line to come from the late 70s and 80s, along with Star Wars)

Chaoslock wrote:Well, I allways collected something, but I started with Transformers, and after years, I returned to them. They are one of the (if not the only) perfect collectibles. How else do you find cars, tanks, animals, robots, spaceships, and comics in one?

My Father was a Hoarder, and his father was a hoarder, so it makes sense that I hoard too!

It's a hobby, something to do, something you can set goals to,and I guess for some, it is something that helps define them as a person.

1. On an engineering level, they're fun. Each one is a unique puzzle.
2. It's a reclamation of my childhood. The neighborhood where I grew up has been gentrified away, and my parents threw out my toys ages ago. I could only have a few as a kid, and as an adult I can have all I want.
3. I like the characters. Though they've rarely received good writing on television, the comics had some good stuff, and perhaps since I've known them so long, they're evocative.
4. Customizing. It's a fun avenue to design and create.
5. Um... I like playing with them.

I needed a new outlet to chew up my cash. My liver couldn't take any more booze and drugs are for losers, so here I am.

Menasorwheels wrote:When I was a kid, my day was not complete until I watched an episode of Transformers. I had a dubbed videotape of the movie which was watched so many times, the audio was a garbled mess before the tape broke! Needless to say, I was a fan. However, I didn't have a lot of Transformers as a kid because they were pretty expensive for their time. I remember asking my mom for an Aerialbots giftset when they first came out and getting shot down... But she did get me what she could. My most memorable Christmas present was getting a Powermaster Prime.

Now that I am older, have a steady job and some cash flow, I am FINALLY getting to catch up on getting all the characters that I watched in action every afternoon as a child. Nostalgia folks......pure nostalgia. (and its the best toy line to come from the late 70s and 80s, along with Star Wars)

OK, WTF?? This is not right. That is EXACTLY SPOT ON my TF life.

I collect transformers because they last longer than pie.

For me, it's a hobby, a trivial pursuit. It's enjoyable and needs no explanation.

I've always enjoyed toys, cartoons and comics, it's not a nostalgia thing for me I've just consistently loved action figures, animation and comic books. I did watch G1 as a child, I read the Marvel comic books (living in the UK they came out every week!) and I watched the original movie over and over, but I've never felt as nostalgic for G1 as many here in fact watching it back as an adult the TV series was pretty poor. Luckily the comics have been (in-consistently) great and further series such as Beast Wars, Beast Machines and Superlink have been far superior. I collect Transformers because I love the characters and fiction and I love the design of many of the figures, I'm the same about other toy lines inspired by other animation and TV shows such as Revoltech, Souchaku Henshin, and Soul of Chogokin. I just love cool cartoons, cool comics and cool toys and that why I collect them.

Yours AK

Menbailee wrote:1. On an engineering level, they're fun. Each one is a unique puzzle.
2. It's a reclamation of my childhood. The neighborhood where I grew up has been gentrified away, and my parents threw out my toys ages ago. I could only have a few as a kid, and as an adult I can have all I want.
3. I like the characters. Though they've rarely received good writing on television, the comics had some good stuff, and perhaps since I've known them so long, they're evocative.
4. Customizing. It's a fun avenue to design and create.
5. Um... I like playing with them.

With the exception of #4 ... which is inevitable at some point for me, this is a spot on description of why I collect them.

I like art and engineering, and TF's are both.

and because giant fighting robots are cool.

actually, I just collect chicks, I just use the TF's to get the chicks

Wraith47 wrote:I was perusing the forums and I got to thinking, why do so many people collect transformers? I am sure some for fun, some to turn around and sell, others to play with. I thought it would be interesting to see what other reasons motivate folks, especially the older ones, like meself!

I like to collect them, because I like to have something new. And when I am in bad shape, one transformation and I already feel happy!

I always had a collection. I still have a pretty decent-sized baseball card collection. My parents still have (hopefully!) a pretty decent sized G1 Transformer collection. My wife and I have a fair-sized McFarlane baseball player collection. We love *things* I guess.

Why Transformers now though? The movie. As bad as some people claim it is and how it ruined their life, it reminded me of my childhood.

An_de wrote:I like to collect them, because I like to have something new. And when I am in bad shape, one transformation and I already feel happy!

That's so cool!

Leonardo wrote:

An_de wrote:I like to collect them, because I like to have something new. And when I am in bad shape, one transformation and I already feel happy!

That's so cool!

Thanks!

I collect TF's for the engineering, because a lot of the time it's remarkable, and the imagination that goes into them. Also it's not like you can get organ failure from collecting TF's or are likely to kill someone just because they don't like the same TF as you and what not.

Tony.