The Energon Pub

As we all know, money can be a blessing and a curse. Many moons ago, most of my hard earned cash went towards my Transformers collection. Now it goes to a mortgage payment, various bills, and food for a chubby toddler.

Latley, my TF purchases have been made with a lot of thought and consideration. Saving a little cash so I don't miss out on Thundercracker and Warpath, stopping myself before purchasing a character/mold that I'm not 100% happy with, etc.

I miss the days of buying up every TF I saw without worry... now I could care less about the size of the collection, I just want a collection that I can be proud of.

A TF collection that started with Bluestreak back in 1984 should not include a toaster transformer named "Ejector" from a clearance bin.

So, anyway, old man rant over.

Just wanting to know-

How does your "budget" play into your TF collection/obsession?

I've never actually set a budget on transformers. I generally buy everything I want.

But lately, I've become impossibly hard to please when it comes to toys. the last TF I bought at retail was Generations Drift Back in the summertime. Other than that, the only items I've gotten have been FansProject pieces, and Alternity.

If things keep going the way they are now, I don't think I'll ever have to worry about spending too much on TFs...

When funds are good for me, I usually go after the main line stuff. Deluxes, voyagers, Ultras, Leaders, and Supreme are the main ones I go after. I generally ignore Legends unless it's something like the ROTF Devastator. I only get certain Scout figures. (Yes, I thoroughly enjoy having Ejector in my collection)

Right now, I've been focusing on stuff I really want and keeping my buying fairly limited since my income is not as good as it normally is for the time being. I'm only buying RTS and Generations as they are released so probably about $20- 30 a month. Even then I'm probably over estimating seeing how I ended up with a few as gifts.

I am getting to a point where as much as I enjoy collecting, I need to start preparing for the future a little more. I have a goal of being able to put a sizable down payment on a house after college so I need to put more of my funds towards savig for that. I don't have a family of my own yet and I probably won't for a while, but I want to be prepared for that so as I work, I'll also be putting money towards preparing for that.

Depending on how my work stuff plays out over the summer, I'll either be able to buy a fair amount of TFs, or I'll end up with a sizable saving account provided I can get back on my feet soon.

I'm actually getting to the point now where I'll have to sit down and look at my income and based off that, give myself a toy allowance.

I've got food to buy,bills to pay, a girlfriend to entertain, school to attend, and a gas tank to feed so i limit myself by sticking to those transformers that have their basis in g1. i.e. g1, masterpiece, classics/generations/universe and many of the 3rd party items.I like them best anyway. maybe pick up an optimus and/or megatron from the other lines if they appeal to me. This is still not cheap but if i were a completist it would be down right bank breaking!

TF comes under my overall entertainment/nerd stuff budget which I keep at a reasonable amount to keep parents happy. My main things I always budget and have enough money for are petrol for my car, credit for my phone (pre-paid mobile/cell)and bills (car related, gym, ISP) everything else covers my clothes/makeup/girlie things. Im pretty good at saving and was able to buy a bigger TV/monitor last week. Lovin my 24" screen.

Used to it was nothing for em to drop $200 on TF's in one shopping trip, but, with having lost my job a month ago, I've decided to make a list of TFs that have been recently released that I want, and to stick to that list. it's mainly Generations/RTS.