The Energon Pub

I been curious about this for a while.I aim this question to the more experienced collectos with fairly larger collections.I'm going to give three examples of where I am going with this below and just want some honest opinions on how some of you think and deal with it.

1)G1 - Ok I'm going to start off with G1.My collection is very large starting to close in on the end of it.I'm curious how you feel about reissues and G1.Most of my figures are all original on my shelf.I have three reissues on my shelf Hasbro Soundwave and Sideswipe and Encore Starscream.I manged to get them all real cheap to fill in for the originals for a while.I'm curious if most of you consider this just as good as G1 or a seperate entity.I'm kinda sitting on the fence with this.Part of the reason is I have the first reissue of Predaking just sititng in the box in room buried somewhere.Part of me is thinking this is good enough and should just display it and forget about hunting down a original.Or would I just be fooling myself?


2)Beast Wars -Here another line I am very close to completetion but its not all US or all Japenese.Its mixed up I have some from each.Would you consider Beast Wars TM Prime from Japan wrong to place with the US versions of figures?I wanna say 25% of my figures in Beastwars are from Japan.


3)Armada/Energon - Ok I completed Energon I have every American figure released down to the Armada mini cons repacked for Energon.Now in Armada I don't have many of the minicon teams them selves but I have them in the Energon packaging.I'm not a big mini con fan there ok but I find it a little difficult to spend $20 plus on three packs I have in Energon packaging.Would most of you consider it already owning them or you would have to go and buy the three packs too?


I plan on completing all toylines with a cartoon up to Cybertron I'm pretty close on all lines but G2 I'm really behind on that one.I'm just getting a general feeling how the fan base personally feels about this with there own collections and your collecting habits.Thanks.

Not a question I think you're ever going to get a "straight" answer to, due to the sheer amount of different opinions and perceived levels of "completeness". A lot of it would depend on if you are a MI(S)B collectoe and how much uniformity you want in your collection.

For what it's worth;

1)Re-issues? Love 'em. I've bought every figure that has been released, not all versions though. Nothing is better than getting a minty fresh figure and putting the stickers on yourself or being the first to Transform it. Hasbro and Takara both release them under the G1 banner (bar a couple of recent Hasbro exclusives) and if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck...

Think of them as re-releases, not reissuesa term which sometimes has negative connotations.

2) Beast era? Not my strong point at all can't see why you wouldn't mix figures tho'. Do you have your preffered representation of that character? If you answered "yes", then it's all good.

3)Personally I've never been one for packaging variants, it just gets too confusing. The figures you mention are all from the same continuity. No difference in the figure? Personally I don't care how it comes boxed.

Take Energon Steamhammer as an example. Any difference between these two?


Like I said, it's just my two penneth. I don't think there are any "rules" per se, other than your own!

I basically divide my collections into logical groups, and then try to slowly complete those groups. Would that make me a completist? Maybe a "group completist" Anyhow, I don't really have "rules", just set guidelines. Let's compare them:

1) I love reissues. Not only are they easier to get, sometimes they're even superior to the original, like TF Collection Hot Rodimus and Star Convoy. I only pick Japanese reissues though, as Hasbro's still have to comply with Toy Safety Laws and have (unnecessary) changes, mainly in the missiles and launchers.

2) I'm a Beast Wars nut and am actually close to completing some of my BWII groups (blasted Starscream & BB keep eluding me). For the Japanese BWII and Neo I pick up the Versus sets whenever I can. For US Beast Wars I focus on the main cast, with a few side figures that pique my interest. US or Japanese, it doesn't matter, really. The exceptions are the Telemocha reissues and Japanese 2nd year Terrorsaur with the yellow beak.

3) I'm not really a fan of repackaging (a false term, as the figure has a new production run, but new packaging), unless it's of a figure I can't come across easily. Quite weird, as I'm not really a MIB or MOSC person myself.

IMHO, completeing lines is a waste of time. I spent plenty of time and money trying to complete the Alternators line. Not that many figures, so not to hard, but as soon as I was done, I ended up selling the ones that I only bought to have them all. I kept the ones I really dig, and sold off the rest (or am still trying to!) as the hunt was more exciting than having them.

Same thing happened with Universe/Classics. I bought them all, and once I had them displayed I realized that I didn't really like half of the toys, just the characters. Ratchet is one of my favorite characters, but think the Universe figure blows. I picked it up for the character, but everytime I looked at the figure I just thought "ugh, I hate that mold". SOLD

Long story short, just buy the figures you like and enjoy, not the ones you feel you "have" to buy just to complete the line.

I say anything that is released byt Takara or Hasbro counts, so a reissue of a G1 figure would count as much as the original in your collection.

GetterDragun wrote:I say anything that is released byt Takara or Hasbro counts, so a reissue of a G1 figure would count as much as the original in your collection.

Thanks your one of the people I was hoping to hear from.

GetterDragun wrote:I say anything that is released byt Takara or Hasbro counts, so a reissue of a G1 figure would count as much as the original in your collection.

agreed, its an official release, so its the same to me as having a C10 vintage one.

In terms of BW, mixing Japanese and American releases makes sense to me, I do it with all my displays.

Transmetal Megatron is a good example, unless you want the bot to disintegrate in your hands, the takara release is a must.

Classics is a no brainer, I pick and choose which release is superior, domestic or import and go from there. I think sideswipe, starscream, bumblebee and mirage are all better in hasbro form. Many others are better in Takara form, like the upcoming takara seaspray.

Sid Burn wrote:

GetterDragun wrote:I say anything that is released byt Takara or Hasbro counts, so a reissue of a G1 figure would count as much as the original in your collection.

agreed, its an official release, so its the same to me as having a C10 vintage one.

In terms of BW, mixing Japanese and American releases makes sense to me, I do it with all my displays.

Transmetal Megatron is a good example, unless you want the bot to disintegrate in your hands, the takara release is a must.

Classics is a no brainer, I pick and choose which release is superior, domestic or import and go from there. I think sideswipe, starscream, bumblebee and mirage are all better in hasbro form. Many others are better in Takara form, like the upcoming takara seaspray.

I was thinking about hunting down a Predaking but I have the offical reissue just sitting in the box.I'm starting to question if I'm wasting to much money having both.Think I have become to OCD collecting things.Kinda wanna open up and display Predaking and just call it a day.As far as BW TM Megatron that is one of the Japenese figures I own.The larger my collection has become the more I been trying to tone it down a little.

The Rules? 2 Men Enter, 1 Man Leaves, Welcome to Transformerdome!

really, for me, it's all a very broad, very variable personal choice. While there are some really great toys, regardless of which characters they are (squid-boy from BW, amongst many others, Drift for a more recent example) I tend to go for those which are better representations of what I feel the character is. Sometimes it's colours (Henkei Megatron vs Classics), others it's alt mode (Classics Hot Rod vs Energon) sometimes it's scale or transformation (MP Grimlock vs Classics) but that isn't to say I never repeat characters. I've half a dozen Optimus Primes, almost all of which I see, and I think "Optimus Prime".

I would, ideally like to be able to have one really good toy of the majority of G1 characters. I'd hope to be able to assemble a collection of the core cast from the G1 cartoons and more importantly to me, the (real/animated) Movie. With a few of the more prominent characters from the comics in there for balance. Due to availability, and monetary reasons, I find it unlikely I'll ever achieve this goal, but I'm generally pleased with what I get, and will from time to time pick up figures of characters I've no feeling towards one way or the other, simply because I like the look of the toy, or maybe it's on sale (hello BW TM Cybershark!) basically, I get what I can, when I can. I've no shopping list.

As for mixing and matching from different lines, be it using an Energon or Armada toy in place of a character without a Classics version, or a Japanese toy to fill a gap in an otherwise American released line, I really don't get hung up on those things personally. I can understand the mentality of those that do. To have the entire G1 series of figures from their original release and have one TRU-exclusive Hasbro reissue would probably be the sort of thing that'd gnaw away at your insides, like one of those little worms in that Star Trek film that went in them guys ears.

vulgar_wraith wrote:The larger my collection has become the more I been trying to tone it down a little.

I hear that, just open the reissue Predaking, that is a beautiful set and will be more pristine that any loose one you will find.

I have found that the larger my collection gets, the more I want to streamline it as well.

I sold off almost all of my unicron trilogy toys minus the ones that can be used for classics G1 homage standins, like Energon Inferno as Hosehead.

--B-- wrote:IMHO, completeing lines is a waste of time. I spent plenty of time and money trying to complete the Alternators line. Not that many figures, so not to hard, but as soon as I was done, I ended up selling the ones that I only bought to have them all. I kept the ones I really dig, and sold off the rest (or am still trying to!) as the hunt was more exciting than having them.

Same thing happened with Universe/Classics. I bought them all, and once I had them displayed I realized that I didn't really like half of the toys, just the characters. Ratchet is one of my favorite characters, but think the Universe figure blows. I picked it up for the character, but everytime I looked at the figure I just thought "ugh, I hate that mold". SOLD

Long story short, just buy the figures you like and enjoy, not the ones you feel you "have" to buy just to complete the line.

This response resonates with me the most. I am actually in the midst of collecting Alternators, and several people had advised me about the line (B, you might have been one of those people). I decided that I want to focus on only the molds that I really want, and choose the color scheme that I like best for the ones I choose to buy. I am past the point where I care to have every single incarnation of a given mold-example: Universe Prowl or Classics Seekers. In the Alternators line I want to get Tracks but not Swerve, for example. And I don't want to pick up the molds I care nothing about. The Civic mold is a good example of a mold that I just don't have any interest in.

So, I really don't focus on completeing a given line. I understand why people like to, but it isn't what I care about. It also isn't the best use of my resources IMO.

Much like the cake, completing a line is a lie.

Side note: Reissues are absolutely as good, if not better than originals. Support G1 reissues in any and every way possible.

The idea of completing a line is almost pure Bull. You may complete a subset of a line, you may get all the American releases, you may find some sense of satisfaction in pulling it all together. Give me a cup of coffee and 10 minutes with you and not only will I point out things you didn't manage to get into your "complete" collection, I will make you feel bad for it too. Then I will make you feel bad about some of the things you DID buy. For example, your pondering about Mini-cons, pricing, and re-releases in Energon? Laughable. It doesn't matter because your "complete" Armada collection is missing 15 of the most important characters by lacking the DVD Microns. They'll cost you several hundred dollars to put together. Is that fair to your efforts to mention that and slight you for not having them? Hell no. But I'll do it and it will be in the back of your mind. And if your collection isn't truly complete...then...is it all that special?

It's all an arbitrary goal, something to do with the collection in place of playing with the toys or just enjoying what you have. You have to find value in what you collect and love, that gives meaning to it and makes the thing complete as far as you care.

How do I know? Why can I say this? I've been there, only I did it for three lines at once. Not just any three lines either...Armada, Energon, and Cybertron. G1 may be the most expensive line to complete, but AEC is perhaps the hardest due to multiple Japanese dash exclusives etc (honorable mention to the movie line and its unique bullshit).

There IS something fun about saying, "I have all and I mean ALL of that line." but as time goes on, it becomes a burden, taking up space for future growth.

You can still complete your collection. That is the most noble of all collecting asperations. But the goal shouldn't be the capital 'A' "all", it should be all of what you want and love.

Example...In collecting AEC, I had gotten both American and Japanese releases for everything. Bad-ass right? Every figure to compare and enjoy the variations on. Except...that takes a lot of room, a lot of space, and it isn't really fair to either my family or my collection to have Armada Blurr and Micron Legends Blurr taking up space when one is clearly superior and the only reason for both is a frivolous amusement. So, the culling began.



TL;DR Reissues good, Completionism futile

vulgar_wraith wrote:I been curious about this for a while.I aim this question to the more experienced collectos with fairly larger collections.I'm going to give three examples of where I am going with this below and just want some honest opinions on how some of you think and deal with it.

1)G1 - Ok I'm going to start off with G1.My collection is very large starting to close in on the end of it.I'm curious how you feel about reissues and G1.Most of my figures are all original on my shelf.I have three reissues on my shelf Hasbro Soundwave and Sideswipe and Encore Starscream.I manged to get them all real cheap to fill in for the originals for a while.I'm curious if most of you consider this just as good as G1 or a seperate entity.I'm kinda sitting on the fence with this.Part of the reason is I have the first reissue of Predaking just sititng in the box in room buried somewhere.Part of me is thinking this is good enough and should just display it and forget about hunting down a original.Or would I just be fooling myself?


2)Beast Wars -Here another line I am very close to completetion but its not all US or all Japenese.Its mixed up I have some from each.Would you consider Beast Wars TM Prime from Japan wrong to place with the US versions of figures?I wanna say 25% of my figures in Beastwars are from Japan.


3)Armada/Energon - Ok I completed Energon I have every American figure released down to the Armada mini cons repacked for Energon.Now in Armada I don't have many of the minicon teams them selves but I have them in the Energon packaging.I'm not a big mini con fan there ok but I find it a little difficult to spend $20 plus on three packs I have in Energon packaging.Would most of you consider it already owning them or you would have to go and buy the three packs too?


I plan on completing all toylines with a cartoon up to Cybertron I'm pretty close on all lines but G2 I'm really behind on that one.I'm just getting a general feeling how the fan base personally feels about this with there own collections and your collecting habits.Thanks.

I hear ya. I've been thinking about my own rules for the lines I collect recently too.
This is my view:
There's no point in buying an original G1 Predaking with loose joints, peeling stickers, and without all the accessories when you've got a MISB one sitting on your shelf at home.
I could understand if you wanted to sell the MISB one and used some of the cash to get the 2010 one and the rest of the cash to add to another area to your collection.

I've got a big G1 collection as well but if a figure is re-issued then I sell the G1 original on Ebay and keep the new one as I like my figures in perfect condition & 100% complete.
I've made a decision to sell all of my G1 collection (except G1 Shockwave) on Ebay next year as I have half of the figures from the Transformers Collection/Commemorative/Encore etc lines and the other half I can wait for reissues or if they don't come, live without them.

I originally got back into collecting with the intention to buy only G1 originals but too many figures looked and felt their age when I got them so I have given up.

Good luck to you, whatever you decide to do!

Your collection is complete when you've got every figure you want, in my opinion.

I mean, for me, I just got Animated Rodimus and Wreck-Gar. I don't have Ironhide or Cliffjumper, nor the laughably small Lugnut, but everyone else is there, and I don't want the three I'm missing because they're redecos, so I consider my Animated collection "complete." I have every one that I want.

My RotF collection, I have the characters that appeared in the movies, and then the extras that interested me. As long as I have the ones I personally find interesting, I will consider it "complete."

Counterpunch wrote:Give me a cup of coffee and 10 minutes with you and not only will I point out things you didn't manage to get into your "complete" collection, I will make you feel bad for it too

I witnessed this exact situation, in person, and it was hilarious. CP, with coffee in-hand, telling Razorclaw about his incomplete movie line because he didn't have the overpriced, dirty repaints of Skids and Mudflap. Then it kept coming up throughout the afternoon. Hilarious.

I love re-issues of G1 figures. They are crispy-new, right out of the box and way cheaper. I display them on the shelf with my vintage G1 stuff. The only time it matters if its vintage or not is when you want to sell them.

Oh yeah. Do yourself a favoer. Get that Predaking out of the box and play with it. That is a fun one to have around.

Thanks everyone this has been very helpful to me.I was very OCD when I started back upm again about collecting.There have been a few figure I bought and afterwards said why did I buy this?When the first movie came out is when I started rethinking my collecting.Because some of it I really do not like at all gravity bots,robot heros and legends.It kinda put a break in the chain for completion.For the last year I slowed down in my collecting and only bought what I really liked with some experimenting.Now I started looking at a few figures to complete G1 and its like I already have the reissue.I have decided to open Predaking and give up on the original after listening to everyone it makes the most sense.I think I already realised it ,just needed to hear my peers opinions.I have thought to myself a few times do I really need five different versions of movie Ratchet?(I only have 2).Also I am definately not getting those mini con package verients just the few I don't have and would like to own.Thanks again everyone and you too Counterpuch was hoping you would add your opinion to this.

Make your own darn rules. One shouldn't be confined to complete a set which is viewed to be complete by someone else. I'd call you out for not having all of the Micron Legend figures, which are the Takara counterparts of Armada, but that's a dick move..

Blurrz wrote:Make your own darn rules. One shouldn't be confined to complete a set which is viewed to be complete by someone else. I'd call you out for not having all of the Micron Legend figures, which are the Takara counterparts of Armada, but that's a dick move..

Now it's the only move.

You'll call yourself a completionist, and then CP will scold you for not buying the Lawson "Dirty" Skids and Mudflap.

And then you will weep.

I'm working on "completing" a lot of lines right now, but I have a loose definition of "completing".

I buy every unique American release. I fill in with Japanese exclusive repaints, or the same character if it's different enough (see most of Micron Legend).

I skip multiple repacks (unless one or more figures is redecoed - I bought the Sam's Club exclusive four pack with the battle damaged Longarm and Sideswipe).

I don't buy variants unless they are significant (I bought both ROTF Breakaways).

I DO NOT buy Lucky Draws.

By those rules, I have all US Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Universe 2.0, Movie, ROTF, Universe 1.0, Animated, PCC Released so far, HTFD released so far, Generations released so far. For the Takara fill-in, I have most of the Micron Legend, Superlink, Galaxy Force figures I want. I'm a dozen or so Minicons from having them all (not all I want, but all). I ridiculously short on Henkei (only 50% or so) and missing a bunch of J Movie/ROTF figures (like that damn Skids/Mudflap two pack).

I'm missing five Alternators and the ridiculously colored DVD 20th Anniversary Prime from Classics to "complete" those lines by my rules. I am not buying the Prime/UM Euro/Asian Two Pack or the Jetfire/Grimlock one.

Completing lines is overrated. Yeah sure, I have every deluxe, voyager and leader class toy for Animated, but really, I'm much happier picking and choosing the toys I want. Too bad that usually means everything.

I was going for completist towards PCC, but wave 3 stopped that idea dead.

I am going after all of the RiD toys. Despite nobody apparently liking the series, the toys are expensive

adamassc wrote:I was going for completist towards PCC, but wave 3 stopped that idea dead.

I am going after all of the RiD toys. Despite nobody apparently liking the series, the toys are expensive

I have most of RID got it all real cheap.So cheap some would hate me for it.

vulgar_wraith wrote:

adamassc wrote:I was going for completist towards PCC, but wave 3 stopped that idea dead.

I am going after all of the RiD toys. Despite nobody apparently liking the series, the toys are expensive

I have most of RID got it all real cheap.So cheap some would hate me for it.

Brave Max: $200 or less amirite?

Won my Bravemax MIB for about $250 then another auction I won like 70% of the line MISB and or MIB for others, for like $120.I picked up most the others here and there when I could cheap.Just missing a few figures now.

Try being a character completionest. Do you have any idea how hard it has become to get everything Optimus Prime, Megatron, Optimus Primal & BW Megatron, Ultra Magnus, Rodimus, Galvatron, Starscream, Jazz, Swindle Grimlock, Bumblebee, Soundwave and the list goes on and on. The problem is every time you "complete" a character, you add another one to fill the slot. So now you have all of this new stuff to track down but they keep putting out more of the characters you "completed" so now it's not done anymore. Optimus Prime and Megatron, you expect them to have new stuff every few months but Rodimus or Swindle? Munitioner alone increased how much I'd spent on Swindle by 50% and between Animated, Protector (& Sidearm) and Takara's Masterpiece, Rodimus is looking to cost $320 over the next 5 months. That's without counting the eventual ToysRUs MP Hot Rod that's getting an exclusive Targetmaster.

And where do you draw the line? Despite owning several G1 Optimus I display Music Label because of the superior head and paint job but do I get the white one and call it a Magnus? I actually had to cite presidence like an attorney to myself that I passed on the Nike sneaker white Optimus because it wasn't officially a "Magnus" (but the real reason I passed on that was it wasn't white it was cream colored!)

And that's on top of trying to create a Classics (I hate the term CHUG) perfect modern G1 and all the customs and kitbashing I do.

A lot of collectors say they think they have OCD. I think collecting gives us OCD tendencies as a survival mechanism! Now back to making Verity Carlo to go with my Wreckers before hitting 2 Targets before work to look for WfC Soundwave. It never really ends...