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I have been thinking about posting this for a while now. This will be part rant, part reflection on 25-plus years of following the world of Transformers, and the conflicts I am having as a near-lifelong fan of the Transformers universe. So if you aren't interested in some lamenting, wishful thinking, and yes, even possible whining, you might want to stop reading. However, if you do keep reading, I would appreciate any feedback you might have in helping me get past this seemingly insurmountable hurdle I have in front of me. I feel comfortable asking/discussing this here, as even if none of you have faced this exact problem before, at least some of you can relate to my point of view on some levels.

Now, let me start by saying I understand that Transformers, in all its facets, is not a necessity to life. I don't mean to come off as someone who feels he needs Transformers in his life, even though it might read as such further down. So please bear with me if you decide to keep reading. This is something that has been on my mind for a couple of years now, and finally it's coming to a head. Whether it's because of the impending new year, I'm not sure. All I know is, after I make this decision, I will either go on without being an active member of the fandom or with having a renewed appreciation for the characters I had in my life for 25-plus years. Be forewarned, this will be rather lengthy.

Because at this time, I am rather frustrated and quite simply bored with Transformers. It's hard for me to imagine being bored, but for the last few years, ever since the end of Animated, really, I've been largely disappointed with the newer toys as well as the various continuities out there. For me, the live action movies are average at best, I have never had much interest in the iDW universe, and the toys are rarely more than worth a glance. Yeah, there are a few that make me take another look, but it's been a while since I've gone "Wow, I must have that for my collection!"

So the problem I am having which I mentioned at the beginning is, how do I get past this? Transformers have been a significant part of my life. I am sure some of you can relate to this, but I haven't had a very stable life when I was younger, and the 1 constant I could go to was Transformers. Mainly it was the toys and the comics, and when I got older I also started collecting the various series, 1st on VHS (wow, how old am I?) which I still have, then on DVD. But no matter what I was facing in life, I always had Transformers around me in 1 form or another. Through regular ridicule from friends, family and even girlfriends as I got older, I never wavered from being a fan, and now here I am, 32 years old, and as I look at the future of Transformers, I am having a hard time finding anything that interests me.

So is it fatigue of the franchise from a near-lifetime of participation? Or is it just that the quality of everything Transformers is on the decline? Of course, this is subjective, as others will like things I don't and vice versa. But if you have had this problem regarding our glorious Transformers universe, how did you work through it? I really am at my wits' end, I just don't see any encouraging signs in the near future. The only thing I'm even remotely interested in is the 20th anniversary of Beast Wars in a couple of years, and that's only if the Club and/or Hasbro doesn't screw it up. Even some of the great stuff 3rd parties come up with is not worth getting without having an official Hasbro base for the pieces. The only other pieces on the horizon I wouldn't mind waiting for are the future MPs and the rest of the Chinese calendar editions. The MPs I have a fair amount of confidence in, but the Chinese calendar line, I don't know. I would only get the Primes if I were to start collecting, but I am not sure if Takara is going to see it all the way through. They have 8 more to go. But they're expensive enough as they are new, how much more will they be on the 2ndary market?

Nowadays, every time I look to Transformers to get me out of a bad mood, or just feel like fiddling with a figure, I always look for the older stuff. Is this a sign that I have no faith in the future of the franchise? I'm not sure. All I know is, the more and more I look at my collection as a whole, including toys, comics, movies and series, the more I feel like I have everything I think makes for a good collection. That if I keep getting stuff, it wouldn't be worth it, and it would just clutter up a pretty neat collection. It's far from a "great" collection, as I look at some of your collections which you post, I can tell I'm nowhere near. But at the same time, I mostly think "I don't care that I don't have as much as others do. I have what matters to me."

I truly feel like I have reached at the very least a plateau when it comes to collecting and an interest in the franchise. I never thought it would happen, but here I am, practically whining about it. I just don't know what to do. I don't want to waste my time and money, nor do I want to taint my good memories with what I view as more frequent disappointments in the recent and upcoming stretches of the ongoing franchise. Maybe I just need to take a break. Come back to it in a couple of years. It's pretty easy nowadays to catch up on any series, whether animated or printed, and to acquire any figures that I may have missed and that piques my interest. Of course, there are the rare few that if you don't get them while you can, they're gone forever, or you have to pay an arm and a leg through the 2ndary market.

The bottom line is, I really feel like I have nowhere to go with Transformers as of now, and it just doesn't seem worth it anymore. If you have any advice, I would appreciate it. My true dilemma is the choice I have to make between either completely quitting the franchise from here on out, and just enjoying what I have acquired until now, or re-immersing myself in it to where I get into the comics, the cartoons, the figures, and even the BotCons and other fan-fueled aspects. The latter would be really difficult, as I have no real interest in 99% of anything upcoming, but if I quit, then I'm afraid I might miss out on a few good things. The question I have to ask myself is, would it be worth it, regardless of which way I chose. The answer is, I don't know. That's why I am having a problem.

Rodimus Prime wrote:The bottom line is, I really feel like I have nowhere to go with Transformers as of now, and it just doesn't seem worth it anymore. If you have any advice, I would appreciate it. My true dilemma is the choice I have to make between either completely quitting the franchise from here on out, and just enjoying what I have acquired until now, or re-immersing myself in it to where I get into the comics, the cartoons, the figures, and even the BotCons and other fan-fueled aspects. The latter would be really difficult, as I have no real interest in 99% of anything upcoming, but if I quit, then I'm afraid I might miss out on a few good things. The question I have to ask myself is, would it be worth it, regardless of which way I chose. The answer is, I don't know. That's why I am having a problem.

First and foremost, I don't think any of us should be giving you advice on what to do.

This is the sort of thing you need to figure out yourself.

You and I have spoken about this and I'm in a similar position. Only a few things interest me these days and the few things that do, I often have to import because I live in what they consider a "remote" part of Australia (despite it being a big tourist destination)

Like you, it's hard to find things to enjoy.

Do I enjoy the comics? To an extent. They could be better, they could be drawn by Rob Liefeld! (Got one in, suck it Va'al!)
Do I enjoy the TV series? Rescue Bots yes, Prime was good, I hated Animated's aesthetics, I don't have much hope for Robots in Disguise as I feel it's just going to be a re-hash of everything that's already been done before.
Do I enjoy the movies? As they've progressed I've enjoyed them less and less. I took the day off from work to go and see AoE, I even stayed in the city (nearest cinema is an hour drive away) overnight so I could go first thing in the morning. I was hyped up for it. But after nearly three hours I couldn't wait to get out of there! Then I downloaded it when it got a digital release, but I never watched it, then when it was released on blu-ray, I bought it ... but have yet to watch it. That's how little interest I have in it now.
Do I enjoy the toys? Some ... a lot of the movie figures have been a miss for me. (Dinobots have been a stand out though)

I think the big thing though is, and I'm not saying this in an insulting way (*gasp*) but ... you're getting older. We all are. Priorities change, tastes change, in fact, our tastes tend to lock in. I've observed that your memory starts to go at 25, by 35 your musical taste is locked in (the bulk of music I listen to is 80's) and most importantly, we end up having to deal with more stress in our lives as we have to take on that horrid thing known as "responsibility". Best way to relieve stress? (Other than weekly massages ) You retreat back to a time in your life when things were happier.

So what do you do? You do whatever you have to do, take a break, ease back, get stuck in the 80's with duragrip and 1980sForever, whichever way you go, just know that others have been in a similar situation.

Burn wrote:First and foremost, I don't think any of us should be giving you advice on what to do.

This is the sort of thing you need to figure out yourself.

...just know that others have been in a similar situation.

I don't want people to make the decision for me, I just wanted to know if there were others who have thought like this, especially in the last few years. I wanted to see if someone can suggest a solution that I am not seeing. And I think you did just that, when you point out that we are getting older, priorities change. I still like Transformers very much, but I always start with the older stuff. You're also right when you say things don't look very promising in the near future. It's becoming stagnant. So what is one to do? Yes, perhaps a break from the entire franchise is due, after 25 years.

Like Burn said, this is one of those things that you have to figure out for yourself. You know that, of course, and are just looking for perspectives from others who've gone down some kind of similar path from what I can see from your original post, so to that I'll add a very small couple of cents.

Life is just hard. We do as many things as we can to lessen the hardship as we grow up and take on more and more responsibilities. Unless a person just lucks into a magical life of endless resources, it's an ongoing struggle to just stay afloat. So the more things any person can pull from the world around them and enjoy--the better. I say this having debated a couple of times just what the hell I'm doing still messing around with an online writing hobby that I stumbled on to in high school. But the world is a mess, and I'm not a big risk-taker, yadda yadda, so....this:

Best way to relieve stress? (Other than weekly massages ) You retreat back to a time in your life when things were happier.

I'm sure on some level this is exactly what I'm doing. So be it. I'm not really greedy for money any more (though I'll take it where I can get it lol) I'm greedy for happiness. Everything I can find that increases my happiness and hurts no one else is aces in my book. Thus Transformers, Seibertron, and the awesome little community we have here, a very formidable slice of all the 80s awesomeness I was surrounded by as a kiddo. Most of the people here I would love to share beers with at Botcon.

Some people like to hit balls and run around bases all their life, some dabble in wordplay online like an artist dabbles with oils. Some just want a spouse and kids. Whatever the hell you can find that makes life happier for you, go for it, whether it's cutting this piece out or going "all in".

If you do, by chance, choose the latter, you have an open invite to join the RPG. (Shameless, I know. Sue me ;P). We certainly have some plastic crack addicts in our group and and I know I've enjoyed the intricacy that James Roberts (and Furman and others) weaves into his Transformers stories because of the characters we explore in the game

Maybe a little more than two cents, but hopefully it's along the lines of what you were looking for.

If I have to be honest, and this is one of the reasons behind my other recent thread, too, I'm more or less in a similar position. But, due to the IDW comics and the work that I get to do with this site (including aiding to prevent Rob Liefeld from being a part of Transformers - right backatcha Burn), my interest in the franchise as a whole is still pretty much there!

The toys, on the other hand, are receiving the 'meh' treatment most of the time.

If you're finding that all the correlated aspects of Transformers, as well as the collecting aspect, are no longer appealing to you, then a break is probably the best thing to do. I would not, however, remove yourself entirely from its fandom - social meets, online discussions, conventions can still be a great deal of fun even without being 'up to speed' on what's out there.

I don't know if this may be of interest to you or not, but there's another major aspect to the fandom, It's something that I really enjoyed many years ago (before other responsibilities got in the way)

Creativity.

Writing - cut your teeth on the RPG maybe? (*ugh* ... I can't believe I plugged those people, they're more useless than the News Crew! )

Drawing - You're probably like me and can barely draw a stick figure. But hey, check out OptimalOptimus2's work, he's just getting started.

Kitbashing - Now this ... this is something I did a lot of years ago and have only just started getting back into (today I semi-successfully learnt how to remove pins without damaging the figure ... too much). And trust me, if someone like me can do this stuff anyone can.

The other great thing about kitbashing? You take the figures apart, you learn how they REALLY work. It's one thing to figure out how to transform Alternator Grimlock's hips without having to remove the car doors, it's another to completely disassemble him, see how the parts REALLY interact and then put them back together looking different.

And the best part is, aside from the initial outlay of tools (and you do need a few specialised ones) it's not expensive. Grab a figure on sale, or, watch E-Bay and find a junker.

Which brings up another fun part of this little hobby. Restoring junkers!

When I first got back into collecting, reissues didn't exist, heck, even KO's didn't exist! The only way to get G1 figures was to find them on E-Bay (or if you were lucky enough, garage sales). Of course getting hem in great condition was few and far between, so I had to fix them up. That included removing the old stickers and replacing them with Reprolabels, tightening joints, replacing parts from other junkers, breathing life back into an old figure.

If you're interested, there's not many, but the few people we have that can kitbash and also have the technical knowledge to fix things up will be more than willing to offer advice.

P.S. They let Pat Lee draw Optimus Prime with a fish tank chest, Transformer comics cannot possibly get any worse than that despite what certain anti-Liefelder's think.

I endorse the above comment, in particular, the P.S.

I do not, however, endorse board admins editing my posts.

A break from the franchise is definitely the way to go, the more I think about it. However, I think you guys are right when you say I shouldn't completely detach from the fandom. After all, I have more in common with you than probably anyone I know in real life. If I were to get away from this, and here, I'd be totally alone. I know this is from only a few of you, and some others may think otherwise, but thank you for sharing your thoughts. It's exactly what I asked for.

Creativity is probably a great outlet or substitute for actively participating in the franchise. I think I have creative mind, so role-playing might be a way to go. I tried a few times to get into it but it just seemed so daunting at the time, and I didn't have as much free time either. I actually had a rather busy life. Not so much any more. I was involved in the RPG forum here up to about 10 years ago, when it was much simpler. So that might be something to do. Thanks for the suggestion.

As for drawing and kit-bashing, unfortunately I am not very good with my hands, so that's probably a long shot. Creative writing is also something that's been relaxing for me, so I may frequent the fan-fiction forum more often as well. I just have to figure out what to do, which is the reason I started this thread. I needed some direction.

P.S. I thought I was the only one who had that problem with Alternator Grimlock. Is it the same with Wheeljack?

P.P.S. I really liked DW, it was the last time I actively collected comics. Pat Lee was a good enough artist, but a sh*tty businessman.

Well, I'm glad you are not leaving completely! You and Mr CrankyPants (Burn) were the first people who made me feel welcome here.

I understand what you're saying, though. And though I have no suggestions (besides be careful of those role players, once they get a hold of you, you're pulled in! ), it's just normal parts of life, kind of along the lines of what Burn said, you are growing up. The things I did in my 20's I just can't always get into anymore. There's even stuff I did in my 30s I no longer take interest in. Then again, there's stuff I rediscovered in my 40s that feels new again


Though if you do decide to give the role play a try (which I think you'd be great at!), know this, it's more daunting than it looks. Trust me.

I felt the same way a couple years back, while Prime was on the air. The first two seasons bored me. I couldn't get ahold of the comics, and there were just no toys I was interested in. Interest comes and goes, man. You can love Transformers without loving it unconditionally. Eventually, the franchise will probably swing back to a point where it engages you again. Myself, the only toys I collect are the Classics/Generations figures, the neo-G1 figures. The upcoming RiD figures look too kiddy for my tastes and latest movie's toyline was just weird.

I do recommend giving the comics another try if you haven't been keeping up with them. Roberts has been doing some really fantastic things fleshing out Transformers society and culture.

Why make it an all-or-nothing gambit?

Why not just say..."I'm done with this...for now." And just put it off to one side while you pursue other interests?

You may find that after a while of being away, you'll begin to miss it. That's what happened to me. I lost that interest, and...one day, it came back! One day, I realized I missed it more than I thought I would.

It's New Years resolution time, so think it over.

Rodimus Prime wrote:P.S. I thought I was the only one who had that problem with Alternator Grimlock. Is it the same with Wheeljack?

It is.

Big_Pink_Robot wrote:Why make it an all-or-nothing gambit?

Why not just say..."I'm done with this...for now." And just put it off to one side while you pursue other interests?

This right here.

If you've organically gotten to a point where a hobby is boring or leaves you unfulfilled, step aside for awhile. Hobbies are an embellishment on life and that's it, so make sure it's fun to you. If you come back to it later, or not, it doesn't matter. Do what comes to you - this ain't an obligation!

ScottyP wrote:

Big_Pink_Robot wrote:Why make it an all-or-nothing gambit?

Why not just say..."I'm done with this...for now." And just put it off to one side while you pursue other interests?

This right here.

If you've organically gotten to a point where a hobby is boring or leaves you unfulfilled, step aside for awhile. Hobbies are an embellishment on life and that's it, so make sure it's fun to you. If you come back to it later, or not, it doesn't matter. Do what comes to you - this ain't an obligation!

Agreed.

I had to get away from it a couple years ago, actually. I was just sick of Transformers and the direction certain things were going. I had absolutely nothing to do with anything Transformers related. I guess after being in love with them for 3 decades I just got tired of them. I really had no interest in the hobby at all. Then suddenly a couple months ago I started messing with a couple figures that were not in storage, and I am interested again. It is different than before though; I am far less obsessed with it all. That is a good thing.

Prime Riblet wrote:Then suddenly a couple months ago I started messing with a couple figures that were not in storage, and I am interested again. It is different than before though; I am far less obsessed with it all. That is a good thing.

Verily!

A hobby can be a big part of one's life (take Seibertron, for example, who made a business out of it) but should never overrule other aspects of it.

(I also agree with the previous however many comments on choosing a middle way, for the record.)

In my case, I NEEDED a middle ground. I was buying everything I saw on the shelves, and it was becoming a pretty major obsession. It is strange that I suddenly stopped everything and completely avoided the hobby for about two years, but it really it was the best thing that could have happened. I have a much more realistic perspective as far as collecting is concerned. The break turned out to be extremely healthy for me.

Big_Pink_Robot wrote:It's New Years resolution time, so think it over.

Yeah, maybe it's time to make changes, starting on Jan. 1st. As good a day as any, I guess.

Out of curiosity, for how long did you lose your interest, as you put it?

Prime Riblet wrote:It is strange that I suddenly stopped everything and completely avoided the hobby for about two years, but it really it was the best thing that could have happened.

How were you able to do that? Were you tempted at all? And was it easy to just say "no?"

I was in a similar position not too long ago.

I quit the News Crew, and the internet community along with purchases completely. Stayed away for about a year and tried other stuff, I only kept up with TF stuff I genuinely wanted to, which means I kept watching Prime.

Since then I have only stuck to the stuff I really, really have an interest in, which is Masterpiece, the comics and maybe the shows. I no-longer try to stay up to date on anything.

I have to say, I'm far happier now than I was back when I was still hard core into Transformers.

Dead Metal wrote:I have to say, I'm far happier now than I was back when I was still hard core into Transformers.

And now you can work on making your cat happy!

Big_Pink_Robot wrote:Why make it an all-or-nothing gambit?

this is what i was wondering as well.

i went through the same thing with my comics. i became quite bored with collecting them, and while i still enjoyed the art and writing, the act of collecting coupled with the cost started sucking the fun out of it. it had become such a pain in the ass to hunt things down, and the fact that they couldnt be enjoyed past the "sealing and boxing" phase really killed it.

during this time i unknowingly started gravitating back to TF's. hastak and 3P's had begun catching my eye and i money funnel simply changed directions. i only consciously made the decision a couple months ago to cut my comics (drastically) back and put more attention to TF's.

while i realized what was more fun to collect (and i did waffle a bit before making a decision), i didnt land on killing my comic collection. just concentrating my focus.

"taking a break" doesnt require a complete removal from the fandom. i had a break of sorts from TF's during the animated/ROTF/DOTM era since nothing really grabbed me. however i still grabbed classics and MP's that intrigued me.

Since you are still interested in 'keeping' your interest, it's not likely you'll drift away from it if you take a break from it.

I took a break from Seibertron for well over a year, I was still interested in this place but I had been getting bored with (at the time) the large amount of toy related discussions. I'm no major collector, I have only about 6 TFs so I couldn't really relate to the discussions. I came back after a while, as I was starting to miss the place.

And nothing wrong with mainly liking the older stuff. It doesn't make you any less of a fan.

I know how you feel, Ive been a fan since 84, and there have been many times I almost gave up on tf;s.

most recently was about 2 years ago, not only out of boredom but also for cost, my med treatment bills are a priority .

to date I've sold about 90% of my tf toy collection
but I still keep up with some of the tf fiction

I'm going to say that I agree that this is a big decision, but not one that needs to be an all or nothing one. But, I also must say that I can understand the thought that it must be an all or nothing decision, particularly on this particular site.
Seibertron is a great place, and I've been a member here for years and have loved it since long before I created my account. But, this place does have the tendency to go through periods where people are expected to love everything Transformers-related, simply because it is Transformers related. That may simply be my read of things, but compared to other Transformers sites or even other places on the internet where people talk about the property, Seibertron is the one constant of everything is fine, everything is good. I think that that kind of adherence to the brand makes it hard to actually see the brand from an objective distance. I too think a lot of the recent merchandise is bad, and I think a lot of the more recent fiction is less than thrilling as well. That does not make me not a fan or less of a fan or a Geewunner or whatever other make believe term is supposed to internet shame me back into line.
It's like Blake said: opposition is true friendship. Being able to dislike something about a thing you like usually gives you a better place from which to admire the things you do like.
And, like Burn said, we're getting older. Sometimes, as much as it butthurts people, you don't think the newest thing is the bestest thing, and that's not your fault and it's not something you're doing wrong and it doesn't make you a bad fan.
Maybe you do need to just step back, but I don't think that means you should consider your TF road at an end. It is hard when a fandom is dependent on a product to sustain itself, because when that product goes sour there isn't much to stoke interest. And I have learned over the years on Seibertron that I'm one of those insane TF fans that doesn't care that it's a franchise for children, but I am more concerned with the extent to which it interests me. We all go through the down times where we just aren't as interested as we used to be or would like to be. For me, the live action movie years have been terrible for toys and fiction; I didn't really care about Animated or Prime; I liked the Beast era shows but not the toys. I could still find things to keep my interest during those times, but it wasn't what others in the fandom thought I should be liking.
****, I love Beast Machines. I feel no need to offer any further qualifiers for that.

The moral of my story is that you don't have to do or like anything you don't want to in order to be, or stay, a fan. You don't need to buy everything or watch everything or read everything in order to be, or stay, a fan. You just have to be you, and be the kind of fan you want to be, to the extent you want to be. These toys and shows and stuff are supposed to make you happy, whatever that happiness is to and for you.

Dagon wrote:You just have to be you, and be the kind of fan you want to be, to the extent you want to be.

That's just it with me, though. I have tried before to cut out parts of the franchise, and it never worked. I tried quitting collecting figures. I managed to stay away from buying for about 3 months. Then I spotted something at a store that looked really good, and I got it. Then another one, then another one. And I was right back in it. About 4 years ago I had all my figures out on shelves. I didn't have much, about 100 or so. I just felt sick about having all those toys. for some reason they didn't feel like things I enjoyed or were a fond part of my childhood, they felt like unnecessary baggage that just took up space. I ended up getting rid of half of them. After about 3 weeks, I began regretting it. Since then, I got back about 30 of the 50 figures I sold, and I feel like I have a decent collection, representing every era I was a fan of. So basically I spent 2 or 3 times the money on having the same character represented in my collection. It's because of my personality, not really because the franchise is so bad. Even though I do think it has gone downhill in recent years. Same with some of the comics. I have all the old G1 stuff, and I love them, I have no problem with keeping them. Same with Armada. But I also go some of the newer stuff, and it's just not doing it for me. It's just disappointing. Compared to the older stuff, the new stuff seems so flimsy and transparent. Maybe it's just my perspective, because growing up with the old stuff made it more exciting. Or maybe Simon Furman and Bob Budiansky were better writers than anyone we have now. But my previous mention of ReGeneration should indicate that I believe whatever talent and thought process Furman had regarding TF comics is gone.

Anyway, a few of you asked, why it has to be all or nothing. It's because I think it's the only way I can keep myself from getting back into it fully and spending time and money on figures and comics and whatever that I'm pretty sure I'm going to regret. It's not really the franchise, it's more like my lack of discipline.

Burn wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:I have to say, I'm far happier now than I was back when I was still hard core into Transformers.

And now you can work on making your cat happy!

He is happy!