The Energon Pub

[Counterpunch]

In research for an upcoming article, I want to know about collecting misconceptions that you've come across in your time collecting Transformers.

Whatever you've got, spill it and don't hold back.

readysetgo.

[009*]

One thing I noticed, and you can see this on disc two with the '07 movie, is that collectors have been portrayed has having wall to wall collections of nothing but TF merchandise, from the well known to the obscure, or even have multiples of the same thing. Some collectors go to the trouble of never throwing away the packaging.

Some do I admit, but I realize I have a growing lack of space to put all the new stuff. Also, I collect more than just TFs; I have toys from the Mazinger, Getter Robo, and Gundam franchises too. Shoot I even buy lego kits if it's based on something I like.

Also I don't spend big amounts to get something like a 6-pack of Minibot repaints of characters I never heard of; I go for something higher up the food chain so to speak.

As for keeping the packaging, I only keep the whole thing for the high class stuff like BTs, MPs, Alts, and the fancy stuff. Mass retail figures I only keep the back of the packaging so I can remember the name of the figure later on.

[Delicon]

There are plenty of misconceptions, where to begin?

Here's a big one - TF collectors are nerds with no social lives who spend all their money on little plastic toys. They have no friends, they never leave the house and you can forget about them having girlfriends. They are all nerdy men who never grew up, glorified geeky manchildren.

And girls liking Transformers? Geez, those chicks are downright scary, 400 lb beasts with no teeth.

I'm exaggerating slightly, but there is the general idea that if you like Tf's you can't possibly be a normal member of society.

[WolfDawg]

Yesterday, my girlfriend's friends came over and when they saw my TF collection, they said it was childish and I should probably grow up. My girlfriend stepped in and said that she thought some of them were cool and it was just a hobby and had nothing to do with me being immature.

Ofcourse, her friends were only joking, but it's one of those jokes that are based on truth. A lot of people think my collecting TF's is childish. My mom and brother used to think so, but they got over it and actually like some of the figures. My dad always liked my transformers, so he's all for it. But, some of my newer friends crack jokes about it being kiddy and such.

Collecting TF's and displaying them and even transforming or playing with them from time to time isn't childish. That's a pretty bad misconception. I know people who collect football memorabilia and play with their bobble heads, footballs, and other stuff. No one thinks that's childish though.

[Ultra Prime]

I've got one for you Counterpunch.

A Transformer collector spends so much of their money on TF's that they don't have money to buy other things or other nice things for that matter.

Certainly a misconception that is not true. I am married and have twin five year old boys and a new 12 week old son. I have to equally help my wife provide for all of us as a family so I can't go spending ungodly amounts of money on TF's.

Despite having a collcetion of close to six-hundred figures I still wear decent to nice clothes, own a newer car and have nice furniture to furnish my place. My twin boys have got plenty of nice clothes a huge amount of toys (in general). I keep my wife stylin and help her grow her hobby, movies!!!

So unlike what a non TF collector might expect I exercise quite a bit of modesty in adding new TF's to my collection and have very little TF memorabilia outside of my literal collection of figures.

[Ultra Prime]

Oh got another one.

Transformers collectors are so engrossed in their hobby that they don't have anything else in their lives.

Someone in an earlier post touched on this but that is a misconception that just isn't true either. Yes, like almost everyone else that posts at Seibertron.com or TFW2005.com and other TF boards I collect and enjoy Transformers and have an impressive size collection but TF's aren't my only hobbies.

I love eagles. I find them to be one of the most majestic animals. And the fact that they can defy gravity and have the freedom of flight just makes them incredible animals to me. I have a good size eagle statue collection along with some framed eagle artwork, a velvet eagle picture and three huge 1 1/2 ft to 2 1/2 ft magnificently detailed porcelain eagle statues.

I also collect fantasy knives and swords (predominately samurai swords). I have a vareity of very cool fantasy knives which include the Hibben annual special edition knife collection (1995 annual edition - 2002 annual edition pcs) and a variety of other cool designed knives from United cutlery. Aside from having three generic samurai swords I also have the Blade sword replica (yes, as in the movie Blade) and the Highlander replica swords from Marto of Spain. Incidentally Marto of Spain actually provided the swords (inluding Duncan McLeod's sword) for the film Highlander Endgame.

So people should beware that there is more to a Transformer collector than just Transformers.

[robofreak]

It was mentioned earlier, but I'll say it again. It's believed that TF collectors have nothing, but walls of TF's displaying every TF known. I've got a huge collection that I'd like to one day display, but most of it is is the Sterilite bins of shame for now so it's not true.

Also, not all TF collectors collect TF's only. I've got Macross, Voltron, Zoids, and Gundam. Apart from toys, I'm also into history and love to go historical sites and parks whenever I can.

Another one involves social lives being ruined because of our hobby. Not for me. I budget my money so I can spend time with friends and buy TF's that I like. I have'nt been very social lately only because I've been buried in homework from college. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll be able to go do something with my friends.

Also, the hobby is'nt solely for nerds. I can't tell you how many people have shared their childhood stories with me when they see a figure of mine that they used to have. My collection has become a way for me to learn more about people.

My friends also know that I'm very mechanically inclined and like to see how things work so whenever they see that I managed to get my hands on something new, they know I'm going to study it and apply anything I've learned from the toy to a model I may be working on. I've got a lot of friends who are girls and they're not even remotely phased when they see a model that I'm working on or figures that I have on display because they know it's part of my personality to want to make things and see how they function.

[Lapse Of Reason]

The TF movie made a billion dollars. Comic/fantasy type movies have been the top money making movies with marketing tie-ins over the past decade. This means we are not alone (although not all those movie watchers collect the toys). My point is that there are a lot of us out there, probably more than most people would guess.

[Mr O]

The idea that they're toys. That sounds stupid, of course they are intended to be toys and literally are but I don't buy them for that. It's a fun thing I've enjoyed since I was seven, I didn't play with them then, there were other toys for that but now I'm thirty I've no real interest in carpet battles (well, maybe adult ones). When the cashier smirks or the Mrs makes a little joke (she supports my hobby ) , when my Mum rolls her eyes after hearing what I want for Christmas, whatever. To me they are interactive ornaments with tons of character. I enjoy the fact that they're around.
My girlfriend has a carved wooden lion, you can't turn that into a car when you get bored of it.

[wmpyr]

truth

the more you collect does not mean the happier you will be

actually it's closer to how unhappier you'll be

better to be very selective and appreciate what you've got

[Emperor Galvatron]

There are no holy grails. Just stepping stones to the next figure.

[It Is Him]

The idea that Transformers can only go up in value is bull***. The collecting market is subject to the ills of any other market. KOs, reissues and waning/waxing interest can drastically affect prices.

Botcon Thundercracker is barely worth half of what he was selling for a year ago. Same with Classics Megatron. Since his Henkei release, his Ebay price dropped from nearly $70 to a ceiling price of $30.

Armada Unicron was selling for upwards of $85 loose during the movie craze. Now you can grab him for less than $50 shipping included. I bet that's even less now that you can buy him brand new at TRU.

Collectors are going to have a harder time selling a loose $600 Fort Max if it's reissued for even a third of that.

How much is your G1 Optimus Prime really worth now that the market is flooded with high-quality KOs? Did you assemble the parts piecemeal? Are you sure that your hose and gas pump are originals - and if you are - can you convince buyers on Ebay that they're legit?

[Nujevad]

I don't like this thread, I keep getting hit by friendly fire

[fenrir72]

I noticed something too, what you don't understand you fear.

In a NHK program, a couple of know it all gaijins were busy dissing collectors or otakus for their zeal in collecting anime girly figures. Obviously they know nothing about collecting, same here with collecting TFs.

So stereotyping collectors as pimpled/freckled faced over weight virgin slobs with no social lives.......well it ain't TRUE. Same with Trekkies or Star Wars fans.

Each one of us (depending on your social status.....when you're poor it's called schizophrenic, when you can afford it's called eccentric) or Woody Allen's neurosis, labels labels and more labels.

For those with no hobbies should either put up or shut up.A lot of collectors are professionals who just missed a portion of their childhood so this hobby. It is no different for people who drown themselves in either alcohol or designer drugs etc.

[robofreak]

I think another misconception is that people treat TF's like an abnormal hobby. I could say the same thing about those who collect baseball merchandise, but no one seems to care about people who collect sports stuff.

Comic collectors also get no where near the amount of criticism that we do which I find odd.

[fenrir72]

Ditto robofreak. A good analogy, baseball cards, comic books etc. To sum it all, the critics are just jealous hehehe

[Dread_Wing]

I think some people just get hooked into collecting things, transformers shouldn't be treated any different from any other collection.

Transformers caught me early (1984) and as a little kid I got my first Autobot car by sieving through a sandpit where some kid had ripped Smokescreen into bits. I repaired it and added it to my collection. (I now dig things up for a living, )

As I got older I got hooked into collecting other things, but swords mainly. So at least transformers is not my most expensive hobby, lol, a single sword of decent age costs far more than my year's worth of Transformer buying.

[Skullcrunchberries]

So the whole supernerd-virgin stereotype's been done to death, and really doesn't need another mention. Also having been mentioned is the "people think I think TFs are god but I also do this and this and this with my life". This point, however, I wish to expand on.

One issue that I've encountered among uneducated people is the assumption that while not all I care about, I value my toys more than most. Point in case, I recently gave a presentation on my collection, and the hobby of collecting as a whole, to my Japanese class (in Japanese, so it was a bitch D: ). In that presentation, I of course mentioned the size of my collection (approaching 600 by now) and the estimated value (almost as much as my car was x.X). After the presentation was given, one girl asked me a question: "So, if you had a girlfriend who told you it was either her or the toys, which would you choose?"

The issue comes in, amusingly enough, with her astonishment that I'd choose a woman over a toy, as I believe that a hunk of plastic (as awesome as it may be) can never replace the connection another human can give you. So my biggest problem? People see you have a lot of something, especially something considered so childish, and assume it encompasses your world.

Having said that, I've actually encountered very few people who didn't support my hobby. As luck would have it though a few of them were ex-girlfriends

[Delicon]

Here's a big one I don't think I saw yet. Some people think that we're so addicted to Trasnformers that every single TV show we will watch and every single toy or product line we will buy. Even though some of us have large collections, very very very very few people have or WANT it all. Take Counterpunch's collection, which I have personally seen. He really likes the Armada/Energon?Cybertron lines, as well as Classics and a few others, however he has very little or none when it comes to Beast Wars, Beast Machines and WST.

We're fussier than people think, we're not just blind little sheep that eat up anything and everything attached to the brand.

[Ultra Prime]

Here's a big one I don't think I saw yet. Some people think that we're so addicted to Trasnformers that every single TV show we will watch and every single toy or product line we will buy. Even though some of us have large collections, very very very very few people have or WANT it all. Take Counterpunch's collection, which I have personally seen. He really likes the Armada/Energon?Cybertron lines, as well as Classics and a few others, however he has very little or none when it comes to Beast Wars, Beast Machines and WST.

We're fussier than people think, we're not just blind little sheep that eat up anything and everything attached to the brand.

Good point. I am approaching 600 figures myself but there are some lines I've stayed away from entirely. Titaniums, Masterpeice (Prime & Screamers being the exception), TF Animated and WST. I'm one of those collectors that doesn't follow the brand blindly and exercises some taste and selectiveness.

[shortround]

I think another misconception is that we will buy anything that hasbro puts out no matter what it looks like as long as it is a transformer, case in point being jetfire and jetstorm. I know for a fact if I don't like a figure no matter how popular it is I won't buy it and the same goes if I like the figure.

[TurbofireJames]

The big misconception I always have to deal with is that after I purchase a transformers my girlfriend or my mom/dad will always ask "so you have enough now right?" or "i think youve collected enough." They treat collecting like a phase, or like some disease that will be cured when I have "enough." Another issue I have is that people think I spend all my money on transformers. WRONG! i spend all my money on xbox 360 games and Jordans.....Transformers is the least of my financial issues.....peace

[Zombie Starscream]

Another misconception is that a TF collector is always a male. This is wrong, as I am a female and I collect them. There is also the misconception that to be a collector you must have hundreds of figures, but this is not true as I have only 4 figures, and MP Thundercracker will probably be my last.

[Delicon]

Another misconception is that a TF collector is always a male. This is wrong, as I am a female and I collect them.

I covered that one earlier, and the other half of that, is if you are a female collector you must weigh 400 lbs., smell like a toxic waste dump and have the fashion sense of a female Steve Urkel.

[robofreak]

Another one that is outside of what other people think of us is that some collectors think certain figures are rare. I'm not denying that there are some figures that are super hard to find, but 2008 Bumblebee was deemed rare because of scalpers. After 4 months of over-saturation in the ebay market, Bumblebee started popping everywhere.

Energon is another case in which people thought over half the set was rare. The problem with Energon was that it suffered from poor distribution so while certain figures warmed shelves in one area, you had a hard time finding them in another.

Sometimes collectors just need to chill and wait for the item they're looking for.