If everybody in the world had a harmless hobby that they could devote their spare time to there would be no more wars!

For me they are cool and collecting them is a way to pass the time for me. I have always loved TF's since G1 and I guess I always will. Hell I have the decepticon logo tattoed on my left calf so I must be a TF nut.. It looks cool too.

What is NOT cool about toys that can change between 2 or more different forms? huh!? HUH!?

 

Seriously. It's the whole gimmick/concept/whatever. I find Transformers toys far more enjoyable than other because of what they can do. There are more options available. You don't have to go out and buy the $20 Military Vehicle so the $10 figure can sit inside it and act like he's "driving" the thing. You can simply Transform the figure to vehicle mode and play that way. THAT is why I love Transformers. I don't have to go out and buy all these damned accessories. I have pretty much everything I want in one toy, unless they combine with other figures, but that's beside the point.

 

As I said, Transformers offer a lot more. I like them because I enjoy collecting and playing with them. They're toys, they're meant to be played with. It's a hobby. I enjoy it a lot.

 

If I were a GI Joe Collector or Star Wars Collector, I'd be insane. I'd have to have all the little vehicles and accessories and whatever else. With Transformers, I get something 'challenges' me (they used to anyway).

 

Basically it comes down to this: Transformers, the whole concept behind it, is what keeps me going back to it. Seriously, what is NOT cool about a figure that has more than just ONE FRIGGIN' form? Transformers rock because they are far better than anything else out there BECAUSE they have 2 different modes, or even more than that.

I thought TFs were great as a kid, but then hit teens and they went in the loft.

 

The fact that my Metroplex, my major Christmas present from 1986, had snapped in half at the waist had ALWAYS bugged me ever since the tragic day it happened. Then one day I found Ebay on the internet, found a junker Metroplex, got the waist section from him and repaired him. Hurrah! It's as if he were a new toy again.

 

Then I went back to Ebay, and went hunting for Blast Off and Vortex, the limbs I needed to complete Bruticus. Hurrah again! Got them as one lot!

 

So I'd completed those TFs that when I was a kid weren't complete.

 

Then one day I went to TRU, and the RID Autobot Borthers were on the shelves. I had a permanent job by this time, so bought them! Then more stuff on Ebay. And then they started doing re-issues, I bought more off Ebay.. the rest is history! TFs are great because they transform. And they look cool in both modes. And they have a good backstory to them (ignoring the cartoons, I never liked them!) End of story!

i grew up with people that collected starwars around the house and they didnt want me playing with their stuff so i guess TF"S were my way to stay away from them n their stuff lol... to this day my older cousins still collect starwars... n u guessed it... im still hooked on tf's. we alaways argue over what toy has came along way over the years... growing up on starwars n tf's... made me think... a transforming x wing with gerwalk , battroid modes... wouldn't that be weird if star wars n tf's crossed paths? unicron is basically the cybertronian deathstar of the galaxy lol...

I think I'm in really good company here. I don't ever have to look over my shoulder and think...hmm...am I too old for TF? What would ppl think about that?

 

I grew up watching the very first episode of TF to the end of G1, and got a few toys here and there. I must say that it'll always be a part of me. Growing up I love 80's cartoons like all of you...but toy collecting wise, nothing beats TF. GI Joe comes second but even so it was a bit cornier, Gundam, Voltron I & III were too expansive and expensive growing up for me. Above all, nothing is more safer and comfortable than TF.

 

For the reason why I got back in collecting now ...it's the only hobby I'm more familiar with. One can only be filled with so many things as an adult. I'll just stick with what I know for now and be reminded of my childhood.

People who grew up driving muscle cars in the 60's are the ones buying the new "retro" rods today. They also like having back that old 68 Charger they used to have in school. To me, collecting Transformers is the same. It's something I loved back when I was younger but couldn't afford most the time. Now I'm older and can get the ones I never had. That's pretty much why I only buy G1 stuff or anything G1 inspired.

I can't explain it. I guess I came back to TFs as a result of being bored with what I was getting from Spawn action figures and the like - I'd rather have the interesting designs and multiplicity of the transformers than plastic statues. I'd promised myself an RID Prime, I had to buy RID Magnus, then I wanted RID Megatron, and I just spiralled. Before I knew it they'd taken over.

 

Now, my interests are much more into the things I liked as a kid again. I collect mainly Marvel Legends and TFs now. I guess that ultimately, I like toys that are toys, rather than toys trying to be art. I know a lot of you see the TFs just like that, but that's the beauty of them; they're the art of toymaking, rather than the art of sculpture.

People who grew up driving muscle cars in the 60's are the ones buying the new "retro" rods today. They also like having back that old 68 Charger they used to have in school. To me, collecting Transformers is the same. It's something I loved back when I was younger but couldn't afford most the time. Now I'm older and can get the ones I never had. That's pretty much why I only buy G1 stuff or anything G1 inspired.

To add a bit, I think one of the nice things about the retro rods is that you get the retro cool factor, but with modern livability. That's similar to what we get for G1 from Alternators: that old feeling of cool, but without the limitations of the time.

 

Also, I must be hanging out in INH too much, since the title "Adult Collectors" sounds racy to me. :thumb

I grew up on TFs. Technology even back in G1 days was good enough to create transforming toys which had never been seen before (at least in the US; JPN had transforming toys probably 15-20 years before '84).

 

Since then, I've loved mechanical things. BTALTs brought that back to me. I don't watch the shows or anything anymore or go hunting for hours. I get it online or at the source when I'm in JPN on business trips. And yes, people spend billions on stuff which is nostalgic. I'm talking the gamut here, furniture, electronics, cameras, movies, paintings, cars, planes, you name it.

 

Nostalgia is just one small portion of it; I've been 'programmed' if you will on robots since I was 4 and saw "Daltanias" on TV in Japan one Christmas while visitng my grandparents. It was cool to see a gigantic robotic lion jump out from an even more giant robot and the whole thing turn into different vehicles robots, etc.

 

The lead designer at Takara has even said that MPOP and BTALTs were meant to appeal to the adult collector. Japan is a very collector-oriented society. Such kind of engineering marvels aren't considered odd to be collected by adults; although we are labelled "Otaku". But that really isn't mean as a geek label so much as a "kawaii" label.

 

Anyways, a lot of the younguns on these boards will be collecting when they're adults too...so what?

 

Maybe they'll have 'alternators' of Energon and galaxy force by then!

 

KT