Fanaticism is just all around bad.

 

I got stuck in a close to 100 minute chat with a WM employee who collects, and well..long story short:

 

He starts telling me about his favorite fanfics...VERBATIM, and with VOICES.

He tells me all about the Dreamwave comics in and out, beginning to end.

He tells me we're not getting Galaxy Force over here (I corrected him, and he finally figured out what I meant).

He didn't know there was a movie planned, didn't know there were any shows on right now.

Didn't know that there were new Alternators.

To top it off?

 

He was a G1 purist and I heard about that. On. And. On.

 

Fortunately my girlfriend said "Hey, we gotta go. Take care." (God smiled on me) and we walked away.

 

Now let me be fair and honest:

 

1.) REEALLY nice guy.

2.) That's the risk involved with a town brimming with collectors of all types.

 

The other downsides to all of this?

1.) I hadn't slept in almost 36 hours by this point, ready to collapse. (what's another 2 hours eh?)

2.) I have to duck and run everytime I have the potential to run into him.

 

So yeah, fanaticism is a danger, and a nuisance.

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OMG! The same thing happened to me at SunCoast. I was looking for some new Sota Street Fighter figs. I didn't see any so I decided to ask about this flattened little plush  puppy on sale. This dude went on and on for ever about the show and why he's flat. It took 5 mins before he got to the explaination of why the dog was flat. Then he tell me nonstop about the Anime show it originated from and describes several episodes. The whole time Im thinking,"I dont care! I will never watch that."

just call me (Geekus Transformus aniemaus comiccon supreamis) :thumb

For me, it's not so much that I don't have real life activities going on. I just enjoy most things Transformers. I'm not hung up on the whole Japanese vs. American battle over which is better. It's always been the availability of the toys that wins me over. I don't enjoy getting bots in the mail as much as I do finding them on a toy hunt. That's why I usually acquire more Hasbro than Takara. I still see awesome things in both though. Also with each toyline, I see positives and negatives in each. I think Injector sucks as a toy, but I still own him and wouldn't get rid of him for almost anything. I've got so many silly Transformers items like cheesy watches, backpacks, kickballs, etc., but not to "complete" the collection. My stuff is hardly seen by many, but I enjoy going into that room on a daily basis and looking at everything Transformers. It's my hobby.

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Word.  Me too.   :pfx   I order alot of my stuff online for convenience factor, but I do enjoy buying stuff locally too... especially Alternators and Cybertron.  (Wasn't too keen on Energon until near the end, and by then it was too late...  :redface )  As for the Takara vs. Hasbro thing, I actually prefer Hasbro for the most part just because it's available readily... although I do import the occasional Takara item if it's something unique...

 

And you're absolutely right about the TF room thing too.  I go in mine and look at everything almost daily, just for fun.  I enjoy showing it off on occasion, but it doesn't see too many visitors.  Actually, the best times in there are when my 2 year old son is here, and we'll look at each shelf and he points to his favorites.  That's the best part, passing on the enjoyment to the next generation.  :thumb

 

I don't think "fanboyness" is determined by how much stuff you have, but the degree to which you are able to step outside of the bubble. If you know what I mean.

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Agreed... I have a whole room in my house for toy robots, but I admit to myself that they're only toy robots, and allow myself to live a "normal" life outside of that room, so it's all good.  I don't care if Megatron isn't a gun in the new movie, and I liked the Spiderman movies too, even though he had organic webshooters.   :thumb  I have other things in my life to obsess over besides toys and comic books...  :tflaugh

 

But that doesn't mean I can't still LIKE toys and comic books.  :tftongue

Actually, the best times in there are when my 2 year old son is here, and we'll look at each shelf and he points to his favorites.  That's the best part, passing on the enjoyment to the next generation.  :thumb

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For real. My buddy's son has been going absolute ape sh*t to come over and have me show him how they ALL transform. ALL of them. Those that have seen my collection pics can probably understand why that is ... well, tough.

Actually, the best times in there are when my 2 year old son is here, and we'll look at each shelf and he points to his favorites.  That's the best part, passing on the enjoyment to the next generation.  :thumb

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For real. My buddy's son has been going absolute ape sh*t to come over and have me show him how they ALL transform. ALL of them. Those that have seen my collection pics can probably understand why that is ... well, tough.

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let me guess, you have 1000 of them?

 

*HAs seen the pics.*

I don't think "fanboyness" is determined by how much stuff you have, but the degree to which you are able to step outside of the bubble. If you know what I mean.

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I have Optimus Prime underpants. They make me feel powerful.

On the whole, things in TFans doesn't seem to bad.. if you read some of the comments on TFormers people make, thats about as worse as I've heard. Seriously guys, you take this Blot way to seriously.. :redface

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Well there is a difference with a lot of us on the internets. A large percentage of us know each other from being online in the fandom for years, so we don't end up going hardcore on each other. But I don't know how people act in real life. I have met some people from TF forums in real life and they definately aren't (so far) fanboyish overdrove. I have noticed that the people that act that way in public are people who aren't the die hard fans like you see posting all the time on forums. I have had run ins with these types of people and they are the type that try to sell you ideas that are just plain wrong (there was another topic about this elsewhere) and you can tell them how it is all you want but they won't listen.

 

I think everyone would be a lot happier if they balanced their hobbies with actual real-life activities. All of this obsessive weirdness really turns me off to TF-related stuff. I mean, okay -- Transformers was important to me in the 80's, but jeebus it's been twenty years. I *have* moved on a bit since then.

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Most people IRL don't even know I know anything or like Transformers. They just think I like music and watch movies too much.

 

Sometimes when looking at that same Transformer room, I wonder about that. I DO realize that it probably looks a bit extreme to most people. :redface

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Yea but what about those people who go die-hard over a sports team? And then they have some room in their house or their whole house is filled with their team's stuff? Why does it seem appropriate for adults to collect sports things and not Transformers  or Star Wars? Because they are toys, and we should have grown out of that by now. The only people that can truly get away with it in the public eye are those people who make a living off them in one way or another.

 

Actually, the best times in there are when my 2 year old son is here, and we'll look at each shelf and he points to his favorites.  That's the best part, passing on the enjoyment to the next generation.  :thumb

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For real. My buddy's son has been going absolute ape sh*t to come over and have me show him how they ALL transform. ALL of them. Those that have seen my collection pics can probably understand why that is ... well, tough.

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Dude, doesn't Hasbro have those videos online that show the toy transforming?  :tflaugh

Sometimes when looking at that same Transformer room, I wonder about that. I DO realize that it probably looks a bit extreme to most people. :redface

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Yea but what about those people who go die-hard over a sports team? And then they have some room in their house or their whole house is filled with their team's stuff? Why does it seem appropriate for adults to collect sports things and not Transformers  or Star Wars? Because they are toys, and we should have grown out of that by now. The only people that can truly get away with it in the public eye are those people who make a living off them in one way or another.

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or the people who go die-hard over their high school sports team?  I once saw a 40 year old guy at a football game wearing *his* letterman jacket.  :roll

Yea but what about those people who go die-hard over a sports team? And then they have some room in their house or their whole house is filled with their team's stuff? Why does it seem appropriate for adults to collect sports things and not Transformers  or Star Wars? Because they are toys, and we should have grown out of that by now. The only people that can truly get away with it in the public eye are those people who make a living off them in one way or another.

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Yeah, my sister used to make fun whenever she visited my house. Then I asked how much money she's spent on rugby memorabillia, game tickets, travel expenses to see the games, etc. She's been awfully quiet since then.

My folks hate my fandomness. I must have at least a couple hundred tf's from G1-RID. None of my friends have the slightest problem with my fan-ness. I also have as much star wars stuff as tf's anyways. I only have a few gi-joes. I think i would be slightly obsessive about my fandomness