What kind of Transformer Collector are you?

[Goktimus Prime]

As collectors we do invest a lot of our hard earned money into this hobby. As individuals we have a diverse way of enjoying the toys that we buy. This poll thread is for the discussion of the different ways that we enjoy our hobby.

 

Disclaimer:

1. Remember that NO one collector type is really better or worse than the other. It all depends on your own personal set of values.

2. These collector types represent a spectrum. Many of us would probably identify with multiple categories - possibly all of them! However most of us will tend to predominantly identify ourselves with one category over the others. So look for the one category that you most strongly identify with.

 

The question I'd like to ask for the sake of discussion is why you are that kind of collector.

 

So here we go!

 

--===COLLECTOR TYPES===--

 

The Curator

Your toys are like museum pieces and you try to keep them in pristine condition. Sealed collectors fall under this category, but there are loose curators too. You have toys that are loose, but you otherwise only keep them for storage or display and you seldomly ever touch them (if ever).

 

The Fiddler

You enjoy handling your toys; usually transforming them from robot to alt mode and back. You admire the engineering and ingenuity of the toys' design, but otherwise you don't actually play with them.

 

The Artisan

You enjoy repairing or customising toys. You might even be willing to buy junkers as spare parts for your repairs or customisations! Good luck with that Masterpiece Time Warrior.

 

The Player

You enjoy using your toys to visually play out fantasies. You provide voices and sound effects like shooting, transforming, exploding etc.

 

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Okay, so for me I would definitely say that I am a Player. The reason for this is because I got into Transformers as a child in 1984 and it's how I've _always_ enjoyed my Transformers and it's always been my primary reason for collecting them. I never "grew out" of Transformers and later decided to collect them again as an adult; guess I'm just an oversized kid. :P

 

To me the core function of a toy is to be played with. For me buying a toy and not playing with it is the same as buying a DVD and not watching it or buying a book and not read it. <--JMHO folks :)

[PuertoRiCON]

I am torn between being a Curator and a Fiddler. There are some that I do Transform from time to time (Classics and Masterpieces) and there are those that I either display in their packages or keep in storage (my G1 collection). I used to have my computer room/office decorated with Transformers to the brim, but that all changes when you start settling down. Most of my Transformers are in storage bins in our basement. We have a 3 bedroom home and I would have a room devoted to Transformers (if i lived alone) but it would be rude of me to take up the extra room for my toys.

 

Right now, all I have as far as Transformers on display are MP Prime, MP Starscream, Alt Smokescreen and Alt Sideswipe all in vehicle mode. They are all hanging on top of a book shelf. Also, though, I do have my movie 1 figures, Leaders Prime and Megatron, Deep Space Starscream in a little action pose with Bumblebee and Barricade in vehicle modes crashing into each other. I keep these out so whenever my nephews visit they can play with them as much as they like. They are not touching my G1/G2, Classics or Masterpieces/Alts.

[Taaron]

Oh, what a fun topic. :D Is there an option for all of the above? :lol

 

For the most part though, I'd rank myself in this order: fiddler, curator, fiddler/player, then finally artisan.

 

I'll fiddle with my toys for a while. Once I find a place where they look good in my room, I'll become the curator and they'll stay there for a while. When a conversation about a certain character/figure pops up about how fun it is, I'll usually go "Oh yeah. I have that guy." I'll take it down, fiddle with it for a while, and sometimes if there's another toy around, I might think "Hmm. Might be fun to goof around with the two of them!" If I amuse myself well enough, it'll end up in the action pose thread, or the photo gallery on my website. :tflaugh

 

The reason why I list the artisan as last is...Well, I usually have plenty of ideas to work on, but I rarely get around to doing them, due to a various amounts of excuses. :redface

 

ETA: Just noticed the poll. :redface I voted Fiddler, since it popped up twice in my personal ranking. :tflaugh

[Superior Grilled Cheese]

Am, and always have been, a Fiddler. Even when I was 4 years old, I never really played with transformers. These figures have always been pose-able statues to me, something to admire rather than bash together while yelling 'BANG BOOM CRRRKKK PEW PEW PEW BOOM', followed by the sigh of death from one of them. But I'm not gonna say I never do that though :)

 

I also have a hint of artisan in me. Sometimes, I'll get a figure and just be disappointed by something (ROTF starscream's elbows, plethora of QC issues on animated Sunstorm) that I feel I could fix and improve upon. Sometimes I'll go back and paint in extra details onto certain figures as well.

[Blitz-Wing]

Definitely a fiddler. I tried being an artisan once, but I suck with painting :P Even as a kid I had a fascination with dissecting stuff and putting it back together. I attribute it to my curiosity of knowing how things work. When the first see-thru Swatches came out, I got one as a gift. I was fortunate enough that my mom married right before the G1 series started and that her husband's parents were just waiting to shower a grandchild with gifts. So I got Megs and Soundwave in one sit. I also managed to fiddle around with MASK during the time.

 

Even now, I can't just leave the figures in the packaging. I have my figures on display in my room, but I do manage to fiddle with at least a couple of them on a daily basis. What fun is it having something if you can't interact with it, after all?

[PuertoRiCON]

 

Even now, I can't just leave the figures in the packaging. I have my figures on display in my room, but I do manage to fiddle with at least a couple of them on a daily basis. What fun is it having something if you can't interact with it, after all?

I agree, but I just love the fact that Takara and Hasbro created the book-style opening flap for most of their G1 reissues. Whenever I get a new reissue, I usually open them up, transform them a few times, apply stickers then put them back in their box, From time to time I take them out just to relive my childhood days, but I usually leave my G1 guys in their boxes....Damn I guess I am a fiddler. gonna have to vote now.

[Liege Evilmus]

I'm everything in that list regularly except the Artisian. I really don't like modifying figures anymore. I will fix them though.

 

I have an extensive collection though, and it can easily be broken down into subcatagories well beyond "loose" and "MIS"

 

I love playing with the figures in a range from just changing them around while watching TV to all out smash and bash battles. I'm not doing that with all of them though. I have shelves and cases filled with figures that are really just being kept to be preserved, and those displays are rarely touched.

 

Even my MIB collection. While most pieces are packed away due to lack of shelf space, many are still out in the open because they're just to nice and or rare to have hiden away.

 

Basicly, I care for all my figures. There is a range to that though which dictates how I handle each. 1 being a Big Lots KO that can suffer a very tragic death, 10+ being figures like The MPs in a glass case, or Desaraus, Overlord, or Dai Atlas, who although sturdy are handeled with the utmost care and have their own case seperate from the regular shelves.

 

 

What sets that rating though isn't the figure, it's value, or rarity. It's my own prefernce that decides. After all, it is my own little world.

[BaCon]

:agree I am a little big of everything. I went with "Curator" if I had to choose one.

[Greatshot]

I'd put myself somewhere between Curator and Fiddler. I've got lots of stuff on display that I very rarely touch, but i've got restless hands, and I tend to grab one of my figs and meddle with it while I'm watching TV or on the phone or somesuch.

 

As for actually playing with them.. I just can't do that anymore, I feel a little silly by myself. Though I am perfectly willing to get down on the floor and play with them as toys with one of my nephews (so maybe they're just an excuse :lol)

 

I lack any sort of artistic ability at all, so I'm not one for kitbashing. The occasional repair (ususally of factory screwups like the infamous BiaB Magnus reverse arms) is about my limit of modifications.

[Grimlock-imus Prime]

Awesome pictures on the first page, really sets up the level of fun this topic will bring :yay

 

As for me I'd a mix of the Fiddler and an Artisan, I love spending my rainy days just picking out a few select figures and transforming them back and force while enjoying the unqiue ways of transitioning between the two or three forms. I'd also say I'm a partial Artisan, I've just started improving my toys here and there (painting Leader Jetfire all black, adding silver to Leader Prime etc.) but I'm nowhere near the level some other are.