A pause?

[Grimlocked]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to get everyone's perspectives as collectors, to collectors. Has anyone else here felt like they wanted to stop collecting out of boredom? After seeing the newly revealed legacy collection, I don't know why but it just looked so uninspiring and cheap. Height of figures seems to have been reduced, paint seems non-existent but I'm unsure if it's because they're prototypes, and overall, the figures looked like they were meant for Cyberverse.

After getting back into collecting during Combiner Wars, it seems like Kingdom was the last hurrah to modernized G1 - Beast Wars designs. There may be more Beast Wars figures coming up, but what else? Prime was great for its time but I feel like they are missing the point on the new Prime Designs. It just seems, boring moving forward. For once, I just feel like collecting will be put on a pause for me since the quality seems to be dipping while the costs are increasing.

[savagephil]

Yep, kinda felt like that when I saw the legacy line so far. The pictures made them look like cyberverse. They may end up looking better in hand, so I will be getting skids dragstrip and kickback, voyager blaster comes out with wave 1 and maybe core class igunas.

Only silver lining is you can pick and choose which characters now instead of getting an entire wave. I will pick the characters I need, finish the be predacons and whatever g1 character . But mainly focus on studio series 86

[wesperino]

Originally Posted by savagephil

Yep, kinda felt like that when I saw the legacy line so far. The pictures made them look like cyberverse. They may end up looking better in hand, so I will be getting skids dragstrip and kickback, voyager blaster comes out with wave 1 and maybe core class igunas.

Only silver lining is you can pick and choose which characters now instead of getting an entire wave. I will pick the characters I need, finish the be predacons and whatever g1 character . But mainly focus on studio series 86

Same here. SS86 and cherry picking the odd fig from legacy.

Will get drag strip and insecticon.

[wervenom]

Originally Posted by Grimlocked

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to get everyone's perspectives as collectors, to collectors. Has anyone else here felt like they wanted to stop collecting out of boredom? After seeing the newly revealed legacy collection, I don't know why but it just looked so uninspiring and cheap. Height of figures seems to have been reduced, paint seems non-existent but I'm unsure if it's because they're prototypes, and overall, the figures looked like they were meant for Cyberverse.

After getting back into collecting during Combiner Wars, it seems like Kingdom was the last hurrah to modernized G1 - Beast Wars designs. There may be more Beast Wars figures coming up, but what else? Prime was great for its time but I feel like they are missing the point on the new Prime Designs. It just seems, boring moving forward. For once, I just feel like collecting will be put on a pause for me since the quality seems to be dipping while the costs are increasing.

Boredom, no. Lack of space yes. Too many lines, absolutely. Legacy does nothing for me so I would have been safe. Concentrating on MP form a TF perspective is the only way to keep it under control. If they had just released the last 2 Autobot Target masters I would have been good but trying to collect multiple lines led to anything but boredom

[delrue]

Seems like Hasbro are aware of collector burn out hence why the current line seems very pick and choose the figs you want while trying to bring in new collectors with 2000s series.

[Darkroar]

At this point the only things I'm possibly picking up are some of the updated Beast Wars characters in Legacy where they are better than what I currently have.

I've been collecting as an adult for a long time. In the past I completed a lot of lines (buying everything or nearly everything), but things have changed...

The newer figures are not always objectively better. I didn't replace Generations Rhinox and Waspinator with the Kingdom versions and don't plan on it. In most cases I'm content with my current version of figures and don't see them being replaced soon.

The figures are coming at higher prices and generally smaller sizes so you feel like you are getting less value. I've found other priorities in life - things where I feel I'm getting more value or sometimes even just saving for the future.

Space is another issue. A lot of my figures are in storage where I don't really get to appreciate them. In some cases the new version was better as well so I didn't even need the old one. I started selling a bit at a time a while back and I don't really enjoy selling them. As a result, I think hard about anything I pick up because I don't really want to spend time and effort selling it a while later.

Finally, I think there is a bit of burn out at this point. I have a ton of versions of many characters and frankly don't need another version, even if it's a tiny bit better.

I'll stay in the hobby and keep collecting Transformers, but at absolute most I see myself getting less than 10 figures a year. It's a big turn around from when I was buying entire lines. Collecting is a strange hobby, you feel like you got to get them all, but in time I've found I'm happier with a carefully culled collection of the things I really like/enjoy most.

[Marcotron]

Originally Posted by wervenom

Boredom, no. Lack of space yes. Too many lines, absolutely. Legacy does nothing for me so I would have been safe. Concentrating on MP form a TF perspective is the only way to keep it under control. If they had just released the last 2 Autobot Target masters I would have been good but trying to collect multiple lines led to anything but boredom

Not enough space is my concern. I'm probably gonna have to make a new sales post soon.
It's one thing if the updated character from Legacy or WFC line is demonstrably better than the previous classics or whatever version. I look at Prime Arcee, and see it as a step back in engineering from the first edition one I have from the Prime line. Bulkhead looks fine, but I'm put off by the whole cab being the chest part, and the transformation looks about the same complexity as a G1 Optimus with some extra joints for poseability. I'm also not running out to spend 80 bucks on laser Prime.
The prices have increased astronomically, and it's just not worth it anymore. I could buy three deluxes, or I could not, save that money, and find a masterpiece figure that I will really like for about the same price.

TLDR: Cost and space are issues.

[evenstaves]

got a few bins/boxes in the basement full of old figs

Would rather display em, but don't have enough detolfs (figs are getting dusty enough as it is on the open shelving)

Back during Prime Wars Trilogy collecting was fun - lower prices, Hasbro coupons @ TRU; used to collect whole lines

WFC trilogy price increases had me waiting for sales; very rarely do I ever pounce on a figure right when I 1st see it
Par example, I want that Kingdom T-Wrecks but I'm sure as hell not paying $72.99 + tax @ TRU for his grey-ass chest

I'll f*ckin wait and eat someone else's scraps at TreasureHunt, grabbing Galvatron for thirty bucks

Unfortunately this approach causes me to miss figs sometimes - haven't purchased a titan class since Predaking, and I wanted to

I remember driving around Ottawa when OS was sunsetting out, during a 20% off sale @ TRU, one location had one, and that MFer would have been two hundred bucks

I'm too poor for that sh*t dawg - I passed on it, and these days that's probably the cheapest I would ever have found it for

Absolute bullsh*t

With all that said? Nope, I'm still in it
Just being pick & choosy with each new wave

[Bluewolf77]

I am in the same mind set as everyone else. Here is an idea that would be interesting if Hasbro would go for it, How many of you would buy weapons or accessories packs like did with He-Man back in the 80's. guns,swords,axes. etc and maybe the ships that come with Kingdom Galvatron or the Ark vs The Nemesis. I think it would be neat and I would buy them.

[imfallenangel]

I've always been an ad-hoc collector and got the figures that appealed to me, regardless of line, etc. and never been a completist, and my take was always planes, spaceships and tanks. Cars were never of interest unless it was something that really grabbed my interest, usually the science-fiction "Cybertronian" stuff.

The POTP Dinobots really pulled at me as finally, modern versions that were original G1 design, and then grabbed a few more and then even more as they finally were doing the old figures that I "lost" and no longer had and always wanted to get back, but the modernizing of the articulation just was freaking great!

Siege was the kick in the rear as it was the first time that I was pulled in to almost get the whole line and actually got me to want to get cars and mainline characters, which at the inflated price increase was a serious WTF...

But with the many exclusives, the repeating molds an the pricing I drew a line...

ER and Kingdom only had a very few figures that interested me, so I was already on a massive "slowdown" anyways, and instead, this last year was hunting for 3rd parties stuff (figures and kits) and older figures that I hadn't bothered with, and on top of that, doing customs with the liquidation figures I managed to get.

My creation of my "graphic novel" with my figures (True Origins) impacted my collection quite a lot and I had to fill it in with the figures that I was missing.

But with Legacy, so far, I'm quite happy with what's coming as there's only 2-3 figures so far that has my interest and it's really good for me:

1) I've spent way too much in the last 2 years and while I do regret the amount spent, I don't regret any of the figures I did get.
2) Space.. it's holy crap bad... I build two 6 feet wall shelves for Siege and my older jets thinking I'd be somewhat good for a while (and I was at first), and that's on top of a bunch of other display space, and after a while, it simply got crazy, insane... I have so many figures that I can no longer display and have multiple containers, and drawers full and that's just the stuff from the last 3 years... it actually depresses me to not have the space to display all of them, breaks my heart to know that so many are in containers...

So yeah.. I'm nowhere bored, nowhere tired, nowhere anything BUT wishing I had a much bigger house.

Collecting wise, I have a few on pre-order now and to me, if.. IF that was the "end", it would only be the end of the spending, as as far as my collection goes, I have so much to enjoy already that I would be fine.

I think that for some people, being a collector is more about getting new stuff than enjoying what they already have, and without the "rush" of the hunt, of the "newitus", their "collecting" drops towards a dark place, and to me, that's kinda sad, and I try to encourage people to try and enjoy what they already have more and not consider it "stale" just because they aren't getting a flashy new hat version every week. Hell, I can pull out one of my old toys from 40+ years ago and be a kid all over again with it...