Are you are completist or a pick & choose type of TF toy buy

[JediTricks]

Like Star Wars collecting, I started my current thrust of TF collecting in the mid '90s, and at first I was EXTREMELY pick-n-choose, but thanks to a friend, I quickly became a completist on Beast Wars. With BW, I was a completist up until we got to weird stuff like Mutants, and I started to be very slightly picky. With Beast Machines, I tried hard not to be a completist, but the actual toy designs were compelling even when they didn't match the on-screen characters, so I was almost a completist there, until again, we got to weird stuff like Deployers and Beast Riders, and I started to be slightly picky. That's when TF got really bad with distribution, some figures being nigh-impossible to get, though I did pull off the hard ones.

Between the long break from BM to RID, I had picked up a few pieces from Car Robots, so when RID came around I already knew what to expect and had some of the molds. Then the Decepticons were all repaints of BW and BM figs except Megs, so I bought less and less of that line.

Then Armada, and I really didn't want to be a completist there, but somehow the Minicons drew me in so I guess I was there. Energon and Cybertron I tried to ween myself off, but I bought most of that stuff.

So I think it's the movie and Animated that broke me of being a TF completist, especially the 2nd movie line. I didn't really know that until I started typing out this post actually.

[138 Scourge]

Pick and choose, always. I've never really wanted to be a completist, I don't have the money to make it work, and I don't have the space, either. So I'll generally buy toys for three reasons: It's either a really neat looking toy, or it's a character I particularly like, or because I'm bored and fuck it. Or some combination of the above.

It is funny, though, if I start a collection, I either quit it right at the onset, or I go fucking nuts about it.. Only meant to get a few damn G.I. Joe figures, f'rinstance, and next thing you know... Or, like, take my intention to just get the one PCC set at first. So even if I start only meaning to get a few characters, things tend to escalate, and I'll think "Well, I got this dude, maybe I should get this one to go with it?"

Even when I start getting a fever for a particular collection, there's still figures that I'll just pass on. The closest I've come to being a completist is with Animated, and even then there was a bunch of toys I passed on.

Or like, I guess my Grimlock collection is getting borderline completist, where I find myself scoping out "Hard Heroes" busts or green decoys on eBay. But even there, I don't feel tempted to get, say, Shattered Glass Grimlock.

[Dominic]

I tried to be a completist with BW. But, a money crunch in early '97 forced me to skip enough hard to find toys that I had to give that up. I tried again with RiD, but a few rare figures (and a scalper rush on Stormjet) put paid to that.

I was nearly a completist with "Armada" and "Cybertron", despite my intentions to be more picky with those lines. Since the movie, I have actually been very picky, but picked up most of "Universe" and it successor lines despite my pickiness.

The pointless rarity of some figures has kept me from seriously considering being a completist.


Dom

[Onslaught Six]

I'm still trying to complete RID. One day! I just got Storm Jet. Man, he's a neat guy. I've sort of adopted him into the Movieverse though.

[Ursus mellifera]

Hi folks, I've just joined your forum, and I figured I'd offer my thoughts on this.

I tend to go for one extreme or the other with a TF line. That is, I'll either try to acquire all of them, or only buy one or two figures from the entire line. As I've gotten older, and money has become more of an issue, I've cut back to only buying all the US, retail-available toys in a line I choose to be a completist of.

Hi, again.

[Onslaught Six]

Hey, a new member!

Neat.

[Shockwave]

Hi folks, I've just joined your forum, and I figured I'd offer my thoughts on this.

I tend to go for one extreme or the other with a TF line. That is, I'll either try to acquire all of them, or only buy one or two figures from the entire line. As I've gotten older, and money has become more of an issue, I've cut back to only buying all the US, retail-available toys in a line I choose to be a completist of.

Hi, again.

Hey welcome to the forums!

[Ursus mellifera]

Thanks!

[138 Scourge]

Hey Ursus. Good to meetcha, welcome aboard.

[andersonh1]

Yeah, welcome to the boards.


I'm very much pick and choose for the majority of Transformers lines. I guess in some ways I've tried to get every Classics/Universe/Generations figure that's a G1 remake, and I tried to get all the Alternators, but apart from that I just get the occasional figure that appeals to me for whatever reason. Like Scourge, I don't have the money or the space to get everything, even if I wanted to do that.