TFARCHIVE FORUMS

I am in the process of developing a thing that may or may not become a Thing, and I would like to ask a favor of you folks. There are a few questions I have for you all that would be a huge help, and I would greatly appreciate any help you can provide.

What is your age?

What is your gender?

What is your marital/relationship status? Do you have children?
How, if at all, does that affect your toy-collecting habits?

What scale do you collect in, or does it matter? Is it solely character/nostalgia based?

What toylines did you play with as a child?

What toylines do you collect now?

Of the toylines you still collect, what has kept you interested?

What would you change?

Of the toylines you no longer collect, what was missing? What would have kept you buying?

Thank you!

33; Male; single for a good year or so; not spawned and no plans or desire to do so; I don't think hobbies are much of a blocker, provided you go for people who're also geeks rather than people who think like footballers' wives stereotypes. Not looking for anyone to complete me, or company at present.

Scale -- more of a fan of voyager and 6" these days. Went through MOTU, a bit of Thundercats and TFs primarily as a kid, before moving over to computers (not consoles much and not hardcore gaming), and latterly that's the same sort of stuff I find makes surroundings cosy. Mostly modern updates, not a great deal of interest in vintage. A smattering of LEGO and W40K, sometimes combined. Revisiting 80s stuff is more an interest in intertextuality than nostalgia, exhibit A being James Roberts.

What would I change? Not much, really, particularly with TFs fan enterprise has taken over from where official left off being able to deliver.

Don't consider myself a focused collector, and will pick up odds and sods if they appeal.

Vaguely curious what the 'thing' is but probably not a market demographic as there's a lot out there already on the radar if time ever permits.

LOL, next thing you know you'll be asking our credit card numbers and pins...

What is your age? Very close to 27

What is your gender? Male

What is your marital/relationship status? Do you have children?
How, if at all, does that affect your toy-collecting habits? Single with no children. This affects my collecting status as cash that would go to a potential child can be used otherwise.

What scale do you collect in, or does it matter? Is it solely character/nostalgia based? Scale does not really matter, generally go for the wide range of 6-10 or so inch figures. Any bigger than that, except for character-specific figures, and it loses out on me. I'm in this hobby for the engineering on the figures [more on that on the lines I've dropped], so neither character nor nostalgia based. The -one- character I very specifically want a figure of moreso because it's that character is MP Magnus.

What toylines did you play with as a child? Transformers G1, Beast Wars, Power Rangers, very few GI Joe.

What toylines do you collect now? Transformers MP figures, select Macross figures, select 3rd party transformers figures.

Of the toylines you still collect, what has kept you interested? The engineering aspect and the fact that there's a clear 2 in 1 aspect. Get bored of giant robots, you can have a shelf full of realistic and detailed accurate representation of cars and sci-fi airplanes. Robust and solid figures as well, which is what got me into MMC figures.

What would you change? On what exactly? On my personal collecting habits? If I could go back in time I would not buy myself the MMC Talon back in AA this year as this opened the floodgates to many expensive purchases.

Of the toylines you no longer collect, what was missing? What would have kept you buying? What was missing out of the other toylines I was collecting was the engineering aspect [on Hot toys figures] and the lack of robustness [on various macross figures]. Hot Toys were essentially, and I say this with the greatest of praise, glorified dolls with impeccable attention to detail. The catch was that once you got past the awesomeness of the detail, you couldn't really do much with the figures; they were fully articulated, but very restricted as well. Plus it got to a crazy point where a v2.0 or 3.0 came out a year or so after the first figure, and these were 200 USD figures originally.

Macross figures were great detail wise, and they transformed just fine, but the franchise has a really bad fandom that draws the fun away and the battroid [robot] mode joints of most figures got too loose and dangly too soon for my liking. Most of them being very ambitious designs, this lead to figures stuck in fighter [plane] mode because battroid was too loose or lanky for me to enjoy posing.

I am still buying Macross figures, but only from Yamato/Arcadia as that company focuses on older Macross designs. The newer designs [usually made into figures by bandai] are a bit too...space looking for me

---If you want my suggestion, you can add a question about how/where we live---a younger person still living with their parents, for instance, might have a lot more disposable income than a single person renting or having just bought a flat. Interestingly, said person might have a lot more display space etc.

Wat. Okay.

What is your age? Shit, I forget. 33? Yes.

What is your gender? Putty.

What is your marital/relationship status? Do you have children? Uh, married. One small one.

How, if at all, does that affect your toy-collecting habits? Well, when I was single/unmarried I moved around a lot and was in varying states of finance as I shifted jobs a lot as well (got bored easily, stayed a couple of years here and there then moved on to new things, repeat throughout 20's) so I'd sort of adapted to a somewhat "portable" lifestyle (though not in a sketchy way, har). I bought less/smaller toys, felt guilty when I spent money on non-essentials like toys and had downsized my collection to a single storage bin. I still buy like I'm poor (because IMO I am ), but collecting a Hound meant I collected a massive amount of "stuff" as well, and when he buys toys, he means business/spends more money than I ever would (on toys anyway... I tend to try and get spendy when it comes to the baby's things). It's a little unnerving, but we always seem to sort it out so whatever. I'm kind of an enabler when it comes to toy purchases. Having a small one has made us pause a bit before we buy anything, generally.

What scale do you collect in, or does it matter? Nothing big (usually). Generally small things that are cheap-ish but neat/interesting.

Is it solely character/nostalgia based? Not especially. Partly nostalgia, partly character, partly based in other interests. I lean towards dinosaurs/animals/weird shit. Am aiming for most BW toys someday when our living situation is a bit more permanent.


What toylines did you play with as a child? Transformers, ponies, MOTU, LEGO, Sylvanian Families, Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears... other random stuff.

What toylines do you collect now? Transformers, mostly by proxy (though I'm hoping to start completing my Trypticon in the New Year maybe). LEGO minifigs. Domo stuff. I'm mainly collecting things that aren't toys right now.

Of the toylines you still collect, what has kept you interested? Things be cheap and interesting, yo.

What would you change? Um, nothing really. Other than some stuff on my end so I'd feel a bit more comfortable spending money on stuff.

Of the toylines you no longer collect, what was missing? What would have kept you buying? Question one, money and space for things like a collection of stuff on my end was missing. Question two, Having a permanent home and having more money might have kept me buying. I'm having a hard enough time dealing with the accumulation of stuff I've gathered as it is...

What is your age? 36..so far

What is your gender? male

What is your marital/relationship status? Do you have children?
How, if at all, does that affect your toy-collecting habits? partnered these last 11 years or so. that's probably not a word, but it is now. No children, do have six cats (was seven but one's gone missing ). Having house and bills and vet stuff to pay for does affect the choices I make in buying non-essentials, and so does the amount of space we have. And I have sold off a ton of stuff because of that.

What scale do you collect in, or does it matter? Is it solely character/nostalgia based? Don't really have a particular scale. Lean towards smaller stuff that's more easily stored.

What toylines did you play with as a child? Lego, Playmobil, Matchbox and Corgi cars. Had a few Transformers, a couple of Gobots and 2 Action Force things (Wild Bill and his helicopter and the Cobra Rattler). Board Games were a fairly major thing that me and my sister used to play a lot. Ghost Castle, Guess Who, Pole Position (yes, the video game was turned into a board game by MB) Monopoly some Spears Games compendium thing with loads of traditional games in

What toylines do you collect now? Transformers, odd bits of Lego now and again. Although not toys, I have got back into Garbage Pail Kids which I think are awesome.

Of the toylines you still collect, what has kept you interested?Well, with Lego they've gone through a real reniassance in the last 10 years or so and have turned out some incredible stuff and teh cump change collectability of their Minifigures has been a huge draw. With Transformers, I appreciate the engineering and build of the things. I'm less impressed with the poor finishing and general downsizing of the range, plus its simplification as far as the main retail lines go, but understand why these things have happened. I do feel a bit forced into the collector orientated lines as a result, so have been happier to look into the past to get my TF fix.

What would you change? Its a bit late for these things now, what with the toy market and action figures in particular in serious decline, but it would have been nice if companies had retained local hubs that did more than just act as a mouthpiece for the US parent. The blanket application of the US waves system onto foregin markets less geared towards shifting huge volumes of product has been more harmful than good , IMO. Its driven sales online and meant retailers outside (funnily enough) of big box shops like TRU (American) are less likely to take a punt on a line. Shelves being clogged with Bumblebee for the last 7 years since the first LAM hasn't been a pleasant sight. Globalisation has come to mean little more than Americanising the way goods are manufactured, distributed and sold, and its a model that isn't without huge flaws.

Of the toylines you no longer collect, what was missing? What would have kept you buying? Well with other things, they've been passing fanices or just things that a far too expensive to keep buying (I like those Ame Comi statues, but they are silly money and the smaller versions just aren't as nice). Action figures, as mentioned above have had a serious reversal of fortune. Once, they were fairly basic things with five or six points of articulation, minimal detail and pretty awful looking. Then Todd McFarlance happened and the toy industry responded by producing better, more detailed and articulated toys. Jakks Pacific brought in that laser scan tech to more accurately capture likenesses and that all bled through into pretty much every action figure line ever. Since the economic collapse, action figures switched from a 5" - 6" scale to 3.75" and now to these horrible farty 1.5" things (sf. Star Wars , Guardians Of The Galaxy) whilst the price has remained the same. Companies still produce the 5" scale stuff, but charge a premium for it and its aimed squarely at 'collectors', which TBH, often seems a slightly cynical excercise, knowing that adults will happily pay silly money for what should be affordable , fun things. Its one of the downsides of toy companies recognising the growth and exsistence of adult collectors whom are happy to pay quite eye watering sums for toys (cf Character Options and their Doctor Who range, Lego with their huge premium sets, Mattel and their MOTU line, etc etc) and that sort of thing isn't why I enjoyed toys. It also makes it very easy just to stop buying things as I basically feel priced out of the market.

Thank you very much for the answers. I greatly appreciate your input.

Denyer wrote:Vaguely curious what the 'thing' is but probably not a market demographic as there's a lot out there already on the radar if time ever permits.

Apologies. I had not intended to be overly vague. It was simply a matter of the newness of the the idea (having been hatched a short time before) and the embarassment should it not turn out to be a Capital-T "Thing". Hence my playing it close to the vest.

In truth, I'm thinking of starting a toy company, and while my intent is to make toys the way I think they should be made, I do want to make sure that isn't completely out of step with other people before I devote the time and energy to making it happen. And since I figure I'll be making toys for the collector's market (at least, to begin with), I thought I'd start by talking to collectors about their needs, wants, and gripes.

Knightdramon wrote:LOL, next thing you know you'll be asking our credit card numbers and pins...

Well, hell. If you want to provide it...

On what exactly? On my personal collecting habits?

Sorry. I didn't word that very well, did I?

That was actually a continuation of the previous question. It's meant to be something along the lines of "If you had the power/influence to change something about the toylines you buy, what would it be?"

If you want my suggestion, you can add a question about how/where we live

Truthfully, I was already uncomfortable with some of the information I was asking about, and I don't want to cause anyone unnecessary embarrasment by getting into their living situation. Most people on here are fairly open about their relationship status and the like, but not about whether or not they home or have their own place. Additionally, I was more than a little embarassed about having lived at home when I was in my twenties, and I didn't want to delve into people's personal stuff over something that is wholly preliminary. You know?

What is your age? 30

What is your gender? Male

What is your marital/relationship status? Married.

Do you have children? None yet.

How, if at all, does that affect your toy-collecting habits? It doesn't, really. If anything, my hobbies have encouraged my wife to start some nerdy collecting habits of her own. Obviously we don't spend more than we can afford and bills always come first, but that should be the same whether you're married or single and no matter how many brats you've got. Our interests are pretty cheap, though.

What scale do you collect in, or does it matter? Is it solely character/nostalgia based? I don't collect any particular scale for Transformers, but I do generally prefer that figures which fill the same niche are more-or-less in scale with each other. For other lines I tend to pick one scale and stick with it -- my Batman stuff is six-inch, so I won't go and buy a cool-looking four-inch figure since it wouldn't look good with what I've already got. Transformers get more leeway because scale is such a joke to the franchise as a whole so my brain's been programmed to ignore the cognitive dissonance of cars that are bigger than jets.

For non-TF stuff I tend to prefer figures that are around six inches tall, plus or minus a bit. I think that's a good sweet spot where you can get good articulation and detail on a sculpt without becoming too large and cumbersome to actually play with. I'm not a huge stickler for precise scale -- unless the figures are meant to be displayed as a group, in which case it bothers me to no end when one character is way bigger or smaller than all the others for no reason.

What toylines did you play with as a child? Transformers, Lego, Ninja Turtles, Star Trek, various DC superhero things, He-Man, Thundercats, G.I. Joe...maybe one or two more that I can't remember.

What toylines do you collect now? Mostly Transformers, but some Batman and Lego as well. Occasionally I'll pick up something else but I wouldn't consider grabbing a random Spider-Man or video game character 'collecting' really.

Of the toylines you still collect, what has kept you interested? Fiction is probably the #1 reason I buy toys, with nostalgia coming in second and community a close third. First and foremost I buy toys of characters I like, or updated versions of stuff I had as a kid. But part of what keeps me hanging around the franchise is the fact that I hang out here and talk to people about it -- I'd definitely be less aware of what's going on and less motivated to shop for stuff if I didn't.

I do occasionally just buy stuff because it's cool (most of my Lego purchases fall into that category) but those are impulse buys more than anything. Without good fiction or some other preexisting connection, I'm generally just not interested.

What would you change? Distribution. With the toy market shrinking, the "waves" system hasn't worked properly for over a decade. Go back to the 80s/90s system where each wave contained more figures, but new waves were released less frequently. That way people actually have a chance to buy your product instead of missing out on two waves because the previous one sold a little slow.

Of the toylines you no longer collect, what was missing? What would have kept you buying?
Nothing really. They just don't grab my imagination now the way they did when I was little.