TFSource / TF-1 Articles

Figures, collectables, customs and collecting.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Clay wrote:They're not about what different people see and are attracted to in the brand, they're not about the emotional hook of a community to participate in
I think you get both of those with pre-Transformers stuff, whether it's earlier lines or things that happened before the production runs. There was a recent book Kickstarter for G.I. Joe toys/designs, and it's fascinating stuff. The appearances of unproduced designs over the years in photo books and occasional photos have always been of interest, and knowing where they ended up and they're with people that actually give a shit about preserving something for posterity and probably aren't going to accidentally set fire to stuff is nice. Not stuff I'd want to own much of, but the same goes for paintings or antiques -- it's all bits of history that've survived because people cared, for whatever reasons, to try to make sure it did.
Tetsuro wrote:representative of the exact same cloth of Exclusive Completist Club. Just because you don't have glass cabinets full of prototypes or MISB Japanese G1 exclusives of Lucky Draws doesn't make your personal story as a collector any less valid.
TBH, as a perspective always smacks of people caring more than they think they should rather than just leaving people to get on with collecting. I don't give much of a toss about rare stuff (and equally would prefer scarcity wasn't a thing with stuff I like and do own) but it's interesting to see what's out there -- more so the handmade stuff than the fact that someone decided to release a few green Unicrons or gold chromed figures to make them rare.
Maz wrote:TFSource have asked that I limit the images to 700 pixels width because they no longer wish the images to link to the full size picture, just back to TFSource's web store.
Clay wrote:That's because it's advertising disguised as content.
It's content. Sometimes presentation buggers things up, but closer shots and picking out some specific examples would cover that. It's not paginated clickbait like the majority of stuff that passes for content on news or list sites...
Warcry wrote:I think it's fair to say that the TFSource articles have been pushing more in that direction, especially with all the images linking back to their sales pages, and I know I find it off-putting too. Especially if I'm browsing on a tablet, accidentally click an image when I meant to scroll and suddenly find myself on a sales page. Unfortunately a lot of media is going in that direction.
...that is rather annoying, though, as well as probably counter productive -- people are in the habit of clicking to enlarge, or use tablets, and each person that finds themselves redirected isn't likely to click around on the site again. Plus whilst a lot of visitors won't be from the US they might be more inclined to signal boost to people that are. But it'd be interesting to see if image clicks correlated to completed sales. Suspect that sidebar links with "WE SELL VINTAGE TFS" + random picture would be more effective.

But back to protoypes, would be cool to see close-ups of any of these, some of which are in those cabinets...

http://www.toyarchive.com/Transformers/ ... types.html
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Well. This all makes me comfortable about my collecting habits, which are basically a grab bag of things that I like from a range of different eras, with no real consistency beyond some primal emotional attachment. Or because a friend had one and I liked it and wanted one too.
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Clay
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Post by Clay »

Denyer wrote:I think you get both of those with pre-Transformers stuff, whether it's earlier lines or things that happened before the production runs. There was a recent book Kickstarter for G.I. Joe toys/designs, and it's fascinating stuff.
It can be, if it's something that's been altered before production or a piece that never makes it that far. But if a pre-production copy of, say, Apeface is a straight facsimile of the final version, what's the point of seeking that out? Just get a production version if you want an Apeface. It'll be cheaper, have paint and stickers, be more durable, etc. Hoarding up a bunch of prototypes and pre-production samples that are functionally the same as the production models is just conspicuous consumption for its own sake.
The appearances of unproduced designs over the years in photo books and occasional photos have always been of interest, and knowing where they ended up and they're with people that actually give a shit about preserving something for posterity and probably aren't going to accidentally set fire to stuff is nice. Not stuff I'd want to own much of, but the same goes for paintings or antiques -- it's all bits of history that've survived because people cared, for whatever reasons, to try to make sure it did.
No real disagreement here, but as I say, if the mold stays unchanged from prototype to final production, there's not much point in hanging onto the prototype to note the differences.
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Post by Hound »

Clay wrote:It can be, if it's something that's been altered before production or a piece that never makes it that far. But if a pre-production copy of, say, Apeface is a straight facsimile of the final version, what's the point of seeking that out?
Well it's clearly just to have a rare thing. If that's what the guy wants to spend his money on more power to him. It's not for me but I'd have to say that a lot of that has to do with my economic status and less to do with any ethical/moral difference of point of view.
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Post by Clay »

Hound wrote:Well it's clearly just to have a rare thing. If that's what the guy wants to spend his money on more power to him. It's not for me but I'd have to say that a lot of that has to do with my economic status and less to do with any ethical/moral difference of point of view.
Yeah, and that's fine if that's what he wants to do. But having photos of his collection held up on a pedestal like so many other people with similar collections and being blindly praised for it gets irksome after a bit. As I said, there are plenty of other collectors' stories to tell, and I think it'd be much more interesting to hear from someone that's been collecting for less than two years than another museum curator.
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Post by Denyer »

Pokémon type collecting and displays gets samey -- figures in subgroups by year, or every version of X popular character -- and seems to inspire burnout in the collectors that approach things that way, quite frequently. But even where pre-production stuff doesn't differ a great deal, it's interesting to see the process if there's opportunity to get into some detail. Ditto the type of comparisons Fred's Workshop used to do... not an approach of trying to own every slight variant, but assembling information as a resource.

It's a bit morbid and depressing that information's generally coming to light and stuff changing hands because of estate sales after the original design staff have died, but again... the same process has always happened with things that have survived to be considered antiques, even things that were relatively mass-produced for their day. The variations in student copies of paintings, which would've been destroyed if no-one took a fancy to them, can still be quite fascinating.
Clay wrote:photos of his collection held up on a pedestal like so many other people with similar collections and being blindly praised for it
Not seeing anything apart from the community aspect you were talking about. People either share particular interests, whether it's rare stuff or Combiner Wars, or get excited about people getting excited. This is that with rare stuff, a lot of which I'm not interested in but if people are then... good for them? Because collecting is escapism and an impulse to have control of a tiny bit of the universe, and frankly there's enough sucking negativity around without imagining that people preferring one bit of expensive plastic to another is a value judgement on people that like different ones or collect them in a different way.
Clay wrote:there are plenty of other collectors' stories to tell
There's not really a shortage of people sharing stuff in blogs, reviews and photography. It's like MP redecos insofar as an article that isn't of personal interest isn't taking the place of stuff that is.

It's nice to have some variety. But also hard to begrudge people opportunity to share their bit of things that they get some enjoyment out of, and passing over to read something else if that's not to taste this time around... isn't.
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Post by Denyer »

Denyer wrote:Can't envisage them being done better, for my taste.
To be fair, the chest seems to have come out well, although most of the shots are from a side angle...

https://www.facebook.com/DaimChocReport ... 3891218712

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http://i.imgur.com/0wWV0gO.jpg

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http://i.imgur.com/jSt7Uic.jpg

New stuff:

http://tfsource.com/blog/burnout/

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http://tfsource.com/blog/1987-autobot-m ... etmasters/

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The other two Autobot movie TMs would really lend themselves to a similar WST treatment as Hot Rod got...
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Post by numbat »

Denyer wrote:...collecting is escapism and an impulse to have control of a tiny bit of the universe, and frankly there's enough sucking negativity around without imagining that people preferring one bit of expensive plastic to another is a value judgement on people that like different ones or collect them in a different way.
Bang on sir!

I get quite bored by articles on G1 collecting, rarity or otherwise, because I'm really not that interested in it. Doesn't mean other people aren't.

I like to hear why people choose a particular route for collecting - it's more interesting when people have specifically chosen particular figures, lines or sub-groups for a reason. Indeed, it's the reason itself which is the interesting part. So collections without limitations tend to be a bit dull for me. Equally, collections of rare stuff because it's rare are also a bit dull, because the reason is rather simple and boring. This is not to take away from the achievement or enjoyment of the collector though - it's great that they get a buzz and some happiness from this. After all, I doubt they would understand my more eclectic approach to collecting, or find it interesting.

:)

New sale thread added with a range of Transformers including Masterpiece, Botcon, CHUG, RID, Movies etc.

Looking for MP-11T Thundercracker and MP-9 Rodimus v2 (Takara version with as few QC issues as possible).


Check out my new sale thread now!

Also items on eBay.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

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Post by Sades »

I like that man's pictures. I also appreciate his Cheerios hat.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

See that's more like it. Somebody who came into the fandom through Beast Wars and whose collection is (seemingly) pretty much exclusively stuff from that point onwards.

Nice stuff.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Excellent article. I love that one figure he'd keep is a small basic class toy. That's some proper fan love there, I like choices like that.

And I agree, RID Scourge is frickin' awesome. Love mine to bits and it made G2 Laser Prime just look a bit sad by comparison.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Interesting to see BW stuff displayed in any sort of quantity, but really like the outdoors photography which the alt-modes lend themselves to.

http://tfsource.com/blog/good-enough/

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Don't look at stuff as placeholders, personally, particularly with Takara going more cartoon accurate and undetailed. Masterpiece often isn't a bad starting point, and I really like Tracks with a head swap or Blue Bluestreak or Prowl with stickers... but the recent stuff leaves me cold.
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Post by slartibartfast »

Oh dear, I think that scrounge repaint looks fantastic :(
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Post by Warcry »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:See that's more like it. Somebody who came into the fandom through Beast Wars and whose collection is (seemingly) pretty much exclusively stuff from that point onwards.
Yeah, this sort of stuff is a lot more interesting than yet another G1-centric collection. Though of course I'd say that, look at my avatar...

(He also gets points for including a glamour shot of Universe Wind Sheer.)
Denyer wrote:Interesting to see BW stuff displayed in any sort of quantity,
I love the sheer variety that the line displays, and that's something that really stands out in big groups like this. There's so much colour on display, so many different alt-modes and so many different body types in robot mode. The sheer variety means that there's some absolute stinkers in the lineup. But even bad toys like Terragator or Transquito or Drill Bit or Bantor are so unique that they're a neat addition to a bigger display in a way that a poor-quality Generations toy really isn't.
Denyer wrote:but really like the outdoors photography which the alt-modes lend themselves to.
Jetbolt's an amazing photographer, for sure. I've followed his stuff on TFW for a while now. There are a few guys over there who do really nice outdoor BW figure photo shoots, but I think his are probably the best.
Denyer wrote:Don't look at stuff as placeholders, personally
A decade or more ago, when there wasn't much choice, I think a lot of us got into the habit of buying toys we weren't really happy with because we wanted to own a representation of that character. But with a decade-plus of G1 remakes in the rear-view mirror and countless years of it yet to come, I think there's a lot less motivation for that. Between what's already been made and what we're going to see in the future, from sources both official and not, if a character doesn't already have a good toy they'll probably get one sooner than later.

Of course there's always going to be people who don't want to wait, but for me at least it's gotten a lot easier to pass up on stuff that doesn't quite hit the mark.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

slartibartfast wrote:Oh dear, I think that scrounge repaint looks fantastic :(
i thought it looked good too...but does it come with a special arm..?
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Post by Denyer »

Warcry wrote:A decade or more ago, when there wasn't much choice, I think a lot of us got into the habit of buying toys we weren't really happy with because we wanted to own a representation of that character. But with a decade-plus of G1 remakes in the rear-view mirror and countless years of it yet to come, I think there's a lot less motivation for that. Between what's already been made and what we're going to see in the future, from sources both official and not, if a character doesn't already have a good toy they'll probably get one sooner than later.
To some extent with CHUG personally -- dodged most of RID, UT, etc.

But I don't have a problem with that, despite (or because) giving a lot of it to charity sales afterwards. It was fun at the time.

And I have no problem with mixing CHUG with Masterpiece with 3P now -- the mish mash is something that Transformers has always been about.

In semi-related news, Feral Rex is ****ing impressive as a shelf piece, irrespective of how much I do or don't care about Predaking.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Denyer wrote:In semi-related news, Feral Rex is ****ing impressive as a shelf piece, irrespective of how much I do or don't care about Predaking.
I know right.

I mean that ****ing sword alone.
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Post by Denyer »

Haven't bothered to find out the parts for the sword -- he's next to figures that are a mix of voyager scale and smaller, and is suitably taller than the Energon Bruticus with FP and other upgrades, but I think the sword would call attention to the differences in scale too much. The individual Feral Cons in robot modes were okay for it apart from Leo Dux.

Could maybe go for the Heisenberg upgrade claws and weapons, though.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

I think if you sink Leo Dux's knees down he will actually pass for the same size as everybody else. But you probably need to put him behind some other figures so it's not readily apparent what you've done...
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