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Monday, June 2, 2014

Back In the World Again

I thought about just making a new post like nothing hadn't happened, but I realized it would probably be better to address my five and a half month absence. The truth is, for a while I had given up on this blog and Transformers in general.


I was overloaded. After Charticon and then four months of nothing but purchasing things were getting ridiculous. I was so focused on trying to finish I was starting to make stupid sacrifices. That is why my post was so... shall we say existential? I hit the wall like I never had before and I just put the brakes on everything. The only things I did relating to Transformers from January until mid March was sell. Sell, sell, sell. Once I got a lot of the clutter out of the way I immediately started to feel better. And I sold things I never thought I would; G1 figures, TFCC, Japanese G1, Beast Wars! I didn't keep an exact count, but I dropped over 1000 figures from my collection. Entire lines fell to the wayside. Needless to say, the collection links above are now waaaaaay out of date.

All I can say is I feel so much better, and I miss absolutely none of it. I did a little traveling, focused my energies elsewhere and took a much needed respite. And now, I'm finally starting to feel excited about Transformers again. It was really touch and go there for a while, I seriously considered selling all of it.

Another added advantage of ridding myself of so much is I had a chance to re-structure my collection room. I am much happier with it now, it more reflects how I feel my collection should be displayed. I may not have the rarest or the "in" pieces anymore, but it is something I am happy with. I've included some comparison pictures with a couple years ago so you can see the drastic "transformation". Old pictures are on the top and the new ones are on the bottom.

Probably the most noticeable change is the addition of LED lights and new cabinets along the side of the room.

The lights make a huge difference in seeing all the figures all the way down the cases.

The removal of so many figures has allowed me to spread things out a bit more.

Note I have added acrylic risers to all the cases to take advantage of the vertical space.

I've changed a lot of the vintage figures so that some are in robot mode and others in vehicle mode.

 
Still cluttered in some places, but much better than it was before.

The room is taking on a more "museum-like" quality with much more attention being paid to how things are displayed rather than just putting robots on the shelves. I plan on continuing to work on this as time goes on to keep improving the display as my collection develops.

So in all, it is good to be back, but I am taking things slow. I haven't purchased anything other than a Japanese Rhinox since I "left" and I don't really plan on making many purchases in the near future, but I'm sure I can find a few things to talk about :)


12 comments:

  1. The biggest items were the Japanese G1, all of which went to eBay, Black Shadow, Metrotitan, Road Ceasar, Darkwings, Landcross, Big Powered and a few others. Everything else was relatively unimportant, BW Neo/2, BW non show characters, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, RID, 2001/02 Universe, almost all of which went to Transformerland as it was just easier to sell it all in one big lot than online. I also got rid of all my Action Masters and the Deluxe Insecticons. I've always hated those things. And I got screwed over on my minispies, I had the entire set and the buyer said I falsely described the auction, I sent him a refund and he sent me a box of broken parts in return. Other than that, everything went smoothly.

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    1. Gotta love eBay sometimes! I'm guessing eBay did nothing for you in that case?

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  2. welcome back. Sorry to hear about the minispies What a douche. The displays look a lot more refined now. Loving the look of them. Been debating selling a lot of my classics collection room off, I just don't appreciate them as much anymore. Wanted to grab that black shadow, but it went way over what i'm willing to pay for a pretender haha.

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    1. Thanks! Yes, I was very surprised at Black Shadow, I still have no rational explanation for what happened. And I hear you with the Classics, I think Masterpiece came in and replaced a lot of the value that was held by classics originally.

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  3. I have been collecting for almost 10 years and see this happen to numerous "G1" folks. The rush and need to buy in a relative short period of time with no real personal reason why to buy all this stuff cause massive burn outs resulting in lot of folks leaving. Not saying it's a good or bad thing. Just saying what I see. I have lost a good number of folks in this manner. In the end, what matters is what makes you happen. Collect and keep what makes you happy. Seriously consider what you buy. If I know I don't plan on keeping something after 2-5 years, I just don't buy it. Just my two cents.-Hotspot17

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    1. Great advice. In the 29 years I've been collecting I've never burned out like that before, but you're absolutely right. I think I have a better idea of where I want to go now and how to keep things under control.

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  4. Welcome back! Wow, 1000 figures gone! Looking at the pictures, it seems like you're certainly more streamlined. About the minispies: since it's apparent that you got ripped off, can't you open a claim with eBay? I'm not sure what seller protections there are since I've sold very little there. Still, it's good to see you posting again!

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    1. Thanks bud! I did open a claim with eBay, but of course they sided with the buyer, even though I sent pictures and copies of emails. It almost doesn't pay to be a seller anymore. After 15 years and over 600 flawless transactions, I finally got my first negative feedback :(

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  5. Welcome back and awesome after shots! I second Optimal Omega, can you open a claim with eBay? That minispy story is very depressing.

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    1. Thanks! Yes, it was horrible, the guy was just a very bad sport and not willing to deal fairly. Of course eBay was no help, so I really haven't sold anything since then.

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  6. Sometimes hitting that proverbial collecting wall is the best thing that can happen. Sounds like we both were going through the same phase at the same time. Activity on my blog dropped way off as I was just enjoying spending time on other things.

    I gave up chasing a lot of figures too. I hardly even look at 3rd party stuff now and I'm almost to the point where I have all the G1 I want. Kinda nice not to feel that urge to buy, buy, buy.

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