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[Fighbird]

Martin, those Finnish Diaclones look absolutely fantastic! I guess you're one happy camper now, huh?

Yup, but now comes the hard part: Finding more!

[Fighbird]

Just a quick shot of my "Convoy" (pun maybe intended ) of Diaclone cars:



Most of them are Takara reissues, but there are a few originals in there (and a custom) - aboslutely no KOs!

[Fighbird]

Lucky Draw Animated DX Earth Mode Optimus Prime and DX Cybertron Megatron, limited to 1,000 each.

[Maz]

Spectacular collection Martin, quite overwhelmingly impressive

This is one of the first examples of an actual Finnish Diaclone "collection" I have seen. I just can't believe that someone who always gave me such a headache with haggling actually owns a black Finnish Diaclone Corvette and a boxed Finnish Ligier ;)

Tremedously jealous and hugely impressed Martin, two of my biggest collection grails right there in the same picture, simply spectacular.

Well done! And more importantly, thank you for sharing.

All the best
Maz

[Fighbird]

Hey Maz!

Welcome aboard - good to hear from you again after all this time!

Welp, a lot of stuff has happened in your "absence" - one thing being me getting a steady job, allowing me to splurge a little bit more on high-end stuff.

I've also weeded a bit out in the collection - so much so, that the first couple of pages in this thread are very much outdated. Especially my loose G1 collection has grown.

Either way: Hope you'll want to stick around for a while, Maz. We are nice people around here, and we can always use a little british perspective on things.

[Maz]

Hey Maz!

Welcome aboard - good to hear from you again after all this time!

Welp, a lot of stuff has happened in your "absence" - one thing being me getting a steady job, allowing me to splurge a little bit more on high-end stuff.

I've also weeded a bit out in the collection - so much so, that the first couple of pages in this thread are very much outdated. Especially my loose G1 collection has grown.

Either way: Hope you'll want to stick around for a while, Maz. We are nice people around here, and we can always use a little british perspective on things.

It's very nice to be back, and of course as usual I regret being away for so long. It didn't help that I moved into a place where I couldn't keep 90% of my stuff and had to have it stored.

I'd love to do one of these collection posts, hopefully one day soon. Too much stored in boxes

Seems a very nice board indeed, thank you for having me

All the best
Maz

[falcon]

Just a quick shot of my "Convoy" (pun maybe intended ) of Diaclone cars:



Most of them are Takara reissues, but there are a few originals in there (and a custom) - aboslutely no KOs!

WOW.... My favorite in this pic is the blue bluestreak in the back!

[Fighbird]

NEW ROUND OF COLLECTION PICTURES!

It's tought trying to get a photoshoot of one's collection done. I don't think it makes a difference if you have 10 or 10,000 figures - it still takes time and preparations. And - as I'm sure many of you will recognise - having a collection that always fluctuates both in terms of size and placement, it can be a daunting task to find the right moment to take pictures of it all.

I have roughly 1,000 toys in my collection - ranging from pre-TFs over TFs to GIJoe, Brave and newer Microman - and photographing each and every one of them is just not possible. So I decided to take some group shots based on how things are placed in my collection room.



Just to give an idea of how the room is shaped, I've included the above picture. It starts off in the North-East corner and pans clock-wise through South and over to the North-West corner. As I present the individual shots I hope it adds to the sense of where everything is places in relation to one another.

Here we go.

PART 1:


This is the top of the shelves found in the North-West corner (with the subsequent images panning down through those shelves). This spot is basically reserved for the big loose G1 toys that wouldn't fit on any of the other shelves. The "theme" in general for these shelves is "loose G1", "loose Animated" and "loose CHUG".


Pretenders shelf. Still missing some parts here and there (and Submarauder in general) but I'm close to having this section completed. I actually kinda like the Pretenders, especially the humanoid ones, even with their lack of posability. Upon closer inspection there are really a lot of very impressive detailing on these, and especially the 1989 Pretenders are favourites. I don't consider the Pretender Monsters "canon" in regards to my G1 collection, where I am mainly trying to get all the toys that were available domestically only. The 2nd wave of 1988 Pretenders fall into that category as well, even though a few have snuck into my picture here. The 6 Headmaster Warriors are KOs, sadly...


Loose G1 Decepticon shelf. All vintage. Devastator is 5/6 Mexican, and Cyclonus and Scourge are both the Targetmaster versions.


Action Masters and Micromasters shelf. Not much else to say here.


Loose G1 Autobot shelf. All vintage. Superion is the Japanese version with the base mode launching mechanism and Blurr is the Targetmaster version.


CHUG shelf no. 1. A merry mix of mostly Henkei! and USA Edition releases.


Animated shelf. I love these designs, but have weeded the collection out quite a bit recently. Mostly US versions and mostly the molds I like only. Quite a messy shelf, really, now that I look at it...


CHUG shelf no. 2. Primarily for douplicates of the same Classic-based molds - here mainly Bumblebees, Starscreams/seekers, Grimlocks, Mirages and Astrotrains. And a lone Blurr, who couldn't find his way to shelf no. 1.


CHUG shelf no. 3. More Classic-mold based douplicates - mostly Megatrons and Jetfires. And a couple of post-Classic CHUG toys that neede a place to stay... and BW TM Scavenger.

[Fighbird]

PART 2:

Jumping back to the North-East corner again, this section will show off what I have hangin on the wall. Now, since the room is right underneath the roof, this wall is angled - so much so, that fitting shelves is not an option. So this is mainly reserved for my carded stuff, which I can affix using thumb tacks. Simple, yet effective.

I'll be starting in the North-most corner, and then working my way South on the wall.


This is part of my 1999 Magne Microman collection. Most of the cards are empty now, as the loose figures are on display elsewhere in the room, but because of the way the cards are designed (slip-case) they are - thankfully - easy to replace time and again. In the bottom right-hand corner is a reissue Microman, 1974 style (the toy, not the card).


Mostly Magne Microman stuff here as well, with more of the vehicle stuff showing. Also the beginning of my GIJoe Cobra 25th Anniversary stuff, starting off with a Zarana proof card (i.e. no bubble was ever attached nor is there a hanger hole punched into it).


Next batch of mainly Cobras. In the middle of the lower row are my Headrobots - left to right the Cobra inspired repaint, then a NordCon Mixcoatl and finally a regular one. Also seen my lone Joustra Diaclone Trans-Am (aka Windcharger).


More Cobras at the top here, and then a MOSC Argentinian Camaro (aka Windcharger), followed by a Mexican Bonecrusher, and then one of my most favourite Micromaster teams, the Rescue Patrol, MOSC.


Even more Cobras at the top, with my carded Action Masters coming up underneath. And yes, that's Inferno there on a Rollout card. That's a packaging engineering pilot, a "prototype" of how the bubble would be placed on the backing card (the bubble is hand-cut, is stapled to the back instead of glued, there is no hanger hole cutout and the toy has different paint applications).


Cobras on top, and more Action Masters underneath. The 3rd row has some of my carded 1987-1988 stuff - starting off with some Decepticons here.


Still even more Cobras and Action Masters, and more carded Decepticons. I have a dream of one day completing the Seacons MOSC...


And the final south-most corner with the last Cobras and Action Masters. Quite a bit of overlap with the picture above, I wanted to show my MOSC (and faded) Targetmaster Quake as well.


Now, going a bit back North again, I have a 2 extra rows of carded toys just underneath the 1987/1988 carded Decepticons. Curiously, this is the carded Autobot section. Some minibots and Micromasters again, and my MOSC Seaspray variation collection.


And the final carded Autobot corner (South) with the remaining Seasprays at the bottom there.

This post has been edited by Fighbird: 8 January 2014, 10:07

[Fighbird]

PART 3:

Not shown in the panorama shot of the first post is my IKEA Detolf cabinet. It's up against the North wall of the room, standing right underneath the first picture of my Magne Microman display from before.


On top I have a mix of various toys - this is one of the many display areas I rotate a lot, and at the moment it holds a nice mix of Overlord, Classic Rodimus toys and my Masterpieces.


Generally, this cabinet is reserved for my most prized possessions. And the first shelf is probably the one most descriptive of one of my main collecting passions: Minibots. While I won't bore you with the details the general setup has Mexican toys on the left-hand side, Brazilian and Argentinian toys on the right-hand side, a few Peruvians in the middle, and then candy toys, Greek, Euro, eHobby, Venezuelan and protos strewn about.


My pre-Transformers shelf. A nice mix of US Diakrons, Japanese Diaclones and Finnish Diaclones as well as Microman Micro Change minibots.


My Movie-era display. I have many toys from all 3 movies, but these are my absolute favourites. Of special personal affection is the '07 Voyager toy in the back, which is one of the toys used at the 2007 convention in Arlöv, and the Titanium giftset below it which I won at one of the contests. Good times.


Newer special edition releases - mostly BotCon toys. Also has 2 Kabaya kits and 2 ChoroQ toys with Microman logos, the latter something I got to "round off" the Microchange/ChoroQ connection, if that makes any sense...

UPDATE:


Since I took the pictures above I've alrady updated and rearranged some of my displays... as mentioned in the first post, this is the nature of collecting and displaying toys, basically. I bought a small plastic shelf to act as a riser on the Minibot shelf, which allowed me to add some things and "build upwards". The general arrangement of toys is still the same but I've added some MIB Japanese toys as well as some Brawn cards in the back there.

This post has been edited by Fighbird: 8 January 2014, 11:28

[Fighbird]

PART 4:

These are detailed shots of the two shelves I have on the West wall - seen on the left-hand side in the panoramic shot.


This is the top shelf of the South-most shelf. It's mostly big boxes that I don't want to throw out, but also a mini-display of Unicron (Takara Toy Hobby Market exclusive version), Cyclonus (Reveal the Shield), Galvatron (Henkei!) with Matrix pendant and Scourge (United version with Targetmaster Micron exclusive Fracas).


The shelf right below is a little bit of a mix. On the left we have some Animated toys as well as the clear Super versions of the Car Robots Flipchangers; in the middle my small collection of loose 25th Anniversary Cobra figures; the right section my modest collection of Prime toys.


Even more random things here on the next shelf below. Danish MB board games and various Animated/Movie toys in the back, the toys on the left-hand front are all customs of mine in various states of completeness. The right-hand side is a line-up of Deluxe Animated Megatron toys, going from test shot to US version and then Japanese version to Lucky Draw.


Below again we get to the first part of my TF:Collection series. While I have other vintage, reissue and Encore releases of some these toys, I don't want to break up the mini-collection here. So I have several Starscreams and Jazzes and Bumblebees... In front of them a few random toys I have been fiddling with - including the 3 official CHUG Stunticons to have appeared so far.


Second TF:Collection shelf. Pretty much the same deal here: Random toys in front of them, including three limited editions of some reissue Microman figures - I especially love the chrome finish on those two there.

Actually, there is a shelf more underneath here, but I decided not to photograph it as it only contains paperwork - various books and magazine and comic books I use for reference purpose only.

Now onto the second, northern shelf:


A small selection of my favourite non-Transformers toys. Mostly Takara Yuusha/Brave bots in single-packs (as opposed to the often-seen giftset versions). I just love the Japanese versions here with their spectacular character art - very reminiscent of Transformers in that regard - and artwork that is lost on the giftsets, whether Japanese or Korean.


Another mix'n'match shelf underneath there, with random Danish item and Jumpstarters and customs on the left, more Minibots in the middle, and Masterpiece boxes and loose Magne Microman figures on the right.


Below that there is (finally! ) a more properly themed shelf of G2 Bruticus (carded G2 version as background and then the Amazon Fall of Cybertron giftset in front of that. The left-hand side has my War for/Fall of Cybertron Deluxe Decepticons collection, and the right-hand side my G1 Rescue Force combiner and the 4 Fans Project not-Stunticons.


And final shelf level below that is a complete free-for-all mixture of many different loose toys. I mostly use this area to place toys I don't have room for anywhere else thematically, but also for the ones that are "fair game" for guest...

As with the South-most shelf, this one also has an addition level below it that was also deemed not-worthy-of-photography. This area contains a few boxes but mainly all(!) my paperwork - instructions, cardbacks and box cutouts. Rather messy, really...

This post has been edited by Fighbird: 8 January 2014, 10:56

[Fighbird]

PART 4:

Final instalment! Phew! This is of the floor section along the East wall - right underneath the angled wall that contained my carded stuff. There is actually about 1 meter of vertical wall, so I have been able to put up a few shelves there. But mostly this is a big storage space for "the rest", especially evident in the first couple of pictures.


This is our old dining room table. Oh, and some toys and stuff as well...! Seriously, though, this table functions as a very sturdy and deep shelf, where I have random empty boxes and packaging material underneath it. On top I have stacked all of my Beast Wars, Beast Wars II, Beast Wars Neo and Movie-era toys, while still having a little space left to work with things and shuffle them around.


South of the table end is where the madness begins... Very random bunch of boxed toys stacked as good as possible to save on floor space. This bunch contains Car Robots, Yuusha, Microman, Eldoran, Sentai, Machine Wars, Timelines, Movie, Animated - actually, too many toy lines to list.


Next to that, though, things start to get organised again a bit. Right at the top of the vertical wall section I put up a long shelf, running the length of roughly the middle of the room and then all the way down to the South end wall. This is where I have my boxed G1 toys as well as some selected loose ones. The Primes are both Mexican, as is the G1 Starscream, the Seaspray is my old childhood one and the blue Bluestreak is a custom of mine.


More boxed G1 goodnees, with the "anonymous" ones on the left being eHobby reissues and repaints.


The South-most section of the shelf here has even more boxed G1 goodness. And a carded Seacon, just for good measure.


Going back a bit to where this shelf started, the floor area underneath it contains the larger boxed items. Still a tad random to begin with, it gradually segues over into Encore and G1 reissues, with a lot of the largest toys in the back hidden behind others.


More of the same going more into vintage G1, including a few vintage Microman toys.


And the final South-East corner with my vintage MIB Fortress Maximus tucked in there. Next to that a pile of CHUG era exclusives (Japanese-only, TFCC and Asis exclusives).

Whew, that should cover it - even though these are somewhat out of date already. Oi vey!

Thanks for looking! And feel free to ask away if you have any questions!

UPDATE 05/03/2014: Revisited a few shots - please check them out here!

This post has been edited by Fighbird: 5 March 2014, 14:18

[Red_Baron]

Awsome.. What are those boxed powermaster guys in the fifth picture from the bottom?

[Thunderclash]

Grrrreat collection, Martin . Really nice to see all those figures on display in their full glory. But I fancy the boxed ones in equal measures. When you see the classic G1 toys in their boxes or on cards and they show almost no wear, it brings back good memories from the days of visiting the shops to buy or just admire the view. You have a lot of quite hard to find items there. Kudos!

But, I see that you have a few toys close to the left-hand window in the angled wall and others on display in shelves on the opposite facing wall. Do you have some kind of UV filtering installed to prevent the sun from discolouring the toys and boxes?

[Fighbird]

Awsome.. What are those boxed powermaster guys in the fifth picture from the bottom?

Takara released these during Masterforce - they are recolors of the regular Powermaster figurines that came with the 3 "Deluxe" toys (i.e. not PM Prime/Ginrai nor Overlord). As you can tell I am still missing the last of those 3.