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[Psychotron]

We all know the Pred Family, and Hild does indeed collect figures herself though I think Frank is the main collector of the family ( ), but what about the rest of you? How does your wives/girlfriends and husbands/boyfriends take your quite peculiar hobby? Do they tolerate or barely tolerate it? Do they care at all, or do they hate it? Do they love it?

I'm one lucky bug in this occasion. Sonja is very fond of Transformers herself, even though she doesn't collect them. She likes the comics, loves the Beast Wars all over, recognizes 70% of reasonably recognizable G1-characters, all tv-show Beast Wars characters, most of the Armada and all of Cybertron tv-show's characters. She has always let me purchase the figures I've wanted and even sometimes suggests that maybe we should check out what the stores have to offer when we have the money. Could I get more lucky?

[palaste]

This topic is extremely biased towards those that have mates.

[Psychotron]

Oh. Didn't see that one coming. Should have. Sorry. Okay, how does your friends and family take TFs? Many of other people around me simply think that since they've always known that I'm a freak, it's nothing new, though they don't appreciate this  one (either).

[palaste]

Well, my family doesn't mind it that much, although my father wishes I would finally stop storing excess Transformers in his cellar (because I don't have a cellar of my own). In the past I have had arguments with my father about Transformers but not really any more, because I'm buying new ones a lot less. In my previous job, my Transformers fandom became a sort of "comic relief" around the office.

[Wave]

This topic is extremely biased towards those that have mates.

Well then maybe those who have mates should be the ones responding?

[Feikki]

I'm one lucky bug in this occasion. Sonja is very fond of Transformers herself, even though she doesn't collect them. She likes the comics, loves the Beast Wars all over, recognizes 70% of reasonably recognizable G1-characters...

I don't even recognize 70% of them myself!

My friends doesn't understand my hobby. We have inside joke with my friend, phrase "atleast I don't buy Buffy DVD's!". He does though.

[Agent Smith]

Oh. Didn't see that one coming. Should have. Sorry. Okay, how does your friends and family take TFs?

I never had any problems with my friends accepting my collection. I think the most important thing is that you should never feel embarrassed over your collection. Whenever I invite someone over, I use to point out the collection rather quickly (not the first thing I do of course) and explain what I find interesting in the collection. I always focus on the basic part; that they are realistic looking vehicles that transforms into robots. Unless they ask specifically, I never go into detail about the Autobot vs Decepticon war. It's not vital information when it comes to explaining the collection.

[Inkku]

my relatives or siblings don't know about it, don't have parents anymore, my friend knows my hoppy but i'm not sure what she will think about this.. she have find some comics to me *and she knows my Red cars collection too *

[Soundblaster]

My dad hates transformers and always says:
No more transformers!
But i just buys more and he doesnt seem to care that much.

[predaking]

Hild does have some figures, but it is not correct to say that she collects, since she does no actualy buying on her own. I would say the #1 prerequisite for being a collector, is that you actually take the time to find something online or at a store and buy it, and Hild does not do that.

Hild is very tolerant of my collecting, although even I can see that it's taking up way too much space. I think we both look forward to the day when we get our own place and I can confine them to a single room.

My family and friends are generally mildly impressed that I have been able to amass so much during such a short period of time, given our (at times) low income. They think it's interesting that I'm selling so much to other collectors around the world, but I think everybody agrees that it's just taking up too much room.

I've been thinking of taking figures out of the boxes or selling parts of my collection lately, but Fighbird advised me that it was a bad idea to get rid of boxes or figures merely due to lack of space. I know much of it is easily replaced, but I'd probably lose money on it and I don't want to risk feeling bad about it later. I kinda regretted selling both my armada and binaltech collection at one point. In the aftermath, I only remember that they all disappeared, not the cool and rare figures I was able to buy with the money I got for them.

Nobody I've ever met has thought my collecting is childish, and I have never received only one negative response. The guy was a complete jerk, a local politician that was completely full of himself. He told me that collecting was a meaningless hobby and that humanitarian work was the only worthy hobby... It's always one of the first things I bring up in the "getting to know you" chats. Certainly a loooooooooong time before the junkie thing

[Creation Matrix]

I don't have a girlfriend and I often doubt I'll ever find anyone who'll tolerate all of my geekish hobbies.

My parents, especially my father, are interested in my hobbies and are very supportive. My sisters also support my TF hobby, last Christmas I even got Cybertron Undermine from my younger sister who thinks it looks cute.

My closest friends are all geeks and fellow NTFA member Kensuke is the person I'd call my best friend.

Some of my less geeky friends can sometimes get bored by me talking about Transformers or some other interest of mine, because I can be quite talkative about things that I like. They never say they are bored, but I can tell by looking at them. But I still won't change the subject  

[Fighbird]

My girlfriend is very tolerant about my collecting -- although she doesn't quite understand the characters or the universe behind it. She collects some "unusual" stuff herself, so she can relate to my oddball collecting, but she mainly understands the monetary aspect of it (i.e. some of my things are "investments" -- which they are, to some extend).

She thinks the Takara bookcase reissues are pretty cool, and she gave me my IKEA display cabinet, though -- just rightout of the blue (I love her for that)! Although I have TFs stored pretty much all around the flat (nowhere near the PredaRoyalty, though), she won't allow me to display any in the living room.  

I don't go around and parade my hobby, but a few of my students have read about it on my personal web page, and asked about it -- quite respectfully. I think most of my friends respect it too, although none of them seem to share in my geekiness whenever I talk about it.  

[BigPete]

My fiancee is very tolerant. She never buys anything that has with Transformers to do, but she thinks the toys are totally cool. I display my collection in the livingroom since there's basically nowhere else to put it and still have it in plain view. The only thing she denied me when it comes to TF was that she wouldn't let me put my MOSCs up on the wall My friends think it's a cool thing to collect and often encourage me to get more and more figures

[Lightfoot]

I don't have a mate, and I won't be getting one unless they can be 100% supportive of my hobby. I mean, if they can't like me for who I am there's no point. (I might make an exception if they're really rich though, hehe )

As for my family and friends, they're used to it by now.

[Protek]

My wife tolerates and I think that in some level she understands my hobby. She does however complain every now and then that every closet is filled with Transformers toys - or some other stuff of mine. The insides of our storage closet in the basement consists almost solely from my stuff, mostly old comics. I see her point but It's just so hard to let go of anything.