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Greetings All,

I'm sure all of us as toy collectors have our "lists". You can use all the paraphrasing you like. Our "holy grail", our "white whales". Whatever we are chasing down. Whether its the thrill of the search, or the hope of completion, whatever motivates you, or frustrates you, share it here.

Some of you have lists you probably feel like you may never complete especially if they are items very old, rare and/or expensive.

Some of you may have been fortunate enough to finish your lists. Also some of you may be "so close" its painful.

Since i got back into collecting back in 2016, I made it my goal to get every variant of combiner from the CW series and those like it (UW, PotP, Selects etc...) I m now just ONE ITEM away from completing my list. Of course that doesn't account for new items that are created year after year that i occasionally pick up, or my "wish list" of unproduced items. I am just talking about what already exists, that Id like to own. YES I am literally ONE item away.

I wanted to get all the variants of the Botcon 2016 Ratchet Build-A-Figure (of which there are 5). Because I have a use for all of them as limbs for different combiners that will evenly complete my combiner collection. I have 4 (3 are done and customized, 1 remains uncustomized, waiting for its final addition).

However, when they do pop up on eBay, as you can see, things are getting outrageous.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266745710079
https://www.ebay.com/itm/355597873870?i ... R_zb2bXXYw
https://www.ebay.com/itm/375286285848?i ... R_zb2bXXYw

I know the Botcon collectors site was clearancing these out a few years back for around $100-$150, but you had to be a TFCC member to purchase (IIRC). Since then I have been able to obtain the others for around $200-$250, but this recent trend is just way out of my financial feasibility.

I know KO's exist, but I dont want to resort to that. I had been considering getting another UW Lynx Master set, and stripping the paint of the Ratchet therein to make my own custom, but that is a LOT of work (But I could get a whole UW for less than a single unpainted Ratchet)....

This all just seems to familiar. In the early 90's I was in my teens and started collecting Godzilla toys from Bandai Japan. I was able to obtain (with some ease), most of the older ones from the late 80's and kept up with most everything until 2004. However there was just ONE item that eluded me from completing my collection; just ONE and it would have been done. Unfortunately I never got it, and because of finances, had to end up selling my whole collection in 2007.

I dont want my TF collecting to come to the same end, but I am not willing to pay the price needed for the unpainted Ratchets when they do occasionally pop up on eBay. What is crazy was that in early 2023, I obtained other 2 items from my "wish list", that I thought would be far more difficult & expensive to obtain (things I thought Id never own), but alas I have them and am glad I do. I never thought this item (last unpainted Ratchet) would be the last, and hardest to get. But there it is.

Oh well...The hunt continues. If anyone has a story of frustration, or victory they'd like to share, go ahead.

But if you stripped the paint off a UW Lynx Master Set to pretend you have that Botcon Ratchet you may as well get a KO. Because you still haven't gotten a true Botcon Ratchet, you know?

IMO. Get that KO. because at least it'll be psudo-complete. And psudo complete is better than never complete at all in any way. But if you truly don't want to than strip the paint off a Lynx master. There's nothing worse than having that itch you'll never scratch.

I guess I have a similar story. At one point, at a con by chance I happen to get Bug General. It was blind packed, truly by chance. From that day I knew I had to fill out every single Minicon port on Armada Unicron with a Dead End.

Well, I resisted this initial urge. And when I finally started to cave I didn't want to spend the $$$ to grab the Micron Booster Bug Drone. And you know what? It because super rare. I just couldn't find it! I managed to snag 2 orange Dead Ends, and extra Amazon Unicrom Kranix, an extra GREEN Ehobby Dead End (no idea why the guy wanted to split up that set, but I didn't complain), but not a single Bug Drone!

Eventually I did fill out all the ports on my Unicron. I wanted to do it become getting married so my wife wouldn't be too concerned about it, lol. And wouldn't you know it? Within a few years I saw it on ebay. The fabled Bug Drone! I hesitated. It was way more than the pittance I paid for Big General all those years ago. I asked my wife if it was okay. She said it was and now here I am. One extra "Dead End" richer. Right now that Unicron is in a different house, but I'm VERY happy I scratched that itch, even if it just has an extra circle of paint.

When I had collected 5 cupboards full of Transformers and my flat was becoming crowded, my urge to collect dwindled, my enjoyment faded and it was time to stop. I ended up throwing away most of the packaging and even disposing of a few less popular Transformers. I also bought a bigger flat thanks to inheritance.

I'd say my victory story includes how my retirement from the collecting game is going to end.
Some background info: I have a "most wanted" list. While the list is driven by my favorite characters, in practical terms this has changed year to year mainly based on what Hastak has released. Slowly but surely in the last few years, the list has become shorter and shorter. With this, I had stirrings even before the pandemic that my collecting days would have to end at some point, and sooner than later.
It was the SS86 subline that completely reignited my interest in collecting. While it started happening in the mainline, especially with ER and Kingdom, when Hastak starting designing figures' appearances to be very screen accurate, not only did this hit my collecting and nostalgic sweet spot, it really helped me to keep my collecting focus on my most wanted list. Which in turn made anything and everything else very mehhh.
As my collection space is nearly at max capacity, and I'm less and less okay with the increased TF prices, the timing couldn't be better with completing my most wanted list. Which is finished once I have my two copies of Swoop.
Now, I won't be bowing-out once I have Swoop.
There are other figures I want. Recently, it's been SS86 Blaster, and the Selects Autobot 5 pack. Later on it will be Gears, CC Optimus, Venom and Barrage, and SS86 Springer.
And of course next year it's SS86 Galvatron, Megatron, and the Constructicons. I am open to the mainline Aerialbots, but that most likely hinges on the appearance of Superion.
But to clarify; all of these are "icing". If I had to end my collecting tenure with Swoop, I'd be more than okay with that.
I'm planning my collection retirement for the end of 2026. I want to see what Hastak does to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the animated movie, plus that year I turn 50. It just makes sense to call it quits after that.
As it happens every year, I'm sure there will be a few unexpected, surprise purchases along the way, but at this point, there can't be very much that will tempt me; so I'm still pretty set on stepping away after 2026. There are maybe a few characters, who, if they were given great updates, could reel me in for those releases, but at the same time, by then I could see being done no matter what. As of right now, the thought of going into 2027 and buying more TF is not appealing. At all. This has to end. And while no one wants or likes to hear this, part of being more and more okay with ending this "hobby" is that collecting toys is hands-down the most materialistic part of my life. I don't want to keep this going. Until we got the SS86 listings for '25, I thought I'd possibly be on hiatus next year.

Back to the victory story; for me, a big highlight is that I'll end my collecting days having great updates of the three main Insecticons and the five Dinobots. Bonuses are the SS86 figures being released next year. The only thing that could make my victory story any better would be if a SS86 Soundwave was released and ended up being the last figure I ever bought.