Collector Interview 36 – Marcin Starzomski

Representing a country that is not often associated with Transformers traditionally, Polish collector Marcin Starzomski gives us his account of how Transformers found their way into his life. Not quite early Generation 1 or modern era, Marcin’s history is somewhat different to many and so are his opinions on what some would consider the current golden age of Transformers collecting and fiction. With vintage, custom, 3D-printed and KO Transformers standing side by side, this is a very special and unusual collection, equal parts nostalgic and progressive.

1 ) Who are you and what do you collect?

Hello, my name is Marcin Starzomski. I was born in 1984 in Poland. I currently work as a freelance 3D artist in Warsaw. In the Polish transformers community I am know as “MadYellow”. I collect G1 character/aesthetic based Transformers. If I could divide my collection into parts it would be G1, Masterpiece and CHUG. Figures that I choose for my collection are based on looks and the character the toy is representing. I try not to have two of the same character in one collection group (with a few exceptions).

In the world the Transformers brand was born in 1984 but in Poland it was very different. In 1989 in Poland communism came to an and and I remember that foreign cartoons and toys started to appear. My first unknown contact with Transformers was Action Master Thundercracker. I am not sure how I got it but I believe it came in a package sent from my uncle living in the USA. I do not remember it having a box (to save space I believe) and it did not transform so I was unaware what it was till years later when I saw it in a catalog. My first known contact with the brand was actually watching Transformers The Movie on a VHS tape. I never saw anything like it, I was mind blown with all the characters and things going on in the movie. The first few minutes into the movie I even thought that the Decepticons were the good guys because my childish brain automatically assumed that the robots that got shot (shuttle scene) must be the bad guys. I remember thinking that it was incredible that they designed such a great looking bot like Prowl and have him die so fast and how sneaky it was to have a bad guy look like the police.

The death of Optimus was my first contact with death. In a sense a cartoon was my first lesson on how life is not like in the cartoons. After the first watch I rewound the tape and watched it again. After the second I tried to do it again but my mother had to drag me away. I spent the next days thinking how great it would be to have toys like this and imagining how they could work ending with a sad “nah, it will never happen”. Some time later I saw Marvel comics in the shops (Poland had only half of the story and ended with the death of Unicron) and after some more time I remember a visit to the store with my grandma and seeing the first real transformer with my eyes!

They were the Turbomasters at the time, and remembering the movie I chose Flash seeing him as some kind of Prowl/Hot Rod hybrid. The European exclusive transformers were very nice but they were not featured in any story so it did not fulfill my wish of having a movie Transformer in my hands. Then it happened. I got a gold boxed Jazz from my mother. Metal parts? Rubber? Unreal! And the catalog showed me all the good stuff out there. Jazz became my favorite at that time. Sadly after the great G1 euro exclusives, rare G1 Gold boxed reissues and some Generation 2 G1 recolors which where all very hard to find in the stores where I lived, came some very simplified transformers that made me lose some interest. The engineering was too predictable.

The new Beast Wars aesthetic was also very far from my personal taste. Due to outside pressure of my age-mates who made fun of me for collecting figures, I gave mine away leaving only Jazz. That Jazz disappeared in unknown circumstances not long after. I was left with much regret and Manta Ray who somehow stayed with me and is to this day the only Transformer from my childhood. Some years later after many dreams of finding some Transformers in some old forgotten store I came across an article about upcoming G1 Takara Collection Jazz and the journey begun anew.

2) How has the collecting scene changed in the last 15 years?

I will speak from my Polish perspective. In early 2000 there was no known Transformers community in Poland. I remember finding some Transformers related web page, contacting the owner and writing some articles. This was my first contact with some other collector and realizing I am not alone. Then someone else created a forum where fans formed a community. At first it was no more than a dozen people and our first BotCon-like equivalent had 9 people at it. There is still not many of us but we are growing and many younger fans are joining us. Other than the community the biggest change for me was accessibility. With the Internet, Ebay and online shops we finally have a chance to get figures we want. I have learned much and met many friends in my struggle to order from other countries (PayPal was not an option early on).

Even now Generations based Transformers appear very rarely in Polish shops. We have a lot of movie, and current cartoon based figures but very few G1-based sold locally. The new movies brought the brand to a wider public, however, I dislike it and find the movie designs disgusting. It has made me not wear my Autobot insignia t-shirt in public not wanting to be associated with Michel Bay’s work. I also got into the new IDW comic which gave new life into the classic story with All Hail Megatron. Sadly I feel that latest stories are very poorly done and there is no consistency in character development. I tend to buy broken figures so I could restore or modify them and this brought me into the customizing world which is also growing. The 3rd party products give many options to expand and improve your collection and 3D printing sites help the fans design and share their ideas. I also create 3D printed parts and modifications hoping someday to create my very own transformer.

3) How do you see, or hope to see the scene changing in 5 years’ time?

There are new series being created and the fans of tomorrow will not remember and feel nostalgia for the same things that we do today. I think that the end of the Masterpiece line will mark the end of the G1 fan era but with the current pace we have easily more than 10 years for that to happen. I would like Transformers to become an inspiration to designers. There is a certain aesthetic that makes a Transformer a Transformer and not some robot. With the development of 3D printing I think the future is in the fans creating and sharing their own designs. I would wish for a community that builds their own Transformers in addition to the official ones. The 3rd party boom is a good start of that.

4) What has been your single biggest success as a collector, or your greatest ever find?

My biggest success was getting a G1 Stepper and completing my Jazz mold history set. I am a big time Jazz fan but I never thought I would have the chance to get the real Stepper in my hands. Luckily I live in the same city as a known collector Marco Salerno. I happened to have something that he wanted so we did a trade and now my Jazz mold family is complete. In a addition to the figure I got to know a great person and fellow collector.

5) What is the most surprising or outrageous collecting story you have heard?

It’s not really outrageous but I’d like to share some of my stories. One time I bought 30 kilograms of Transformers. There was an ad somewhere and some lady was selling over 100 Transformers. They were all post G1 but very nicely preserved with all accessories. This was one Transformers delivery that I will never forget. Once I bought some old Transformers VHS tape and saw the seller was currently in the same city so I asked if he had any Transformers. He happened to have a gold box Inferno and Wheeljack in great condition and I got them for the equivalent of a six pack of beer. In one week I came across all 4 Elite Action Masters in different random local auctions and got them for a great price.

6) If you could pick one item from your collection to keep, what would it be?

Either nothing or some version of G1 Jazz. He will always be my favorite figure.

7) If you could have one item out of someone else’s collection, what would that be?

Part of the fun of getting a hard to get figure is the story associated with it,  but I am only missing one of the genuine G1 cars and that is Artfire, so probably him.

8 ) What advice would you give a new collector starting out today?

Make sure you know what you want and try to set a collection key early on. Realise that a big part of collecting are the collectors. It would not be fun if you got everything you wanted overnight and sometimes the journey is more important than the goal. It is easy to get overwhelmed so learn to sell the figures you do not need. The difference between a collector and a hoarder is the ability to realise that something does not fit into the collection and letting it go.

Many kind thanks to Marcin Starzomski for words and pictures.

All the best
Maz