COLLECTOR INTERVIEW #98: Ricky

We’re back for another Transformers collector interview!

In today’s spotlight is Ricky, who has a quite awe-inspiring collection spanning multiple decades and focuses, with a notable hit rate of exclusives, rarities, and other grail items. Take it away, Ricky!

Who are you and what do you collect?

My name is Ricky, aka “Heisenberg”, aka “Daddy Dick Justice”. My background is in economics, and after a decade of corporate stuff I had the opportunity to start working full-time for my store selling Transformers and other robot toys. In my collector-friend group I’m known as the “Beast Wars guy” and I’m pretty sure I’m obligated to buy a transforming animal every time Hasbro does one, but I do also enjoy the big Japanese super robot type stuff. The main focus of my collection is what I like and what I enjoy, which doesn’t always have a concrete definition.

What do you love most about Transformers and the hobby?

Honestly it’s the engineering aspect of getting two toys in one. I am in no way artistic and my natural skill set doesn’t lend itself to expressing myself with my hands, but Transformers have always been something where I can “do the thing” and enjoy it fully without needing to be able to paint, build, draw, color, sticker, etc. I’ll be the first to say I don’t engage with the media anywhere near as much as someone doing this to the extent that I do probably should, but I can recognize a cool plastic robot when I see one. I have found not only friends, but brothers, through a mutual enjoyment of plastic robots, which I think counts for something.

How has the collecting scene changed since you joined the fandom?

I’ve been doing this for a long time, going on 30 years, and my age still qualifies as “early 30s”. I’ve seen a lot of change that I view as a positive, and a lot that I view as a negative. Starting with the negative, I see a lot of things that used to be special being diluted so they’re more easily attainable by any/everyone. The term “grail” gets tossed around like it’s a red Solo cup, not the prestigious golden chalice that serves as the end of an epic quest.

“Exclusive” no longer means “hard to find”, it just means “I have to shop at retailer X now”. Whether it was better or not, I’m nostalgic for the days of going on Hasbrotoyshop the day after SDCC and fighting with the site crashes to maybe walk away with Universe Nemesis Prime 45 minutes later. The “flex” pieces that we used to get just aren’t really a thing anymore, it’s mainline or unobtainable and there isn’t an in-between.

When I was a kid in the early-mid 00s I always felt like certain Binaltechs occupied that spot. The mainstream collectors all bought Alternators, which were $20 at the time, and the more well-off collectors bought the Binaltechs ($50-55 most places), then the “flex” collectors were the ones buying the goofy repaint Binaltechs like Zoom Zoom and blue Prowl because they weren’t the blatant G1 homages. Maybe some of that has moved into the 3P space, which I don’t really follow, but I think that serves as a good transition to the positives.

The number of options that are out there really have made Transformers so much more mainstream, anyone can find something they like, and the rising tide really has raised all boats. When I first started going to shows it was always just fat, unshowered men. Now there are all kinds of men and women and everything in between. What I tended to keep private 10-15 years ago is now something I’m much less averse to sharing because of how mainstream any kind of collecting has become and how accepting people are of it.

I personally don’t keep up with the 3P scene but I love that there are at least half a dozen established companies making other options at different price points and with different design considerations than what Hasbro is doing, not to mention all the licensed non-transforming stuff out there that seems to be trying to hit all budgets.

How do you see, or hope to see the scene changing over the next 5 years?

I would love to see some prestige come back to pieces that are deserving of it, but besides that I do think the changes have been for the better and I would love to see that continue. It almost feels like it’s a bad word if something is too rare or too expensive for mainstream appeal.

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

I don’t think I’m allowed to tell the gold Robosen Prime story or the rocket-firing Boba Fett story, and I know I’m not allowed to tell some pieces-that-cannot-be-named stories. That said, I remember one show maybe 14 years ago where these guys had a Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Commander Ironhide on their table for $5000 (which back then was INSANE money). The story had something to do with it being the Japanese release, but the kanji was in Chinese, making it a very rare packaging error. Now, anyone who knows anything about Asian languages and alphabets knows that’s impossible, but those people were not at this show.

There were people telling their friends after they heard the story from the sellers, and the epic tale circulated around the show floor like wildfire. I think enough time has passed that I can say I was one of the sellers at that table, and the Ironhide was a regular Chinese-market retail packaging version that I somehow picked up at a Kmart in Pottstown, PA. The story was, and probably still is, worth more than the toy. Yes, I still have it.

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

The undocumented silver Lucky Draw Movie Optimus Prime is up there but I do have to give the crown to Car Robots Black Fire Convoy. I remember as a kid looking at pictures of it online and thinking it was just the coolest thing ever. It’s a beautiful deco on one of the all-time GOATed Transformers toys.

I just happened to get lucky with a Japanese auction ending Christmas Day for a price I was willing to pay, and I think it went as low as it did because there was a Black Ultra Magnus ending the same time. I remember when that box showed up, it was like someone just gave me the keys to the coolest Lamborghini 20 years ago (at that time) had to offer and I was about to live out every childhood fantasy I ever had. It’s hard, if not impossible, for retail anything to elicit any kind of feelings from me at this point but that moment hit me right in the childhood feels.

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

I acknowledge that I’m fortunate enough to have A LOT of pieces that people would consider to be grail-worthy. Grand Max, two BEAUTIFUL Victory Sabers, Liokaiser, Overlord, Earthrise Sky Lynx, Haslab Unicron, Revival Great Goldran, multiple Lucky Draws, etc. However, I know those can all be replaced. In fact, I know I only have two pieces that can’t be replaced—my undocumented silver Lucky Draw Movie Optimus Prime and my childhood Beast Wars Tigatron. Tigatron is going with me to the grave, for sure. It was my third Transformer ever, a gift from my grandma, and the only piece that has been with me since the beginning.

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

This is tough. I feel like my collection is curated enough to what I like and what I want that the kind of pieces I’d even dream about to answer this question are so unobtainable that I wouldn’t even begin to know who has them.

I wouldn’t hate upgrading my orange Tarantulas to a painted one and I’ve pretty consistently joked about chasing Galva-Lio Convoy. That 3P 4-foot tall Divorce Class Metroplex would be cool to have, but it would need to start paying rent.

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

I have two answers for this, that are almost contradictory. I live by both and it seems to be working out. First, it’s better to have it and not want it, than to want it and not have it. This applies to new releases and preorders only. I get there’s a thrill in saving $8 at Ollie’s or Ross, but it’s so hard to predict what waves will be there, go on sale on Amazon, offend Walmart to the point of getting clearanced out for pennies, etc. and I always see people blaming everyone but themselves when there’s a late tax. Seldom is anything not available somewhere online for at least a few weeks or more before it sells through.

If there is anything I’m sure I want, I preorder it or buy it as soon as it’s available. That way, the absolute worst thing I did was support future endeavors by paying full price. Hasbro and their retail partners exist to make money, and if toys aren’t profitable, they won’t make more. That doesn’t mean I don’t wait for things to go on sale, but I do reserve that criteria for impulse buys and solid maybes rather than anything I would consider to be core collection.

The second thing is to know what you like, know why you like it, and stick to it. I do not envy anyone that is just starting out and wants to complete a run of anything, except maybe Machine Wars… I think that can still be done sub-$400 for the entire line relatively quickly. I so often see new collectors and collectors with limited budgets feeling like they need to buy up anything and everything that says Transformers on it because it’s Transformers, and they end up with some bad toys and burn themselves out or go broke trying to buy things someone else said was cool. It is incredibly important to me that I collect for myself, not for validation from other collectors.

Here are some additional photos of this impressive collection!

Special thanks to Ricky for the words & photos!