Goodbye Binaltech

From the very beginning I've been a fan of Binaltech and Alternators, and even when I sold off the latter in one of my many culls, the Binaltech survived. They survived everything, the Diaclone sales, the G1 sell-off, the Animated, CHUG, Movie, artwork and reissue clearouts...you name it, Binaltech stayed. They were at the core of everything I held dear as a Transformers, Generation 1 and model car enthusiast. I even wrote a slew of detailed articles on TFSource Blog to summarise the series up to BT-18 here, here, here, here, here and here, and made a lot of friends by writing the articles at the time of release for TF-1.com here. Having previously declared to the world why I would never sell them here, I have now put virtually all of them up for sale and already said goodbye to a fair few. 

Reasons are many, as the space they have taken up in storage for years is crazy, and they have rarely been on display in the decade I have owned them despite me attaching more value to them than most collectors. I have defended them through the Masterpiece revolution constantly and still maintain many of them are an overall better product, even if they aren't better G1 Transformers representations. 

My collection seems to be made up of different waves of seriously good car-bots re-imagining Generation 1, whether it was G1 and Diaclone, Binaltech and Alternators, Transformers GT and Alternity, Movie Human Alliance or now Masterpiece and 3rd Party. So why am I getting rid of the Binaltechs before everything else I just mentioned? 

Well, BT-17 Black Convoy being rubbish certainly didn't help, but I was willing to let that one go for the sake of completing one of my favourite lines. And it is because Binaltech is so close to being my all time favourite Transformers line that I am selling them. I want to break the back of this tendency to hold onto things for years in storage that I cannot appreciate but will someday be able to reclaim, as they are not rare or rising in value. By selling the Binaltech, nothing is holy any more and everything can go if need be. My family and I need to make it onto the property ladder, and I rate unforgettable holidays with my daughter higher than the knowledge of boxed TFs in storage that I rarely get to appreciate.

In the past, whole Transformers lines were sold to fund more prioritised collecting of rare things, and I know I had a lot of supporters in that vision. Now comes a sale of lines for the sake of reduced storage burden on my parents who have borne it silently for years and to raise a stack of money to make the next step. It's painful though, not only because I bought all of these first hand, or because they are just unmatched in their glorious presentation and philosophy, but because they don't sell for much. So every one that sells is an emotional event but not a significant financial one. Except BT-17, that netted me a good amount, but ironically it's the one I care for the least! Take that, logic of toy collecting. I am also disappointed that I never just made the decision to spend money on BT-19 to BT-22, as I'd have liked some pics of them all together. The idea of owning Argent Meister and Arcee was exciting to me.

It's not all bad, though. As people have said, should I have the space and means in future there's nothing here I can't re-purchase with relative ease. On top of that, I have not yet convinced myself to part with Smokescreen BT-01 #7, BT-05 Dead End, BT-12 Overdrive, BT-13 Laserwave, BT-18 Rijie Electro Disrupter or my favourite, BT-07 Smokescreen GT #1. But best of all, some of the people I have sold them to are among my best collecting friends and it warms my heart to know where some of my BTs have ended up, not to mention the people I've met through collecting them and writing about them. If I can sell these, I can sell anything!

So long old friends, we shall meet again.

Click here for my current sales list on TFW

All the best

Maz