The Bay Post/Moruya Examiner profiles the hobbies of people in our community each week in the feature, ‘Get on your hobbyhorse’. Do you have an interesting hobby? Email journalist Josh Gidney at josh.gidney@fairfaxmedia.com.au or phone him at 4472 6577.
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AT an age when many folk give up action figures and toys, Surfside’s Ben Suters dived headlong into collecting them.
“I had been into them most of my life, but I started seriously collecting them when I was 19,” Ben said.
His favourites are Transformers, which he began collecting long before the recent movie series came out.
He has between 1300 and 1400 action figures, the majority of them Transformers.
“They are fun to collect and I like that they are able to transform from a car to a robot,” he said.
The movies left him with mixed emotions.
“The first one was the best,” he said.
“They dumbed Transformers down a bit. I like watching the cartoons; they’re better.”
He is a member of internet forums such as Ausformers (the Australian Transformers Forum), the Transformers Collectors Club of Australia, and a South Coast Transformers group, which he started, that has about 14 members.
He also collects Star Wars figures (Star Wars is his next favourite passion), Walking Dead figures (he has started a group called The Walking Dead Social Club, which has 24 members), Minecraft and League of Legends.
“It is great to be able to talk about what you are into, and share news and pictures,” Ben said.
He has about 100 Star Wars figures, and the storm troopers are his favourites.
“They are pretty cool,” he said.
Reaction to his hobby and his enthusiasm for it is mainly positive.
“The kids love it (Lily, 9, and Zach, 7), although they might be a bit jealous that I have more toys than them,” he said.
“Most people think it is pretty cool. My wife (Katrina) doesn’t understand it but she tolerates it.
“It could be worse; I could spend all my money at the pub.”
He said the most frustrating aspects of his hobby were the lack of availability of many figures in Australia, and the higher prices Australians have to pay.
“Even with (the extra cost of) postage, it is still cheaper to get them from America,” he said.
“With the dollar dropping, it is getting harder.”
However, his enthusiasm for his collection isn’t likely to go away.
“Yep, I think I will be into them all my life,” he said.
