It does not matter where you are born and where you live now. Buying/collecting toys at the grand old age of 40 would have been considered immature by most. But never mind what others think because who has thought the passion for a particular franchise from childhood could have landed one superfan/collector a world record? Folks, meet Mike Kaye, the owner of the World’s Largest Collection of Transformers Memorabilia, according to Guinness World Records.
As of September 30, 2023, San Diego-based Mike (who is most certainly not me! Boohoo!) has amassed 10,568 items relating to Transformers (no doubt mostly toys). Unlike many kids whose passion slowly dies as they grow up, Kaye never stopped since he started collecting in 1984 when he was 3 or 4 years old. Mike said he was smitten when saw a huge selection of Generation 1 Transformers toys at Sears when he was there with his family.
From there on, the fire was ignited and the rest, as they said, was history. Many of Mike’s older toys in the collection were purchased through eBay when he became older since obviously, he was too young to have the purchasing power at the time. From time to time, the passion faded but something always pulled him back into collecting. Anyway, long story short, this man is now a legend among Transformers collectors/fans.
While Mike did catalog his collection, the exact worth is not known. However, he gave an estimate of “over US$300,000”. God damn it. That’s a lot by value. I hope this man has his house tightly secured and has bought insurance for his collection. We have no wish to see republicattak’s experience repeated.
Images: Guinness World Records.
