When did you realize you were or start to identify as a toy collector?

The day I got this baby on a thrift store at 15$ I Coudn't fucking believe it! that day I started collecting mechs (mostly Gundams & Megazords) I had a pair of gundam action figures before him but getting this one marked a Before & After, 2 years later now The collection has grown quite a few... :)

File: 1184900_612265028843380_717584658_n.jpg (17KB, 206x366px) Image search: [Google]

17KB, 206x366px

>>5419674
Forgot the pic lol

File: universe_galvatron_nytfhasbrotrans6.jpg (88KB, 774x441px) Image search: [Google]

88KB, 774x441px

I saw this at the store, thought I might check it out, paid what I later learned was way too much for it, had a hell of a time transforming it, enjoyed it, and that was it. That evening I looked up Optimus Primes, then I looked up the movie toys, then I bought something else (no idea what #2 was, looking back, maybe it was Universe Hound?) and that was it, I was a collector.

Around the same time I started associating them with pieces of art and in the case of transformers, engineering feats.

>>5419666
Pre-op or post-op?