It's our great privilege to introduce to you one of the UK's biggest collectors of Generation 1 Transformers - Toys are Russ!

Russ has been a passionate fan of the Transformers since the 80s and has one of the most impressive collections of G1 Transformers we've ever seen. His collection has taken decades to complete but now in 2020 Russ has decided to begin a new adventure, a YouTube channel, for the sole purpose of sharing his incredible collection with the world.

Robot Recruits reached out to Russ to learn all about his new initiative and get the low down on that truly amazing collection. And we thought you'd love to hear all about it too!

RR:"Russ it's a pleasure to catch up with you again. Looking through some of your recent videos your collection seems more impressive to me than ever! So Russ, tell me when did you begin putting together this incredible collection?"

Russ:"Having owned G1 as a child I made the mistake of selling all my originals at a school fete in the early 90s. So I started collecting properly again as an adult in 2004. Which coincided with their 20th anniversary as I remember seeing them reissued in Toys R Us. I didn't buy any of the reissues, I went home, straight on to eBay to buy some originals."

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A post shared by Russell humphreys (@toys_areruss) on Jun 17, 2020 at 2:51pm PDT

RR:"That's almost exactly the same mistake I made! I sold my original toys when I was younger, but returned to the hobby some years later. So which transformer was your first? And how extensive has it now become?"

Russ:"As a child and as an adult the first was Optimus Prime. I'm really very lucky as the actual net spend on my collection from me is very little. The first thing I bought from eBay was a small collection. I kept Optimus, Starscream and Soundwave. Then sold the rest. Crazily I sold the rest for more than the total cost of the lot. This is where it all began. So I literally just started buying collections. Just for the ones I wanted to start off with, as doing it this way was literally paying for the ones I actually wanted. At first I just wanted everything I owned as a child. Then I thought, well why don't I get the ones I never had as well. It escalated from there."

RR:"We all have a favourite Transformers character or toy, what would you say is yours?"

Russ:"My favorite toy as a child was Scorponok! As an adult I still really love Scorponok but also really like Predaking and Devastator. Probably down to the fact of never owning them but always wanting them as a child.

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A post shared by Russell humphreys (@toys_areruss) on Jun 11, 2020 at 11:57am PDT

RR:"Having seen your collection via your channel, it's obvious to me it's extensive, but is it complete, or are there still some missing pieces?"

Russ:"I literally have every single G1 figure realised by Hasbro across the whole line. If you used any of the guide books by Mark Bellamo etc I have every one. I’ve nearly got all the Takara Japanese exclusives too. So again literally all of waves 1 to 9 I think there was in total.

I think 90% or so I have 2 of each. Some I have like 8 of depending on how many modes it has and where I’ve managed to get that figure from. For instance for the figure blades I have - Loose blades, Loose metal chest blades, Loose helicopter mode, combined Defensor loose, Takara box version, Italian box version, Italian gift set boxed, Gold English Classic MOSC, Gold Spanish Classic MISC."

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A post shared by Russell humphreys (@toys_areruss) on Jun 14, 2020 at 2:59pm PDT

RR:"Wow that's amazing! I do really love how you have at least 2 of each, because your collection looks so impressive with both modes on display. So effective!

So if you're like me, many of my fav characters that I used to love watching in the cartoons every Saturday morning, were figures that were actually never released in the UK. This was so frustrating then. How did you manage to get hold of these? And were there any other figures that were a particular challenge to find?"

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A post shared by Russell humphreys (@toys_areruss) on Jun 11, 2020 at 2:49pm PDT

Russ:"That was a huge frustration. The list for non released UK figures is huge. The solution was ebay in honesty. But not just in the UK. Years ago there used to be eBay Netherlands, eBay España and Germany etc. I used to use the translator to help me. For example I know that scatola is Italian for box so I would search for Transformers scatola in eBay Italy. The gig ( Italian versions ) are hard to find. They changed the names of the characters too."

RR:"Yes eBay has been a friend to many a collector. It has its perils but on the whole it's been a pretty useful platform for all of us at one time or another.

So turning to your channel. This is another exciting venture. What made you start up on YouTube?"

Russ:"It was during lock-down. I already have an Instagram for my personal training. So I wanted to do something different. It was a good way for me to catalog and start an inventory of my figures. But as daft as this sounds, it was mainly friends and clients that encouraged me to do it. To quote them: 'Get it out there, see if anyone else had the same.'

Then it was subscribers who encouraged me to do more. Literally from my 3rd subscriber, my first real one, as the first 2 were mates who helped me set it up. He was so encouraging and really pushing for me to do more. He too is from the UK and used to help run auto assembly and events like that. He had never seen anything like it.

He literally commented straight away and was asking me to do certain figures for his son etc. Lots of my earlier videos are dedicated to his son. He contacted me on Facebook and crazily enough we are good mates now. He’s arranged to come over to see the collection with his son."

RR:"That's so fantastic. And honestly I've never seen such a comprehensive and well displayed collection. It's epic. I definitely think that you have plenty of amazing things to offer to the fandom. And again it's fantastic that it's been a way to make friends and share your hobby with them."

Russ:"I’m just a normal humble family man whose main job is a personal trainer but in honesty and obviously I can’t hide from the fact anymore that his toy collection / hobby has got out of hand! I’ve enjoyed and love collecting the toys. It’s not as if I won the lottery or am a millionaire or anything like that. It’s taken years of searching and sourcing figures. I’ve been clever with buying and selling throughout, again so never really spending much money."

RR:"Absolutely, and that's by far the best and most rewarding way of doing it IMHO. Many think they can't enjoy a hobby like this because of the cost or that they have to buy an instant collection, but it is possible with patience even on a very limited budget if you do it right.

So now the channel is up and running, what are your main aims to achieve with Toys are Russ?"

Russ:"To have fun with it. I genuinely really enjoy every video I make. Even though 90% of them are off the cuff and none scripted. Some of them take some setting up but I still really enjoy it as it gives me an opportunity to play with the toy!

Plus I really just want to help make people aware of things. Show them how the figure looks in all modes, to help the owner decide how to display it. To show different variants of the toys and their packaging. To keep the viewers happy and do figures they ask for and to help them not get ripped off! There’s loads of KOs out there."

RR:"That all sounds very exciting Russ. I know I'm super excited to do some tie-ins with you and collaborate on a few projects. Especially that last point you mentioned there about KOs. Wouldn't it be so useful if there were a written guide and a video to illustrate it when it came to identifying those KOs!?

In conclusion Russ, before we give to much away, I just wanted to say thanks again for showcasing your collection, and for taking the time to chat with me and answer a few questions about Toys are Russ."

Russ:"No problem, thanks for reaching out too. Exciting times. And I do also need to say a big thank you to my amazing and very understanding wife. She not only puts up with me but also my collection which has slowly taken over the house!"

We want to thank Russ for taking the time out to come and chat with us. And we are very excited to announce that Robot Recruits and YouTube Channel Toys are Russ are teaming up! This collaboration hopes to bring to you, our fellow Transformers fans, even more dynamic content about our favorite robots in disguise.

So look out for more excellent content form both Robot Recruits and Toys are Russ over the coming weeks. We'll be getting straight in with the G1 figures, highlighting not just a collectors main buying concerns about these classic bots but also detailing many of the variants they were produced in. We'll also be deep diving into the murky waters of the KOs and putting together an ultimate guide so you can spot all those subtle but all important differences.

Meanwhile click here to visit Toys are Russ and enjoy more of Russ's awesome collection.