The Rekindling:

So, while my love for Transformers remained the same, I stopped buying them, and just maintained my current collection in excellent condition (as a kid I played with them all the time, but was always very careful....some would say anal). It was a little over eight years later, while I was in college, that I realized that the toys from my youth were still circulating around as collectibles. I had until that point known very little of the art of collecting, or of the people who did it. It was mainly the Internet that opened my eyes to the Transformers community. I gradually learned that there was a relatively large faction of those like myself that still sought to add to their collections, and there was actually a supply to be had. Granted, the fact that they were now "collectibles" put the prices pretty high, and I started out very slow. I became cognizant of the value of having the original packaging, etc., and eventually I turned into a veritable Transformers collecting nutcase. Many's the time that I spent every last cent I had on Transformers, and had to borrow money to keep the electricity bill paid. Luckily, I was living with good friends, who, while they didn't support my irrational craving for Transformers, at least partially understood it. As a result of my insane spending, I eventually built up a pretty good store of duplicates, and forced myself to reign in my insanity, and start selling the figures I either had already or wasn't quite so interested in. This was the beginnings of an idea to try and get a name for myself as a seller, but I hardly had the means to go public. I did, however, try to mark my sales as a more collector-to-collector transaction, as opposed to a lot of the things I had received from dealers. I put a lot of effort into using new, fresh boxes and professional wrapping material, and was always very meticulous in making sure the buyers knew exactly what they were getting. I often downplayed the conditions of my transformers, because I wanted to make sure people were happy with what they got. I'm sure that if you, the reader, have ever dealt over the Internet, you've been shocked by how different your definition of "Mint" or "MIMB" was from the seller's. I tried to be one of the people that could be relied on to sell better figures, with better packaging, and a better attitude. I tried to form a friendlier basis for business, because I feel that I'm as big a Transformer fan as anyone, and I wasn't just buying low and selling high, with no care for anything that passed through my possession. Instead, I was a fellow collector, a fellow Transformers madman who had some extra figures to sell. And to this day I remain that way. However, back then, it was more a struggle to make sure I could make rent. Actually, who am I kidding... it's still that way:>).

The Gaffro:

A man who shared my appreciation of cool things, although his feelings for Transformers were not so maniacally obsessive as mine. I met Gafford at one of my summer jobs during college. I was impressed by his knowledge of cool music, and he introduced me to the Rave concept. He was also a graphics designer who had his own clothing company, called "Welfare," which he was kind enough to let me help out in and use some of the equipment once I had been fully trained on it. Naturally, I used every spare moment and resource to make Transformers T-shirts for myself. Gafford kind of liked the designs, although he still preferred his own originals (which were pretty awesome). Welfare went well for a while, but eventually Gafford realized he was burning the candle at both ends, and had to reduce the time he spent in the clothing business. He did still have enough energy to start a little side-spinoff clothing business called "Smack." I was slightly more involved in this project, and was happy with a lot of the cool designs we put out together. However, classes started again, and neither of us had the time or energy to continue with both college and clothing, and Smack took back burner. However, I was constantly stopped by people on the campus and at parties who wanted to know where I'd gotten my shirts. Here was the second seed that planted itself in my knobby little head: I knew that eventually I would have to try and get all the equipment and supplies I needed to resurrect the clothing business, because I couldn't stand the thought of not having any new Transformers threads, and I also thought it would be cool if other people could get them too. These thoughts never left my mind for an instant, and I agonized over how much time college took out of my days (and my bank account).

THE HOUSE:

My last two years of college were spent living in a glorious drunken haze with several college buddies (Gaffro was among them). The house was always trashed, we were always partying, and times were good. Several occupants of the house, after much discussion and bonding, were to become future members of R.I.D. Again, I remained the only one with such a fervent love of Transformers, but everyone still thought they were very cool.

The Beast Wars:

In 1995 I was ecstatic to see the rebirth of the Transformers in a new series, the Beast Wars. I didn't think too much of the toys (I think a lot of the old-school Transformers fans were a little taken aback by the complete lack of metal, and there was a lot less intricacy to the toys than the first series in '84), but the cartoon was about the most awesome thing I'd ever seen. Everyone at the house felt more or less the same, and it was heartwarming to see them all come into the same type of fanhood I had been a member of for so many years. We even had Beast Wars watching parties. I eventually grew to love the toys as well, and have been avidly collecting them ever since.

Enter R.obots I.n D.isguise:

After graduation, we went our separate ways, but still kept in touch. A few of us had been doing relatively well at our new jobs, and decided that it was time to stop talking about "how cool it would be if" and started getting things done. We went into business together, sinking huge amounts of our resources into a company called "R.obots I.n D.isguise," a company that would make cool T-shirts and try to do as much cool stuff as we had the time for. It was very gratifying that my incessant talk about this idea had finally paid off, and people were willing to go in on it with me. Savings were emptied, belongings were sold, loans were taken out, equipment was purchased, long-lost contacts were remade, and we started business. It's not the typical business, as you may already know. None of us live in the same house, and most of the time spent with orders, etc., is spent by me, the Principal. It's pretty much a very fun and cool thing that I enjoy doing, and when I get sunk by too much to do at work, or too many orders, the other members help me out.

Enter BOTCOLLECTOR.COM:

A relatively recent development, Botcollector.com was formed as a division of R.obots I.n D.isguise, and is the company which will in the future deal with all online sales, trades, etc.  R.obots I.n D.isguise, as well as a few other ventures yet in their infancy, will soon have sister sites that serve the Transformers and other toy collecting community.  Included will be Price Guides, collecting news, discussion forums, and many other things for the collector and fan.

That's pretty much it for how we came to be. I hope the story wasn't too boring. I left out as much as I could while still giving you a feel for what happened to get us where we are today. If you have any questions about us that remain unanswered, feel free to drop us a line and and get to know us better.

Christo:  Principal and primary product resource for R.I.D. Graduate of the prestigious University of Michigan, major in Philosophy. Probably the biggest fan of Transformers and other transforming robot toys you will ever meet. I'm the main contact for R.I.D. If you've bought, sold, or traded with us before, you've probably dealt with me directly. Primary interests include Transformers (of course), partying, Rave culture, fiddling around on the guitar, MSOffice development, partying, nature, animals, and partying. Oh, and I looooove partying. This is me at a Halloween party. I was dressed as an oil slick....a really hammered oil slick.

Gaffro:  Graphics designer and clothing imaging veteran. Plays killer drums, pretty good w/ a turntable and mixing board. He's kind of a sack, so doesn't do much anymore, but once you get him going, he's in it for the long haul, whether it's partying, Raving, or churning out 400 or 500 shirts. And, as you can see, he doesn't like to be seen.

Gimante:  Another U of M boy, and a staunch friend since sophomore year. He later got a certificate to teach physics in high school.  Not too involved with Botcollector, but he's given us a lot of helpful input on how to keep things rolling. He can also build anything out of anything.