You've stumbled across shmax.com, a comprehensive reference of toys (primarily dedicated to the Transformers brand for now, but it will eventually expand to others). The database is always growing, but even now it's pretty tough to stump. You can browse products as they're sold in stores, or the individual parts included with each item. You can explore by product line, naturally, but if you want to get fancy you can also browse by the molds used by toys, or even the shape or form that best describes each part. There are a variety of ways to sort or filter the results you get while browsing, so feel free to experiment!
Keeping track of your toys can be tough, but we're here to help. Whenever you spot a toy you own as you browse the database, click the Add to my collection link at the bottom of the record. If you're satisified with the default values, then you're done, but otherwise you can click on the long horizontal bar that appears to reveal a form for fine-tuning the details, such as price paid, condition, missing parts, and so on. Worried about shmax.com someday exploding or vanishing forever into the 'tubes? Never fear, you can always download your collection information in a friendly spreadsheet format.
The search functionality at shmax.com is the best kept secret among uber-collector circles. Got a weird part or toy you can't identify? In 9 out of 10 cases, a simple search is all you need. Just type the basic distinguishing features--such as color and form or alternate mode--into the search box at the top of the page, and chances are good you'll get lucky. Seriously, the database knows all. You can try very specific searches, like blue red freightliner truck, anklyosaurus, or green AH-64 Apache, or more broad searches for parts you're not quite sure on, such as blue black tank, or black gun.
Eggheads and people familiar with advanced eBay searching will want to try our special search syntax, and if you want even more power, check out our advanced search page, where you can do exact color matches, and browse our form hierarchy.
shmax.com is free to use, but we expect you to earn your keep every now and then. All we ask is that you share your brain with the rest of us. If you know of a product or part that we don't, don't be shy about adding it to the database. I know, I know, you're worried about screwing something up or making a mess of things, but don't be. All changes are quarantined for review by our staff of moderators. They'll fact-check your information, fill in the blanks and make any corrections needed, and send you a nice email confirming your submission.
If you really want to be a star around here, you'll submit some photos. True, that can be a lot of work, but it can also be a very fun and rewarding hobby. Some of our members have submitted photos by the thousands, and we therefore love them more than we love puppies. And we love puppies a lot. Please be sure to have a look at our photo guidelines before you dive in.
