You are fortunate in that you didn't have to suffer through the TF dark age that lasted from roughly 1989 to 2001 (end of the good G1 stuff to the beginning of RID). I liked the BW show, but just never really got into the toy line. RID, while not perfect, was refreshing. And, as you pointed out, it only got better from there.

 

The best time was 1984, the second best is the Prime Wars era.

 

I totally understand your point of view. And, I think if I had gotten into TFs starting with BW, I would have a fairly different perspective and set of expectations/hopes for upcoming toys than I do today. I understood the significance and importance of the TF reboot that came along with the introduction of the BW toys and show, I just had a really hard time getting into it due to the huge change in focus.

 

It's not too surprising the way I think about it. Many kids from the 80's and 90's are now working adults and have the means to splurge on toys that remind them of yesteryear. That demand and nostalgia is the perfect fuel for TF offerings we have today. Not to mention toy technology is constantly improving as well.

I recently got back into collecting and I am excited to see what 2018 has to offer, especially 3P/MP/Combiners.

 

It's been a pretty good time, I would say. You don't know what you got until it's gone, however, which is to say that the time is likely coming to an end. Titans Return gave us characters that honestly seemed like they would never get made and had probably the most comprehensive gimmick amongst the size classes — fitting everything from the smallest to the largest size class — plus some of the best molding that I have seen. That goes without mentioning the Masterpiece lines, which I have no experience with.

But, alas, it is coming to an end and the line wide gimmicks are getting convoluted and the gimmicks dedicated to a single size class poorly implemented. Decos have taken another huge hit. Characters are back to being in poorly fitting molds too. Maybe it's just a lull, but I can't see myself collecting by the time 2019 rolls around.

 

I grew up on Transformers through the Bay films but growing up I also watched the G1 cartoon through DVD Rental stores and Youtube thus that was when I truly fell in love with the brand. I did so much research afterwards on Tfwiki and was totally blown away by just how many series and characters there were. Despite growing up on the Bayformers I much prefer the G1 characters even the obscured ones from 1987 to 1990 and I always wanted them in plastic form. I can't believe that here in 2018 we are so close to a complete roster of original G1 characters dating back to 1984 up to 1988, sprinkle in some characters from G2, the Unicron Trilogy, RID01, & best of all some newly created characters for the G1verse (ala Windblade, Drift, etc.). I don't care how much people complain about the stickers or the quality on some of these Prime Wars figures, I'm in complete heaven right now.

 

I utterly concur , Every thing the past 3 to 4 years has been epic, and only getting better with each new year . I am in hog heaven right now .

 

Best time to be a TF Toy fan is NOW! You can still get awesome toys from T30, CW, TR & see POTP release.

This is the BEST GOLDEN AGE!

 

CW Devy had me hook, line, and sinker turned me into 10x the tf junkie I already was.

I should add that the movieverse toys are what initially sparked my curiosity. I went for years just enjoying checking them out in the stores before I broke down and bought one. And eventually discovered CHUGS

 

Welcome back, @fschuler! I got back in to collecting a couple years ago myself. Definitely hit up the sale forums for some cheap gets. You can probably recapture some of those figures you remember from your collection fairly cheaply.

 

Best time will be when the third movie after the reboot is out.
Transformers will be bigger than before.
We'll have this MTMTE cartoon.
Generations will be rounding up the BW updates and starting on BM.
We'll have that Generations revisited line, giving us reissues of all the previous generations toys with better paint aps and sometimes more articulation and extra weapons.
The new comic is going strong thanks to a neglecting the fanfavs in favor of a focus on worldbuilding and creative storytelling.
The new cartoon rivals G1's popularity on the playgrounds...

 

2:30 AM, drunk and just got paid

 

I think it's been a great time to be a TF fan ever since Thrilling 30.  





Combiner Wars really kicked my collecting into high gear. Power of the Primes looks even more promising.

 

This is a great time for us! An embarrassment of riches. My advice is to scour the buy, sell, trade threads. You can get a lot for great deals

 

I strongly suggest going back and checking out the Animated toy line. It's probably one of if not the best line the franchise ever got to have. I only got into this hobby a couple years ago and discovering that line was incredible. Both modes seem to be show accurate with really good transformations. There are some all time greats in there like Shockwave, Lockdown, Ultra Magnus, Oil Slick, and Prowl. I think the only dud was their seeker mold which is a real shame, but over all I think you could pick up most any figure and enjoy them. ROTF AND HFTD also were really great around that time, but yea I would definitely look at what Animated has to offer.

 

I'd say that the brand has been in a golden age since the time Car Robots made its debut in 2000, if not earlier. Since that time, there's always been a new line and brand new media to coincide with it.

 

Yeah , Thrilling 30 just stood out as a sign of greater things to come ... I think we all felt it . I was in a way interested in the movieverse, mainly main G` characters , and there has been some great molds to come out of the Bayverse but it just never hit home like T30,CW,TR and now POTP . I am now excited about the future of the brand in a way I hadn`t been in a very long time.

 

I didn't want to set foot in a collection unless it met my needs of aesthetic, poseability, and scale. Somehow, I was living under a rock until I ran across someone selling an MP-11T three years ago at a local gaming/sci-fi convention, and when I went home to Google these "Masterpiece" TF, thinking they were some sort of knock-off or plastic model, imagine my surprise to find out the riches that were coming on offer.

That was many robots ago, and many shelves and lighting systems ago. Ohh, for the simpler ignorant days...

 

Thanks, Lube! The only TFs I sold that I really kind of miss now are the Alternators and a number of the G1 characters (combiner sets and some of the '84/'85 main characters). I had quite a few A/E/C figures that I really only bought because they were on clearance for give-away prices...and I never really felt a whole lot of love for them. Still, it would be nice to have hung on to one of the Unicrons and a Primus, though...

 

I kind of wish I would have been paying closer attention to TFs when the CW line was still at regular retail. I recall seeing a few of them at Walmart and thinking, "WTF? A new Computron? Really?". I think they did a fantastic job with that line overall. As a kid, I always thought the combiners were at the top of heap in the TF world. For the longest time, I only owned a Scattershot and two of his limbs (Afterburner and Nosecone) and I would stand him on the shelf using the two limbs as legs just pining for the day that I could complete him. I eventually found Strafe and Lightspeed at a yard sale a few years later...I still remember how happy I was seeing him complete for the first time. He is still in my collection to this day.