I once got a big box of toys at a garage sale for $5 and when I got home I emptied them out and when I did Holy Hell I found a G2 Laser Optimus Prime and trailer that was nearly complete minus 1 missile,it had all its pizza disks,the soft rubbery long ones.That was totally worth the $5 I paid for everything.

 

I see a Robot Chicken sketch here. Nice

 

Couple years back I visited Scotland with my then girlfriend, now wife. We took in a few sights in Edinburgh, including the cool castle and walked around town when we happened upon a Comic book shop. Of course I had to go in, and my wife has always been pretty good about supporting my passion so she was cool with it. Once inside, I saw the Robot Masters G1 Optimus and G1 Starscream. I didn't know anything about these figures, but they looked awesome. Without much hesitation, I bought both of them. They remain my favorite keepsakes from that UK trip. When people asked what we got from the trip they were a bit taken aback by my response. Some people go to the UK to buy tea, scotch, souvenirs, but I got me some bad ass Transformers.

 

Well this one time i was walking through a dark alley and this guy had a unopened Vehicon, and a proposal... Lets just say I walked out of that alley with a Vehicon and a feeling of violation.... but, ya know, whats a shot in the mouth for a vehicon...

Ok not really, Id say the only thing ive done to get a toy that might be considered weid is go to walmart in the middle of the night and cut open boxes on pallets to get what I want.

 

A year or two ago I was at the unemployment office downtown and the desk that the case worker and I sat down at to do some paperwork had a Spychanger sitting on it. I must have said something about being a Transformers fan because the guy picked up the figure and said, "Here, take it."

The really funny thing was, it wasn't that guy's desk. So as far as somebody at the unemployment office knows, some jobless loser stole his Transformer.

 

Toys are the best gifts for kids. They like toys a lot. Well, I got my G1 Rodimus & Combat Hero Megatron through a trade that wasn't expected to be lasting, but that's very much it. Everything else came from stores/garage sales/online suppliers or as provides.

 

My youngest kid's caretaker bought him a PRID Voyager Optimus Prime. It rekindled my love and I started to collect the PRID line and Cyberverse Prime line (Commander Class only)

 

I found one in my rain gutters. Pretty rough shape, but it counts I guess.

 

Which figure did ya find in yer gutters?

 

Micromaster Treadbolt. But in like 2004.

 

Cool story and worthwhile souvenirs for sure! I love the travel stories, some of my favorite TFs were acquired away from home and you never forget where/when you found them.   Here's my own travel story:

My strangest acquisition story is from 2007. I was just getting into collecting and was big on the Alternators, but they were nearing the end of the line and getting a little harder to find. I was looking online and found an online store front for a small collectible shop near Raleigh, North Carolina. Turns out I was going to be in the general area for a business trip, so the day before I left I ordered a couple of the Alts and selected in-store pickup. The day I arrived on my trip, I picked up my rental car and made the side trip to this local comic/collector shop and picked up my order. It seems silly in retrospect to go to all that trouble to save on shipping, but the shop did have the best prices I could find. And that's how Alternators Jazz (Meister) and Tracks joined my collection!

 

Some kid was probably trying to make him fly.

 

I traded an Armada Laserbeak for a 100% complete, near-mint Primal Prime because neither me nor my friend had any concept of what the hell it was worth.

 

I got sent a Ramulus toy with out his poor little horns.

 

when i was younger, i found G1 micromaster High Jump in the sand at a beach...ironically him and motorhead are the only survivors out of a couple hundred g1s that were sold off

 

The last Battle Ops BB in town, at 70% off because they couldn't find the toy in the system.

 

I don't know if you'd call it strange, but my college had a career fair and GM gave me a free Transformers toy. I treated it as any toy or gift from these companies like free cups, pens, note books, only to find out years later that I received the rare Chevy Swerve for free!!!

 

Totally worth it.