My friend's G1 Dirge. After he got his, my parents got me Dirge as well. The rest is history...

 

Indirectly. I played so much with my brother's Voltron figure when he was at school that I ended up breaking it. My mom took us to Target (this was maybe mid to late 80s) and let us get one toy under ten dollars. I got cliffjumper and he got that trailer from bruticus.

Loved the show growing up (as well as TMNT) but couldnt afford any of the toys on my own. But oh, how the times have changed...

 

in 1984 just after i started grade 1, my mother said that if i went to school without any trouble ( cuz i hated pre-school and always put up a fuss) she'd buy me a set of robot walkie-talkies at K-mart. well the day came she said she'd get them fore me, and i waited all day through school, to come home and find that she got me Soundwave and Buzzsaw instead. I was very Happy with the mixup.

 

I really don't remember, but it was probably a combination of the cartoon and liking to take things apart and put them together again (change it into a robot, then change it back into a vehicle).

 

How did I get into Transformers? Easy. I was a kid in the 80s.  

 

It's been over 20 years, and I honestly can't remember, but my parents bought me ALOT of Transformers. More then I deserved.

 

I first watched Transformers when I was 3 and I have loved it ever since.

 

I don't remember specifically, but it was probably the original MTMTE miniseries that hooked me.

 

One night my dad gave me a early present, which was Hot Spot from the Protectobots back in the late 80's. I was fascinated that he could change, and that was the only transformer I got for a long time brand new in package, all the rest of the G1 and G2 ones I got were from goodwill or garage sales. and after G2, I kinda forgot about em for a while but beast wars, well, lets say thats where I was hooked again.

 

I loved fox kids back in the day and i watched the new show called Transformers Robots In Disguise and really wanted the toys. I asked for them for christmas and never got one. It was really annoying considering that my parents bought those for my friends birthdays and later asked me what a transformer was. One day me and my dad were walking through Wal-mart and I saw transformers. My dad said that he would buy me one of those while pointing to the key-chain bots. I picked Bumblebee and loved him. I never stopped playing with him. As a matter of fact he's sitting next to me right now. Then Armada came out and I asked for those toys, when I got them I became a fan for life.

 

I started watching Beast Wars when I was 2 and in 1999 I got Mcdonalds BM Cyclonus. My first REAL TF was Cybertron Breakdown that I got in '05. That sucka broke easily.

 

Same on this end. Except for a seven year break when I hit high school. Getting me back into it was a case of hearing there's a movie on the way.

 

inheriting my elder cousin's original optimus prime and hot spot and renting original video releases in the early 90's (92-94)

 

I saw the G1 TV pilot when I was a kid.
Then I got bored with it through highschool.
Beast wars Brought me back, that was when I was in college.
Car Robots cemented my intrest and it and Big Convoy were my first imports.

 

I didn't really grow up with tf's. That most likely the reason i like tf's now. The only one i had was g2 bumblebee and that was it. When Armada came out i really got into even when i had outgrown toys. That led to me collecting now.

 

Back when I was 4 or 5, I was watching TV on my shitty-ass TV, and saw a cool show with 3D talking animals on it. I thought it was a baby show, so I was searching for the remote when I saw a cheetah turn into a robot! I freaked out so bad my mom came to see what happened. That Christmas I got my first Transformer (which I just called them Beast wars back then): Cheetor, who my mom saw was my absolute favorite (and still is kinda). I also got Grimlock (who I called Dinobot) and the first BW VHS. It was amazing. Next Christmas I got more BWs and two more VHSs. I eventually got almost all the ones I wanted including the Airazor VHS and the 2nd season VHS.

 

R.I.D. It was the first series I ever saw.

 

That's actually kind of how it happened for me, too. Just looking through different channels to see if there was anything good to watch, and come into the middle of a Beast Wars episode. In fact, it was the episode "Call of the Wild", at the point where Tigatron was rallying the other Maximals. Didn't really know what was going on. Just see a tiger talking to some other animals, and then they all start turning into robots, and beating up more robots! The rest, as they say, is history.

 

My cousin. It must have been Christmas '84 and he got all these cool little transforming robots for Christmas that year, most of them were Go-Bots, but he did get Optimus Prime. He had really wanted Leader-1 but "Santa" couldn't find him. Anyway, my cousin showed me how to transform all his new toys and I was fascinated by what they did. I think I played more with his toys than my own that Christmas (well except for my Fraggle Red and Mokey plushies) as we transformed stuff and Optimus Prime let the Go-Bot army against Cy-Kill and the Renegades and his sister was a little mad that I was playing more with him than with her. Shortly after that I saw my first ep of the cartoon Attack of the Autobots, fell in love with Bumblebee, and the rest is history. I eventually inherited his Optimus Prime, along with several other well sought G1 TFs plus most of the Go-Bots. He kept Leader-1 and Stacks. Why Stacks and not Optimus Prime I have no idea.

 

My parents gave me G1 Omega Supreme for Christmas when I was 5