I was a huge TF fan as a kid but dropped off through the Beast era. Then my wife actually bought an Alt (Windcharger) for our nephew and I thought it was too cool. I picked up Grimlock for myself. Then Smokescreen. Then Sideswipe. And before I knew it I was back into buying all kinds of TFs again. Alternators got me back into collecting.

I'm bittersweet about the line ending. I agree with others that the play value is pretty limited due to the complexity of transforming them. And they are fairly large figures that eat up shelf space. The last 5 or so figures before Rumble and Ravage were questionable (Rollbar? Richochet? Camshaft? c'mon).

That said, they are amazing pieces of engineering. The alt modes look like model cars to anyone who doesn't know. The robot modes are super articulated and detailed. The characters are (mostly) great homages to G1. It's the definition of a "display" line, and one that I'm happy to have as a permanent fixture on my TF shelf.

 

I remember how in one weekend they showed both BT Smokescreen and MP Prime. I don't know how many pairs of boxers I went through that day.

I can't believe it's been fours years ago. Wow.

 

Well, I haven't worked for about 3 months now, so you're kinda right  

 

I don't really recall the first Alt pics, but I do remember the first time I saw Masterpiece Prime and having so mop up the puddle of drool afterwards.

Immediately bought Prime the first time I saw him at WalMart, but didn't get into the Alts until by brother-in-law gave me Silverstreak for XMas 2005. I was buying the TRU G1 reissues before that, but turned all my attention to Alts after getting SS. I think I ignored Alts at first because it was not supposed to go on as long as it did so I didn't want to get into them from the start and end up disappointed in the lack of characters. Now there are just a few we never got that I wish Hasbro had added to the line.

 

I still have that Smokescreen flyer from BotCon. I found it in a plie of old stuff a few weeks ago. My Alts maybe be hard as heck to transform but they are a thing of beauty once you get them transformed.

 

What's on the back of the flyer?

 

It's a blank postcard if I remember correctly with logos for whatever transformer lines were out at the time.

 

Yeah. Just like the Classics line. Oh...wait.

 

Binaltech/Alternators peaked too early, at least from a Geewunner perspective:

Smokescreen: "OMG that's like the PERFECT update of the G1 design!"

Sideswipe: "That ones... um... OK I guess. Still pretty cool I think"

(fast forward)

Camshaft: "Hard to find? Oh well, guess I'll think about getting it if I see one"

 

 

I loved BInaltech in the begining... then came Grimlock as a car. It ceased being the line I wanted it to be. Yet I kept buying them. At first I was a nut and bought two BTs and one ALT of each, until Sideswipe got the Decepticon repaint. I didn't buy any BTs from then forward, except for the Red Alert repaint of Smokescreen. Even missed out on some of the ALTs close to the end of the line. Last two I bought were Mirage and Optimus.

Still sort of want to get the Kiss Players line... but they are so expensive now.

 

I remember when those pictures were first shown, some people went "OMG IS THAT BLUESTREAK?!?"

 

I think I got more excited about Classics than I did Alternators/Binaltech. Classics were guaranteed good distribution from the get-go as they were the "main" line at the time. So, it had a lot of the positives of Alternators for me, without the biggest obstacles. Good sizes, good distribution, throw-backs to the characters of my childhood. Awesome.

Not that I dislike Alternators for what they are. We'll never see an entire line engineered that way again.