G1 Abominus. Grandmother got it for me and I still have it...mostly complete.

 

Ah, the end of the first era...

It was 1987, and I was 12 years old. The decline of my interest in Transformers had already started as Hasbro had decided to kill off most of the Transformers I had grown up with in the new toy launch commercial known as The Transformers: The Movie. I'd become increasingly more into comic books than toys, but I still went to the toy aisle every trip the family made to a department store.

One of my first Transformers was Bumblebee. At some point, I'd lost him. Walking through the aisle, I saw Bumblebee... sorta. It was Goldbug, but I'd seen the movie, it was Bumblebee. I thought, yeah, ya know, I haven't bought a Transformer in a while, I'll pick him up to replace Bumblebee. I took my hard-earned allowance and bought Goldbug.

In the car on the ride home, I opened him up... and what is this?!? THIS is supposed to be a Transformer! This thing just flips up and the "arms" fold out!

And that was it. I was done. If this was where the line was headed, I didn't want to waste my money on it anymore. That was good money I could have spent on comic books.

I didn't buy another Transformer until 2006. That year, I got Classics Optimus Prime (which I initially hated, but has since become one of my favorite figures) and the 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime on deep discount at Walmart. ($35.00... I paid $35 for the first Masterpiece Optimus Prime.)

But I wasn't back in until 2012, when I saw MP-10 on some message board. I was too late to get him, but I eventually found a KO (and then, later, got one of the official reissues), and that's when I began looking at the toys again. I picked a few up here and there, and then really got back into regular purchasing with Combiner Wars.

(Oddly, I now love those little Throttlebot toys. I have a lot.)

 

For Christmas...1988, I believe...I got the Micromaster Off-road Patrol and Siren. They are special not just because they were the last TFs I received during childhood, but they were also the only TFs Mom ever got for me. I think about her every time I look at them.   

 

Well I wouldn't say I was a kid........let's see........I was 18 when I started losing interest in TF's. Energon and Cybertron just didn't click with me. Figure up to this point I had been getting TF's since I was 2 and just loved the franchise to death. Kept an eye on what was coming out but the last figure I bought was Cybertron Sideways, which all things considered was a pretty darn good one to go out on. Didn't get roped back in full time until SDCC exclusive announcements. Saw that Nemesis Prime from Classics Op and had to have it. That was like what late 2007-early 2008 or so. Been collecting ever since and uh with everything coming out now that doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon.

 

Oooh, good question

I dont quite remember, but among the last: Battletrap (G1), Rippersnapper (G1), and Blot (G1) to complete my armless Abominus.

My very next retail purchase: BW transmetals Primal and Megatron (1998)

 

I never really stopped buying them.
I do remember getting Skystalker for Christmas when I was around 11 I think. My dad said that's the last toy I'd get as I was getting too old for them... but that didn't last.
I think the last shop bought toys were the Classics gold box Protectobots I got from Woolworths on summer holiday in Wales.
After that I used to buy them from car boot sales and later on toy fairs throughout the 90's, then 2000's onwards was ebay.

I went straight from playing with toys to collecting them, without that usual in-between stage where most people get rid of their childhood stuff and start collecting again as an adult.

 

I think it was Turbofire, or at least one of those guys with the chrome engine/gun.

 

Powermaster Optimus was my last G1 figure I got as a kid. I always wanted a G1 Optimus but never saw it on the shelves. PM Optimus was the closest thing. It didn't live up to my expectations at the time. It had no rubber wheels or diecast and all the modes didn't look that great. The powermaster gimmick and base mode were cool though. I was pretty much out of Transformers by 87-88, the newer designs weren't appealing to me. But to this day, it still holds a special place in my heart, and I still have the reissue.

 

Interesting how for the people in my generation, '88 is the year. I could do an analysis about what happened, if I really had the energy.

 

i mean i turn 18 in like two weeks so for me this'll be og generations drift

 

Action Master Optimus Prime, I bought him with my first paycheck in July 1991 from my first (and only) full time job

 

G1 Bludgeon was my last one.

 

Thinking back on it, I actually have two...is that cheating? (Great idea for a thread, BTW!)

My first last was when I was 4, the Sports Car Patrol. After that TF died & TMNT, later Batman, dominated my toy box. I later got back into TFs somewhat in G2 but when Beast Wars started I was back in like gangbusters.

My second was when I was 12, Fuzor Silverbolt. That was the last toy I received that I actually played with. I kept getting figures through the end of the Beast era & the entire UT era but after Silverbolt I transitioned from a kid who played with toys to an adolescent collector, buying figures with money I earned & displaying them around my room.

 

I have always had a strong aesthetics preference for TF designs from 1987 - 1991.

But in practice, the last TF during childhood was probably Pretender Roadgrabber. Sure, the execution of the Pretenders toys wasn't great, but I loved the concept and designs.

 

Might want to rule out confirmation bias first, but I'm sure the attrition rate increases according with a normal distribution as you move away from 1984.

Mine was likely Flame, circa 1991-92. Though I do have a gold-box Springer from around the same time.

 

I haven’t stopped collecting so i guess my last figure when i was 18 was galaxy force prime and classics inferno (my mom actually saved them for a good decade to give to me)
2 of my favourite figures because of that

 

The last one I remember as a kid? Deluxe insecticon Ransack. I distinctly remember not even having everything out of the package before I tried to transform him and promptly snapped one of the wings off. I still feel the disappointment to this day. That was the last time I recall ever receiving a transformer as a kid. The cool thing is that last year I was able to get a bunch of my cousin's old TF's from when we were kids (he was only one year younger than me) and Ransack was one of them. It was like I got a second chance to enjoy him 30 years later, and it kicked off a whole new part of this hobby to enjoy - G1 restorations!

 

Same for me. Started at 5 years old and still growing strong today at 34!
Looking at what was released the months before my 18th birthday, I guess either Superlink Laserwave or Alternators Hound was the last toy I bought before becoming a legal adult.

 

So I first got into the franchise around kindergarten/first grade in 2000, I want to say? I've pretty much kept at it since, but I do remember a turning point from "getting toys as a kid" to "collecting." It would've been around 2006, I got a nice birthday haul consisting of: Cybertron Downshift, the BW Cybertron repaints of Prime (Primal, whatever, it's Garry Chalk either way) and Megatron, and classics Cliffjumper, Jetfire, and Grimlock. There was something about that specific batch of figures that really shifted me into collecting mode. I think it was that point where I stopped seeing whatever rando looked cool and started actually looking into specific characters.

If we're talking last figure before becoming a legal adult, my Dad got me an Encore G1 Ratchet as an early birthday present just a day or two before turning 18.

 

Actionmaster Blaster

It was the summer of 1992. I was getting into computer games, the UK comic ended in January and I was really getting into Batman in no small part due to the hype of that summer's blockbuster: Batman Returns. I was nearly 16 so I felt I was getting too old for toys.

My next door neighbours always brought my brothers and I a small present when they went on holiday each summer. They bought me some of my childhood favourites like Rollbar, the Rescue and Battle Patrols, Sinnertwin and finally Blaster who was one of my favourite characters thanks to the Marvel comics.