Early TF Memories, or "Young Kids Aren't Too Bright!"

Discussion in 'Transformers General Discussion' started by B-Fox, Apr 3, 2008.

  1. B-Fox

    B-Fox Well-Known Member

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    I was born in the fall of 1983, and as a result I grew up during that historical era of toy commercials disguised as television cartoons. Transformers were, naturally, a big part of my life, and I have lots of good memories of the show and the toys as a result.

    However...

    Sometimes children who are young interpret things a little differently than what is intended. For example, in War of the Dinobots,when Swoop and Snarl are unveiled and Ratchet encourages the other Autobots to 'stop the Dinobots...if you can!" as part of their test run, I thought Ratchet, Sideswipe, Bluestreak, Ironhide, and Prowl had suddenly turned evil, because they were fighting other good guys.

    I remember my Mom buying my brother and I numerous Bumblebees because I was prone to ripping off his rubber tires. I can't say how many, I just know lots of trips to Toys 'R' US ended with a Bumblebee.

    And for some reason or another, I didn't see TRANSFORMERS:The Movie (and wouldn't until 1996 or 1997), so I went from seasons 1 and 2 to the post-movie season 3 without a good deal of understanding of what'd happened. Probably from word of mouth or toy-commericials, I knew that the new leaders were Rodimus and Galvatron. I DIDN'T know,however, Galvatron was actually an upgraded Megatron. I assumed that Megatron and Optimus had just gotten old and died, like real people, and that season 3 was, in fact, set several years into the future than it actually was.

    Amusingly, I never heard of Unicron until the Generation 2 reruns showed Ghost In The Machine, and even then, I didn't see his significance. It took his cameos in Beast Wars and renting the Movie to watch it for the first time afterwards to get a grasp on who this Guy With Devil Horns was. :) 

    Also, when The Return of Optimus Prime aired, I thought that the decoys were supposed to be the 'bots and 'cons who had the Hate Plague.


    So anybody else have such similiar eschew memories?
     
  2. Codimus Prime

    Codimus Prime Missouri Toy Hunter

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    I vaguely remember the episodes of More than Meets the Eye, but I do remember seeing the movie on the FOX Saturday afternoon movie once. The battle between Prime and Megatron lived on in my head forever.

    So much that when I saw the movie again in college, I totally remembered everything up to Prime dying.

    I didn't see much of the cartoon after that.... had the toys though!
     
  3. jorod74

    jorod74 Psycholagnist (Ret.)

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    didn't get to see much of TF as a kid- season one, saw a good deal of em until our school changed the schedule to classes letting out at 3:05 and guaranteeing i got home in time to see the credits end.

    the next, they aired the series earlier (like how many kids did they think skipped school each day????) and then we got almost 10 damn years of Three's company reruns.
    After that, Oprah started, IIRC and well, goodbye Joe, He-Man and of course TF.

    wasn't until later i saw on Sci-Fi Channel season 3 episodes and cried at how bad it had gotten.

    but of all memories, the comics did more to confuse me (kids didn't know about alternate realities, universes and so on) than anything else- what the heck? ratchet looks like his toy here?
     
  4. Blitz Wing

    Blitz Wing Triple Threat

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    My early exposure to Transformers came from renting the F.H.E. videos from the video store. For the longest time I thought that "The Ultimate Doom" three parter was the end of the series, until I finally saw TF:TM and Return of Optimus Prime when they came out on video a couple years later. Then Generation 2 came out and I got to see all the season 2 and 3 episodes that I didn't know existed.
     
  5. Pidgeot018

    Pidgeot018 Pokécon

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    My memories of G1 are pretty vague. I saw the show and had some of the toys, but for the most part my 0-10 year old self was reared on Ghostbusters and TMNT, with healthy doses of Transformers and M.A.S.K here and there.

    I had/have Wheeljack, Sideswipe, Rodimus Prime, Pointblack and Sinnertwin. Maybe more, but I know I still have those guys in my basement, or what's left of them. They are in awful condition and I don't even consider them part of my actual TF collection.

    Oh, and I got Bristleback as a birthday present once when I was out of the TF loop. I thought he was neat, even though I had no idea what he was supposed to be.
     
  6. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    I tried my best to make sense of both the cartoon and the Marvel comics, considering the bizarre incomplete selection of stories we got in Germany, and the confusing order we got them in.

    However, I do remember that, due to TF:TM not airing until several years after we got the cartoon (which started with season 3 here), I, like several other kids I was talking to, thought that "Rodimus Prime" and "Optimus Prime" were brothers (they had the same family name, after all!), and none of us were aware of the Hot Rod incarnation (and its significance), which barely ever showed up in the episodes we got.
     
  7. drill

    drill Gotham's White Knight

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    My uncle gave me Powermaster Prime and Skorponok.

    I think I destroyed Prime. I remember finally realizing that his head came off. And that was it.

    I also really wanted BW Megatron. I had the TM versions. I just really wanted him. Never did, so I got the Cybertron version.
     
  8. Autovolt 127

    Autovolt 127 Get In The Titan, Prime!

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    Earliest memory was watching beast Wars one afternoon in the winter of 1997 or 1998.

    Next was Armada, where Blurr was introduced and watch it all.

    Getting Energon Rodimus.

    and now you know the rest of the story.
     
  9. Blunticon

    Blunticon The Oddjob

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    I was a 80's kid, born in 78. So Christmas morning was something to be said when bunches of Transformers were under the tree.
     
  10. Backpack

    Backpack G1 forever.

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    The first I ever saw of Transformers was a commercial for the Marvel comic books. I said, and I quote "That's stupid, they are just ripping of Go-bots. Lame." I felt that way until I got my hands on my first Transformers... Rumble. Then it was pure love.
     
  11. Belgrath

    Belgrath Boom! Nutshot!

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    80's guy here, first TF was Sideswipe at the age of 7. I recall watching More Than Meets the Eye back when I was in elementary school. (too bad I missed out on part 5. Managed to catch it again when G2 aired, despite the snazzy 3D effects when I was in high school)
     
  12. alecgates15

    alecgates15 DK is Triple Hitler

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    My first was Supreme Cheetor, yes I know, but the one I actually played with and cherished was, RID Prowl. I asked my parents what this symbol meant (Autobot), no idea. I think I gave away Cheetor cuz he wasn't "fun" but I could never find Prowl even after my move. Every once in a while I will find his projectiles. I also lost my RID X-Brawn. Prowl will always have a special place in my heart. I also remembered getting REALLY PISSED and upset after Smokescreen was shot in Armada. I was 8 and see a guys stomach melt right through.
     
  13. SilverDragon

    SilverDragon YEAH TOAST!

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    First TF memory for me was the bit in the very first episode where Wheeljack and Bumblebee pop out of a manhole and get pursued by Skywarp and Thundercracker. I was watching it on tape, mind you. I tended to watch a lot of 80s cartoons on tape.
     
  14. CrypticIllusionist

    CrypticIllusionist Well-Known Member

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    For some reason, when I was around 10 or so, I remembered the majority of the 1986 movie taking place inside of Unicron rather than just the last few scenes. In particular, I recalled Quintessa as just being another part of Unicron's innards.
    I don't know why I remembered it that way, maybe it had just been so long since I had seen it that I was remembering it out of order.
     
  15. Batman

    Batman The Dark Knight TFW2005 Supporter

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    I remember Prime dying like it happened yesterday. I couldn't stop crying, I think my parents regreted renting the movie for me.
     
  16. Ceasar121

    Ceasar121 Wants a Toxitron repaint!

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    My memories are great. The show came on a 7:30 in the morning here, just before I went to school. With a great deal of preening, and a compensating hour earlier bed time, I was able to watch the cartoon every morning. Dad took me to see the movie, which brought tears to my eyes when both Optimus AND Starscream bought the farm(never was much of a Megatron fan). Season 3 sucked, and although the toys were still loved, the show became a secondary love to my new addiction... The Ninja Turtles.

    That's probably the reason for my STRONG HATRED of both Rodimus Whine and Galvabum. They destroyed the series. So much to the point that when it started to get good again (the Rebirth) it got cancelled.

    F^%k you Rodimus Prime.
     
  17. Ramrider

    Ramrider TF Art Lad

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    My first memory would be my first Transformer. July '84, I believe it was, I was seven, and my mum and I were upstairs in Kettering's WH Smith, looking at the toys. And there are all these new things lining the right hand wall. Intriguing, they are. My mum says I can have one of the small ones, and after much perusal, I pick Huffer.
    I'm still trying to decide if it was a bad idea or not, 'cause I've been hooked ever since. :p 
     
  18. Spiderus Prime

    Spiderus Prime TFW SpongeBob and TTV's MS 2.0

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    I remember that I watch a little bit of G2 cartoon and I watch most of Beast Wars I was though Dinobot is Scary.
     
  19. Brawlastator

    Brawlastator Well-Known Member

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    My earliest memory was playing with BM Blackarachnia at my sister's house.
     
  20. BrokenSVT

    BrokenSVT It's not broken anymore.

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    I was born in '79, grew up in my grandpa's Hardware/Toy Store. I watched TF's as a child on TV, but was too young to grasp the concepts. That, and I was far too busy playing with 100's of G.I. Joe's in the living room while TF's was on. I recall getting Devastator, Astrotrain, Springer, the millitary Micromasters, some random Sparkbots, Brawn, Mirage and finally, Targetmaster Landfill. He was my favorite as I recall.

    If only I had known, I'd have taken better care of Mirage(he was my first casualty). Hook was broken more than once, a victim of broken foot syndrome...and replaced each time.

    Oddly, my fondest TF memories were during the Beast Machines era, when I was a late teenager and working hard for a living. I'd catch them every day before heading in to work/college.

    Ahh, the memories :)