Is Transofrmers really "this big"? The movies came out but they have been panned by the critics... is that what you are referring to? I'm a G1 fan and unfortnately can't watch any of the other shows really.

Please define "this big", I think the movies are a passing thing much like all the Lord of the Rings crazy fans and will be forgotten about and left to the people on thiese boards once again in a few years time...

 

As a kid, of any era, you aren't thinking that far down the road of life.

I never really noticed when Transformers went away or He-Man, GIJoe, Thundercats cause I got into sports, girls and cars. I went away from it. Like most of us I'd wager.

Anyway, "this big" means imo generational big. Big in the manner that TF toys and toons continue. A live action movie reboot is inevitable now that this franchise has solidified the brand has having value beyond animation. Lord of the Rings is cycling back up with Hobbit and no doubt will one day be redone as well. TF is officially as big a brand as other Hollywood stalwarts like Terminator, Predator, Aliens, Star Trek and the like.

 

I wonder if you compare market share percents if Transformers were bigger in the 80s. You either had transformers, he-man , star wars or gi joe to choose from as the big 3 in 84.

Now you have turtles, pokemon, ben 10, Iron Man, Clone Wars,xbox, playstation and so on. Ask a kid what his favorite toys are and they may say tf but they may say spiderman or Ben 10. In 84-85 ask a kid and it was Gi Joe or Transformers with he-man and star wars dying down they weren't a prime focus anymore. Of course 86 changed the landscape a bit with mask, thundercats and a couple others but for that one year transformers were pretty prime.

 

I never thought it would be like Star Wars, I mean with a trilogy and all.

 

I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree, at least to a large extent. I did, and so did my parents. Each year for yard sales, this very reason alone is why I was allowed to keep both my G.I. Joes and Transformers.

 

I had no idea they would get this big.... If I had, I would have bought multiples of everything and kept them sealed!
Personally I wish they would die down a little bit again so I could get better deals on G1's!  

 

THIS!

There was a time before the internet after g2 failed that I thought Transformers were dead and no one but me cared anymore (I wasn't on line so had no idea about the news groups ect... I didn't know about the shows in Japan heck I didn't even know about Marvel UK)
But I always thought a come back was possible. I even as a young teen thought maybe I could buy the rights to them from Hasbro (as it seemed no one cared anymore) some day and do something with them.
Little did I know that the fan base was huge and that there would be no way in Hell that Hasbro would ever sell rights (never mind the partnership with Takara) lol

 

I'll have to add my voice to those saying TFs were a massive deal back in the mid eighties. Probably more so than now.

However, back in 1998 or so when I was first getting back into collecting, discovering the online fan presence and buying cheap as chips G1 on yahoo auctions - I never thought the brand would come back as big as it has been these last couple of years.

 

I never imagined the brand would die, but I never guessed it would be as big as it is now.

 

Not really, Back when Armada was out, i thought i was the only person who watched Transformers. Until 2006 during Cybertron's run (God bless Cybertron), I didn't realize it would get this big after the Transformers movie.

 

Um, good for you then. I'd wager you were in the minority though.
Only GI Joe as a brand was something one could say had longevity at the time of TF's debut. Even Star Wars was new as Transformers was taking off. Not a lot of precedent to "bank" on TF being among the next "big things".

I hate to tell you but by the time of Armada the brand was already a 'big thing' the movies just cemented into the mainstream.

 

Nope, I didn't know. Action Master Grimlock was my last original TF from back in the day, and I wasn't even aware there was a G2.

I actually thought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would last forever, and from what I remember, TMNT was bigger in its heyday, than TF's were a few years earlier.

 

Well, I never said my outlook was the majority.   However, minority wouldn't equate to just me though, I'd venture to think.

As far as branding goes, Hot Wheels and Barbie (along with G.I.Joe) had an established history, as well. That being said, G.I.Joe received the reboot at nearly the same time as Transformers' inception. I'd even go so far to say that was also part of the many reasons for Transformers' own success. Those cartoons being aired almost back to back at times helped with advertising their toylines.

Yep. RiD helped usher TFs back into mainstream with vehicles, but Armada started doing a lot of things with merchandising again - that would continue to rise TFs back up to what it is now.

 

no idea!..if i did i wouldn't have played with them in the sandbox..smash the cars together like a monster truck show or give them real battle damage...sigh

 

Respoken for glorious emphasis!

Exactly what I was thinking, only thing I cared about was getting my little mitts on the next Autobot.

 

Anyone saying " Yes I knew " is a liar or just got a luckey guess. Many brands were just as big as Transformers but not as big as of today. Nobody thought SW would hit when that came out and look at that now.

It is always impossible to know what type of things that will be a small hit, a fly or a long term hit.

There is no one that bought a toy in the 80s and thought.." darn this is gping to be valueble one day I will keep it MISb and admire the unopend toy".

 

I was a 5yr old, so keeping toys MiSB wasn't a thought of mine or my parents. Aside from that, I guess I'm a liar or a lucky guesser   (see previous posts).

I did not expect TRANSFORMERS to have a revival with a movie franchise that would make it as nearly a big of a hit (or more) than G1, though. When the first movie was in production, I thought it would have a mediocre reception at best.

 

No one really could've known, because we were kids who just wanted our toys. That was all that mattered.  

 

It lasted longer than Masters of the Universe and until Beast Wars there were continously new Transformers toys on the shelves, it never died out. So even as a kid you had to be really stupid to not realize that Transformers was much bigger than everything else.

 

Well ... I do think Megan Fox's ass helped