In between "AVERAGE- the middle ground", and "LESS THAN AVERAGE- only a handful"

I only had 12.

-2 Jumpstarters
-3 Insecticons
-1 Targetmaster
-1 Seeker
-1 Leader
-2 Dinobots
-Blaster and Perceptor

I got more G2s than G1s in the 90s, before I started earning money to buy whatever I wanted after high school.

 

I wasn't spoiled at all, and my folks rarely bought toys for me. When I would ask for toys, the default response was always, "Can you EAT Transformers?" I really wanted the Super Powers Collection (Superfriends) figures, but never got any. I remember seeing them inside the Thrifty (now Rite-Aid) drug store and wishing as a kid as I came home from Jr. high school.

I remember getting Soundwave for my birthday one year and a NES system the next year, but that was about all. If it wasn't a special occasion, I really didn't get anything that I wanted, and was lucky to have clothes, really. When I turned 15, I got a job at the local flea market and started buying things for myself, but Transformers was a distant memory by then, and the only things I bought with my pay were designer clothes and video games.

Because I didn't have that many toys growing up, I have a TON now. In fact, I have a man cave FILLED with action figures and collectibles with Masterpiece Transformers highlighting my collection.

 

Our family was poor growing up. My parents did what they were suppose to do: put food on the table and clothes on our backs. Although they did "spoil" me as best they can; There was no financial room for things like toys and Jordans (which most of my friends had).
ENVY is a deadly sin... I grew up wanting all these things and more.

I'm doing OK for myself in the last 10 years. As such, I tried making up that void in my life by buying all the things I was not able to get as a kid. Mentally, I'm all screwed up when it comes to these things.
I've got major problems hoarding Jordans, Transformers, and Gundams.

That said, I love every minute of it. However, the bank account doesn't love me back..

 

I grew up in the 80's, one of the worst economic times in history. My parents were both on limited incomes due to health issues and then only on one income for a while. (They're both retired now.)

That said, my parents spoiled me rotten whenever they could. Whether it was out of love, out of trying to catch up, or a mix of both, they spoiled me rotten.

I was young, I didn't take good care of what I did get, which is a horrible shame. Something I regret to this day.

I'd say being spoiled taught me a valuable lesson and it does indeed affect my collecting.

I've learned that money is hard earned and not easy to come by.
I've learned to appreciate what I have, even though I'll always want more.
I've learned to let go of some to make room/ability to obtain others.
I've learned that love and care for such an expensive hobby is not only a good idea, but an absolute necessity. (We're not drug addicts. There's no point in buying these only to thrash them and waste them.)

It pushes me to complete lines, since I never did when I was a kid.
It pushes me to take extra care of them, since I never did when I was a kid.
It makes me realize I'm a blessed human being who has more than he deserves (we all do) and that each one is a pleasant surprise in a world full of horrible ones.

I think I could've been bitter about the whole thing and cried "Oh, woe is me!", but that serves nothing and I'm glad I didn't turn out that way. (Not judging others. Everyone's life is different and I know plenty of people had it even worse than I did, growing up, and we were homeless a couple of times!)

 

My parents did well and I was probably reasonably spoiled. I wasn't a brat or anything because NOTHING would stop the gravy train faster than that. I didn't get too many toys inbetween birthdays and holidays but every once in a while I'd get something special. Basically I had every Decepticon from the first 5 years of the G1 line and everything from MASK. After that, I'd get a few G.I.Joes here and there or somesuch.

I collect the MP line because it's ultimately what I always wanted, more articulated Transformers that looked like the ones on TV. I also collected the full run of Mattel's DC Universe Classics and currently collect Marvel Legends because, similar to the MPs, I wanted updated comic book characters with better articulation.

I can't wait until my toddlers are a little older so I can share some of these with them. Except for the MPs, those will be for me - if they still want them when they can care for their toys, I'll get them their own.

 

I did ok as a kid.
I never got Slave I, and always wanted it, but even though I built my own Millennium Falcon out of cardboard earlier, I got the real Millennium Falcon later one. I never got the AT-AT, but I did build my own. So I got some stuff, never got some other stuff. That was ok as me and my friends would always pool our resources together for make a pretty comprehensive imaginary universe. So, not spoiled, not neglected either. Never got Transformers - I was too old for it by then. At age 15 other stuff interests you.

I don't know if anything from my childhood influences me now. I am mostly immune to nostalgia. I was a Star Wars kid but I never sought out Star Wars toys as an adult. I am interested in Transformers now not because I was into it as a kid, I wasn't, but because they are really cool toys that exhibit a high degree of mastery of design and engineering, and are works of art. Those are things I am interested in.

 

I have to say the replies left in this thread are emotional to read. Many happy and sad posts. It's amazing the diversity of our backgrounds.

As a kid, I had an average upbringing. We never struggled massively, lived comfortably, but toy wise I had about the same amount of Transformers / toys as the rest of the neighborhood kids. I still talk to my Mom about the toys I had and the ones I DIDN'T have. When I was much younger, around Generation 2, we couldn't afford as many toys, so figures like Optimus Prime never made it into my collection. As we inched towards Armada I was able to receive more Transformers.

I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood and adopted a strong work ethic; I always knew I had to work and earn things, whether that be through actual labor or through staying out of trouble, excelling in school, etc.

As a parent now, I tend to instill that in my children as well. We're living comfortably and I'm happy to buy my kids toys and whatnot, but they need to earn it the same ways I did.

 

I didn't get too many toys as a kid (we lived frugally back then since both of my parents worked while our grandparents took care of me and my brother), but of those G1 figures I did get (like Wheeljack and Starscream, my favorite Bot and Con characters, respectively), I loved to death.

It broke me up that I lost my G1 Wheeljack on a family vacation to Epcot Center back in the 80's (I took WJ everywhere with me and he was so dinged and scratched up from his travels), and I was ecstatic when mah boy MP-20 Wheeljack was announced (promptly bought two of him for bot and alt mode, but then I always get two of each Masterpiece figure whose character showed up on-screen; MP Exhaust is the exception since I love the WJ mold that much).

I also own too many MP versions of Starscreams (two Takara MP-11's, two of the TRU Hasbro versions of the MP-11 mold, Takara MP-03 Greenscream, Takara White Walscream, if that tells you anything  ). Needless to say, the '86 animated movie where they killed off both WJ and SS really traumatized my then 8-year old mind and scarred me for life.

I'd say that my being deprived of all the cool stuff I saw (more like drooled over) in the toy aisles and catalogs of the 80's that I could never own (never did own G1 Optimus or Megatron as a kid, nor Soundwave), did lead me to overcompensate and be a bit of a completionist as an adult now. It's a habit I'm trying hard to break.

 

Majorly spoiled as a little one ... But never got any of the bigger bots/combiners outside of Powermaster Prime ... I was 4/5 yrs old during the last throws of G1 though, so I assume that played into it .... Horrible home life growing up so I guess that was my moms way of saying sorry ....

 

When I was a child, we led comfortable lives, although we certainly weren't 'rich'. By the end of 1986 I had Bumblebee, Skydive, Streetwise, Motormaster and, probably, one or two of the other Stunticons. At some point in 1987 I completed the Aerialbots and Stunticons. My parents also gave me a G1 Optimus for my birthday, possibly in 1988. It must have been one of the last they had in the toy shop, as nearly everything else had been replaced with headmasters and the like.

I continued collecting in 1988/1989. I generally only had the smaller Transformers, although my parents did buy me a few of the Powermasters and later Targetmasters.

When I look back, I am somewhat ashamed at having led (for lack of a better word) my parents to buy something as expensive as G1 OP. I wasn't really aware of how expensive he was, true, but I am sure they could have put the money to better use.

Perhaps I was spoiled, in a sense.

 

Was definitely was not spoiled but me and my older brother managed to save our lunch money every week and buy cool shit. Single mom was none the wiser..Although she would ask where all these toys were coming from.

In the 80's I mastered the art of removing and replacing price tag stickers. I'm not very proud of it today and would absolutely kill my children if they tried a stunt like this, but back then times were hard and I still have alot of those old toys still in my collection.

 

I'm only 15 and I've already plunged into my nostalgic phase.
Growing up, I gathered a small amount of Transformers from around 2007-2009. Deluxe RotF Bumblebee, Animated Jazz, the Ultimate Battle 2-pack. I found myself far preffering the Animated and G1 aesthetic to the movies as a kid.
Even after I felt I was "too old" to be getting Transformers, I still watched the G1 Cartoon and getting out my old collection. I didn't get back into it until I was walking down B and M bargains.
I saw Generations Sandstorm and Roadbuster at a stupidly low price.
Walked home with Sandstorm and my passion sparked again.
I guess I still count as a child, but before I hit this nostalgia wave, I only had a handful and I see what I'm buying and collecting now as doing a job I should've done way earlier, when the plastic was thicker and the engineering was spectacular.
I do have a paper round, so at least I earn the money I'm spending!

 

I had a friend that would do that. Since it was long before the laser price scanners, the cashiers would be none the wiser. I still joke with him that TRU changed their price tag stickers to the ones with the cuts in them, so they couldn't be easily removed.

To get most of my G1 Transformers, I had to go from door to door asking if the neighbors wanted their gardening done or their car washed. That's primarily how I earned my comic book money. I still have my G1 Soundwave, Grimlock, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Windcharger and Sunstreaker. The minibots are in decent condition, but everything else is thrashed from transforming hundreds of times. Someone from jr. high stole my Beachcomber, which was my favorite minibot... and I know who did it, just couldn't prove it.

For the most part, we (my sister and I) didn't get an allowance. It was either do the housework or get a whoopin'. My mom would put our names on the calendar signifying days that we had to do the dishes. I hated doing the dishes with a passion.

 

I was ridiculously spoiled, since my dad collected 1/6th scale action figures and still does, so he bought me any toy I would ask for. I literally can't look back on my childhood and remember a time where I didn't get what I wanted. As an adult (or late teen) it made me realize that material things don't really mean shit, this doesn't mean I don't still collect, it just showed me that there's more important things out there.

 

i was average. and when the TF's hit in late 1984 i wasn't allowed any because "we don't know if you're responsible enough to not destroy such an expensive toy." thankfully one of my sisters got me Gears and Huffer, and my brother got me some G.I. Joes and vehicles, and i did a temporary trade of some Joes for a friend's Optimus Prime. so by 1985 i was cleared for Transformers.

with my birthday in January i remember seeing Megatron and Soundwave and asking for them; my mom took note. and told me she went back after Christmas and found empty shelves, so i got a set dollar shopping spree at Toys 'r Us for my birthday instead, plus getting the Decepticon cassettes.

-

 

I fell under the very spoiled category. Being an only child made that easy, we weren't rich, my parents just spent their money unwisely, lol. It wasn't a complete waste as I kept my collection into adulthood and wound up selling much of it to pay bills and maintain my parents house after I inherited it. I had every single from 1984 and 1985, except one! Roadbuster...I've yet to see a G1 Road buster in person. I had 99% of the 1986 line, but after that the numbers dropped. I missed a handful in 1987 and 1988, but in 1989, being an 11 year old, interests began changing and the figures started changing for the worse...I missed a lot that year as well as the final year 1990. I had most of the Actionmasters simply because they were more cartoon accurate representations of early G1 characters I loved. I did pass on most of the Micromasters. I skipped G2 almost entirely except for maybe 5 or 6 figures, then that was it until RID 2001 brought me back into Transformers.

 

Back then I was the baby.....every time my dad took me to the store I managed to wrangle a robot. I promised I would mow the yard all summer and I got all the Combaticons at once. The first Christmas G1 was out I got a bunch....aND got to pick them out....I guess I was kinda spoiled, but lucky....

 

There are quite a few old tfers from my childhood that unfortunately I don't remember who gifted me. Really makes me feel a little guilty, as I don't want to take these toys for granted. I never learned the art of sending out thank you letters back then, and now I wish I had.

 

While it's incredibly decent of you to have regrets over this, shows you're a good person, it's more your parents fault than yours.

Kids don't know how to say thank you without being told/taught to. They certainly don't know how to write a thank you letter without being taught to.

That falls more on them, than you. Makes me sad to see it, too.