I grew up watching G1 on Saturday mornings and had that trojan horse Devastator book, and while I really enjoyed it and the Erector I was given at some point, it was pretty well just another show of many to me in childhood.
I missed the entire beast wars era, and only really got back into watching TFs at all when Armada started airing. But I didnt start collecting or getting into all the older media until rewatching Robotech got me into Valkyries and by extension Jetfire. After that I was hooked.

 

My first exposure to transformers was with a few episodes of transformers cybertron. But I was little kid an I didn't remember it. Then bayformers and transformers animated. But it never captured me. Bayformers was cringe at best and transformers animated was kinda good. I became a fan when transformers prime aired. It's what made me a fan and looking back at its predecessors and successors, it's easily the best show

 

1984. I had a few toys before the television show debuted. I became disinterested with the show after the ‘86 movie, and stopped collecting the toys during the ‘87 wave.

My interest picked back up when my first son started watching Animated, and continued when my second son got into TFP. I’ve been collecting MP/3P for several years, but my interest in the recent cartoons has been lukewarm at best, and I dislike all of the movies (to the point of revulsion in some cases) other than Bumblebee, which was ok.

Honestly, G1 stuff is really all that keeps me into the genre, mainly through collecting. I’ve stopped buying Takara MP releases because of the animation-style focus, and if the 3P companies follow suit, I’m probably done. The WFC toys are great, but I don’t collect because of self-imposed space/budget restrictions. The Seige cartoon was a letdown. Lots of potential, largely squandered.

I, too am pretty convinced that time accelerates as we get older. You're a youngster in my book, though. If there was a 13-year old in that theater during your attendance of TFTM yelling "someone shut that crying kid up!", it may have been me.

Seriously, though, the spectrum of age in this fandom is what lends it so much variety. We're heavily influenced by the version of TF introduced to us as kids. I know absolutely that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool geewunner, even though I've tried to branch out. My interest is also heavily influenced by the fact that I started collecting the toys before the show came out, so I'm much more grounded in the figures and their bios than the cartoon itself. I warmed up to Animated and Prime through my kids, but Beast Wars, Armada, Cybertron, RID, etc. are never going to feel like part of TF canon in my head. Then there's Bayverse, which I don't even think of as Transformers. It's just... something else, and it's completely unpalatable to me.

So yeah-- there are some some greyhairs on here, and some that maybe haven't hit their teens yet. It's interesting.

 

Since my mom started buying me Beast Wars figures and then I saw the show and got hooked

 

Like since I was 5 or something

 

Since I was about 4 years old back in 1985 or so. My first Transformer (that I can remember) was G1 Optimus Prime that my grandparents bought me from the local K-Mart. I have been hooked ever since.

 

Since however long ago it was 1984.