G1 Megatron for me. His release in the UK wasn't for too long (he was delayed til 85 I think) so I only ever saw one once as a kid when another kid had one at school. Skip to the early 2000s, when vintage G1 was super expensive and even a junker commanded huge money. Megs is still out of the question. Too expensive for one in even reasonable condition. Then takara release the TFC 06 megatron reissue. And my LCS has one in stock, but guess what STILL too expensive (£120 if i remember)... so, every time i pass there I go in and look at it. Hoping someone hasn't bought it, but not able to get it. I was a student, I had no money! After about 2 months of this the dude who runs the shop says "hey you really wnt that don't you?" I say yeah, but simply can't afford it. "how much money have you got on you?" he asks £40 I reply (about my weeks living costs at the time) "Its yours for £40 then" deal I say.

One of the nicest gestures a stranger has ever made to me.

 

It was 1987. G1 Trypticon was never available anywhere in my town that I could find. However, word on the grapevine was that it was available in the largest city on the continent. Much good it did me - I was two thousand miles away.

And then my family decided they were going to tour the country. For six months. In a second-hand van and tiny caravan.

This, to me, was pretty much akin to ultimate horror. Stuck in a dusty old van, no air conditioning, driving endlessly down bumpy country roads? No TV? No computer? No books, no nearby CBD, no toy collection? For HALF a YEAR?

Only... we were going to pass through all the mainland state capitals. And with nothing to spend money on for those months (and not dipping into my meager savings), I might just about be able to afford Trypticon by the time we got to where he was being sold.

So I packed my copy of US #27, and got in the van.

Three and a half months of choking on dust, getting far too close to native wildlife, and hating life in general and everyone in it in particular, we arrived in the big city. Because of all the other things my folks had preplanned, though, I had precisely one day to go shopping. I would scour every toy shop, every department store, every seller of cheap plastic crack for kids!

...Trypticon was sold out. I didn't find him. Anywhere.

So at the end of the day, I had to get back in the van for another ten weeks, cooped up in a tin can with my family as we slowly drove the two thousand miles back home.

The worst part is that in the intervening two and a half decades, my toy standards have risen and risen again, to the point where I wouldn't buy a reissue, and probably not even a yard-sale original (unless it came with absolutely every single last accessory). The window of opportunity for me to truly enjoy playing with a G1 Trypticon has closed. The only thing I can do is hope that a modern homage will turn up; one as fully awesome as the original was to my much younger self.

 

I was five years old, and out with my grandfather at a toy store. He had bought me Thunderwing, and we were on our way out when I saw Overlord sitting on top of a stack of other TFs. As tempting as that looked, I figured asking Granddad to hock out more cash would have been a dick move, my status as favorite grandson be damned. Next time, I thought. Only there wasn't a next time.

Deep down, I think he probably would have agreed to buy me Overlord, too. Granddad really spoiled back then; he always did, actually. But yeah.

 

1991, and I was 9 at that time. I remember seeing Road Caesar on the shelves, together with Scorponok and Fort MAx. While I know that it was utterly impossible to snatch those two big guys, I know I was able to persuade my mum to get the trio car bots.

Eventually, my mum was too engrossed with her own shopping that time , that we had to abandon the plan and later forgot about it that day . A few days later, we went back to the store, only that Road Caesar nowhere to be found. Fort Max was there, but with that price tag, I was only able to salivate. Reality checks in fast for a 9 year old apparently

 

I could have gotten G1 Megatron at Wilsons as a child. Perhaps around 10 yos.

 

My dad once told me I could buy Fortress Maximus if I could carry him back home. I was like 8 then, couldn't do it. Ah those were the days. I should have settled for the Autobot Clones, but went for something else that I can't remember anymore.

 

Pretender Otco Punch, had to choose between him and Longtooth. We all know how it goes of parents saying you need to make a desicion.

 

G1 Sunstreaker, ended up getting siren or a pretender instead  

 

G1 Prime. My mom couldn't afford it. We grew up pretty poor.

 

Another vote for Megatron.

The desire to own the toy has long since been responded to.......but in retrospect the 'rationale' the EXCUSES my folks used to keep me from getting it were absolutely moronic.

 

G1 Ratbat 2pack.

This is seriously a verbatim conversation:

Mom: don't you already have that other guy?
Me: but I don't have Ratbat! I could give the spare Frenzy to my sister!
Mom: she has her Bumblebee and that's enough for her. She doesn't need to get into Transformers.
Me: but I could trade him to a friend!
Mom: no, the last time you traded you traded some valuable baseball cards for all those Decepticon animals [i.e., Predaking].

EDIT: my mom undid that trade. Now I have worthless (to me) baseball cards from the early 80s. And no Predaking. Or Ratbat.

 

At least she keeps track of your collection! Also hated when I was at K-Mart with my parents, I saw Classics voyager Prime and my dad always spent money for my TFs during those times but said no this time. I never saw it again and it's the same case with Classics Jetfire.

 

Did you guy's ever get this tossed in your face?

"Which one do you want, this one? Or that one?"

Oh come on Mom, or Dad. The answer is always both! LOL!

I don't think I've had a missed TF experience though cause most of the time I had friends that I'd trade/borrow from and that satisfied the need for the moment.

 

RID Prowl over Energon Prowl but on the other hand i would have broken him easily.

 

Two for me: Armada Unicron or the rest of RID Build Team (I only have wedge)

 

Beast wars Optimus primal. Always wanted him but never got him but I got robot masters beast convoy and I am glad I did.

 

A couple of weeks before Christmas 1987 and I was 7 years old at the time. I was fortunate enough that my parents were ok for money, not rich but not struggling either, and they knew I wanted G1 Scorponok for my main Christmas present. So I'm hunting around my house for any Christmas presents and in the cupboard in the spare bedroom I find G1 Scorponok and I'm so excited... but don't say anything to my parents. After a couple of days my excitement faded and being a child who changed his mind all the time I tell my mum that I don't want Scorponok any more and want the Supernaturals 'Tomb of Doom' instead. So she takes Scorponok back to the store and on Christmas morning I open the 'Tomb of Doom' and a bunch of Supernaturals figures and right then I knew I'd made a mistake. To this day I have no idea why I changed my mind, but I learnt a valuable lesson: when I have kids I'm going to hide their Christmas presents a lot better than my parents hid mine!

 

Beast Wars Scorponok. The one I bought on eBay 15 years later still doesn't make me get over it. I was so stupid to pick Polar Claw over Scorponok at the last second

 

Dude... I'm... I'm sorry, but I find this fucking hilarious.

Hilarious enough to prepare this.

 

Can I upload this to Memebase?