Murphy! It's you....

 

G2 Slingshot's remains are in a tiny baggie. Pretender Monsters Slog and Bristleback are safely tucked in their shells. Otherwise, most of my old, old TFs are okay.

 

None. I was not careful with my toys, and neither were my siblings.  

 

A few years ago I raided my parents' loft and found the few G1 toys that didn't get sold off in early 90s car boot sales





Damages in order from "walk it off" to "I think it's time to call a priest"

Octane: missing gun and tailplane (since replaced)​

Kickback decoy: paint marks
Sandstorm: leg slide too loose to stand up
Dreadwind: stress mark in tail root from attempting to transform him without the engine installed
Shackwave: severe glue bulges in gun arm and trigger (which also has thin metal reinforcements, I think paperclips), from where both got broken

Not pictured (not sure why I don't have him in the group picture)
Optimus Prime:
-- several accessories missing
-- broken smoke stacks from my dad dropping him. On two separate occasions
-- broken armature on repair bay pod (I think a friend did that)
-- broken launcher tab for Roller (fairly certain I did that one)
-- both tabs to hold the tail door closed are broken (me again, I think)
He really has seen better days, but I'll never get rid of him  

 

I recognize that Godzilla figure! I collected Godzilla as a kid until the 2007 TF live action movie came out. I was 8 years old when I got my first transformers toy: it was the 2007 movie leader class Optimus. The most damage done to it was one of the tabs snapped off the hood when I was learning to transform it.

Sadly I don't have anymore of my childhood transformers figures I held onto all of them for 10 years sitting in a tub of boxes as I grew out of the hobby in highschool. I got back into it in college and sold off all my old figures to make space and money to buy new ones.

 

My ex wife made me sell all of my toys circa 2012. From what I remember most were in relativity good shape. I always took care of my toys or else my parents wouldn't buy me anymore. I do remember G1 Prowl though being snapped in half by the waist and his roof snapped off.

 

I can’t believe you have the guns and connectors for the Stunticon limbs! And your Shackwave brings back memories. My great uncle ran a Radio Shack back then and gave my brother one. We didn’t realize at that time that he really is just a silver Shockwave...thought he was just a cheap KO (neither of us had ever seen or handled a real Shockwave). I wonder where this guy is now...

Hence the “ex”?  

My parents preemptively avoided buying us many TFs due to the perceived fragility...or so they claimed... They must have gotten that idea from TV or other parents, because we rarely ever broke ours...

 

When I was a teenager, I sold most of my toys at yard sales. I kept the following TF:

I threw out most of the missing weapons and accessories (Constructicon guns, Seeker ammo, Kickback's weapon) when I was a kid because I didn't want to be bothered keeping track of them. The question isn't "How did I lose one of Starscream's rear wings?", but "How did I manage to keep one?" I do have Seeker landing gear, though.

I did not lose Quake's other Targetmaster. I lost one of Needlenose's, and gave him Quake's so I could sell a complete figure.

Long Haul and Scrapper are each missing wheels. Long Haul needs a twist tie to keep Devastator upright. Hook's had a foot glued.

Starscream, Quake, and Kickback's stickers still look pretty good. Not sure what happened to Skywarp. Kickback's chrome is a bit yellowed at the edges, but is only noticable up close.

I didn't deliberately keep only Decepticons. I kept Dev as the most noteworthy combiner, Quake to have a something-Master. and Kickkback because he's shiny. I'd've kept Thundercracker, but I broke his tail fins off because the instructions said to remove them, but they were glued in place.

 

Was it this one?


Aside from loose limbs or sticker wear most of the my figures survived my childhood just fine. There are a few exceptions though.

G2 Jazz- Roof snapped clean off, pretty devastated as a kid but as an adult I found out it's a pretty common thing with Jazz and the Datsun bros.
G2 Hook- Very first con I ever got so he got a TON of play. Not sure when it happened but the hook to his crane was the first to break off. Didn't even realize it until much after the fact. Both arms snapped off about 2 weeks apart from each other. No idea why they just fused into play and young me thought brute force would be the answer............it twas not sadly. Yeah once the other Constructicons were assembled there was a lot of forming Devy, so much so poor Hook if you dangle him turns into a hula dancer.

Ironically I also have G2 Slingshot who received a ton of play yet never had anything negative happened to him due to GPS. Wasn't until much later when I was in high school that the poor lad started to crumble. Arms just fell off one day much to my shock and the tailfin didn't last much longer after that. Haven't checked him in years but his main body and wings were still intact last I checked.

 

Does attempted childhood modding count?

I made a few alterations to my toys to make them more toon-accurate. For example, I cut off the huge pegs behind Jazz's wings so you could fold them flat against his back. Actually doesn't look too bad.
I also used a pair of scissors to cut off the "struts" under Hot Rod's spoiler (that is, those bits hanging down that fit into the slots behind his legs). Again, doesn't look too bad considering how young I was, but definitely hurts the resale value  

Alas, poor Bumblebee.
 

 

Yes. It counts. You have pics??

 

Mine are in a box in storage.

A great many still intact, not weapons complete, but not missing body parts or vehicle parts.

Haven't looked at them in a long time. My skyfires are still intact.

 

The OG nemesis prime.

(Still pretty sturdy after all these years  )

 

I knew him, Jazz.

 

This is a really cool thread. Having basically zero of my own collection left, I enjoy the stories you're all sharing here.

 

Do you have any parts left (limbs, weapons, heads, etc.)? Sometimes those pics are even better.

 

None could survive the apocalypse.
Being thrown away...

 

This whole thread has me wondering how many TFs are now living in landfills...

 

I wish I had something to show that I could account for!

I mentioned this a couple of years ago when I was still new here, but I have almost nothing left of my original collection growing up. I went away to university, and I was left with the impression that the collection was stored some place in the house. I lost track of it, as one would expect. When I finally had the time to go looking, I was more than a little dismayed to find that my collection was a mere fraction of what it was, and of those pieces that remained, they were in much worse condition than I left them in. To say the least, I have wondered "what happened", and though I have thought darkly about the possibilities, the discovery is now decades behind me, and I've let it be.

There's a thread I read that was either on this site, or linked to on this site, regarding someone finding a G1 Snarl in the woods, and then cleaning it up. Great story!

 

As for your erstwhile collection, one can only hope the missing items and the deterioration of what remained were signs that someone else enjoyed them in your absence...and perhaps still are!

I recall reading about that Snarl as well. It reminded me of a toy police car I once buried in the back yard at my Grandparents' house (for reasons I can't recall); hopefully someone happens upon it one day.