On a similar note, me and one of my cousins once were playing with toy soldiers in his backyard. We beheaded several, whilst playing with them in the mud. Me and my cousin still think those toy soldiers may still be buried back there.

 

You ought to try pinpointing the spot and screen through some of the soil. Post pics of the heads.

 

My collection mostly died at the hands of a younger brother but my parents are moving right now and my dad found a G1 Grimlock and Razorclaw so far. I know that G2 Megatron, G2 Sideswipe, possibly some Constructions (G2) and a very incomplete PM Optimus are possibly floating around. Won't know until they go through the storage unit. And none of these are complete in anyway.

 

I don't have any of my G1 Transformers. Somewhere along the way in high school, I decided I was too cool to be playing with kids toys, so I traded them all to a neighbor for who knows what.

I can't even remember what I did with my Matchbox Voltron or any of the other great toys I had.

 

Here are what I call "The Original 12" - the twelve Transformers (out of about 36) that survived my childhood:



A brief oral history of each follows:

1. G1 Thundercracker - purchased from Van Leunens (a local store) in 1984

My first Transformer. My dad bought him for me - I remember it like yesterday. I went to the store looking for Soundwave but found Thundercracker instead. The fuselage (including the chewed up nose cone) is all that remains from the original.

2. G1 Soundwave - got from Santa (Christmas 1984)



Santa was on the ball that year. I'm glad that he was able to find one. Soundwave is the one (and only) childhood Transformer that I have not had to fix as an adult. He is alive and kicking. The accessories (and most of his stickers) are long gone though. He now resides in an original G1 box inside an acrylic case bought from AFA. Frank Welker (the G1 voice of Soundwave) held my Soundwave at one point and signed the acrylic case for me.

3. G1 Prowl - also got from Santa (Christmas 1984)

I remember playing with my Prowl on our staircase one day. He fell down about 5 or so steps and his roof broke off. I vowed that I would fix him some day. Years later, I gave him a new roof from a re-issue Prowl. Promise kept.

4. G1 Ravage (inside my Soundwave) - purchased at Van Leunens

Ravage was actually my older brother's Transformer. I have since adopted him and he now belongs to me.

5. G1 Shockwave - purchased at Van Leunens in 1985

Shockwave is a bit of a Frankenstein these days. Several parts of him broke over the years so I eventually bought a junker to fix him up. I'd say he is about 50% original parts and 50% resourced (not original) parts. The sound still works, the light sadly does not.

6. G1 Grimlock - purchased from Swallens (another local store) and given to me by the Easter Bunny in 1985

Grimlock was the Transformer that I wanted the most out of any Transformer as a kid. The minute that I saw him on the cartoon I knew that I had to have him. He was a badass T.Rex that turned into a robot - how could you not want him? It took me a long time to find him (at least it seemed so to me). A friend of mine found the Dinobots at a local Service Merchandise store and told me about it - this was probably the first time that I received a "toy sighting". I immediatley told my dad about it (and to my surprise) he took me to a Service Merchandise to look for Grimlock (again - probably my first "hunt" for a Transformer). However, we went to the wrong store location and Grimlock was nowhere to be found. I eventually got Grimlock at Easter and he has been a favorite ever since. Over the years, I have always kept him close by in my desk drawer so that he wouldn't get broken. However, my older brother once took Grimlock from me and threw him across our concrete basement floor. One half of his tail broke off which I fixed many years later.

7. G1 Slag - purchased from Swallens (along with Grimlock) in 1986

One of his legs broke off due to the tight transformation with his tail piece. I fixed him years later with a junker.

8. G1 Overdrive - mail away

The roof is not original but everyhting else is. Floppy as hell.

9. G1 Hoist - bought from a Sears in Chicago in 1985

My mom bought this for me as a "souvenier" from her trip to Chicago. She actually bought Trailbreaker and Hoist. My younger brother was supposed to get the Trailbreaker - but he wanted the Hoist. I wanted Hoist because I already had Trailbreaker. I won and he lost.

10. G1 Beachcomber - one of the few Transformers that I'm not sure what store we got him from

This guy was lost for a LONG time. After many searches, I finally found him (sans tires) in our attic many years later. That was a great day. He has since got his tires back.

11. G1 Astrotrain - purchased from Van Leunens in 1985

I vividly remember the day that I found Astrotrain. I knew next to nothing about the Triple Changers at the time. When I saw him sitting on the shelf in shuttle mode, I HAD to have him - I was huge into anything space related (especially the shuttle program) at the time. When I examined Astrotrain's box further, I noticed that he was a Triple Changer (what the heck?!) and that his other mode was a train (I was also huge into model trains at the time). It was as if Hasbro specifically designed and made Astrotrain for me. There was no way that I was going to leave the store without him. Fortunately, my mom agreed and got him for me. Over the years, I have had to replace a pin but everything else is original. He is probably my favorite Transformer currently (Grimlock, Soundwave and Thundercracker are right up there with him though).

12. G1 Skydive - purchased from Van Leunens in 1986

There is a reason why I only have roughly one third of my original Transformer toys. Some broke and were thrown away (I'm looking at you Mirage). Some were given away by my mom. However, a good chunk of them were sold at a garage sale. What did I do with the proceeds from selling my Transformers at a garage sale? I bought Skydive of course. Yep. I sold probably five or six Transformers in order to buy one. If only I could go back in time and hit myself upside the head...

Looking back on it, I feel really fortunate to get the Transformers that I had. It was fun getting these guys out of storage and handling/taking pictures of them! Thanks for indulging me!

 

You are welcome, and thanks for the stories surrounding all of them. As a Cincinnati kid, I totally remember Van Leunens...that name brings back some memories. I never got any TFs there, but Mom probably bought half of my other childhood toys from that place.

 

Van Leunens rocked! I have a couple of G1 boxes with Van Leunens stickers on them - I'm always on the lookout for more!

 

I don’t know what part of town you grew up in, but Johnny’s Toys in Milford was my favorite. I’d love to have something with a Johnny’s sticker on it.

 

West Side = Best Side!

Johnny's was cool too - I took my birthday key to the Johnny's Toys castle off of Winton Rd.

 

lol...it didn't feel like my birthday until my castle key showed up in the mail. Funny story, I didn't realize until a bit later in life that there was actually more than one Johnny's location. The Winton location was the last Johnny's I visited (it might have even been the last one to close...can't quite remember).

 

My peepee.

Chromedome. First tf ever and still with me in it's still completely functional form but with one broken arm on Stylor.
None of the others made it. I would push unofficial 3rd, 4th and x# modes too far.

 

i can't wait to get into my G1 guys this weekend to get photos.

Galvatron - tripped at a friend's house a week after i got him for christmas 1987, hit concrete stairs, lost an arm. i retconned it that upgraded Powermaster Prime defeated him, captured him, and when he broke out he was so insane he went on with one arm instead of being repaired.

Apeface - the gun's pistol grip broke off on the side mount; one of the ape arms fell off the ratchet joint but still kind of fits in the slot, loose, the headmaster's screw fell out after a kid in my 2nd grade class stole the head over the weekend and has been held in place with toothpicks about 22 years, faded stickers...total badass.

-

 

I see what you did there...mine survived as well...somehow.  

Great backstories...need to see pic of toothpicks in Apeface...

 

I would consider that, but they moved, so we no longer have access. I do have some other broken toy soldiers elsewhere. I'll see if I can dig 'em out.

I found some, and I have more elsewhere. Yes, that is an arm in some pictures. I distinctly remember my dog chewing up a machine gunner, which I kept.

 

Go back anyway and start digging...tell the new owners you're just looking for body parts.  

 

Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I remember looking at a Robotech Alpha on display and not being able to convince my parents to buy it for me.

 

It would technically be the truth... right? 

 

Precisely!

 

Maybe I should pull out a shovel and a mesh screen.

 

Nice to see toys that were clearly well loved.   Aside from a few I've sold over the years I still have a fair few of my original childhood collection and was one of those children who tried to keep their toys reasonably intact. Poor old Optimus was the only one to suffer any truly catastrophic damage (I still have the pieces somewhere though  ).

Brawn here began everything in the summer of '84...



Plenty more can still be found in my cupboard along with toys from other franchises, some examples below...

Spoiler