was it a single toy which got you hooked? a cartoon episode which blew your young mind or maybe reading the comic got you started. Was there a single character which stood out and set you off on your journey to fandom? Why do you think this particular thing made such a big impression? whatever it was how do you feel about it now has your opinion changed? whatever it was lets reveal and share, its ok if it was wheelie we were all young and naive once we wont judge. im sorry if a thread for this already exists or has existed

for me I was born in 1984 so im too young to have experienced g1 first hand but my nan always used to get the episodes on VHS and the toys second hand from car boot sales and charity shops so alot of the toys I got were incomplete or in bad condition and I watched the episodes in a really random order. this time gap meant I was the only person around my age who was into them as its popularity was dead or in decline by then. the first thing I remember making a big impression was when I got a video which had the 2 parts of the key to vector sigma and war dawn on it and it quickly became an obsession after that and I wanted to know all about these characters and this world that it was set in. its not hard to say what it was about these episodes which got me addicted they had everything cruel villains like mensor and megatron, troubled and tragic heroes to root for like silverbolt, alpha trion and omega supreme and I still love those episodes today. what was your first experience?

 

I used to get my parents to record episodes to vhs in my youngin days. One episode I had other than the '86 movie was, well I don't know the episode name but it featured the autobots participating in a cross country race, the stunticons barging in on them, after this guy "Augie"? who had a special car. And something called "The Pearl of Bahoodine (spelling?)"

It got me hooked on the Stunticons, and somehow Smokescreen. the rest is history.

 

Seeing More Than Meets The Eye the day it aired.

 

I was born in 1981 so I was three when Transformers started. It wasn't until I was five or six that I got into Transformers.

It was the toys first I believe, although I can't remember which was my first. I remember renting Arrival from Cybertron from the videoshop as a kid and being amazed by it. But I think I had already watched some episodes on TV by that point.

 

This, plus commercials.

 

Watched all of armada and energon between ages of 6-7. I wasn't old enough totell how badly they were dubbed. Never learnt of the toys until Cybertron. Been obsessed ever since

 

TF1. Great movie and is still my favorite of the three.

 

Robo Machine.

In 1983.

 

R.I.D while watching a new Kids Network that just started up in 2001

 

It was just the fact that I'd never seen anything like it before. Cars that turn into robots? WOAH!

 

I was at my childminders (think I was 7 or 8) and wanted to watch the MLP movie, but then some boys (who I remember as being total jerks) came in and switched the channel to Armada. After I was done whining, I just watched the episode and thought it was the most awesome thing I had seen. Kind of grew out of it when Armada finished and I hated Energon, so it wasn't until the 2007 film that I really got back into it

 

Child of the 80s, and like most other kids during that time, watched a lot of it on TV and bought a bunch of em during my visit to the toy stores. Its kind of funny, but I actually had a lot more GI Joes then, but somehow, watching the original animated movie again when I was older and catching the Japanese series around that time, I became more of a TF fan in the long run.

 

I lived in Arizona in the early 80s. They where airing Rick hunter era episodes of robotech and back then you could find foreign toys cheap, that's just how it was. When transformers came out I was not liking the prices but decepticons are more fun than invid.

 

I can't really remember but pretty sure it was the original G1 toys. Then the cartoon and comics on top of that.

Was born in 77 so feel priveliged to be there at the start

 

Exact same situation for me. I was born in 81 as well. My cousin who's about six years older than me got me into He-Man first, and then Transformers after. So I would guess that I got into Transformers in like 1986. Probably around 1987 or so, he would've been around 12 years old. I was lucky enough to inherit his Transformers collection. So most of the 1984 and 85 line toys that I had were his. The toys that I had gotten new were ones from the 86 line and on.

 

I remember well! It was looking at the Argos catalogue (UK Catalogue shop) and seeing the two page spread selling the first wave of G1... ..being blown away by the concept of the toys, asking my parents to buy me one for my birthday, and my sister saying "Transformers? They`re a load of crap I saw the cartoon yesterday.."

"WHAT!? Theres a Cartoon?!?!?!"

.. the rest is history.. .. that may or may not have been raped by Michael Bay 25 years later...  

 

I see that most of you have been collectors, or at least into Transformers since you were a kid. I loved the cartoon and the few toys I had as a kid, but after that girls and being cool got in the way.

Cut to the part where I'm living on the other side to the country, after having done some backpacking through central China and enrolled in college. Did two years and traveled back to China. It was over two years before I came back... with a few KO 80s Transformers of toys I've never seen the real versions of. But I still wasn't collecting.

Up to this point, and even still, I live a very simple life. Few possessions, simple home, simple enjoyments. I was not in the mindset to treat myself to 'unnecessary' possessions, and acquire 'stuff'.

Anyhow, my story could take a while... I'll abridge a bit. After school, it was Vancouver to PEI to Taiwan to Vancouver to China to Vancouver to Taiwan to Vancouver to PEI to Taiwan, where I am now. And lots more moving before that. 4 times living in China (with traveling to every province, as well as to Mongolia, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore from there), 3 times to Taiwan (with travels throughout Southeast Asia).

The 3rd time in China I bought a lot of KOs, and when I went back to Vancouver the Classics line was just starting. As I said, I never treated myself to such things, but my GF convinced me to get the first four, Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Starscream, and Astrotrain.

It was an obsessive search for TF knowledge and subsequent search for any TF toy I thought looked cool after that. It was rad. The last time I went to China, I collected like a mofo -- usually taking my computer around to compare photos, watching out for fakes. There are a LOT of fakes around, and I'm sure most people have no idea (at the time I didn't know any better but I should have photogged the fakes, most of which have subtle revealing variations that I have never seen documented). Anyway -- Now I have boxes full of well over 1000 (authentic) goodies!

And this community right here has been a rad source of relaxing and amusement. Thanks fellow enthusiasts, jokesters, artists, trolls, mods, the young, the old, the wise, and the daft.

 

Trip's to NYC's China Town and finfing Pre-transformers known as Diaclone.

I had bought a few when the owner of the store showed me some info that Hasbro bought the rights and was putting out a line of toys

 

That's easy; seeing as I was born in 1989 I missed out on the great hoopla that was the 80's, but fell in love with it later as my dad was a huge fan. He had recorded most of the series, and the first episode I witnessed was the origins of the Aerialbots. Since then I have loved Superion and the Transformers.

 

My friends at school had the COOLEST toy cars and jets and they turned into robots! I borrowed one to bring home in the fall of 1985: Bonecrusher. He was such a bad little dude you could play with in both modes. As a bulldozer you could pretend you were knocking down buildings and stuff, because he was a bad guy.

My mom and dad hooked me up that Christmas and I've been a fan ever since!