Your first ever Transformers toy

[The Doctor]

I must have Gunrunner too!

-Ralph

[Deleted]

What was the first Transformer toy you ever bought by yourself? ie not as a gift from someone, but you paid for it with your own money

Mine was probabaly TM Rattrap and TM Rhinox (Bought them both at the same time)

[Hero]

If Birthday money counts I'd say Red Bumblebee and Gears.

In terms of pocket money, it was Beachcomber whilst on holiday on the Isle of Wight.

===KEN

[Bogatan]

The first I remember were Kup and Hardhead. It was birthday money and there was too much choice.

Andy

[blueshift]

It was one of the Aerialbots, from ASDA. I'd had Silverbolt since I was like, 4 years old and would stare at the instructions for Superion like some impossible dream. Then as I got more pocket money (and inspired by the Perchance to Dream Superion vs Menasor issue) I saved up and got another Aerialbot every few weeks. Then I saved up for all the Stunticons. I still remember counting the money for Motormaster - my parents let me have their jar of loose change to add towards the final amount.

It does make me sad nowadays that toys are on the shelves for only weeks at a time before being replaced by new stock, never to return. I guess it is a consequence of our faster paced information-age society

[Dezzeh]

The first Tf I bought was Scrapper, from Wollies in Southampton. The first I bought for serious money was Deszaras which cost me £150 about 10 years ago..

[Dark Stranger]

Scrapper, Long Haul and Ravage / Rumble for £1.99 each in Wellworths shop in 94/95 or so. They were the ones with the little Chinese sticker at the top of the card.

Utter bargain, but it took me several years to find a Hook to make Devastator!!

[The Doctor]

Sept 11, 2009 8:45:51 GMT blueshift said:

It does make me sad nowadays that toys are on the shelves for only weeks at a time before being replaced by new stock, never to return.

I've ranted about this before. It does annoy me. Makes it harder for kids to get favourite characters/toys.

My first Transformer was Seaspray, though I can't recall whether it was a present or purchased with pocket money.

-Ralph

[Cullen]

I think the first was Hubcap but can't remember clearly. The first boxed TF I bought with my own cash was definitely Sludge. I've got vivid memories of that happy day! It seemed like I'd saved my pocket money forever to get him.

[Hero]

Is that the same Sludge pictured in your Facebook gallery?

===KEN

[blueshift]

Sept 11, 2009 9:33:39 GMT The Doctor said:

I've ranted about this before. It does annoy me. Makes it harder for kids to get favourite characters/toys.

I can see why though. In pre-internet days, the first we knew about things was from cross-sells on the back of packaging and pack-in leaflets. I imagine the cost of making new molds was more expensive too, due to technology. Also people had less money to spend on new stuff.

Nowadays everything is NEW NEW NEW and people constantly want new stuff, and get bored quickly with old product. It is only rarely that something gets rotated back INTO an assortment (was... Animated Bumblebee the only figure that got rotated back in without being repainted? I can't remember).

[grahamthomson]

It seems like a sign of the times, I'm afraid. Same with everything of a commercial nature really. Look at films, albums and singles... endless pre-release hype just to get a high new entry in the charts, then let it fade away.

Nothing ever seems to climb up the zeitgeist of its own merits any more.

[Cullen]

Sept 11, 2009 9:42:46 GMT Hero said:

Is that the same Sludge pictured in your Facebook gallery?

===KEN

It most certainly is, complete with box.

[Dark Stranger]

Just on the whole short shelf life thing, what happens to those toys that get returned to the manufacturer? Are they sold to discount stores?

[blueshift]

DO unsold toys get returned to the manufacturer? I can't imagine Hasbro operating on a sale-or-return basis?

[Deleted]

Because I never brought a new TF toy until about five or six years ago my first actual toy was a broken second-hand Optimus Prime I got at a jumble sale about 17 or 18 years ago. It was still in its box and I thought it was a bargain at only £1 but when I got it home I discovered that both of its legs had been broken off at the waist and the toy had been carefully put back in its box to make it look like nothing was wrong with it.

At around the same time I managed to pick up the leader of the Gobots (Leader 1 I think his name was) at a jumble sale for about £1 also. Neither of these toys are in my possesion at the moment because they were thrown away after only a short time in my house by my parents.

[Bogatan]

Stuff produced but not sold to shops I suppose ends up at discount stores such as Home Bargains.

I also cant imagine Hasbro taking back unsold stock, but possibly bigger stores like Asda or TRU have arrangements with discount stores to dispose of stock. But judging by Tesco especially, most stock is left till it sells even if that means being reduced to next to nothing.

As a last resort it wouldn't surprise me to find somewhere a land fill of Optimus Minors. I know thats where a lot of video tapes ended up in the US.

Andy

[dyrl]

I think the first one I bought with my own money was Hook. I remember I couldn't for the life of me transform him and we had to go back to the shop I got it at and ask the owner to show us. My mom probably figured it was a dud. Thankfully, he demonstrated the ultra hard transformation...

Speaking of which - am I the only one who remembers thinking how utterly complex the early 84 line of toys was?

I remember getting "classics" (G1) Jazz in 92 or 91 - it was my first G1 Jazz. I never really had the 84 line at all because my folks couldn't afford them when I was little. I only started getting TFs later - like in 88 and onwards - and those were more "kid friendly"...

Anyways - I got G1 Jazz and it was so delicate and far more complex than the later ones - and I remember thinking...now that's how Transformers should be! Wow!

I was pretty amazed.

Pete

[legios]

If we are including things bought with Christmas money on the list then the first one I bought was my first Transformer - Skywarp. I guess I was setting a pattern for an interest in aircraft mecha right out of the gate.

Karl

[Shockprowl]

My first were also my actual first as well: Brawn and Skids. Ahhhhhhh.

[Shockprowl]

When you were Piglet sized, or a bit larger, what TF, gift or purchoose, meant the most to you?


Mine is, yep you've guest it, my first Prowl. I already had a decent selection of Autobots and Decepticons, and, after watching the cartoon etc, had been drawn to the police car one. I then learnt a bit about him, Military Strategist ("What's a Military Strategist, Dad?"), logical ("What's logic, Dad?"), and I liked him even more.

I forget the details, but my brother, also into TFs, had had something like an unpleasant trip to the dentists or something, and our Mother got him a Wheeljack, a character he had been interested in, and they had got for me- PROWL. I was over the moon!

I can actually remember opening him and transforming him quite clearly! My bro and I sitting side by side both opening our most desired toys! But it was when I read that Prowl's rank was a huge 9 that I was most pleased! My brother and I had guessed he would have been a 7 or 8. 9 made him second in command! I was a very happy little boy.

[dyrl]

Hm.

Well - I don't have any "one" purchase that meant the most to me, because when I was a kid, I remember that by 1990, when Transformers were off the toy shelves and dying out pretty much, my collection was up to 13 figures - from ALL of the lines 84 through 1989. My pride and joy was Powermaster Optimus Prime (Christmas present), and besides that I had Quake, Spinister, Scoop, Scrapper, Scavenger, Tantrum, Rampage....I think Slag... Topspin, Huffer...and that's about it...maybe Mindwipe too....

Anyways... when I moved to Poland, I remember purchasing G1 Megatron MISB in a toy store. Then later I got Protectobot Firstaid. Those were special, special days. I also remember getting Frenzy and Ratbat Mint on Card. Mixmaster...

I remember I was going to buy and MISB Prowl, and decided to save the money instead. Then I walked out of the toy store and got mugged (the one and only time in my life when a bunch of thugs ganged up on me and mugged me). Man was I MAD. I reasoned that if I'd just bought that Prowl instead of saving my money, they wouldn't have had anything to steal from me - they would have seen my wallet was empty ...

Anyways...

The point is - before the 90s, during the 80s, given that by 1990 my collection was 13 Transformers, that means I got on average 2 or 3 Transformers per year up to that point.

This basically meant that EVERY purchase was like the Second Coming

I remember, for example, getting Insecticon Kick back. I was shopping my my mum for a birthday present for a friend. And apparently Kickback was quite the Shelfwarmer back then because my friend happened to have gotten me one later for MY Birthday as well..

Oh - and Nosecone - I do remember getting Nosecone on another Birthday...

Hm...what else?

Supposedly my very first Transformer that my mum got me was Ratchet. SHE remembers him because she was fond of his ambulance mode. I can't remember ever owning him till I got my Encore version...but...maybe my memory doesn't stretch that far back.

Devastator giftset had to be the most hotly anticipated though

Oh - and GALVATRON!

How could I forget getting Galvatron? My cat swiftly crawled into his box after I took him out

Pete

[Gav]

My fondest TF as a child was definitely Ultra Magnus. Not only was the combination of the Truck/Trailer something I hadn't seen before - but I could use the white cab as a 'Ghost of Optimus Prime', as I'm sure many people did.

Powermaster Prime comes in a close second - I remember losing his head once, and my mum wrote to Hasbro for a replacement- which they sent free of charge apparently. Good times.

Special mention to Snaptrap - There was a point where he came everywhere with me as a kid.

[Bogatan]

Hmmm. Streetwise, Recieved on my first day of Transformer goodness. Remained at large for the next 13 years. Literally. One of the few never to go back in a box. Even when all my TFs got packed up Streetwise remained on vigil. Along with...

Gears. Given to me by a friend from school. First minibot I owned and must have got it around the time Gears starred in a story in one of the annuals (or at least when I got the annual) because he got to be a favourite, wheel broke of and Dad fixed it (only TF ever to be properly repaired using superglue) and from 96 took it on holiday with me more often than not for over a decade.

I got Thundercracker from another friend and because it was wingless and then as now I like making things I made various cardboard wings for him. Also my first Strike Plane. TC remained my favourite jet and probably explains my love of Actionmaster TC.

Long armed yellow micromaster car whose name I can never remember. No idea why but in one of the more epic battles he single handedly took down Scorponok, so I must have liked him.

Constructicons for previously posted reasons.

Powermaster Optimus Prime, Not so much for the toy but for the excitement when my Mum told me At Cost had a Prime. I'd missed out on the original. I still remember the excitement as Mum told me it was a new version and my imagination going wild about what it might be/do. And I don't think I was disappointed when I got it, Hi-Q was great too.

The excitement of the classics, I had non of the Autobot cars, Prime or the triplechangers so the unexpected joy of suddenly finding them in the shops was a little overwhelming. Though on discovery of this hoard of TF joy the first thing I did was get my parents to ask if they had Bumblebee. They didnt so I got Prowl and Wheeljack (which were so complexed and heavy). Of course Woolworths came to my rescue a few months or the next year.

Honestly couldn't narrow it down more than that. The 5 years between age 5-10 are a life time, pinning down 1 transformer that remained a favourite for the entire time just isn't possible. I haven't even covered Micro and actionmasters properly. Mum took my brother and I with her when the car needed a service/MOT and while we waited we went to At Cost and I got AM Sideswipe and Mat got Bombshell then went to Granny and Grandads and opened them there. Both those and Powerflash went on to be long term favourites.

too... many... toys.

Andy

[Hero]

Sideswipe all the way. If you've seen my short film Fitting IN, you'll see why.

===KEN

[Shockprowl]

Aw, brilliant stories! I love stuff like this.

[Dezzeh]

I was an only child, with a step-brother, so whilst my mum and step-dad treated us equally, my grandparents always spoilt me rotten when it came to things like birthdays. They knew I loved TF's so I always got quite a few.
The one that always sticks in my mind most is Slugslinger, I had no idea I was getting it, usually I was asked if there was any I particularly wanted, but I had never seen this in a shop, and I hadnt seen the Rebirth by then.
I wake up one Xmas morning, my Grandad (sadly gone now) was up even before me, had laid out all my presents on the sofa, and there, at the back sat this gloriously wrapped Slugslinger. It was a target master, he had a buddy, that turned into a GUN! OMG it was awesome.
I took this guy everywhere with me, it never left my sight.
Then one day, my brother decided he would see if it could fly. Curse him!
It took me several years to find a new one, managed to pick it up at a boot sale Good times.

[Deleted]

I don't remember alot of my childhood, so i couldn't really say. I don't think I have one that I like above all others in my collection, I might be able to do a top ten of my current figures, but that's about it

[Philip Ayres]

Lots of love for PM OP here - have you read my review ?

[Shockprowl]

Brawn and Skids. Purchased as birthday presents in 1984.


At Christmas, a couple of weeks later, I received Ramjet and Megatron. And I was hooked.