What were you doing when Transformers came out?

[GoktimusPrime]

i.e. What were you doing in 1984?

May is apparently the month when Transformers debuted, presumably in the US. Australian release would have been several months later - I don't remember/know exactly when. So let us now take a trip down memory lane to the very first time we got into Transformers!

For me it was some time in late 1984. Up till then I'd been playing with Machine Men (Go-Bots)... I remember in 1983 I had a bout of food poisoning and was in the Camperdown Childrens Hospital for a while. One gift I got was Helicopter Man (Cop-Tur), which kept me amused while I was sick. Fast forward to 1984, my mother was taking my brother and I to watch a piano concerto (a guaranteed thrill-a-minute ride, right? :p) so on the way we stopped by HobbyCo and mum bought Brawn for me and Huffer for my brother. From that moment we were hooked and between us we built a fairly mean G1 collection. After the end of G2 and dawn of Beast Wars, my brother went all "Trukk Not Munky" and lost interest in Transformers, so his collection got absorbed into mine. ;) So while I got Brawn and Huffer on the same day, technically Brawn was my first Transformer. :)

[Hursticon]

Doing the impossible, apart from Universal Singularities: Existing in 2 places at once. :p:D
(Sorry, had to do it :D)

This thread should be an interesting read I reckon. :)

[1AZRAEL1]

Doing the impossible, apart from Universal Singularities: Existing in 2 places at once. :p:D

Same as him, but in 2 different places :p

[Deceptic_Optic]

i just got born in januray of that year dude! :cool:

[Bartrim]

My first association with transformers was the cartoon that I didn't see until 1985 when I was in kindergarten. I remember sleeping in on a Saturday morning and my brother waking me up urgently because this awesome new show was about to start. Never looked back.

[Mr Ed]

I remember watching the cartoons.

My parents bought me G1 Seaspray (which I still have to this day!) That was really my only TF.

However, I have memories of playing with my friends G1 Optimus Prime, Megatron, Soundwave and Powerglide!

[janda the red]

i only vaguely remember the cartoon coming out... i know i instantly loved it, but cant recall much more than that. ( i wish i remembered as much of my early years as you do Gok! )

i do remember getting O.prime for my 7th birthday though... ( 1985 )
no other present has come anywhere near.... i was soooooooo excited.

janda :)

[Golden Phoenix]

I wasn't around at the time.
Wouldn't be until 4 years later.

[LordCyrusOmega]

I was 2 years old and I have no memory of the time. I remember the cartoon and my earliest memory of the toy was owning Seaspray.
The one that stands out the most though is being really sick and my dad getting me Snarl.

[Vector Prime]

I was in kindergarten at the time and remember watching the cartoons - I was into MOTU at the time and quickly ditched those for Tfs. :p

[Gutsman Heavy]

I was busy not existing

[SkyWarp91]

As my previous incarnation I was a Vice cop in Miami with a White Ferrari...

[5FDP]

I was in primary school at the time and I remember the cartoon quite well. I watched the first episode of MTMTE thinking 'this show is awesome', so I stuck in a video tape (Beta of course :cool:) and recorded the last 10 mins. I watched that last 10 minutes repeatedly until the tape wore out :p

[Accel]

I didnt exist for 3 more years XD

[loophole]

crawling around on the floor...

[optimus1]

I was about 6 Months old when Transformers first came out :p

But unless it's the '86 movie, I can actually still remember the movie posters up at movie theatres - I was 3 :eek:

[GoktimusPrime]

Soon after starting on the toys, I got into the comics cos other kids at school were collecting them, so often I'd go over to their house and read them. Then when I saw the cartoon, I thought that "Spike" was just the cartoon's version of Buster. Oh wait, it was!

It wouldn't be until 1987 that they retconned Spike and Buster as brothers. Heh. ;)


so I stuck in a video tape (Beta of course ) and recorded the last 10 mins. I watched that last 10 minutes repeatedly until the tape wore out
Heh. We recorded it on VHS... top loader! (http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/filmi_sangeet/media/1976_VHS.jpg) :D Yeah, the tapes would run out so we'd often tape reruns. Our VHS version of Transformers the Movie was copied off a rental video -- we only had the one VHS recorder, so we had a friend bring theirs over and made a copy for them too. We watched that tape so many times that the colours became faded something chronic... Hot Rod gradually went from red to pink! :D

[canofwhoopass_87]

Well I wasn't yet graced with the gift of life at the time, but I do remember quite fondly being able to watch G1 re runs in the late 80's / early 90's. Unfortunately, I didnt get the chance to see any of the original Hasbro's in retail stores - only bucketloads of G1.5 Euros and gold box classics in later years :D


For me it was some time in late 1984. Up till then I'd been playing with Machine Men (Go-Bots)...

Blasphemy!

[Firestorm]

I didnt exist back then
and didnt exist until 7 years later

so cant say i have any fond memories from 1984.

[GoktimusPrime]

Unfortunately, I didnt get the chance to see any of the original Hasbro's in retail stores - only bucketloads of G1.5 Euros and gold box classics in later years :D
Those Classic reissues were freakin' fan-tastic! It allowed me to collect a lot of older G1 toys that I'd missed out on the first time round like Prowl, Tracks, Sideswipe as well as Dead End and Wildrider -- at last I was able to form Menasor!! :D


Blasphemy!
More like the Dark Ages. Transformers didn't exist back in 1983, so at the time Machine Men seemed really cool. Of course, once Transformers came out my preference switched quickly. :)


I didnt exist back then
and didnt exist until 7 years later

so cant say i have any fond memories from 1984.
No excuses! :p

[Skullcruncher]

Playing with GI Joes! I dont remember the initial run of the cartoon but I remember watching the reruns - 8am or 8.30am on tv3 in nz which must have been around 1990ish or maybe later.

My friend had a couple of videos we always put on whenever at his house - he had a suitcase full of transformers - when I say suitcase I mean 2 or 3 of everyone I ever saw in the cartoons apart for megatron, his parents didn't like the gun mode :D

[UltraMarginal]

hmmmm 1984, I was starting Primary school and that Christmas I got Skids and ThunderCracker, though I can't remember which one I unwrapped first.

I remember the cartoon being on but the movie never came to my home town, I do remember seeing it on Tv years later and thinking it was incredible.

I also remember paying $10 for a really cheap crappy VHS bootleg of the movie when I was at uni because I could never see it being released on DVD. how wrong I was!!:cool:

[GoktimusPrime]

Where did you grow up? Cos Transformers The Movie was definitely out in Sydney. My dad took me, my brother and my cousin to watch it in July 1986 at the George St Hoyts ... which is now Event Cinema.

Ironically in 2007 I watched the live action Transformers movie for the second time at George Street Event Cinema -- the same place where I'd first watched Transformers The Movie in '86! :D
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/Sydney%20Movie%20Meet%20June%2030%202007/moviemeet08.jpg

[liegeprime]

Well you younguns aint born yet ei ? hehehe. I was on elementary, grade 4. BUt Transformers started airing early 1985 in Philippines and back then Gobots was shown Saturday mornings- Channel 9 (along with a lot of Hanna Barbera Cartoons, Fraggle rock, Smurfs etc.) When Transformers started being aired (channel 13) I missed the first episode coz I was fighting with my brother for the control of the TV ( black and white :p) , but being the younger I got my way heheheh so I got to see the 2nd and third of MTMTE weeks later which was hard coz Channel 7 ( in Phil) was airing He-man at the same timeslot and I kept on switching channels during commercials just to catch up on both shows.....:D

Got my first toy for my birthday of 1985 - Soundwave with Buzzsaw ( which I pretended to be laserbeak) from my aunt here in Australia when she went back to Phils for a holiday, which ironically I migrated that figure back here with me when I came here hehehe. it's a bit loose on the thigh now but still stands well ( with some posing necessary) and Im quite happy it has survived my childhood since we cant afford any more Tf toys, I made my own from craft paper, until I was able to save up more being a Uni student and started to grab any Tf I can buy with my meager allowance saved....:)

[VERT]

I was in year 4 at the time. 10 years old. My wife was in Pre School at the time hahahaha

I remember that was the time I stopped collecting Masters and SW and TF became my world :D

[Decepticon]

I was 9 at the time. Was more into motu I think. Can't remember! Spool long ago!

[gdmetro]

Didn't exist until the year that Optimus Prime, wheeljack, windcharger, ironhide/ratchet/prowl died. "Such heroic nonsense" :D

My experience with g1 were the g2 re-runs in the early 90s..:cool:

[Sky Shadow]

My experience with g1 were the g2 re-runs in the early 90s..:cool:

I can still remember just how progressively disappointing the Transformers: Generation 2 cartoon was:

1 second: Squee!
2 seconds: Oh my god, amazing computer animation!
100 seconds: Oh - they're doing a summary of what happened in the old cartoon... that's nice for new viewers, and a good nod to the original series.
200 seconds: um... this is just the old cartoon.
300 seconds: what the #@(* is up with that stupid cube thing?
400 seconds: #@(* this, Transformers, you have disappointed me for the last time! I won't be back!
24 hours: Maybe the second episode will be more Generation 2ish?
24 hours and 400 seconds: #@(* this, Transformers, you have disappointed me for the last time! I won't be back!
48 hours: I wish I had willpower.

[kup]

I was 4 years old so I have no idea what I was doing, , probably pre-school. I do remember watching cartoons as my more vivid memories from that time, Gobots and MOTU being a couple of them.

[GoktimusPrime]

I remember the first time I watched Transformers Generation 2 on TV one Monday morning in 1993. After watching I went to school, and during roll call was talking about it with my classmates, the conversation was like:

"Hey, did you see that 'Transformers: Generation 2' cartoon this morning?"
"Yeah... did you notice how it was a lot like 'Generation 1'?!"

<laughter>

Teacher: "Sshhh!!"

<muffled.snickering>