Which was your first Transformer?

Tell us the story of how you got your very first Transformer, and perhaps which Transformer made you into a collector. :)

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T'was the latter half of 1984, can't remember exactly when. But I remember mum bringing my brother and I into HobbyCo. in Sydney CBD. Not the one in QVB now, back then there was a street level store. We walked in and I picked Brawn, my brother chose Huffer. They became our first Transformers and we became hooked from that point. During university my brother lost interest in Transformers and so his collection fell into my custody. So in a way both Huffer and Brawn were my first Transformers, but technically it was Brawn since Huffer belonged to my brother at the time.

I've never been through a period of losing interest in Transformers then coming back. I've just been an avid fan of Transformers since getting Brawn, so Brawn would be the one toy that also made me a collector. :)

Brawn's arms are attached to his shoulders with these clip-ends, and one of the clips on my Brawn broke. Also the same shoulder join has deteriorated, so I always keep the door closed to hold the shoulder and arm in place. I've since replaced the broken arm with another from a reissue, but the shoulder joint remains busted.

As griffin said on another thread, even if the toy's decrepit the sentimental value of your very first Transformer toy is priceless. :D

"Might over microchips."

I can't remember the circumstances surrounding buying it, but I remember it was from the local Toyworld (from which I still purchase most of my stuff to this day). I'm fairly sure it was before my sister was born which would make it before 1994 - I'm fair sure it was 1993 (which would make me 3 years old at the time). I'm also fairly sure it was my mum who got it for me (odd because then my pa went on to be the parent that encouraged me to collect, provided shelves and the like etc).

This was the one. Deftwing.

The thing I remember most about it is the scope gimmick thing. It's completely lost now, although I may try and find one in years to come for the nostalgia factor.

I've never looked back really. I remember really liking the rest of G2 (especially the Spychangers - called Go-Bots back then, which were the coolest thing ever when I was 5 years old), and totally digging Beast Wars. There was a bit of a lull during the Beast Machines era but ever since then I've been crazy about Transformers again.

Thanks mum!

I was in year 5 when Transformers began showing in the local channels back in Philippines, then when we went to our local malls , oodles of them were on the shelves, as in walls of em. Of course, Tfs back then, well till now are quite pricy, so my Mom suggested to me to write to my Aunts here in Aus to send me one for a Xmas present. I did write my aunt Daisy, and I remember her saying she went buy out the first one I described in my letter. She had no trouble finding it coz I was very precise in my descriptions. I actually asked for Soundwave, Megatron and Starscream. My aunt said the toys were pricy here as well so she got me only 1 which she thought of was a cool figure ( which I agree). SOUNDWAVE!! :D it was the two pack - with Buzzsaw. Came Xmas of '85 I was one happy camper when she handed it to me, I became oblivious to everything else:p:D that day. Up til this day I still have him, well and complete sans the box though. It quite funny that I got him from my aunt bought all the way here in Aus brought in Phils then I ended up migrating here, and have to "migrate" him back to Australia too heheheh. So officially he is the one who started it all for me. :D
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Very interesting stories so far, I especially like Liege how your Soundwave has traversed many shores :).

This is sort of a repeat of my Introduction thread but I suppose it's a tale of Loss and Survival, tears of Joy and Sadness etc,... Oh how this love of Transformers of ours can be a Rollercoaster at times. :D

For me, I just always liked Transformers but was never able to afford them.
My first "Transformable" toy was a My First Transformers Jet, way to young to remember when I got that but it was before I was 4 years old.

My first True Transformers figure/set was a gift from my Grandfather for my 4th Birthday: G1 Decepticon Micromaster Anti-Aircraft Base
I played with that set non-stop, that was until my two younger brothers found it within their hearts to break and misplace all of it apart from the little green Jeep.

That was the first and last store bought figure/set I had as a kid and I've found it near to impossible to find another to replace it using ebay etc., pretty much all the figures I had as a kid were second-hand bought from the local flee markets.

The one figure that has survived my childhood to this day (and has since inherited the title of first figure), where all the rest have fallen away, is G1 Ravage who was lost for near 14 years under a Hot-water Service and miraculously never rusted. He now resides within the chest of Soundwave for safety, that and the door mechanism is buggered on my Soundwave so I can't get him out anyway. :p

mine is a terrible tale...

in jr primary, another kid brought optimus prime (he was missing his hands and weapon and trailer?) to school and traded it to another kid for a stretchy spiral coil clip keychain (weird i know.)

so the kid put his optimus away in his bag, and went off to play. i stayed behind and took it from his bag. when he came back i said this other kid did it.

My first was Ravage and Rumble back in 1984 cant remember when. Later half I think. I saw a friends Laserbeak the day before and I knew I had to have the cool cat one. Got them from toy world but they called it Toy Barn that year. This was at Bay Village on the Central Coast. The Bay does not have a Toy world now just the K-Mart I got my second Bot, Huffer

I'm fairly sure it was Soundwave. '84 figs must have had a decent market life here since I was born in 85 and remember getting Ironhide, Prime, Jazz Soundwave etc brand new. Hell I remember the store I got Mindwipe from.

I got my first 2 transformers on the same day it must of been my 4th or 5th birthday or something i just remeber that i had to go outside and help my mum put the clothes on the line to dry, and when i picked up a piece of clothing to my surprise underneath it was Grapple.

The second Transformer i got was Pipes im pretty sure i got him on the same day as Grapple but cant quite remember but ever since that day they have been the best of friends (well at least in my head anyway) i still have them both although a little beaten up, but they did get played with alot :D

I would have been about 3 or so, and in a clear sign of misanthropy to come seemed to spend quite a lot of time driving Matchbox cars over stairs to their not-quite-flaming doom. Until someone got me Wheelie, and mere cars falling off imaginary cliffs became kind of passe.
Sadly, poor Wheelie broke pretty quickly under the less than graceful hands of his giant toddler tormentor and I have no idea where his remains are these days, but still.
Also sadly, my first ever TF was Wheelie.:rolleyes:

The first Transformer that I ever got was Sideswipe back in '84 as a reward for being a good boy :D I had to wait until dad got home from work and then we went to Kmart. This was back when I lived in Adelaide. I remember that there was a restaurant right next to Kmart which had an 'apple' as the sign but I can't for the life of me recall its name.

Anyway, I remember how happy I was getting my first Transformer although I was never allowed to take him to school. In hindsight, that was probably the best decision my parents ever made because I still have him to this very day... with a few reprolabels to 'spruce' him up.

I collected Transformers up until about 1993. I guess I probably stopped because I was at that age when priorities changed at it was considered 'abnormal' for an 18 yr old to buy toys.

If I were to pick a Transformer that turned me back into a collector, it would have to be Alternator Smokescreen. A friend of mine bought one to work back in '03 and I was amazed at the engineering level and design. After some deliberation, I decided to buy one and also picked up HOC Soundwave from EB around the same time.

So all up, my involvement in Transformers has covered about 16 years of my life however I never ended up loosing that soft spot for my favourite Robots in Disguise.

My first was the movie repaint of Energon Signal Flare.

The 2007 film was what got me into Transformers, and I was keeping an eye out for the toys afterwards. All I could find for ages were robot replicas and all that ancillary stuff. Then one afternoon I found Signal Flare, Hardtop, and Elita-1. I didn't really fancy Elita-1, so it was a decision between Signal Flare and Hardtop. I thought Signal Flare was cooler, so I ended up getting him.

I loved the cartoon as a kid and had a particular love for Prowl. My Nanna was nice enough to observe thisandgot me him and Mirage for christmas. They lasted about 10 months but didn't survive the car trip to Surfers Paradise on a family holiday. I got back into Transformers when my wife (gf at the time) were in "Blockbuster Video" at Broadway and on friday night and waiting in the lengthy cue at the counter I saw it and grabbed it. My (poor uni student) girlfriend said "You know thats not a rental? You have to buy that" My response (nodding like someone who has just discovered a wonderful addiction again) "Oh yeah I know":D

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

For me, I just always liked Transformers but was never able to afford them.
My first "Transformable" toy was a My First Transformers Jet, way to young to remember when I got that but it was before I was 4 years old.

My first True Transformers figure/set was a gift from my Grandfather for my 4th Birthday: G1 Decepticon Micromaster Anti-Aircraft Base

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"My First Transformers" are perfectly legit Transformers! They were reissued in 1993 too -- I'm sure my Airplane one is an original, but I know that my Dump Truck is a reissue.

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

I played with that set non-stop, that was until my two younger brothers found it within their hearts to break and misplace all of it apart from the little green Jeep.

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Man I hate kids who break their toys. It was something my brother and I frequently had to be on guard for -- other kids who'd come over and break our toys. We tried to be vigilant, but things happened. (-_-) So the most of our broken TFs were broken by other kids, not us. Thankfully our vigilance usually paid off as the most of my childhood Transformers have survived and now comprise the bulk of my G1 collection to this day.

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Originally Posted by Gutsman Heavy

I'm fairly sure it was Soundwave. '84 figs must have had a decent market life here since I was born in 85 and remember getting Ironhide, Prime, Jazz Soundwave etc brand new. Hell I remember the store I got Mindwipe from.

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Soundwave was in production for a jolly long time (1984-86), so it's little wonder that he endured on shelves for so long. Sounds like you lucked out with getting some of those other early toys later on though. Possibly left over stock. We know that Hasbro had a fair bit of leftover stock of early figures as they later sold them as mail-aways. I got my Sunstreaker, Wheeljack and Thundercracker through the use of robot points. :)

the first transformer i ever had was Optimus Prime, got him in christmas of 93.
dont remember what happened to him i was 6 years old when i got him.

my first transformer of my current collection was origional 96 Dinobot. dam i love that toy. bought him from toys are us liverpool.

second toy in my current collection, transmetal rattrap, followed by transmetal tarantulas. then transmetal cheetor and transmetal optimus primal. from there the next 250 odd get a little fuzzy on the order i got em haha

Mixmaster and Scavenger wrapped back-to-back for my eighth birthday, followed by Optimus Prime soonafter on the same day. I don't think there's been a year that I haven't bought a Transformer since, so I guess I became a collector then and there.

2007 movie leader Optimus Prime

after seeing the 2007 movie i was hooked on tf. although it was a very long time till i got my first transformer. after first seeing transformers on youtube i wanted to buy myself an optimus prime as he was my favourite transformer. so i had no idea where i would be able to buy a tf from, then my second oldest sister was in empire in the city and saw all the transformers. so i called them and they said that they mainly had tf's that you keep in the box and dont play with(and that they were also very pricey cos they mainly only had g1's) so i asked where i could buy them cheaper and the loverly woman told me about the quarterly nexus fair. so my parents said that i could buy a tf from the fair for my birthday present(january 2009... or was it 2008. wow how can i not remember that... well whatever that is unimportant). so yeah i went to the fair and had a walk around with my oldest sister who kindly enough drove me there( she was not having a very good time as noting there interested her :P). and sitting there in the middle of a table surrounded by dozens of other tf's was tfm2007 leader optimus prime missing his gun(though i did not know that then). he cost my sister $35 which i was rather happy with.
so it was that day that i transformed my first transformer. and since i had no instructions it took me several hours to figure him out. but i loved andstill cherish every moment of it!

I think it might have been Dirge.. it's the only one I have early photo with.
But might also have been either Misfire, Onslaught, Menasor, Broadblast, Outback, Wheelie or Tailgate. I'll say Dirge.

I have no idea. It could have been a couple of G2 figures.

The first figure I remember having though would be BW Snarl, the "Tasmanian Devil" one (even though it looks nothing like the devil)
He was lost during the dark ages. Did have to go out of my way to get another though. I do remember the mould fondly

Now that I sit down to think about it I cannot honestly remember what my first Transformer was. It may have been the Technobots' Afterburner and Lightspeed. The first figure I purchased with my own hard earned pocket money was a G1 reissue Snarl, which I believe pretty much emptied my bank account.

I can also recall one Christmas being highly disappointed in getting an Actionmaster Over-Run. :)

Sideswipe 1984.
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showth...ight=sideswipe

Majority of my childhood was spent in a very small country town (Barcaldine -- google-maps it!). Every Xmas we would make the trip to the 'big smoke,' usually Rockhampton or Bundaberg. There were these wonderful shops there with funny names like 'Target' and 'K-Mart' which sold all sorts of wonderous treasures and curiosities. One year there was all these trucks, planes, cars, etc that changed into robots. After much deliberation, I choose Sideswipe for his cool car mode. And was a hooked from then on.

I did however stop for a number years and missed the whole G2, RiD, Unicron Trilogy thing, but did manage to watch season 1 of BW. Got back into BW around 2004 (when someone lent me S2 and S3), then and discovered that people were selling TFs on this electronic auction website thingy. Bought a Depthcharge and havent looked back.

So Sideswipe started me off, and Depthcharge bought me back to collecting after a hiatus.

It's hard for me to gauge, because I remember getting Soundwave at a local market second hand, and owning Hot Rod and receiving an Optimus from Kmart from those red light discount they have when toys or whatever are missing parts. He was missing fists from what I can recall.

Out of those 3, I think Hot Rod is the only one that is the same one, though my original one went missing for a number of years, so I bought a reissue years later because I wanted it. Then time went by and I found the broken part of the canopy to Hot Rod. I kept hold of it, and about 6 months ago, my parents did some rearranging of some cabinets and low and behold, the rest of him was behind it. He is a little worse for wear, but fixed enough for him to display.

I think my first Transformer would have been a retail Shrapnel in the UK back in the day. I can remember very specifically a cold day (not uncommon in England), and my mum saying I could get one of "the small ones" when we went out shopping. I remember more about buying it than actually playing with it.

Not much a story behind it... but it was (g1) Jazz, for what would have been my 6th birthday, from a friend at my birthday party.

That toy has since broken, lasted maybe 6 months, but Jazz got me hooked (and I've since replaced him, of course).

I find it hard to remember things clearly from such a young age.

I am pretty certain that my first Transformers were Ravage and Rumble, received as Christmas presents in 1984. They were definitely Christmas presents and I recall Ravage's tail being broken accidentally at my birthday party in 1985 which means it would have to be Christmas Day 1984. Rumble is in very poor condition, but except for the tail and some chrome wear, Ravage is still in good shape.

I remember the first Transformers I bought were Powerglide and Gears from the Target store at Waverley Gardens. Gears' leg broke (possibly by my own excessive force) and my Dad took it back and it was replaced with Beachcomber. And I later got a new Gears a few months later who to this day still hasn't broken.

Ratchet, Perceptor, Mixmaster and Bonecrusher were all Christmas presents in the early years too but I assume they were from Christmas 1985, rather than 1984.

I think my first transformer ever was Chainclaw.
I was very young and only interested in the bear, so I don't think that counts.
After seeing the g1 episode which focuses on First aid, my dad bought me the "ambulance"
transformer I asked for. This happened around the time I saw predator stalker in a catalouge.
So I guess Im pretty young compared to some around here.

My first was Beachcomber, who has been lost in the sands of time (but been replaced since then). The second was Thundercracker, who I still have.

Transformers... Thats what the box said. It was the mid eighties and my birthday. My nana had just come over from australia and my birthday present was a pretty boring looking black toyota hilux (not the normal ferrari porche or lambo matchbox car that was popular at the time!)
Oh well a toys a toy, opened it up and started driving it round but wait...... its broken already..... its falling apart...... WHAT THE HELL !!!!!! This is the coolest thing ive ever seen!
Hello Trailbreaker!

Cosmos. Twas the xmas of 1985 I think and I had a massive list of tfs from the cartoon as my chrissy list. My folks got me Cosmos. I thought he was awesome (despite him not being Optimus which is what I wanted) and naturally I threw away the card without reading/realising the tech-specs. I didn't know his personality until about 10 years ago (ish)when I joined the Ozformers and met with Ark-Irvor,and the other West Ozzies, who were a veritable treasure trove of nerdy TF knowledge.

However Optimus was the first thing I ever saved my money up for. It felt like ages, and I even remember the trip home, trying to get him outta the box in the car with my dad telling me to wait until we got home... (breaks into song) Memoooories, like the corners of my mind.....

I followed Tfs loosely up until the demise of the Micromasters and thought that Beast Wars was a knock off "Optimus primal?!?!" pah!

Then when I heard that Ultra Magnus and Optimus combined in RID("What do they call that guy? Kick-Arsimus Prime?" - A work mate at the time), and they were cars again, I was Back baby!

Never really felt the love for BW, but liked Transmetals and the show a lot. Been hooked since.

On a side note, My first TFs, DUMP-KUN?!?!? WTF and LOL!:D

I don't remember which one was my first Transformer, but funny thing is, I clearly recall that when i first saw them, I thought they were Diaclone knock-offs since TFs were missing the little pilot figures which were included with the Diaclones and the weapons weren't springloaded.

6 or 7 and it was grey black plane that helps form superion! didnt know what tfs was then lol

Sounds like Skydive :) Slingshot was my first Aerialbot.

I can't remember if my first transformer was a hand-me-down (from a family friend) or was bought in store back in the late 80's.

If it was a hand-me-down it was a broken and armless Powerglide (who I have since lost).
If bought in store, I remember being with my mum when she bought me the Throttlebot Rollbar at the local Woolies supermarket ('87/'88? I was about 4 or 5 years old).
I prefer to think him as my 1st because I can still remember picking him from the shelves and always had more nostalgia value. I always like jeeps, Hound was one of my favourite characters and Rollbar was the closest I could get to getting him. He always substituted as Hound in my playtime adventures :p

And the best part is other than a few scratches on the bottom, he still has great stickers, rubsign and a working pullback motor :)

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Originally Posted by optimus1

IHe always substituted as Hound in my playtime adventures :p

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I wonder if that effected Rollbar's opinion of himself:p

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

I wonder if that effected Rollbar's opinion of himself:p

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hehehe, well I always pretended Buzzsaw was Laserbeak.... until I got laserbeak yeeeeeeaaaaaarss after :p;)

My first TF was Seaspray bought as a gift on the way back from Gosford Reptile park, it was probably the first time I'd seen a Transformer, they had very fancy packaging for the time, I remember being impressed by the art on the back, even as a child such things appealed to me (actualy to be honest the art always played a big part in selling TF's to me, but thats for another thread).

Anyway played with Seaspray for hours that night after the park.

later for my birthday I got Prowl, Skywarp, Powerglide and Cosmos. For some reason I got Prowl several weeks early although he is not officially my first TF having greater play value than Seaspray he was the TF I first bonded with and I took him everywhere, and showed him off to all the other kids. I still have him to this day though he is all yellow and all his windows are broken, I have a reissue Prowl too, but original Prowl holds greater personal significance.

I kept getting TF's till my teen years when I started to lose interest, Beast Wars brought me back into the fold. I recall being really impressed by the ingenuity of Dino Megs, Inferno, and yes Crocodile Megs (cause I like reptiles, why do you think I got taken to a reptile park so many years earlier?). So I'd probably blame those three toys for making me and adult(?) collector. Since then things like Binaltechs and MP's have contributed greatly to keeping my interest in collecting TF's.

I should probably point out I never stopped being a collector, even as teen, I just collected other things not TFs. To paraphrase a certain alien, collectors blood flows through my veins like giant, radioactive rubber pants!

I never pretended one Transformer was another, but I often made excuses. For example, since I got Huffer long before Optimus Prime, I just made the excuse that Optimus Prime was busy on other missions so left Huffer in charge.

It was tough growing up without Megatron though... had to keep making excuses for his constant absence. (-_-) Things got easier after I got Shackwave; then I ran with the story that ShackwaveShockwave had overthrown Megatron and became the new leader. So yeah, I grew up with "Shockwave" as my Decepticons' leader rather than Megatron.

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

I just made the excuse that Optimus Prime was busy on other missions so left Huffer in charge.

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He sounds like an absent father :p

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Originally Posted by 5FDP

He sounds like an absent father :p

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With shoes too big for Huffer to quite fill.

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