I was an infant in 1984
But I still grew up with Transformers. Perhaps the hype had died over the Optimus Prime toy by 1990 but he was still available due to Classics reissues. The only awe I ever felt for this toy was:
A) Huge pricetag
B) Physical size compared to other Transformers
He turns into a frieght truck. When all the other Autobots transform into awesome sports cars who the heck would want a freight truck? Sure I wanted him but on my list of wanted G1 Autobots at the time he would have been behind all the dinobots, just about all the 'deluxe sized' Autobot cars, any autobot flier and any combiner gestalt.