Flashback: Last year it's Trivia, this year it's Transformers

[GoktimusPrime]

Boxed toys were usually received on special occasions like birthdays, Xmas etc., but the carded toys were cheap enough, e.g. $1.99 for an Autobot Mini-Car. I remember Constructicons being on the more expensive end for carded toys at $9 each, but they were still cheap enough that I was able to complete the entire set after a couple of months. I remember forming Devastator for the first time... such an awesome feeling! The other gestalts took longer to complete because the central components were dearer boxed figures, and indeed, it was the Classic reissues in 1990-91 that allowed me to finally complete some of those sets (e.g. my G1 Dead End and Wildrider are Classics). But for a long time during the 80s, I would form "hybrid" gestalts comprised of members from different teams. At the time, I'd never heard of Scramble City, but that's basically what it was. I never owned any of the Predacons as a kid. I did know a few kids who owned some Predacons, but I didn't know anyone who owned Predaking in the 1980s.

Here's a photo of me (blue collared shirt) taken in January 1988:

I'm holding a typical example of the 'hybrid gestalts' that I used to make in the 80s; that particular one is comprised of Hot Spot, Afterburner, First Aid, Slingshot and Lightspeed!

[Bidoofdude]

Boxed toys were usually received on special occasions like birthdays, Xmas etc., but the carded toys were cheap enough, e.g. $1.99 for an Autobot Mini-Car. I remember Constructicons being on the more expensive end for carded toys at $9 each, but they were still cheap enough that I was able to complete the entire set after a couple of months.

$9?! Compared to what minibots were, that's pretty high. I never had access to G1 toys, being a child of the 2000s who watched the G1 cartoon. There were only a handful of characters who had G1-esque toys in the UT.

[VERT]

I never saw a minibot that cheap. $3.99 even $4.99 never $1.99. That price was toyword and K Mart. The big two G1 buying shops for me in the 80s