Transformer Fan First, Or Robot Fan First?

['07Camaro]

For me, I became a Transformers fan first; got introduced to the first live action movie, loved it, then got introduced to the Generation 1 cartoon. But over the years, I realised that the franchise influenced my interest in Japanese mecha such as Gundam, Evangelion, Macross etc. Since then, I became a huge sucker for giant robots, whether they are fighting each other, or just stand there to look cool.

Besides the movie/film aspect, I was always intrigued by the engineering that went into the figures/model kits of the robots. In fact, it's what made me interested in the franchise to begin with. Both the Transformers Masterpiece figures and the Master Grade Ver.Ka Gundam model kits are among my favourite lines of all time because their engineering and designs were more unique, complex and distinct in comparison to any other toy line or model that I had ever experience before.

[GoktimusPrime]

Same here.

Love for Transformers generated interested in mecha generated interest in anime generated interest in all things Japanese.

[Ark-Ivor]

For me it was Dinosaurs, loved the latin names.

As a 6 year old I was given a couple of Transformers as gifts, and I loved the conversion gimick, but I preferred Lego (afterall the conversion there was practically anything I could imagine). I didn't become a Transformers fan until the Dinobots appeared in the cartoon, and what seemed like years later (at the time) on the toy shelves. There weren't any decent Lego Dinos at the time, I couldn't afford the decent Technic sets to make better ones, and the olny other Dinosaur toys were those tiny rubbery ones, and it'd still be a couple of years before Dino-Riders (the next series I really liked), plus several of the Transformers had psuedo Latin names.
I didn't become a serious colletor though until 1989 when my local newsagent started getting the Transformers UK and US comic books, and the characters got decent showcasing stories. IMO the only good stories were in the comics and Animated Movie, the TV series (apart from those episodes with the Dinobots) were just forgettable for me.
I've never been able to get into other Mecha series much.

[GoktimusPrime]

For me it was Dinosaurs, loved the latin names.

Not sure if you mean the names of the dinosaurs or the Dinobots. Cos most dinosaur names come from Greek, which is certainly the case for Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, Pteranodon, Brontosaurus and Triceratops. Although "Rex" is Latin. The Dinobot names are actually all English. As TFwiki points out, most Transformer names are actually of English origin, but more "elite" sounding character names come from Latin (or pseudo-Latin) - but occasionally also Greek (e.g. Megatron, Alpha Trion, Omega). And some are Latin via French (e.g. Mirage etc.)

[Ark-Ivor]

Not sure if you mean the names of the dinosaurs or the Dinobots. Cos most dinosaur names come from Greek, which is certainly the case for Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, Pteranodon, Brontosaurus and Triceratops. Although "Rex" is Latin. The Dinobot names are actually all English. As TFwiki points out, most Transformer names are actually of English origin, but more "elite" sounding character names come from Latin (or pseudo-Latin) - but occasionally also Greek (e.g. Megatron, Alpha Trion, Omega). And some are Latin via French (e.g. Mirage etc.)

I suppose you know that Decepticon originates from Deceive and contra meaning "Trapped in Opposition" then.

I clearly wrote that I loved the dinosaur Latin names (and Latin names in general). I apologise for not being clearer, I should have used the more general term of "Romantic names" (being from the Romantic languages, which includes Greek & Latin and all the various ancient derivatives originating in the early Roman Empire - not to be confused with the Romance languages which are the living language descendants of the Italian Roman version of Latin only). I assumed, maybe falsely, that few people would know what a Romantic Language is these days, probably thinking it has to do with the romance genre, so to avoid this particular pedantic point, I grossly generalised by using the term "Latin". That said its more common than not to find dinosaur names originating from their discoverers/taxonomers or being just plain made up, rather than coming from any specific language group.
Slag, Sludge, Snarl, Swoop, Grimlock & Overkill are from the ancient Barbaric/Germanic languages (which includes Old English and Celtic among others), Slugfest is half'n'half (Slug Old English, Fest=Festival Latin), though Trypticon is totally Romantic (very slightly humorous pun intended - Trypti=Friction, though I suspect they preferred the Triptich=3 Plate spelling Greek & con=in opposition Latin).

But all that's beside the point and very off topic for this thread - no further pedantry here please.

All I was trying to say was that it was Dinosaurs (whose names I like, wherever they come from ), and not Mecha, that got me into TFs, Manga and Anime. However my fan relationship with TFs never assisted me in any transition to being a fan of other Mecha series.

[Lord_Zed]

Robots first then Transformers for me, however that said Transformers was pretty much the dominant robot fiction for years in the 80's.

I really liked Voltron, and Battle Of the Planets, Star blazers Ulysses 31 etc before Transformers showed up, all those shows had robots or cool mecha space Ships, but pretty much all those shows had no or limited merchandise locally, so when Transformers came out it was the combination of the show having toys and the comics that really set it apart for me. The toys were cool and the comics (well the UK ones at least) were way less childish than the cartoon, and I really appreciated that.

I have to admit though as a premise I slightly prefer the concept of robots as weapons for humans (even if they are piloted by emo's) rather than sentient robots, the later always seemed less plausible to me, there's too many things that just didn't make sense to me.

As a child If you asked my favourite robot cartoon series I would say Robotech over Transformers, even as child I knew the story was comparatively more mature than the Transformers cartoon. The Transformers comic on the other hand, different story altogether.

Anyway to sum up I've always liked robots, or people in robot like armour, I like them even more so if they transform, and even more if they transform into dinosaurs, And even more than that if they transform into cool aircraft.

Transformers will always occupy it's own special spot for me thanks to the influence of the toys and the comic though.

[Zommael]

I love the mythology of the Transformers franchise, and some of the characters are great. But at the end of the day, I'm a robot fan first. For a long time, that meant I was solely a Transformers fan as Transformers was the only robot franchise I could get my hands on, but over the last two years access to Gunpla and an increasing interest in Power Rangers has meant Bandai are getting more of my money than Hasbro.