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.