Transformers questions by newbies, and not-so-newbies

[Hursticon]

And then there was the t-shirt incident

I remember laughing heartily at that, still blows me away by how ridiculous that was.

[griffin]

Also be aware that publicly admitting HERE (or anywhere) that you own one, if you live in a restricted state, is at your OWN RISK.
This site cannot condone or support people owning a prohibited item, even if it is a central character toy... so please limit the promotion or sale of these items, for your own safety (as you could be arrested if the Police ever saw it here), and for our safety (the board could be shut down for facilitating crimes).

[GoktimusPrime]

Exactly when in 1984 did Transformers (the franchise) debut in the U.S.? (as in an exact date of when toys first hit shelves if possible)

[Paulbot]

Not exact dates of toys on shelves but something to get you or others started on further research (but if the TFwiki guys haven't found it...). That the comic might have been out first is something I've come across elsewhere. Finding a date for the first TV ads would be next to impossible.

February - Hasbro Bradley unveils their new Transformers toyline at Toy Fair.
March - Marvel Age #17 announces the April debut of the Transformers comic book.
Spring - The first animated commercial advertising the Marvel comics airs on US TV.
May 8 - Issue one of the Marvel comic is released.
May 22 - The first Usenet post about Transformers is posted by Ted Nolan to net.comics. In a prediction of things to come, it is mostly complaints.
Spring - Transformers toys start filtering into stores across the United States.
September 17 - "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" premieres on U.S. television Saturday morning.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers_timeline#1984

[GoktimusPrime]

Thanks heaps Paulbot.

P.S.: Anyone thinking about getting a Transformers calendar for 2014 (as part of celebrating the 30th anniv.)? I had a quick look on Amazon and only found TFP and FoC calendars. It'd be great if they made a "Thrilling 30" calendar where each month covers all of the 30 years of Transformers (each month could cover say 2-3 years), e.g. Jan might be 1984-86 etc.

[BigTransformerTrev]

From memory, Watergardens centre had Target, Toyworld, Big W. I'm not too sure of the smaller stores or the other complex though

Not really. At the Watergardens shopping centre you get Target and Big W. Outside of the centre (but still part of it), there's a fairly large Toyworld. But every time I go in there there's not a lot of items of interest. You might get lucky, but I'd keep expectation low.

Shame you're not on the otherwise of town, you'd have slightly more success, I reckon.

Thanks guys Not a great deal of luck at Watergardens but still managed to find there some TF clothing for Orion and picked myself up a Constructbots Thundercracker from Toyworld

[Trent]

Curious to hear people's opinions on how many of Soundwave's cassettes can fit in his chest at any one time? All of them? 3, like the MP toy? And most importantly, are any of them claustrophobic?

[griffin]

Curious to hear people's opinions on how many of Soundwave's cassettes can fit in his chest at any one time? All of them? 3, like the MP toy? And most importantly, are any of them claustrophobic?

(bit removed relating to the MP toy.... when the question is asking about the characters in canon - as in, what's the most we've seen at one time being ejected in the cartoon or comic)

A claustrophobic cassette-bot would be a funny (ongoing) punchline to have. A bit like the destruction of Waspinator being a running joke.

[Sinnertwin]

Curious to hear people's opinions on how many of Soundwave's cassettes can fit in his chest at any one time? All of them? 3, like the MP toy? And most importantly, are any of them claustrophobic?

I'd say all of them. They'd mass-shift in order to fit.
I'm not sure if they would be claustrophobic , but i can imagine one of them farting & Soundwave holding his tape door shut

[Hursticon]

I'd say all of them. They'd mass-shift in order to fit.

That's the way I'd always seen it, as I'm sure there's a couple of episodes, aside from the '86 Movie, where he deploys Rumble, Ravage, Frenzy, Laserbeak and Ratbat one after the other for a particular operation.