Here we are at Seibertron.com's 4,000th Transformers toy gallery. No prototype. No rare figure. Nothing new. Nothing of particular interest, except maybe to me. It has historical significance to Seibertron.com and much personal significance to myself. Lo and behold, it's my first Transformer from 1984 who is none other than G1 Bumblebee. He's battle damaged, worn, has some extra paint apps, rust, a flat tire, a missing tire, a damaged tire, a stress mark, and more. You might be wondering what's so special about this run-down Transformers toy. Well, he's my very first Transformers toy that I got way back in 1984 at the age of 7. It marks the beginning of something major in my life which ultimately has led to this very moment years later with you reading an article that I'm writing on Seibertron.com, a website about Transformers toys that I created 16 years ago. It is the earliest physical representation I possess of the moment Transformers became of interest to me. Here all of us are on Seibertron.com, which winds back to that moment in time.
Pretty unremarkable, huh? Well, let me tell you a story or three ...
Like all of you, my collision course with our favorite robots that convert from one thing to another and back, has a beginning. With me, it was one fateful Saturday morning when I woke at the crack of dawn, turned on the television to discover another weekly installment of Saturday morning cartoons, when I came across a cartoon about those very robots. I was mesmerized by the Transformers. I don't recall much about watching that first episode but I swear I remember flipping the channel to Wheeljack and Bumblebee's opening scene in the first episode. Later that day, I begged and pleaded my Mom to take me to Toys R Us to get a Transformer toy. She did, and she bought me the Mini-Bot Bumblebee toy you see featured below and my brother took home a Windcharger (thanks Mom!). My earliest connection with the Transformers comic, that I remember, was my Dad buying me a copy of Transformers #4 at a Perry Drug store. Transformers had fully captivated my childhood imagination.
As you'll see from the pictures in this gallery, there are some "artistic" shots showing the wear in detail. Some of my favorite photography shots that came out of this were of the rust on the screws and the diecast piece on Bumblebee's back as well as the shots of the tires. It's not perfect and that's the point. It was interesting photographing a toy for Seibertron.com that wasn't as close to perfection as I normally strive. Capturing this detail helps tell the story.
While I don't understand what happened with his tires, which appear to have melted at some point, I'm assuming the rust was caused by Bumblebee's many water adventures he went on. As a child, we lived on a lake in mid-Michigan about 1/2 way between Flint and Ann Arbor. I fascinated with taking my Transformers in the lake, playing with them on the sand, in the bathtub ... I had no long term plans for these toys at that time but I sure had about as much fun as a kid could have with them. They were buried in sand, entangled in covert missions amongst seaweed, had forest hideouts among leaf piles, wood chips, tree branches, shrubs or whatever else I could think of. On vacations up north, the Constructicons dug holes from the shores of the Straits of Mackinac all the way to "the other side of the world" (wherever that was) or they entombed their Autobot captives in sandy embankments.
Ryan's 1st Transformer: G1 1984 Bumblebee (121 images)
Bumblebee's running a little flat these days.
His tech specs said "He can go underwater for reconnaissance and salvage missions" but didn't mention anything about him being rust proof.
Minimal bumper paint wear and the head is still attached amazingly and even has the decal on the back of his head still. Not bad 1980s-Ryan!
Rotted tire not included.
Does this mean that I didn't actually get Bumblebee in 1984 like I always thought? Shhh! Don't tell anyone!!!
Here's where memories can get the best of you. I swear on all that's holy that I got into Transformers during 1984. Yet, there's my original Bumblebee's copyright stamps staring me in the face with 1985 on it clear as it gets, aside from a little dirt from back in the day. Is it possible that Transformers toys in late 1984 were shipping with 1985 stamps on them? Can anybody help assure me that I did get Bumblebee in 1984 or is this proof that I probably didn't get into Transformers until 1985? I remember clear as day seeing that first episode of More Than Meets The Eye, which could have been in reruns already, but I know I got Marvel Comics Transformers #4 (which came out in December 1984) after I had Bumblebee, though it's highly possible that the comic had been shelf warming prior to my discovery of it.
C'mon! That's a cool photo you'd see in some art gallery somewhere or in some fancy art book about vintage toys.
More battle damage.
Gold paint remnants from "The Golden Lagoon" reenactment. You should see what happened during the Scraplets reenactment months later.
Yes, you read that correctly. I actually played out the Golden Lagoon cartoon episode complete with painting Transformers with gold paint. If you look closely at the copyright stamps on the bottom of his feet, you can even see one of my fingerprints from the gold paint. I was inspired to do this after my Dad introduced me to model cars and the paints that go with them. 10 year old me saw gold paint, I had Transformers, seemed like a great idea at the time. An idea that was superseded by the Scraplets week when I decided that I would take apart all of my Transformers with screwdrivers while playing out a Scraplets storyline, inspired by the Marvel Comics. My Transformers had much fun during my childhood and this gold paint remnants brings a smile to my face thinking about those fun days.
Minty collector owned G1 Bumblebee on left, Childhood Battle Damaged War Veteran version on the right
"Oh man, you've even got a nice rubsign still? I lost mine during a reconnaissance mission in Lake Ponemah."
Primus has been busy. Those Transformers are like petro-rabbits!
Hard to believe how many G1 Bumblebee toys I own now, not to mention the other 150+ Bumblebees I've photographed so far from my collection. What's even crazier is how many more Bumblebees are in my collection that I've never photographed, or how many Bumblebees I don't even own (such as the Estela ones). On the left side of the photograph: Encore Bumblebee, BotCon Glyph, e-Hobby Bug-Bite, near perfect rubsign Bumblebee, and Fun-4-All Keychain Bumblebee. On the right: G2 Bumblebee, G1 Bumblebee red version, Collection Bumblebee, and the G1 Bumblebee replacement I bought at BotCon 1996 (the rubsign came off and was replaced with an Autobot sticker from the Autobot sticker sheet included with Takara's New Year's Convoy set).
Ryan's 1st Transformer with Lost-and-found Soundwave from 2nd grade
One last early childhood memory of my Transformers. In the above photo, my 1st Transformer is pictured alongside Soundwave. One day in 2nd grade, I saw Soundwave sitting in the Lost-and-found window of the school office in my elementary school. I went into the office and asked the secretary if I could have it. She asked if it was mine and I told her no. She said that if the toy was still there in 1 week and on one claimed it, that I could have it. Every morning and afternoon for the next week, I went by the Lost-and-found to see if Soundwave was still there. The level of anticipation and excitement that built over the course of that week was probably more than I could handle. One week had passed, Soundwave was still there, and the Secretary let me take him home. For the next year and a half, Soundwave led my Decepticons against Perceptor's Autobots until Santa Claus brought me Ultra Magnus and Galvatron in 1986.
Side note: The Decepticon symbol on Lost-and-found Soundwave was made on my parent's inkjet printer way back in 1995. Man was I excited that I could make reproduction symbols. Unfortunately, I lost interest in that and was very content with what I had created.
Ryan Yzquierdo's 1st grade picture from 1983 - 1984 school year
Ryan's Autobot forces around Christmas 1988
You can see G1 Bumblebee, Ryan's 1st Transformer, on the left side of Metroplex
Ryan's Decepticon Forces around Christmas 1988 with Lost-and-Found Soundwave
Here's my amazing drawing of Bumblebee that I drew back around 1984 or 1985!**
Share Your Childhood Transformers Stories
So that's my 1st Transformer toy, everyone. It's been officially photographed so that it can continue to endure the sands of time. I hope all of you will share your own personal stories about your 1st Transformer(s) related memories on our forums so that others can enjoy hearing about what captured your imagination. While I love collecting Transformers toys, the memories of my life that come along with these toys are one of the greatest parts about collecting Transformers, and thanks to events like BotCon, the memories continue to be one of the parts that I cherish most from this hobby.
Childhood history with Ryan! 
, does NOT have the 1985 copyright. Actually the only copyright on him is the TAKARA one, and it lacks the Hasbro, so that is odd. 
