The Energon Pub

Are you a TF fan now as an adult, where you were not one as a kid?

Thread to share stories, explainations for this phenomenon.


My story:

I wasn't a fan of TF's as a kid because we lived way out in the "country" where only a few fuzzy TV channels came in. Also being a girl, TF toys weren't first on anyone's mind to give me either. I vaguely remember the 1986 movie and a few times seeing my cousins in the "city" watch it, that's it.

At least I can thank the 2007 movie for spurring my interest. I was so interested when I saw the initial teaser trailer that I insisted my husband and I watch every episode of G1 we could find on youtube. This started out with the intention of "preparing" for the new movie. (I'm well aware of how ironic that seems in retrospect.)

From then I was hooked, and I've been eating up every series, comic and toy for TF I can get my hands on. It's crossed over to GI Joe too, though I didn't watch that as a kid either my cousin had a ton of the toys and I'd sometimes sneak with him to read my older cousin's marvel stack.



Maybe I'm not the only one here with a similar story?

as a kid i was a huge fan. then the 90's happened, and it phazed away. I was a teen when Beast wars came out, watched it semi-regular.

When RiD came out i was homeless, but managed to watch it once a day on a hand held tv i aquired. it was the 30 minutes of tv a day i got.

WHen the A/e/c trilogy came out i was dissapointed. Then i quit caring about tf till about a year ago. The 1st bay-splosion didn't really impress me, but it was cool. Then i got bored, stumbled on Seibertron.com and it reignited all kinds of bein-a-happy-kid-goodness and totally got me back into TF's hardcore. Things would be alot different if my friend had brought up he-man or somethin in that conversation at the time...

I don't think I technically qualify, but...kinda.

I was a teenager when G1 hit, and I was still (being the classic 80s geek with...primitive social skills and a desire to retreat into any fantasy world) watching cartoons. So I was a hardcore G1er. But then I...ended up going to college, then grad school, the Army and then grad school again.... And I had I thought more or less outgrown it. I'd tried to watch Beast Wars, but it just didn't work for me. Even back then, the crappy CGI distracted me and I wanted to shove Rattrap through the nearest wall every time he opened his yap. I remember that that's when I had my first 'come to Jesus' moment, that all G1ers have at least once, I think--the WTF are they doing to my Transformers!!! (I think many younger fans had this reaction to TFA).

It really wasn't until the ramp up to the 07 movie that I really got back into it. As in...thinking about it, not even actively participating in the fandom (that's really only been the last year or so). At that point I bought up the comics that I'd missed (I'd halfheartedly followed Dreamwave, almost as if I KNEW they'd let me down), and inflicted A/E/C on myself. And then Beast Wars. And then Beast Machines. And TFA.

Maybe age has mellowed me (shyeah, right), but I like to think that my later re-entry into the fandom made me a little more open about things like canon and character.

I know there's a lot of contempt in fanon for people who only 'got into' TF because of the Bay films--when the people in question presume that that's all they need to know and they're TF experts, yeah, it does annoy me, but on the whole, I still think anything that brings new fans to the glories of giant fighting robots is a good thing. The 'fake fans' (in the 80s, about music, we used to sneeringly call them 'poseurs'--god we were obnoxious little pricks!) will fall away, and what will remain will be the *good* fans.

HK, I hope. Dear Primus, though, please weed out some of these fanon geeks soon?

I watched TF as a kid but I wasn't really a fan. I had 1 TF toy (Drag strip). I gave my toy away when I was around the age of 16. It went to 1 of my cousins children. Probably on a scrap heap somewhere now, or disintegrated into a million pieces.

I watched the 1st Bay film. It was ok. But wasn't really impressed.

Then one day a close friend of mine watched ROTF and instantly got hooked. With her fondness of writing she started to write a fanfic. My memory of TF was a bit hazy so I hit youtube and started watching G1 so that I atleast knew a little about what I was reading and reviewing.

That was it, after I started watching G1 I was hooked. I always have had a fondness for cartoons. Then I got to series 3 and nothing matched up. I was confused. I discovered there was an animated movie that filled in the gaps. I watched the 1986 movie with an open mouth. It was pure Awesomeness.

After I watched G1 I tried G2. I was disappointed. Then I watched the 1st 5 mins of TF animated and thought "This is gonna suck". I decided I would watch all the TF Seasons. Could anything match up to G1?

I searched sites and tracked down every season listing. I ignored G2 (will watch it eventually) and RID seemed a bit poor so I ignored that. Beast Wars never appealled to me, however I do intend on watching it as a lot of people have influenced that decision with their opinions of BW.

I was blown away by Armada. It was an awesome series (kids are annoying though). It certainly rivalled G1.

I was certainly a TF fan. However I do not own any toys. Never say never though. And I do really like the ravage 4gig memory stick. I may have to purchase that one.

While browsing Youtube I came across a vid. I saw a transformable TF costume. I just had to make one.
I looked at many vids and started checking out pics of TF toys. From this I drew (rough) designs for a G1 Brawl Costume. Tank costumes are the easiest. I made my costume. I am very proud of myself. I have decided to make a G1 Optimus Prime next. When I can finally get motivated I will start. Will most likely be 2 weeks before halloween. Again, hahahaha.

I started on Energon. Energon looked poor and the sucked till it got 75% of the way through the series. And Starscream had no personality at all. Also at the same time I was watching TFA and dodging between the 2. TFA is quite a good lighthearted season.

Now I am on Cybertron. Not great to be honest.

And that is my story so far.

I was 14 1/2 and in my second semester of freshman year in high school (come on that's practically an adult!) I think I already told this story in my into but to me its a great story so I'll tell it again:
I had always watched the very end of Beast Wars on our local Fox station when I would get home from school and my Mom and I would make fun of it saying "what the hell is that!?" so I never saw the show from start to end. So one week in I think in January, there was a huge blizzard, so I couldn't leave the house. I began to watch Beast Wars and then started to like the characters, especially Waspinator. I just started liking it more and more. I became more curious about G1 cartoons. A few years later, I found some video cassets of the old G1 episodes and I swear I couldn't get ready for school without watching them. I think that Transformers really helped me through some tough times when I was a teenager. When I got into my early 20s like 20 years old I grew away from them a little bit, but once the 2007 movie came out, I became interested in the quality of G1 cartoons compared to the live action movie. I have now learned to live with the live action movie some how and even own a copy of it. But anyway that's pretty much my story. I definatly did not grow up being a fan of it though, I was more of a Star Wars fan.

I've always held a very casual interest in Transformers when I was a kid. My sister had an Optimus and Starscream G1 figs and we occasionally played with them. Otherwise I never got into them until Beast Wars. I really enjoyed the show but my interest in that only lasted for about six months.

In 2003, my brother and I would watch Armada on Cartoon Network during the evenings. I really enjoyed that cartoon and consider it my favorite Transformers show up to this point.

Then in 2007, the movie really grabbed my attention. I loved how the Transformers looked and realized that there is a lot to these characters and the franchise. After watching RotF twice in theaters, I officially became hooked and have since started buying Transformers toys. I've never been a fan of the G1 cartoon, unfortunately. That's probably the reason as to why I never got into it when I was younger.