Hey there, Seibertronians. I didn't see any "new members" section so I thought GD would be the appropriate place to introduce myself. (If this isn't the right place for introductions, request that a mod move this thread.) I've been vaguely aware of the extremely committed and well-organized Transformers fanbase for some time but looking more closely into it has left me truly impressed.
Probably like a lot of you, I'm an eighties kid and Transformers (along with ThunderCats/SilverHawks, He-Man, G.I. Joe, TMNT, etc.) totally enthralled me as a youngster--especially the Decepticons. In those days, my favorite TF toy was probably Mindwipe . . . or Scorponock . . . or maybe Brawl . . . or . . . Anyway, I definitely loved the Decepticons. Of course, Omega Supreme was certainly fun, too . . . Back then, one of my major life goals was scavenging an original Laserbeak or Ravage from toy bins at the local flea markets. I never did find either of them and had to settle for the likes of Squawktalk and Beastbox. Heh, "settle" indeed! Those were great times.
But I didn't keep up with Transformers. As a teenager, I would role my eyes when flipping past an episode of Beast Wars. Later on, when I saw the teaser trailer for Michael Bay's film, it didn't excite me in the least. To this day, I have not seen it all the way through much less RotF (although I recently purchased both). The thing that drew me back to the world of Transformers so recently was the new shooter, War for Cybertron. I guess the images, concepts, and storyline of that game are a lot closer to what made me love the show and toyline as a child.
In any case, while trawling the interwebz trying to figure out what's been going on with Transformers since the Pretenders first came out (seeing pictures of those guys blew my mind--especially Bludgeon, yet another of my favorites), I came across this Seibertron.com and started following it a bit. As I said, the organization and devotion to the series shown by Seibertronians is inspiring and not just a little infectious. Pretty soon, I picked up the DVD sets of the eighties show at Target and was amazed at how I was anticipating lines, music cues, and images from over twenty years ago. After making a few purchases to start "collecting" again, I knew I had to sign up. (And, of course, I wanted to play Heavy Metal War!)
Watching those old episodes as an adult made me appreciate characters I never payed much attention to (outside of the toystore, that is). After seeing what some of their toys look like these days, I was pretty stunned. Suffice it to say, I managed to pick up Powerglide (in Wal-Mart red!) and a Classics Jetfire. They both look so cool but I can't decide whether they should stay in their packages or be posed on a shelf--with some surreptitious flying 'em about while the missus ain't watching, of course.
But I'm most excited about my Masterpiece Skywarp. (I love this guy! My username is an obvious homage.) He might not be much to those of you vets with Takara MPs but he's breathtaking to someone who's not paid attention to how advanced these toys have gotten in two decades (and can't yet countenance forking out over $200 for King Grimlock). My current moral dilemma is avoiding dropping another pile of cash on the awe-inspiring FansProject Blast Off/Swindle sculpts . . . which would lead to spending yet more money on trying to hunt down a Bruticus . . . I'm guessing that this is how it always starts?
Well, thanks for reading. I'm looking forward to joining with you all in this crazy, awesome hobby!
Oh and look for me in the HMW arena!