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I'd not seen a thread about this, and I thought it might be an interesting one to bring up.

How did you first become a Transformers fan, and why are you still active in the fandom?

For me... it all began with Gobots. Hopefully no one will throw me out over this.

It starts with three Gobots specifically. Turbo, the red sports car, went to my older brother. I got Crasher, the original white version of the figure. And my younger brother, Scotty, got Spay-C, the space shuttle. We had(and I don't really know for sure how it happened, I think maybe a local flea market in Lawton sold them, or they got some releases) a lot of Japanese robot toys, and my cousins had the original, HUGE Shogun Warrior figures. But we loved the Gobots, and got hours of play time out of them. I can remember that much.

About the time we got them, Scotty made frequent trips to Oklahoma City for a variety of symptoms, including dark circles around his eyes. We got a motor home, something my dad had wanted for a long time, but it seemed suddenly. And, even stranger, whenever we got sick, we stayed in there until we got better. Again, my brother and I's Gobots accompanied us.

It was summer when we found out why. Scotty had been diagnosed with a form of cancer called neuroblastoma. In later stages, it ravages the immune system, not unlike HIV. We were told that Scotty didn't have much time left. After giving him a chance to live out his dream, a trip to Disney World, my brother died at three years old.

My grandfather also died that summer. I'll always remember the garage he converted into a den, with a massive library and mementos from his years as a science fiction fan. It was an incredibly tough summer, as you can well imagine.

The next memory came around Christmas. Our local K-Mart had a display on an end cap near the front of the store for a new toyline. My dad, knowing how much my brother and I loved the Gobots, pointed them out. They were similar, but they were bigger. More complicated. And, coolest of all, they weren't just cars or planes. The tapes and the tape deck, I remember, especially caught my eye. Especially a black tape that turned into a cat.

Transformers.

We got our first set that Christmas, my brother getting Sunstreaker and Prowl, while I got Ratchet and Ironhide. Later on, I got Ravage, and so many more. And it's still going on today. Ironically, my dad later got me Ironhide, as a Christmas present in 2004. Twenty years after he got me Ironhide to start this whole mess. What's more, one of the first things I did after moving to California to be with my long distance girlfriend was go to Botcon '98, where she got me Ravage. The same one that first caught my eye as a kid. Today, we're engaged.

So, that answers how it got started. Why am I still in it? Lots of reasons. But, Transformers saw me through rough times. Like a lot of kids growing up in the 1980s, Transformers provided an escape. I had friendships that were born out of something as simple as playing with them on the schoolyard. A lot of memories have Transformers as at least bit players. I suspect I'm not the only one.

And...I think it runs in the family. I didn't learn until years after he passed on that my grandfather was involved in science fiction fandom in its beginning days. He belonged to a group called First Fandom, a group of science fiction fans where each member could show they were actively involved in fandom in or before 1938. So, he was doing this long before I was. And he kept with it, his fanzine, Phantasy Press, only stopping publication with his death. My dad, while enjoying science fiction, shares that, too. He's a huge Disney fan, with a large collection of Mickey Mouse that puts my Optimus collection to shame.

Though the Optimi aren't the most important ones I own. That honor goes to two small transforming robots, not even Transformers. A white race car and a space shuttle. They've seen better days, but I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Now that I've gone and spilled my guts and probably rambled on far too long... how about the rest of you? Do you remember how it started, or where you first saw them? What's kept you with it all these years? Might be fun to trade stories and embarrass ourselves by recalling the most epic battles of childhood.

So, anyone care to take a stroll down memory lane?

I was not really a big fan just liked it, when I first saw Armada 5 years ago. Then when I saw the movie coming out and how cool they looked I started to become still not a big fan, but liked it more. I have now also watched G1 episodes on You Tube well half of the G1 episodes anyway because the other half isn't uploaded yet.

The series I am currently watching on You Tube is :

Energon and Beast Wars.

The only series I will ever watch is BW1, Energon, Cybertron, G1, Armada and Animated (coming soon). The others seem all to be in Japanese or it is very hard to find them.

I was born in 1980 and so I would've been 4 when Transformers first aired. But I probably wasn't immediately interested in them right away though. I was showing the signs of autism, (beating my head against the wall, flapping my hands, and lacking the ability to speak words) and I might not have sat still at first long anough to watch a show. But my brother let me play with his Transformers, and I eventually became interested in the show. I think he had one or two of the Seekers, possibly Soundwave, and possibly Astrotrain. I loved watching Transformers! I also watched Voltron, and got the toy of him. But sadly he must have given away his Transformers, and I still can't find my Voltron.

Well, my story begins in 1990, when the Marvel G1 comic was published in my country. I was only 4, and my brother began to collect them, and we gained the first figures together. Those were G1 Classics figures (the ones in golden packages), they were Hot Spot and Onslaught. I collected them for a few years (mostly knock-offs and a few G2 figures) and when the comics publishing stopped in Hungary (the publisher and Marvel had financial issues) was about the same time when the first BW figures came to stores. I didn't like BW figures at that time, and so I stopped for a few years.
For years, there were only minimal transformers in stores, but one day about two years ago, I saw the light again (We can call the light UNICRON from the armada line) Since then, I came back to die-hard collecting.

Well, I'm an 80's child, I was born in 1975, makes me 31 now, but anywho....

I remember I was watching Voltron and switch to Transformers, back and fourth. What got me hooked on Transformers was them, their different personalities, personal demons, the drama, etc. They were good with darkness, evil with feelings. They were cool, and a lot like humans.

I always wish Voltron could talk, and Keith would shut up, but that's another story..

I've always liked Transformers, but never got all crazy about them till Armada came out. That's when I was loving it and when I remembered I had 2 old figs from childhood. I'm still into them cause I just love them. They're just so freaking cool!!

I started watching Transformers around 1992. I was in the first grade and I would watch them every morning before school. I guess it was the characters that kept me hooked. When I think back about it, images of Optimus, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Megatron, and Starscream doing stuff in the show come to mind. I also remember when I watched it, it had that 3D animation opening with Optimus and Megatron fighting.

But I never got my first toy until the Beast Wars Transmetals came out. My first Transformers ever were TM2 Cheetor and Depth Charge.

For me, it started with a couple tapes rented from Blockbuster...

I became a fan through my 2 older brothers when I was 3 years old in '87. I remember my mom went to work and it was summer time so my brothers were home, and they were taking care of me. My mom turned on the TV and left, and it just so happens that the show on was "Transport to Oblivion." I remember my bros were excited, because they wanted me to see this. So I watched and became hooked on one Tf in particular, Cliffjumper. The scene where he tries to take on Megs alone sold Cliffy and the show to me. Of course being only 3 I thought that was quite impressive and had no clue about the toys' existence. After the show my brothers asked who my favorite was, and I said, "The little red race car!" My oldest brother Jeff took me up to his room and showed me his and my brother Paul's collection. The first one I saw was Cliffjumper. I couldn't get enough of that toy.

My bros went on to tell me about the movie and many other toys. So when I was 4 my Dad rented me the Transformers Movie, and little did my Dad know he would be doomed to rent it every weekend until I was about 11-12 years old. After seeing the movie I saw a Powermasters commerical and was so impressed by Joyride, and I had to have him. Joyride was my first Transformer, and I still have and play with him today. After that every birthday and Christmas I needed certain Transformers.

Eventually Cliffjumper and the other G1s we had excpet Prime and Wheelie were given away or thrown out. After G2 my bros and I weren't interested in Transformers. It wasn't until RiD that I got back into Transformers. I really really missed the days when Transformers were cars and planes. Finally the Tfs I knew and loved were back. I soon learned about Brain's Toys and other websites selling vintage tfs, and I finally got my hands on a original Cliffjumper! At the same time my brothers were able to spoil me at Christmas so they got me some of the G1 Transformers I always wanted. Kup, Hot Rod, Astrotrain, Pounce and Wingspan, all the minibots, and many others. So now about 20 years later I'm as big a fan as ever and still trying to complete a G1 collection. LONG LIVE G1!!! TF:TM 1986 ROCKS!!!!!

When I was very, very young, I was surfing through channels and I came upon the G2 cartoon. I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but something about it captured my imagination and hooked me like a fish.

Soon, the Beast Era came along and I collected a few toys here or there, but never paid much attention to the show. I started watching Beast Machines at the end of the first season. Whatever cord the show hit, it was the right one. I loved its story and the whole concpet of biomechanical Transformers.

Those years went by and along came Armada. I tried getting into it, but the one dimensional characters were a real bother and I soon stopped paying attention too it. I couldn't have cared less when I heard about Energon and Cybertron years later.

Last year, I deceided to give the orginal cartoon a shot. Luckily, the first episode was on youtube. I was instatly hooked. I loved the way the show broke off from the cliches littering so many 80's cartoons back in the day and had characters I could really develop an attatchment to. I tracked down the rest of the episodes and revisited the Beast Era and the Unicron Trilogy. After finishing those, I knew I was hooked for life.

Like many Filipinos of my generation (born in the 70's) I grew up with both American and Japanese cartoons (this was before everyone started using the word "anime"). Then came the anime ban, which lasted for roughly a decade.
The first time I saw or heard of anything about TF's was a small ad on the back of a Marvel UK comic ( I forget which). It was a tiny pic of something called "Transformers", and had two robots fighting. The cover blurb said "Optimus Prime versus Megatron!" Having grown up on giant fighting robots (only to have them banned by the president) I was curious to see something like this again, after having to put up with such mind-numbingly action-less fare as "Superfriends".
Frotunately, the G1 Transformers cartoon showed up on our local airwaves, and since it was an American cartoon, it managed to avoid the anime ban. The comics and episodes came in more regularly after that, and of course the toys. Once the toys came into play (so to speak), there was no stopping them...

Well my story isnt as interesting as any of yours. and probaly isn't worth telling.

I've always liked transformers, I managed to watch a few episodes of the re-runs through the magic of the energon cube (or what ever they called the 3d rotating box thing that appeared when the scenes changed)
most of the TFs i got were G2 (Devastator, Megatron, Bruticus)
I don't know how i found my G1s im sure I got them new in box well after they stopped making them, i even remember thinking to myself "wow I cant beleive they still make these old ones". (and they were good ones too Thundercracker, Camshaft, and Wheeljack, though it seems some tf theif was in my room because one wing, both spoilers and one missle is missing from jack, and he never really moved from my shelf)

but I never went crazy trying to see every episode or gain a collection of toys.

I think my favorites were Ultra Magnus and "the white prime" I only found out they were the same person around January of this year.

The weird thing is I clearly remember "the white prime" being in the G1 cartoon, but suposedly he never was.
I even remember talking to people about what the white prime did in the cartoon.
I remember him being stationed in a small room with many monitors on cybertron with blurr (and probaly others) while optimus was on earth and the comunicated through their monitors.

but I guess i'm crazy. because I keep hearing he never showed up in the cartoon.


later every one went crazy over beastwars, i did too, and i have a bunch.
I really hated the Japanese series, each much more than the last (but some of the toy molds used in RID are really nice, the rest really suck though)
and it went on like this, until I spotted the 20th DVD prime (yes the bad version or MP prime, but I traded up and got MP magnus)


And now im a plastic crack addict.

and I love the white prime repaints.

Well mine starts in 1983 Return of the Jedi came out and I knew at that point of time I needed something new.I seen the commercials for GI Joe and had them when I was a kid but when I was young they were 12 inch tall with beards.Here these new figures were 3 3/4 in size and athat point did nothing for me

About a year later the local New York TV station channel 11 showed a GI Joe miniseries I caught some of it but then there was an ad about the Transformers miniseries would be on the following week.

That next week I watched all three episodes of More then meets the eye.I had seen the commercials throughout the year but thought no.It was the story that did it for me.After the miniseries ended it was announced that this would be back in the fall.

I didn't get the toys until the show was on daily I thought oh what the hell.I then later in the week after I got paid went into a store known as Bradlees (now out of business)I
picked up Ramjet and Bumblebee.Being 18 I felt weird about buying toys I felt this way for years until a new term came along that made it so I collected Transformers for the past 23 years Toy Collector that term made it ok for an old man (to some of you) to get toys for all these years

Both me and my older brother missed G1. He was born in '85 and I was '88. But when it re-aired on fox (kids my age all grew up with 80s re-runs. lol) we watched it. I watched Beast Wars, Beast Machines, RID...

And then I fell out of it. But my older brother and I had a conversasion and Transformers came up. I didn't reallty recall them so I went online to do research and found Seibertron.com. What attracted me here was the online Comic scans, but a couple months later they were taken down so I joined the board and my renewed obsession grew from there.

Then Armada, Energon, and Cybertron aired...watched them all. Did mopre research and now I'm trying to watch all the TF shows the US didn't get.

There's many. Recently two of my sweeties moved on. Peaceful,
playful in a encourageble way. They loved auto/decepts. Their
favorites were landbullet,skyfire,hotshot.XCan't remembrt the names the the cement truck,and the dozer from devastator.

They would knock over land bullet in robot bot,off the kitchen
cabinet,beside their open bird cage...to play again. They'd
roll him in vehicle mode,never knocking em over.

They'd roll off hotshot off the edge a couple of times in vehicle mode.A bit of canopy damage. Constructicons were preened a bit,pushed a bit. Skyfire was more sniffed,and climbed upon. As for sweetie,she likes so far,ravage and thinks
parrobot is a transformer. .......................... .

Something out of the blue.....ms rattrap........ .

I was born in 1991, so that gives me the show of Beast Wars and maybe re-airs of g1, but i didnt know. so beast wars was the only show i watched when i was little. i watched all the seasons, and then beast machines after it. i didnt even know anything about the g1 stuff and i still dont really. ive seen the movie, but it was kinda confusing not knowing anything. i stopped being a big fan after beast machines was taken off the air. i also was older and got into different things. but now, when i saw the teaser trailer for this movie, i went crazy over it because i knew it would look so amazing. ever since, ive been kinda obessed with the movie and everything about it. soo, i guess i cant really say im a HUGE transfan, but i just cant help it with this movie coming out.