The Energon Pub

I was thinking today- how do some people still have G1 toys MIB (that they supposedly have kept since they were children)? I know anyone can go online and buy a G1 toy MIB but my question is most of us I would say, probably most of us were kids when these came out. Truthfully I was born during G1 so I kind of missed out on it (G2 introduced me to Transformers. But I was a kid and I bought all kinds of Beast Wars with my birthday money, allowances, etc. and not once did it occur to me to keep my Transformers in box.

Did some people have parents that told them to? I just don't understand how there are so many people that held onto their MIB G1 toys over the last 25, 26, 27 years or so. Perhaps some of you would like to provide input.

I'm just curious, that's all.

That's indeed a good question. My guess is that when Transformers first started even the Adult Collectors got into them, who eventually sold off their stuff when the time was right. Transformers is "only" 28 years old, you know? I'm pretty sure there are some collectors around who are well in their 50's.

Maybe some would have been unwanted gifts that were barely played with, put into storage and forgotten about until their rediscovery years later?

i would say it just happens through growing out of toys and gifts being put away and forgotten about my freind found a few random figures in his parents closet still boxed not so long ago due to him growing out of them

And i remember as a kid always being told to keep the box so i could put everything back in when i was finished, i dont think that went very well, but just another reason how it could still have its box if you were lucky enough to have parents that kept youre toys

mine sadly got handed down to my brother he still has loads might have to dig them out one day.

I don't actually have any of my G1 Transformers from 1984 in MIB condition, but I can speak for my MASK toys, which are also from that time, and plenty of which I have always kept MIB. I was just a bit anal that way, and I had the room to keep the boxes, which always looked amazing. So when I turned about 15-16, and lost interest in toys (and gained interest music and girls) I put all my MASK toys back into their plastic wrappers and then back into their boxes, and put the boxes into storage, where they remain to this day, almost 20 years later. I guess it was a blessing that the internet was practically non-existant back then, else I probably would have tried to sell it all to make money to buy an electric guitar (which I eventually bought by selling my Lego castle and space toys).

Collecting toys isn't exactly a new thing. Chances are there were people back then who took the risk and invested in some of the toys.

Keep in mind too, like some collectors today, not everyone takes the toys out of the box. A kid would more than likely tear the box open and play with it, but older fans and those who simply saw potential in the toys sometimes see things a little differently.

There's also the full basement/warehouse thing. My grandfather once bought a thundering pile of 19th century Valentine cards (which are collectibles) from a business when they went out - this was only 20 or so years ago, so the cards were still 80+ years old at that point. The business had bought them back in the day, never sold them and stuck the in the basement where they were forgotten until they were shutting down. I'm sure some of the G1 Transformers met a similar fate, especially in small privately owned toy stores, which have been shutting down left and right in this economy.