by KoH4711 » Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:28 am
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?