Ya, so ever since I went to go see the Transformers movie, they have been in my brain. Transformers this, Transformers that.

I've been dreaming about them incessantly. I dream about going to buy them. I dream about being in the movie. I even dreamt about directing one of the movies.

So what the heck. My therapist is always telling me that I need to get in touch with my child inside, what a better way to do that than to start collecting the dang things.

Boy, these new Transformers are SO cool. I went out and bought three yesterday. I started with the only three the store had, and then I went hogwild when I got home. Yesterday, I bought Starscream, Ratchet, and some dude I've never heard of before. I opened up Starscream right away (gotta pace myself), and it all started with frustration. It took me a full half hour to figure out how to transform him (even with the directions), but now that I've done it a few times, I have to say that he absolutely rocks!

You know how toys used to have those crappy spring loaded rocket launchers? Well, this Starscream figure has that times six! He's got three rockets on each wing, and if you spin the wheel under his wing, he launches all three of them in quick succession. And they actually fly a long ways, too!

I can't believe how cool this is. I always wanted all the transformers when I was a kid. Now, I have Bumblebee (both incarnations), Jazz, Blackout, Scorponok, Megatron, and Optimus Prime on the way.

Did I mention I went a little hogwild?

Bryan

What about the DVD with the box that is a transformer

What? Where??

a few weeks ago i was in my basement i found an old batman action figure. I took him to school now me and another kid bring our action figures to english. I went to buy a transformer the other day but they were out so im pretty jealous of you right now bryan anyways its cool that your getting in touch with the kid inside you. dont lose him.

,Chris

Well, I have to say, I'm not a transformer fan so much. Grew up too soon I guess.

The Hoo-la-hoop and Tinker Toys were nice tho.......

I used to watch that w/G.I. Joe either b4 or after, i don't remember which...
I always wished Soundwave was an autobot- that voice was awesome!
"Autobots..inferior. Decepticons..Superior!"

When I was real little it was all about Shogun Warriors, which were huge, plastic, didn't transform, but did have the little spring-loaded fists and rockets etc.

I never did get that Green Machine i so desperately wanted..

...wandering Nostalgia Ave. blissfully...

Pokemon and Digital pets were more my era!

Hm. I just might have to check those out, Bryan. I want to see the movie too.

Currently I have a bunch of ships that one breaks out of cards and assembles for a game. Pirates of the Carribean Coast, and a few others like them. I have this fleet of ships sitting on a shelf next to me.

Andy

The Transformers were always my favorite, and they still are. I had totally forgotten how much I loved them. Every time I take Starscream down to transform him, I feel like a little kid again. I was even making little shooting sounds with his rockets. Pshew! Pshew!

And I was smiling. How could I have forgotten how to smile?

Bryan

I was not feeling well when it came in the theater but I just got the DVD and watched it tonight. Needless to say I wonder if Bumble Bee will come out in a convertible mode in the showrooms.

Hey if collecting transformers makes you feel both young and safe go for it. I myself still play with RC cars,trucks,and planes. I'm working with my 7YO son on flying now so some day soon we can get some WWII warbirds and dogfight. Hmmmm RC transformers Maybe I should go through my RC junk pile that would be cool.


brokensoul

BJK,

Yeah, I am a total Transformer geek. The new ones are alot harder to tranform. I got out my original Optimus Prime and the new one...my old one was alot easier. That and they messed with O.P. He used to be a cab over tractor (Semi)...how he's not. All I gots to say is don't mess with a good thing!!

Brian

Too bad you took them out of the box.........they won't sell for thousands of dollars on ebay 3 decades from now.

But I know that's no why you bought them. I'm pleased to know that Bryan found some happiness with some retroactive toys.

I still have an original Optimus Prime still in the package....got two for christmas one year and never opened one of them!! Its my retirement plan...LOL

when you said transformer. i thought you meant the electrical ones. i have a few furbies.

duncan,

I have a background in electronics, so I'm the same way.

so do i ... but i knew what he meant ... i think i've watched cartoons with my kids TOO much. (although i've not seen the new movies...)

i did not mean any harm by it. sorry.

huh??
what did i say???

Mark,

I think he was talking to me. No worries.

As far as the value of unopened Transformers from the '80's, they're not QUITE worth thousands of dollars. Here is a professionally graded Optimus Prime that sold for $1,800, and here is a professionally graded Megatron that also sold for $1,800.

If your not interested in spending a couple hundred dollars to get it professionally graded, this is a more realistic expectation.

Bryan

Bryan? Do you find yourself actually being HAPPY when you get these things out and just hold them? I could appreciate the memories of childhood that they bring back, but..........I don't think they would do anything for me except to make cool conversation pieces. Hell, I don't know.

Well, Alan, this goes a bit deeper than that, really.

It's kind of a long story as to why these Transformers are so special to me, and this really isn't the forum for triggers. Let's just say that as a kid, I promised myself that I would one day own all of them. Well, as you can see, the original Transformers are way to expensive now, so this is the next best thing. I'm not about to break the promise of a little kid.

That said, when I look at these things, they are just soooo cool looking compared to the stuff I had as a kid. Plus, there is more to just holding a transformer. You get to actually transform them! There is just something about taking a normal looking F-22 Raptor like this:



and making him into a mean looking robot like this:



You swivel a hip, slide out a chest plate, push the wings up, pry out the arms, and put him in just the right pose....next thing you know, you're stomping on autobots making that cool transforming sound.

Yeah, the one big difference between the Transformers from the '80's and the Transformers of today is how back in the '80's, I could transform them all in the amount of time it took to make that transforming noise. Nowadays, not only do I not remember how to make the transforming noise, but the time it takes to make that noise is about how long it takes to pull out one of the arms.

So far, I have Starscream and Wreckage posed on my desk with more to follow. Wreckage looks much more cool as a troop transport than as a robot, so I'm guessing he'll stay in vehicle mode. I need some Autobots soon, though, or the Decepticons just might take over!

Bryan

Did my son do something terribly expensive when the light-up head fell off his OP?

BTW: Can ANYONE fully convert an OP betweeen truck and robot without instructions?

You Rock Bryan!

Have fun

Army

Yeah, its kinda hard to break a promise to a kid isn't it?

Would you believe that the light up version of Optimus Prime (the OP Leaders version) is already selling for $65 to $70 still in packaging? The original retail price of this bad boy was $39.95. http://tinyurl.com/yuh7us

That said, these things aren't all that easy to find. I refuse to pay more than retail (plus reasonable shipping) for them, and Optimus Prime has been especially difficult to find for even close to that. Yeah, I think they've released these in short quantity for a reason, but at the same time, how valuable they are twenty years from now largely depends on supply and demand factors that just aren't possible to figure out yet.



Well, I didn't order the Leader version... I ordered the significantly less expensive (and probably much easier to transform) version ($19.95 from the Hasbro website), but it took quite a bit of practice to even get Starscream right.

Oh man, I am having so much fun reading this thread - it's catching me at a time when I REALLY needed it. Transformers are way past my childhood, but I remember getting into them bigtime when my son was little. "Daddy, time for transformers...you promised." It was amazing what you could do with those things, and the greatest fun of all was, as Bryan says, listening to my son making all those cool noises as he switched the thing around.

In my generation it was Erector sets, lincoln logs, and Skyline - but wow, did we ever have fun with those too. I just loved making my own skyscrapers, but then I wanted so bad to make something new, but at the same time I wanted to keep what I had already built. Ah, the frustrations of life...

Much building,
Larry

Larry-
I had the same issue with legos and tinkertoys; "keep it, or start over?"

Hey B,

That's awesome you're getting in touch with Lil B! I am a huge Transformers fan! I'm an 80's boy so I watched all the episodes, even the first animated movie (still trying to find it at Blockbuster or Netflix). The sound effects when they transformed in the 80's cartoons was SO cool! Anyways, I bought Optimus Prime when I found out they were going to make the movie and I keep him at work to help me stay connected with Lil J. Have fun collecting them all! Oh, by the by, thanks for that great pic of Starscream. Man, this thread took me back! Thanks B!

Jay

I gave my son Boo my MatchBox set from when I was a kid. Its funny, I clearly remember thinking that I was preserving them for my kids "some day." Well, that "some day" arrived and I quickly witheld some of my cars from the conveyance. Some are just too darn special to end up in dramatic collisions off of Boo's bunk-bed. Some...I can replay in perfect detail, the day I bought them. Some of them have some very bad memories attched...some can make me smile.

I use to save milk-money to buy them.

I had an Erector Set. Awesome stuff!

When I was 12 or 13, I got one of those 150-in-1 electronic project boards. That was great! It eventually turned into my subject of study in school.

Holy crud..the 150-in-1. That was SO cool. Did you have the IC chip??

I believe it did, yes. I also remember playing a lot with the LED display, albeit a single digit.

The memories I have attached to my MatchBox and Hot Wheels cars are quite painful to recall.

Bryan

Though in my mid-30's, i also had a electronic project board, i don't think it was "150-in-1" more like 60 or something, but i remember the different modules and patches, the circuit diagrams, it looked like like an old-fashioned switchboard. also had a jr. chemistry set (not the Gilbert one you could make cool stuff with, they had gotten rid of all the "good stuff" by my time) and a microscope kit w/ the preprepared slides and a few blanks, w/ one special "pond water" slide for live specimens.
Grandpa was a scientist, so i got each one as b-day or xmas present. I never did end up at LaRC or sandia though, that math stuff was just too darn hard...heh

This was at Target. I don't know if it was a limited edition or not. I have a friend (in his 20's) who was giddy on his way to buy it. He was also giddy after he bought it. lol

Keith