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Complete Transformers Generation One Set on ebay
doogles writes "I ran across quite a blast from the past today on ebay. A complete Transformers: Generation One set is for sale on ebay starting at $10,000 although at this time there are no bids." I was never allowed to have transformers as a kid. I had go-bots (a cheap knockoff if I've ever seen one). My friends had Optimus Prime, Starscream, and the rest. God I loved all those things. The show was allright, but those toys are a huge part of my childhood. Course the other interesting thing is how over the years the sets grew, and got... well, silly. But that first year... wow.
Stuff like this doesn't happen often. Transformers rock....
;)
Anyway, my dad tried to get me away from Transformers when I was 8 by giving me $10 bucks and going to an overpriced toy store. I coulda gone home with a go-bot or saved my money for a transformer next month. I saved my money.
Eventually I grew out of them and went back to legos. Recently, went to go see "Transformers The Movie"... Now everytime I hear about transformers I am reminded about the retarded junkbots doing that ridiculous victory dance. Whatever happened to the turbo-tounged VA anyway?
I just got back from an Auto/Boat show (no, not AutoBOT show), and I noticed that brand new Kia's are going for a little over $10,000.
Thus I must ask the question: Would it be cooler to have a bunch of Transformers that formed into a working automobile, or would you prefer a new Kia that transformed into a giant robot?
(I'd have to go with the latter myself, since if I had the former I would probably lose one of the DinoBots that was part of the engine or something else important)
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Let me give you the lowdown
In the movie there is a triple changer Transformer (train - space shuttle - robot, I had'im) who was to carry a whole bunch of other Transformers to some planet (while he was transformed into a space shuttle). Around 10 of them jump aboard INSIDE him, including the constroctabots(sp?). I remember they had a fight in mid flight, and the constroctabots transformed into devastator (who has to be the size of a building).. while still inside the space shuttle guy, what's up with that?
Energy cubes. How the hell do they get the energy to be self contained in the shape of a cube?
Flying. Most of the Transformers could fly as robots as if they were Superman. Starscream was a jet fighter, sometimes he transformed to fly, other times he didn't.. what's up with that?
The planet where they are from. It's not a "human" planet! where did the VW beetles, ambulances and fire trucks come from??
Optimus Primes' fuck!ng TRAILER.. where the hell did it come from?
and finally... WHAT'S WITH THE TWO HUMAN FRIENDS!!! (you know, the dad and the kid with the hard hats and lab coats)
--------------------------upSIde dOwn -- umOp apISdn--------------------------
The privilege of asking a ridiculous price for action figures is supposed to be reserved strictly for those who keep the toys in the
original sealed package! What's next, Beanies
with the ear tags ripped off?
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Damn, I remember my old transformers. Now those were *real* toys. Not just plastic shite. I remember my wheeljack being made of metal, rubber tires, real damn paint. Hefty. Those were the days.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
Yeah, that's something that dawned on me too.
My toys from childhood are in DREADFUL condition. Star Wars figs with heads missing and paint jobs done on them. Transformers that have been kitbashed no end - or else literally destroyed through heavy playing. G.I. Joes (some so old they don't have Swivel-Arm Battle Grip) that have been kitbashed, repainted, and had their crotches broken off. An original Kenner Millennium Falcon which I: dismantled the cockpit and removed the cardboard wall so there's an actual hallway from the cockpit to the back compartment, repainted parts of the upper hull for battle damage, and DRILLED holes throughout in hopes of wiring it for lights.
I still have all these sad relics. The busted Transformers still get played with. But I figure they're near-worthless in their current condition; they'd probably be worth tens of thousands of dollars if they were all in mint condition.
But you know what? I think back and wonder what I'd be like if I kept 'em all on shelves or, heaven forbid, in the original boxes. It was fucking WORTH it. Even the Falcon - I got more enjoyment out of tearing it up than I would get today out of selling it in mint condition.
~ radiographite: art by john shepard
The seller could put an mp3 of the song "Dare To Be Stupid" playing in the background as you try to decide whether or not to bid $10,000 for some junk.
I have a nephew now who has a set of MindStorms and the O'Reilly book (His Dad gave him the MindStorms I gave him the book). This kid is going to rock the world. It is still possible you just have to choose wisely.
Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
The original set was cool. I always wanted the Megatron that transformed into a life-sized gun. That would never have made it past the PR department these days.
I remember one i had that transformed into a boombox. He had "cassettes" which transformed into small animal robots. I can't remember his name, though.
I remember on Christmas I got a really, really awesome Transformer who turned into a white metal jet. Man, he was cool. An I remember how there was something wrong with him, so we had to return him, but they didn't have any more (being right after Christmas and all) so I got some truck dude who was Optimus Prime's cousin or something.
I remember the occasional toy that would be really "stiff"; the joints would be very difficult to move. They tended to stay in one form most of the time.
I remember making the obligatory "chi-choo-choo-choo-choo-chi" sound as I transformed these toys.
I remember seeing the Transformers movie with my mom.
I thought it was cool when, a couple years ago, my little brother started getting into "Beastwars", which, as you may not know, is a descendant of the original show/merchandising empire. Personally I don't think they're as cool as the originals, but hey, they're still Transformers.
I remember seeing the original TV show somewhere a few months ago and being astounded at how awful the animation and voices are. This happens whenever I see one of the cartoons of my early years, such as Thundercats and He-man. What was that cartoon with the metal cyborg people with wings? Silverhawks? Oh well, I forget. These days I watch a lot of Japanese animation (although I don't subscribe to CmdrTaco's "anime newbie cheerleading club" here on /.) and it's amazing to compare even kids cartoons from Nihon with the crap kids watch today. Your parents may have though the cartoons you watched were trash... well, most modern cartoons really are. The few imported anime shows don't help much... I'm always amazed at the awful English dubbing. American TV people seem to think that because a show is animated, it should have cheesy "kiddy" voices. Dubs always seem stupid and immature. That's why I actually hope the American TV industry halts its current "anime is hip and cool, kids like it, so do we" before they fuck up too many series. I've heard that Rurouni Kenshin is going to be shown, dubbed, on Cartoon Network... God help us all. Maybe I should kill myself now?
Anyway, I think this story is like most of Slashdot's stories over the past six months (mostly stupid and irrelevant), but thanks for the memories anyway. Transformers were a big part of my life too.
All generalizations are false.
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I like to watch.
That's great, but I think 99.9% of us don't read that site.
Thanks for the info though.
Really.
vi? emacs?
NO!
gijoe vs transformers vs gem (for our female geeks)
Yep, I never spell check.
More incorrect spellings can be found he
Gobots may have been cheap, but IIRC, Transformers were a rip-off of Gobots. A good rip-off, but a rip-off.
ticks = jiffies;
while (ticks == jiffies);
ticks = jiffies;
Have you read my journal today?
Just FYI, they're re-releasing a bunch of the most popular original Transformers, and some new (and very very good) designs under the moniker Transformers 2000. http://www.planetanime.com has them, along with just about every other Japanese toy retailer on the net. Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus (the Optimus cab with the car-carrier trailer), and a couple very nice new cars are available today, along with Fortress Maximus (which is the ungodly huge one you see in those pictures). I also have in my pocket the reserve slip for the original Megatron, due for release in June. I was as giddy as a schoolgirl when I found out about that.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
A while back, I purchased a copy of the1986 animated classic, 'Transformers: The Movie'. This mini-epic starred Leonard Nimoy, Judd Nelson, and Orson Welles in his final performance. It opens with a Decepticon (the bad guys, for those who aren't in the know) attack on the Autobots' (good guys) city on Earth, wherein the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, is killed, and the Decepticon leader, Megatron, is transfigured by a world-eating planet called Unicron into a far more powerful being, Galvatron, in order to destroy the Autobots' Matrix of Leadership, a mystical artifact which has the power to destroy Unicron. Combine top-flight Japanese animation with the best in cheesy 1980's pseudo-metal, and you have a cinematic delight.
However, after watching the film several (yes, several) times, and discussing it with a group of my friends, I've come to some conclusions about a certain way in which the film can be interpreted. I believe that a Marxist/socialist/Communist interpretation can be applied to the film, analyzing its elements in terms of the Cold War scenario of the 1980's.
For example, the Autobots represent to the forces of Capitalism, i.e. the Western World. Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus, their leaders during the majority of the film, are both colored red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag. They live in a society which is governed by 'energon', a power source which they use as a form of currency. Also, they are governed by a concensus, even though their leader holds veto power over their government.
The Decepticons, on the other hand, represent the forces of Communism, specifically the power of the Soviet Union, and the oppression of industry. For example, the Decepticons flee the battle of Autobot City in Astrotrain, a robot with the power to transform into a locomotive; this represents the Decepticons' dependence on industrialization, much like the Soviets'. The Decepticons are ruled in an autocratic manner, where those who can defeat or supplant the leader become absolute monarch over their society. The giant robot, Devastator, is the avatar of the 'collective' concept of Communism.
Other elements of the film represent other elements of the repressive Soviet society as well. For example, several of the Autobots find themselves trapped on the world of the Quintessons, imperial judges whose verdicts always result in death. They represent the unreasoning Soviet legal system, which was state-controlled and made no allowance for mercy or jurisprudence. The Quintesson's servants, the Sharkticons, are mindless, all-consuming drones; they represent the Army, which enforces the decisions of the judicial system without question or apprehension.
The Autobot Grimlock, who expresses his world-view in "Me Grimlock no kisser; Me Grimlock king!", eventually turns the Sharkticons against the Quintessons, with his superior physical presence. He is the analog of the Communist dictator, such as Joseph Brosz (Marshal Tito) of Yugoslavia and Ncolai Ceauescau of Romania; he enforces his desires through phyiscal means and terror, inducing those who serve the system to turn against it.
When Megatron is transfigured into Galvatron, he slays the Decepticons who disagree with him, namely Starscream. This is much like Stalin's purges of the old Leninist regimes in the early 1920's, getting rid of those who don't agree with your policies in order to make your government work. Galvatron's transformation is not only physical and mental but also ideological.
Several Autobots land on the planet of Junk, inhaited by the Junkions. The Junkions are ramshackle robots who are built and regenerate from the endless scrap heap which comprises their planet. They are addicted to television transmission, and much of the lingua franca of the Junkions is composed of phrases from common TV shows. They represent the endless proletariat of the Communist state, kept placid by the various media and endlessly regenerating from the wellspring of procreation.
Unicron is a monolithic figure within the movie, instigating much of its action. He changes Megatron into Galvatron, initiating the subsequent disruption of the balance of power between Autobot and Decepticon. Imagine if something had given Communism a clear advantage over Capitalism, leaving the concept of capitalism in the dust; that is what Unicron is. He represents the inevitability of economic change from barter, to capitalism, to socialism, as proposed by Karl Marx. Unicron is the inevitable dialectic of history.
The Autobots' Matrix represents the variable which economic analyses cannot predict, that is the desire of the human being for freedom and equality (Yeah, it's kind of hokey, but so's the plot). The Matrix is able to destroy Unicron, which is much like human consciousness disrupting the dialectic of history, resisting communism in favor of capitalism. When the Matrix destroys Unicron at the end of the film, it is much like the residents of East Berlin breaking down the Berlin Wall; they as well are resisting the inevitability of economic, social, and historical change from one system to another. These are just some of the elements in "Transformers: The Movie" which support the Marxist interpretation of its storyline. I encourage you to rent, buy, borrow, or steal it; it's great fun.
There opened but there are nearly 200 of them in the set. Even assuming just regular retail prices for each one that's pretty close to 10000$ right there.
FYI --
With a little quick math ($10,000 / 200 = $50) I think that it's safe to say that to have purchased these originally would've been an order of magnitude cheaper. I know that some of them got a little expensive, but I doubt any but the most outrageous of the transformers ever got past the $25 mark, much less $50. And there were lots of them that could be had at $5-$8.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
=(.\')=
Are you referring to the episode where SHipwreck was on a Prisoner-like island, and his family were some weird blob-like creatures, with his daughtter firing a bazooka at him?
That episode WAS a mindfuck.
interesting fact I can't confirm: the almighty Megatron toy(one of the few non-symmetrical toys), was actually released way back in 1974, but not named Megatron.
Vulvasaur? Is that like some Pokemon with vaginal powers?
...spend more time on the HTML!
Dang, I was in 2nd grade or so. I remembered my mother buying the Optimus Prime one for me and more for her friends' (so the parents wouldn't have to go hunting to buy them). I remembered how hard it was to get. I don't think it was bad as getting a Playstation 2 though.
:). I believe they both went "adios" in a garage sale. DOH!
:)
Now, I don't remember what happened to my Transformers (didn't have all them). I also had Voltrons (lions one)
Ahh, the good old days!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Many of the transformers made today contain metal in the form of joint pins, screws, rivets, etc. and they are quite durable and usually more poseable than the original transformers. The majority of the Beast Wars and Beast Machines lines are also devoid of the electronic gimmicks you mentioned.
"I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
"Decepticons FOREVER!!!" - Ravage
Yeah, that is what I was thinking too when I first saw the Power Rangers. Nothing can beat the original Voltrons (excluding the 3D rendered one) :).
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Wow. You'd think all we did in the eighties was buy stuff. I may remember all these brand names, and they may have marked my childhood by way of being there; but to say all these wonderful products were my childhood... I think not. They neither defined me nor altered the course of my life.
Damn straight! Transformers were the 'end of the end' for Saturday morning cartoons, and the toys were just as bloody awful as the show. I'm reserving a special place in hell for the marketeers who came up with this mindless, unentertaining crap.
/.ers was about 1 year old. As I grew older, the cartoons got crappier. Then about five years ago, they got better again! There are some BRILLIANT cartoons on TV right now, which are being created by my microgeneration--the ones who remember what cartoons were like _before_ transformers.
What I find most interesting is the age-related aspects of it all. The cartoons I remeber fondly were from a few years earlier, when the _average_ age of
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
BTW, if you're the author of this, or you know the author, drop me a line. I've had it up on my website for a while, and I'd really like to ask him for permission to have it there.
Reality has a liberal bias
Ya know, for $10,000, you'd think maybe he could have worked a little harder on the web-layout.
Or at least turned off the caps-lock key.
I just hate it WHEN THAT HAPPENS.
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(As long as this story about Transformers is up, I should probably plug the rec.toys.transformers.moderated newsgroup which I help to moderate, as well as the article about Transformers fandom that I wrote a while back. And the yearly Transformers convention, BotCon, which will be in Carolina this year.)
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I bet, 10 years from now, there's some kid all "Dude, when I was a kid, my Vulvasaur kicked ass all over these lame-ass intelligent robot dogs like those kids have today..."
Looking back at all the posts, not one person has pointed out how miserably overpriced $10,000 is. Come on! I remember a couple of weeks ago there was a /.'ed video game collection of an unbelievable amount of games and that was only going for $20K, or so.
This guy loves his 'bots, but anyone who would pay that much for them is silly. This guy isn't the only person out there with this collection.
-Moondog
Sell "rare" Dragonball Z product imports and "rare" Pokemon imports on ebay. Pretty cheap and easy to find... One I found japanese pokemon cards at my local HEB.
Those are nice...but a bit pricey... Wish they'd just rerelease them in the US for a more reasonable price.
Dissention from the collective childhood warm-fuzzy remeniscence earns a "Troll" rating?
When I was a child, I was perceptive enough to see the inflection point where cartoons changed from entertainment tools to marketing tools. Seeing this disgusted me... Seeing a crowd of people who otherwise have excellent ability to see through marketing BS get lulled back into this stuff is really scary.
Does everyone in our society have a marketing button that can be pressed, or am I fooling myself thinking that vigilant people can make purely rational purchase decisions?
I still hate the friggin things.
That is a shame.. If you had taken better care of them you could have put them on sale for $9500 on Ebay and watch no one buy them.
-gerbik
Beanie and Cecil - the original version, not that one season of "New Beanie and Cecil" in the early 90s... with the same pun problems as the Xanth books, but with a much subtler underlying wit.
Dark Water (original 10 eps only) - More than brilliant, it was the extraction of what was good about 80s toons, in the 90s, without the toys (yes, I know, but those came much later... after the five part pilot and the five followups)
Two Stupid Dogs - simple, entertaining, and way more subtle than it seemed.
PowerPuff Girls - have you actually watched it with a critical eye?
I'm avoiding listing anything marketted as an adult toon... no Simpsons, South Park, or Beavis and Butt-Head... because I feel that the type of show I mention above is far more interesting. There was someone involved in that show who thought, "let's see what we can slide in under these kids' subconciences"...
I don't know if anyone's seen the new Spiderman or X-Men toons. Those are created by people from the five-year period immediately before the toy toons. They're awful. Worse than the toy toons, in a lot of ways. And things like the new crop of sloppy animation shows (Recess, for a perfect example) are just as bad. Cartoon Network and Nick are exceptions to this rule, and some of the newest stuff that is obviously the start of the TF era redux (Beast Wars, the other CGIs like Action Man, Max Steel, Starship Troopers, the remarkable extension to the Batman series Batman Beyond) are fantastic. I'm not sure where to place the new (also really good) Jackie Chan 'toon...
I've dabbled enough in the industry to know that there's no real age component in the talent creating the best shows. The factors are more social and economic... Do the marketting people think the public (kids or no) are gullible and shallow at the moment... or more reachable with wit? What's going to get ratings? And given the Pokemon/Saban (gag) grab of the share, is it better to do more of the same and try for their leavings, or go in the radical opposite direction and see if you can't pull yourself an admittedly smaller, but still respectable share of the disposessed savier viewers?
And of course, it all comes down to the pitch of the guy who came up with the concept in the first place... me, I'm looking forward to the new Reboot series.
-- Still waiting for the Nike endorsement
"Worlds Without End" is the one where a malfunctioning disentigrator ray tears a hole in spacetime to a universe where Cobra won, involving such happy fun things as the 'Joes happening upon skeletons in the desert wearing their dogtags, and Steeler getting bitten by an infectious bug and getting delirious and hallucinating, and declaring that they're all dead and they've gone to hell (though they can't use the word "hell" due to BS&P).
That's a mindfuck.
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
The confusion may stem from the rare TFTM music score CDs, issued for the BotCon convention (and occasionally findable on eBay or Napster--search on the word "botcon"), featuring rerecordings of all the instrumental music from Transformers: The Movie.
For the CD, Vince DiCola modified the instrumental piece from that part of the movie slightly, dropping in an instrumental version of the "Dare to Be Stupid" synthesizer riff to substitute for the music played at that point in the movie, which of course could not be included on that CD.
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
If you think Ultra Magnus is cool, check out God Magnus, Super Fire Convoy, and God Magnus+Super Fire Convoy=God Fire Convoy. Look here. GM is the blue one, SFC is the red one, and GFC is the really improbably large one at the bottom of the page. One thing to say...WOW.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
People played with their toys back then--so it became super-rare to find any of them in good condition. Scarcity drives price--and for a complete set, of course you'll pay more than you would for individual items, just for all the work it took the guy to assemble it.
Nowadays, everyone's collecting toys--and so, ironically, it will be decades before they're worth anything--if ever. Which means, I guess, that now toys really are just for playing with.
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
With, as the commercial goes (in a voice that sounds like the speaker is simultaneously bench pressing 300),
"More muscles, sir!"
"More missiles, sir!"
"More steroids, sir!"
Okay, I made that last up. But still, it's sad to see that they've made the original G.I.Joe into a thinking man's cartoon...
When you were being conceived in a fit of passion by your parents I was building WORKING radios and transmitters from scratch, and collecting parts/gears to build WORKING robots. That's a real nerd's childhood, not pansy toys that have no functionality to them.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Granted the current American transformers (Beast Wars) are really bad I agree. Over in japan there is a new series called Car Transformers or as they have been dubed here transformers 2000. I special ordered a large number of them and had them sent to me here. They look like the origianl transformers in the good looking cars trucks, and trains. But When you transformer them it isn't as simple as flip them up on there back, they are MUCH much better in that regard. Heck it took me a good 20 minutes to figure one of them out the first time. I give them praise for that. Oh and for all you that love merge groups the train set is a just such a set. Lets hope that they bring it to america. You can find the vcd's of the episodes on e-bay.
To Top it off they have re-released a number of transformers. Optimus Prime, Ultra magnus, Hot Rod, and a repaint of Fort Max the transformer that is over 2 feet tall. Megatron will be re-released in June for all you that want him (me oh me!).
Oh and for those that don't know tranformers The Movie DVD was recently put out and you can grab it on amazon or your favorite place to grab those sort of things.
Do you changes clothes while making the "chee-chee-cha-cha-choh" transformation sound?
Don't have to get him on ebay. He's being reissued. You can pre-order him (and buy a bunch of the other TF2000 series, some are reissues, some I've never seen before, most are freakin' amazing) here.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Now THESE Transformers, the new Car Robots series from Takara in Japan, are SWEET. Word is, Hasbro is bringing them to America.
I hear you about the starwars figures. I collected Transformers too, but I never had THAT many of them. Probably 10-15 total. I eventually sold all of them in a garage sale for a few bucks.
:) I was about 10 at the time and I longed for the weekly trip to K-Mart so I could plop down about $2.50 for another action figure. That was about what I could accumulate during the week, but thats all I ever spent my money on (if I couldn't find any arcade games that is :)
:)
The starwars figures however I never got rid of. I remember the days of collecting them. It was 1983-84 when I started collecting them in bulk, not for collecting them per sae, but so I could play with them.
I managed to collect about 90% of the action figures, and a decent number of the ships. While I don't have the original packaging for most of it, and over the years bits and pieces have disappeared, I still have most of the collection. I suppose the only reason I kept all of them was because at the time I had spent my own hard earned money on them. I certainly recieved a few of them as gifts, but for the most part they came out of my own pocket.
For this reason alone, I never had the heart to sell them or give them away, even though it was tempting at times. I know at one time I sat down and tried to figure out exactly how much money I had spent on action figures over time, and the total came up to something like $300 for all the figures and ships. That was a HUGE amount of money to me at the time, and I was almost stunned by it. No way I was gonna sell these off for a few bucks in a garage sale.
Of course, right now they're collecting dust out in my garage. Since I don't have the original packaging, and they're in far but mint condition, I can't see myself ever offering them up to some crazed bidder who simply can't live without them. I'm just going to hold on to them as memories of my childhood. I never kept most of the toys I had over the years, so it would be nice to have SOMETHING to look at 40 years from now.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
Considering the current level of VA Linux stock, CmdrTaco might be able to pay the $10,000 but he'd have to bow out when someone else raises it to $10,050
yup that's right Nostalgia is expensive... I bet at least 50% of us who are male, grew up in the US and were born before 1981 upon seeing this thought depressingly to ourselves "I told mom not to give those to good will, along with my GIJOE's and StarWars Action figures..."
:)
If in need of a good guilt trip (to get extra money for beer-um i mean college) be sure you email that url to your mom
The thing that transforms from a bot into a handgun that looks so real you could hold up a seven eleven and steal the rest of the transformers off the shelf. The cost of megatron and the small fine for robbery is probably cheaper than it'll be to get them off ebay =)
I am !amused.
That way, I'll be sure to get some bids!
If so, I want Jazz back, damnit.
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Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
I have almost every transformer on that list (95% of them) from my childhood... I didn't take too good care of them though, and many are broken. I wish I had treated them better... not that I would EVER sell them!! =P But still, it's a shame they're not in good shape. I also have an almost complete set of the Transformers comic book series, with an extra copy of #1 in mint condition... how sad is THAT?!
;-)
Transformers remain next to only Legos, Atari 2600's, and 386 PC's as the best toys of the 80's IMO. Pity they can't make transformers, lego, OR computers the way they used to.
-Kasreyn
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
I had all sorts of Transformers when I was a kid. My fave's were the "Constructacons." Remember? The glow in the dark dump trucks and cranes and bull dozers that transformed? I loved those! :)
And CmdrTaco.. i woulda shared mine with you. No kid should be without the Transformers!
"We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing."
The odd thing is, the Transformers toys sold a lot better than the original Japanese toys on which they'd been based--revitalizing Japanese toy manufacturer Takara, who made most of the original Generation One toys, and still continues (in partnership with Hasbro) to make Transformers to this day. In fact, the Transformers cartoon became popular enough in Japan itself to spawn three new animé series (Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory), an OAV (Zone), and myriad manga, after the franchise's demise in America. In Japan and Europe, Transformers never really died out--a lot of the "Generation Two" and "Machine Wars" toys were American re-issues of European or Japanese product.
Why do so many people think fondly of Transformers? Well, the writing of the shows, though occasionally juvenile, still managed to be sufficiently mature that not just kids but teens and even some adults could enjoy it. It portrayed all the characters as being three-dimensional--even the villains, who could have friendships, motivations, and respect for their adversaries, and who never resorted to the kiddie-show characterization of referring to themselves as "evil". To this day, there is a strident faction of Decepticon devotees active in fandom, who insist that the Deceps were misunderstood and that their "survival of the fittest" philosophy was actually in Cybertron's best interests. The show had some silly episodes, and some that make even the most devoted fans cringe--but at its best, it could really make you stop and think. You just don't find that kind of depth in most other kids' shows of that day, and even less in such shows of today.
And that's just the TV show. There were comic books, too--80-some in the US (plus the 12-issue Generation 2 miniseries), 300-some in the UK--whose storyline was nearly entirely different from the show, and which featured some terrific writing--especially toward the end, during Simon Furman's run. These were a lot more mature than the TV show, with a more serious storyline and more room for characterization.
As for the later stuff--while not as good as the original, Beast Wars did have quite a few good points. It's too bad they fired the creative staff and went on to make that god-awful Beast Machines thing afterward.
As for GoBots . . . well, I'll agree with you that the toys were pretty cool (the ones I saw, at least). But the episode or two of the TV show that I caught didn't seem to live up to the sort of thing I saw in Transformers. It may just be a matter of personal preference, though.
Anyway, I've written a bit more about TF fandom in this article. Feel free to check it out.
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
When I was a kid, I had lots of Lego, and later on a bunch of Micronauts.
:)
When I was 11 or 12, my Mom made me decide: keep the Lego or keep the Micronauts. Of course, I kept the Lego! (figuring I could do more with it)
However, I've never forgiven my Mom for making me go through such a choice. (not that I think about it, unless stories like this come up
So, future parents, *never* make your kids go through this! I don't care that none of my toys are in the original boxes; toys are for playing, not collecting, dammit!!
Ah well, that's just me going off on a tangent.
Pope
Freedom is Slavery! Ignorance is Strength! Monopolies offer Choice!
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
- Transformers: The Movie - Yes, the original with tons of great voice actors--Judd Nelso, Leonard Nimoy, Orson Wells, Robert Stack, Peter Cullen. (and the DVD just came out a few weeks ago!)
- Transformers MUSHes - Roleplay as your favorite Transformers with loads of other people. There's a whole lot more then just these two.
- Transfans - Probably the biggest organized Transformers club
- Botcon - The biggest and best Transformers convention. I went in 95 and 97--great toys, movies, people, and artwork.
Have fun getting your Transformers fix.my first thought was ..... "cool now I can avoid PacBell and put my office directly on the grid ..."
You know, "Transformers...Morgan meets The Eye!"
Send your friends messages of love at fuck-you.org
You obviously know how to get good advertising.
its sad to see kids playing with pokemon.. back when i was a kid.. we had REAL toys.. transformers, gi joes.. none of those wussy pokeshits.. bring back the real toys!!!!!!!!! /rant
Incredible -- I hadn't thought of this stuff for years. I was in first grade when those came out. They put me in fifth grade (if memory serves), because they didn't know what to do with. In the cafeteria, I had to eat with the big kids. They all brought transformers to school. I'd never seen them before, but I was amazed by them. I saw a kid with Optimus Prime, and I decided that I simply had to have one.
And I got one. For Christmas. In fifth grade.
Oh, well, at least my parents tried.
Only one site has the truth: Where Are The Toons Now? Apparently Optimus Prime became a garbage truck; sad, but I think he's happier that way. Also features a documentary on He-Man's conversion from Master Of The Universe to disco diva; Grayskull never looked so pink...
Matthew @ Bytemark Hosting
. . . but I've held off enough. You can get your Transformers fix right here.
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Anyone know if this is true? I've always wanted to check it out but haven't gotten around to it.
Carl
Vote Libertarian
That is why many children of the era, including me, became such great programmers.
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
I think of little else but you.
Which is how come when that water-squirting G2 came out, they could call him Go-Bots--and how they could call those later, Hot-Wheels compatible Transformers "Go-Bots" too.
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
The original G.I. Joe cartoon, at its best, was a thinking man's show, or almost. It had some terrific episodes, such the two-parter "Worlds Without End," which was recently released on video, and may just make me break my "DVD only" dictum if it doesn't hit the shiny disc soon. I defy anyone to watch that show without shivering--it's a creepy SF/horror story that could have come right off the Twilight Zone. That episode should be pictured in the dictionary under the term "mindf*ck," it's just that good.
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I'll lose a great deal of my faith in our species if this guy gets even one bid. I shouldn't hold my breath, I know someone is going to buy into this nonsense.
And names? No Optimus-Prime-straight off the hairdryer names for the go-bots, no sir! They were too cool for names: they got assigned a function, and then a number. Leader 1, baby, or Turbo as one of the frillier ones (bet he was a pooftah). Those were the days, crushing those anarcho-communist Renegades for the good of Gobotron!
Nor did they stick around to become a burden on toy society, to be mentioned with shame these days; the go-bots knew when to die off and leave their heroic legend to posterity. bah, humbug.
"Oh Bother", said the Borg, "We've assimilated Pooh."
but when i look in my wallet, $10,000 is:
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
sorry, couldn't resist.
-=tonyt=-