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.

Comments

Transformers

[The_Messenger]

I remember there were several Transformer "sets" which you combine to make a bigger robot. (A Voltron knock-off, of course.) Those were great because once you had bought one, you felt obligated to buy the rest.

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.

Gobots came first!

[Chacham]

Gobots may have been cheap, but IIRC, Transformers were a rip-off of Gobots. A good rip-off, but a rip-off.

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Re:Gobots came first!

[Moofie]

Gobots were first in the US by a few months, but both had been selling in Japan for the better part of a year. I remember getting the vehicle that would become Trailblazer about five months before Transformers hit US shelves. If I'd only known what I'd had...I'd a kept the box. : )

Re:Woah!

[Moofie]

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.

I still remember the original megatron

[11thangel]

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 wonder

[Skyshadow]

You know, this guy could be that bully who used to beat me up and steal my transformers at school. Maybe he had an agenda larger than small-minded terrorism.

If so, I want Jazz back, damnit.

----

In Defense of Transformers

[Robotech_Master]

Neither Transformers nor Gobots were really a "ripoff". In both cases, what they were were American toy companies buying up overstocks of Japanese toys that hadn't sold very well, renaming them, changing the background around, and marketing them as something completely different in America. You can read all about the history of it in the Generation One section of the Transformers FAQ.

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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Let us not forget ...

[doogles]

I submitted the story, so obviously I am a huge Transformers fan. Let us not forget other Transformers-related outlets available:

• 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.

kids these days

[Kewjoe]

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

Transformers forged the first programmers....

[Urban Existentialist]

...of our generation. Along with lego and Mechanno, such toys gave children of the era experience in manipulating objects in an object orientated environment. They could create classes of these objects, but would often skip classes to play with them. Parents of the era would also complain about their childrens skills in garbage collection, as I myself can testify. I learned to use pointers to shift bits of blame for these incidents to my younger siblings.

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-

i would buy these but...

[tonyt]

but when i look in my wallet, $10,000 is:

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

sorry, couldn't resist.