Are you able, as an adult collector (that's 18+ for all of you youngsters out there), to explain why, after 20+ years, Transformers still interests you enough to buy childrens toys, watch childrens cartoons, and spend all fricken day discussing it on internet message boards?

 

Alot of you will say "nostalgia" but alot of people are nostalgic about alot of things and they don't spend thousands of dollars annually on those things. I mean face it, we have to spend well earned money, go on the "hunt", face possible persecution by those around us just to enjoy our "childish" hobby. I don't know why I do it or why i love transformers so much. I don't "dig" cars or anything, and as far as giant robot shows go i'm not really frothing to see new ones. All I know is I can't get enough of Prime and company *shrug* but maybe that's good enough of a reason as any.

The truth is... Transformers are cool now for strangely the same reason that they were cool then... They are just cool!!!

 

No but seriously, I think it had a lot to do with the marketing. I mean they were more than just toys to most of us. We all watched the show and got all hyped up on the stories and then there were the toys and the excitiment of playing with them and just marveling at how neat they looked on the shelf.

 

I dont think anyone ever put as much work and engineering into a toy before the transformers. I mean really they are like art and engineering and fun all rolled into one.

 

Sure GI joe was marketed the same way TV show to sell toys etc... but I can pass by those toys with little more than a smile and a fond rememberance.

 

I think too that it has a lot to do with how many of the "transformers" generation grew up too fast. I mean most of us were pushed into a more adult world sooner than we wanted. I think believe it or not sex being so out there had a lot to do with it, many of us were greatly aware of sex and some even experimenting in our early teens and toys get left behind. Culture pushed everyone to be a grownup or what we thought was grownup way too early. In previous generations guys played with toys (models etc...) well into their teens.

 

The marketing now is a big issue, When you look at the alternators line it is clearly marketed to all of us. Basically they took some mid twenties fanboy and asked what would you want in the ultimate transformer. I can tell you it wasnt ultimate energon super power weapons. It was make great looking real cars that look like the characters from the show did in robot mode.

 

There are certain characters that were so great... they are the modern mythology of our generation. I mean Optimus Prime is our Hercules, and Unicron is our Krakken. You think the greek children were the only ones that enjoyed those stories?

 

and lets face it the toys we had when we were kids were bricks, sure they did transform, but they required a lot more imagination to see them like they were in the show (although I still cant wait to get a G1 Jazz... my first transformer)

Have you seen how poseable the toys are now? Geeze they have a huge range of motion.

 

Simply put transformers are the best toys ever created from a technical standpoint, they just keep getting better and an awesome story line does not hurt at all.

i have elevated them past toys and nearer to statues, some of them are just that nice, rid prime and the new gf prime being my current examples. for new there is a sense of nostalgia but not much, i lke nice looking things and i collect the things that look nice. i watch the show if i'm up at 5 am but i don't buy the videos or other related merch. as far as the people screwing with you over toys well, i just look at them mean and they go away. just don't get caught debating which one to get in the toy aisle.

I guess it is the concept behind the toys. I love the 2 things in one aspect. I enjoy figuring out transformations, and really like the "puzzle" nature that some TFs have.

 

Plus as hobbies go this one seems pretty tame.

First off, I love sci fi. Secondly, I like to collect figures. Third, I like robots. Fourth, I like things that change, and the sort. And fifth, Transformers are so cool. :D

 

That's why I still collect Transformers at 19 years old. It cool and my parents and friends don't mind me doing it at all. They even sometimes ask me when and if I get a new figure to show them what it is. :D

because transformers RULE.

I was just nostalgic until Beast wars came out. The show was great once it was accessible. The toys were what I wanted transformers to be. Posable and still transform. Then once I bought my first figure and started watching the show more I couldnt stop. I wanted all the show characters then it was all the other figures that looked cool.

 

Then RiD came out. Need I say more about my addiction. Basically what it boils down to is every year they come out with stuff that's better than what you bought the previous year(Minus Beast Machines. Show was good, Toys sucked) Armada had kiddie transformations and articulation but they were fun to mess around with. Takara's Dreamwave art alone tricked me into buying G1 figures. As long as they keep making Alternators and Masterpieces I'm going to be hooked. Even Cybertron/GF figures look great. Also having transformable, posable little statues is cool.

Aside from continuing to collect TF's and keeping the collection in memory of my dead beloved, I guess it's just to have something to do, they're good for the hand/eye coordination, mine being poor since I was a toddler, and because they're less harmful than drinking, smoking and drugs. I've only just started to like the TF's again in the last month, especially after getting E-Prowl and Rodimus who really are very good, so I've only been collecting for the woman I loved who died over pretty much over 2 months ago from greed and the selfish nature of her childish part of her. If I didn't still love her so much as I do, the collection would have been sold and forgotten about since my interest in TF's died off back in 1995.

I doubt my own personal interests, phycology, sociology and child care, would even be hurt by collecting TF's and my few other hobbies. So they're no problem to collect, other than finding any in the first place.

 

-Chuckles

I think it's because (some of us) are part of the Star Wars generation. Prior to Star Wars, there *was* no action figure market (unless you count those big GI Joes and KISS dolls). Star Wars created this idea that you didn't just see the movie, you bought the toys as well. It's something that we've grown up with, and we've been conditioned to accept it.

 

I think it's mostly a phenomenon affecting those of us who grew up around that time. Personally, I don't know that the younger generations are going to be into action figures the way we are. Video games are more popular than toys nowadays, and I think today's kids will be much more interested in that stuff than in action figures. JMO

Well for me, I'm an artist/writer and I have always had a facination with the premise behind the sotries from the 80's like Transformers, He-Man, Thundercats, Voltron, and others. Those ideas may not have been executed the best they could have back then, but the premises behind these ideas are incredible.

 

And since Transformers and other 80's properties were the things that created my imaginative ways and really defined my reasonings to want to be an artists/writer, I've always liked these things and forever shall continue to like them.

 

I have always loved Transformers, just as I have always loved He-Man, Thundercats, Visionaries, Inhumanoids, Voltron, and Silverhawks. It's something that will never fade from me. Transformers just means the most to me, because I grabbed a hold to that property and never let go and it keeps my imagination fueled as well.