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[Counterpunch]

I thought briefly about writing a big manifesto denouncing the rampant negative attitudes towards and from our hobby and fan base. As I started to try and put those ideas down, I realized how much I disliked the notion. Not only was it focusing on an aspect of the hobby that, and let’s be frank about this, is largely based in elitist snobbery or straight up misinformation, but all things considered, really bums me out.

Last night I saw BotCon’s staff do something unprecedented. They released a photo of the attendee figure. Ricochet was shown to little fanfare and promptly drew the wrath of everyone with an internet connection. I wasn’t thrilled myself when I looked at the toy, but I lacked enthrallment because the figure was not what I expected. I, and a great many others, did not even notice the fact that Ricochet is a really nice looking Transformer.

What’s really going wrong here? I need to preface this before I get going. I am not, and will not be a cheerleader for Hasbo, BotCon, or FunPublications. I’m on the side of you, the fans, and Transformers in general. I know that there are others out there who feel like I do. There are lots and lots of fans out in the wild, online, and on Seibertron who really enjoy Transformers and the toys. I also know that their voices are not being heard, at least not in this forum of discussion. While I in no way have been authorized to speak for the silent majority on this matter, well, I’m going to. I also brought a wooden cross or two, just in case…

Oh, one other thing before I forget.

-You aren’t going to like everything out there. Just because you don’t like something, does not mean that the thing is not good.

So how good do we have it? Really damn good. You’ll not find negativity in this series of articles. I’m going to only cover the positives. There are plenty of things to complain about, but the truth of the matter is, it’s easy to complain. It take so little time, skill, or effort to sit and be negative. What’s worse, is that all this negative talk about the things that we all enjoy starts to wear on folks. People stop posting, stop discussing, and in general get bitter over the very thing that is supposed to be enjoyable.

I’m going to start this conversation with RiD/Car Robots as the basis. Beast Wars was fine and good, but I think of Car Robots as the Preface to modern day Transformers both in style and substance.

When I first saw RiD, I was to put it mildly, blown away. This was everything I had hoped for in Transformers from when I was a kid. Detailed toys, great sculpting, TOYS THAT WERE ACCURATE TO THE SHOW, and a Train combiner! (how f’n cool was that? Seriously, I’m an American kid and we never got that before…)

Then, I found out that these toys were complicated. Damn…Sideburn is really hard to Transform. What’s going on here? Prime and Magnus combine? Megatron is a frickin puzzle? This was way, way more than I remembered from my G1 days of flip the legs out, pull the arms, flip the head, you’re done. These toys were engineered in a way that was asking for adult and older collectors to actually handle them. They looked great and were fun/tough to transform.

Then I saw the show…and it was silly. How silly? “Fish Personality Test” silly. If you don’t know what I’m talking about…well, you’ve not watched enough of the show to critique it. It was at this point that my girlfriend sat down and watched an episode with me. She laughed…and in doing so kind of made me relax in watching it. So, we got through a couple more episodes. It was then I noticed that there was a plot under all that silliness, a good plot. Transformers shows didn’t build up like this? Did they?

I stopped caring if the show was silly or not when Fortress Maximus came into the picture. I bought one from Japan with my tax refund the next week for $99 plus shipping. RiD had given me a modern Fortress Maximus when otherwise it would have cost an arm and leg.

There isn’t a whole lot of outright hate for RiD. RiD exists almost under the radar of many fans for some reason. It’s got incredible toys, new innovations, and adds a flavor of its own to the TF universe. For a line of toys that is fairly well accepted…the aftermarket prices are cheap, well, at least in contrast to…(see Part 2)

In those days, we really thought that was the direction and future of Transformers.

Then again, that was before the dark times.

That was before the Armada…

(to be continued…)

::Speak up. Let's hear more than just the petty complaining we've come to expect from our fandom. Share your thoughts and stories about why these toys and shows are fun. Let's hear why you aren't collecting Go-Bots...::

[Burn]

Let's hear why you aren't collecting Go-Bots...::

Because they're not readily available as KO's on E-Bay.

[Geekee1]

Great post man, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it. It's nice to see someone post the positives of the hobby. I agree only too much that all the negativity that seems to come out gets really grating.

I myself am a very positive person and am not nearly as critical as a lot of people that I see posting. Not that its wrong to dislike something, but I prefer if people have some substance to what they don't like, instead of just saying "that sucks."

Sometime I will have to sit down and write why I like Transformers, the problem is I usually start out good and then only write two more sentences which don't go into any kind of depth.

[Blurrz]

Man. CP. Great Post. I know your opinion on Armada is the same as mine, so I can't wait.

[Ultra Prime]

Wow CP! You are bring us the gospel here. I totally mean that in a good way. You are oh so right about the abundant negativity in our Transformers hobby that we so love.

Heck, when I got back into collecting in 2001 I had absolutely zero knowledge that RID was about to hit. I thought getting back my old Transformers was an impossibility. When I saw a speck of information on the net for the time I checked it out and was just dumbstruck. Then to see RID Prime on the shelf of TRU it was an emotinal moment straight out of a sappy anime cartoon.

As fans of Transformers we really have it very good. We should all take a step back to be able to see just that and appreciate the fact that we've had the Transformers franchise and universe to enjoy for just about 25 amazing years!!

[Eldorodimus]

for starters... my hat is off to you sir, well said. it is in fact much easier to dimiss something immediately as opposed to explaining as to why something does indeed suck. i think the majority of the negativity is much less severe than what is percieved though. by saying something sucks i think must people leave it at that as an understood reason why.
with that said... as an aspiring industrial designer, i find the toys and the concept to be something of an inspiration really. the story behind it all is something of a bonus for me. who knows... maybe i'll follow the path of toy design at some point. and THAT is why transformers makes me happy in my heart.

[8 bit]

This is a great idea CP—here's to hoping we get some positive vibes going here.
Here's why I'm excited about the future of Transformers: I lived through what I call a TF setback if you will, sort of a dark ages in the early to mid-90s. Before there was ebay or BBTS, as a G1er, I felt I had no outlet for my fandom.

I searched and called video stores and toy stores, hoping to find some remnants of the toy and cartoon I had grown up with. I was estatic when in '96, I discovered that the '86 movie was being released by a company called Malofilm. I ordered it for about $30 from some guy up in Canada, and about fainted when it came in the mail.
And my girlfriend was mad when I ditched her to watch it.

I hadn't seen this movie in 8 years. Now jump ahead to 2001, I'm at work and I see RID Sideburn on a guys cubicle. Transformers as vehicles were back—and the TF fandom has been growing since!

What I'm trying to say is with reissues, Classics, a live-action movie (FINALLY!!!) and G1 and Beast Wars DVD releases, our fandom knows no bounds. We have it so good right now!

[Sid Burn]

What’s worse, is that all this negative talk about the things that we all enjoy starts to wear on folks. People stop posting, stop discussing.

This hit the nail on the head for me CP, after 700 posts I just got worn out listening to people rip on transformers. You would think they are being forced to collect, forced to injest the fiction.
I stopped visiting the forums, and only read the news feeds. I think I have only posted 4-5 times this year.

Transformers has it all right now, movies, cartoons, comics and great toys. Better than that, the people making all these things really seem to be into the brand, all you have to do is watch the DVD special features for the transformers live action movie to see the enormous amount of painstaking work put into bringing our favourite fiction to life. The amount of detail worked into the transformers movie verged on insane, I couldnt believe it when I found out the transformations werent cheated, that all the parts went somewhere and that there was no morphing of the pieces.

I have now come to love the new cartoon as well, and I challenge anyone to watch the series so far and not be somewhat intrigued.

I cant wait for the toys, and funnily enough I cant wait for the repaints as well. I think a red animated bumblebee would look great as Cliffy.

[Sid Burn]

double post

[Lapse Of Reason]

Four years ago I was driving home from work with a newly purchased Alternators Sideswipe in the passenger seat. I'm not sure what compelled me to buy the toy that day. The only toys in my house were some LEGO Star Wars sets for me and a bunch of kids' toys belonging to my one-year-old son. I had lots of Transformers as a kid but all were sold long ago at a garage sale. My grandfather, who passed away when I was in fourth grade, used to buy them for me. Strong memories are linked to him and Transformers. I knew once I got home it would be a few hours before I'd get to figure out how to transform Sideswipe so I pulled into the parking lot of a local beachfront, opened the box, and took out the figure for a go at transforming it.

Ten minutes later I pulled out the instructions.

Twenty minutes later I had it in bot mode. ****, I thought. I had to get home. I'd have to wait until later to figure out how to change it back into a car.

When I got home I hid out in the bathroom for a while (peace and quiet) and tried to get it back into car mode. Mission accomplished.

Later that night my wife asked me why there was a Transformer on the bathroom counter. I shrugged and said I bought it on a whim and wanted to see what modern Transformers were all about. I tried to explain the connection to the original character and how the Alternators line seemed to be more for adults. She could not transform Sideswipe, but at least she tried.

The next day I bought Alternators Smokescreen. Two days later, I bought 20th Anniversary Prime. Then I figured I'd track down a few original figures.

Fast forward to today and my collection of maybe 1,000 Transformers, all the DVDs, and just about all the comics. My oldest son is now 5 and has his own mixed collection of new figures and G1s. His two favorite are G1 Prime and G1 Soundwave. My two-year-old's favorite Transformer is RID Brave Max.

So why do I like Transformers?

1) They are cool. They were cool when I was a kid and they are cool now that I am 33.

2) The stories. The Transformers universe is ever expanding and evolving. I can imagine my own Transformers world with a select group of figures in my collection or I can play in someone else's imagined Transformers world.

3) My sons like them too. We play with them together (even the G1s) and it is a great bonding time.

4) The fandome. I like seibertron.com and the community here. I can talk (okay, type) about Transformers whenever I want.

5) There is something in the Transformers world for everyone. From mini-cons to Masterpiece, from G1 to 2007 movie figures, or from Cyber Slammers to Leader Class. There are figures for the poor (legends) and figures for the die-hard (Botcon sets).


I have been back into Transformers for about 4 years now and a member of this site since shortly after my great awakening. I love collecting, discussing, and sometimes even debating Transformers with fellow fans. There is a lot of good here. Lots of it. Otherwise I'd have lost interest long ago. As in life, we have to take the good with the bad, but for me Transformers is and always has been one of the good things in life.

[Lycantendencies]

What I like about Transformers IS the negativity.

If you walk into a pub, office or anywhere and ask 50 people what they think of something, there will be positive and negative.

Ask the same 50 people about something else and again, positives and negatives.
Some may be positive both times, some negative both times and some one once and the other the other.

In my opinion, the negativity is one of the GREAT things about this fandom, as alongside the positivity, it shows how broad an appeal the franchise has and how diverse it's fanbase is.

I also think negativity is great because it shows people are not growing complacent.

I could not disagree more with, say, Nekoman's opinion of Animated, I absolutely LOVE it.

But I LOVE that he has an idea of what Transformers could or should be and won't "settle" for less.
It IS a product after all, and I'd much rather this than some apologist who loves anything and everything just 'cos it's Transformers, or only ever posts when he's happy with something.

Maybe it's because I don't have a chip on my shoulder about "whiners" so I don't focus out the positive comments and see a great deal of positivity in most TF forums as well as negativity, don't create an imaginary world full of silent happy people and vocal hatemonegers.


Botcon Ricochet is the perfect example.
Whilst some see only negativity, see a problem that needs fixing or countering, I see no such thing.

I see some who had expectations, were dissapointed. Some of those however think it is a good Transformer with expectation removed, some do not.
Others had no expectations at all.
Other still feel it is not enough to counter missing out on the rest of the set.
And among those that feel that way, some do because they dislike the other set offered, some because they already own the other set, and some because they REALLY liked the mirror universe idea.

Then there's the people with expectations but thought Ricochet EXCEEDED them, people without expectations who like him, people who are not crazy on the figure, but will focus on the good and use the head.

That's what is out there right now, a vocal fandom full of many different opinions; some good, some bad, some indifferent, and all justified, just like the silent fandom.

The only thing that "hurts" the fandom is if people felt they couldn't talk about their opinions as they were negative and people would cosntantly attack them for "whining" or consider writing large manifesto's denouncing people having or expressing their opinions.

You just have to read without prejudice.
If you go in expecting "whiners" that's all you'll see.

[ReinaHW]

I rarely post here since I never have much to say and I'm tired of seeing so much negative remarks from people, especially younger members.
When I started collecting TF's back in 2001, years after giving away the ones I used to have, I mostly started collecting them for someone who I shouldn't have wasted my time with. Now I just collect them for their engineering, so many of them are amazingly well engineered.

What annoys me the most is that here in Scotland, TF's are few and far between, usually there's none anywhere and if you find one, you have to hope you'll find it again.
Now if I wanted non-transforming TF's, then they're ten a penny here, the shops stock up on those in the same way they stock up on Power Rangers and movie toys.

I'm not all that interested in Animated to be honest, I think it's just a case of I'm determined to find things to keep me busy for a longer peroid of time since I'm not allowed to work because of a disability, so I need to find other things.
But I am interested in the new Classics coming out, the new Prowl alone for Classics 2.0 just looks stunning. Fingers crossed for a proper Classics Smokescreen one day, though Cyb Smokescreen fits in well for now.

I'm not too fond of constant repaints with very little effort made to make them different to the previous one, but I am thinking of getting movie Salvage, I quite like movie Dropkick for some reason. The engineering for him was better than I thought it would be after seeing the pictures.
So if TF's stay well engineered, then I'll keep collecting. And if they start being released properly in Scotland, then even better, saves paying high prices online for them. I tend to keep any opinions to myself anyway when it comes to what's good and bad about TF's, I'll leave the whining and complaining to the young 'uns.

Tony.

[Duke of Luns]

Why do I continue to collect Transformers(and look around the post in these forums)? Well, it's mostly cause I guess I never got enough of it when I was a kid! This is gonna be long winded, but oh well, I feel like telling the whole story.

I was born in '85, and growing up I had several of my older brother's Transformers(and quite a few GoBots), as well as M.A.S.K., Star Wars, G.I. Joe. Thing is, despite having some of the official VHS tapes and the Movie, Transformers was just one area I didn't have much of. I loved the figures all the same, but Joe, Star Wars, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, and Spider-Man/X-Men figures just always seemed to take priority of Transformers, except for G2 Devastator. To put it short, he was my grail that I collected all of when I was a kid. The figures may be worn, loose, and several parts repaired or slightly broken today, but at least my Devastator is like 95% complete and stands proudly on my shelf, leaning forward a tad because of the looseness.

When Beast Wars came around, I got to see some of the episodes(no cable/satelite, my brother taped me them), and they became a slight priority, I got a decent majority of the show's cast in one form or the other. It also re-spurned my love of Transformers, cause I found out a semi-local library carried several official G1 tapes including Five Faces of Darkness, which is where I was introduced to a lot of concepts I had never even knew existed, like Trypticon and Metroplex. When we did get satelite I finally got to see Beast Wars in it's entirety, but kinda meh'd out around the end of Beast Machines first season(maybe I was "growing up").

Fast forward a couple years later when Rhino started re-releasing the G1 episodes. I got some of them, and was blown away at even MORE concepts I never knew existed(Bruticus? Superion? WOW!). Sometime after that my brother ordered an "unofficial" lot of the complete G1 series, Beast Wars CG, and Beast Machines on VHS. Sure the video quality wasn't great(particularly on Headmasters/Masterforce/Victory, merely only decently watchable), but I didn't care, there were so many new concepts and characters, it was great, especially the entire tape with 2 hours of commercials. But surprisingly, that didn't get me into collecting.

Fast forward another year or so. I was reading Dreamwave comics, had seen Rid, my brother had gotten me Runiation for cheap at Toys R Us(no real reason really, but we were both still into action figures), but the collecting bug bit with a seemingly forgettable trip with my parents to the Flea Market. I'd been there quite a few times in my life, looking for old video games and comics, but on this trip I spied Metroplex in a box. The condition seemed good, and there was also a pretty good looking Ultra Magnus trailer(mine was pretty beat-up). I asked how much they were, and they were only .50 cents each! I bought them on a whim, and messed around with them on the way home(mind you I was 17, but I didn't care). My interest in the figures was rekindled, and shortly after that I started to display my meager collection of Transformers in my room because it seemed "right".

Couple months later I joined seibertron cause I was bored between college classes, leared about KO's, and bought KO's of Superion and Defensor. Then a couple months later I bought Alternator Smokescreen(my first real Transformer purchase in many years), then next I bought Energon Battle Ravage and the Armada Air Military Team, and I was hooked. Oh, and I still scour the Flea Markets/Yard Sales for Transformers(not now though, winter), and have gotten a surprisingly good amount of figures.

So that's pretty much why I collect, cause it's fun, and it's just something that I didn't get out of my system when I was little. Plus the new installments into Transformers are just so fun I don't see any reason to quit either.

[Down_Shift]

Tell your girlfriend not to get angry when the elite squad of prositutes I hired shows up to your door and they give you the first ever "Down_Shift Award For Outstanding Acheivement In The Field Of Excellency" This new and highly sought after award is only given when the best post on the internet is posted.

Congrats.

[Blurrz]

Tell your girlfriend not to get angry when the elite squad of prositutes I hired shows up to your door and they give you the first ever "Down_Shift Award For Outstanding Acheivement In The Field Of Excellency" This new and highly sought after award is only given when the best post on the internet is posted.

Congrats.

Heck, I'm excited to see when someone gets the Down_Shift Award For Outstanding Achievement In The Field of Failure.

[MaP_Prime]

Great post CP, I loved it.

I've been asking myself why do I like Transformers lately as I've recently gotten back into the collecting, and honestly I don't know... but then I stop caring about the why and just enjoy it. I watched all those shows when I was a kid, Transformers, G.I. Joe, MASK, Go-Bots, whatever, but for some reason Transformers is the only one that stuck with me. Even as I got older and my tastes "matured" into things like Battletech or what have you, Transformers always remained below surface, it was always there. I remember back in high school before I RiD began I would watch a cartoon, and then make up my own TF characters and fit them into the story. I know, sounds silly, but it's something I've always done and guess shows just how I think of Transformers. They can make anything better!

But this is about the toys! And I love them! I stopped getting them after G2 ended, mostly because I was still a kid at the time and didn't really have money all of my own as all of my Transformers up to that point had been gifts. Then Beast WArs started, I watched the show and liked it, but those toys were just so hideous to me (no offense BW fans, it's just not my thing) and so I was lost, there were no more vehicle Transformers and I thought I was done. Then RiD began, and I watched the show and once more my love for Transformers returned! I loved the new toys, the Aubtobot brothers are great and stand proudly next to my favorite pieces. They even gave me a chance to have a complete Bruticus set, I got all four of the limb Combaticons for G2 but missed out on Onslaught, but when a friend of mine told me that he saw the RiD repaint of him at TRU I ran for it and bought it and now I have Bruticus, of course he doesn't look like any of the offical G1 or G2 versions of him, but he is my special, custom Bruticus! Then that Christmas I got all four members of the Build Team, giving me something I've always wanted a construction vehicle based Autobot combining team. Also at this same time I was going nuts on eBay, buying up all of the combiner I always wanted.

However, not long after that my interest died (I think because of lack of funds) and so I continued on, Transformers always being at the back of my mind, never really going away. I popped into a store every now and then to see what was up with toys and was never really impressed with Armanada/Energon/Cybertron. However, then talk of this new movie popped up and I started reading up on it on line and learned when the new toys were coming out. So I began frequenting the local TRU and WAlmarts waiting for them to arrive, and it all began with me picking up a Titanium Rodimus, I always kinda liked the guy and so I thought "what the hell" and it was all down hill (or up hill maybe?) from there. I had planned on only getting a select few of the movie toys, now I think I have all of the different Deluxe molds (excluding repaints) and most of the Voyagers. I also got all of the classics voyagers and deluxes. And you know what? I don't regret any bit of it!

I love Transformers because it is something that brings me happiness, maybe that makes me sound like a loser to have something like this actually be something important to make me feel good but that's the way it is. I think it also has something to do with the fact that right now I'm at a point where I'm not satisfied with choices I have made and I'm looking for a way to fix it, but having Transformers back in my life has actually cheered me up and brought back my positive out look on things. I find that after I've gone through something stressful I can just plunk myself down in front of my collection and take some of my favorites and transform them helps me feel better.

I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, but yeah, that's how it is for me.

[Liege Evilmus]

I like this article and realy CounterPunch, it is dead on!

Not everyone will ever like everything.

I myself love Transformers, but Animated is doing not much of anything for me, so it's a matter of a simple pass. I do critique it, hoping that the powers that be will catch wind of that, but I don't condem it. I also don't demean people that it does work for.

As you said about RID(to paraphrase) it was hoaky, but it had an underlying progressive point. So you take the good with the bad.

I'd like to say you where also spot on with the fan base negativity though. This time last year, yes you would have been. I remeber when the info on the movie line was being released anything and everything was a source of lynching!

"ROLL PLAY" = "DIRTY MF GIVING ME A TALKING MASK"
these are the same people that made sure they had the Cullens voice changer for the premire

"NEW AUTOMORPH FEATURE" = "THEY CANT JUST CHANGE TO A BLOB AND BE SOMETHING ELSE! I WANNA CHANGE IT BY HAND"
same people that are looking forward to Roll Out Animated Prime

"WE MADE THE DeSIGNS MORE CONTEPORARY" = "THEY'RE RAPING MY CHILDHOOD"
well, that will live in infamy!!!


Well anyhow, after the negativity of the premovie era, I think alot of people where shut up when the movie actualy turned out to be good, and the toys mostly kicked ass!

I myself am noticing now that fans are posting negativly more so when it's actualy warrented, as apose to everytime theres a chance to post. If anything, I think were becoming to accepting as a whole because we squandered all of our A-Hole flags.

I don't think being a fan is a green light for spite. I do think though that being a fan is a reason to aplaude the good, and resopnsibley point out the bad.

It's never gonna be perfect. But these forums are our voice, and I believe they are being heard. It's up to us to use that voice reponsibly. You don't have to like something just cause it sayes TRANSFORMERS, but you also don't have to spew bile just cause you can. Reguardless though, like it or lump it, give a reason as to why that is. Make the most of the oppertunity you have to be heard.

[Burn]

It's never gonna be perfect. But these forums are our voice, and I believe they are being heard. It's up to us to use that voice reponsibly. You don't have to like something just cause it sayes TRANSFORMERS, but you also don't have to spew bile just cause you can. Reguardless though, like it or lump it, give a reason as to why that is. Make the most of the oppertunity you have to be heard.

And this is something EVERYONE needs to read and understand, not just the "haters".

I've seen a number of people in this thread making comments about all the negative people out there.

Well guess what folks, they're entitled to their opinion as much as you are.

You're sick of their negativity? You can't understand why they hate the things you like?

Well what about them? Perhaps they're sick of your positivity and can't understand why you like the things you do.

Forums are a two way street. Like Liege said "like it or lump it, give a reason as to why that is", because comments like "this show rocks!" are just as pointless as "this show sucks!"

[shortround]

Amazing post and it was honest without being insulting. Never really cared for go-bots.

[Mr O]

I'm 30 so I'm G1 at heart but I love every aspect of Transformers, it's a rich universe which, since I've only had the internet for a few years and that's what got me back into it, still holds mystery and intrigue for me. I am a negative person who struggles constantly to be positive and have an absolutely hideous job and I have to say that the thought of hitting Seibertron in the evenings, whether or not I make any posts, is one of the few things that get me through the day. If I'm gonna be negative about a hobby, it ain't a hobby anymore, I find a great deal of comfort and release in being able to come here and immerse my mind in Transformers for an hour or so. This hobby takes me back to the halcyon days of childhood, before the shitstorm struck and I'll say it again, 30 or not I find it a great comfort and I thank it wholeheartedly for whatever sanity I retain.

Which may not be much, I actually bought Camshaft the other day, just to get something new, there we are, all aspects make up the whole.

Edited for spelling and to add, yeah great thread CP. Ya douche

[Counterpunch]

It's never gonna be perfect. But these forums are our voice, and I believe they are being heard. It's up to us to use that voice reponsibly. You don't have to like something just cause it sayes TRANSFORMERS, but you also don't have to spew bile just cause you can. Reguardless though, like it or lump it, give a reason as to why that is. Make the most of the oppertunity you have to be heard.

And this is something EVERYONE needs to read and understand, not just the "haters".

I've seen a number of people in this thread making comments about all the negative people out there.

With a heaping dose of honest respect, please note that the point of my post/article was not to 'attack' the opportunity for people to disagree or argue.

I had originally intended not to put my thoughts into this beyond the original post.

All I wanted to do was write up a couple of of long-winded posts reminding people why TFs are fun, series by series.

Not meaning to squash opinions or take away the discussion, just some fun talking about why we like these Transformer things.

[Lycantendencies]

All I wanted to do was write up a couple of of long-winded posts reminding people why TFs are fun, series by series.

The problem being that the intial paragraph or so took what is an admirable idea and put a negative spin on it.

I understand that you were explaining your thought process and that you yourself realised that focusing on the negative was not really making anything any better, but with this and comments such as speaking for the silent majority, you did in some ways sabotage the very thing you set out to do.

Instead of a rallying cry FOR the positive, it also comes across as a rallying cry AGAINST the negative, which is a negative in itself.

[Geekee1]

Put simply I like Transformers because of the original G1 cartoon. I was five years old at the time and it was the best thing that I had seen since Star Wars. I loved everything about it, from the characters to the art style, and of course the toys.

I remember back then watching the show and playing with the toys with my friends. We would all bring our toys over to each others houses, play for hours, and watch the show. Looking back on it I guess I was the biggest fan out of all of us. I wanted to get as many of the toys as I could so that I could replay my favorite scenes, which at that time was really hard, having to rely on my family to buy me figures.

Which brings me to my next point. The old figures are a connection of sorts for me to my old friends and my family. I don't know where any of those friends are now, we all ended up being very different as we grew up. One of the most important connections for me though is to my grandparents. They have passed away now, but I can still vividly remember going to Kmart with them, and them buying me figures. I can still remember sitting in the back seat of their car and opening up Wheeljack. It was great, he was my favorite character and I finally had him. In fact I still have that figure, he's not in very good condition, but he's still there.

Other than the sentimental and nostalgic values though I just flat out like Transformers. I like how they look, and transforming has got to be the greatest gimmick for any toy ever. For me it's always interesting to see how they are engineered and how well produced they are. One of the frustrating things for me when I was a kid was that the toys very rarely were a good representation of the characters that I would see on TV. Now we get toys that are nearly identical to their screen counterparts. That is one of the reasons that I like Animated so much, the toys look like they came right off of the TV. That is something that is very appealing to me.

When I saw Classics Starscream last year that was my "hallelujah" moment. I was finally able to get representations of those old characters that I loved that actually looked like they were supposed to! (I'm still waiting for an Ironhide and Ratchet with heads) Ever since then I've gotten into collecting hardcore. Now I can go into my room whenever I want, look at my TF's and be a very happy person.

[Mr O]

Put simply I like Transformers because of the original G1 cartoon. I was five years old at the time and it was the best thing that I had seen since Star Wars. I loved everything about it, from the characters to the art style, and of course the toys.

I remember back then watching the show and playing with the toys with my friends. We would all bring our toys over to each others houses, play for hours, and watch the show. Looking back on it I guess I was the biggest fan out of all of us. I wanted to get as many of the toys as I could so that I could replay my favorite scenes, which at that time was really hard, having to rely on my family to buy me figures.

Which brings me to my next point. The old figures are a connection of sorts for me to my old friends and my family. I don't know where any of those friends are now, we all ended up being very different as we grew up. One of the most important connections for me though is to my grandparents. They have passed away now, but I can still vividly remember going to Kmart with them, and them buying me figures. I can still remember sitting in the back seat of their car and opening up Wheeljack. It was great, he was my favorite character and I finally had him. In fact I still have that figure, he's not in very good condition, but he's still there.

Other than the sentimental and nostalgic values though I just flat out like Transformers. I like how they look, and transforming has got to be the greatest gimmick for any toy ever. For me it's always interesting to see how they are engineered and how well produced they are. One of the frustrating things for me when I was a kid was that the toys very rarely were a good representation of the characters that I would see on TV. Now we get toys that are nearly identical to their screen counterparts. That is one of the reasons that I like Animated so much, the toys look like they came right off of the TV. That is something that is very appealing to me.

When I saw Classics Starscream last year that was my "hallelujah" moment. I was finally able to get representations of those old characters that I loved that actually looked like they were supposed to! (I'm still waiting for an Ironhide and Ratchet with heads) Ever since then I've gotten into collecting hardcore. Now I can go into my room whenever I want, look at my TF's and be a very happy person.

Another great post, the grandparents thing applies to me too. NEVER would my wonderful nan go shopping without picking up a TF for me, another reason...

[Ultra Prime]

All I wanted to do was write up a couple of of long-winded posts reminding people why TFs are fun, series by series.

The problem being that the intial paragraph or so took what is an admirable idea and put a negative spin on it.

I understand that you were explaining your thought process and that you yourself realised that focusing on the negative was not really making anything any better, but with this and comments such as speaking for the silent majority, you did in some ways sabotage the very thing you set out to do.

Instead of a rallying cry FOR the positive, it also comes across as a rallying cry AGAINST the negative, which is a negative in itself.

I have to disagree. I really didn't feel that CP was being negative at all. I think CP was just stating an opinion and using examples to back it up. His post has done a great service. Look at all of the stories from people about what Transformers means to them, how they came about becoming a fan and what positives they see in our hobby. I really don't think you can state an opinion like CP's without acknowledging how destructive negativity can be to the fandom.

I remember my first Transformer experience. My mom got me Gears and my brother Cliffjumper. Before that I had never heard of, known about or seen Transformers. I instantly fell in love with the toys and from when I was 9 until I was about 13 Transformers were the single best toys I ever had as a kid.

And now with my recollecting TF's, reacquiring my G1 toys thru reissues and having my twin sons to enjoy the experience with this hobby just simply rocks!!