I quickly became a collector of Transformers. I bought my first (modern) Transformer twenty days ago and already have ten. Or fifteen. Depending on how you count.
As always, there's a little history here. My brothers and I were big into The Transformers when they started. The Transformers as well as GI Joe toys were the backbone of our toy empire. I now look back at it as a sign of inherent creativity, but back then we never played GI Joe or soldier or Mechs or Transformers. We played our game. I only vaguely remember it, but almost every toy we had was included somehow in the game. We took inspiration from the toys themselves, the cartoons we watched, and just about everything in modern pop culture. We had Star Wars, Star Trek, Knight Rider, and even Dukes of Hazzard references in our game.
It was more or less Dungeons and Dragons without the rules or the fantasy setting.
And my parents were generous with our toys. We had a large and varied collection over the years. Including GI Joe, The Transformers, and other toy brands (my absolute favorite toy of all time was my 13 inch high, five piece connecting Voltron set).
With all the toys we had, we weren't exactly kind to them. I remember taking my Dad's Zippo lighter and burning parts of the toys off so they could display 'damage'. It didn't really matter to our child like brains that we were probably going to want to play with the undamaged toy again later... we burned and tore and destroyed the toys as needed for any particular scene.
I don't know what R's favorite toys were. Star Wars figures, maybe. My brother B's favorite toys were GI Joes. He and our cousin J were always comparing and contrasting their collection. J's Cobra Fang Helicopter was cooler than B's Cobra Rattler Jet. B's GI Joe USS Flagg Aircraft Carrier (7ft x 3ft x 3.5ft !!!!!) was cooler than J's Cobra Terror Drome Base (a mere 2ft by 1.5ft).
But my favorite easily had to be The Transformers. I loved the cartoon and the toys. Yes, Voltron both in animate and toy form was held in higher esteem, but the cartoon was old by that point and the toys were just the one Voltron. We had dozens of Transformers over the years.
I could spin tales of just about all the Transformers I had as a kid, but lemme tell you abut three in particular. Megatron, Scorponok, and Devestator.
Megatron
Megatron was by far my favorite Transformer. I liked him in the cartoon, I liked his toy, I liked the actual mechanics of his transformation. It never bothered me that he became a gun that other Transformers held and shot.
Devestator
My brothers and I each had two of the constructicons, so we could only form Devestator if we all played together. Yeah, that didn't work for us, so I worked out trades with my brothers. I think I even traded my Blaster Transformer for R's constructicons. In the end, I had all of them so Devestator was mine!
Scorponok
I believe Scorponok was the last Transformer I bought with my own money. I remember going to this great toy store we had in our town that had a HUGE aisle of Transformers even years after they were the best most popular toys out. Scorponok was one of the big expensive Transformers and I used my Christmas money to buy him. His green and purple color scheme was just bad ass to me.
As the years went on our interest in toys waned. We also were incredibly tough on our toys. I mean, why just imagine damage taken in battle when we could make said battle damage with knives, saws, lighters, and firecrackers? Eventually all of our toys were tossed away or sold in garage sales. I've never been one to lament getting rid of the toys. They served their purpose and getting dozens or hundreds or even thousands of dollars now wouldn't even get close to the memories we made with the toys back in childhood.
But I've always kept a special place in my heart for Transformers. Surprisingly to me, two that really grew on me as I got older were two that I didn't particularly like as a child. Soundwave and Starscream. At one point, maybe eight years ago now, I bought this cheap little Starscream knock off toy. The robot form sucked, but it did transform and it looked pretty sweet in jet mode. Beyond that one indulgence though, I never considered buying any Transformers. Not even when the Transformers peaked again with the Bayverse movies.
I thought it would be pretty cool to have them just as decorations in my room so I went ahead and added the Megatron to my Amazon cart. They sadly didn't have the Starscream one but as I searched for King Starscream I did come across Coronation Starscream. And Coronation Starscream was an actual Transformer from Hasbro.
A couple days later and I had them both. The Megatron Reformatting was very cool. Very purple, very cartoon like. But my interest quickly skyrocketed with Coronation Starscream. This was an actual highly detailed Starscream Transformer. He took about thirty steps to change from robot to jet and brought back all kinds of memories. But more than that, he had the cap, the crown, the shoulder pieces, and even the throne.
The two toys looked really good together and fit on my speaker right next to my computer so I could keep an eye on them.
But I couldn't just keep them to myself. I had to share my newfound joy. After posting the images to Facebook, Threads, and several of my Discord servers, I shared it with my brother B who immediately shared my joy... but brought up a good point. I had two Decepticons and no Autobots. That's... well, that's just not right.
So, I went on a search. I really liked the fact that I had special versions of Megatron and Starscream so I was specifically searching for a special version of an Autobot that I liked. It didn't take me long to find Optimus Prime: One Shall Stand. The damaged version from the movie.
This version of Optimus Prime was a Target exclusive, so I had to buy him there. I dislike buying from Target, but its still worth it to finish up my meager Transformers collection.
As I waited for Optimus to arrive, I did some educational research. I found out that Hasbro has been making Transformers for a long time. In fact, I'm not even sure they stopped making them!
The 'modern' Transformers are broken up into several categories, with several for kids and several for more adult collectors. The Coronation Starscream and Optimus Prime: One Shall Stand are both from the Studio Series 86 collection. They're designed to look as close to the animated version of the characters as they can. These aren't designed to be like the original first generation toys, these are suppose to look like they did on the screen. The Starscream one is a few years old so he actually is quite a bit more detailed where Optimus is brand new this year and is give n a far more simple kind of 'cell shading' look.
There are other Studio Series lines that include the live action movies. There are also lines of toys with various names like Age of Primes and War for Cybertron and Generations. The ones that really caught my attention though were the Studio Series 86. These were the Transformers from my childhood. And not only were they currently making new ones every year, they'd been making them for years and years.
They had Megatron, Optimus, Hot Rod, Soundwave, Blaster, Perceptor, Ironhide, UltraMagnus, Galvatron, Starscream, Thundercracker, Constructicons, Bumblebee, Insecticons, Dinobots... on and on and on.
I couldn't stand having just three. I wanted them ALL!
But these aren't ten dollar toys any more. The 'Deluxe' or small basic ones go for around $30. The 'Voyager' or bigger ones go for around $50. The 'Leader' or more detailed ones for for around $100. And the bigger ones like 'Commander' and 'Titans' can go upward of $200 to $300.
So, I thought I had to be reasonable. I'd let myself buy one more.
Seeing as what was available I thought I might want the Megatron that matched the Optimus that I had. Megatron: One Shall Fall. He's damaged just like Optimus and I love that. But then there's Soundwave with three of his cassettes. But then I found that they were making the constructicons and had just released the last two of them this past year. We could now get all of the constructicons and make Devestator.
So, my research began anew.
While Amazon offered next day or two day shipping, they were charging WAY more than retail. With a little searching I found Big Bad Toy Store. Yes, I'd have to pay for shipping, but they charged retail or less. Then for the older toys, there was Ebay, but then you were stuck paying whatever price they were selling for... like twice retail.
When comparing prices I had multiple Transformers in multiple carts and multiple stores so I could compare final prices including shipping.
What finally made up my mind was that one of the the Constructicons was no longer being made. He was going for nearly twice the price of the rest on Amazon and even more on Ebay. So if I wanted Devestator, it was best to get him now before more of them went out of producton. It just so happened that Big Bad Toy Store had all six constructicons in a single bundle for less than buying them all individually. Since that was an exclusive to BBTS and I was sure they'd have limited stock, I decided to go ahead and spend the extra money to get all of Devestator in one fell swoop.
It was late at night, I was tired, so I quickly logged in to BBTS, tossed the Devestator pack into my shopping cart, added fast shipping, and checked out. I went to bed happy.
The next morning I checked my email for the receipt and immediately saw that it was for FAR too much. Devestator was $250. My receipt with tax and shipping was just under $400. A closer inspection showed what I should have caught the night previous... I hadn't emptied my cart out. Instead of getting Devestator in a couple days, I was going to get Devestator, Soundwave, and King Starscream.
I'd say I was kicking myself for being stupid, but in all honesty I was pretty happy about the mistake. I really did want to get Soundwave and honestly could afford the $400.
But that introduced the next problem. I CAN afford these Transformers... just not all of them. And the Transformer that I happen to be looking at is the one that I want in that moment. It is SO easy to say 'Hey, I can afford $50 for this one, right?' and then buy it without more thought. And that's especially problematic for ones that are years out of production.
For example, The Soundwave comes with three of his cassettes. Laserbeak, Ravage, and Buzzsaw. But my favorite was always Rumble, the little guy. Rumbles toy was just him as a little guy but in the cartoon he had these pile driver arms that were always funny to watch. Well, when they made the Rumble and Frenzy toys a few years ago, they included the pile driver arms. BUT instead of selling for their original $13 (they're smaller than the 'Deluxe' line and are called 'Core' line), they are selling on Ebay for $100 and $50 (I guess Rumble is worth twice Frenzy's price!).
So, if I just keep saying 'I can afford that' and buying it, I'll suddenly find myself spending THOUSANDS. Hell, I was already almost AT a thousand!
So I decided I'd put myself on a budget. $100 per pay period. If the transformer I want is $100 or less, I can get him (no, I don't consider tax or shipping). If he's even $100.01 I have to wait until the next pay period. But then again, if I find a $20 Transformer, that still leaves me with $80 I can spend.
I think that's a reasonable amount that I can hold myself to.
But even my best intentions got away from me.
It started with the Best Buy certificates. When I bought this new smaller Monitor/TV I got a special deal that included a $35 gift card. Well... Best Buy sells Transformers (through third parties). It'd be a shame to waste the $35 on some dumb tech toy that I don't really want. So I found the Galvatron with the Matrix chained around his neck for $50, applied my gift card and got him for $16 after tax and shipping.
The next day, after I'd paid off my Best Buy credit card, I got another $40 gift card. Well, if it was a good idea once, it has to be a good idea twice, right? Thundercracker was mine for $20.
But that's it. In fact, next pay period I won't buy any more transformers and will start the $100 per pay period the following pay period.
And that was a fine idea until I had to get springs for my keyboard. It turns out that my metal spacebar is too heavy for my current springs, so I needed replacements. Normally that's easy, but I have TMR switches, so I need springs that are specifically designed for magnetic switches. And lemme tell you, after spending an entire evening searching, no one has magnetic switch ready springs that are heavier than normal.
Except for Ali Express.
I've avoided Ali Express because it's specifically buying form China. Why send my money there when I can keep it in North America? Well, in this instance, it's because they have what I want and North America doesn't. So, I went there, set up an account, and found the springs I needed.
You know what Ali Express also sells? That's right, Transformers.
My will was weak, so I have a Hot Rod and a Frenzy coming from China right now. Both are at good prices including the extra you pay in shipping since Frenzy is so old and Hot Rod was a Target Exclusive.
But then I'm done. DONE.
Fucking Amazon. Prime Days is going on right now. They have the Deluxe version of Bumble Bee. Normally about $30, onsale for $17. And with my Amazon points, that comes down to less than $5 with next day shipping. So Bumble Bee will be here tomorrow.
BUT NOW I'M DONE!!!!
Well, at least until Mid July!
So here are the ones I have so far. And yes, I like taking images of them with corosponding video of them in the movies as a backdrop:
- Skywarp. He's the third jet to go along with Starscream and Thundercracker. With his purple and black color scheme I think he may look the coolest
- Behold Galvatron. This is a Galvatron like the Reformatting Megatron. I think they'd look fun standing side by side.
- Rumble. Gotta have the purple guy cassete
- Megatron: One Shall Fall. This will be to match the Optimus that I have.
- Shockwave. He's coming out in September and just looks cool.
- Insecticons. My brothers and I each had one Insectoicon and Target is getting an exclusive next month with the original three.
- Perceptor. The version I want comes with Ratbat and Ramhorn... Ratbat will finish Soundwave's cassettes (at least the ones I want).
- The Dinobots. Grimlock and Snarl are currently for sale while Slag/Slug, Sludge, and Swoop are out of production.
- Ultra Magnus. He's HUGE!
- Nemesis Prime R5. This is one of the special Transformers. It's an incredibly realistic Canon R5 camera that transforms into a robot that roughly looks like Nemesis Prime.
- Blaster, Steeljaw, Jazz, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Cliffjumper, Ratchet, Brawn. These are 'other's that I want but won't pay top dollar for.
- Starscream. This is the version that would perfectly match Thundercracker and Skywarp since they're different than Coronation Starscream.
- Masterpiece MP36 Megatron. This is a special version of Megatron that transforms into a gun. Most of the modern Megatrons change into a tank and I really want one that transforms into a gun like my original toy.
- Scorponok. Yes, they're making the Titan Scorponok in all his green and purple and huge glory.
- Omega Supreme. This is the same size as Scorponok but it's the Autobot Base/City/Transformer. I never had him but always wanted him.
- Unicron
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