Plastic Memories
I have come to realize, as I sit in the theater tonight at 8 it will be the next milestone for something that has been far more important to my life than many other things that other people would consider far more important.
Literally as long as I can remember I have had the toys or watched the show. Note: I am about to make alot of inner collectors cry somewhere in the vastness of the Internet... ;-)
I was five when I got my first Transformer, I can remember that day some 24 years later as clear as if it were yesterday. It was Christmas morning and there it was, in all it's red van glory. I didn't much know how to actually transform it and was more than a little disappointed that it didn't make the "transforming noise", but I knew who it was. I remember telling my step-dad that I really wanted to met Ironhide one day just so I could tell him how cool I thought he was. No idea what happened to that figure, likely got lost in one of the half dozen moves we did when I was younger. Some weeks and months later Optimus Prime, Jazz, and Ratchet joined my small but loved ranks of Autobots.
I knew how he sounded and what he was supposed to do, "Kick Decepti-but". That was really all that mattered then anyway, because it was more than a toy to me. It was a piece of the magic of TV. I would run home from the bus-stop every afternoon after school, if I hurried I would just make it in time to see the cartoon on channel 21 at my Grandmother's house. I would often try during commercials to somehow manage to fold myself into a truck shape so I could be like Optimus Prime. I didn't know it was something someone drew, to me there were as real as my teacher or the policeman I would see drive down the street. They were my friends.
The next big step was about a year later, we have moved to Florida and I wasn't really happy there. I had only one real friend and hated my school. However, I still had my friends on TV and that was awesome. I remember going over to Craig's house to play most days after school. He had more of the toys than me and we would play Transformers most of the time all day till I had to go home. He always made me be the Decepticons, which was fine with me I thought even though they were evil they turned into the coolest looking stuff.
It was during my brief stint in Florida that two more of my great Transformers memories were forged.
The first one was when my Grandparents came to visit, they took me to the store and bought me the Constructicons Giftset (que crying). Man this thing was awesome, I LOVED these toys. I turned the flowerbed net to the front door of my house into a construction site and had the Constructicons build things until they were discovered by the Autobots and a battle ensued... of course they were no match for the power of Devastator (arr). I still know where some of these figures are, but they are in pretty bad shape sadly.
The next Florida memory involves my old pal Red Alert. This story is pretty short and sadly ends almost like the rest. About a week before we moved away I was playing at Craig's house by the lake (our sub-division had lakes everywhere, all the backyards bordered one somewhere). Red Alert was chasing Sound wave back to the Decepticon base (it was under water) when he was shot out of the sky by Laserbeak. I was standing in about waist deep water and I didn't catch Red Alert in my other hand before he actually hit the water... and he was lost to the depths forever. I have since replaced him :)
Well it was not long after that we moved back to Alabama, where we had to live with my Grandmother for a while. It was rough, but Christmas that year ROCKED. I got Omega Supreme and Jetfire... yeah that was awesome. I also remember begging my Mom for the Stunticons in K-Mart, I had all five of them in my hand... she said no even though they were my absolute favorite combiner team. I still have never owned a single one of that set.
1986 was the holy grail year. I got Metroplex, Tripticon, and all six of the Predacons that Christmas. My living room was truly a sight to behold. I remember the awesome sight of Preadking combined... and then the sadness when the waist joint snapped under his own weight. He was glued back together, but it was never really the same. I remember taking Metroplex and Trypticon to school for show and tell, I was a hit heh. I remember the movie, I cried when the killed Prime.
A few moves later and almost none of the Transformers I owned could be really found or considered whole. Luckily... it was time for Generation 2 :). With G2 I went nuts, I was older and wiser. I had Prime, Jazz, Sideswipe, Megatron (yeah the tank one), the Dinobots, my old pals the Constructiocns again, and the Seeker jets. Man I got some serious play time out of those figures, and I kept them in great shape. My Mother tells me my Brother sold them at a yard sale sometime after I moved away from home... yeah I own him a beating.
After G2 came the drought years and finally out of the mist came Beast Wars. I was working at Wal-Mart when they came out, but didn't really have the money to buy them since I was trying desperately to escape the pull of my hometown and my mother. I finally moved down to Auburn and got married (woot!) and what is even better is she is a Transformers fan too. I bought her a 1984 Optimus Prime for Christmas one year :)
I bought several of the Beast Wars toys, I think it was when we finally tracked down a Scorponok in Macon that there was a great moment of understanding that carries over to this day. My mother would often buy me toys in Birmingham but I wouldn't be permitted to open them until we got back home, usually many hours later. Now, when I get a new Transformer that I have been searching for I will often open it in the car and play with it a while before we even leave the store. It's become kind of a ritual really.
When Car Robots came out, my best memory there involves the search for what Kristin calls "those damn trains." I looked at every store in the better part of two states (over the span of a few days) before finding these... My son has since pretty much destroyed them (totally my fault mind you)
The next big Transformers memory, involves my collection as it stands today. I still have most all of my Beast Wars, but they are boxed up because of space issues. It all began with TRU Reissue Thundercracker, which I got for my birthday. I didn't get many of the Armada toys because of money crush issues, so my collection really takes off again with the Energon line and on into Cybertron (which I have all of).
I remember seeing 20th Anni. Prime in Wal-Mart. My wife didn't even blink at the $65 price tag, she knew how much it meant to me to get it. She is the awesome.
My real crown jewels though are my Alternators, I have all but the last 2 and I plan to buy them and the SDCC exclusive Hot Rod.
I only have a few of the movie toys so far, but what I have I really like.
Some people I know make fun of my Transformers thing, but I don't really let them bother me too much.
I know that as a child I learned alot of life lessons from my animated role models, I learned to treat people fairly and as a child that was hard for me. I learned over the years that while I may associate some of my best memories with pieces of plastic from China, I wouldn't trade them for anything. At least I am able to spend my money on things that will remind me of the good times I have had in life, and not spend them on alcohol like one of my co-workers who spends 3 times what I do on toys getting wasted every night of the week.
I guess it is like capturing that little piece of my childhood and holding onto it forever. Looking at the shelves is more than just looking at toys, it is looking at shelf after shelf of memories that would take me 50 posts this long just to convey half of them.
So tonight I get to take my great wife to the theater and make some new awesome Transformers memories.
Isn't that just Prime?
Literally as long as I can remember I have had the toys or watched the show. Note: I am about to make alot of inner collectors cry somewhere in the vastness of the Internet... ;-)
I was five when I got my first Transformer, I can remember that day some 24 years later as clear as if it were yesterday. It was Christmas morning and there it was, in all it's red van glory. I didn't much know how to actually transform it and was more than a little disappointed that it didn't make the "transforming noise", but I knew who it was. I remember telling my step-dad that I really wanted to met Ironhide one day just so I could tell him how cool I thought he was. No idea what happened to that figure, likely got lost in one of the half dozen moves we did when I was younger. Some weeks and months later Optimus Prime, Jazz, and Ratchet joined my small but loved ranks of Autobots.
I knew how he sounded and what he was supposed to do, "Kick Decepti-but". That was really all that mattered then anyway, because it was more than a toy to me. It was a piece of the magic of TV. I would run home from the bus-stop every afternoon after school, if I hurried I would just make it in time to see the cartoon on channel 21 at my Grandmother's house. I would often try during commercials to somehow manage to fold myself into a truck shape so I could be like Optimus Prime. I didn't know it was something someone drew, to me there were as real as my teacher or the policeman I would see drive down the street. They were my friends.
The next big step was about a year later, we have moved to Florida and I wasn't really happy there. I had only one real friend and hated my school. However, I still had my friends on TV and that was awesome. I remember going over to Craig's house to play most days after school. He had more of the toys than me and we would play Transformers most of the time all day till I had to go home. He always made me be the Decepticons, which was fine with me I thought even though they were evil they turned into the coolest looking stuff.
It was during my brief stint in Florida that two more of my great Transformers memories were forged.
The first one was when my Grandparents came to visit, they took me to the store and bought me the Constructicons Giftset (que crying). Man this thing was awesome, I LOVED these toys. I turned the flowerbed net to the front door of my house into a construction site and had the Constructicons build things until they were discovered by the Autobots and a battle ensued... of course they were no match for the power of Devastator (arr). I still know where some of these figures are, but they are in pretty bad shape sadly.
The next Florida memory involves my old pal Red Alert. This story is pretty short and sadly ends almost like the rest. About a week before we moved away I was playing at Craig's house by the lake (our sub-division had lakes everywhere, all the backyards bordered one somewhere). Red Alert was chasing Sound wave back to the Decepticon base (it was under water) when he was shot out of the sky by Laserbeak. I was standing in about waist deep water and I didn't catch Red Alert in my other hand before he actually hit the water... and he was lost to the depths forever. I have since replaced him :)
Well it was not long after that we moved back to Alabama, where we had to live with my Grandmother for a while. It was rough, but Christmas that year ROCKED. I got Omega Supreme and Jetfire... yeah that was awesome. I also remember begging my Mom for the Stunticons in K-Mart, I had all five of them in my hand... she said no even though they were my absolute favorite combiner team. I still have never owned a single one of that set.
1986 was the holy grail year. I got Metroplex, Tripticon, and all six of the Predacons that Christmas. My living room was truly a sight to behold. I remember the awesome sight of Preadking combined... and then the sadness when the waist joint snapped under his own weight. He was glued back together, but it was never really the same. I remember taking Metroplex and Trypticon to school for show and tell, I was a hit heh. I remember the movie, I cried when the killed Prime.
A few moves later and almost none of the Transformers I owned could be really found or considered whole. Luckily... it was time for Generation 2 :). With G2 I went nuts, I was older and wiser. I had Prime, Jazz, Sideswipe, Megatron (yeah the tank one), the Dinobots, my old pals the Constructiocns again, and the Seeker jets. Man I got some serious play time out of those figures, and I kept them in great shape. My Mother tells me my Brother sold them at a yard sale sometime after I moved away from home... yeah I own him a beating.
After G2 came the drought years and finally out of the mist came Beast Wars. I was working at Wal-Mart when they came out, but didn't really have the money to buy them since I was trying desperately to escape the pull of my hometown and my mother. I finally moved down to Auburn and got married (woot!) and what is even better is she is a Transformers fan too. I bought her a 1984 Optimus Prime for Christmas one year :)
I bought several of the Beast Wars toys, I think it was when we finally tracked down a Scorponok in Macon that there was a great moment of understanding that carries over to this day. My mother would often buy me toys in Birmingham but I wouldn't be permitted to open them until we got back home, usually many hours later. Now, when I get a new Transformer that I have been searching for I will often open it in the car and play with it a while before we even leave the store. It's become kind of a ritual really.
When Car Robots came out, my best memory there involves the search for what Kristin calls "those damn trains." I looked at every store in the better part of two states (over the span of a few days) before finding these... My son has since pretty much destroyed them (totally my fault mind you)
The next big Transformers memory, involves my collection as it stands today. I still have most all of my Beast Wars, but they are boxed up because of space issues. It all began with TRU Reissue Thundercracker, which I got for my birthday. I didn't get many of the Armada toys because of money crush issues, so my collection really takes off again with the Energon line and on into Cybertron (which I have all of).
I remember seeing 20th Anni. Prime in Wal-Mart. My wife didn't even blink at the $65 price tag, she knew how much it meant to me to get it. She is the awesome.
My real crown jewels though are my Alternators, I have all but the last 2 and I plan to buy them and the SDCC exclusive Hot Rod.
I only have a few of the movie toys so far, but what I have I really like.
Some people I know make fun of my Transformers thing, but I don't really let them bother me too much.
I know that as a child I learned alot of life lessons from my animated role models, I learned to treat people fairly and as a child that was hard for me. I learned over the years that while I may associate some of my best memories with pieces of plastic from China, I wouldn't trade them for anything. At least I am able to spend my money on things that will remind me of the good times I have had in life, and not spend them on alcohol like one of my co-workers who spends 3 times what I do on toys getting wasted every night of the week.
I guess it is like capturing that little piece of my childhood and holding onto it forever. Looking at the shelves is more than just looking at toys, it is looking at shelf after shelf of memories that would take me 50 posts this long just to convey half of them.
So tonight I get to take my great wife to the theater and make some new awesome Transformers memories.
Isn't that just Prime?