What was your gateway drug?

[ConvoyGTR]

Everything started with a Powermaster Prime for my birthday as a kid and got a odd Transformer here and there, and the collecting picked up a bit in Beast Wars and stopped when Beast Machine started. I've kept up with the shows, but stopped collecting for awhile until Armada started and haven't stopped since.

[Gaetznes]

As a Child I had recieved PM OP. When I was moving out those many moons ago, I went into the attic to find him. Sadly, Hornets had made a nest halfway through the box and OP himself. So all I had left was his Head. So I vowed to OP's Head that I'd make him Whole Again, with all the kings men.lol. But yeah my intrested in collecting Expanded about 5 years ago when my future Miss bought me a 3" Titanium BW Optimus Primal. Since then my Collection, Exploded and shurnk so many times.

You guys would have loved the collection"s" I picked up here. I got a complete Powermaster Series with all accessories. A few complete TM and a about half of the HM's complete, All for less then $100. Sadly, they are all gone now. But they did allow me to buy a van in my time of need. So woo hoo to that.

Now i'm primarly addicted to G1 or G1 Themed Decepticons, with a more narrow focus on Soundwave, Seekers and Cassettes.

[Autovolt 127]

Energon Rodimus is my first transformers i got back in 2004 but i started collecting during the Cybertron line starting with Hotshot, at that point i figured i could collect them all.

That would explain why Rodimus (though it's G1 charecter) and Hotshot are two of my favourite Autobots

[justprime]

collecting started off for me with the rosenthal thunderbirds and dinky spv if your old enough you'll reconise these,.. than I grew up and forgot about toys untill transformers came along got hooked on the show and was given Huffer for a birthday gift,.. well next was thundercracker (still a gift), I liked the toys but really wasn't into it they sat on a desk collecting dust ....few years later I had a accedent at work that almost did me in (head injury) I used TFs to rehablitat both my motor skills and my memory,... fell completely in love with the toy line (it a passion now) and have continued to collect to present
it been justprime

[Quantum]

I grew up with G1. Threw my toys out at 13. Bought Omege Prime years later, and PVC Optimus and Megs. Then BT Hound was announced. That was the beginning for me as an adult collector.

[Scrapper6]

To be perfectly honest, it was not a toy I owned that got me started, I would have to say it was the many Transformers toys I played with from my older cousins' collections. They were the ones who introduced me to the Transformers, they were the ones who let me play with them and I believe borrow G1 Optimus Prime once. They were the instigators.

It wasn't until 1988 and Pretender Starscream I believe that cemented my love of all things Transformers and Collecting Same in my mind. Although it could have been '89 and the Micromaster Combiner Squads who were the first ones I got.

No wait... I think it was Christmas '88, I have a picture somewhere of me as a child I think that year and I have both Pretender Starscream and Wildfly as presents from that year. Those may have indeed been my first actual TFs.

CURSE YOU PRETENDER STARSCREAM! Where are you now?

[Bruticus82]

I had some G1s back in the day (Whirl, Soundwave, or Ramjet were likely my firsts.), while I stopped actively collecting, I kept the ones I had in the closet. I would occassionaly see one at a garage sale, and then there were these collectible shows at a local high school here in Hamilton (one of those shows may have been the first TFCon from my understanding of it) where I found a few more, but they were so expensive.

I bought a few beast wars figures, just characters I liked or toys I thought were cool.

Ironically, when classic first came out, I passed on them entirely, thinking them crappy versions of the original characters. It was only when universe 2.0 was in full swing and I got my hands on a Galvatron that I thought "hey, these are pretty good" (and since it was Galvatron my expectations must have been crazy low!). I bought an acid storm and loved that mold even more, and decided I had to have all of these universe/classics figures. And I decided to start collecting G1s again now that e-bay and these forums made it easier.

[joshimus]

I've always liked toys and parents were good with budgeting. Had a bunch of g1, joes, he-man and plenty of tmnt, all stuff i still have stored at my place. What got me into collecting, with my own money, was the day i picked up depthcharge and rampage. I already LOVED BW and that was really my starting point in which i hunted down the first 2seasons characters and continue to collect TFs among others today. BW also started my repaint/modding as i gave a more transmetal look to mh transmetals. I made an action master Dinobot using Torca's body and dinobots parts. My first real mod.
Thats how i began.

[Camaroman2]

Originally Posted by Quantum

I grew up with G1. Threw my toys out at 13.

Just one question: why throw them out? Why not give them to relatives or put them in storage?

As for my start, it's actually kind of pathetic. My first real TF was a RiD Mega Octane, but I didn't know what it was at the time. A year or two later, I went to McDonald's and got an Armada Hot Shot. I liked this because it was easy to transform. From there, I found out about the TV show, the superior retail toys, and eventually started getting better at transforming them. After a while, I started realizing that one day, I'd be an adult, and have to give up toys (I was 7 at the time, I'm only 13 now). I felt a bit depressed for a while, but then I found out about adult collectors! I can remember how good I felt, and that feeling has continued through to today, and probably won't ever stop completely. I currently have around 340 figures. It's a small collection, but I'm happy with it. Some time I'll get around to post pictures...

Regards,
Camaroman2

[Benzo]

I was always a fan of Transformers ever since G1 but what go me into it seriously was when they officially announced the 2007 movie. I started searching for more information and started browsing the fansites. while browsing the fansites I came across pics of the not yet released Classics line which go me really interested. and on one sunny autumn afternoon I was at TRU and saw Classics Megatron and Optimus Prime on the shelf and that was the start of my collecting!
I took these pics right after opening them!