I think I got my first one when I was about .. 10 .. Back in 1984 they where actually called them Diaclones and they where still these kind of bizarre semi transformable "things" that had a very sketchy Japanese background. But the one I got was a real one. A genuine " Transformer " ( I think it literally fell from the sky on Easter morning, hidden in its box between the bushes in my aunts back yard) And It was no lame car or something. No, the first funky robot I got was a Decepticon : yesirreeee ! Shrapnell was one of the Insecticons who kicked ass from the get-go. The master of electricity and all that stuff.
Within the next years it seemed like the whole "Ark" plowed into our backyard as I got some more great members of my favorite toy-race. I rode the waves of good and bad toy idea's that Hasbro pumped out. From the great Die-cast classics and the fantastic head and power-masters to the disgraceful mini-cons and (god help us) actionmasters. I had a few of all of them but always looked back for the classics or the remakes of those very first Transformers that set foot on the earth. Jazz, Ironhide, Prowl, Bumblebee, Optimus Prime .. Or the fantastic Decepticons : Starscream, Soundwave, Megatron, Octane. I loved to watch the cartoons that where (at that time) only on a Frenchspeaking channel. Later came my collection of Transformer comics, that I read over and over again.
But these days times have changed. I"m supposed to be a grownup now and Transformers have barely survived the last twenty years. With some terrible death-thrashes like the Beastmasters, the Actionmasters and the whole terrible last series with those mini-cons. Needless to say I'm nostalgic to the classic transformer-universe I used to know. Once you grown up and make some money… you stumble onto " The ones that got away " Those Transformers you cried and sulked for for days because you never got them. And of course also the "elusive ones" that you never found in the shops, the stuff of legends so to speak. These days they are all over Ebay of course and I have refrained myself from buying them cause owning them right now .. is like trying to recapture ones childhood isn't it. Its not realy the same. But with the whole new transformer movie coming in july I'm very curious what is going to be stirred up. With the Robots looking all different then how we used to know them … its going to be quite a surprise. But I'm not gonna talk about the movie. I'm gonna close of by telling you about the real Transformer fans. From the land of the rising weirdo's comes this little movie filmed at the Cosplay conventions. Where the fans keep the transformers alive and … .. bwa 🙂 I'm not gonna spoil it , just watch 🙂