While they were not my primary 80's joy (that goes to GIJOE), I was and am a big fan of the transformers.
The first one I ever owned was Wheeljack. I bought him for $3 from a classmate in the 5th grade. Later on that year, I got Skywarp for my birthday.
Later on, a buddy of mine traded me all five Dinobots for some of my dad's old Playboys (internet porn hadn't been invented yet). Later on, I realized that they were actually his little brother's toys!
But I still kept them.
While I never had a big collection of the original Gen 1's, I played like crazy with the ones I had (regularly beating up on the couple Go-Bots some well-meaning but obviously non-toy savvy relative bought me when I clearly said TRANSFORMERS ).
I was always a bad guy fan so I mostly had Decepticons (and Cobras). I loved any of the Beastbots (Insecticons, Terrorcons) and the combiners.
I just can't believe they are 30 years old. Sheesh.

I like Transformers a little bit. This is a few years back. My MIB collection has doubled and I've cased everything in custom AFA cases since these pics were taken. I've gotten rid of alot of my loose ones as I plan on moving, just too much. Everything is boxed up for now.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... ction.html

My first transformer was Soundwave. I remember when they came out, they were impossible to find. My second was Optimus Prime that I got for Christmas.

It's always been Gi Joe and Transformers for me with Star Wars a distant 3rd but Gi Joe just had alot more playability so they were my number one toy.

Masterpiece Transformers is easily my favorite line right now. Those figures are just amazing.

I couldn't have stated it better. Although my collection is not as vast as yours, it's been the same for me in collection. GIJoe, Transformers, and then Star Wars.

Only thing, I did follow through alot of the different renditions of Transformers. Beast Wars / Machines. Into the Unicorn Trilogy - Armada, Energon, Cybertron. (Surprisingly, I loved this series and picked up almost every toy available) And then to ANIMATED and PRIME. Although, I stopped getting figures at ANIMATED. By then I had moved to ALTERNATORS & Masterpiece.

But yes, we are OLD and still COLLECTING. Transformers will be around forever!

My first Transformer was Mirage but don't recall the year but it was mid 80's. For me it was He-Man, G.I. Joe and Transformers in the 80's. And of course Star Wars.

It's depressing how you begin to realize things like this as you get older, lol. My childhood heroes are either senior citizens or dead.

Yeah, plus I'm really starting to feel the generation gap since I've turned 40. It's like my students are becoming a while other species!