How did YOU start?

[dalisprime]

Had a look through the boards and noticed this has never been asked so here goes. It's pretty much a granted that we all loved TF as kids, but I'm curious what got you hooked on collecting them (again?) as an adult? Did a TV series of the time cause you to buy one and then others followed, or was it an intricate figure/alt mode that triggered your curiosity?

For me it's two fold. I've always watched TFs in one rendition or another, although not religiously. At some point I wanted to get myself armada Starscream as he looked like a really neat figure, but never got round to it. Instead I edned up with MP Prime (that I ended up getting foolishly rid of when moving house ). Fast forward a few years, ROTF toys started appearing (1st movie figures I didn't really like), and towards November that year I saw Mixmaster sitting on a shelf looking all intriguing and whatnot. After a few backs and forths with myself I ended up getting him, and the stubborn git that I am, decided to transform him without the manual. Boy, did he kick my arse that day. Needless to say, I was hooked. A fair deal of rotf figures soon followed (HA Sideswipe was my 2nd I believe, due to how darn sexy his alt mode looked in a box!). The rest is history as they say. So on to you lads - how did you begin?