Imagination

When I was 12, the Transformers by Hasbro came out. Up until that time I was totally devoted to Star Wars and GI Joe. But the Transformers were unlike anything I'd ever seen before. For those of you who aren't familiar with them (a live action movie based on the old mid 80s cartoon version of the Transformers will come out this Fourth of July), the Transformers were robots who transformed into various vehicles and weapons when in battle or transit. Then they could transform back into robots when needed. The Transformers were divided into two groups: the Autobots (the good guys) and the Decepticons (the bad guys). Their own planet, Cybertron, is abandoned for the search for fuel (in the form of energon cubes). The Decepticons spy earth with its wonderful natural resources and futile defenses and descend. Well, the Autobots can't sit and watch their arch enemies destroy an innocent planet and race. So the battle begins.

As soon as I saw the first cartoon, I was an addict. But what drove me nuts was that the Autobots were usually getting destroyed and royally kicked around by the Decepticons. This angered me to know end. How could the good guys lose so much and so often? I mean GI Joe always kicked Cobra around. Didn't the Jedi return in Star Wars to defeat the empire? Didn't He Man always take care of Skeletor? Didn't the Thundercats triumph over Mummra? Not so with the Autobots. Sure, they were able to rescue whatever humans happened to be in danger, but the Autobots always came out worse for it. This was a new theme - that evil is more powerful than good.

The Christmas of '84 all I wanted was a few Transformers, namely the Autobots' saintly leader, Optimus Prime (who transformed into a semi tractor and trailer). In mid December Mom, Dad, and I made our annual pilgrimage to Grand Forks, namely Columbia Mall. There in Target I saw hundreds of Transformers. They were just taunting me. I wanted one sooooooo badly. But Mom patiently explained, "Just wait for Christmas." I knew what this meant - either she had already purchased one or ordered me one (she was loyal to her beloved JC Penney catalog).

Well, Christmas came and went and no Transformers. It seems they were such a hot commodity that JC Penney had been completely sold out and returned Mom's order. She tried to make it up with GI Joe's and the Ewok village. But I was crushed.

Mom did finally manage to come through with a few lesser Transformers, but I never did get Optimus (which explains why 15 years later I would buy one in the box on ebay for a few hundred dollars). When I eventually got my measly two Transformers, I was fascinated by their packaging. On the back of each box was a little profile. It listed things like his power rankings, strengths and weaknesses, lineage, and his motto.

Since I had to deal with several of my friends playing with their brand new sparkling Transformers, I did the next best thing - I created a new line of Transformers all my own. Only this time, I made sure the Autobots had some really strong warriors and weren't going to get kicked around by the Decepticons, of which I created quite a few too. I had such a ball creating my own line of Transformers that it made not getting one for Christmas almost tolerable.

I still have my creations. The very first one I came up with is displayed below. His name is Slugg, a Decepticon (how could you be an Autobot and be named, Slugg?). He transformed from the robot pictured into a great white shark (you can just make out the shark drawn at the top). This was inspired by the latest line of Transformers, the Dionbots (who, obviously, transformed into dionsaurs) and the Insecticons (you guessed it, they transformed into insects). I also had a killer whale, an octopus, a hammerhead shark, and a sting ray. And that was really just the start.