Reddit User Rediscovers His Entire Transformers Collection After 30 Years (And There Is Something Very Rare About Them)

One thing that is guaranteed to bring a sense of nostalgia to any adult is rediscovering their old toys. That is what happened to one Reddit user recently when they found their entire vintage Transformers collection after it had been stored away for three decades. This is the highly sought after G1 collection, which includes original versions of Optimus Prime, Megatron, Shockwave, Ironhide, Bumblebee and more. This is not a small collection either with around 50 figures included along with other items like a voice changer, but that is not the detail that makes this collection one that probably the rarest anyone could own. The extensive set, which gives a snapshot of the franchise’s golden era, is one that the user admits was played with when they were first bought, but then they were replaced in their original boxes before being put into storage.

When Transformers was first released, the toy line that came with the TV cartoon delivered some of the most advanced children’s playthings of the decade. The robots seen on screen were able to transform in the hands of children playing with them and that meant only a select few remained in their boxes and never opened. Those examples are now worth tens of thousands thanks to their scarcity, but those that were played with usually ended up either broken or dumped in a storage box and no one ever thought to carefully repack them in their original boxes. By the time the toys had served their purpose and other things attracted the attention of the owners, the packaging they came in was long gone. That is particularly true of a set this size, as storing the boxes for years is something the poster themselves jokingly credits as being down to OCD.

A Hidden Trove of Transformers Figures

With or without the boxes, G1 Transformers are still regarded as the Holy Grail of collectors of toys from the franchise. The combination of boxed-but-played-with makes these pretty unique, but not in a way that would make them anywhere near as valuable as unopened examples. That being said, if they were to be sold, even with some bumps and dings on the boxes, it is likely the collection would fetch a fair amount – but it is probably not something the poster has any intention of doing. Among the collection are some special items that would certainly be of interest to serious collectors outside the classic characters that every Transformers fan owned in the mid-80s.

The poster reveals in his video and Reddit post that the set includes a complete set of Omnibots, an Autobot trio that was not sold in stores but had to be sent away for via mail order. These special figures needed the buyer to collect Robot Points from the packaging of other Transformers figures, and those figures are often the ones that become high-priced collectibles of the future. Yet even those figures are not the crowning glory of the set. That honor goes to a one-of-a-kind animation cel prototype for a generic Decepticon, which the owner was given because his older brother worked for the advertising agency that handled Hasbro’s account and managed to acquire it. If you want even more, then throw in the fact that the poster is certain there are even more figures stored somewhere then this is the kind of story that should have every child of the 80s sticking their head into their own attic to see if their own toys have been squirrelled away for them to find as adults.