My dad made this odd comment the other day when visiting my apartment.

"If only I could do your childhood over again, I would have taken an
interest in your Transformers."

Oooookay. Didn't know what to say. I didn't have the best childhood and
I've never heard him apologize for anything before, so I'll take what I
can get.

My dad always belittled my hobbies, calling Transformers a "fad that
will never last". He would get enraged whenever I would get new ones. My
grandparents were the same way. All those things that 80s kids were into
like the toys, cartoons, and video games were the dumbest things ever
and a waste of time. God bless my mom for being cool.

I think my dad is dumbfounded that all those Gen X hobbies are now
mainstream industries. He somehow thinks that my decades of fandom for
these things means that guys like Hasbro would be desperate to hire me,
as if we lived in a meritocracy.

I think perhaps many others grew up in a similar generation gap
situation. I've seen some people on Reddit saying, "When I have kids,
I'm going to become the biggest fan of whatever my children like!" I
think that maybe this is going too far in the other direction. Like,
maybe just leave your kids alone to enjoy their hobbies and not smother
them. Kids do need to learn that not everyone is interested in the same
things that they like.

What were your experiences growing up?

On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 10:21:21 AM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> Oooookay. Didn't know what to say. I didn't have the best childhood and
> I've never heard him apologize for anything before, so I'll take what I
> can get.

It's hard for parents to admit to their kids when they've done something wrong. I bet it was difficult for him to own that one!
> I think perhaps many others grew up in a similar generation gap
> situation. I've seen some people on Reddit saying, "When I have kids,
> I'm going to become the biggest fan of whatever my children like!" I
> think that maybe this is going too far in the other direction.

I have sat down with my kids and watched various shows with them just to see what they're into. It's the only reason I've endured episodes of Teen Titans Go! or Big City Greens or The Loud House or (more recently) Cuphead. It's interesting to see what passes for children's entertainment nowadays. But, I feel like there are so many shows with no merchandising. They're cultivating all these fans, but then there's nothing to go out and spend money on!

> What were your experiences growing up?

Oh, I've got all sorts of random Transformers-related childhood memories. Here's a random sampling.

When I was a kid, my family knew I was into Transformers, but in their minds that translated to "shapeshifting robots" so I would often get Tonka GoBots or Selects Convertors or something for birthday gifts. Close enough, right?

In 1985-86, I would sometimes put my cassette player in front of the TV and make audio recordings of the episodes. I recognized on some level that it wouldn't be on TV forever, and it was the only way I could think to preserve them. (Nobody told me DVD collections would be a thing eventually.)

My younger sister would eventually watch the show with me when it was syndicated on the Sci-Fi Channel around 1992 or so. I would set my VCR to record in the mornings and then we'd watch it after school. But, the televised version of the story jumped from season two to season three, so without The Transformers: the Movie to inform her, she was very confused about the time skip. I finally got a copy of the movie from Suncoast Motion Picture Co. for like ten bucks. It's the only VHS tape I ever managed to wear out from watching it too many times!

Zob

On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 5:21:21 PM UTC+1, Travoltron wrote:
>
> Oooookay. Didn't know what to say. I didn't have the best childhood and
> I've never heard him apologize for anything before, so I'll take what I
> can get.

I think this must be a thing of people regretting how they brought up their kids after the fact. My Dad apologised for sending me to boarding school (we were a military family and my parents were living abroad through my high school years), which surprised me because I had a really positive boarding school experience. But I think he regrets not being closer to me during my teens.

> My dad always belittled my hobbies, calling Transformers a "fad that
> will never last". He would get enraged whenever I would get new ones. My
> grandparents were the same way. All those things that 80s kids were into
> like the toys, cartoons, and video games were the dumbest things ever
> and a waste of time. God bless my mom for being cool.

This was how my parents were! Luckily, my father's grandmother had chucked out his old toys including stuff that had become quite valuable by the 80s, so he never got rid of our things out of hand--but they did encourage a clear-out once, which is when my brother got rid of a lot of his Transformers to our latter day regret. I got our box out of the attic yesterday, and there's a sad collection of random weapons, fists and Chromedome's head where the actual robot is long gone. (I really need to finish ID'ing these and ebay them so at least somebody else can complete their G1 toy.)

> I think perhaps many others grew up in a similar generation gap
> situation. I've seen some people on Reddit saying, "When I have kids,
> I'm going to become the biggest fan of whatever my children like!" I
> think that maybe this is going too far in the other direction. Like,
> maybe just leave your kids alone to enjoy their hobbies and not smother
> them. Kids do need to learn that not everyone is interested in the same
> things that they like.

You don't want to take over your kids' hobby, but one of my big parenting tips is to try and get into what your kids are into. I had a personal rule of never insulting the shows they enjoyed, and several of them grew on me to the point that I was able to genuinely enjoy them. (We were big fans of the LEGO Ninjago series for several years, and Teen Titans Go! with all its 80s references was another firm favourite.) And that was great, because then elements of those shows became family in-jokes. It works both ways... the kids also got into the stuff I was a fan of because they were exposed to so much of it. And there's plenty of stuff that we don't all like.

Now that they're entering their teenage years and it's becoming more difficult to find common ground (though probably easier to find TV shows we all like!), I'm grateful for each and every shared interest we have. Your relationship with your kids *is* something you need to work at and invest in. But again, I'm definitely reacting to my own childhood where my parents just seemed to dislike everything I was into and as a natural born geek, that just encouraged me to feel guilty about my obsessive interest in things.

Velvet Glove (who is now much more comfortable with the fact that she spends hours a day imagining between-the-scenes story for a kids' cartoon)

On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 1:43:53 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 10:21:21 AM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:
>
> > Oooookay. Didn't know what to say. I didn't have the best childhood and
> > I've never heard him apologize for anything before, so I'll take what I
> > can get.
> It's hard for parents to admit to their kids when they've done something wrong. I bet it was difficult for him to own that one!
> > I think perhaps many others grew up in a similar generation gap
> > situation. I've seen some people on Reddit saying, "When I have kids,
> > I'm going to become the biggest fan of whatever my children like!" I
> > think that maybe this is going too far in the other direction.
> I have sat down with my kids and watched various shows with them just to see what they're into. It's the only reason I've endured episodes of Teen Titans Go! or Big City Greens or The Loud House or (more recently) Cuphead. It's interesting to see what passes for children's entertainment nowadays. But, I feel like there are so many shows with no merchandising. They're cultivating all these fans, but then there's nothing to go out and spend money on!
> > What were your experiences growing up?
> Oh, I've got all sorts of random Transformers-related childhood memories. Here's a random sampling.
>
> When I was a kid, my family knew I was into Transformers, but in their minds that translated to "shapeshifting robots" so I would often get Tonka GoBots or Selects Convertors or something for birthday gifts. Close enough, right?
>
> In 1985-86, I would sometimes put my cassette player in front of the TV and make audio recordings of the episodes. I recognized on some level that it wouldn't be on TV forever, and it was the only way I could think to preserve them. (Nobody told me DVD collections would be a thing eventually.)
>
> My younger sister would eventually watch the show with me when it was syndicated on the Sci-Fi Channel around 1992 or so. I would set my VCR to record in the mornings and then we'd watch it after school. But, the televised version of the story jumped from season two to season three, so without The Transformers: the Movie to inform her, she was very confused about the time skip. I finally got a copy of the movie from Suncoast Motion Picture Co. for like ten bucks. It's the only VHS tape I ever managed to wear out from watching it too many times!
>
>
> Zob

These are cool, poignant, and thoughtful memories. Appreciate you both for sharing them.

When I was a kid, my dad was curious and supportive about my TFs - I remember him, in particular, being really impressed with the heft, weight, and inventive accuracy of the Diaclone and Microman and Gun Robo designs. He loved G1 Megatron's Walther P-38 alternate mode, and he also was a big fan of the jets.

Later in life, he'd keep a consistent watch for G1 TFs for me at garage sales and flea markets. Much of my collection today stems back to that time. I'll always be grateful and glad for that.

JB

On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 9:21:21 AM UTC-7, Travoltron wrote:

> "If only I could do your childhood over again, I would have taken an
> interest in your Transformers."

I thought about this story when I was at the movies with my son watching Gran Turismo. It's a movie about a video game contest where video gamers got a chance to become actual Formula One race car drivers based on their performance in the game. There's a scene near the end of the movie where the kid who wins the contest is visited by his dad who admits he should have been more supportive of his son's video game dream.

But I mean it's totally understandable dad behavior. What dad could ever have been expected to know his kid actually had the potential to be an elite motorsports athlete when all the kid does is play video games all day? And what comparable future is there in being 'good at Transformers'? What even is 'good at Transformers'? The only parallel I can imagine is Don Figueroa's story where he went from being a forklift driver to a professional comic artist. But even that is far removed from winning at the 24 hours of Le Mans. Maybe some of the people who work at Hasbro have unsupportive dad Cinderella stories but I strain to imagine what kind of dad would ever be in a situation where he goes, "I knew buying my kid all those toy robot Lamborghinis would pay off big someday!"

My dad showed zero interest in any of my childhood or adulthood hobbies. Taking me to the store to buy action figures was a real drag for him. That was okay by me.

I did try really hard to help my son be into Pokemon and I introduced him to Pokemon Go which he is obsessed with. Although I tried to play PoGo with him I couldn't stand the game after making it to level 36 and I gave up. But we did at least have that in common for a little while and I can sort of understand him when he tells me about his adventures.