1983 Montgomery Ward Catalog and Diakron
Check this catalog page on Flickr for what I can remember as one of my very first introductions to the Transformers toys. I remember someone bringing the van to school after Christmas — that would have been in January of 1984 — and I never did get quite the close look I wanted to at the toy. Seven months later, though, in August of 1984, I was hooked when I got the chance to play with Optimus Prime and one of the jets (I still think it was Skywarp that I played with that first time).
That Fisher Price Alpha Star set was amazing. I had so many many fun outer space adventures with that as a kid.