I like discussions like this, hopefully we can keep it going...
For me, my passion of RCs started as child, Ive always had a love for cars and it probably started with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.
As I got older, it switched into RCs, and I remember thinking I was a total badass with a Tyco Bandit. When my mother and my stepfather started dating she had my step dad come by with his RCs. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. He came by with his midnight pumpkin and wheelie pajero. When he charged them up, I was immediately blown away that it only took 15 minutes compared to the 4 hour tyco charger. I was even more so impressed when he first mashed the throttle and left on a wheelie across the block.
From there I obtained my first black foot at 9 yrs old and then my first Clod Buster at 10, which I still have to this day.
Fast forward, I had received a few milk crates full of old RCCA magazines and immediately saw and fell in love with the Bruiser and Mountaineer. The realism, for me, was what RC was all about, as by this time, my clod buster was decked out with all the then scale options from "APM custom hobby" and lights from RAM.
In the earlier years I spent my time hanging out on RCMT and RC Jims place, with guys like Corey, who we know as RPP Hobby but back then was Hot Rodical Customs. Guys like my friend Cole Comensky (CTCBaller) and myself idolized the trucks that Corey and our mutual friend Kevin Good AKA JUGGSTERR were building. Tons of custom 3 speeds and Clods.
As things progressed I remember a guy "PlayswithToys" posting on RCMT about his TLT rock crawler and talking about RCC. When I first came over to check out the forum I remember thinking to msyelf "I cant post here, these guys are hardcore like the dudes with real trucks on Pirate". It wasnt for quite a few months until I actually decided to make a log in here after I bought my Hulk Werks F 150 tube chasss pre runner truck off ebay.
From there...I kept doing what I liked to do, and that was build realistc RCs... My SAS kyosho 4Runner and several Bruiser builds.
Fast forward 12 years later, and this "fad" is now one of the biggest segments of RC...Thanks to guys here and manufacturers like RC4WD, Axial, and all the Vendors we have had and still have.
RC has always been my favorite hobby after 20 + years now, the people I have met and became friends with and the places I have been I owe to it and I display my collection proudly. Weather its Monster Trucks, or vintage Tamiyas, or scale crawlers and drag cars, my collection definitely defines me and my passed and how the hobby has evolved for me.
For now, I keep building Tiyotes and collecting all the cool clod stuff I couldnt afford way back when. Expensive...but fun