Given that we already have threads for Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman and others, I figured it was about time we had one for one of the other major franchises - Transformers! This thread is for the discussion, posting of pics and videos, and anything else to do with the robots in disguise. This can be from the comics, tv shows, toys, fan art, music or even the awful but nonetheless often entertaining Michael Bay films! If I’m feeling generous, I may even allow some discussion of GI Joe stuff provided a cool team up picture is included with it! So without further ado...
Great idea! I am a big Transformers fan. Not necessarily of all of the movies, but definitely of the franchise. Autobots.... Roll out!!!
Two other things: 1) is the above movie the 80's one where Optimus Prime dies and gives his spark to Hot Rod who becomes Rodimus Prime? (if so I watched that a ridiculous amount of times when I was about 8) 2) I have always had an upset with the fact that the Autobots are mostly cars and the Decepticons get all manner of wicked vehicles. I mean, Optimus did you really decide that a 16-wheeler was the most efficient vehicle? And (given that they can apparently scan whatever they want and change into that) why would you not take something a lot more war-like in your fight against the decepticons?
It is indeed from the 1986 Transformers Movie! The main reason is that toy-wise it would make for a very uninteresting line if they all turned into military vehicles, but the in universe justification is that, given that they are meant to be “in disguise”, you can expect a typical car to generate a lot less attention than, say, a massive fighter jet
Huzzah! What a classic! I know, I know... But even if motivated by sales, they could have Optimus changing into a fighter jet or one of those heavy duty air-to-ground attack planes. Anyways. For the record, this was exacerbated by the second Transformers movie where Optimus gets extra parts and is then able to at least fly... which then fall off.
To be fair, it wouldn’t be entirely without precedent: But to be honest, particularly with Optimus Prime, one of the main problems with that is that him being a truck is pretty much a defining part of his character. If you want an Autobot jet, just get one of the other Autobots who do turn into a jet. Hell, there’s even a whole combiner team of them:
Ha! I did!!! I had that set of combiners specifically as I had a little bit of an obsessions with jets/planes/fighters when I was younger.
I love the way they release cartoons based on specific toy lines after the toy lines have finished and been replaced - Siege (or Stege as it is known based on the font they used) ended earlier this year! They did the same with the godawful Prime Wars trilogy; each instalment came after the line it was based on had finished!
I did love the Transformers back in the day. I think I still have some of my original toys, but they're not in great shape (played with a lot and then in storage). The 1986 movie had some mediocre animation, but it was lots of fun. Good voice talents too, despite actor stunt casting. I wasn't crazy about many of my favorite characters getting blasted, but it was decent way to introduce a new line of toys, and advance the series. (Kind of like a certain gaming company who blew up their fantasy world to introduce new models. Not sure how I feel about that one though... ha ha ha) The start of the first Michael Bay movie was actually pretty good. When that helicopter landed and started attacking the military base, I thought the movie was on point... to me, it fell apart quickly after that. The subsequent movies were harder to watch. Bumblebee wasn't bad.
"...and then, the giant ikthiyak came tromping and stomping down the mountainside, flames spewing from it's nostrils, and I thought..." "Hey Kup, don't we have better things to do than tell old war stories?" Dinobots: "NO! Tell stories! We wanna hear stories! YES STORIES!"
I had a few Transformers toys as a child, but I was not able to watch the show on TV for whatever reason. Apparently I saw the movie in the theaters with my parents but I have literally zero memory of this. My friend who was about 15 months older than I did, did remember the movie and bought the VHS in junior high and we watched it many times. I learned only recently that the theatrical release had mild swearing in it!. The "S-word" was said in response to robots dying in battle and this caused a kerfuffle at the time. I'd probably swear too if the guy next to me died before my eyes. Apparently, some softer parents and grandparents pulled their kids out of the theater for that one, but most 80s parents were not that bothered at the time. The VHS release of the transformer movie removed the swearing. The DVD release reinstated it. Among the people old enough to remember the 1980s Transformers with clarity when it was debuting and those that like vintage cartoons, there are mixed feelings about the Transformers movie. The animated series never had any robots die. The movie had LOTS of robots die. That was exciting and fun for fans, it raised the stakes. But there was a mercenary aspect to the decision. The hope was by killing half or more of the regular cast and adding new characters that parents and children would seek out the newer toys as well. This move did not sell as many toys as Hasbro would have liked. Rodimus Prime was never half as well-liked as Optimus Prime. Most old school Transformers fans believed the television series went down hill after the movie. I think on the last episode of the series, Optimums Prime came back from the dead and Rodimus yielded his title. Apparently even Megatron bowed to Optimus Prime then....as he should. As a child I was a huge He-Man fan though I very rarely watched the cartoon, I mostly made up my own stories with my toys, but that's neither here nor there.
I don’t think it quite went down as well as you think it did. The stakes were never raised because as soon as the movie finished, they immediately returned to the ‘no death’ status quo that reigned before. Instead, all it really did was traumatise all the children who went to see it, causing the creators to go “oh s***, maybe we shouldn’t suddenly and violently kill off their heroes in horrible ways”. I think the eventual resurrection of Optimus Prime was to that end (especially since he also would have a lovely new Powermaster toy released the following year!). They definitely learnt though that people are as much attached to characters as they are shiny new gimmicks and vehicles though - the Action Master line (the transformers who didn’t transform) released later on were entirely built around this, and since then, pretty much every continuity released has had an Optimus Prime, and you can expect at least half the characters from any show to be new versions of older ones. You’d think they’d learn from the experience about violently killing characters though but, err, no... https://tfwiki.net/wiki/To_sell_toys#Death
I really liked Thundercats (2011). Not everyone liked that remake, but I liked it. I found out it had decent viewership, good audience scores, and a good critical reception, but it didn't sell many toys, so the show was cancelled. I wonder if the lack of toy sales is going to hamstring action cartoons going forward. In early twenty-first century people are having fewer kids and kids are more interesting in playing video games than playing with physical toys. People still have radios even though we have umpteen modern technology more advanced than radios, but radio is not the king of media like it used to be. Likewise, I think we'll always have children's toys, the market for these toys will just keep getting smaller and smaller.
Toy markets are rather interesting at the moment. There is a lot of new category growth. Specially for toddler and adolescent toys. Melisa & Doug is one of many examples for new toy line production, they use predominately wood sourced material and have continued to grow as a company even through rough market periods. Voltron also sold lots of merchandise with its remake. Even thought it was largely T-Shirt, collectible, ect vs toys. Voltron's remake ran for an impressive 8 seasons. The only reason the show runners canceled their planned spin offs were due to major backlash at season 8 and the license owner's personal financial woes outside of Voltron. I think a lot of IP from the 80's era cartoon shows are likely to pivot from toys to other merchandise licensing such as pop vinyls, video games, ect.
Capitalism finds a way. I noticed my 14 year old cousin is spending all her pocket money at Hot Topic and similar stores. I couldn't be more proud.