The Transformers

[Elc]

There's got to be fellow Transfans here at Suikox, whether they started off with the original (like me) or got into Transformers with any of the subsequent series which have popped up over the years.

For those who don't know, Transformers will be making a return to the comic book format through IDW Publishing with the team of Simon Furman (veteran Transformers scribe) writing the story with the art provided by EJ Su. I don't know too much about the storyline they've got planned, but I've decided to give the initial storyarc a chance.

When it comes to Transformers in general, the cartoon is definitely my favourite and nothing beats the original in that regard. Beast Wars may have had better overall writing, but a story rejected from the show's third season "Dark Glass" for being too, well, dark would have had a better chance of being produced during the run of the original show. "Dark Awakening" from Generation One's third season dealt with the return of a "possessed" (for lack of a better term) Optimus Prime and the episode concluded with a rather graphic sacrifice of the former Autobot leader.

My favourite episodes of Beast Wars would have to be "The Agenda" trilogy which closed Beast Wars' second season. Not only did it feature an appearance by an upgraded version of Generation One's Ravage, but other characters which made cameos include: Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream and Optimus Prime. One of the best scenes had to be Ravage, on the bridge of his ship, declaring "Decepticons Forever!" and transforming to cassette mode (complete with an enhanced version of the original transformation sound effect) before opening fire on the Maximals.

With the original show, there were many episodes which stand out for me, particularly "Webworld" which is so utterly bizarre, centering on Cyclonus committing Galvatron to an insane asylum!

For years, I though the two-part "The Return of Optimus Prime" were the final episodes produced for the series and, in retrospect, it serves as just as good a finale as "The Rebirth" if not moreso. I learned of "The Rebirth"'s existence while doing an online search of Transformers episodes back in 1998, roughly ten years after the episodes originally aired. I've gotta say, though, it was kinda cool to see "new" (to me, anyway) episodes of the original Transformers after such a long period of time.

It was also around that time that I tracked down episodes of the Japanese G1 series, most notably Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory. It would have been great if those episodes had been brought over for English speaking Transfans, though there was the story going around about how several of the episode were dubbed but were lost in a warehouse fire.

So, to any Transfans out there, what are your fond memories or favourite episodes from your favourite incarnation?
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Tron Bonne]

i don't know. I'm more if an on again, off again Transformers fan. I haven't seen many of the episodes of the original show, and only a few of the Beast Wars. And then there are the Transformers Animes (whic h i didn't feel were any good), so now I'm all confused. Did the Americans or the Japanese make the original Transformers show? And then there's the comics..... Its like I want to be a fan, but I don't know where to start.
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[Elc]

The original Transformers (or, Generation One) was an American-made (though Korean/Japanese animated) cartoon based off of a Japanese toyline. Following the conclusion of the third season, the Japanese continued the story with Transformers: Headmasters, which was pretty much a direct follow-up with familiar characters. Headmasters actually aired in Japan before "The Rebirth" concluded Generation One's run.

From my understanding, the comic was released before the first episode of the cartoon aired. If you take a look at some of the early issues, you'll notice they start off with art based heavily upon the characters' toy designs and then it shifts to their cartoon models, presumably to maintain consistency between the two. Nevertheless, the stories are completely different, with the exception of one episode having a comic adaptation.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Tron Bonne]

okay. let me process this. It was a Japanese Toy First. The Americans wrote a story for a cartoon, but it was animated in japan and korea, like many cartoons. Then The japanese picked it up from there. And the comic completly separate from the cartoon. I think i have it now. But where does that leave Beast Wars? was that Japanese or American?
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[Elc]

Beast Wars was an American/Canadian production, written by American writers while animated (and partially funded) in Canada. The animation studio was Mainframe Entertainment, the same studio which produced ReBoot, Shadow Raiders, Action Man, Weird Ohs! among others.

Beast Wars also tries to tie both the comic (with more elements of the Generation Two comic, or so I've heard) and the cartoon into a single continuity. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn't but it tends to lean more towards the cartoon continuity.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Tron Bonne]

okay. thanks for clarifying. I just got done watching the first episode of the original transformers, and i like it a lot. I'm going to get more episodes soon.
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[VINCENT05]

Great topic becuase I love Transformers. The original t.v. series was very good and Megatron is a terrific villian. I thought "Beast Wars" was pretty good, but that season where they were half beast and half machine was dumb to me. Another series that i didn't enjoy was "Armada". It was to kiddy, and the animation wasn't that good to me. Graphics was good don't get me wrong, but it looked crappy when they fought. I really liked the Energon series though. That series picked Transformers again. The main thing about Transformers that was just amazing was the movie. That movie had no flaws, and I consider number one.
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I AM THE SAIYAN PRINCE

[Tonberry]

I have only watched the whole of Beast Wars. I really liked that series. I remember when the rino (was his name Rinox?) once beat the decepticons by farting. That was funny.

I really liked this series a lot. The energon idea was fun. I liked how explosive it was. My favorite character was Cheetor.

[Esra]

HOLY CRAP!!! I can't believe I diddn't see this thread earlier. I am a huge fan of Transformers (was one of my first and favorite cartoons as a kid). Maybe not as thurough a fan as Jeremy... My brain can't remember that much stuff at once lol.
But yeah, my favorite parts of the series are the origional series and Beast Wars (I've got all the episodes floating around on VHS somewhere.

Good Stuff. :D

[Sage]

Definitely. I remember watching a lot of the original when I was a little kid (like 5-ish I think) but I don't remember much of it. I know I liked it alot. Perhaps a trip down memory lane is necessary. Anyway, I caught a couple episodes of Beast Wars and thought it was ok, but I broke my habit of watching tv around that time, so I missed many things on tv.
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[Blackwind]

I own the original series on DVD as well as Transformers: The Movie plus every Issue of The G.I. Joe crossover comic books and a bunch of regular comics but I was never a fan of the Beast Wars/Machine crap. And I really have no clue as to whats going on now.
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Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.

[Elc]

I stopped watching the new Transformers shows shortly into the Armada series. I really deteste Beast Machines, particularly the techno crap they would like to call a soundtrack. I can't recall, off hand, any other show where I have literally muted the volume because I hated the soundtrack so much.

I, too, got the Transformers DVDs as soon as they came out. I felt like a kid again when I got the first season and watched some of the episodes. I was particularly happy about the inclusion of the commercial bumpers, since it adds to the whole feel of watching the show again. A friend of mine said he even started to channel surf until he remembered he was watching them on DVD.

I particularly enjoy watching the third season's "Webworld" as there's nothing like seeing Galvatron strapped onto a "couch" reciting his feelings of hostility to an alien psychiatrist all the while with Cyclonus in the background, desperately hoping for a cure for Galvatron's madness.

Galvatron: "I'll destroy everything here. Everything! And then, I'll destroy the Autobots!"
Psychiatrist: "Yes... tell me about the Autobots."
Galvatron: "I hate Autobots! I hate Cyclonus!... And I'm not very fond of you, either!!"

Then there's the ultra creepy "Dark Awakening" which also happens to feature some of the funniest dialogue between Sludge, Snarl and a few of the other Autobots:

Arcee: "Sludge! Snarl! Are we glad to see you!"
Sludge: "Me Sludge not glad to see you!"
Snarl: "You all dead!"
*Sludge and Snarl exchanged confused looks*
Sludge: "Mm. Maybe we dead!".
Ultra Magnus: "What are you yammering about?"
Kup: "Never mind that! Where is everybody?"
Sludge: "All go smash Quintessons."
Ultra Magnus: "Quintessons? What have Quintessons got to do with any of this?"
Snarl: "They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! Uh oh. Something not right!"
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."