Transformers

[Porco Rosso]

Okay, here's the deal:

While I guess you wouldn't call the original series anime, it was still based on a line of mecha toys from Japan and ended up turning into an American franchise. But as it gained popularity here, it got a lot of attention in Japan. So even though the creative basis for the show and original vision for the franchise was strictly American, it had its origins in Japanese mecha anime, so I think it deserves a thread here!

I grew up watching Transformers, along with Voltron and Robotech. Though none of these are "pure" mecha series by any means, they were my earliest exposures to the concept and turned me into the giant robot-loving nerd I am today. Transformers in particular was my favourite as a kid, and it still has a very big, nostalgic place in my heart.

So today I decided to start reading about it, and I was overwhelmed by how many different series there were. What surprised me the most was how many were produced in Japan. Here's a list:

The Transformers [US]
Transformers: Headmasters [Japan]
Transformers: Super-God Masterforce [Japan]
Transformers: Victory [Japan]
Transformers: Zone [Japan]
Beast Wars: Transformers [Canada]
Beast Wars II [Japan]
Beast Wars Neo [Japan]
Beast Machines: Transformers [Canada]
Transformers: Robots in Disguise [Japan]
Transformers: Armada [Japan]
Transformers: Energon [Japan]
Transformers: Cybertron [Japan]
Transformers: Animated [US]

So I guess that's another part of my case for why this deserves to be included here. Number of series produced in Japan: 10. Number of series produced in North America: 4.

So, moving on. Thinking back, the only ones I've seen other than the original are Beast Wars, Robots in Disguise and probably at least one of the three more recent Japanese series. I've never actually watched any of these though, I've just seen an episode or a few minutes of one on TV.

I decided to check some clips and such out on YouTube of the other series, but I haven't really been able to tell if any of them are actually any good from what little I've seen. All I can say is that Headmasters looks interesting because it's basically in the same style as the original series, and Super-God Masterforce is probably the cheesiest thing I've ever seen. People transforming into dudes with robotic power suits that transform into giant robots that transform into vehicles? WTF?

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone who has watched any of these series could tell me if there are any good ones, or if I should just stay away. Or, just feel free to discuss how awesome Transformers is.

[Levon]

So, moving on. Thinking back, the only ones I've seen other than the original are Beast Wars, Robots in Disguise and probably at least one of the three more recent Japanese series. I've never actually watched any of these though, I've just seen an episode or a few minutes of one on TV.


So you havn't seen all of Beast Wars? You should really buy the DVD sets. They include great extra & great 5.1 sound. Its a great show.

[Vaikyuko]

G1 through the movie is nothing but epic.

Beast Wars is sex (I really liked the Transmetal arc; TM Megatron is sexy). Beast Machines, from what little I saw, was okay. Armada was pretty awesome, basically a reinvention of the original cept with more humans and Minicons as well. Energon and Cybertron, from what I've seen, are made of suck and cheap CG.

[Levon]

Beast Machines had a pretty good story to it, but it lacked the good characters that were in Beast Wars and the designs were ugly. have you seen SilverBolt?! WTF is that!? They also pretty much changed his character making him a bastard. It diddn't have much great badguys ethier, at first Megatron is the only one with a mind of his own. Although it changes later which was an improvment but the villians diddn't have much of a personality like the Beast Wars villians.
Beast Wars characters were full of personality of their own & all seemed pretty different from each other & it had a lot character development.

Beast Machines is still worth seeing because of the story, which I thought was done very well. I think classic Transformer fans will like it because it takes place on Cybertron.

[Amuro]

I was just looking at some of the old episodes of the original show, and I'm curious:

While the original action figure design for Optimus Prime didn't especially resemble the Gundam (RX-78), the first animated version sort-of seems to.

Admittedly, perhaps they both simply possess traits common to robots of the time or maybe I'm just making strange associations (I'm known for saying that two people look alike and not having anyone agree with me), but there really seems to be a Gundam-like aura to the original animated prime's movements.

The most obvious design similarity is the helmet and the torso. The shoulders are also similar. However, it's the general posture that prime takes on and the way he walks and caries the gun that gets me thinking of the Gundam. Perhaps that's simply the only way that people knew how to draw blocky humanoid robots in motion in those days and had done so long before Gundam..

*shrug*

Which reminds me.. does anyone know when the trend of "blocky" robots rather than "sleek" robots (like the early Go Nagai and Gigantor designs) began? It was surely before Gundam..

[Ridley-X4]

The 2007 movie was pretty awesome. There's going to be a sequel or two, and in the first sequel, there's going to be an aircraft carrier TF.

[Amuro]

So, what's everyone's favorite version of the theme song?

I have to say that I prefer the G1 television version over the movie version. However, some of the versions they had for the English dubs of the recent series (such as Cybertron, etc.) sounded pretty good. It's been a while since I've heard them though, as I can't really bear to watch the actual series associated with them..

[Vaikyuko]

Original theme is superior to all.

[Leader Desslock]

The original show was always one of my favorites. G1 through the original movie was great stuff. After that, I lost interest. I can't stand any of the CG stuff at all.

I just saw the 2007 Michael Bay movie, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't completely suck. Not Completely Sucking is a definite step up in Michael Bay's career, in my opinion. While I didn't like the direction of several of the fight scenes, and several Michael Bay trademark shots were embarassingly out of place, the movie was enjoyable overall.

[Gasaraki]

...there's going to be an aircraft carrier TF.

Is that sum ARC GURREN PRIME?!

[Meson]

You can watch every episode of every series but Cybertron at Joost (http://www.joost.com/) on their Transformers Channel. It's legal too.

Cybertron is still played on Cartoon Network.

I have seen every North American series, and the kast three Japanese arcs.
All good times.

I can't wait for the next series coming next year. It's an US premeire, and so far it looks good though a bit different.

[Mazinkaiser]

Is that sum ARC GURREN PRIME?!
Moar liek sum Tidal Wave.

[Caster13]

Gasaraki, Gurren Lagann would whoop the sh*t out of transformers, and everyone who's seen the series knows that.

[Vaikyuko]

Gasaraki, Gurren Lagann would whoop the sh*t out of transformers, and everyone who's seen the series knows that.

He didn't say that. He was insinuating the aircraft carrier was a similar concept to ARC-Gurren-Lagann. But it doesn't matter, because Tidal Wave predates GL by quite a few years.