(JAN-2013) Hasbro Gen1 Cartoon - Comments and episode reviews

[5FDP]

I quite enjoyed most of the stories in Seasons 1 and 2, but I felt that the story quality declined in Seasons 3 and 4. On one hand, it was cool that they tried to "mature" the story by making it more science fiction and making the Transformers' adventures span across space and not just on Earth. Oh, and it was the future. And it was a good idea to change the leaders too. But it suffered too much from, "Good idea in concept, didn't work out so well in practice." Problems included:
+ Rodimus Prime worrying too much about not being Optimus Prime. No, you're not Optimus. Accept it and move on. Because he didn't, it really held back his potential as Autobot leader.
+ Galvatron just sucked... sure, G1 comic Galvatron was crazy too, but he was demigod powerful kickass crazy, whereas G1 cartoon Galvatron was embarrassingly crazy... like that relative you never want to invite to your wedding.
+ WHY were the Dinobots suddenly kid-tarded?!? Sure, they were never Rhodes scholars to begin with, but they weren't infantile tard monkeys either! In Seasons 1 and 2, the Dinobots just traipsed around kicking butt... in Season 3 most the Dinobots were pretty lazy, and Grimlock just went about being clumsy and stuff. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
+ Wheelie. If Grimlock wasn't Jar Jar enough, they gave us Wheelie. The high pitched voice and rhyming is one thing, but the fact that he and Daniel just wasted SO much screen time and contributed so LITTLE to the actual plot of the story was just stupid. The exact same complaints that Star Wars fans made about Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace... little wonder that Wheelie, Daniel and Jar Jar are often compared. Hey, at least Jar Jar helped make the Empire... don't see Wheelie doing that. "Who the f$% is this Autobot?!" - The Rude Awakening of Optimus Prime
+ Wheelie and Daniel's time wasting meant that a lot of other toys got less screen time... how about giving us more action from Tailgate, Swerve, Pipes or HUBCAP!! Hubcap's a WAY better toy than Wheelie (who's easily the crappiest of all the G1 mini Autobots) and yet he got ZERO screen time!

Reading that reminded me of this

[Skullcruncher]

lol at fanboys getting up in arms over any character in a cartoon made over 25 years ago. Sure Wheelie is annoying as hell, but the casual watcher dont seem to mind him - my girlfriend thinks hes funny and my friends who come over when reminising can always remember his character, and for some reason many had his toy. To me hes like members on message boards you always want to slap in the face with a dead fish every single time they post.


** Fanboy Rage ahead, chance of foaming at the mouth - 97.5% **

Ultra Magnus I curse and hate your hopeless character and nasty prime ripoff toy to the ends of the earth, if you had the balls of Hot Rod, toys that I had -Outback and Pipes - would have got way more screentime, maybe then I could have seen Outback host a barbie and Pipes... ummm.... do something!!!

** Fanboy rage over **


Back to the real world, the whole Jetfire/Skyfire situation was confusing - here on screen he was skyfire but the catalogue it was jetfire, we concluded it must just be a coincidence that they look the same!

[5FDP]

Back to the real world, the whole Jetfire/Skyfire situation was confusing - here on screen he was skyfire but the catalogue it was jetfire, we concluded it must just be a coincidence that they look the same!

We must've been watching different cartoons because they (animation model vs toy) looked nothing alike to me

[Skullcruncher]

We must've been watching different cartoons because they (animation model vs toy) looked nothing alike to me

I was 5 or 6 how old were you?

[Paulbot]

There was Skyfire on the cartoon and Jetfire in the catalogues and they looked kind of alike (both big white and red jets) but it got more confusing that the comics had Skyfire in them but he was called Jetfire.

I think Grimlock cleared it up though in Grim Grams that the dumb stubbies making the cartoon got the name wrong and that was enough for me.

For some reason though I never noticed until I was older that Jetfire in the catalogues looked like a veritech from Robotech


No hatred for The Early Bird Show please. I would however get up early each Saturday to watch episodes on The Early Bird Show. I was so dedicated I even remember watching some of "Only Human" while I was in hospital in 1987.

I'm not sure why I didn't tape to keep any episodes, but it just wasn't something we did in my family. I did tape and keep TFTM though. And if I could pick a video to borrow from the video shop it would be TF episodes.

I remember them being repeated in full in around 1991/92 at 330pm. Had to rush home from school to see them. I think that was the first time I ever saw the Rebirth episodes. And I missed the time they showed Five Faces of Darkness back to back in the 80s.

I rewatched all of series 1 and 2 when Madman brought them out on DVD and enjoyed them. Series 3 though I lost interest about halfway through and I would rarely revisit those episodes even today. It's all that outerspace/future/Quintesson stuff. I do like Transformers a bit more grounded. And besides the animation was better in many of the earlier eps (although there are some stinkers like The Core in there too).

I'd say most of favourite episodes come from series 2. I particularly like the two parters (Dinobot Island, Desertion of the Dinobots, Megatron's Master Plan, Key to Vector Sigma).

[5FDP]

I was 5 or 6 how old were you?

I was a child prodigy

[Bidoofdude]

Megatron, I can see you loving Cyclonus.
Sure, he's no subject to Megs, but I think you would... like his loyalty.
Watching Galvatron beat up his troops in Five Faces was pretty funny.
Sure, animation wasn't its best, but there is a real sense of nostalgia that results in many (including me) liking any episode, regardless of not-so great plots.
Like Gok said, the stories may have decreased, but there's really a heavy sense of nostalgia and there's nothing wrong with that.
Looking back, I now know how I took a carefree young life for granted.
It seems like a paradise in my mind now, of when I was little, sitting on the floor, pretending my little matchbox construction vehicles were constructicons.
Those were the days...
I long for those days and now I worry about every single thing.

[Megatron]

Megatron, I can see you loving Cyclonus.
Sure, he's no subject to Megs, but I think you would... like his loyalty.

Hey, Bidoof. There's about as much chance of me loving Cyclonus as there is of me loving Wheelie - in other words, none. I mean, loyalty's great, sure, but it's not everything and besides, he's loyal to Galv not Megs, like you have already pointed out.

...
Like Gok said, the stories may have decreased, but there's really a heavy sense of nostalgia and there's nothing wrong with that.
Looking back, I now know how I took a carefree young life for granted.
It seems like a paradise in my mind now, of when I was little, sitting on the floor, pretending my little matchbox construction vehicles were constructicons.
Those were the days...
I long for those days and now I worry about every single thing.

Aww... why, what's worrying you?

I get an image in my mind now of a cute li'l Bidoof playing on the floor with his l'il bitty toys...