TRANSFORMERS!

[Delta Starfire]

I've been a fan my entire life. In fact, my earliest memory is of watching Transformers: The Movie in early 1988. I used to love the old 80's cartoon when I was a kid, but I find it very hard to sit through and enjoy now. I can still watch the movie and the occasional gem of an episode, but it's not a series I could ever sit through again in its entirety. I got a few of the toys when I was young, many of them second hand, but some early 90's re-releases too. I got a few more toys during the run of the Generation 2 line, but to my eternal regret, I never got G2 Megatron. I did get the original G2 Optimus Prime though, which was identical to the G1 version except for a few cosmetic differences and additional weapons.

I was first exposed to Beast Wars in 1996, when I was on holiday in Bermuda, and I started collecting the toys in earnest and watching the cartoon when they hit British shores the following year. The cartoon was cut short at the end of season 2 for everyone in Britain who didn't have cable, but I got it on video later and was still able to get a few of the last big Beast Wars toys. I didn't see Beast Machines until much later and I only ever got a handful of Vehicon toys... because I just didn't like the look of the Maximals. Still, I love Beast Wars and it easily my favourite Transformers cartoon yet. I don't dislike Beast Machines, but I don't like it as much as its predecessor.

After Beast Wars, I found it hard to find much in the way of new Transformers stuff to keep me going, but once I got internet, I started using it for—what else?—looking up Transformers. In this way, I learnt a great deal about the franchise that I hadn’t previously known, and it was also around about this time that I started reading the original Marvel comics (page scans online), which I found to be a whole hell of a lot better than the G1 cartoon. I read the entire US run of the comic and then later managed to read the UK run, which was way better, since it had all the US stories, plus a huge amount of original UK material too.

I never really watched much of Robots in Disguise, though I really liked the toys and got a few of them. Same with Armada and Energon, although I did get the Dreamwave comics until the company went bust, which was a shame, because those were good comics. I was getting pretty much every Dreamwave Transformers comic from 2002 until they stopped, except for the GI Joe crossovers. I got the Cybertron Optimus Prime toy, but that was the extent of my foray into that series.

I don't remember exactly when it was (probably 2002, again), but at some point I saw Sixshot in Forbidden Planet in Nottingham and I knew I just had to have him. He was a Takara re-issue, brand new, and Sixshot was one of a number of G1 Transformers never released in Britain (others including Shockwave, Swoop, all of the classic Predacons, and Fortress Maximus). He cost £50, which I had to borrow off my mother, and now he's back away in his box in my grandmother's attic, where I put him nearly six years ago when I left home to go to university. I have not seen him and many of my other Transformers at all since then, but at least I know where they are and that they're safe. But it was with Sixshot that I think I truly became a collector.

During my gap year, which was the first time in my life that I actually had some real spending money, I went a bit crazy and bought loads of Transformers, most of them from the Energon line, as well as Cybertron Optimus Prime. I almost bought the complete set of classic Predacons from Forbidden Planet (another Takara re-issue), but at the cost of £100, I thought better of it.

When I went to university, I stopped getting new Transformers for a while, until the Classics line started becoming available here and I got a handful of them. The one I'm proudest of is Jetfire, because he's just such a cool toy. I wanted to get Astrotrain too, but never saw him in any of the shops in Stirling or elsewhere and he cost far too much online.

The first Bayformers movie came out after the end of my second year at university. I was deeply sceptical at first. I did not like the designs and I wasn't to thrilled about the story as I understood it. But, when I did go to see the film, I thought it was very good, and I ended up seeing it on the big screen five times, which is my current record for any film and no others have yet equalled it (though I was hoping to at least match it with X-Men: First Class, but I only got to four with that before ot was pulled from cinemas). I got a couple of the toys, but I still wasn't keen on the designs, so my collection never got beyond Bumblebee, Blackout, and Arcee (who wasn't even in the first film).

I got into Animated around 2008 and really enjoyed it. More so, in fact, than Bayformers, and I place it just below Beast Wars as the second best Transformers cartoon series to date. I got quite a few of the toys from the series, but didn't manage to get all of the ones I wanted; Shockwave in particular.

Then Revenge of the Fallen came. I had never been more ashamed to be a Transformers fan than after sitting through this disgrace. It was so offensive, so inane, and so mind-numbingly patriotic that it actually made me retroactively dislike the original Bayformers movie. I was left without even the slightest interest in seeing the third instalment, if Michael “God Bless America” Bay was going to be directing again.

After that, my interest in Transformers waned considerably, though a spark was renewed when I saw the first trailer for War For Cybertron, which looked like a lot of fun. I got a few more toys here and there, including the Classics Universe version of Cyclonus, which was very cool, and a friend of mine gave me the aforementioned game for my birthday this year. It wasn’t the best game ever, but it gave me about three evenings of entertainment. I also started watching Transformers Prime, which is another excellent cartoon, and I’m looking forward to the toy line that’s supposed to be becoming available this December.

Finally, I saw Dark of the Moon the day before its official release (preview screening). I took a lot of persuading before I’d go and see it, but see it I did... three times (one in IMAX). I’m not terribly sure what my opinion of it is, to be honest. It has some great moments and do I think it’s better than the disgrace that came before it, but it’s still Michael Bay raping my fondest childhood memories in an opportunity to wave the American flag and show how awesome the US military is. I’m just glad he’s not interested in directing a fourth movie.

Anyways, Bayformers not included, I am a huge lifelong fan and shall probably remain so. I don’t know how many toys I have, nor can I even remember which ones I’ve got, since they’re all in either my grandmother’s attic or my father’s attic. As soon as it makes sense to do so, I intend to collect them and put them all on display where they should be.

[Cynical]

Movies were baaaaaad.

I was just a fan from Armada all the way up to the first movie.

My brother became a huge fan after that.

[SuperStingray]

I don't like how people use "it's a Bay movie- you just watch for the special effects" to be an excuse for the Transformers movies not being well written. I think it's detrimental to the industry if your telling film makers it's okay to choose between good writing and good budget. I honestly do think the first one had good writing... at least for the majority. Even DOTM... here and there. They're all immature, but in different ways, ways I can only compare to modern video games. The first is close to the style of Shadows of the Damned, or Suda51 in general, in that there are both moments that make you say "did they really just go there?" and moments that make the characters enjoyable to keep up with. The part where ironhide pissed on Simmons was pretty out of nowhere, but the toothfairy scene was fucking golden. The second is more like Duke Nukem Forever- Mostly only the "did they really just go there?" moments, tied together without much cohesion and regard for anything but "pizzaz." They couldn't even have an awesome giant amalgam Transformer without giving him balls. Whyface.jpg. And the third is more... the Modern Warfare 1 and 2. Goes a bit far in the ways it draws attention to the action and kinda milking the trope of betrayal, but paced well and satisfyingly fulfilling in terms of characterization.

Edited July 29, 2011 by SuperStingray

[SuperStingray]

Bit of a bump here, but I just saw the season finale for Prime and I was absolutely blown away by it. I really like the implications raised by the idea of Unicron being the root of Earth's development. I seriously can't wait until the second season begins.

[Rinzler]

Bit of a bump here, but I just saw the season finale for Prime and I was absolutely blown away by it. I really like the implications raised by the idea of Unicron being the root of Earth's development. I seriously can't wait until the second season begins.

I'm hoping to see what the relationship between Orion Pax and Megatronus was. I also hope we get one more face off between Optimus and Megatron like in episode 24. That was epic.

Edited August 16, 2012 by Megatronus

[Old dead account]

Even though I only watched snippets of the original series, I was infatuated with the Transformers: Armada series back then. Never missing a chance to watch an episode, buying all the toys of it, I was hooked. I have all the Armada Autobots and Decepticons figures and the little Minicons that form that Sword, Skyboom Shield and the Requiem Blaster that killed Smokescreen (sad episode:(). I loved the Optimus Prime figure that had a super form and a combo form with Jetfire, as well as Megatron with Tidal Wave. For whatever reason, I never bothered to watch the movies and from what I hear, I don't think I want to. I did not like that Transformers: Animated series or whatever it was called and I haven't seen Transformers Prime yet.

[Johnny Boy]

^ PLEASE watch transformers prime, you are seriously missing out on an awesome show dude.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Johnny Boy

[Death the Kid]

Seen the movies and I'm safe to say that they brought back my interest into the franchise..also; going to continue watching Transformers Prime myself. have the first episode on my iPod and I got blown away by the awesome animation.

[Mandyrobin]

I remember first getting into Transformers back when Beast Wars was released. I was very much into Reboot at the time, so I was like "Another CG cartoon? I'm game!" While, I haven't seen every episode of Beast Wars yet, I did see quite a few and I love that series a lot. My mother says she remembers me watching the G1 cartoon as a child, but I don't remember anything about it. I have the anniversary dvd set now though and it's fun to watch. I get a kick out of picking out all the things that are wrong with G1 with my boyfriend. It gives us some good laughs.

The live-action films ... I like them, especially the first film. I agree they could be much better but they could also be much worse. It will be interesting to see where they go with this.

Bring Prowl into it now that Barricade is officially dead. I'm begging ya!

Ahem, anywho....

I LOVE Tranformers: Prime. I have seen every single episode of the first season and there is not a single episode I have a dislike for. I'm very much looking forward to the new season when it starts on the 18th and I also plan on buying the first season when it releases on dvd and blu-ray in March. Although I like all the characters so far, I have to say my favourites are Knockout, Starscream, Megatron and Wheeljack.

Especially Knockout. I would love to him and Tracks duke it out.

Speaking of which, I have to point you guys to this one artist on deviantART who made his own version of what Shockwave, Tracks, Blurr, Mirage and Cyclonus would look like if they were in Transformers: Prime. I think his Tracks design looks the best.

PS: C'mon, Jagex. Is that MMO ready yet?

[Rinzler]

Of course I would be the one to bump this topic.

Apparently new episodes will FINALLY return on August 25, 2012:

The Hub has announced that Transformers Prime will return with brand-new episodes on Saturday, August 25, 2012! With the Season 2 hiatus following the four-episode cliffhanger of Bulkhead's devastating attack, we will finally get to know his fate. It is unknown when the new episodes will air, but the original timeslot was 8:30PM Eastern/5:30PM Pacific. The channel currently airs reruns at 3PM Eastern/Noon Pacific.

BTW the episode is titled 'Hurt' and involves Miko and Wheeljack avenging Bulkhead.

Personally I'm looking forward to this one. It's about time Miko has some character development.

[Johnny Boy]

Oh man. I think Bulkhead is gonna die in this episode.

[Rinzler]

Oh man. I think Bulkhead is gonna die in this episode.

I will be extremely pissed sad if that happens.

[Johnny Boy]

I will be extremely pissed sad if that happens.

Yeah. But if it does happen, at least it will finally develop Miko as a character and plus Wheeljack will finally join team prime hopefully.

[MegaMan_EXE]

Even though I don't know much about Transformers, I still like it. The Michael Bay films probably ruined the franchise for me. The first one was okay, the 2nd was boring with horrible characters, and the third was a massive failure in my eyes. Other than the fantastic special effects, these films have nothing going for them. I just don't find them to be very good because it's focusing on a guy we have no interest in. I think Shia does fine, but I just don't care about the people. I expected more focus on Cybertron and such, but it seems we have to have humans in Transformers media from sources I've seen like Animated and these movies. I like TF, but I'm not the biggest fan.

[Rinzler]

Bumping the topic because the latest Transformers Prime episode was awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDreIri4Jyo

[Johnny Boy]

Bumping the topic because the latest Transformers Prime episode was awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDreIri4Jyo

Aw man. Something's telling me Bulk isn't gonna last much longer. But at least we're gonna see a new autobot in a later episode. I'm hoping it's either Jetfire or Jazz.

[Jack / Joker]

I think Transformers Animated is one of the best Transformers continuities ever made.

[Rinzler]

Aw man. Something's telling me Bulk isn't gonna last much longer. But at least we're gonna see a new autobot in a later episode. I'm hoping it's either Jetfire or Jazz.

I was seriously afraid that either Bulkhead or Wheeljack was going to die. That fight between WJ and Hardshell was tense. To bad Bulks in a coma though.

I think Transformers Animated is one of the best Transformers continuities ever made.

I liked TA, but the cartoon animation really put me off at the beginning. I heard that the characters are well developed in that show though.

[Rinzler]

BUMP

So the latest ep of Prime aired yesterday and it's really meh IMO. Too much Arcee(again) and too little Shockwave:

I will admit that Shockwave's design is awesome:

Edited September 2, 2012 by Megatronus

[Johnny Boy]

Well a new Autobot is joining the team next episode. I'm hoping it's Jazz!

[Rinzler]

Well a new Autobot is joining the team next episode. I'm hoping it's Jazz!

From some of the screen caps the new bot looks female.

[Johnny Boy]

From some of the screen caps the new bot looks female.

[Gamma V]

I've been a fan of Transformers since I was about 15 years old, having that spark ignited by the Beast Wars. My first figure was Beast Wars Inferno, which I got for my 15th birthday, which I no longer have. I've been a collector of the toys ever since. I also tried to catch the shows every time they aired. This continued until they were moved to the Hub Network, which I don't have on my Dish subscription, aside from the odd month-or-two-long Free Previews. When those come along, I try to catch Prime as often as possible.

This is the only picture of my collection that I have, and it's going on 2 years old. I've since gained 3 more figures.

In addition to the toy collection, I have a number of Transformers DVDs. These are:

* All Rhino G1 Season sets

* The 1986 Movie (Rhino version)

* Beast Wars Season 2

* Armada Season 1 Part 1 (First half of the series)

* Armada: Battle for the Mini-Cons

* Armada: Power of the Mini-Cons

* Energon Episodes 6-9

* Transformers 2007

* Revenge of the Fallen

* Transformers Heroes (G1: The Rebirth)

[Balding Spider]

Hello Smokescreen

Edited September 3, 2012 by Balding Spider

[Rinzler]

Hello Smokescreen

So in addition to getting a new Autobot ('bout time) Starscream goes off looking for "Red Energon"? When did Energon suddenly start acting like Kryptonite? Did I miss something?

Since the Dark Energon arc.