BarryHom
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Aug 20, 1999
- Messages
- 14,159
I think the coolest toys are the Transformers. You can change a robot into something else, like a gun, a car, ship, etc. Some Transformers took only 2-3 transforming steps to get from robot to vehicle. You have to pull his legs and arms out and then flip the head and you got a robot! Others require like 50 moves to get from one state to another.
Also, my two favorite cartoons when I was growing up were G.I. Joe and the Transformers. I'd come home from school and watch them every day from 4 to 5 pm. I decided to look back on the Transformers by renting two DVDs.
The first one was "The Transformers, Season 1." Here were are introduced to the Autobots (good guy Transformers) and the Decepticons (bad guy Transformers). Now as I watched the episodes, I wondered why I liked them as a kid. The animation was very crude and the stories were very flat. The battle scenes were kind of dull. One battle scene at a rocket fuel factory was particuarly bland. The Transformers seem to be barely fighting each other! I had a hard time distinguishing one transformer from another. They had little personality other than what they transformed into.
Also, the show has a problem with scale. A 20 foot Transformer can transform into a gun that can be held in another Transformer's hands. Another 20 foot Transformer can change into a tape recorder that can be held in a man's hand. A Transformer vehicle that can fit a human nicely with a few inches headroom can also carry another Transformer with a few inches of headroom. Huh?
Still, it was cool to see the Transformers transform into their different things. The best thing was the special sound they made during transforming -- wee-choo-wee-choo-we!
Then I rented "Transformers: The Movie." This movie was released in 1986. Now this was 3 years before a little mermaid sang and took animation into a new level. Most cartoons in the 1980s seemed to be tie-ins for toys. Some people called them 30 minute commericals for toys. I can't remember if this movie was released in the theaters, but the animation was much better than the TV show. That's because most of the animators were Japanese. Most of the good animation comes from Japan.
The story didn't have too much depth. It was set in the year 2005. Basically, a big planet eater called Unicron is eating everything in its path (kind of like some of my relatives at buffets). Unicron's next stop is Cybetron, the Transformer's homeworld. There are other subplots about crashing on planets, getting eaten by aliens, being without a father, etc.
Even without depth, it was probably the better Transformer stories I've seen. It had a lot of carnage with Autobots and Decepticons dying off (these were probably the discontinued toys or the ones that didn't sell well). Oddly enough, most of the futuristic looking transformers survived while most of the ones that looked like vehicles from the 80's were destroyed.
The movie had a lot of songs by hard rock hair bands that I've never heard of. The songs are cheesy, but catchy in a way. I can't get the Transformer theme out of my head. It goes like -- doom-de-de-doom-doom-de-de-de-doom, "Transformers! Robots in disguise!" The song was performed by a band named Lion. Perhaps we can find their cassette in the dollar bin at the record store.
The DVD also has an interview with the composer. Now why would they interview the composer? Well, it seems that he has a good relation with Transformer fans and he shows up at their conventions.
A lot of big names were in the movie too, like Judd Nelson (what happened to him anyway?), Leonary Nimoy (he had like 10 lines that he must have recorded in a day), Eric Idle (before he became Dr. Channing), and Orson Welles (I wonder if he thought, "I did Citizen Kane and now I'm doing this????").
There have been other incarnations of Transformers, like Beast Wars and Transformers: Armada. I never really got into them, probably because I still have childhood memories of the O.G. Transformers of the 1980s. I still have that song in my head -- doom-de-de-doom-doom-de-de-de-doom, "Transformers! Robots in disguise!"
Argh!
Also, my two favorite cartoons when I was growing up were G.I. Joe and the Transformers. I'd come home from school and watch them every day from 4 to 5 pm. I decided to look back on the Transformers by renting two DVDs.
The first one was "The Transformers, Season 1." Here were are introduced to the Autobots (good guy Transformers) and the Decepticons (bad guy Transformers). Now as I watched the episodes, I wondered why I liked them as a kid. The animation was very crude and the stories were very flat. The battle scenes were kind of dull. One battle scene at a rocket fuel factory was particuarly bland. The Transformers seem to be barely fighting each other! I had a hard time distinguishing one transformer from another. They had little personality other than what they transformed into.
Also, the show has a problem with scale. A 20 foot Transformer can transform into a gun that can be held in another Transformer's hands. Another 20 foot Transformer can change into a tape recorder that can be held in a man's hand. A Transformer vehicle that can fit a human nicely with a few inches headroom can also carry another Transformer with a few inches of headroom. Huh?
Still, it was cool to see the Transformers transform into their different things. The best thing was the special sound they made during transforming -- wee-choo-wee-choo-we!
Then I rented "Transformers: The Movie." This movie was released in 1986. Now this was 3 years before a little mermaid sang and took animation into a new level. Most cartoons in the 1980s seemed to be tie-ins for toys. Some people called them 30 minute commericals for toys. I can't remember if this movie was released in the theaters, but the animation was much better than the TV show. That's because most of the animators were Japanese. Most of the good animation comes from Japan.
The story didn't have too much depth. It was set in the year 2005. Basically, a big planet eater called Unicron is eating everything in its path (kind of like some of my relatives at buffets). Unicron's next stop is Cybetron, the Transformer's homeworld. There are other subplots about crashing on planets, getting eaten by aliens, being without a father, etc.
Even without depth, it was probably the better Transformer stories I've seen. It had a lot of carnage with Autobots and Decepticons dying off (these were probably the discontinued toys or the ones that didn't sell well). Oddly enough, most of the futuristic looking transformers survived while most of the ones that looked like vehicles from the 80's were destroyed.
The movie had a lot of songs by hard rock hair bands that I've never heard of. The songs are cheesy, but catchy in a way. I can't get the Transformer theme out of my head. It goes like -- doom-de-de-doom-doom-de-de-de-doom, "Transformers! Robots in disguise!" The song was performed by a band named Lion. Perhaps we can find their cassette in the dollar bin at the record store.
The DVD also has an interview with the composer. Now why would they interview the composer? Well, it seems that he has a good relation with Transformer fans and he shows up at their conventions.
A lot of big names were in the movie too, like Judd Nelson (what happened to him anyway?), Leonary Nimoy (he had like 10 lines that he must have recorded in a day), Eric Idle (before he became Dr. Channing), and Orson Welles (I wonder if he thought, "I did Citizen Kane and now I'm doing this????").
There have been other incarnations of Transformers, like Beast Wars and Transformers: Armada. I never really got into them, probably because I still have childhood memories of the O.G. Transformers of the 1980s. I still have that song in my head -- doom-de-de-doom-doom-de-de-de-doom, "Transformers! Robots in disguise!"
Argh!
