To honor the release of the Transformers movie, I thought today would be a good time to reminisce about the original heyday of the vehicles and weapons that were 'robots in disguise'. Of course, I am talking about the 1980's, when Transformers cartoons ruled the weekday afternoon airwaves.
Oh, what a glorious time that was for the tween set! Running home from school, dropping our books on the kitchen table, then plopping ourselves down in front of the television to watch Transformers, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, and M.A.S.K. right before our parents called us to the table for dinner. Sure, we ended up not doing our homework. Okay, our grades slipped. Yes, we had to repeat 9th grade a few times. Still, it was a time we would never forget!
Apparently, some people over at YouTube haven't forgotten about this period of time either, because there are plenty of videos from that era to enjoy in your free time. One in particular is this nice little composite of the intros and outros for all of the Transformers American incarnations during the 80's. Included are the opening and closing credits for the first two versions of the series, the version that took place after the release of Transformers:The Movie, and the version which featured the return of Optimus Prime. This last version of the cartoon, which featured the introduction of the Headmasters (fill in your dirty joke right here) doesn't seem to be one that many people remember.
Also included in this montage are the beginning and ending credits to the Beast Wars series that ran in the mid-1990's. This was the CGI-animated sequel to the original Transformers series that featured a set of Autobots and Predacons stranded on a pre-historic Earth. Personally, Beast Wars is my favorite Transformers series.
So, click the link below, sit back, let your mind float back to simpler times.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-04-2007 @ 12:13PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
You watched Transformers in 9th grade? WTF? I could understand at 7 or 8 but by 14 why would you be interested in any of the those cartoons? Most cartoons in the 80s, if not all, on weekly TV were vapid toy commercials with no intelligence or wit. By the 90s we got The Animaniacs and The Tick but for the most part, cartoons continued to appeal to little kids.
FWIW, the Transformers movie (2007) was shockingly entertaining not for the robot characters but actually for the humans. Go figure...
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7-04-2007 @ 3:31PM
Lampbane said...
Tick: The Transformers was actually well-written for a toy cartoon. Of course, the characters and storylines were created by the guys from Marvel Comics...
Keller: Dude, you're totally showing your age here. I'm sorry, if you were in high school during Transformers, you aren't a "true" child of the 80's.
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7-04-2007 @ 3:48PM
Adam said...
I was perfectly aged to buy all of this stuff. 6 when He-Man came out, 7 when Transformers came out, 8 when G.I. Joe and Thundercats came out. (Hard to believe G.I. Joe and Thundercats came out the same year. Doesn't seem like it, but that's what IMDB says.)
Transformers was my favorite by far. Though, I agree that these cartoons don't hold up quite as well. Animaniacs, Tick and the like were better written for older and younger crowds. At 30, I still find the Tick hilarious.
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7-04-2007 @ 5:36PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
Lamp, every episode of Transformers had the following setup:
Megatron finds a new way to make energon cubes. The Autobots show up and defeat the Decepticons Sometimes they'd mix it up - like creating the Constructicons or Dinobots or Arielbots but in the end it all came down to a fight with Megatron, and then Starscream and company bailing.
That's well written?
"Grimlock like to smash." Genius.
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7-05-2007 @ 11:26AM
beanspants said...
the tick and arthur are hanging out in their house on a boring day.
some random monster appears.
they fight it, while making jokes.
they win.
the end. What's the difference?
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7-05-2007 @ 11:37AM
pete said...
agreed, beast wars kicked o.g. transformers outta the water.
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