PixlBit

Hi I'm Captain N, and I want to tell you about the Transformers...

My favorite Transformers cartoons to be specific. There have been quite alot of cartoons based on the Transformers, usually with a toyline attached like back then, and I have seen quite a bit. Some have been awesome, some were pretty good, to okay. There are some I haven't seen which is why a fan favorite will be missing.

Transformers Armada/Unicron Trilogy

This was the very first Transformers cartoon I ever watched when it aired on Toonami back in 2002, if I recall. I was looking for something to watch one day and and was seeing something about a new show on Toonami and decided to give it a go. I watched it and liked what I saw. It wasn't my first time with the Transformers though, that will be for another blog. I loved it, it had a sort of anime look to it and the bots looked pretty nice too. Not that many people liked it because alot of the core mythos was changed, and the war between the Autobots and Decepticons was all for the control of the Mini-cons, a race of smaller robots that can give the Transformers new and more powerful weapons. The series was named the Unicron Trilogy because like it's anmesake, it was a trilogy, with Armada being first, the Transformers Energon, and Transformers Cybertron.

 

Transformers Energon followed the events from Armada. I don't think it was as good as Armada but if you can get past the bad cel-shaded cgi then you can find an enjoyable cartoon here. No comment on Cybertron though, I've only started it but it's pretty good so far.

 

The Transformers/G1

 

This happens to be every older fan's favorite cartoon and for a good reason, it was the cartoon that started it all. It was pretty simple in it's premise, the Autobots and Decepticons are part of 2 sentient robot factions from the planet of Cybertron. The planet Cybertron was running out of Energon, the thing that Transformers need, like how a car needs fuel to work. The supply was low and Optimus decided to take some of his Autobots with him on the spaceship simply called the Ark to search for more energon. Megatron and his Decepticons decided to tailgate them on their ship the Nemesis and a battle broke out. The ship they were fighting on crashed on Earth millions of years, and millions of years later, thanks to Starscream the Transformers were woken from their million year stasis nap.

 

Back then the designs were pretty simple, Optimus Prime was a truck, Iron Hide was a minivan, and Megatron was a Nazi handgun. Wait what?! Yeah, and get this, Megatron and his Decepticons were originally the good guys in another cartoon/toy line and they teach children valuable lessons. Nothing like teaching kids about how to wield a handgun. Kind of the opposite of what kind of robot Megatron really is huh? That was also a reason why Megatron's toy was a bit to get your hands on back then. Eventually the cartoon became really popular that they later made an animated movie about it, and they wiped out atleast 90-99% of the original cast to bring in new characters to sell toys off them.

 

Transformers had another 2 seasons here in America which were not as good as the first 2 seasons but still enjoyable. Not sure I can recommend this cartoon to a first timer, I mean I never watched it until last year but I can appreciate the roots of the series and worth watching imo. They have the whole series (minus the movie) on Netflix if you wanna check it out.

 

Transformers Animated

 

This show was originally meant to tie in with the 2007 live action movie, well that's what Japan wanted you to think. In reality it was it's own cartoon series with some of the elements from the movie. Optimus was a Prime and a leader of his own crew, just not the head honcho like he was in previous incarnations. The head honcho was Ultra Magnus and served as the supreme commander of the Autobots on Cybertron. The story goes about the Great War and how the Decepticoms were exiled from Cybertron by the heroic Autobots. This all started thanks to the All-Spark, a powerful item from Cybertron that can give life to any Transformers, as well as any machine. The Autobots got rid of the All-Spark in some far flung part of the universe. That was the story of the great war. Forward back to present day, Optimus Prime and his crew found it by accident and Megatron and the Decepticons came back wanted the All-Spark to restart the war.

 

I loved this series, out of all the shows, this one had more personality and charm to it. You can tell it was made as a labor of love to all the older fans because of the homages to nearly every Transformers cartoon and comic out there. I loved the stylized designs of the Transformers, each had their own personality, Optimus Prime was a young leader who wants to be a hero, Bumblebee is the smallest bot with an obnoxious attitude, Prowl was a Ninja with a softspot for nature and life, Bulkhead was the strongest of the team with girth to match as well as a softspot, and Ratchet was the old seasoned medic who has seen it all back in the Great war. The artstyle wasn't really everyone's cup of tea but thhe story arcs made up for the artstyle which I defend. If you want to get in the franchise, this is the perfect cartoon for both kids and adults alike.

 

Transformers Prime

 

This is the most recent incarnation of the Transformers. The series takes place in the War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron timeline which they are dubbing the Prime timeline and I can see why. Alot of the events from WfC are carried on over here, not sure on FoC since I haven't played it. The cartoon is all cgi but it looks incredible, heck you can almost say it can pass up as a game or movie. The story follows as Optimus Prime had a planetwide evacuation of Cybertron because the planet was dying, or dead according to the cartoon. And and all Autobot forces were to evacuate the planet to places unknown. Prime and a small team of bots took home on the planet Earth and no one knows of their existance but special goverment official William Fowler who is voiced by Ernie Hudson. Decepticon activity hasn't been seen in 3 years till now, and with rumors of the arrival of Megatron, you know the flames will reignite the war, this time Earth serving as the battlefield.

 

The show imo is simply the best I've seen in this era of cartoons and my most favorite from this era of cartoons. It has more action and is much more darker and I was surprised to see it aimed at kids, and well to be fair I think it was also aimed at the older fans too. Every episode had me wanting more, I couldn't wait to watch another episode, infact finished the first season on Netflix under a week. Also, it's great to see Peter Cullen and Frank Welker reprising their respective roles again. Not sure how much I'll recommend it to a little kid because of the darker tones of the series, that and Zombie robots, but it, along with animated is a good place to start, it's also on Netflix. I can't wait to see how it all ends on October with the new movie coming out, heck I think there hasn't been a movie for a Transformers cartoon since the original movie from 1986, which has me excited.

 

 

 

So, what is your favorite Transformers cartoon? I left out Beast Wars because I haven't seen it yet, I probably will since it's on Netflix. So thanks for reading, Till All are One!