The Transformers
The Transformers: an animated saga released in 1984, became more than a popular television series as it inducted itself as an important part of retro pop-culture history.
Synopsis of the Transformers
THE TRANSFORMERS: Telling the tale of two groups of interstellar robots known as the Autobots - led by Optimus Prime, and Decepticons - led by Megatron; the series took fans through generations of these personality and character rich heroes and villains, as they continued their Cybertronian war on Earth. The Transformers, appropriately named for being able to change their form into individual vehicles (cars, trucks, planes) or objects (guns, tape recorders, microscopes), set up bases and conspired against each other: the Autobots seek to protect humanity and return home, as the Decepticons sought to overtake fuel supplies and free reign over civilization.Autobot leader Optimus Prime ultimately transferred leadership to Rodimus Prime in the original 1986 Transformers movie, as Megatron re-emerges as Galvatron. This was seen as a turning point in the series, and soon after, the series lost the massive popularity it once had, until various revitalization attempts, including but not limited to Beast Wars.
Aside from the admired series were the feverishly sought-out transforming toys from Takara (Hasbro, in the United States). Originally made of die-cast metal, these sturdy action figures stayed true to their cartoon counterparts as they changed appearance from robot to vehicle. This highly successful franchise expanded into just about every other collectible or brand-able product that could be marketed toward children - from pencils, to tricycles, to even underwear.
The series lives on today, with the release of a new Transformers movie (released on July 4th, 2007) directed by Michael Bay, originally thought of as controversial within the Transformer community - simply for the fact that the movie strays from its roots in many aspects...originally causing many fans to be up-in-arms.However, the movie did exceedingly well with a record $27.4 million in its initial debut: making it a "record Tuesday" at the box office, and pleasantly surprising many doubters.
Below: This early promotion for the Transformers got notable fame as the box art for the back of generation 1 Transformers action figures. The characters were drawn to represent an artistic rendition of the toys themselves, rather than the cartoon version of the Transformers. Transformers action figure boxes were memorable for their red, orange, blue and violet gradients, grid patterns, and super-glossy cardboard stock.
Transformers Series Voice Actors
This outstanding all-star list of voice actors contributed not only to the success of the Transformers series, but many other great 80s cartoons as well:
-
Peter Cullen (voice of Optimus Prime and Ironhide): Also voiced "Mario" on Saturday Supercade, "Nemesis" on Robotix, "Murky" on Rainbow Brite, "Venger" on Dungeons & Dragons, was the Narrator of "Voltron", "Admiral Grimitz" on DuckTales. Mr. Cullen went on to voice the live action counterpart of his most famous character, Optimus Prime, in Michael Bay's live-action Transformers movie in 2007. -
Frank Welker (voice of Megatron and Soundwave): Also voiced "Dingbat" on Heathcliff, "Iceman" on Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, "Dark Rider" on Turbo Teen, "Tooter" on The Snorks, "Bront" and "Tyrannix" on Robotix, "Scooter" on Challenge of the Go-Bots, "Torch" on G.I. Joe, "Uni" and "Tiamat" on Dungeons and Dragons, "Foofur" on the same-titled show, "Bigtime Beagle" on Duck Tales, "Kermit" on Muppet Babies, "Krulos" on Dino-Riders -
Chris Latta (voice of Starscream): Also voiced "Darkstorm" on Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, "Cobra Commander" on G.I. Joe, "Adrian Ravenscroft" on Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines, "D-Compose" on The Inhumanoids, "Rasp" on Dino-Riders, and also voiced "Mr. Burns" on the Simpsons for a handful of episodes. You may remember him for playing the thug at the horse rases on an episode of Seinfeld, who attempted to mug Kramer after seeing his winnings. Mr. Latta passed away in the summer of 1994. -
Michael Bell (voice of Prowl): Also voiced "Plastic Man" on "The Plastic Man Comedy Show", "Grouchy Smurf", "Lazy Smurf" and "Handy Smurf" on the Smurfs, "Reynaldo" on Rubik, the Amazing Cube, "Bruce Banner" on The Incredible Hulk, "Allstar Seaworthy" on The Snorks, "Venturak" on Robotix, "Duke" on G.I. Joe, "Auger" and "Blackthorne Shore" on The Inhumanoids, "Lance" on Voltron, -
Don Messick (voice of Ratchet): Also voiced "Azrael the cat" on The Smurfs, "Scooby-Doo" and "Scrappy Doo" on the All New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show, "Crunch" on Mighty Orbots, "Pepe" on Foofur. He came from many years of experience as a voice actor in prominent 50s, 60s and 70s cartoons, including Scooby Doo, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear and numerous other Hanna-Barbera classics, as well. Mr. Messick passed away in Fall 1997. -
Neil Ross (voice of Slag): Also voiced "John Rambo" on Rambo, "Waspax" on Sectaurs, "Rotten Roland" on Galaxy High, "Wolverine" on Pryde of the X-Men, "Buzzer" on G.I. Joe, "Duane" on Kissyfur, "Mene Gene Okerlund" on Hulk Hogan's Rock N Wrestling, "Peter" on Pandamonium, "Clyde the ghost" on Pac-Man, "Hermes" on Poochie -
Hal Rayle (voice of Snarl): Also voiced "Prince Crotan" on Defenders of the Earth, "Rook" on The Glo-Friends, "Doyle Cleverlobe" on Galaxy High, and also voiced "Raphael" on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for several episodes. Hal also appeared on an episode of the A-Team and Rosanne. He later voiced cartoon characters from series including Tiny Toon Adventures, Back to the Future (Animated) and Batman (animated). -
Alan Oppenheimer: (voice of Beachcomber): Also voiced "Count Dracula" on Drak Pack, "Mindok The Mind Menace" on Thundarr the Barbarian, "Sgt. Havoc" on Rambo, "Handlebar" on Bravestarr, "Morris Grout" on Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters. Alan also voiced "Cringer", "Battlecat", "Man-At-Arms", "Skeletor", "Mer-Man" and other characters on various episodes of He-Man. -
Susan Blu (voice of Arcee): Also voiced "Red" and "Redder" on Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines, "Daffodil" on Rose Petal Palace, "Lofty" on My Little Pony, "Belfry the bat" on Filmation's Ghostbusters, "Bree Van Mark" on G.I. Joe, "Dolly" on Foofur, "Aimee Brightower" on Galaxy High, "Princess Paw Paw" on Paw Paws, "Judge J.B." on Bravestarr, "Lindsay Pierce" on Jem
Like the Transformers? Check these out, too:
The 2007 Transformers Film
(Spoiler free, of course)
Following the school-nobody Sam Witwicky, the new Transformers film takes viewers through a story of alien contact and government cover-up of events beginning with a devastating Decepticon attack on US armed forces. Joined by friendly Autobots, Sam and friends work with government forces to help save the world from a newly-unfrozen Megatron and his host of vicious, murderous Decepticons.
A vast number of plot inconsistencies exist between the film and its original animated counterpart - including but not limited to the origin story, the characters' transformed modes and vehicle types, character backgrounds, and even the Transformers' usage of conventional bullets and missiles as opposed to lasers. This film modernized the Transformer story, and you may agree that it was most likely the best decision to make for a film of this nature (Bumblebee being an old VW Beetle surely wouldn't have cut it!)Opinions are mixed - while some applaud the effort and visual intensity of the film, others can't put the inconsistencies with the original animated series aside. Regardless, Dreamworks already has two sequels scheduled as of May 2007. It appears as though the new generation of Transformers is here, like it or not! In the meantime, we'll sit through Michael Bay demanding things to be "awesome" in Verizon commercials, and wait for more updates to surface.
Transformers: The Movie on DVD
On October 27, 2007: the totally awesome 2-disc special DVD or HDDVD editons of the 2007 live-action Transformers movie were released [there's no word of a Blu-Ray version]. Be sure to check out the 2-disc's special features, reviewing the transition between the original 1984 series and morphing it into something unfamiliar and unimaginable.
Watch excerpts of the Transformers' 1st Season
Welcome to 1984: Go way back into your own memory banks to re-visit the introduction story of the Transformers!
curated content from YouTube
New Petition to bring back the Transformers series to DVD
Here's the premise of this petition:"This petition is to convince Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to re-release the 1984 Transformers cartoon series on DVD.
The series was originally released by Rhino in 2002, as semi-seasonal sets. Rhino later lost the distribution rights, as they were later picked up by Sony Wonder. Sony Wonder was dismissed in 2007 by Sony BMG. Confused yet? Sony BMG then announced that the Transformers DVDs would be back in production sometime in 2007, but nothing became of it because the distribution rights now belong to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
In light of all this - one of the most important television cartoon series of all time deserves to be on DVD at all times. It's inexcusable for this series to not be on shelves, especially after the live-action movie's release. Sign the petition, and let's hope for a quick turnaround time on some great new digitally remastered Transformers DVDs!"
Guess what, there's no need for this petition anymore - the Transformers Complete First Season (25th Anniversary Edition)
was finally released on June 16, 2009 with the remainder of the series yet to come! (Thanks, ShoutFactory!) Deep Thoughts
In the original Transformers cartoon series...when Optimus Prime transformed, his trailer appeared out of thin air. It would then "back off" and somewhat disappear off-screen once he turned back into robot form.As for Megatron, he would drastically shrink in size when turning from robot form to gun form - a strange but necessary character element that was also seen in other "utility" Transformers, like Soundwave and Perceptor.
Original Transformers Toys & Memorabilia
Designed and produced by manufacturers Takara and Hasbro, The Transformers toy line was way up on the list of kids' must-have list throughout the mid and late 1980s.Featuring die-cast bodies and beautiful packaging, each Transformer had its own scrambled statistics card. When a special red film card was set on top of it, the Transformer's offensive and defensive statistics could be seen on a line graph. Transformers had heat-activated decals: when rubbed with your fingertip, they would display an Autobot or Decepticon logo, revealing its allegiance. Each Transformer had its own signature weapons, and came with a metallic decal sheet.
After the debut of the Transformers movie and the gradual move away from Generation 1, both the quality and the hype of the Transformers series soon declined. The Transformers had a lesser claim to fame with Beast Wars; introducing Transformers to a whole new generation of viewers in 3D animation. Beast Wars toys, however, didn't hold a candle to the top-notch quality of the original Transformer toy line.
Transformers Toy of the Year
The one-size-fits-all Transformers Voice Changer Helmet is arguably the toy of the year for 2007 - with a press of a button, it will Transformer-ize your voice.
The Transformers Animated Movie on DVD
Get the original animated full-feature 1986 Transformers movie! Set in the year 2005, the Autobots and Decepticons battle each other and strive to save their homeworld of Cybertron - before the massive destroyer of worlds, Unicron, gets to it first.
Drawn in a more detailed fashion to that of the weekday afternoon cartoon series, this very involved storyline involves one of the most harrowing scenes in cartoon history, and introduced what was a new generation of Transformer characters. Not too long after the movie, and the new season of Transformers episodes, the series began to lose its luster with a host of brand new characters and plots. The series soon after ended entirely in 1987.
Drawn in a more detailed fashion to that of the weekday afternoon cartoon series, this very involved storyline involves one of the most harrowing scenes in cartoon history, and introduced what was a new generation of Transformer characters. Not too long after the movie, and the new season of Transformers episodes, the series began to lose its luster with a host of brand new characters and plots. The series soon after ended entirely in 1987.
Transformers 1986 Movie Soundtrack
Own the newly-remastered soundtrack of the original Transformers movie...now available with extra tracks that are previously un-released! Featuring the popularized track "The Touch," and a rock-out version of the traditional Transformers theme song, check out the many other great tracks featured throughout the movie.
Useless Information: The "Transform" Sound Effect
What's the story behind it?
The patented "transform" sound effect that was featured in the original animated series (and VERY sparsely - albeit, not enough, in the 2007 movie) was created by a single electronic pulse noise that is about 0.7 seconds long, which is then repeated four more times - each time, the pulse's pitch is shifted higher until complete. This process is for the "vehicle/object to robot" sound. The "robot to vehicle/object" uses the same process, but in reverse.Want a isolated, professional sounding MP3 of the "Transform" sound? Find it here!
Transformers Animated (2007)
May induce vomiting
Released for December 26, 2007: this new production from Cartoon Network features nearly the entire cast of the Generation 1 Transformers in a poorly drawn style that seems to be destined for 'direct to DVD.'Ridiculous plot edits include Optimus Prime being an axe-wielding fire truck, having human characters for villains, mix-ins from Beast Wars, and the one time cameo appearances of many classic characters. Should we even mention that the name of the show itself actually is "Transformers: Animated"? Couldn't they think of ANYthing better than that?
To add insult to injury - none of the voice actors you know and love were involved (including Peter Cullen and Frank Welker).
Visit the Transformers Animated official site.
Essential Transformers Reference Guides
This is serious coffee table stuff: own some great handy guides to Transformers toys and collectibles! These guides take you through the early stages of the Transformers toyline, throughout its amazing run, and its ultimate demise in the early 1990s. Only the highest rated ones were chosen and listed here:
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe graphic novels
A fascinating, gritty combination of the two greatest 80's cartoon sagas, by Dreamwave comics! I've owned the first issue since it first came out - and as a fan, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the seemingly strange setting and plot of this comic series.
"The year is 1939 and a twisted alliance between a hate-crazed dictator and a ruthless general has left Europe in flames, in chains. The world's only hope against the threat-the creation of an elite counterstrike force. Code name: G.I. Joe. But are even the Joes tough enough to take down this evil empire when it enlists the aid of a merciless army of alien war machines known as the Decepticons?"
"The year is 1939 and a twisted alliance between a hate-crazed dictator and a ruthless general has left Europe in flames, in chains. The world's only hope against the threat-the creation of an elite counterstrike force. Code name: G.I. Joe. But are even the Joes tough enough to take down this evil empire when it enlists the aid of a merciless army of alien war machines known as the Decepticons?"
Reader Feedback
Transformer fans: leave a comment here! (don't even think of spamming!)
submit
-
Reply
-
MisterW617
Dec 4, 2011 @ 6:52 am | delete
- This is excellent!!! looking at some of those posters remind me of that poster you get when you bought bigger cast iron transformers toys, where you have that painted epic battle scene between autobots and decepticons. I have a lense on Transformers Prime check it out when you get a chance.
-
-
Reply
-
christinsword
Aug 19, 2011 @ 7:16 am | delete
- Cool lens. I rather wish theyd start shooting transformers 4 to make one as good as the first again
-
-
Reply
-
Oct 4, 2010 @ 11:47 am | delete
- I like transformers, but I didn't know so much information about this series. However, I know exactly where I can Buy Levitra on the Internet. Thanks for making this amazing lens. Generic Viagra Levitra
-
-
Reply
-
Oct 4, 2010 @ 11:46 am | delete
- Nice
-
-
Reply
-
Oct 4, 2010 @ 11:45 am | delete
- Nice
-
- Load More
by retrostatic
retrostatic
It's your Transformers TV commercial headquarters! The ultimate retro 80s and 90s site: RetroStatic.com
- 24 featured lenses
- Winner of 3 trophies!
- Top lens » 90s Cartoons
Feeling creative?
Create a Lens!
Explore related pages
- List Of Transformers 3 Toys 2011 | MechTech, Cyberverse and Robo Power Lines in the Dark Of The Moon Toyline List Of Transformers 3 Toys 2011 | MechTech, Cyberverse and Robo Power Lines in the Dark Of The Moon Toyline
- Transformer Collecting Transformer Collecting
- Transformers Ultimate Optimus Prime | Best Transformers Dark of the Moon (DOTM) Action Figure For 2011! Transformers Ultimate Optimus Prime | Best Transformers Dark of the Moon (DOTM) Action Figure For 2011!
- C.O.P.S. The Animated Series C.O.P.S. The Animated Series
- Voltron Voltron
- Transformer T-Shirts Transformer T-Shirts
