I know my last two TWFWL posts have been very girl-centric, so I decided to do some more masculine toys for this week’s episode. Transformers seemed like the obvious choice, in keeping with my 80’s theme. (I’m eventually going to run out of 80’s toys, though, so get to the contact form and start sending me memories, guys! Really, I can do any era. Just try me! :P )
I love the Transformers movie. No, not that Michael Bay abomination. The ORIGINAL Transformers: The Movie! We own the original feature film on DVD. You know, the animated one with Judd Nelson voicing Hot Rod, and Scatman Crothers as Jazz, and Eric Idle as Wreck-Gar, who is pretty much impossible to understand throughout the whole film. And that awesomely awkward dance sequence to the “Weird Al” Yankovic song! Feel free to skip to about the 2:30 minute mark to see what I’m talking about:
The Transformers TV series, much like the Jem series, was created by Hasbro to market a line of toys. The Transformers toys were introduced by Hasbro in 1984. They resembled cars, trucks, animals, and other devices who could turn into anthropomorphic robot-like action figures. The characters branched out into comics in 1984, when Marvel Comics released an 80-issue series on the characters and their origins. Later series included crossovers with G.I. Joe and the New Avengers, both of which were also published by Marvel.
The robots were divided into two factions: The Autobots (the good guys) and the Decepticons (the bad guys).
The Autobots were originally led by Optimus Prime, who could turn into a semi-truck. Other notable Autobots and their respective alternate forms:
- Ironhide - Van
- Jazz - Porsche
- Blaster - Boombox
- Arcee - Pink convertible (One of only a handful of female Transformers)
- Bumblebee - VW Beetle
The Decepticons were led by Megatron, who could originally become a Walther P38 handgun. Other notable Decepticons and their respective alternate forms:
- Shockwave - Space Gun
- Starscream - F15 Eagle Jet
- Bludgeon - Tank
- Soundwave - Boombox
- Blackout - Mobile missile platform
The toys also had other runs in which they introduced bots that could turn into animals, dinosaurs, and even insects, but the most popular toys were, and still are, the original characters.
The Transformers franchise has been wildly successful, and the toys are now a permanent part of pop culture. I remember living in an apartment right after high school where one of the dumpsters in the parking lot had the purple Decepticon symbol spray-painted on the side. We all used to speculate what evil deeds the big green dumpster got up to while the world was asleep, and came up with several creative names for his robot alter-ego. “Stinkpile” was my personal favorite.
Even Mr. Potato Head has started dressing up as “Optimash Prime.” Have a look:
“More than meets the fry,” indeed!
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go kill some time playing Transformers arcade games at Hasbro’s Official Transformers Site.
What? It’s research. For the blog. I’m doing it for you!
…Roll out!
