The Transformers (1984–1987) User Reviews

The most iconic cartoon from the eighties

[Rectangular_businessman · 8/10 · 28 June 2012]

Many cartoons inspired in toy-lines where made in the eighties, but not many of them resisted the test of time.

The original "Trasformers" cartoon is one of those shows, that despite all the flaws that could have (It was, after all, a product of its time) was highly entertaining and had an interesting cast of characters, which were the most appealing element of this franchise, and made it survive among the decades.

The backlash caused by the death of several characters done in the movie just serves to show how the viewers were attached to them: In that way, "Transformed" proved to be more than a simple cartoon done to promote a toy line. It had created (Probably in a unintentional way) several iconic characters, that were not only easily recognizable, but also have many likable traits that made this show to win the appreciation of the viewers. That's the main reason why new cartoon series based in the "Transformers" (Each one of them with different quality and entertainment value) are still being made until this day.

The spirit of the story and the characters remains among the different decades, because it was very appealing, with many potential to exploit. Some of the animations that came later gave this a more mature approach, such as "Beast Machines" or "Transformers Prime", while others gave the same story a more lighthearted approach (such as the animated series done in the year 2007) but all those shows always tried to achieve the same essence of the original, because that was the key of the success of this franchise. Some of those series were good, others bad (And others were very, very bad) but the original one will be always my favorite, the one that started all my love and interest for this franchise.

The most classic series of the 80's

[afonsobritofalves · 8/10 · 5 October 2018]

Although there were a lot better series, I liked it a lot. One of those series that we all see when we are younger, quite captivating, full of action, adventure and science fiction. I must also congratulate the child of this rather original argument. Highly recommend.

Nostalgia epitomized

[Mr-Fusion · 8/10 · 2 October 2014]

For me, TRANSFORMERS is a cultural thing. It's larger than the '84 TV show and taps right into childhood. It's like the '89 Batman where I can't separate that period sentimentalism from the actual thing. I sit down and watch this, and I'm plugged back into the formative years. It's kinda funny to think of the show as an adult because it was the direct result of the early '80s FCC deregulation, paving the way for half-hour toy commercials as kids' programming. But that's the Lisa Simpson in my head talking. Hasbro's campaign worked, and I've been a fan for 30 years . . . even with the show's dodgy production values and toy line that was both overly complicated (I was constantly referring to the instruction manual) and inconsistent with the animated characters.

But the show worked its magic on me with a vengeance. And there are certainly bigger fans out there than myself. People who've spent years collecting the various iterations, series and live-action movies. But if we're talking the G1 stuff, I'm all over it. And there are other shows from that time that were better produced, but none that hit as precisely as this one. That link between TRANSFORMERS and being a kid is ironclad.

8/10

"Autobots, transform and roll out!"

[Figaro-8 · 4 August 2000]

Ah, what a gem this was and still is! Sixteen years later, this series still has not lost its sparkle. This is due to the obvious care that was put into this production. Kudos to the animators for successfully animating a slew of WAY cool transforming robots (which, I am sure, is not very easy to do). Kudos to one of the best voice casts ever assembled for a production for bringing the characters wonderfully to life. (The cast list reads like a miniature "Who's Who" among voice artists.) Special thanks must go to Frank Welker, who brought Megatron (among other characters) wonderfully to life. And then, of course, there was the Autobot leader who became so beloved by kids everywhere that he rose to the status of genuine icon for many a child: OPTIMUS PRIME. Now, I liked "Beast Wars" and thought that Gary Chalk was good as Optimus Primal, but the one TRUE voice of the REAL Optimus Prime will ALWAYS belong to Peter Cullen. They could not have gotten (nor will ever get) a person so perfect for the role as him. He brought both gentle warmth and fearless commanding to Prime, and those traits are what made him last, in my opinion. Here's hoping the series will continue to do the same.

Excellent cartoon that has something for both kids and adults

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 10 March 2011]

I love this series, it was a childhood favourite and I still am a fan of it. The animation is decent enough with the odd understandable inconsistency, with the robots wonderful to watch and the backgrounds and colours quite bold and fitting. The music is great, memorable while with an essence of complexity in some of the orchestration, the narrative is cool and does justice to some outstanding if simple story ideas. The writing is intelligent and humorous, in short enough to satisfy anybody who watches the show, and the characters are some of the memorable characters in a cartoon series for me, especially Megatron and Optimus Prime. This is helped hugely by a top notch vocal cast with Frank Welker and Peter Cullen born for their roles. All in all, an excellent cartoon that has something for everyone. 10/10 Bethany Cox

My favorite cartoon ever

[phoenix2rachelsummers · 10/10 · 4 July 2004]

Words can't even express how passionate I am about "Transformers." The recent DVD releases have let me revisit the entire series, and it's been one of the happiest experiences of my life. I wasn't entirely surprised how clearly I remembered individual bits of certain episodes (rare character appearances, etc.) as I watched them, even though I hadn't seen them in 15 or 20 years.

The following are my season-by-season impressions:

Season One - In the cold light of retrospect, this is the one that holds up the least well. There are too few characters (or the same ones are spotlighted too often,) the action is generally tame compared to later seasons, and the stories are too campy and repetitive. The one standout episode is the last one, "Heavy Metal War." My guess is that they weren't sure if it would be back next year, and decided to pull out all the stops.

Season Two - My sentimental favorite, because it had the best characters (my favorite Autobot was Tracks, my favorite Decepticon was Starscream - yes, he'd been around since Season One, but he was spotlighted more in Season Two,) but the quality level is so uneven it can be frustrating. The first few episodes are basically a continuation of season one, as no new characters are introduced yet, but these include two of the series crown jewels, "Atlantis, Arise" and "The Insecticon Syndrome." Once the new characters started rolling out (pun intended) the episode-to-episode quality still fluctuated, but there were still plenty of keepers.

Season Three - Very underrated in my opinion. Yes, it's a shame that a lot of the best characters were either killed off or re-invented in the movie (which I didn't like - it had no story) and that their replacements were a pretty boring bunch (except for Cyclonus.) But the quality of the writing was much more consistent (the five-part season opener, "The Five Faces of Darkness," was everything the movie could have been,) some familiar characters really blossomed (Grimlock was so cool,) and the show had a darker tone and more action, changes which sat well with me (most of my favorites of the earlier episodes were along those lines.)

"Rebirth" - The three-part series closer. Too much like an average Season Two episode. The DVD has an excellent interview with writer David Wise, who genially explains why it didn't turn out as well as it could have.

My dream come true would be if there were a brand-new series with the Gen 1 characters. I just hope they don't start until I've broken into the industry, so I can write for it.

Form me ee pee eye

[bevo-13678 · 10/10 · 31 March 2020]

I like the bit when they change from something to something else and the noise they make.

One of the Greatest Cartoon Shows Ever!

[jerekra · 10/10 · 28 January 2009]

The Transformers Cartoon from the 1980s is easily one of the greatest cartoons of all time. There are just so many classic and awesome transfomers out there. I really am a fan of transformers but just the first two seasons are what does it for me. After the animated movie was made I really did not watch the series much. I did like the new live action movie though. These first two seasons are great though. All of the classic characters are there. Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Soundwave, Megatron, Starscream, Ravage, Grimlock, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Sludge, Skywarp, Prowl, there are so many that I could not begin to list them all. The show is great, awesome dialogue and lots of action. My personal favorites were always Grimlock and Soundwave. Frank Welker is the greatest voice actor ever. TO conclude this series of Transformers is The Transformers at its peak and at its best.

goo d for the sake of nostalgia

[sakerwaleed98 · 6/10 · 26 July 2015]

transformers g1 is the first incarnation of the transformers in television history, and the beloved show of all fans, if you ask someone what is the best transformers show, they say g1, and that's it, no hesitation whats so ever, but is it really that good?, can some one watch it right now and admit that it is awesome?, the answer to that is unfortunately no, yup, you just read that, no. transformers g1 benefits from its 80's era where many of the TV shows where a 20 minute advertisement for their toy lines: GI Joe a real American hero, teenage mutant ninja turtles and many others, fans love g1 because they remember holding that optimus prime action figure while watching that episode where he kicks the decepticons butts which is really what happens in almost every episode, characters come in and die just like that for the sake of selling toys, there are so many characters and i mean so many, you get like 20 of theme in just the first episode( you can count them), i do find certain guilty pleasure watching this, and there are some good episodes here and there, but the transformers is far, so far from being perfect, it has a good animation and some good stories but so many were wasted. it is better than so many incarnations but definitely does not match transformers series such as beast wars, animated, or transformers prime, and this is where the problem kicks in, people bash all the other transformers iterations as they are not as good as g1, but the problem is they will never be pleased as g1 is the first, g1 is the cartoon they grew up with, period, they even bash transformers prime as is not as good as g1, really?, really?, yeah. i know that this review is gonna get some hate, but from an objective point you all know what im talking about, go watch a random episode from g1, animated, prime and beast wars and tell me which one is the best and which one is the weakest, i kinda feel sorry for Hasbro for trying to please the transformers fandom throughout the years and god most of them are unbelievable children dressed in a 40 year-old body.

Vehicular and Robo Warfare

[hellraiser7 · 10/10 · 9 February 2019]

This is one of my favorite animated shows of all time, it's also another childhood relic of mine, but also my second favorite "Transformers" cartoon in the franchise. I've seen this cartoon when I was about seven, I loved it then and even as an adult I still love it along with the other generations of kids and adults, the franchise is just timeless and continues to grow with no end of the road in sight.

The Transformers were a phenomenon in pop culture, from the toy line which are just all well designed, I still love having them on my hand to play with. By their nature the Transformer toys were two toys in one as they are both robot and vehicle as one. Transforming the toys back and forth was fun and a bit of a challenge as they were sort of like a physical three-dimensional puzzle, though once you figure it out and practice a bit it comes naturally. And of course, there are the video games (the three games from "Activision" and that one from "Atari" are cool), as well as the comics my favorite is the run from IDW. But of course, there is this cartoon which is the real kicker as it truly was the one that helped start it all and is what really got me into the franchise. The animation is awesome, I really love the character animation and detail of the robots. The music and sound effects are also great, whenever I hear that series of sounds when they transform it is just music to my ears. However, I really love the theme song which is one of my favorite theme songs of all time, though my favorite version of it is in season 2 as it just has a few more lyrics that gave it more flavor.

But this is a show where it's more style overtopping substance, yeah there is a plotline but with only a minimum amount of development, we're all in for the action. The action is just awesome it's just simply fun seeing both factions of robot's duke it out in a combination of both vehicular and robotic warfare. As we see them not just shooting and punching each other out but transforming back and forth from vehicle or robot form which in a way shows some creativity in combat.

Both the autobot and deceptacon characters are just awesome as they are all unique and have personas, I really like how the motives of both are drawn out and colorful the ensemble truly is, you can literally route for both factions which fits as we've always played as both sides with both toys.

The Autobots are cool as their robots that change into automotive vehicles. Optimus Prime he's my favorite Autobot and fictional heroes. He's played well by one of my favorite voice actors Peter Cullen, he is Optimus Prime much as Peter Weller is Robocop and Christopher Reeve is Superman you don't want any other. Always loved his voice which just sings out strong authority, determination and command, yeah, he's straight laced but in a good way.

Really love the design of him and his color scheme which is kind of patriotic as there is a mix of red, white (ok, some white) and blue which I feel perfectly reflects his character. Let alone the fact that he's a semi, it just says he's a force to be reckoned with and nothing will stop him. But what I really like about him is despite his strength in both position and combative skill, it's his sense of humanity and consciousness that truly surpasses. He cares about his teammates and all life around him but also is a person aware of his limitations, yeah, he could easily take over Earth with the Decepticons if he wants to but he doesn't because he doesn't desire power and even if he had it would never be nor feel right.

The Decepticons are equally cool may 'be at time more so as they change into vehicle of destruction which rings true to their title.

Megatron is my favorite Deceptcon and one of my favorite fictional villains. He is voice perfectly by my favorite voice actor Frank Welker whom is just a master of vocals. This is just my favorite voice acting role from him, his voice just sings absolute menace and ruthless determination, it really gives you chills almost as he's a power monger that is just completely focused and set on his nefarious goals and does anything even resorting to dirty tactics to accomplish them.

But what makes him ruthless is how he will let nothing stop him, he will kill anyone to everyone that stands in his way or lay woe to anyone that tries to overtake his position much as anyone that defends their reign on the Iron Throne. Really love the design of him, with that powerful arm canon of his, but he does my favorite transformation as he changes into a hand gun; how the heck he can shrink down to size for any of his fellow deceptacons to handle is anyone's guess. But that transformation perfectly reflects what kind of of person he is a destructive force that will destroy anything in its line of sight.

Starscream he another one of my favorite fictional villains as his character whom is played by another of my favorite voice actors Chris Latta, despite being a number two he's not content as he is just constantly scheming to get to the top fast. I always like the rivalry between both Megatron and Starscream which is blackly fun and funny most of the time, it's sort of like the rivalry much like anyone constantly fighting for the Iron Throne. It's always kind of funny as Starscream's schemes most of that time fall flat due to his Achilles' heel which are his power lust, egotism, and even a bit yellow.

Soundwave (also played by Frank Welker), he's awesome as he has a little platoon to command which consists of three mini transformers each made as tape cassettes he shoots out all unique in function and feature from Laser Beak a small tetradecyl whom acts as intelligence, Rumble infiltration, and Ravage a mini panther covert attack. But to me what I really love is that voice which is just music to my ears as he sounds like a Cylon from "Battlestar Galactica."

Shock Wave he's awesome despite not really in this animated show much is cool, I really like his voice which has that coldness. To me he's sorts of an evil Vulcan as he's a person that operates on cold logic. He also transforms into a gun which looks a lot bigger and more powerful than Megatron's, which in a way is a little hint on how he might be more powerful than him.

If you're a fan or rookie to the franchise, or even just simply a fan of vintage animation then this is a great place to start or worth a test drive. Like any well-preserved vintage car, this show looks and runs well and has plenty of millage for fun.

Rating: 4 stars

Generation 1

[kenn_ferguson · 6/10 · 2 March 2008]

The Transformers were a line of toys created by Hasbro in the 1980s for sale in the US. The TV show was part of an elaborate marketing campaign to promote the toys. (Like G.I.Joe and others) SPINOFFS: This was the first in a LONG line of spin-offs including series like Transformers Energon, Beastwars, Transformers Armada, and others, including a live-action/CGI movie in 2007 (not to be confused with an animated movie that is consistent with this story line). Some of those other series use characters from this series, sometimes they are new characters. The live-action CGI movie bares no resemblance to the animated show. It features some new characters, some of which have the same name as characters from the cartoon, but are featured differently. There is very little continuity between the different series. Because this was the first it is informally called Transformers Generation 1. These series are incredibly popular in Japan but have dwindled in popularity in the US.

TECHNICALLY: It was an animated show filled with technical errors. Simple things like using the wrong voices for certain characters, painting a character the wrong color, or adorning a Decepticon logo to an Autobot character and vice versa. There were more serious technical glitches as well; including storyline problems like when/who created Megatron; one episode depicts him being built by the Constructicons, and one states that he created them. The first season of the show featured several robots, but the second season starting adding more without explaining where they came from. And other errors featured flashbacks to pre-Earth days but depicted the robots in Earth disguises even though they were not supposed to get those until they reached Earth. The list of errors is endless.

PLOT: The general plot of the story featured the peaceful Autbots battling the military Decepticons. In a war on their home planet of Cybertron the two factions depleted their supplies of energy and left in search of more sources so that they could claim their homeworld.

SEASONS: Before Season 3 an animated movie was released in theaters which advanced the timeline of the show to 2010, and hence Season 3 has been informally called Transformers 2010. Season 4 is not really a season, but a 3 part episode that could have continued the series in a new direction (like S3 did after S2) but the show faded away.

SALES: Currently (as of Mar 1 2008) DVDs of the show are difficult to find. New copies of the show from US sources are extremely rare. Most new purchases are Chinese imports.

2007 MOVIE:

Cool show

[cheetorprime · 10/10 · 30 December 2020]

When I watched this it made me love Transformers a lot and it is also how I got into Transformers.

A great Classic, but is it "the best"?

[xamtaro · 7/10 · 8 August 2009]

Do Not get me wrong, I love Transformers. The original animated series of the 80s was one of the most influential of its time, spawning a multimedia and product franchise 25 years and running. However, "classic appeal" and "i remember this from my good ol childhood days" seem to easily cloud a viewer's mind and initiate a kind of "selective memory".

I have had so many people tell me that Transformers is like the greatest animated series ever. Good it may be, definitely influential, successful , but "greatest ever"?

No way

Inconsistency is the order of the day when it comes to Transformers, and it shows in everything from the writing, to the animation.(I believe that would be the fault of having too many different writers and animation directors working on the same show). I shall start with the writing. There are many episodes that are a straight forward "good vs evil" formula; bland, generic and overly juvenile with little underlying themes beyond "good triumphs over evil". On the other hand, there are episodes with excellent writing which bring in emotionally charged inter-character drama(The Ultimate Doom), morals, and even social/political satire(Big Broadcast of 2006). Thankfully, the "bad" episodes are outshone by the better ones making the overall viewing experience a pleasant one for a Saturday morning cartoon of its time.

Next we come to the animation, once again as inconsistent as ever. There are some really terrible looking episodes with very obvious animation errors. Characters appear and disappear for no reason, they change color in between scenes, sound effects sometime don't sync well......my list could go on. Episodes with a higher amount of art detail(additional metallic shine or shadows) tend to suffer from a lack of character animation and numerous animation short cuts. When the animation does go back to a comparatively smoother frame rate and character movements, the level of detail drops dramatically to the point of characters having no additional detail other than a flat color application. On good point about the animation is the the characters are always in motion. Unlike most Japanese anime where characters stand stock still in a set pose during a lull in the action or a conversation, the characters in Transformers are a lot more expressive. Mouth movements are synced to the pronunciation of words, hand gestures are use to accentuate expression and emotions are clearly presented even on the less human looking robot faces.

The action scenes, one of the most harped on aspect of the series by many hardcore fans, are actually quite boring save for a few. Most action scenes just involve the two sides shooting at each other and rarely hitting anything or burly brawls with little choreography other than "I hit you then you hit me" synced(or rather out-of-synced) with some rather dull sound effects and sometimes an out of place musical cue. One-on-one duels fare a little better with some awesomely storyboarded scenes here and there(see the dam fight in Episode 2 or the duel in "Heavy Metal War").

The only consistent thing about the entire show was the voice acting. Everyone of the voice actors(and a few actresses) deliver their lines splendidly and professionally; giving a surprisingly wide range of emotions to the robots. And even though many of the actors had to play multiple roles, each voice is so unique that it is near impossible to tell if it was actually the same actor playing both robots in that conversation. Thanks to this, every character would grow on you after a while. Very likable and easy to relate to, the characters and the interplay between them are what really carries the entire show.

Despite its inconsistency, Transformers delivers many engaging and entertaining episodes. Everyone who watches it will have something to like about it. The best episodes easily make up for all the bad ones.

5/10 for its sometimes simplistic story

5/10 for inconsistent animation

10/10 for well developed, fully emoted and beautifully written characters

Comes to a good 7/10 on a whole

Though far from being "the best ever", Transformers is a true classic in every sense.

Just because its the classic doesnt mean you can pretend its perfect.

[khanm-37858 · 1/10 · 8 October 2021]

Cheesy, awful animation, overrated, plot holes everywhere and its not as great as people pretend it is nowadays.

Adult oriented as well as child oriented

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 6 November 2000]

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Golly gosh,is Transformers really nearly 20 years old?This timeless celebration of colourful good machines versus bad machines is a piece of genius.I was channelsurfing today,and saw this on one of the channels.It was an episode I remember called The Revenge Of Bruticus.That holds your attention as well now as it did when you were a young kid.In fact,strangely enough,it almost seems better caught up in the pretentiousness of adult life.I would be very happy if they made a big hollywood blockbuster movie adaptation of the series,even though this would contradict my movie laws no end.Maybe the heartless marketing moguls at hollywood should leave this old classic alone,and let it stand the test of time in it's current posistion.*****

One of my childhood favourites!

[smwrightdox · 10/10 · 17 May 2020]

I absolutely loved this series as a kid and still love it today! I was obsessed with Megatron then Galvatron after I watched the Movie! A fantastic series from start to finish for me and you can see why there are so many fans over the world that still love this series.

TRANSFORMERS: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE, Autobots Rage Their Battles To Destroy The Evil Forges Of The Decepticons.

[Terryfan · 10/10 · 27 December 2005]

The Transformers are the greatest cartoon show of all-time.

The Transformers had an awesome storyline with The Heroic Autobots Lead by Their Leader: Optimus Prime!! battling The Evil Decepticons Lead by Their Leader: Megatron.

Transformers were the perfect example of Good Vs. Evil. The Show had Awesome stories and great action.

Here are my all-time favorite Transformers Autobots: Optimus Prime, Jazz, Bumblebee, The Dinobots, Springer, Cliffjumper, Hound, Tracks, Smokescreen, Hoist, Prowl, Mirage, The Arielbots, Beachcomber, Seaspary, Ironhide, Trailbreaker, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Warpath, Skyfire, and Blaster.

Decepticons:Megatron, Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Starscream, Thundercracker, Blitzwing, Mixmaster, and The Combaticons.

Optimus Prime,In my opinion The Greatest Good Guy of all-time, Optimus Prime is everything that a true leader/Hero should be: Brave, Fearless, Caring, will help the innocents in need, Fights for what is right, Will stop at nothing to beat the forges of evil.

Megatron in my opinion, the greatest villain of all-time, Megatron is Cold, Mercyless, and Danger, Megatron give a new meaning to the word Evil.

This show is bad to the bone.

Transformers Will always be The Number Greatest TV Show And The Greatest Toys of all time.

Check this show out.

Optimus Prime: Autobots, Transform and Roll Out!!!!!

The purple wave - the heartache's visual manifestation - is unseen

[trokanmariel-17760 · 10/10 · 21 September 2021]

There is the question:

The beauty of life and art opposing itself, which is then a heartache but good

Or,

The beauty of life and art opposing itself, which is then a heartache that's simply good?

In tradition, but good means the same as that's simply good. In robot actuality, however, this can be the magic socialism of meaning that the magic heartache isn't able to promote itself, to the reality universe.

The purple wave - the heartache's visual manifestation - is thus unseen.

Despite its age, G1 Transformers is still a compelling animated show of the 1980s.

[JaAmPoWeR · 8/10 · 13 January 2023]

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy the original Transformers show. However, the way this show is remembered by its fans will make you think that this is one of the best animated shows of all time or even still the best Transformers show. The show had plenty of problems with the animation, with inconsistent scaling, proportions, lots of incorrect coloring throughout the show (season 3's intro even has a miscolored character at the end), and backgrounds sometimes changing between day and night all in a single scene. A much rarer mistake that occasionally crops up is voices being swapped for characters, I remember this mistake with Optimus and Megatron in the first episode as well as this mistake occurring with Rodimus and Springer in season 3. There is also the fact that the show's continuity is all over the place with an example being that the Constructicons were built on Earth, then in a later episode they were shows on pre-war Cybertron with Omega Supreme, and in season 3 it is show that the Constructicons built Megatron in an even earlier time period. This is because the show's scripts and animation were rushed to meet a fast deadline, so the script's continuity and the animation quality suffered. Also, as much flack as later shows got for human characters, G1 had plenty of human characters with Spike, Sparkplug, Chip, Carly, and Daniel occasionally taking the center stage in many episodes. I especially find Ironic is that later shows in the franchise such as Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, and Prime were criticized all the issues previously mentioned, yet G1 generally gets a pass. There is also the fact that this show was designed to sell toys. This doesn't bother me since the show actually managed to write mostly entertaining stories as well as likeable and engaging characters.

The thing is that I'm generally someone who is willing to older shows a pass, or at least a certain amount of leeway because of the change in standards. Many cartoons back in the day were rushed, and these mistakes are present. However, I still enjoy this show, despite its many issues. As I said earlier, the writing for the characters is really quite good with everyone having a unique and fun personality, which is impressive considering how many characters this show has. The voice acting has actually aged pretty well with many of these voice actors still considered to be the definitive version of these characters, I mean there's still a reason that Peter Cullen and Frank Welker have continued to Play Prime and Megatron for as long as they have along with Corey Burton Chris Latta, Casey Kasem, and Dan Gilvezan putting is memorable performances has Spike/Shockwave, Starscream, Cliffjumper, and Bumblebee respectively.

For me, the show's best season was its first were the Autobots and Decepticons attempting to find energy to revitalize their home world Cybertron. I found that the stories to be at their best and the smaller cast, compared to how large it will get in later seasons, made for a more focused narrative. Season 2 isn't bad by any means; it expanded the cast of characters as well as having more variety to the stories other than fighting for energy. I also kind of liked the format of making an anothology-esq episode everyone once and a while for a new character. Some of these I liked such as "The Secret of Omega Supreme" which focused on Omega's rivalry with the Constructicons, "The Golden Lagoon" about Beachcomber, and "Microbots" which focused on Perceptor. However, episodes such as "Prime Target", "Auto-bop", "Child's Play", and "Kremzeek!" leave a lot to be desired.

Transformers: The Movie came out after season 2 and brought a whole new cast of characters with Rodimus Prime and Galvatron taking over from Optimus and Megatron. Despite the animation and scripts not being as good, I don't mind season 3 as much as most people. I appreciated the larger scope of the show with fewer Earth-bound episodes and more episodes taking place in space. I also liked Hot Rod/Rodimus struggling with being the new Autobot leader, a character arc that I oddly find very relatable now that I'm older. All that being said, there are aspects that drag season 3 for me. The animation looks dire at points and the episodes are 50/50 in quality, this is the season of the show that brought us "Carnage In C-Minor" after all. That said, I thought The Return of Optimus Prime was a good way to end the season as well as the show. However season 4, which is only a 3-parter called "The Rebirth," was a rushed conclusion which attempted to wrap up several elements of the show, introduced the Headmaster gimmick, and allude to future stories which never happened. A pretty lame and unsatisfying way to end the show.

Oddly enough if I had to compare the G1 Transformers show to anything it would be the original Star Trek show from the 1960s. Both had inconsistent continuity, and both shows started off great but got progressively weaker as they went on. However, like the original Star Trek I do recommend The Transformers. It may not be for everyone with the issues I previously mentioned, but I still find G1 to be a fun show and I can see why it appealed to so many during the 1980s. Also, if it weren't for the success of G1, Transformers would definitely not be around today to bring us the arguably better shows we have now.

1st time seeing it w/o previous knowledge

[noizyme · 6/10 · 16 July 2007]

Here's a shock to fans of the movie and show: I had never seen the movie nor the show before sitting through the newest Transformers output by Michael Bay. I knew mostly nothing about the characters' origins, what powers they have, or why they have so much inner drama between them. I got a lot of those questions answered (except the last one), but it doesn't make me a die-hard fan of them after one sitting.

The Transformers are weird. The animation doesn't go into much detail about how their bodies change into a car or jet (just a lot of pieces flipping and melding into a piece of transportation, which they really don't need to happen seeing as all of them could fly somehow). The voices and personalities are the best thing about the series, and in the movie, big names like Robert Stack, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, and Orsen Welles (?) are amongst the "names" to promote the "film." The movie doesn't seem like a movie; it seems more like a long episode based around concepts that probably take too long to animate for the series, but then mashed them all together for the movie so that the plot could sort of make sense. The music is standard 80's arena rock (with great classics as "The Touch" by Stan Bush...later parodied in "Boogie Nights" as the hit single that Dirk Diggler tries to record) and off-choices like Weird Al's "Dare To Be Stupid" which have nothing to do with the action on screen. The sounds were classic Transformers, from the "changing" sound to the sound of portals and laser blasts. All of the artwork was exceptionally well drawn (with an anime-feel to the setting) and reminded me of animes like Akira.

Getting back to their weird qualities, these technological marvels, the Transformers, go around blowing crap up like it means absolutely nothing to them, and then trying to preach the goodness and magic of a Matrix (which doesn't have anything to do with Keanu Reeves). When Megatron throws a piece of lumber into Optimus Prime, it goes into his armor with no problem, but he can take hits from lasers and all and not feel anything? Why weren't they all created equals with similar qualities if they all just operate computers without a problem as their only "job?" Hell, even the worthless dinobots were flying (the heavy brontosaurus flying?), and others couldn't? I was just in shock at the stupid "anything goes" mentality of creators of these scripts. But I know they were trying to get more kids in the theaters so they can see which toy to pick out at the store next time...and speaking of kids, is it really necessary to throw the words damn and s_hit into the script? It's just stupid writing to try and push the envelope to let you know you're watching a movie and not the show. Why not show a scene with RC boning HotRod while you're at it.

All in all, if you liked the show as a kid, you probably should have seen this about 10 times so far. The new DVD was released with a Transformers transferable sticker, a metallic action card, and some pretty good trivia that you may want to store up in your memory banks for when you and your friend are challenging your knowledge on the subject of interchanging robots. It was good, but I think the new movie shows a better view of the random challenge of being a robot in this crazy, mixed up world.

My childhood favorite

[chrstphrlouis · 10/10 · 8 June 2017]

What a great series this was , i rushed home from school everyday to watch it , it had everything in a cartoon and the voice overs were epic i still watch this day on netflix and its still just as good as it was when i was a kid !! Way better then the live action junk michael bay puts out

Good for nostalgia and some cute laughs

[lilyasavalon · 6/10 · 31 August 2023]

I LOVE Transformers and G1 holds a very special place in my heart, and I do love it but let's be honest, this is NOT a masterpiece, and anyone telling you otherwise is in serious denial.

It's an 80s Saturday morning cartoon show that was basically a giant commercial in to sell the toys and it shows. Both the characters and the plot are very basic (although they are very cute and did still give us some great characterisation and role models for kids). Episodes are consistently filled with plot holes and animation errors, there's no consistency with basic lore or world building (and TF wouldn't really get any until MUCH later on in the 90s with Beast Wars).

That being said, I will forever praise G1 for its portrayal of Optimus Prime though, something a lot of future TF media has struggled with (even if their characters are arguably more 'realistic'). There's a reason that Optimus has been a beloved character that transcended generations.

Peter Cullen's performance was phenomenal and both he and the fans DESERVE for him to be given the opportunity to voice an Optimus Prime that can be the silly dad character again.

"Be strong enough to be gentle."

My all time favorite

[residentevil6901 · 10/10 · 11 March 2014]

I was 11 when this show premiered in 84, I was hooked instantly after watching the first episode. This show caught me off guard as this was back before the internet and hearing word of new things sometimes took forever to get around. I started collecting the toys that year and remember seeing parents fighting over some of them at Lionel Playworld just before Christmas that year. I was growing out of toys by the next year but thought the Transformers was so cool I kept collecting them and had a huge collection by 2000.

I go back and watch my DVD's of all the seasons about once a year and while they are a bit dated and come across a bit cheesy today they are still better then any cartoon on today. The were definitely made for kids and if you can watch them with kid eyes they are very enjoyable.

The first season was lots of fun although it was short, the 2nd season was a lot thicker (more episodes) and was always great when they introduced new characters. The movie came out next and it ruined the franchise a little bit to me, I would of accepted the movie and the outcome in the movie a bit easier if they had run with the TV show a few more years with all the current characters before the drastic changes that happened. The 3rd season was not as good in my mind as all the new characters was overwhelming, the coolest thing about them was they took place away from Earth more and that I liked. All new worlds and more episodes on Cybertron. The 4th season was only 3 episodes but was a nice end to the franchise.

I would of loved 4 seasons all with the original characters before the movie and all the changes they made but since it is what it is I can always go back and watch these episodes and still enjoy them.

I would give season 1 & 2 a 10 out of 10 and season 3 & 4 I would give a 7 out of 10. I consider this the best cartoon ever made.

An ok show

[macianciolo · 7/10 · 23 November 2018]

The movie is killer, the show hasn't quite aged gracefully. I'm a Transformers fan though and through and got into the franchise in conjunction with this and Transformers Prime. The show is so 80's and cheesy yet enjoyable. The franchise wouldn't be what it is today without this show. Not a must watch, but still enjoyable though some episodes are better than others.

Many are blinded by the nostalgia goggles, as a new comer to this series, this is awful!!

[xfalconx-05827 · 3/10 · 13 January 2017]

Transformers generation 1 is regarded as the best transformers series by fans, it is the one that started it all, but does it really hold up to today's standards? Here is a review of huge transformers fan who grew up with transformers animated, prime and beast wars, what I regard as the best 3 transformers cartoons. Transformers generation 1 was a 20-minute toy commercial, designed solely to sell toys. Granted every transformers series is designed to sell action figures, but the way they handled g1 is absolutely disgusting. Right from the very first episode you are introduced to about 20 autobots and 20 decepticons. All you know is that they crashed on earth to continue their long, long battle. There is barely any character development ( at least according to the first 30 episodes that I watched, and god I had an awful and painfully long time). The dialogue is absolutely ridiculous, and nothing really happens, the deceptions find a source of Energon on earth, they attack, the autobots defend, and so on and so forth. The plots make no sense and some of the characters decisions make absolutely NO SENSE!!. While I love the generation 1 designs, at least the posters and the fantastic master piece figures, the animation is horrible and rushed, that's because they wanted to air as many episodes as possible to sell as many toys as they can. I swear to god, and believe me, every time I woke up at night and I could not go back to sleep, I would watch a g1 episode, and I swear to god, it WORKS, I would sleep half way through. I highly recommend it to any one NOT BORN WITH THIS CARTOON as an alternative to sleeping pills. I was very excited to see what the fuss is all about, but even my little brother absolutely despises this garbage. Watch transformers prime, beast wars, or animated. Read the IDW comics, but for any new comer, stay away from this. I know that many will dislike this review, solely because I disagree with their opinion that is blinded but nostalgia goggles, but this is awful, one of the worst transformers incarnations that are over-hyped for no objective reason.