Universal Social Themes in Disguise

You thought the Khan thing was fanboy?

I wasted some quarantine time revisiting the OG Transformers, the 1980’s originals. I was a big fan at the time, and the characters have obviously lived on, but every update I’ve seen has had something especially dumb going on. When I went back I didn’t binge through the whole thing, just the key arcs, the ones that got the slightly better animation. And still it was funny just how bad it was :D

The originals certainly benefit from the idealization of childhood, because straight up they kinda suck, Every line is either a joke or exposition, MOST OF THEM URGENTLY SHOUTED TO CONVEY TENSION. The big memorable themes are still there though.

Even the first time around as a ten-year-old, there were two things that always stood out to me about the show. The first was Megatron. They made him such a clown when they turned him into a tank. I mean, I get it- toy guns are always going to risky play item, and the original Megatron looked dangerously real for a toy. But him as a gun was just the perfect representation of the character. No mobility, no variability, just pure violence. He was the ultimate enemy. Then first with Galvatron and later the reboots, Megatron went from being a gun to a tank. And it’s just not the same. A tank has too much discretion.

Second was Rodimus Prime, which was a dumb name. but he was the new shit. Optimus was dead; it took an entire movie to do it. Afterwards the show did something kid shows usually didn’t do- it moved on. Optimus was replaced.

With, it turns out, an insecure dope with a dumb name, but still there was a new king in town. Until the show completely threw it away and brought Optimus back. That always bugged me. He never had the chance to be a leader in his own right. The franchise could have had two badass Primes, but they made Rodimus a simp, who gave up the matrix without a second thought when Optimus said please. What a lousy treatment for their new leader.

Aside from those two elements, Starscream. What a loon. As a kid he’s fun to watch, a wild card. As an adult you’re surprised by how subversive an element he is, in a show that’s otherwise entirely about social programming.

Netflix has a CG update to the OG run, it’s not half bad. Kinda clunky, but they’re hitting the right notes. Still in progress; as of the end of the 2nd season the Ark has only just crashed on Earth.

I may do Stargate next…