As you’re maybe/probably aware, the cartoons you watched as a kid were nothing more than a marketing hustle. Toy manufacturers would create them to help build ‘brand awareness’ and make sure you begged your parents for the ‘right’ toy. That said, there was something special about the first generation of Transformers.
Created back in the early '80s, Transformers were a joint venture between Japan’s Takara Corporation, their car-robot series, and Hasbro. The US company licensed the toys, changed their names, put together the obligatory cartoon series and waited for the money to come pouring in.
Twenty-five years later the original figures are still being re-issued and the money is still pouring in. So while Michael Bay murders your childhood memories and cheap ‘new generation’ transformers flood the market, the original Optimus Prime, Starscream and Soundwave still can’t be touched…
Of course kids today will probably say the same thing about the current crop of Transformers in another 25 years time. Right? Fuck, are we old?