Revisiting Transformers Cartoons

You gotta tune up or tune out, old bot. Jazz

here, and I am so diggin' the Geekcast Radio

Network. Hey everybody, this is Dan Kilbazan,

voice of G1 Bumblebee, and you're listening to

All Things Transformers. This is Megatron, and

you've found the All Things Transformers frequency

here at the Geekcast Radio Network. Join Steve

and Mike as they unleash the beast in you and

discuss All Things Transformers. Excellent! Yes!

Hello, and welcome to All Things Transformers.

I'm your host, Steve Megatron Phillips, and joining

me in this adventure to Transformers is TFG1

Mike. Hello. Hello. Yes, Steve is currently hiding

in some sort of Cybertronian dumpster. We don't

know exactly where he is, but he's hiding from...

Shattered Glass Optimus Prime because he did

some naughty things. Anyway, I'm hiding from

Ultra Magnus who throw down his armor and take

me out back and beat me with a shovel. Who would

it kill you to raise a shovel? He's not so nice

when the armor comes off. No, he's very minimal

then. Yeah, all right. So this is going to be

something that it's just gonna be something a

little quick little whatever Transformers cartoons

now, I know we've talked about this in the past

in the last 13 years, but I figured oh, let's

let's bring back an altered geek staple and do

a 20 -minute blitz and basically talk about how

many times or how many of the transformers cartoons

we actually go back to and watch and how they

have changed in the last almost 40 years. Diecast

construction. It's a lost art. For me, what I

find interesting is they have never gone back

to the original hand -drawn G1 style. People

have imitated it, have copied it, have updated

it like animated. If you look at animated Optimus

Prime, and you look at G1 Optimus Prime, they're

not the same thing, but animated is a version

of the G1 Optimus kind of thing. Well, it's a

stylistic change. Right, yeah. Rockin' and rollin'

with Savage Ravage! We've never actually gone

back to the style of G1 in animation since the

80s, obviously. A musical sonic boom. Good ol'

jazz. I already know what your answer is going

to be, but what is your number one most re -watched

Transformers cartoon that you go through when

you need to watch Transformers? Beast Wars definitely

is my number one go -to, but that's because there's

so many, there's so many good episodes in it.

I mean, yeah, there's some that I don't particularly

care for, but I mean, honestly, like the whole

series I've gone back and re -watched the entire

thing over the last two months. three months,

four months. Actually, probably since the beginning

of January when I had to do the prep for the

panel. And I really haven't stopped watching

it since like I've been dumping them to my phone

and when I have things where I have to like I

donate plasma occasionally. And so when I do,

I watch Beast Wars while I'm sitting there, because

honestly, there's nothing else I can do. I mean,

I watched I mean, when, you know, they had, you

know, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I watched

that too. But on a whole, I watched Beast Wars.

That's my go -to when I want to sit back, relax,

want some awesome voice acting, awesome music,

awesome plot lines. I come in peace. You're about

to leave in pieces. No need for violence, Rhinox.

I merely wish to talk. I love the designs. Say

what you will about it being somewhat dated.

They still put a lot of detail into these robots

compared to some of the modern series. Unlike

now the War for Cybertron stuff and the Machinima

stuff, the Power of the Primes trilogy, those

they did put a lot more detail in than what they've

ever done before. So I do give them props for

that. But I still think that the voice acting

and the storylines themselves are stronger in

Beast Wars than really any of the other series.

Prime had some, I think the power of the Primes

is strong if you watch it together. If you watch

them as separated, they're terrible episodes,

but separate. But together as the entire, each,

segment of the trilogy being like a little mini

movie, I think that they fit really well. And

same thing for War for Cybertron. There's aspects

of it I don't care for and I do fast forward.

Beast Wars, I never find that moment. A lot of

the other Transformers series, there's points

in the episodes where I'm like, okay, don't care,

don't care, don't care. Get me to the action,

get me to the characters I wanna see. Like it's

very much that for a lot of the newer shows and...

Even to some degree like with beast machines,

there's some aspects of it. I will skip but it's

It's still for me that number one like that that

shut off your brain feel good I'll just turn

it on for fun and honestly It's given me the

inspiration for the the toy discussion that we'll

have in a future episode As far as my kit bashing

and customizing. Yeah, absolutely Yeah for me,

it's like I don't ever go back and watch Generation

1 from the beginning to the ending. I might catch

an episode here or there. I might want to say

watch a certain episode again for enjoyment kind

of thing. But I haven't actually gone back since

actually the TF2 .1 podcast since 2008. I have

not gone back and watched Transformers 1984.

all the way through all 98 episodes. However,

if I need to shut my brain off or if I need to

just relax and just not think about anything

and just focus on one thing that I get enjoyment

out of, you know, something like Season 3's Carnage

in C minor because I just find it funny. I don't

care if people think it's a good or a bad episode.

This is the one where they go to the the musical

planet and Blaster and Soundwave are like, oh,

it's harmony. It's this, it's that. And they

speak in this musical language. And I know a

lot of people don't like that episode. That's

fine. So much for the comet! And so much for

me! I'm leaving! No! You stay in the city! Try

and stop me! Allegra! Where are you going? To

my retreat! I watch Rebirth a lot. Not a lot,

but I've gone back and watched the three -part

finale of the series Rebirth a lot. Beast Wars,

I'm right there with you. I've gone back and

watched it multiple times. As of this recording,

I'm actually going back and sort of watching

it so I can record audio for... whatever section

of the top 100 Transformers countdown that Beast

Wars characters will show up in. So I'm actually

in the middle of watching Beast Wars right now.

Other series that I like going back to and catching

certain episodes of are like animated, it just

depends. Prime, it just depends. I like both

of those series. I like Prime a lot. I think

Prime... I think at this point with where Transformers

is, Prime tends to get forgotten because we have

had the Machinima's Power of the Primes trilogy.

We have the Netflix War for Cybertron trilogy

now. We had the 2015 RID. Magatron, today you

answer for your crimes against Cybertron and

against humanity. One shall stand, and one shall

fall. You, Optimus Prime! Fix it. Back to the

ship and get that cell ready. Russell, stay here

with Sideswipe. Everyone else, we're a team now.

And we're all that stands between underbite and

the loss of a lot of innocent lives. So let's

do what we have to do. Roll up and roll out!

Every once in a while I'll try to go back to

like Armada, Cybershawn, Energon, but... Those

were all out at a time where I was essentially

grown up and I didn't have any interest in Transformers

at that time like for me my interest in Transformers

started again like right after the first movie

Launched in 2007, you know, but for me it's like

all of it matters. I just don't pay attention

to all of it because I just have no interest.

It's not that it's good or bad and there are

good and bad things in all of the cartoons and

some people like this and some people don't like

this and that's fine. We all have our different

likes and dislikes but they are what they are

and what I mean about how has the Transformers

cartoons changed or not changed in 40 years is

what I was saying earlier. how every generation

that we get a new cartoon, it is almost completely

different from the last one, no matter whether

it's the animation style, whether it's the voice

acting. I will say War for Cybertron so far,

Siege and Earthrise are the closest two -generation

one we're ever gonna get, but it's still a 3D

cartoon. It's not 2D, you know, hand -drawn animation

like it was in the 80s, and I get it. that's

not what the style is today and that's not what

it where it's gonna ever go again but I just

I don't know sometimes I look at G1 and I'm like

I wish we had more of that style again because

it's still really really cool even though it's

2d animation it still jumps off the screen at

me Disclosure averted. Continue observation.

Yeah, I still, while I love the various series

that are out, I found myself going back and watching

select episodes of G1, select episodes of the

2015 Robots in Disguise, select episodes, like

I've even, because the kids occasionally watch

Rescue Bots or Rescue Bot Academy. And I've watched

that and honestly, it's not that bad. I actually

like Rescubot Academy more than Rescubot's one

because they're bite size or like five to 10

minutes. But for a kid's episode, that seems

to be fine. And I don't mind the animation either,

like some of the aspects of it are a little bit

different, focuses on different characters. But

overall, like I see their enjoyment with it.

But But yeah, like I've I've really been kind

of just going back and watching random episodes

from random series at this point. I've been watching

a little bit of everything just to kind of, you

know, whatever my whatever my opinion is of,

you know, Transformers as a whole, like I've

I've been sampling War for Sniper Tron and stuff

from Siege and Earthrise. I've been sampling,

you know, the like I said, 2015 robots in disguise,

the I haven't gone back and this this would be

like a trial for my brain having to watch the

2001 robots in disguise and which to me is like

the The one series that I have no inclination

Although I would watch it before I'd watch bot

bots, which is supposed to be So anyways I would

sooner watch the 2001 series than watch that.

And I have watched some of it in the past and

some of it wasn't that bad. Like you had a mix

of like some Beast Wars elements, some, you know,

G1 elements and some, you know, the other Japanese

series kind of mixed in. So it's not that bad.

And I genuinely wouldn't mind checking sections

of it out. I didn't like the brother aspect of

Prime and Ultra Magnus, though I didn't like

that whole rival breed. think that a puny fire

engine is going to stop me? Optimus Prime, transform!

Well, look who's here. Optimus Prime, as I live

and breathe. Believe now, Megatron. Like, I would

like to sample some of the Japanese series, the

Headmasters, more of that. Master Force, Beast

Wars 2, Beast Wars Neo, Victory, you know, just

these series that we generally don't have. um

a whole lot of exposure to because they're not

in english yeah see that's that's my biggest

problem and it's not that i dislike the series

but that's my biggest hurdle is because they're

not in english i'm not gonna watch them tfcog

one of the benefits of them and one of the things

that i enjoyed about them was they did they didn't

finish any of the series but they did come close

on a lot of them They did Beast Wars 2, they

did Beast Wars Neo, they did Master Force, they

did Victory, they had a subgroup that was associated

with them that wasn't them and that was doing

Headmasters, and I'm a part of that still. We're

supposed to have episodes 9 and 10 produced soon

at some point this year, but it's really interesting

to see how they have to go through all that work

to translate it, to mouth it, to dub it. They

show you the animation and they're like, you

got to fit this mouth flap, which that's... you

know, analog dialogue, replacement stuff. So

it's really interesting. And I would love to

be able to watch them and even with the dubs,

because they put a lot of love and a lot of work

into them as if they were actually produced by

these companies. And so I would love to check

those out to get a little bit of that flavor.

Because I know enough, but I don't know a lot

when it comes to those cartoons. And I feel like

Yeah, we've had a lot of great United States

series, but I feel like there's been a disservice

to the Transformers community if you don't know

how to, you know, one, if you don't want to read

subtitles and two, if you wanted a dubbed show

and you don't have that option. Yeah. Because

honestly, like I there's like the Unicron trilogy.

I don't particularly enjoy that series and that

trilogy. And I would I would rather watch the

machinima one over that. I would rather watch.

Animated animated and I knock animated. I don't

hate it, but it's not I love the nods and the

callbacks, but it's not necessarily my cup of

tea Comes to transformers. Yeah, I think now

that they're doing Or for Cybertron and who knows

what they're gonna do next and you mentioned

the thing There's supposed to be a new trilogy

after war for Cybertron because the the machinima

series uh hasbro to this day claims that that

is the logical conclusion to g1 even though even

though all the japanese series that were totally

forgotten in retconned right technically took

us all the way to the beast wars era true so

i i don't know anyways like i That's what they

claim now is the new part of their aligned continuity

thing of having the machinima series is the definitive

finish of T1 and beginning of East Wars even

though Optimus Primal is yeah, so Even though

Optimus Primal is Ron Perlman. Yeah, and he's

optimal optimus Yeah before his time and he never

met Prime So so yeah that aside like I I don't

mind war for Cybertron but And I love the concept

of what they're tentatively planning with Kingdom

because Kingdom is doing what they intended to

do had they got a fourth season of Beast Wars,

which is mix the Autobots, Decepticons, Maximals

and Predacons and have them fight together. So

that I'm really excited about, and I'm glad that

that idea is finally coming to fruition. The

thing with the first two is Yes, they do flesh

out and they do fill in the gaps of what happened

before G1, before they hit Earth. The same token,

I don't know if I necessarily needed another

prequel. Right, I'm okay with it and we've already

talked about Siege and Earthrise. And I'm not

knocking them. The more I watch them, the more

I genuinely enjoy them. Yeah, and this is again

part of the plan that I have for us here at all

things transformers is obviously Transformers

war for Cybertron Kingdom will hit Netflix in

July which we are two months away from at this

point I'm excited. I want to watch it. So as

soon as we as soon as we hit that we are going

to Do an episode on Kingdom in July in July Transformers

grow there And then in September, and you don't

even know anything about this, I told you I have

a plan, but sometime before September 17th of

this year, we will go back and re -watch all

three at once and talk about the entire War for

Cybertron trilogy in an episode of this show.

And the reason why it'll air on September 17th

is because You know 30 something years ago. That's

when generation one debuted because as many of

the bad episodes g1 has Without that we wouldn't

be here Without that starting point we would

not be where we are today in Transformers That's

why I absolutely love even though I'm not collecting

them because I'm only about the funcos when it

comes to toys these days And this kind of ties

into our next episode that will be coming up

here on All Things Transformers. Even though

I'm not collecting them, I love what they are

doing with the Kingdom line and giving us all

these cool things. Like we've already talked

about Rhinox and Galvatron and Commander Class

Rodimus and we're getting five Dinobots and it's

just so friggin' cool. Yeah, and I you know not

to get under the toy tension too much They're

they're hinting at with the next set of some

of these Amazon exclusives in these two packs

like for instance the G1 Mirage and Kingdom Grimlock

or Beast Grimlock That are going to be paired

in a two part, you know two pack and the Grimlock

is basically a repaint retool of Dinobot and

he's going to resemble his Beast Wars ascending

comic from IDW because a lot of the new stuff

that's starting to come out is starting to coincide

a lot with IDW comics and I don't have a problem

with that because it kind of puts a new spin

on it or more detail or you know you get some

different decos that you would not have had before

and I'm looking forward to that 2 -pack only

for the reason that and I know this is again

sidelining is because of the Grimlock figure.

But what's more important about it, and Proto

Man talked about it on one of his video podcasts

recently, was the aspect of there being a new

series associated with that concept. Right, yeah.

That's the thing. What I've noticed is, you know,

And they've always done this that either toys

drive cartoons or cartoons drive toys. And what

they've been doing lately is like the War for

Cybertron Siege and Earthrise line were out way

before the Netflix cartoons were. But we were,

you know, you know, at the time when those toy

lines got released, we were like, oh, the cartoons

are coming. So we'll actually see a cartoon thing

for what this toy is. And yeah, absolutely. So

to the audience, to you guys who are listening

to this very, very short discussion on Transformers

cartoons, what are some of the Transformers cartoons

that you go back and rewatch? And what are your

top five Transformers cartoon episodes? We will

do a top five of ours at some point in the future.

most likely after the top 100 Transformers characters

countdown. Well, I almost want to wait until

after Kingdom airs because which like it would

anyway. Yeah. But because there may be an episode

in there that that ends up on that top five list,

even if it's because it's a recent episode. Right.

But it's going to be very hard because you're

talking we've got 35 years of Transformers shows.

Yeah, it's just yeah, I I don't even know. Yeah,

for me, I could probably pick one from each generation,

most likely. And I would, I would, I would be

hard pressed. There's like, and most of mine

come from Beast Wars, which is, there's episodes

of G1 that I could do that with too. There's

not a lot in the other series I could sit there

and do that with. I can do it with G1, Beast

Wars, Beast Machines, Animated, and Prime. I

can do it with those four so far at this point.

But that's down the line in the future. So I

think that's gonna do it for the Toon Talk. Coming

up next time, we're gonna be talking Transformers

toys then and now. Well, and I do wanna hear

from people too. Is there a series that we have

not covered that you would like to hear us cover?

Butt, butts, butt, butts, butt, butts! No, no.

I quit. Good night, everybody. You should have

done that in Megatron's voice. I quit! Good night,

everybody. Who in the pits of Kaon is that? I

love you. Shut up, bitch, I'm not done. That's

a deep freeze call!