The Transformers are about to sweep the nation again what with the new movie coming out and we’re already seeing a heavy promotional push to cash-in on it all. So hey, why not do a few Transformers posts myself spotlighting my favorites?
It’s no secret that as I grew older, my love for the Robots In Disguise tapered off. I guess the super heroics & fantasy elements of Masters of the Universe and the military action/adventure of G.I. Joe struck a deeper chord with me throughout the years while the scifi nature of Transformers hasn’t. I’ve never been a huge scifi fan, so at best, I would have to rank the original TF franchise as my fourth favorite cartoon/toyline of the 80s (Joes, He-Man and TMNT would come first).
But all the hype for the movie sequel actually has me getting excited about the original toys and cartoon (I don’t care about this new movie), so here’s the characters I liked from that era:
OPTIMUS PRIME
This is a pretty obvious one, everyone loved the TF’s answer to Duke, myself included. He was the eldest (or at least sure seemed like it), most responsible of the group, always did the right thing as leader of the Autobots. Watching the 1st season on DVD just makes me hate the movie version that much more. His G1 design is so simple and so classic and and the CGI version is a convoluted mess.
Optimus Prime was my Holy Grail. I had friends down the street that had him, but he never made his way to MY house around Christmas or my birthday. There’s a 25th Anniversary Edition of Optimus that has been released but it’s like $60.
CLIFFJUMPER
Cliffjumper is somewhat similar to Bumblebee in that he’s another small Autobot and is always quick to jump into action. But instead of the wise-cracking, young attitude of Bumblebee, he’s aggressive and comes off as a bit of a grump sometimes. One of the few Transformers I owned.
BUMBLEBEE
Bumblebee gives Prime a good challenge to being my favorite Transformer. Bumblebee is the little guy with lots of pep in his step and probably is the most favored TF amongst most fans thanks to his younger attitude and personality that we could all relate to when watching the cartoon as kids. I’m proud to say I once owned his figure.
SOUNDWAVE
Soundwave was the level headed right hand man to Megatron and I loved his monotone robotic voice. As far as I’m concerned, he was second in command of the Decepticons. I’m sure that’s not how it really is in the “Transformers Universe” (Shockwave was left “in charge” of Cybertron by Megatron, so maybe he’s the actual #2), but I don’t care. He was always there to back up whatever plan Megatron had. Even though I loved Soundwave, I hated his spy cassettes like Ravage and Lazerbeak. Those sneaky little cassettes really got my goat…
I always wanted this figure too, again, it was those same friends down the street that had him.
STARSCREAM
Starscream is a classic villain and he’s pretty much has the same whiny, bossy, cowardly personality as Cobra Commander. He’s always looking to position himself with more power. Funny enough, both were voiced by the late Chris Latta, which may have had something to do with the similarities.
GRIMLOCK
Grimlock is a big dumb powerful guy, a true force in Transformers lore and I love him for it. His T-Rex mode is really cool and so is his robot form which wields a giant sword. I was reading about him earlier and apparently he’s kinda like the Autobots version of Starscream in that he thinks he should be leading the ‘bots and not Prime.
That’s it for tonight! Check back tomorrow for Part 2 as I finish up my favorites list!
