Recently I reviewed Transformers Devastation, and it got me to thinking about the franchise. When I was a kid in the 80’s, I was pretty big into Transformers for a couple of years.  Ever since I was a kid I always wanted a GOOD Transformers game that was truly based on the cartoon.  And now we finally got one with Transformers: Devastation (although I still like Fall of Cybertron better).  So in honor of the release of this long-awaited game, here’s a blog about my top five favorite Autobots (good guys) and Decepticons (bad guys).

But first, a bit of history about me and the Transformers franchise. When the toy line came out in the US, I wasn’t that big into them right away.  I didn’t get into too many toy lines as a kid.  I had a few Star Wars toys, but the other popular 80’s boys’ toys at the time: He-Man and G.I. Joe, never really got into them.  I mostly just played video games.  But one time when my dad came home from a business trip, he brought me back a toy, and it was my first Transformer.  It ended up being my favorite, too.  Wanna know who it was?  Well you’ll just have to read the whole blog.  So now that I had a Transformers toy, I decided I might as well watch the cartoon to see what all the fuss was about.  Right away I was hooked, and I don’t really know why since the cartoon really wasn’t that good.  But when you’re a kid, there’s no accounting for taste.

So anyway, for a couple of years as a kid, I was really big into Transformers. My ‘biggie’ Christmas presents for two years were the really big toys (Omega Supreme and Metroplex, respectively).  You wanna know what was the trigger to get me out of the Transformers phase?  The movie.  Yeah, the animated movie based on the TV show that most every boy from the 80’s loved.  Believe me; I was stoked for it, too.  But in the first ten minutes or so, they killed off a good majority of my favorite characters.  While that didn’t upset me too much as a kid, it still just never sat right with me.  I know they did that to make room for new toys, and they were going for an older audience with the movie, but still, these are just children’s toys.  If they wanted to get rid of characters, just have them go off on a faraway mission.  Don’t let them get shot point blank in the head, like how my favorite character died.  After that, the new season of the cartoon based on the movie wasn’t as good, and the new toys weren’t as much fun to play with either.  Plus, I was probably growing out of it anyway.  You know how fickle kids are.

But the Transformers toys lived on, even to this day. Whether it was the Beast Wars or the awful Michael Bay movies, it’s still a strong license for Hasbro.  By the way, I don’t get too upset over the Michael Bay movies because while they did make a mockery of my childhood, they’re just movies based on a dopey toy line.  It’s hard for me to get too upset about that.  Even Nintendo got in on the act recently with one of their Splatoon Splatfests.  You pick a team to play for, and one of them was Autobots vs. Decepticons!  I’m surprised that Nintendo got the license from Hasbro to do that!  I hated it that I missed that one, but I was at PAX.  I heard that at PAX, Nintendo was giving out Autobots and Decepticons logo T shirts to those who played Splatoon at their booth, to make up for them missing the Splatfest.  But I don’t know if that’s true or not.  I did see people wearing Transformers t-shirts, but that’s to be expected at a convention like that.  A few years ago, I was excited to review Fall of Cybertron.  It wasn’t exactly based on the cartoon, but it had that same ‘feel’ to it.  It’s what the Michael Bay movies should’ve been.  And while I like Fall of Cybertron better than Devastation, I still think it’s cool that Devastation was based entirely on the old cartoon.  OK, enough of my personal history with Transformers, now let’s look at my favorite ones!

Decepticons

We’ll do the bad guys first. I usually tend to side with the good guys, but the Decepticons had some neat toys and characters, too.

5. Contructicons

So kids like construction vehicles so this was a sure-fire hit. And I think it was the first that let you combine them all into one big robot.  It always baffled me why they were painted purple and green, though.  Has anyone ever seen green and purple construction vehicles in real life?

4. Kickback

After they had made robots that could turn into just about any vehicles you could imagine, they started using animals (this was before Beast Wars). The Autobots had Grimlock and the Dinobots, which were always a fan favorite.  I don’t think I had any of those but my friend had all of them so I would just go over to his house to play them.  But I did have one of the Insecticons, bad guys who could turn into bugs.  Hey, kids like dinosaurs and bugs, so why not?  The one I had was named Kickback and he turned into a grasshopper.  I thought he looked cool and I liked the color scheme with lots of purples and blacks and a tiny hint of yellow.

3. Astrotrain

One of the toy lines that came out a little later were called Triple Changers. They could turn into THREE things instead of two.  There was one that turned into a tank and a plane (you get to fight him in Devastation), but my favorite was one that turned into a train and a space shuttle.  His name was Astrotrain and I’m not sure if I owned him or not, but if not, I must’ve played with him at a friend’s house.  I liked that he was purple, and I think his train form was like an old timey train, too.  I know the tagline for the toys is “Robots in disguise,” but if I saw a purple space shuttle or train going by, I’d be a little suspicious.

2. Shockwave

Many kids thought Decepticon leader Megatron was cool because he turned into a somewhat realistic looking gun, which would never happen in today’s world. But I always liked Shockwave better because he was purple, turned into a space gun, and had lights and sound effects!  I think I got him for my birthday one year.

1. Soundwave

The Transformers cartoon was made just to be a 30-minute commercial to sell the toys. Actually most cartoons in the 80’s were like that.  Even as a kid, by the time the late 80’s rolled around; I was getting sick of it and almost stopped watching cartoons altogether.  Luckily DuckTales saved the day.  But I didn’t give into the commercialism in the Transformers show TOO much, and I didn’t have to have every toy there was.  But there was one character in the show that made me want to buy his toy, and that was Soundwave.  I thought he was so cool.  He could turn into a tape player, which is a bit outdated now, but he could eject tapes that could turn into little robots themselves.  I was sold.  Plus his voice was cool in the cartoon.  You can even fight him in Devastation.  Anyway, so yeah, Soundwave is my favorite Decepticon.

Autobots

And we saved the good guys for last! Here are my top five favorite Autobots!

5. Kup

After the movie and new season of the cartoon, I didn’t buy hardly any more Transformers after that. All the new toys were more futuristic and their vehicle forms all looked like used bars of soap.  And I already mentioned the other reasons why I kind of stopped being into Transformers earlier.  But I did get one of the new toys, and that was Kup.  In the movie and cartoon, he was a crotchety old timer who turned into a flatbed truck.  But it was a cool futuristic flatbed truck.

4. Perceptor

When I was a kid, I really liked science. That ended in Middle School when I learned that you have to be good at math to be into science.  So that ended it for me right there.  Anyway, this Autobot was a scientist and he turned into a microscope, and the toy even worked (sorta) like the real thing.  Granted, it didn’t work very well, but it was still pretty neat.  Hasbro made the US Transformers line out of a mishmash of Japanese robot toy lines, and one of those was called Microman and the robots actually turned into things that worked in real life.  I think Perceptor was part of that line.  Since I liked science as a kid, I really liked this guy, too.  I was glad to see that he made a token appearance in Fall of Cybertron.

3. Tracks

In the cartoon he was snooty and prissy and annoying, but he turned into a really cool blue Trans-Am. So I just kept his toy in car form all the time.

2. Cosmos

Hasbro was smart. They made big Transformers toys that parents could buy for their kids, but they also made little key-chain trinket sized Transformers that were cheaper so kids could blow their allowance on them.  Bumblebee is a good example of that.  Needless to say, I had a lot of those little Transformers.  My favorite one was Cosmos.  He turned into a green UFO.  I like the color green and UFOs, so it was a win-win situation.  He was the second Transformers toy I owned.

1. Ironhide

Remember when I told you all about the first Transformers toy I owned, and it was a present from my dad when he came home from a business trip? Well, Ironhide was that toy.  That’s one of the reasons why he’s my favorite.  I also liked how the other Transformers turned into cool things like mac trucks and race cars and tanks and planes, but Ironhide just turned into a red van.  He was the soccer mom of the Autobots!  Rather “ironic,” huh? Even the repaint of Ironhide was cooler, as it was an ambulance named Ratchet.  Speaking of which, Ratchet was voiced by Don Messick in the cartoon, and I’m glad I got to meet him before he passed away.  I thought Ironhide was cool in the cartoon as well.  Shame that he wasn’t in Fall of Cybertron and the Devastation games.  Oh well.

Roll Out!

And those are my favorite Transformers! In the comments section, let me know what you think of my picks, and tell me YOUR favorites, too!  Later!  –Cary

Tags: Movies with Children, Television