Coolest and Lamest Transformer

Dinobots & Constructicons = beyond classic. Ripped off _Voltron_, sure, but still, cannot be denied. (Though the lime/purple color scheme for the 'Cons was a bit gauche.) I forget whether the Dinobots merged into something, too. I thought they did...?

Soundwave was also awesome, but Bumblebee was the "viewer indentification" character and as such was going to be pretty awful. (See also: Adric, Wesley Crusher, the kid from "Voyagers!") The worst Transformer was the Autobot medic; I can't remember his name, but the toy was awesome because he had no real head, but apparently many children found this too disturbing so they gave him one for the cartoon. WEAK!

Of the early ones, I liked Sideswipe (the Red Lamborghini), and I liked all the ones that combined Voltron-style to make bigger robots (Constructicons, Aerialbots, Stunticons, Defendabots, Combaticons, etc.).

i really don't know how i remember any of this. i was about, like, 7 when they came out. i remember having to sit on a bench outside when my parents went to the pub and astounding all the old men in the pub with these things. they didn't have a clue how they worked, let alone how a mere child could effect such marvellous transformations!

Starscream was wicked bad.

Bumblebee was piss poor for such an important character in the series.

Actually, as I'n typing this, I just thought of the actual lamest toys, the Throttlebots and Runabout and Runamuck (who got killed off in the only issue of the comicbook they appeared in)...I'm really thinking of going to the Transformers convention in August (sad?, I don't care!)

Wheelie was the worst Transformer. Worst than Bumblebee, and he ruined the movie. Ultra Magnus sucked too.

My bro got Megatron for Xmas one year and every male member of the family (bro, dad, grandpa, uncle, cousin) tried but failed to make it transform. Only cousin's wife could do it, to the great chagrin of all men assembled. Ha.

But, lord, Marvel UK (from what I saw over here in the colonies) was horrible.

I have all the UK comics bar the last 20-30 at my parents. My Dad stopped the newsagent delviering it, and I missed them. Otherwise I'd have a full set. I still have issue 1, too. Simon Furman wrote some amazing stories: Death's Head was phenomenal, as was Dragons Claws.

But does anyone remember Rocket Raccoon? It was the extra story for about 10 UK Transformers comics, about animals looking after human mental patients on a mental hospital planet. It was incredible, absolutely amazing. Even now, I remember it being good. The Inhumanoids was great, too, but it ended prematurely for some reason.

It was amazing how much of a backstory and history was invented for Transformers. Considering they started as a few toys, there was such a remarkable wealth of good writing around them.

Oh, and I recently sold my Jazz Transformer on eBay. Got over £200!!! Amazing what people will pay for these days...

To be sure, maybe not as awe inspiring to watch now as it was when it came out: dated artwork, rather lame anthropomorphic-techno-dweeb puns a la Tron, little silly details that you never seemed to notice when you were a kid (How cool is Cybertron? So cool they were using the word "Jazz" four million years before Earth!) and the inevitable casualties of hindsight (How futuristic is Soundwave? So futuristic he transforms into a cassette player!).

That all said, I think the show still holds up surprisingly well--though I'm only at the first three episodes, so far, and about to get to the introduction of the Dinobots. Band of pacifists who respect the earth, forced to combat stronger, ever-oppressive army who want to 'suck the earth dry'...hmmm, sounds familiar...

Anyway, the original characters and plots, I think, were where it was at: these seemed the most human and fallible, and kept things the most interesting, generating more genuine suspense (well, whatever suspense could be generated for a kid's show, where you know in the end the good guys have to win) than the increasingly powerful (and thus predictable) characters of later episodes...

bcz he was HUGE and I got MAD PROPS at show and tell with that bitch

I use to have an issue of the Marvel transformers comic book where they helped a Bruce Springsteen clone during one of his concerts.

This lyric will always stick with me "Can't start a fire without a light/this counts for higher/even if we're just dancing in the night."

wreckgar[or whatever, the one that had eric idle's voice in the movie]=worst.

The 80s were SO AWESOME

(I also have the og transformers crossover issues with black-costume spiderman, which wd be worth something I'm sure excpet they're porb in shit shape by now)

best toys were Jetfire, Soundwave (with cassette-bots Ravage and co) and the enormous Metroplex one that was the big base in the movie

i read the Marvel UK comic as a kid and adored it - funnily enough the other day i was searching for info on the artist Geoff Senior who was a fantastic artist and drew countless issues of the comic and i found a few issues had been scanned in and uploaded - great stuff

first I had a big case of ILM deja vu re: Ally and "Wall Street" and now this. The vortex is growing larger...

anyone remember Lord Straxus? - he was a badass. He got his head knocked off by Blaster and spent about 30 issues of the comic just being a head attached to numerous wires in a secret Decepticon hangout muttering and plotting to destroy Optimus, Megatron and the whole dam lot of em

what about combat colin and semi-automatic steve [in the back of the UK transformers comics]?

also, along with the pretty cool/silly Rocket Raccoon there was Machine Man which seemed a bit more adult-orientated in comparison to RR's cutesy feel. Eventually Transformers UK merged with Action Force which was a bit ropey altho it had some great characters (Destro, Snake-Eyes, Lady Jane) - it got up to about 300 issues before folding didnt it?

Good, good -- the next step involves you saying this: "Pete de Freitas was clearly a much better drummer than whoever is in Interpol." Repeat this as a catechism.

He ended up drawing some of the US xformers comix too towards the end there.

His work w/ Death's Head was the best that strip ever saw

Death's Head wd have made a much better movie than Judge Dredd, but once again my opinion counts for shit

worst xformer - any and all transformers released after they started that shit with the 'headmasters' or woteva

http://www.liamnet.demon.co.uk/TFcomics/TFComics.htm

Geoff Senior also provided illustrations for the Fighting Fantasy book 'Space Assassin' which was #12 in the series by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson of Games Workshop fame. Apparently Geoff now works on conceptual artwork for several advertising firms - to this day the man has been my greatest influence in illustration, maybe the Jack Kirby of his generation?

Jetfire easily experienced the greatest longevity of any of my xformers or most other non-Lego toys for that matter. Possibly bcz the draftsmanship in designing that mother was completely beyond my young grasp (and still is).

i saw a pretty good condition Jetfire in a shop in Brighton a while back.....£400.....

oh and CHECK THIS OUT http://www.astrotrain.com

worst: grimlock. i despised the way he talked. the rest of the dinobots were pretty shitty too.
dinosaurs = cool. transformers = cool. dinosaur transformers = incredibly boring. how could they fuck that up?

Um, and the dinobots friggin rocked. u r all gay, etc. Soundwave always annoyed me because he shrunk when he changed into a tape recorder. As did the little jaguar and raptor tapes he came with. (I am in full geek out mode now.)

I don't think Jetfire shrunk. If anything he got BIGGER - other transformers were able to ride inside of him as I recall. I'm pretty sure most of the vehicle transformers didn't shrink.

Jetfire was actually built fm the drafts of the VF1X fighter seen in the Robotech cartoon series - better known as the original Macross anime in Japan (to love or hate Carl Masek - that is the question)

I am so beating bnw on geek points.

i lurved lee sullivan actually

as for bringing up straxus!!!! howabout xaaron, impactor, rack n' ruin, whoever that guy was in the one where zombie impactor comes back to haunt springer(flamer?), er... deathbringer?

also a fat guy called "o"

have i won this thread yet?

His cassette team, on the otherhand, were marvellous, especially Ravage, Lazerbeak, Rumble and Frenzy.

Grimlock in the UK comics = classic.
Grimlock and Dinobots in general in the cartoon = dud.

But the coolest was Prowl. There is no debate on this.

and zemko i'll see your Emirate Xaaron and raise you Topspin and Twintwist - the TripleChangers baby

Virtually the entire UK series is available online. The one with the zombie Transformers is still great.

The worst, though, was that I always used to drive to the local Best Buy when I had enough money to buy a new Transformer and 9 times out of 10 all they had was this LAME ASS van transformer. He didn't even have a face, it was just the windsheild. It was like the Transformer that they just didn't bother to put in the effort for.

Best toy I had though was this Go-Bot flying saucer robot (I know it's a Go-Bot, but it was still super rad).

anyone hardcore enough to get death's head 2? the newer version of everyone's favourite freelance peacekeeping agent

prowl looked cool but always always ended up as the nervous lieutenant. i remember furman making nightbeat the newskool prowl

beast Death's Head comic was #8 cos it was drawn by Senior and it was the Fantastic Four crossover. last i read of Death's Head he was in a story by Furman and Senior in the UK anthology Strip which was pretty cool - this then came out as a graphic novel, the artwork is excellent with Senior's usual high standard benefitting from a much richer ink palette and quality

i know Death's Head continued in a bulkier Spawn-like form but i was 'officially too old for comics by then' heh

i'm definitely gonna scan in Dragon's Claws when i get the chance now

sky lynx was a really weird transformer come to think of it

http://sweb.uky.edu/~aecops0/images/Grimlock.jpg

Can't get the Armada comic in the UK anymore because of licensing laws.

Also, check out the Takara Transformers DVD. It's great!

DOES anyone in the UK wanna go to the Transforce Do-dah this year?

On Monday, I got one of the new Armada toys. It's these three little robots that transfrom from a bicycle, a skateboard and a scooter, the robots are crappy, but they combine to form one robot which is very cool!

yeah, I love Transformers.

http://www.geocities.com/futuristgroup/vdiaclone.html

I had the browning gun robo! I always knew it was a transformer *sigh*

So here's the mystery question, watching these episodes for the first time in years: How did Starscream ever make it to even consideration as the (self-styled, admittedly) second-in-command position? The raspy, androgynous voice; not particularly strong or smart; zero charisma. They never explain why the other Decepticons don't just smack him and say "hey, shut the fuck up" whenever he opens his trap and yammers on about taking Megatron's place.

also, the A-10 Warthog guy kicked ass.

Jumpstarters! I OWN you, Steve.

Also, Starscream (in the comics, mainly) was also a bit of a combat monster, moreso than a lot of the other Deceps.

Lamest would naturally be Wheelie, weenie *Movie* Magnus (there's a diff) and Bumblebee in his lesser moments.

Triple-Changers were Springer and co. then? what a schoolboy error

What happened to that 20th Anniversary Optimus with all the trimmings?

I think I might just be a total geek and go to the conference.