| Based on a line of robots from Takara that was licensed to Hasbro, Transformers sparked a craze for metamorphic toys in the mid-'80s. Each robot-character could be reconfigured to form a car, a tank, a plane, etc. The Transformers series (Tatakae Cho Robot Seimetai Transformers or Fight Super Living Robots Transformers) was written in America, but animated in Japan. The 24 episodes in this collection, which ran between October 1985 and January 1986, conclude the second season and lead up to Transformers 2006. Each episode forms a self-contained story, with little in the way of larger character arcs or plot developments tying them together. Although the cast has expanded, the Autobots remain the good guys who defeat the bad guy Decepticons, and no one expects anything else. Although the character designs and animation are Japanese, the direction is pure American Saturday morning: instead of creating effective transitions, the filmmakers just cut to a shot of the logo--a standard practice in Hanna-Barbera kidvid. Web sites, role-playing games, fan fiction, and a brisk commerce in the original toys have kept Transformers alive in the hearts of its fans. But like Robotech, Transformers will appeal most strongly to nostalgic adults who watched the show as kids. (Unrated: suitable for ages 6 and older: robot vs. robot violence) --Charles Solomon |
