Welcome to Transformaniacs. This is my first dedicated Transformers site, and something I've been working toward while putting together some Transformers webpages over the past year.
I was still a kid in 1984, so I've been a Transformers fan ever since. I seem to remember the toys being more expensive than GI Joe and Star Wars figures, so I didn't have hardly any Transformers when they first came out, and sought them out later. The cartoon series, on the other hand, was a daily ritual. I would come home from school and the two best cartoons ever would come on, Transformers and GI Joe. Maybe I've seen better shows, but it seems like nothing ever topped the combination of those two.
Transformers is such a brilliant toy concept to begin with. A robot that transforms into another toy, that's got to be one of the coolest ideas of all time. The TV show was great because the Autobots and Decepticons were distinct characters with different personalities. Optimus Prime was the ultimate hero. He was a fearless leader, always in command, and thanks to Peter Cullen he sounded like a real tough dude.
Megatron was a cool but also odd concept, and the original toy was kind of funky looking in robot mode. But, in the cartoon, he was bad ass. The Decepticon leader was ruthless, and again a great voice actor, Frank Welker, helped give him a personality that defined what he was all about. Being a bad ass.
There were other likable characters like Ironhide and Bumblebee, but I really thought the Decepticons, like Starscream were the coolest. Soundwave was really awesome. Even though he didn't have much of a personality, he had a lot of other things going for him. He was loyal and dependable, he had these cool Casseticon minions (Ravage, Laserbeak, Frenzy, and Rumble), and he just looked cool in robot mode. Soundwave also transformed into a portable cassette player, and everyone had to have a Walkman in the 80's. If he could have actually played tapes, I think everybody would have wanted a Soundwave.
I was excited when I first heard about the live-action movie, and the idea that we'd see realistic Transformers in a movie produced by Stephen Spielberg and directed by Michael Bay. For those of us who grew up reading Batman and Spider-Man comics, the movie versions of these kinds of things always ruined something that was cool, so a lot of us were nervous about Transformers. Seeing the early designs wasn't very assuring. To me it's really not a big deal that Optimus Prime is a Peterbilt with an extended nose, or that Bumblebee is a cooler car in the movie, but when you first see these things, you wonder if your favorite characters are going to become something completely different. Not that everyone will like the changes. I think a lot of them make sense, but one thing I really thought was dumb was how Bay said Brawl should be called Devastator because it's a better name for a Decepticon. It may be a cooler name, but it's also a completely different character. Brawl is a tank, just as he is in the movie, and all the movie toys that Hasbro has already put on the market. Devastator is a freakin' giant Transformer made of the combined Constructions, and deserves that name, especially if he could be used in a future Transformers movie.
I joined the Transformers movie webmaster program a year ago. They really haven't given the members much for promotional materials and we're not compensated for any promotional work, but as a fan the only reason I got involved is because I'm excited about the movie, and I like to do creative things with my enthusiasm for Transformers. I actually have an advertising and marketing background, and none of that was fun. Online you can represent your hobbies, maybe it might be just a Transformers image on your webpage, or maybe you blog, or build a fan site. That's what Transformaniacs is here for. I can collect more stuff here, and other fans are welcome to do the same. 'Til all are one, and seven are five.
Transformaniacs:
I had created a few Transformers-related domains that have been pointing to webpages I already have. I was going to use TransformersLive.info for this site, but thought I could come up with a better name, so yesterday I created Transformaniacs.com.
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Transformaniacs is an unofficial Transformers fan site. Transformers and all related characters and indicia are trademarks of Hasbro, and their representation used on this site is strictly for promotional and educational purposes to benefit Transformers fans and the producers of Transformers products and entertainment.
