Just because something has themes that are considered mature by western audiences does not mean it's not directly targeted toward children. Pixar films are perfect prime examples of this. In Up a certain main character dies from what can only be perceived as a terminal illness in the first 10-15 minutes of the film, yet that film is advertised everywhere as a kids product. (Including theme parks!). just sayin'.

 

I never questioned it as the figures my parents bought rarely had anything to do with show (whirl and Roadbuster for example) ... Or at least I never had the critique skills to notice the difference.

It was a different time then too. We didn't just have transformers, but many franchises that 80s kids floated back and forth between. I floated thru so many franchise back then, my loyalty to TF was more something breed in adulthood than youth. It's why now, in our adult years, we embrace just about every 80s updated revival.

 

I got my first TF toys before the show got started, so I was already accustomed to how they looked. And then the show itself was somewhat inconsistent in how the characters looked, even internally. To top it off, I was three years old. So all in all, my concept of what the characters looked like was rather vague. It wouldn't have dawned on me that the toys didn't look like the show unless I held them up while the show was on to compare them--and for some reason I never did that.

It also probably helped that I didn't have Ratchet or Ironhide.  

 

For the fans that want it? Sure, for me? No, I wouldn't. Again, I like them as they are.

Umm, not saying you're wrong about all those, but, character development isn't development, if the character resets back to normal by the next episode.

 

The what now? Seriously? Well at least we didnt have the mexican Gundams  

The very fact that it had 0 context, the whole stories were completely childish (we are gonna abduct all the doctors of the Earth so the people will die of depression!) and revolved around the power of friendship and rainbows. The decepticons were nothing more than circus freaks that couldnt even walk decently, let alone fight or have coherent plans.The fact that the say yaro 5 million times in 5 seconds doesnt constitute cursing and all these things that you describe dont constitute maturity or a higher target demographic. Those things were not unacceptable back in the day. I remind you that one of the most iconic kids characters, Lucky Luck, did smoke and drank until it was retconed in the late 2000s if I am not mistaken.
And lets not talk about been repetitive to the point I was pulling my hair off.....

 

I get it you don't like it. Fair enough. We all have different tastes. But it sounds to me like your biggest complaint can be summed up by poor writing. But sometimes poor writing is just poor writing. That doesn't mean the age demographic changed. The writers changed.

 

not that much honestly. I have more questions as an adult than as a child when I just accepted most of what was on the screen. I watched most of the episodes in a random order renting from the store though since I was about 8 I just kind of assumed I was watching them in the right order even some featured optimus and megatron and others rodimus and galvatron.

 

Trust us, we know...

That's good, because there were incredibly few toys that WERE toon accurate over the breadth of the franchise.

 

I think as a kid, I just accepted the fact that the manufacturing of the toys wasn't advanced enough to get close to the cartoon versions. For all but a few characters, I saw the toys as a representation of the cartoon (and comicbook) forms and I was fine with that. At the time, I had no other reason to think that the mismatch was down to anything else, since I had no idea of the existence of the toy lines that the TF line was taken from.

 

I'll also add this to my earlier response: as a young boy, I thought having the toy accurate versions of Ironhide and Ratchet (and a few other characters) in the first couple issues of Marvel's Transformers comics was pretty cool (or at least pretty funny). But it was easy to figure out even as a 6 year old that constantly redrawing them like that would be a pain in the butt. I also liked Bumblebee's toy accurate face being used in a number of the coloring books at the time.

If in some alternate universe the pop culture versions of them were as visually funky as their toys were, I would have been happy. (the visual alone of a Sunbow Toy Accurate Ironhide with Chromia in "Search for Alpha Trion" would have been worth it)

 

I am not good with words....I really am not.....But let me try. Its not bad writing in itself. They just tried to make a show aimed at little kids, that had no connection with Transformers. It my opinion that despite the fact that Japan is the mother of the brand, they never ever truly understood it. To them TFs were the Diaclone pilot robots, and there they stayed....They couldnt get past it.Throw in every Japanese cliche you can find (I dont judge, its their cultural thing so...) and you got a lump of tasteless show that has transforming robots that happen to be named Transformers. I also very much disliked the fact that it was supposedly a continuation of the original saga and yet it totally ignored pivotal events in the world building.

 

I thought Diaclone was aimed at an older audience rather than a younger one? Hence the focus on realism compared to Microman.

 

As toys maybe. But then take into account the three TF G1 shows.....

 

I just rolled with the punches. Was I excited when more show accurate toys eventually showed up? You bet! But I had enough imagination to deal with the limitations of the toys versus Floro Dery's weird blockformers I was watching and his strange desire to remove mouthplates on some characters but leave others on.

 

What frustrates me are Australian TF fans who insist they bought or received TF toys in Australia in ‘84 (instead of ‘85). And pass it off as ‘fact’ without real proof, thus perpetuating the myth. It pops up every now & then.

The sad thing is more impressionable fans accept it on face value.

 

Never heard of this
Never even heard they weren’ available there in 84

 

Also, just because something isn't officially released in 84, doesn't mean there aren't other ways of purchasing them.

I purchased many transformers that were not available in the US, in the 90's. People can import things.

 

We weren't jaded as much as the current gen are today. Just like Sponge Bob, we let our imagination do the extra work! 

You talking about IH/Ratchet's lack of face/head? I was looking for the Matrix when I first got G1 Prime after watching the movie (I managed back then to save just enough money to get an Optimus (most of my figs were the minibots and cassettes)).

Now, thanks to re-issue purple Galvatron i got back in 2005, my iPod Optimus Prime now has the die-cast Matrix in his chest. 

 

I was specifically referring to being on Australian retail store shelves back in ‘84. Not importing or whilst on overseas holiday.  

 

Trust me. No one in 1984 was even slightly concerned with the color of the eyes. On any toy. At all.