I grew up watching G1 on VHS and DVD (not during the '80s, but during the mid and late 2000s), and I definitely agree that it's less good as an adult. Back in 2018 I intended to watch the whole series leading up to Bumblebee's release, and I still haven't finished it. I still enjoy aspects of G1, but some of it is legitimately hard to get though (at least for me). As an adult, I actually gravitate towards the goofy or bizarre episodes (like the knight episode) over the straightforward "Megatron creates and evil plan and the Autobots stop him" type stuff. That gets a bit boring and repetitive. As a kid I remember the show being so epic and cool, but I definitely see the cracks in the armor a lot more now. It's the sort of thing that I kind of prefer leave in my memory, because it's so much better that way. And I definitely don't think it should be considered a gold standard for Transformers storytelling.

 

Same, that's why Season 2 is my favorite.

 

I decided to watch G1 a couple years ago. Before that I'd only seen the movie and bits and pieces of the show. It's awful. I expected really crappy 80s writing, but I did not expect it to be so boring. Season 3 is a lot better with a few actually decent episodes, but the show as a whole makes me wish I had some nostalgia glasses because it was such a damn chore to sit through. I haven't seen all the transformers shows (I skipped RID2000 & the Unicron Triology), but it has gotta be near the bottom in terms of enjoyment.

 

I get it. I can totally see why people who jumped on with Animated and the films would hate it. But do your self a solid and avoid all the Japanese G1 and BW and maybe even the Unicron era stuff. It's maybe worse writing and pacing.

 

I know, right? I mean, I love the last two seasons, and season two does have it's goofy episodes, but that's what makes it fun.

But season one, the season that people praise the most... I always found that one pretty bland and boring. Yeah, there's Ultimate Doom and Fire in the Sky, but all the other episodes are just there and aren't really that impressive. They're just mostly the same "Decepticons want energy, Optimus and Megatron fight" stories. At least in season two, the goofy shit did kinda make the episodes a bit more fun, but honestly, I mostly rewatch seasons three and four, because even though the animation went to the drain, the stories are much better than the first two seasons.

 

G1 is the bread and butter of the franchise, but when I say G1, I DO NOT mean the show. I mean the toy bios, the early comics, etc. That's what I usually want to base TF media on.

 

Yeah, for me, the best part of G1 will always be the last two seasons of the show (not only good stories for the most part, but also the best roster of characters with the exception of Springer, but again, I always hated Springer), the Marvel comics (both the US comics and the few UK issues I've read, plus, the latter issues had some of my favorite characters like Nightbeat, Quake, Siren, etc.) as well as the toy bios.

 

I find the energy here around recent TF media like IDW 2.0, Cyberverse, and the Netflix series to be overtly negative and tiring. I'm not trying to go to bat for their merits, (in fact the WFC Netflix series may be one of my least favorite bit of TF media) but it feels redundant even trying to discuss them here as it's mostly just bashing. At least on Twitter and Discord I've found communities wanting to discuss these things more willingly.

 

I feel the same way. I like hearing different opinions, but it gets depressing after a while to see that hating on IDW and TFP has kind of become the default here.

 

I can probably think of a few reasons starting with we're all stuck in and have very little else to do that's not work so we comment a lot more then usual.

A lot of social media in some way lets you filter or dissuade other commenters you might not like and in a few cases sites do that by itself. Discord is invite only and a mod can boot whom ever whenever, Twitter will let the algorithm prioritise more popular posters and what they have to say and reddits upvote and downvote does much the same with anything too unpopular being hidden.

But here? say whatever you want unless it's it gets personal and it's all just put in chronological order with no special treatment. I think at one point there was a paid supporter forum but I can't recall if it still exists.

And C. you're talking to a fan base that skews far older on average and frankly likes a lot of the older content. Whenever I see a heated debate I look at the join dates and it's typically between some one who joined within the last 2 or 3 years vs some one who has been here for over a decade. The people who are still posting here after decades are the most hardcore. Like think about how many people have had to move on due to real life or have lost interest and then those who remain are transformers to the core at this point. They know what they like and know the lore as good as the people making it (if not better).

 

Honestly, I feel like both RiD 2015 and Cyberverse get way too much hate at times. The problem I have with TFA is that it relies in too much fanservice, cheaty plot devices and annoying characters. The problems I have with TFP, Prime Wars and Netflix (from what I've heard) is that they constantly brag about their maturity and they're not mature at all, they're just boring shows with extremely unlikeable characters for the most part. Only time a dark TF show work was Beast Machines, and even that show had some goofy moments that kept it from being all doom and gloom.

But RiD2015 and Cyberverse, even though they have some flaws, I feel are much better due to the fact that these shows aren't pretending to be something that they aren't. They know they're goofy shows for the kids and they just embrace it and have fun with it, and that is something that the supposed "mature" shows don't have. Plus, I feel the creativity is pretty top-notch in these shows, with RiD2015 coming up with interesting new characters and Cyberverse trying to tell engaging stories in a fun way.

 

Possibly why this “unpopular opinions” thread is so popular — as someone previously said (sorry I don’t remember who) it has a “live and let live” vibe to it that seems to prevent the constant breakout of flame wars. (Also it’s really easy to change the subject so everyone just kinda moves on before things get ugly)

 

yeah that "live and let live" vibe is what draws me to certain areas more than others. I think that's why on the whole I usually prefer Toy discussion. I don't want to suggest promoting positivity just for positivity's sake or stifling profound criticism, but so much discourse here seems to be the same cycling through of "here's why Prime/RiD15/IDW/Bayformers/etc. was actually disappointing and bad". Idk maybe that's just the nature of being on the same forum discussing the same media for years on end but I feel like some talking points have been pretty exhausted.

 

Dude, I've been discussing Transformers since 1994 on Usenet's alt.toys.transformers. Yes, some talking points are...so dead as to be laughable (FIRRIB/FIBRIR). I do miss the pre-Ebay auctions though.

My unpopular opinions:

The Dinobots are boring.

The lips on Silverbolt's Sunbow representation are pointless and creepy.

Animated wasn't long ago enough to warrant redesigned toys, nor would they be a huge improvement over the old ones.

G1 gimmick toys suck, and every *master should be reissued as a plain transformer with no gimmick, including throttlebots, sparkbots, etc. I was particularly irritated with former Targetmasters becoming Headmasters.

I don't really have any unpopular opinions of the other parts of the franchise. Those have faded with time as I've been appeased with all the new G1 stuff.

 

Y E S

 

I'm fairly new to the board but I remember the newsgroup well. Was fun to discover some of the fandom arguments.  

 

I hate most of the gimmicks on transformers toys

I really hate the concept of the headmasters and that’s also the reason why I hate titans return’s toyline

the DJD or the combaticons would be the perfect villains for a solo Optimus prime movie

 

these are just facts.

 

I think G1 is remembered fondly more for the characters than the story.

That's the problem with society today, people can't discern the difference between opinion and fact.

I welcome any additions to the Head/Titan Master squad. Having a driver/pilot for a vehicle increases playability by at least 50%.

 

These aren't really unpopular, nor are they opinions.