I love Transformers ALOT - like every fan and it was Beast Wars that started it for me (being quiet young at the time) The next series I saw was RiD and it went on from there. It wasn't until I was 12 or 13 that I discovered G1 but I could never watch it. They do show it on TV today but it's too late for me to watch, and at 15 I feel like I'm just a medicocre fan.

I want to be a major fan but I'm wonering if not knowing G1 and thus alot of the characters can hinder that.

 

Not at all. G1 will always be there but you don't have to watch every episode to be a "true" fan or even a "big" fan. Plenty of people just came on with the 2007 movie. A fan is a fan no matter where you started or what series you have watched.

 

*shrugs* G1's just a starting point. I watched it as a kid, but I couldn't tell you much about it if I hadn't started watching it off and on again on Youtube.

Beat Wars was the only one I watched beginning to end, and the first series I actually collected. Heck, I'm sure most of the fans nowadays are too young to have seen the original cartoon. As it is is doesn't hold up very well today, IMO.

The characters change a lot from series to series. Even Optimus Prime wasn't quite the same guy in every series. So it's mostly a preference, not so much an obligation to know the original show.

 

How do you mean, you couldn't watch it? Did someone steal your TV?

 

Yeah.
People get different things out of different shows.

 

There is no "required viewing" to be a Transformers fan. We don't demand anything from you. I think you might enjoy G1 if you watched it, but it isn't a drastic need. Some of it is good, and some of it is awful. So long as you enjoy the franchise, you're in.

 

You don't need to watch G1 to be a big TF fan.

The only thing you might miss out on is when there are little tidbits dropped in to shows that are really just there for people who've watched G1 to get excited about, but add nothing to the actual story. However that's probably not an issue since those tidbits won't have that same impact unless you grew up watching G1.

 

Well, you can be a fan with or without it. I mean, i tell people that have only seen the movie that they really should watch G1 if they want to be a fan, but you dont have to be, but i recomend it.

 

I'm going to play devil's advocate and say yes, to be a "huge" or "true" fan of Transformers (as a whole), it is necessary to have seen a few episodes. If you don't know how it all started, you wouldn't be a true fan. It'd be like watching only Terminator 3 and claiming you're a true Terminator fan, or watching Star Wars Clone wars without having seen any of the live action movies.

I'm not saying it has to be your bible, but you have to be a little more than vaguely familiar with it.

 

Due to the standard that we have now for our viewing pleasure, I'm not sure if you could stomach watching ALL of G1. These babies are pure 100% 1980s, and that means a lot of suck for your buck. Plot threads that get dropped or go nowhere, bad animation, ridiculous story elements and hardcore "Saturday Morning Cartoon Villainy" is in store should you decide to go further.

That said, as a kid I DID watch G1. Not ALL of it, but I saw a healthy dosage of episodes. The series as a whole is kinda fun to watch, but overall it's just...a giant toy commercial. Proof of that rests in the existence of the original cartoon movie, where every known character dies horribly in the first eight seconds and an entire new lineup is introduced.

Still, to be a hardcore fan, you should at least watch the original three episodes (the series' beginning), and probably the original movie. It'll give you a heads up into the minds of the G1 purists, and you might even decide you kinda like it.

Do expect Soundwave's voice to get stuck in your head for allllll time though.   That's one of those hardcore classic Transformer's thing that all real fans sound be able to smile about.

 

Thinking about it, most of Season 1 is pretty solid, so I'd recommend watching those. It establishes a lot of what are now considered classic characters, and it's pretty good fun.

 

It helps to see where the franchise began. It lets you understand from what the other interpretations sprang from and who the characters were, as well as who they became and how their various incarnations differ and do not differ.

Go to Tfwiki.net and read up on G1 episodes. Then go to youtube and watch the ones that interest you. Youtube has a huge number of G1 episodes in their entirety.

- Coeloptera

 

Bwahahaa...i stoped reading after that.

 

Yes.

You must chain yourself to a chair and watch all the G1 episodes back to back non-stop. Particularly the episodes, "B.O.T." and "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide."

Might even wanna watch those eps a couple times,.....just to drive home the point.

_________

Seriously though, don't sweat it. If you like TF's you like TF's, there's nothing you have to prove to be a "real fan." Besides if you're interested in them enough you'll gradually probably watch a bunch of the series cartoons, maybe read some comics, etc.

And from those you'll pick your favorites. Just don't be scared of new styles and changes in the series. I put off Beast Wars for a long, long time because I thought Optimus as a gorilla was stupid as hell. Once I actually watched the series though it ranks in my top 3 favorites TF series.

 

lol aw c'mon!!

 

They show G1 on TV!?

 

You don't have to, but if you really want to get into g1, read the comics instead.

SUPERIOR fiction and more character development.

 

Oh, oh and "Carnage in C-Minor", yes...

*giggles*

- Coeloptera

 

(sarcasm ON) "Yes, get out and don't let the toy robots club door hit you in the arse!"  (sarcasm OFF)

Seriously, it doesn't matter that much. Watch what you dig. There's certainly plenty of toy robot love to go round. 

 

This is absolutely correct in my view. The comics, especially in recent years are the best TF stories I know of.