Transformers Week: Day Five
And at some point, I walked away from Transformers. Unlike Paul, I do not believe one has to put away childish things. At least, not all of them. It is important to retain markers of one’s childhood and to sometimes take refuge in childish pursuits. However, some friends, notions, and well loved objects simply drift from a person’s consciousness.
I can’t really say exactly when or why I lost interest in the Transformers. Some people sustained their interest in the comic books of Simon Furman. I was not one of them. Still others held onto their toy collections while mine dwindled away. At some point, Hasbro stopped ordering episodes of the cartoon and after “The Return of Optimus Prime,” my memories of it grow hazy. Perhaps without the show to sustain it, my investment in the concept and the characters vanished.
Or, perhaps, Batman became a more tantilizing hero. He must’ve reappeared around that time in the first of Tim Burton’s duo of films.
Like He-Man, I can never really return to Transformers. Occasionally, I’ll order the 1985 Movie from Netflix, but the series itself is of questionable quality. My memory of it is probabaly better written.
And perhaps, at least for me, that is where the Robots in Disguise best belong: in memory.
Future Threat and the Hope of Progress 
I’m glad that I never got into it when I was a kid. It’s a fun pass time for 1.75 hours (2h 40mins was way too long). But I have nothing invested in it so I can show up laugh at the explosions, ogle the girls and enjoy giant robots fighting. The movie wasn’t the best, it was painful in way too many places but there was some fun to experience. All in I am glad that I saw it for a friends birthday rather than wasting my time for no positive return.
This is part of my point, though. My investment in Transformers is contained to Orson Welles, Rodimus Prime, and a handful of memories. I go to Bay’s movies expecting very little.
And I still feel ripped off.