Here We Go Again

Michael Bay's Transformers set to open in theaters on Monday. (When does a movie open on a Monday?) Transfans, as we call ourselves, are just about over the fact that Mr. Bay has not projected images of twenty-three year old toys on the screen. The more sane elements of the fandom realize that, as important as we think we are, no feature film could be supported by the minuscule percentage of the populace represented by those "fans" of the franchise that only recognize the first two seasons of the original cartoon series as valid.

The release of the movie related toys did fan the flames of the ever-present fan whining. (We Transfans pride ourselves on never being happy about our chosen obsession.) I'll own up to not finding a vast majority of the new toys appealing. I only purchased the Optimus Prime toy, and it's great.

Anyway, the fandom got over itself and settled into a very mature wait-and-see mode concerning the movie . . . for about a day. Then the above image was released.

Transformers Animated will be the new vehicle for selling Hasbro's second best selling toy line for boys. (Star Wars is king of that mountain.) Pictured here are the Autobots (the good guys) from the cartoon premiering this January. What a cool new look! This is something totally different. We're going to see such a fresh take on this franchise that we'll probably draw in a whole new generation of fans.

Of course, the "real" fans (those who hadn't paid attention to franchise from 1986 to 2006) are pissed. We really should just get over ourselves.

Monkey-Girl is probably skipping this post. She is my anchor to the real world. The real world just doesn't care about toys the way I and other fans do. Thank you, Monkey-Girl.