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My BF bought me Season 2 of Transformers, the G1 animated series, on DVD (not available on streaming), as well as Season 1 & 2 of GI Joe.
First off, the animation from the 80s was not great. It was outsourced to low-rent animation studios in Korea that made all kinds of errors. Secondly, limited soundtracks and sound-effects are distracting. Finally, voice acting was feast or famine.
IMHO, Transformers really holds up despite the botchy animation all the 80s cartoons suffered from. It had top-notch voice acting. For a kids show it was remarkably adult in some of its themes and storylines (Hey kids! Its never too early to learn about the strategic value of energy sources or that freedom comes from the barrel of a gun!) The characterizations were pretty strong and the inter-personal relationships between Megatron and Starscream were a highlight.
And we learned that Optimus Primes was the prototypical passing center, not unlike Brad Daugherty in the day.
GI Joe does not hold up as well. At all. The relationship between the Joes and Cobra was always a thin allegory for the US and the USSR, but the series made it so black and white that it harmed the narrative arcs. Where did Cobra get this endless supply of lackeys?
The parachute phenomenon grew tired after the first few episodes. I mean, Cobra is a terrorist organization with enough funding and support to build gigantic weapon systems and hire 1000s of soldiers. Leaving it to a band of special forces to fight what amounts to an existential threat, while shelving the entire might of the US military, makes as much sense as the Galactic Republic ignoring the First Order and only secretly funding a rag-tag band of over-the-hill vets to stop them from wiping out entire planets. And of course the 80s obsession with ninjas. Snake Eyes was bad-ass despite being in a war where ground troops had lasers.
The PSAs were great though.
Remember, kids. It isn't a good game of Smear the Queer unless you draw blood!
Transformers was always the better of the two, and greatly benefited from Marvel's input in its world building and characterization. Which makes it all the more ironic that GI Joe seemed to get the short-end of the stick as Marvel also ran the cartoon and comic book series.
First off, the animation from the 80s was not great. It was outsourced to low-rent animation studios in Korea that made all kinds of errors. Secondly, limited soundtracks and sound-effects are distracting. Finally, voice acting was feast or famine.
IMHO, Transformers really holds up despite the botchy animation all the 80s cartoons suffered from. It had top-notch voice acting. For a kids show it was remarkably adult in some of its themes and storylines (Hey kids! Its never too early to learn about the strategic value of energy sources or that freedom comes from the barrel of a gun!) The characterizations were pretty strong and the inter-personal relationships between Megatron and Starscream were a highlight.
And we learned that Optimus Primes was the prototypical passing center, not unlike Brad Daugherty in the day.
GI Joe does not hold up as well. At all. The relationship between the Joes and Cobra was always a thin allegory for the US and the USSR, but the series made it so black and white that it harmed the narrative arcs. Where did Cobra get this endless supply of lackeys?
The parachute phenomenon grew tired after the first few episodes. I mean, Cobra is a terrorist organization with enough funding and support to build gigantic weapon systems and hire 1000s of soldiers. Leaving it to a band of special forces to fight what amounts to an existential threat, while shelving the entire might of the US military, makes as much sense as the Galactic Republic ignoring the First Order and only secretly funding a rag-tag band of over-the-hill vets to stop them from wiping out entire planets. And of course the 80s obsession with ninjas. Snake Eyes was bad-ass despite being in a war where ground troops had lasers.
The PSAs were great though.
Remember, kids. It isn't a good game of Smear the Queer unless you draw blood!
Transformers was always the better of the two, and greatly benefited from Marvel's input in its world building and characterization. Which makes it all the more ironic that GI Joe seemed to get the short-end of the stick as Marvel also ran the cartoon and comic book series.
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