G1 Cartoon Available Free on YouTube, thanks to Hasbro Pulse

[Joseph Bardsley]

Hi everyone:

In case folks here aren't aware, just wanted to note that Hasbro Pulse is releasing the entire G1 cartoon for free on YouTube, in honour of TFTM's 35th anniversary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ujpoDlgRU

Seasons 1 and 2 look to be online now; Season 3 will be up next week.

Exciting! Looking forward to digging into these once again.

JB

[Irrellius Spamticon]

I'd been watching G1 on the free Tubi app, and they also had GI Joe, Armada/Energon/Cybertron, , Beast Machines, animated, and Prime.

[Codigo Postal]

This is fantastic; being on YouTube is going to make it more widely available to fans old and new; Tubi is great but yet another app that doesn't have the traction or widespread appeal of YouTube.

But being more widely available doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be widely viewed, especially with the infinite competing options for our eyeballs.

Hasbro needs to do more to promote the original series.

G1 is the bread and butter of Transformers - the foundational lore, the ur-text. Nothing that has come since has replaced it; not the AEC-verse, the live-action-verse, or the Aligned continuity.

In one sense, it speaks to the strength of G1; perhaps it also speaks to the weakness of its successors.

The Prime Wars trilogy and War for Cybertron have consciously traded in nostalgia for G1 - few would seriously argue that either the Machinima or Netflix series did much to generate interest in or goodwill for the franchise.

Nothing else is likely to inspire the kind of fanatic brand loyalty, especially today, that G1 inspired in us, and Hasbro needs to keep that flame burning for new generations- especially as we age up and age out.

The original series needs amplification. It needs curation. It needs promotion. Theme weeks. Influencer collabs on TikTok. An AI-upscale to 4K.

If nothing else, Hasbro should do its level best to expose every potential fan to MTMTE, TFTM, FFOD, Call of the Primitives, Dark Awakening, Return of Optimus Prime, and The Rebirth; i.e., the greatest hits of G1 from the perspective of both lore and animation.

And for those who want to dig deeper, why not upload all the interviews, panels, presentations, commercials, and rarities from the DVD sets and elsewhere?

Anecdotally, the children of friends and family genuinely enjoy G1 - absent the rose colored lens of nostalgia, there is a timeless quality to its scripts, continuity, and production values - especially the phenomenal voice acting - that resonates to this day.

Keep the flame burning, and in another 35 years, there'll be yet another Cartoon Viewing Club - probably in the holographic metaverse on the blockchain - that will be debating whether Rumble is blue or red, and whether Unicron would triumph against the Death Star. What more could one ask for?

[Joseph Bardsley]

All of these things, Codigo. Very true. In watching these eps today, I was reminded of their timelessness and power and charm. This is a real treat!

(Do we think that, at this point, folks on this newsgroup - potentially (likely actually) the ur-fans - are truly aging out? That makes me sad.)

JB

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, September 5, 2021 at 8:36:18 PM UTC-6, Joseph Bardsley wrote:

> (Do we think that, at this point, folks on this newsgroup - potentially (likely actually) the ur-fans - are truly aging out? That makes me sad.)

It could happen eventually. I mean, there will come a point, decades from now, when the last person to watch G1 during its original broadcast run has died. But, I don't think that means there will be no G1 fans left at all. Transformers has become this huge mythos that spans decades, and a lot of younger fans have dug deep into the lore, even if they didn't grow up on it. It's comforting in some way that G1 will always exist and will always be available for fans to ingest and enjoy, if they choose to do so.

The real question remains... which versions of the episodes are on YouTube now? The awful Kid Rhino versions with the annoying sound effects? The Shout Factory release where the "Five Faces of Darkness" opening titles are messed up? Or something new that we haven't seen before...?


Zob (it's been annoying to look for episodes only for bits and pieces to be missing due to copyright claims, so this is definitely a good move overall)

[Codigo Postal]

> (Do we think that, at this point, folks on this newsgroup - potentially (likely actually) the ur-fans - are truly aging out? That makes me sad.)
>

I think of the many great names of ATT and the early fandom, and how many of them have presumably moved on due to life, professional/personal obligations, and/or a waning of interest. How long has it been since we were graced with new thoughts from the likes of Raksha, Stan Lui, Bobbi Carothers, Rob Jung, Robert Powers, and many, many others?

In this 35th anniversary year, I remember this incredible pre-Wiki repository for information on the Movie: http://www.cybernetspacecube.com/tftm/home.shtml

Back in the days before Google, this was how I discovered the wide world of TF fan sites:
https://web.archive.org/web/19970618043155/http://www.canit.se/~optimus/tf.html

Of course, it's only natural to move on to new interests and hobbies, and we can remain grateful for the passionate contributions of the ur-fans - especially during a time when the brand was all but moribund - and appreciate the fact that many of the veterans are still around to offer their perspective and institutional knowledge.

As to Zob's point, I like to strike a balance between realistically accepting our mortality on the one hand, and enthusiastically embracing hope on the other...

"We all must die sometime."
"Not today, Galvatron!"

[Avaran]

Seems like the video is sourced from the Kid Rhino versions, sigh (just watch through "Heavy Metal War" with "teleporting and remain" Megatron with Skywarp colored like Starscream in the next scene.)
On the other hand, the audio is sourced without the annoying extra sound effects. Too bad they did not just use the Shout Factory transfers that has both correct audio and video.