Geeks Rejoice!

That's right, Christmas came a few days early this year for geeks around the country with the release of this new teaser trailer (click on one of the links for the trailer on the right). Well, this probably only applies to geeks who grew up in the 80's and were completely obsessed with everything even remotely robotic. And the coolest robots out there were the Transformers. It wasn't just a simple cartoon. They weren't "only toys". Nope, Transformers became a way of life for any prepubescent boy who didn't want to get the snot kicked out of them on the playground (not that this strategy worked all that well for me anyway).

Now, my little brother and I didn't have the world's largest collection, but between the two of us we owned the majority of the cooler Transformers. The only regret I have is not pestering my mom enough to buy one of us (preferably me, of course) the be-all, end-all of robotic majesty, Optimus Prime. Thankfully, however, Mom was smart enough to know the difference between Transformers and their infinitely less-desirable cousins, the Go-Bots. As a result, Chris and I never had to experience the horror of asking for Starscream on our birthday only to end up with Leader-1.

Of course, this new movie will definitely generate a resurgence in the popularity of the original movie (including the infamous "swear word" scene), toys and cartoon. And I'm sure there will be all sorts of new toys produced. But I'd bet all three of my extended version Lord of the Rings Trilogy DVD boxed sets that the cheap new plastic toys will never compare to the quality of the dye-cast metal originals.

However, the toys were only a small part of the Transformers phenomenon. They wouldn't have been nearly the success they were without the cartoon:


Watching the episodes now makes me wonder if consuming mass quantities of Count Chocula and Hostess Cupcakes had an effect on me beyond simply rotting my teeth. Why did I love this arguably mediocre show so damn much? Why did I eat, live and breath anything even remotely associated with Autobots or Decepticons? I'm not sure I'll ever be able to answer these questions. But I do occassionally still find myself humming the cartoon theme song. And I think the fact that I could sing along with that video without missing a single word or voice inflection is pretty impressive.

I think it's safe to say that I will be waiting in line at the most kick-ass theater in Phoenix when this new movie is released in July. I think I'll even have a t-shirt made just for the occasion that says:

Bah weep graaagnah wheep ni ni bong!