35 years ago today the original 1984 The Transformers cartoon debuted. For many fans of the Transformers their love is rooted in the original series. For all its charming and at times humorous animation flaws, it brought the Transformers into the homes of children all over the world whether they had the toys or not.
It was the voice of Peter Cullen that breathed more life into the character of Optimus Prime than any depiction in the comic books or other media. So too for Frank Welker's sinister gravelly depiction of the emperor of destruction himself, the original Megatron. Welker also provided one of the most recognizable voices in all of Transformers history providing the dialogue for the monotone master of sonics Soundwave. Peter Cullen also pulled the iconic Southern drawl of Ironhide out of his voice actor's tool box making it a staple of the character. The legendary Chris Latta who lent his utterly unique shrill scream not just to Cobra Commander, but the Decepticon lord of the skies Starscream. He also voiced Wheeljack and even Sparkplug, but it was his voice that drove home Starscream's slippery character more than any line of dialogue written for him, and that essence has carried on throughout all of Starscream's incarnations.
These voices very much made the characters, and have resonated through all the generations to the point where the fan cry out for Welker and Cullen to be in the live action movies was so great even the steely Michael Bay crumbled and cast them. Maybe not initially for Megatron but hey, nobody's perfect. Even when we read these characters, it is often we hear these voices, or other actors emulating these originals, in our heads.
It was through the original cartoon that life was also breathed into the toy line. Although the comics were always there, and of course the fan bible the original tech specs would be rubber banded together and safely kept in a drawer for hardcore fans to reference, the original cartoon depicted the characters in motion and action, able to interact and battle their foes in ways that the toys made more challenging with their highly limited articulation.
35 long, and yet so very short years have passed since the original cartoon aired. It spawned multiple other cartoon series, to where we now all expect and wonder as fans when and what the next Transformers cartoon will be, will it have Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, who will they include, who will voice whom, and so on. Cartoons and comic books and Transformers have always been the undefeatable unavoidable undeniable trifecta of fun for fans of these noble and nefarious robots in disguise. And as Transformers Cyberverse enters its second season, and with a new Transformers War for Cybertron Siege series on the way, it seems the animated future of the Transformers is looking brighter than ever.
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