Happy anniversary to those transforming robots who're more then meets the eye.

     Well folks I welcome you back to another installment of the Shadow Knows. What pray tell does the Shadow know today you might ask. I heard someone ask. I know I did. Well my kernel of knowledge today is this. When you iron your cloths be sure to take them off first. Now I know what you are thinking (really I can read minds... well not really but maybe if I stare really hard I could). It would be sooo much easier to simply iron with your cloths on, but I have it on good authority that irons get really hot and you may get burned. Don't even get me started on the if you add steam side of things. I mean not only would it make your hair a mess, but it could cause horrible blisters and burns. Now who really wants that... ouch. So now on to podbean.com and How I Geek with Greg and the gang. Hey that sounds like an 80's pop band doesn't it. And now coming on stage with their number one hit "Geekibration" it's Greg and the Gang. Now that would be a sight to see. So the topic of discussion in this weeks podcast is going to be geek news and geek pet peeves. Personally I hate it when my pet gets peeved. Nothing worse then when your flying monkeys get peeved at you (my geek pet). They fly around your house throwing poo... ugh. Any who Come join us Sunday for news and upset geek pets it should be a hoot and a bark.

     Now onto the topic of the week true believers and that will be the 30th anniversary of Transformers. I know, I know I did a show about Transformers a while back, but last weekend I caught the newest Michael Bay movie. So I thought I would do a more proper review of the franchise. I went into detail on the first origin story crafted for the comic and animated series. So I will not go into it here (check out my earlier blog post true believer). The Transformers franchise has been certainly one of the most successful in the history of franchises. With many toy lines, cartoons, video games, comics, and 4 movies (5 if you count the animated movie) the world has been flooded with many different takes on this awesome universe. So to follow I will discuss some of theses different genres with you good peoples.

     First up I will touch base with the generation one animated serials and talk a little on Transformers Prime. In 1984 we got the original series in a 3 part minis series. I remember when I first discovered this it was like when Odysseus first landed on the shore of his beloved homeland of Ithaca after years of trying to reach it. Yup it was like that. I made an instant connection that I still maintain today. Man those Sunbow guys really knew what they were doing. I think that one of the things that made this show so great was the fact that Sunbow employed writers from adult, primetime shows. They put things on a child friendly level, but did not insult our youthful intelligence as it were. This was a formula Sunbow repeated with G.I Joe as well and is why I believe it was also so successful. Seasons one and two were fantastically awesome. Season 3 in my humble opinion was weak, but not the worst and 4 of course was the worst, be it a very short season. I mean the whole premise of headmasters and targetmasters was so bad that it has yet to be repeated in any recreation that I am aware of. I cannot swear that the comics didn't do anything with this concept as I have not read any of the later stuff. The death of Optimus Prime in the cinematic movie was not a very good idea either. I remember as a kid watching his death in complete disbelief. Primes death and the death of almost every first season Autobot was a real blow to this franchise. As well as bad writing in the later seasons being responsible for it's decline and eventual cancelation. Shortly after the cancelation Transformers was picked up in Japan for 3 seasons. There are those who consider what happen in this 3 season run canon. I am not one of them, but there are those who do. In 1996 Mainframe Entertainment created a new series based on the future of the original series. I am not really going to talk to much on this series, even though it is considered canon. I found this series to be lacking in many different items such as good writing, good taste, and good anything. I tried to give it a chance, I really did. It was just so bad that I could not finish any episode I attempted to watch. I really wish they would have left well enough alone, but alas they didn't and this is the poo we got ugh. In 2010 we got the latest in the Transformers universe with the release of Transformers Prime. I really liked this show and was glad for the return of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime. It ran for about three seasons on the Hub network and if you have not had a chance to watch it do so. It is still shown in reruns on Hub. In 2015 the Hub network is releasing the sequel series to Transformers Prime. They are calling it Transformers Robots in Disguise and has Bumblebee leading a new team to Earth several years after the end of Rise of the Predicons (the final TV movie for the Prime series). I really hope this sequel series does not become a colossal disappointment like Beast Wars. Only time and actual viewing can tell and I will most likely report on it after it has been on a bit. So any who let's go on to the next.

     Transformers not only impacted our world on the TV, but the comic book world in the same year by Marvel Comics. The origin stories in the two mediums are basically the same and that is where the similarities end. Shockwave is more power starved then Starscream ever was. Megatron disappears for about 15 issues and Prime is killed off very early in the series (way before the movie was ever released). The artists drew the transformers more like the toy line (blah), and the stories were not the best written. The G.I. Joe line was much, much better. All that aside for some crazy reason I liked this series. I really have no explanation as to why. To quote Whitney Houston, "I don't know why I just do." After Marvel dropped Transformers the license was picked up by Dreamwave Comics until it's collapse in 2004 when the torch was passed again to IDW. I have not read any of these stories and from what I have gathered reviews of these titles are mixed. The current incarnation IDW has been putting out has been popular. Even my friend Greg of How I Geek fame was a fan boy of the current series. He was that is until they killed off Rodimus Prime and now he wants to hunt down the writer and put his head in a bowling bag. Fun times I tell you, fun times. I wish I could give you more info Shadow fans, but alas that is all I know on this particular aspect of the Transformers universe. Perhaps one day I will get some back issues and report back on it and perhaps not who knows. Maybe they will make Transformers video games or something cool like that and some junk.

     Transformers in video games did you say or wait didn't I just say that? I get so confused with all these voices rolling around in my head. Any who from 85 to the present there have been several different video games based on the different genres that have come and gone over the years. But today I will only discuss The War for Cybertron and The Fall of Cybertron. In the War for Cybertron Megatron puts into action his master plan to conquer the planet. It is then up to the Autobots to stop him and save day. The game is pretty fast paced and the story telling is awesome. I played this game with my son and we beat it in about 2 days of off and on play. I have to say This game is sha' weet and if you have not played It, play it. In the Sequel Fall of Cybertron Megatron's master plan has gone awry and the planet is dying. The Autobots are now in survival mode. The plan is to escape the planet and find new resources. The Dinobots are introduced as is the legendary city Metroplex. This game ends with the Autobots and Decepticons  fighting aboard the Ark in a desperate struggle while falling through a wormhole. My son and I also beat this game in the same amount of time, but I will say to you it was the same amount of totally awesome fun. I am hoping the next games picks up on Earth 4 million years in the future. I have heard nothing yet on the next game or if there is even going to be another game. I hope there is  because they are both so very awesome! The story was just as well done in two as one. In both games you follow each aspect of the story as a different bot from their point of view. The transforming is well done and I love the weapons and upgrades. Overall I give this game 5 out of five stars. So I say nuff said on that and on to the next.

     Finally we have up on the soapbox the Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg movie franchise. With Bay's Explosions and Spielberg's affinity with aliens this was a match made in heaven... well at least at first. I went into the first movie a full blown skeptic. I knew nothing really of Michael Bay at the time and as for Spielberg he was not doing so hot with movies and was in a bit of a decline. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Spielberg redeemed himself on this great blockbuster, but alas sometimes with sequels you don't always get movie gold. Each movie from 2 to 3 got progressively worse and 3 was a stinky pile of flying monkey poo. Megatron was treated as a punch line in a bad joke in 3. He is a character who plays second to none and it was an insult to the fans to portray him as they did. So it is with no surprise that I went into 4 with a huge amount of skepticism. Now I do not give out spoilers here on new movies, so no worries there. I will say that given with what story they had left to work with and there being not a lot of directions left for them to go without a reboot. I think they did a pretty good job. There are a couple of points that will make Greg want throw things and obscenities at the movie screen once he sees them. Now as for me I liked the movie overall. There are some minor points that I didn't like, and some fans may find them a big deal. The Dinobots are in this movie, but the predicons are not, so as for my statement on the last post I was half right. They did not get enough screen time though. There are also a lot of things they don't explain and I am assuming they are going to leave for the sequel that is definitely coming as the ending left it that way. Mark Wahlberg helped make this movie for me as well, and John Goodman as Hound did a far better job then I had first suspected. I think that this movie is far better then 3 and am looking more forward to 5 then I was 4. All I can say is go see it and decide for yourself. I just ask that you watch it with no biases and view it as something different to the mainstream universe. Well what are you waiting for? Go, go and see it for yourself and remember to view responsibly.

     Well Shadow fans that is all the time I have this week for the Shadow Knows. Tell me folks what you think. There are other incarnations of this show I did not mention are you fans of any of these shows. What about the future of the movies, do you think that we will continue to see improvement? If you were a Transformer who would you be? Is it true that you can't fit a square peg in a round hole? Can you fit a a Simon Pegg in a round hole? These are the hard hitting questions I ask for you my fine shadowy fans. Well I guess that is all my ravings for this week folks, so till next time I will see you from the shadows... and it will be more then meets the eye I tell ya.

     UPDATE: I have rediscovered that the headmaster thing was attempted again in the Transformers animated series before Prime titled The Animated Series. It too went over like a lead balloon with the fans, it was poorly handled and I liked that series. So there you have it, another headmaster attempt that went down in flames. I hope they finally get it that we don't want it... FIN