"Transformers"

"More than meets the eye...Transformers robots in disguise..."

The good guys: The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, a huge robot who could transform into a big rig

The Bad Guys: The Decepticons, led by Megatron, a robot who could transform into a big ol' gun.

The who, what & where: After battle for control of Cybertron, their home planet, the Autobots and Decepticons left in search of new energy sources. Not wanting the Autobots to gain an advantage, the two sides fought in space and crash landed on Earth (around 4 million years ago). Eventually they were awakened, and the battle continued, though the Autobots now had human allies, and eventually new Autobots joined their caused (like the dinobots, who weren't very smart, but could kick some serious hiney).

Is it airing now: Different versions have come and gone over the years, but "Transformers Cybertron" airs on the Toon network at 6 a.m.

Other News: Transformers the motion picture is set to be released in 2007. I believe the teaser trailer came out with Superman Returns (though I had already seen it on the internet) and it looks REALLY COOL!
Watch it here:


Transformers movie cartoons 80s

Tranzor Z

In a Voltron like cartoon, Tranzor Z was a huge robot that was piloted by young Tommy Davis. A "female" robot, Aphrodite, was piloted by Jessica Davis, Tommy's cousin. Together they attempted to foil Dr. Demon's evil plans to try and take over the world. Was it as good as Voltron...nah, but it was fun in it's own right (though Tranzor Z was the first of the super robot anime cartoons it originally aired in 1972-1974). This series did have an ending, with Tommy and Jessica finally defeating Dr. Demon and his evil team.

What's interesting about Tranzor Z, as it was the first cartoon featuring a super giant robot, you could say it is the father of all the ones that followed...Voltron , today's Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go, even the ever popular "Power Rangers" series.

Voltron

Voltron was a really cool 80s cartoon, that has made various comebacks over the years, but they were never as good as the original. Here is the opening sequence, which will fill you in on the story's background.

From days of long ago...

Now that you've watched it...you'll remember that Sven (in the white and black uniform) was killed, and Princess Allura took his place in the blue lion. This was one of my favorite cartoons back in the day. There was a little bit of romance (Princess Allura and Lion leader, Keith), a really cool robot, and of course, the whole thing took place in outer space. From reading various episode guides, it appears the cartoon was never really given a finale, yet has returned in two different formats. One featured vehicles that joined to form the super robot, the other featured three teams, land, water and air (each with like 5 members).
Is it airing now: not that I can find
Available on DVD: It's coming, according to WEP (the company that produced the show). You can however, buy VHS tapes of a few episodes at their site (google World Event Productions).