Transformers: Robots in Disguise

After a long time looking I've finally found employment, and I'll be working again. This makes me extremely happy. Now it'll be a third shift job. I've worked that before and considering the hours I usually keep, it shouldn't be too much of a struggle to work these hours. Last time I worked them though was about ten years ago, when I was a copy jockey at Kinko's, now FedEx Kinko's. (Of course the good news is now that I'll be working, I can finally begin production on comic pages again!) Now that I'll be working these hours again, it's made me start feeling nostalgic about the last time I worked these hours. Like I said, it was back in 2001-2002, and it was interesting times. 9/11 hadn't happened yet, the economy hadn't started slipping into the crapper yet, I was 25 and weight about 50 pounds less, had a cute Australian girlfriend (who I'm still friends with), and generally, life was looking up. (Oddly enough, I complained about a lot of stupid crap back then, but weren't we all morons when we were younger?) Creatively speaking, I felt a lot of enthusiasm toward my art. (This enthusiasm was undeserved, as I thought I was king shit, but that's only because I was in a bubble.) Webcomics weren't yet a major force in the comic industry, comics like PvP, Penny Arcade and Megatokyo were not exactly commonly known names. And during that time I was heavily part of the Transformers Web Community, going by the name 'Machina'. (You will not believe how much grief I got from people thinking I was a girl!) You may have wondered just why I have such an undying love for the Transformers? Well, part of it was, as I mentioned before, because I was part of Generation One's target audience and the connection I had with it and my mom. And the other part was because of this period of my life. During this time period I made an absurd amount of friends online, some who I am still friends with to this day. And a lot of these friends I made through Transformers. (Beast Wars and Beast Machines to be exact.)

During that time, we all had a hankering for a return of the Generation One characters. It seems silly now, considering how hard it is to find a Transformer that doesn't turn into a GM product, but during that time... the toys didn't turn into vehicles, they ALL turned into beasts. (Hence the names of the shows.) And the Beast Era toys were really articulated, detailed and were rather awesome. But we all wanted to see that effort put into a robot that turned into a car. I know how strange that sounds, but there was a time this seemed like a pipe-dream. And when we finally got vehicle Transformers again, after a hiatus of over half a decade, they were the Vehicons from Beast Machines. And for those that do not know, the Vehicons tended to be rather sci-fi like in their vehicle mode and had rather ugly robot modes. But that was the theme of the show, that the mechanical beings were the monsters of the show. Beast Machines was a little too tree-huggy for a lot of people. And actually overly dark. I mean, until the recent movies, it was probably the darkest Transformers had ever been. It was actually kinda depressing.) We weren't thrilled, but we took it, as it was all we had.

And then it happened.

And happened it did!

The rumors started to trickle in. In Japan, Takara was producing a show called 'Car Robots' and the toys were realistic returns to vehicular greatness. During this time, it's hard to explain. But to say that we flipped our shit was a major understatement that I cannot put into words. Then the fan site TFW2005.com started hosting videos of the show from Japan. They were not dubbed or even subtitled. We were just watching this show on crappy streaming video online, sometimes in Real Video Players. (Remember those?) We didn't know what the hell was going on. We didn't care! Me and my friend James we would take excursions across state to a Japanese import store, just to buy these stupid toys. And we were excited. We were men in our twenties who felt like little kids again! Then Hasbro announced they were bringing the show and the toyline over as 'Transformers: Robots in Disguise'. And while some people were pissed off because (like us) they had gone out and bought all the toys already... The majority of people were happy, because this meant that they could experience it like we have.

And there was quite a bit to like about this new series. Optimus Prime (not Primal but PRIME) was back, and this time a fire truck. (Interesting side note? Everytime Optimus Prime turns into a fire truck, his toy is awesome.) Several new and awesome characters were introduced too, including three new Autobot characters by the names of Side Burn, who had this comical and disturbing fetish for red cars (I guess like some people like red heads), X-Brawn who spoke with a southern drawl (as a southern boy myself, I will always have an appreciation for those), and Prowl who's a total stick in the mud. (His second toy is actually my favorite TF toy of all time!) Sky-Byte, a Predacon who loved poetry and eve had his own rhymes. And the Predacon Trio, who are the bad guy equivalents of the Three Stooges. The big addition to it all was a bad ass character by the name of Scourge, who set the stage for black repaints of Optimus Prime. (Usually called Nemesis Prime.) It just had that perfect blend of camp and robot love to make it all work. And it was looking like we were seeing a return of the old glory days of Transformers for a new generation!

Well, things didn't QUITE work out like that. What a lot of people didn't know was that the show was made for little kids... And when I say little kids I mean, like the Johnny Test audience, if not skewing younger. So a lot of viewers had a real bad-on toward the show because they felt it let them down. Some people were pissed off that we went from the decent and serious writing of Beast Machines to this campy show. (Interesting sidenote: The Stateside dubbers actually 'serioused up' the show. But a lot of people really just didn't want to hear it.) Others were pissed because this was during the height of the 'Anime Boom' so a lot of people thought they were just cashing in on the craze. (There may have been some truth to this.) And also, it aired on television during 9/11, and due to some understandable sensitivities at the time, a lot of the shows never even aired. There's a lot of people who look on this show with disdain... But you know what's kind of funny? You can usually tell the people who were first exposed to the line when it was Car Robots and when they were exposed to it as Robots in Disguise. Because the Car Robots people?

They remember that good feeling the show gave them.

After the show ended, it was a different world. For me, and for a lot of people. It was a Post-9/11 world, the economy had tanked and finding work was becoming difficult. (I don't think any of us had a clue what was coming!) My best friend James moved to California to go to animation school. (And I won't lie, had I to do it all over again, I would have joined him. I think I didn't go with him out of fear.) The girlfriend I had broke up with me, and it messed with me for quite a while. (Though she was right to. I mean, moving to another country across the planet, like we were talking about was something she wasn't ready to do, and she was right in knowing I wouldn't be either. It took me some time to realize that.) Dreamwave had obtained the rights to the Transformers comics and for the first time, I truly, TRULY felt like a fucking hack.

They were producing work that looked like this:

And I was producing work that looked like this:

Now before you say “No, it's just a difference in style!” No, I just simply wasn't that good of an artist. About this time, I decided that I could do one of two things: Give up, or sit my butt down and get better.

I guess as you guys are here reading this, you know I took the second option. And all this time, I wanted to recapture that feeling I had. That feeling of eternal youth... I realized that it wasn't just because of a silly toyline, but an outgoing attitude I had about that show. It gave me a creative energy (energon?) that pushed me forward. I remembered that youthfulness that I embraced during the Robots in Disguise series, and tried to recapture that same again. My fellow Transformers art peers creatively pushed me to find myself in my art. It was during this re-energizing period that I came up with what we all now know as Shadowgirls. It drove me forward and I'd like to think made me a better creator and hopefully a better person.

And right now, the feeling I have lately, reminds me a lot of how I felt during that re-energizing period. I feel excited, and unlike before, I know what my options truly are, as opposed to vague shots in the dark. I don't know EXACTLY what the future is going to bring here, but I can tell you that it's probably going to be some fun. And I'm reeeeeally liking Transformers: Prime.

Oh yeah, I did get a little better... 

But I still have quite a ways to go. But I'll get there... And leave it in the dust! 

Next time, I'll talk a little bit about what's to come in 2012. (Here's a hint.)