GI Joe didn't, for me, that's for sure.

I think it depends on your standards really. If you remember them being the best, then probably not. If you remember them for wonky animation and silliness, then yes!

I personally re-watched them all last summer, and the episodes ranged from memorable to horrendous!

I dunno, the one I remember est was Beast Wars, because it was COMPUTER GENERATED! That was a big deal back in the day.

I think the two that hold up the best is Transformers and Thundercats. Are they perfect, absolutely not, but they did at least have some semblance of continuity.

G.I. Joe was very broken, and Voltron repeats the the same 5 scenes per episode at least 3 times.

Just be prepared for very bad animation at times, at very bad editing at another.

Just take it with a grain of salt, laugh at the stuff you never noticed before and enjoy. I do think the Transformer Movie holds up pretty well though.

Pretty much all the Season 1 episodes have the same plot.

Megatron tries to take over/steal something.
Prime stops him.
Megatron flies off annoyed.

But its still good fun :)

Especially S2 onwards.

Season 1 is okay. Season 2 is a lot better. Season 3 is atrociously bad, with the exception of the "Dweller in the Depths" episode, and "The Return of Optimus Prime" (more for nostalgia's sake).

Believe me when I say, they really and truly don't.

YOU GOT THE TOUCH!!
YOU GOT THE POWEEEER!!!! YEAH!

Hell yeah bad 80's hair bands!

They don't hold up as well as Voltron does, but they hold up a million times better than Masters of the Universe does.

Well, considering their modern day competition, I think they hold up. In general terms of quality, though, I can't make the same argument.

Hells yeah they do! Have you seen the most recent Transformers cartoon, Transformers: Animated? Complete garbage! The original Generation 1 cartoon series is the best. I have them all on DVD plus the original movie too - which I think is much better than the 2007 movie, even though the effects are tight.

i haven't seen them but i know what you mean. I used to be a huge fan of the Voltron series when i was 5-6 years old. I saw a re-run on cartoon network last year i believe, and i was like "i was watching this shit when i was younger...damn, my attention span was something". However, there some cartoons that are were great then and great now. As if they ahead of thier time. One such cartoon was "Thundercats". I still love that cartoon...except snarf! (fat cat motherf$%%^r)

Okay, I take it back, that clip, was awesome. And It doesnt look like it embedded properly. So, here's just a straight link.

+ Watch video

@ggodo: Haha yes! I was such a Beast Wars kid back in the day (although in Canada they went by the lame moniker 'Beasties'). I think I still have my Megatron and Optimus Primal action figures sitting somewhere in my basement. Time to bust them out and become 8 all over again!

I'll tell you what doesn't hold up: the Ninja Turtles cartoons from the 1980s. I fucking LOVED TMNT. I still have all my figurines, the Technodrome and the Turtle Van. I saw a couple of episodes on You Tube, and I was very, very sad afterward.

One thing that DID hold up was Duck Tales, tho. Still awesome.

Yeah, I'm gonna say while it was ok for what it was (a 30 minute Toy Ad), and the characters have some depth to them in concept, most of the episodes don't really hold up.

They were buoyed greatly by the fact that, in my not so humble opinion, the toys themselves kicked tremendous amounts of ass compared to most of the other stuff on the market at the time ;)

@PlayerX: Yes, DuckTales remains awesome, both the cartoon and the NES game. I for one would love another Capcom developed side scroller Ducktales on XBLA, maybe they can start on that when they get ReArmed done and out...assuming they can wrangle the license again, of course.

@PlayerX:

Duck Tales does hold up quite well. Actually a lot of the 90's Disney cartoons do.

I saw Darkwing Duck on Youtube recently, and still was throughly entertained by it. haha

No, not really. I downloaded teh first Transformers season to my PC a few years back. I'll skip my stories but will say that I was a HUGE fan as a kid. I watched the first two episodes.

*yawn*

I still say the cartoons from the 80s look better than the stuff today.Today's cartoons look like they were drawn by a 4yr old who drank 6 cups of black coffee and chased it with a Red bull.

and is blind..

Jayce and the wheeled warriors is where it's at though.

He-Man didn't hold up 15 years ago when I saw it again as a teenager so I doubt that the visuals for transformers will but I'll tell you what will, the music and sound. When I hear them from just about any 80's cartoon, I can't help but to feel just a little good inside :) Your kid may see that and that might be a really good memory for both of you.

As much as I loved the original Transformers toons they are gawdawfully written and animated most of the time. Then again compared to the recent film they're 22 minute bites of Citizen Kane.

@PlayerX: Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers, and Tail Spin are all classics that will stand the test of time.

I've got all four seasons on DVD, and I actually get bored watching some of the later episodes. Some of the animation in Season 2 is ridiculously bad (the episode with the alien kid thinking the Transformers are toys is a great example, as there is about two minutes where the animators forgot to give the kid a body).

I'm a huge Transformers fan, so of course I still like the show. For kids these days (who like the newer TF shows), I don't think it will hold up. The Transformers comics, however, will always hold up (scratch that, The Simon Furman TF comics will always hold up).

no

I still enjoy watching BATMAN TAS, pre Robin years, pre animation budget slashing

They're cheesy as hell, and it's harder for them to hold up against the animation that is out there today. The most painful art of re-watching the show is the animation, so it might be a bit tough to watch them, but they are by no means unwatchable

The Transformers Movie holds up pretty well. Mainly for laughs though... Samurai Pizza Cats holds up the best of all the old series I've revisited. Jayce and the Wheel Warrior's intro is amazing but the show, ugh. Terrible. Skeleton Warriors was pretty class as well, cohesive narrative and a proper ending being a rarity.

I would say that they really hold up better than I thought they would.

It works even better if you watch each episode and attempt to find the metaphors for the 1980s Reagan era energy policy, foreign policy, and general lifestyle excess.

@Foggynotion: The 90s disney cartoons are made of awesome! I have Rescue Rangers on DVD, and I still watch it. Now if only they had Darkwing Duck at Best Buy. . .

"i'll rip out yoouuur OPTICS!"
robot violence is awesome. and has no restrictions. and is morally accepted!

GI JOE: The Movie is good. I mean... the world practically explodes during the opening credits... and you see cobra commanders FACE!
Two birds, my friend.

The best is the 1986 Transformers the Movie. So Goddamn good !

The orginal Transformers are the best! I'll have to say that mini-Bash might be dissapointed to see 80's version of the vechicles. Even though we all know that the Bug version of Bumble-bee is the only version!
You probably remember them being artwork masterpieces- however they are far from it. You will see a lot of animation flaws- and wonder how as a kid you didnt notice them before. Still simply the best!

No. No it doesn't hold up. I watched them on DVD and my heart shattered into a million pieces.

The new Transformers Animated is pretty awesome, tough.

Really? Will it hold up?
Doesn't Japan have like ALOT of Transformers cartoons. You'd better pray it holds up. If it's in English, yes!

Rent the movie. It's held up enough that it inspired the name of my band.

YOU GOT THE TOUCH!

not, is isn't

@Fishballs: *though

I still cry when Optimus Prime dies. It's devastating. It destroyed my youth witnessing that.

@Foggynotion: I agree but that's just because the style of Disney is almost high fantasy. Whinny the Pooh is perfect proof of that. Things only became strange when Christopher-Robin entered the frame then you saw how janked his animation was :)

The old movie from the 80's held up for me, except for that stupid ass part where all the Transformers started dancing to "Dare to be stupid". My girl looked at me like I was a moron for watching the movie. Beast Wars holds up pretty damn good as well. Lol at how dated the 3d worlds look now in comparison to what we have now. DAMN those crappy textures were crappy. Looks like something you would see in a Half-Life 1 mod.

@NunianVonFuch: I had completely forgotten about Pizza Cats, although I now remember they became their 'battle forms' or whatever it's called, by jumping in the ovens, and being shot out of a giant cannon on the roof. That is all kinds of awesome.

I laugh when people say the new versions of Transformers and other recent revisions are crap in comparison to the old ones. The old ones were great for kids at the times as are the new ones.

We as adults have an emotional attachment to the old cartoons so we have intrinsic feelings about them which skews how we see them (we have fond memories of them so we when we watch them we either still love them or think that they are at the very least "OK").

The new Transformers actually has alittle more depth while still being a good show for kids. I'm sure if you had kids and sat down to watch it with them, you would be able to stand it without wanting to beat yourself over the head with a remote.

@unicronband: God that song is horrible but when I was a kid I didn't care.

The movie is the best.

The old cartoons can be awesome or they can be stupid. I mostly just get annoyed when there are inconsistencies in the animation, of which there are A LOT.

Overall, it's still enjoyable, and the nostalgia just makes it better.

Yeah. I've quite a lot of them as well and grew up watching them (along with "Robotech" (the Macross saga) and "Jayce & The Wheeled Warriors.") The classic first series is pretty good still, if a little dated. The second series dips a lot in quality in the first half, then the second half (made after the movie and incorporating the new characters etc.) is really fantastic and sci-fi.

My own kid (who I think is older than mini-Bash at 7) loves any of the episodes with the dinobots in.

Fun trip down memory lane - holds up better than "Jayce & The Wheeled Warriors" but not as well as Robotech.

NO. No, a hundred times no. I LOVED transformers as a kid and got all excited about the new movie (even liked it fairly well), but when I went back to try to watch season 1 of G1, it was terrible. Grating music and sound effects, lame animation, nonexistent plots, episodes that were all the same. I think maybe they got into some story arcs later that might be more enjoyable.

On the other hand, the animated movie, while super cheesy, does still hold up. See if you can find it!

YOU GOT THE TOUCH!!

@jp182: fond memories are sometimes best left that way.....MEMORIES

I don't know...things I loved as a kid doesn't do it for me anymore. I can't sit through and finish old stuff anymore. Maybe because I know I've seen it already. Heck I tried to go back and play some of the old old games I had...it's boring. I mean can you finish elevator action? Or atari 2600 pac man nowaday? 1942 I can tolerate that...and varth...maybe go back and replay supernintendo bionic comando.

No the old ones dont hold up. Youre going to geek out when the opening theme comes on and youre going to love hearing the original voices and the transformation sound (I used to make that sound whenever I could. If I went to take a crap Id make it while pulling down my pants.) But youre going to be stunned to learn that as a little kid you were dumb. You could see the same 5min of animation stretched out over 22 minutes and think it was hi octane action. This will ruin your memories. But I guareentee the kid will like the simplistic action and cool laser fights.

Its just like playing again CONTRA on the Spectrum. Once you get used to it, memories come back as sweet candy.

@Fishballs: Wait what? The new stuff is complete and utter garbage. I'm sorry to tell you this, but even if it is your opinion, it's wrong.

@ggodo: so was ReBoot.. man that looked like crap.

bashcraft, any word on when the mrs. can come home? :/ funny how i'm more interested in kotaku's family workings than my own, heh.

@Otacon91: Yea, but it made the Transformers responsible for humans developing tools, how cool is that?

For those who don't know, Dinobot is fighting some badguy, and loses all his weapons. He makes a stone ax, kills the baddie, dies from the wounds he had, then at the end of the episode and proto-human walks by and picks up the ax.

@SAKY: Batman TAS is still the gold standard for cartoons, really. Extremely talented voice acting and (almost as importantly) a perfectly-designed score. Was on a business trip and saw Mask of the Phantasm while I was hanging out in the hotel room. Mark Hamill is a god.

Transformers are horribly 80s.... But I do have enough love for them to enjoy them when I watch em.
Just remind yourself: "At least it's not the go-bots" while watching.

Episodes with Optimus Prime hold up well, episodes with Rodimus Prime being a whiny bitch do not.

Evidence:

+ Watch video

I bought the The Animated movie from supermarket a few months back for £2 and still havent watched it simply for the fear factor that i know its not going to live up to my childhood memories :(

@geekgrrl: ReBoot, heh, I was never allowed to watch that, and thus forgot about it entirely, and even why I wasn't allowed near it.

@ChunkOFunk:
"Why throw your life away, Prime?"

"That's a question you should be asking yourself, Megatron!"

-- clearly the inspiration for George Lucas when writing the climactic Anakin / ObiWan battle in Episode 3.

I second what many others have said:

1. The cartoons aren't as good as you remember.

2. But they're still awesome fun.

3. Rent the movie instead...it has much higher production quality, and a pretty good story/soundtrack (you've got the touch!)

4. Stay clear of season 3 at all costs.

5. Be picky with which episodes you watch. Anything with dinobots and the creation of a new transformer is generally good....anything with double-agents and too many humans...probably bad.

Not sure about Transformers because I didn't really watch it much as a kid, but I did get to see Captain N recently and it did not hold up well at all.
I remember one episode that took place in Mega Man's universe where they went through all the levels in Mega Man 1. When I was a kid, that was cool as fuck because I was such a huge Mega Man fan anyway. When I watched it again recently, it was like some took an ice pick to my forehead. Mega Man's voice is HORRIBLE! And he's not even blue, they colored him green. The animation looks like crap now, too. I was so disappointed, lol.

Sometimes they can fly, and sometimes they just helplessly fall down cliffs or float around in the water. It's hilarious :D

I love Transformers, but I prefer the comics.

Bash, you're holding up very well in what must be a really difficult situation for your whole family. Kotaku-land is proud of you!

I don't know how hospitals work in Japan, or how serious your wife's condition is, but maybe you guys could go visit her in the hospital when mini-Bash starts missing her?

I will keep you guys in my thoughts.