Want to get into Transformers, where to start?
 

All I've seen is the first Bay film and the first five G1 episodes, and that was over 10 years ago. I am currently reading the old Marvel comic from the 1980s. I have not seen the animated film from 1986, either.

The CGI series "Prime" looks decent, but do I need to watch the rest of G1 for the fullest impact? Or is there a better series?

There's the G1 series that you can watch all of, be sure to include Transformers: The Movie, cause the later seasons takes place after that movie came out.

Prime is a good show and you don't need any prior knowledge to watch it.

Beast Wars is also pretty good too, it takes place from the G1 universe, there is also Beast Machines which came after it.

Yes I would definitely watch the first two seasons of G1 before you watch the animated movie.

The "cartoons" if you call them that, haven't aged particularly well. Tried to rewatch some of them myself and got incredibly bored after 10-15 eps.

Watch beast wars its fantastic a 3 season show that has a beginning middle and end and actual character development 2 things G1 lacked

Honestly, its aged better than the Fred Wolf show. Even G.I. Joe has aged better.

Beast Wars. That is all.

I don't know about G.I. Joe as I've never watched it, but Transformers felt too slow or difficult to get into. I guess you could argue it had more "plot" obviously, but overall it was meh.

Transformers 1 & 3. The rest just got worse.

I grew up in that weird generation that didn't get any "traditional" Transformers cartoons besides Beast Wars which is a slightly different take. Too young for the original series but too old for the revival in the early 00s.

I mean I remember catching an episode or two of G2 but it felt so old that I never got into it since I was already into more "dynamic" stuff like BTAS and Power Rangers.


But I was actually wondering the same thing as Spike today as I was driving and saw a posters of the new Transformers. I had no attachment to the franchise so I actually enjoyed the first movie, didn't watch any of the sequels and that was like ten years ago or more. I watched the "movie" pilot of Transformers Animated but it didn't do much for me.

I think I should just watch Beast Wars since I liked it as a kid and it's highly regarded. And I'm thinking of just watching the hollywood movies, I don't think I have enough in me to get into the other traditional shows.

This, honestly. It's the only time Transformers was able to make a fan of me.

All the seasons of G1 plus the movie are great. Plenty of fun stories, cool characters, and hilarious animation errors.

I also highly recommend the various japanese shows (The Headmasters, Victory, Masterforce, etc.). They're fantastic! Loads of awesome characters and different types of Transformers are introduced, which lead to some great stories. Might not be for everyone (being subbed and all) but I really like them and definitely recommend them.

This clip is what got me interested in Prime:



For those who have seen both, how does it compare to Beast Wars? I never really watched it as a kid, as I preferred that Bruce Timm style/2D aesthetic, but friends I've had over the years swear up and down that it's one of the best action cartoons of the '90s.

Beast Wars has better storytelling and characters, Prime has better animation and more fluid action. Just watch them both, they're both worth it.

I got started on Beast Wars. It's a great show. I don't know if it's the best way to get into it though. I still wanna go back and watch G1.

I've seen the live action movies (except the Last Knight) which I've enjoyed but I feel like I'd be able to appreciate them more and BW if I saw the original series.

I really dug Transformers Animated, Prime is good, if you don't mind the unflattering cgi Beast Wars is great. Transformers the Movie is worth a watch, the only good TF movie out there.

If you're into comics, IDW is doing great stuff with TF.

Armada was the first Transformers cartoon I watched and only Transformers cartoon I really liked. It had the best version of Starscream, imo. Didn't know much about Transformers before that aside from reading a book about them.

IDW Transformers is pretty great.