The Eye and What Meets It

It shames me now to admit such, but I used to look with disdain upon those who seemed stuck in their youth, unable to move on to a full understanding and acceptance of contemporary culture. Old people griped about the way things had changed, framing in their minds a mythic "golden age" in which everything was exactly as it should have been. This is what I believed, and I wondered why they couldn't just look fondly back on what had passed while admitting that things had changed for the better. I will be turning 31 on the 14th of this month, and, while 31 is not old, more than ever I feel as though roles have been reversed - I remember very clearly movies, music, toys, and TV shows that were "better" than the ones being produced now. This is not doublethink; I cannot help but wonder whether or not I have become a "good old days" person myself, and I'm embarrassed that I didn't see it coming.

The animated series The Transformers debuted on American television in 1984, when I was 4 years old. This September, the franchise will celebrate a 27 year run on TV alone with yet more territory ahead into which to continue expanding. I said before that Transformers has endured, but I am now compelled to add a caveat: the brand has endured, but the property has changed quite a bit since its inception. I truly want to be able to embrace Michael Bay's vision for Hasbro's robots in disguise, but I find myself no more able to do that than I was able to get into Beast Wars. As Transformers moves forward, I want to move with it, but I'm increasingly frustrated. I find that, for whatever reason, I just can't move on. I've become one of the people I used to mock, but I haven't attained the wisdom to fully understand my new position. Why do I cling to G1? Why is it that the fact that the old transformation sound effect has been all but phased out continues to gall me? Bay's Transformers are sharp, angular, alien, and not all humanoid. Surely, a claim that this is "bad" must be subjective. But I can't help seeing it as objective, in spite of my desire to grow with the franchise I love.

Even 27 years after I first laid eyes on Transformers, the brand continues to teach me. I must accept the way that it's changed; after all, it would surely have stagnated if G1 had never ended. And maybe, if I can give non-G1 continuities a chance, I can avoid becoming mired in fabricated memories of a "golden age" of music, TV, movies, or anything. I may not ever embrace fads like Bieber-fever, and I may always consider Megatron's true alt-mode to be a Walther P38, but if I can learn to continue to grow despite the apparently natural tendency to root myself in the trends and fads of my formative years, I can increase my appreciation for art and language in general as fluid forms of communication and entertainment.