Confession time: I was that kid who showed up in eighth grade like she had just moved to the area, but in fact was just homeschooled up until that point and didn’t get out much and wasn’t really allowed to watch TV at home. For all I had contact with my age group, I might as well have grown up in Greenland . I was exactly as socially awkward as you would guess from that description, so this continued through high school and well into my college years, when I finally got an internet connection. The end result is that I tend to come at popular culture from the outside, particularly when nostalgia is involved. I’ve done a lot of catch-up work, mostly on Wikipedia, YouTube and TV Tropes, but there’s still a gap of experience that will always be there. Luckily, that same gap has provided me the opportunity to make some interesting observations. For example ...
It’s easier to jump into a franchise that has evolved over time. Case in point: Transformers. Now, I’m a huge fan of Transformers: Prime. It’s an awesome show, and I look forward to new episodes with unadulterated glee. However, the fact that it’s a Transformers show means little to me. I was barely aware of the franchise until the first live action movie, which I interpreted as “AWESOME PLANES and TANKS and GIANT SPACE ROBOTS, and also some kids for some reason, but mostly PLANES and ROBOTS”. And then the sequel sucked eggs on toast, so my interest meter fell back close to zero. I wouldn’t have paid any attention to Prime at all, except that I happened to catch the episode “Predatory” one night and was instantly hooked. Granted, the movies provided a little introduction to the main characters (really just Optimus and Megtron), but without that, Prime would still have pulled me in. I know from the interwebs that the show references a lot of franchise mythology, but again: That adds little to my enjoyment of the show. These characters aren’t awesome because I remember them fondly from my childhood; they’re awesome as characters in their own, surprisingly deep, story. The downside is that I can’t watch the G1 series without dissolving into a giggling mess at how silly it is. Which leads me to my next point ...
