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This morning during our weekly call, Cora suggested I bust out my toy box like I had a long while back, and she was interested in the small number Transformers I have - especially Ravage, both in classic Cassette form and then a function USB-stick I bought on a whim a few years ago.

We enjoyed watching this video on "Ravage through the ages" -


That "Transformers: The Basics on..." series is pretty cool... while I only ever "got into" the original 80s cartoon and toys, I'll pick up the odd model now and then. It's cool to see how artists and designers have taken some of the core characters throughout some very different retellings of the theme. (And, famously, even the original toys were mostly borrowed from other series back in Japan...)

S'funny, maybe Transformers were one of the more popular forays into Japanese pop culture - like they had a lot more presence than anime for a long while. And they were kind of neck-and-neck with G.I. Joe in the 80s - similar vibe, the whole toys-with-stories thing in the wake of deregulation and Star Wars - despite the different national origins. I imagine the old Barbie size G.I. Joe Dolls that predate the "action figures" didn't have much lore?

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Oh, actually this video in the series covers both the Japanese lines and then the Star Wars / GI Joe co-influences...

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this different series, even more toy-centric, got a better feel for the era. It's kind of weird how the toys and cartoons were just released in like a flood over two years? and how they had such an outsized impact on me and kid pop culture in general.