Recently, this Grandma went looking for a new car. It seemed that every car looked like a transformer. If you have a grandchild between the ages of 2 and 12, male or female, you know what a transformer is. If you are the grandma of a baby, you too will soon learn about transformers. Transformers are robots that are able to transform into cars, helicopters, electronic items, and sometimes weapons. Our grandchildren love transformers and collect them all. Even the two year old wants every transformer his five year old brother has. I now have to buy two of each! I love the word, transformer, as it is a great vocabulary word, even for a two year old, and Grandma can explain how to transform and play games as to what the grandchild might want to transform into and why.
Transformers range from $6.99 up to $39.99, depending on size and complexity, and can be found at Amazon. My grandchildren make wish lists on amazon.com and I purchase transformers for visit gifts, birthday gifts, and holiday gifts. The most recent transformer I brought was a robot that turned into a helicopter for $14.99, which the five year old coveted. Fabulous! Listening to the two year old grandson say “hecopta” was adorable.
What I wanted to know is just how old transformers are, because if all the new cars are looking like robotic transformers, then are the car designers of the 21th Century the boys and girls who loved transformers as children?
I went to my favorite instant information website Wikipedia, and found the first generation of transformers have been around since 1984! That would make those early transformer lovers close to thirty. BINGO! The television program of the transformers was a cartoon show that started about the same time. The Transformers movie came after in 1986. A live action film was made in 2007. The television cartoon program is now in a new and improved version on Cartoon Network and this Grandma loves watching it with her grandchildren. So you all have an idea of the story line, here is what wikipedia says about the show:
The Cartoon Network-produced Transformers Animated is a cartoon that aired in early 2008. Originally scheduled for late after 2007 under the title of Transformers: Heroes, Transformers Animated is set in 2050 Detroit (after crash landing 50 years earlier), when robots and humans live side-by-side. The Autobots come to Earth and assume superhero roles, battling evil humans with the Decepticons having a smaller role until Megatron resurfaces. Main characters include Autobots Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Ratchet; Decepticons Megatron, Starscream, Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Blackarachnia; and humans Professor Sumdac and Sari Sumdac. Several characters that were in the original Transformers cartoon and 1986 animated movie, as well as characters only seen in comics and such, make special appearances and cameos throughout the show.
There are now beginning readers (I Can Read Series) about the transformer stories and this Grandma’s grandchildren can listen to them again and again and learn to “read” them by memorizing. $3.99 each in paperback at Amazon – Transformers, I Can Read
For older grandchildren, there are Transformer play station games and DS games. You can find Transformers by clicking here.
The Transformer DS game is rated four stars and age 10+ on www.commonsensemedia.org.
There is a Transformers I pad app FREE, rated four stars, ages 4+ you can find by clicking here but this is not rated on www.commonsensemedia.org.
With my research, I answered my own question. Now I know why it seems to this Grandma that all the new cars look like transformers, with robotic front grills and bumpers. Take a look at the front end of the Lexus, for example:
Some of my Grandma friends just love this new look. Although I enjoy everything transformer with my grandchildren, I really do not want to drive a transformer. I guess I will have to wait for a model change! With the upcoming car designers all raised on transformers, it may be a LONG time before this Grandma buys a new car.
Joy,
Mema