Personally, I feel somewhat mixed. The cartoon was childish, and yes, made to advertise a product, but like you said, it was new, inventive, fun, knew how to entertain it's audience, and if you watch more episodes, characters do get actual characterization. Optimus Prime and Alpha Trion even get backstories in flashback episodes. As for the movies, yes, they are glamorized, many Transformers have absent characters, and the lead female actress in the first two can't act to save her life, but the Transformers who do get characters (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Jazz, Megatron, and Starscream, for example) often stay loyal to their cartoon personas. The Decepticons do suffer from a lack of distinctive designs, but the Autobots are fairly easy to tell apart (Bumblebee is yellow with wings made from his car doors, everyone knows what Optimus looks like, Sideswipe is sleek, smooth, and has wheels for feet, and Ironhide's stocky and has his cannons). Personally, I believe while the first two had their flaws, the third movie introduced a Transformer villain with a deeper motive than simply being power-hungry, more focus on characterization (Sentinel Prime and the Wreckers could make their way into my top 30 Transformers), and an interesting storyline. The fourth movie has some gaps in the story from what happened between it and Transformers 3, but the new central villains (Human and Transformer bounty hunter) were interesting and had an onscreen presence, Optimus had a character arc, and all five Autobots had established characters. Between the original Transformers cartoon, and the four live-action Transformers movies, I don't have a favorite. They're both flawed, but have enough good (or redemption of flaws in the case of the movie franchise) that I can like them anyway. The best of Transformers fictions is, in my opinion, in the IDW comics (Dark, inventive, and with great characters), the shows Beast Wars Transformers (character development and backgrounds, clever storylines, and plot twists that changed the brand forever), Transformers Animated (a complete re-telling of the Transformers story by showing us an Optimus Prime who becomes a true leader over the course of the show, and a clever Megatron who kicks Starscream out of the club as soon as he's able to get his hands on him), and especially Transformers: Prime (The clever character arcs and backstories of Beast Wars, a complex, intricate design aesthetic reminiscent of the movies, and using old concepts in new and inventive ways).
10:29 "This will go down in the worlds greatest speaches"
Transformers forever
Personally, I feel somewhat mixed. The cartoon was childish, and yes, made to advertise a product, but like you said, it was new, inventive, fun, knew how to entertain it's audience, and if you watch more episodes, characters do get actual characterization. Optimus Prime and Alpha Trion even get backstories in flashback episodes.
As for the movies, yes, they are glamorized, many Transformers have absent characters, and the lead female actress in the first two can't act to save her life, but the Transformers who do get characters (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Jazz, Megatron, and Starscream, for example) often stay loyal to their cartoon personas. The Decepticons do suffer from a lack of distinctive designs, but the Autobots are fairly easy to tell apart (Bumblebee is yellow with wings made from his car doors, everyone knows what Optimus looks like, Sideswipe is sleek, smooth, and has wheels for feet, and Ironhide's stocky and has his cannons). Personally, I believe while the first two had their flaws, the third movie introduced a Transformer villain with a deeper motive than simply being power-hungry, more focus on characterization (Sentinel Prime and the Wreckers could make their way into my top 30 Transformers), and an interesting storyline. The fourth movie has some gaps in the story from what happened between it and Transformers 3, but the new central villains (Human and Transformer bounty hunter) were interesting and had an onscreen presence, Optimus had a character arc, and all five Autobots had established characters.
Between the original Transformers cartoon, and the four live-action Transformers movies, I don't have a favorite. They're both flawed, but have enough good (or redemption of flaws in the case of the movie franchise) that I can like them anyway. The best of Transformers fictions is, in my opinion, in the IDW comics (Dark, inventive, and with great characters), the shows Beast Wars Transformers (character development and backgrounds, clever storylines, and plot twists that changed the brand forever), Transformers Animated (a complete re-telling of the Transformers story by showing us an Optimus Prime who becomes a true leader over the course of the show, and a clever Megatron who kicks Starscream out of the club as soon as he's able to get his hands on him), and especially Transformers: Prime (The clever character arcs and backstories of Beast Wars, a complex, intricate design aesthetic reminiscent of the movies, and using old concepts in new and inventive ways).
3rd
1st