Transformers

Original Air Date: 1984-1987

Network: Syndicated

"More than meets the eye... Transformers! Robots in disguise!" The mighty Autobots -- robots who transform into cars and trucks -- take on the evil Decepticons. Has there ever been a show that's more tailor-made for young boys? There have beennumerous iterations of the animated series over the years, but here at IGN our favorite will always be the original 1980s cartoon.

Viewed 23 years after its debut, The Transformers is hardly what we could call great television. The stories are fairly simplistic and repetitive, consisting of variations on the same storylines, with many of the same beats occurring time and again. But as kids we certainly weren't troubled by how many times Megatron would yell "Decepticons, retreat!" or Spike and Bumblebee would get into trouble, or that the fight scenes are, well, kind of lame actually. We just enjoyed seeing giant robots change into other things and then fight each other.