A few months ago I started what now seems to be a total renaissance of my former obsession with all things Transformers...

It started when I decided to sort out all my Transformer toys, hitherto sealed in a box under all the PC parts I keep in the cupboard. Feeling even more curious, I took a trip to eBay and was somewhat surprised to see the prices being charged for the stuff I had sitting in the box. Then I saw the latest incarnation, Transformers Armada

Feeling curious (not least because this new set shared the names of my older toys) I downloaded a few episodes of Armada from the net, along with some of the original G1 cartoons. And oh dear. Something seems to have gone hideously wrong...

Y'see, from what I gather the original Transformers stories were created to back up the toy line (the cartoon adverts were so popular, they commissioned a series...) Now, not to slate the state of the current toy market, but the newer versions of my old favourites were so incredibly dire that, at first, I was somewhat taken aback.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that, far from being consigned to history, TF: G1 was making a huge comeback. The comic was back with a vengeance, although this time it was being handled not by Marvel, but by a new company called Dreamwave (headed by the phenomenally talented Pat Lee). It actually went to the top of the comics charts, beating X-Men and Spider Man as it did so - not to be sniffed at, and chances are that Marvel are kicking themselves for letting this title go... Even now, fans are eagerly awaiting the new War Within 6 issue mini series being written by veteran TF scribe Simon Furman (me included, it looks great - go buy it!)

The movie is back too on special edition DVD, and even the original cartoon series is being released onto DVD with tons of extras featuring everything from interviews to fan contributions.

The toys are slowly coming back as special issues, firstly in Japan, and gradually into the States. The  reissues are selling like hot cakes, as the original toy lines are released to a hungry fan community - Optimus Prime and Megatron are the most popular, with Megatron being particularly hard to get hold of Stateside due to laws prohibiting realistic toy guns. Since most of the re-issues are being distributed to the UK through the States we're having problems here too (didn't stop me getting mine though ^_^)

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