A New Transformation

Because this blog’s title is ‘Father Prime’ I would be remiss if I did not make a post here and there about the Transformers.  Every child of the 1980s knows who they are:  heroic Autobots battling evil Deceptions with the fate of their homeworld of Cybertron and our own planet Earth hanging in the balance!  At its core, Transformers is about a civil war raged between two warring factions of the same race of sentient robots, and since 1984 they have taken on a number of new forms—pun intended. 

The original Autobots and Decepticons from the 1984 Transformers series.

As a fan of the franchise I am always excited for a new series.  Perhaps it is because each new series takes me back to being five years old.  Perhaps the millennia-spanning conflict of the Autobots and Deceptions makes for some really great storytelling.  Or perhaps it’s simply that each new series brings the hope that it will be even better than the preceding one.  

This past weekend saw the premiere of Transformers:  Robots in Disguise on Cartoon Network.  It is the 10th cartoon series to debut in the U.S. since the original—what we call Generation One—ended in 1987, and with each new show comes the promise of fun, exciting, and captivating storylines with a cast of characters that we can truly get behind and care about.  Some series have succeeded in this regard—such as the mid-90s Beast Wars—and some have failed miserably—such as 2004’s Transformers: Energon.  From what I’ve seen thus far of Robots in Disguise, I have really high hopes!

What makes Transformers such a successful franchise, however, is not just characters like Optimus Prime and Megatron.  What makes Transformers so successful is the ability to adapt, which has nothing to do with the characters and their abilities to change their shapes into nearly any object imaginable.  Unlike other series of my childhood, like M.A.S.K. or Voltron, Transformers has managed to adapt with the times and let go of some of its 1980s charm and find new ways to connect with viewers.  Shows like M.A.S.K. and Voltron have attempted to reboot themselves for new audiences, but they’ve lacked the staying power.  When Beast Wars premiered in 1996 fans were in an uproar that Autobots and Deceptions had been replaced by Maximals and Predacons and new animal forms had taken over for slick vehicle modes.  But after a few episodes, Beast Wars proved to be a rousing success.  Change, despite what fans originally thought, was a good thing.  The same has, more or less, held true for every series since.  Most folks—including myself—are angry at first with the change, but soon enough we find something to love.  And quite honestly, I can find something to love with every single Transformers series, even ones that I know are sub-par.  

Megatron and Dinobot from Beast Wars.

And so now we find ourselves with the promise of a new show, the promise of a new transformation.  The animation is different, so are the characters and the overall tone of the series.  And with Robots in Disguise comes a renewed interest in my childhood hobby.  Each new episode makes me feel like a kid again, which I certainly don’t think is a bad thing.  

I wonder, as spring creeps its way into our lives, what new thing is God working to premiere in your life?  What new transformation is at work inside you?  That might sound pretty corny, and I suppose it is, but our ability to change, to adapt, to find something new at work in our lives is the only way that we will avoid the hazards of burn-out, depression, and anxiety.  Transformers has managed to stay fresh by changing itself in more ways than one, and so I think the same holds true for our own lives.  

Life itself is a transformation.  And just as the old Transformers comic book used to refer to “a world where things are not as they seem,” our lives are not what they seem, either.  The lives that we live often revolve around our possessions, jobs, and other frustrations.  But the true focus is the life Jesus calls us to, the life that looks out for the Other and points us to the Kingdom.  God is constantly doing new things to point us in this direction, to transform our way of thinking and being, especially during this season of Lent.  And in a weird way, the Autobots and Deceptions do the same thing.

The Autobot cast of the new Robots In Disguise.

So, brothers and sisters, how is your life being transformed??