In its 30 years of existence, the Transformers franchise has been through many shapes and forms but it is the 1984 animated series that is the most iconic. The boxy basic designs of the characters, the bad puns and one-liners, and cheese factor all contributed to the epicness that was the series, but at times the series took a turn into the strange. There are a number of episodes in the series that are dopey, weird, or just plain insane. So, this list takes a look at perhaps the most bizarre episodes to come out from the robots in disguise. Please note that this list only covers episodes from the ‘80s series. Believe me, if we covered half the garbage from the “Unicron Trilogy”, my face would melt off in frustration.
8. The Golden Lagoon
The first episode on our list is a rather minor episode when it comes to strangeness, but rather, it takes a look at its own themes and messages. The pacifistic Beachcomber discovers an untouched forest paradise where a strange golden pool can make a Transformer invincible to gunfire. In due course, both the Autobots and Decepticons vie for the power-up, leading to a stalemate in the episode’s closing minutes. While the Autobots win, Beachcomber realises the battle has all but destroyed the sanctuary – all the pointless destruction for a hollow victory. Too bad the episode ruins its own moment of poignancy with a stock heroic sounding end theme.
7. A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur’s Court
Let’s not go to Camelot; it’s a silly place. And Decepticons are there. Warpath, Hoist, Starscream, Rumble, Ravage, Ramjet, and Spike Witwicky go back in time and end up in 543 AD, in the time of King Arthur, who isn’t in this episode. In fact, nothing really related to Arthurian legend is featured in this episode. I don’t think they are even in Camelot. There is a jousting match using a fighter jet, Rumble gets covered in bird poop, and then a random dragon shows up but runs away like a little wuss when not-Merlin shows up and scares him away with a bag of something called Dragon’s Bane. I recently visited Arthur’s birthplace, Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, but there were no traces of Decepticons there. Phew.
6. B.O.T.
Generally considered the worst Transformers episode ever, B.O.T. was the last episode of the original series before The Transformers: The Movie. Not exactly the most respectable way for the original cast to bow out. Swindle sells components of his fellow Combaticons, and two bratty and possibly sociopathic kids obtain Brawl’s brain to create a robot, forcing the resident spineless nerd to help build it. The robot goes on a rampage, outwitting the Autobots by throwing corn at them. The whole episode is stupid and culminates in the two psychotic boys duct-taping the girl and dragging her off somewhere while the Autobots laugh!
