Man, what a gift we TransFans got in today's full Transformers trailer. By virtue of where I work, I've kind of missed out on the giddy thrill of seeing extremely anticipated trailers -- that is, the Episode II and III trailers -- for the first time with an online crowd of rabidly eager fans. Oh, I observed the stampede online but by the time the trailer posted, I had seen enough of the movie so that it wasn't as fresh or new. So what I missed out on for the last two Star Wars movies, I definitely felt today with Transformers.

See, I'm an unabashed Transformers fan. I daresay it rivals my Star Wars interest (it's a three-way tug-a-war for the heart of my inner child between Autobots, Jedi and G.I.Joes).

I'm also one of those fans who gleefully acknowledges the shortcomings of each of these franchises, because, hey, they all have their own goofy elements being designed for kids. It's hard for me to put on a straight face and equate this trio to fine art, literature or Something Important. If anything, I bristle when heavy things are said in stuffy stentorian tones about Star Wars. To me, it'll always be more laser guns, space cowboys and a gorilla as a co-pilot than it will be Joseph Campbell or modern myth.

So, I kind of shake my head at the TransFans who get too up in arms about the liberties the motion picture is taking in order to make Transformers palatable to a mass audience. Given how flimsy the Transformers core premise is, I don't think the most vocal have much to stand on. What's to complain about? That none of the humans wear yellow hardhats in the movie like all of them did in the cartoon? Lighten up! You're cheating yourself out of what promises to be a fantastically fun summer movie experience.

Enough psycho-analyzing. Onto the trailer. Oh, sweet glorious robots. Oh beautiful, beautiful mayhem! It's like my childhood dreams have been plucked out of my head and made real on film. I'm one of those kids who really did see robots in disguise everywhere when introduced to that simple but unforgettable premise. And the movie appears primed (pun kinda intended) to deliver on that basic promise.

Since the cornball days of 1984, Transformers has matured from a rather simplistic cartoon into moments of rich space opera and some absolutely fantastic storytelling, particularly in the form of the Beast Wars series and the latest comics from IDW. But the most perturbed fans will have you believe that Transformers was at its best in 1984-1986. That's simply not true. We were just more impressionable then. And, yes, it's great to look through the lens of nostalgia and relive those moments, but empirically, the majority of the tales that came out of that era were pure nonsense, and it's disingenuous to claim them to be superior.

What was, and still is, great about Transformers is the design and core premise. It's the ultimate triumph of style over substance. In 20 years, detail and depth have been added so that more modern fair feels more sophisticated. Substance has been added, definitely, but don't go looking for it in tales from 1984. And this July, go looking for a fantastic ride back to a childhood when you were capable of unabashed, unvarnished, un-cynical wonder.

ph