#popculture84: Mighty Orbots: The Other Transforming Robots

The life and premature death of this Saturday-morning animated series about robots who also were more than met the eye.

by Rich Watson 

To a Generation X kid growing up in the eighties, cartoons about transforming robots were the coolest thing since light sabers. They usually were made in Japan, and we were learning that Japanese animation looked way better and had more action than what we were used to seeing.

In a year, 1984, in which transforming robots were hot, ABC released one series less remembered today than the others, called Mighty Orbots.

#popculture84: Frankie Goes to Hollywood Versus the BBC

When the band recorded “Relax,” one of the biggest hits of the eighties, the British media tried to censor what they perceived as a dirty song.

by Rich Watson 

Frankie Goes to Hollywood had a brief shelf life as a pop band during the eighties, but boy, did they make their mark. Their impact on fashion and sexuality was felt here in America, but it did not compare to that of their native England. They made their fellow Brits uncomfortable, to say the least.

Especially those within the BBC.

#popculture84: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” Debuts Amidst a New Wave of Independent Comics

Turtle power! The original incarnation of the heroes in a half shell was in a creator-owned comic book that took off in a big way.

by Rich Watson 

The eighties saw a wave of independently-produced comic books hit the market, created by entrepreneurial artists of wildly varying talent. Many went unnoticed against the likes of Spider-Man and Superman.

One that launched in 1984 was an odd martial arts book with a cumbersome title—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

It became a juggernaut.