The Transformers (1984)

The robots-in-disguise war that every other toy cartoon tried to copy. Peter Cullen created the voice of Optimus Prime in 1984, and that steady, fatherly baritone is still the reason the Autobot leader feels like a character rather than a box on a shelf. The 98 episodes are uneven, but the arc is the draw for adults: the 1986 movie leaps 20 years ahead to 2005 and reshapes the whole show, so Season 3 plays as a galaxy-spanning adventure instead of the Earth-bound scraps of the first two. Watch the first two seasons, then the movie, then Season 3, in that order.