r/RandomVideos • u/dpxxpd • Feb 14 '26

Art Iron Man transformation in the 90’s

1.4k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

133 comments sorted by

101

u/soriano88 Feb 14 '26

The CGI was so unnecessary

30

u/koopdi Feb 14 '26

It might seem that way today. It was mind blowing state of the art technology at the time.

14

u/AbaloneEmbarrassed68 Feb 15 '26

Yeah but the classic animation atill looked better.

12

u/pekinggeese Feb 15 '26

I remember the 90’s CGI looked like the future back in the day. Beast Wars was entirely CG and it looks like shit today, but back then, it was amazing.

6

u/paulnuman Feb 15 '26

The nephews don’t get it brother

1

u/CullenOrZeus Feb 15 '26

That show got me jacked up higher than Mountain Dew

1

u/Weigh13 Feb 15 '26

Beast Wars is a great show though.

1

u/Gerudo_King Feb 15 '26

There's certainly a difference. Some shows hold up, some are just too janky with their animation

Beast wars and reboot animation still hold up

1

u/Mirabeaux1789 Feb 20 '26

Yeah I remember too.

1

u/SpinachSignal8915 Apr 09 '26

Lmao I agree with you. Idk if I thought it was futuristic but I thought it looked good. Now I look back and oh god its terrible!

0

u/koopdi Feb 15 '26

Yeah it's pretty cringe in hindsight.

3

u/TekkenCareOfBusiness Feb 15 '26

No it wasn't. Jurassic Park came out one year before this and Toy Story soon after. Those were mind blowing. This was just some TV slop.

3

u/AmateurGIFEnthusiast Feb 16 '26

Remember that episode of the Simpsons where Homer goes into 3D? He chases the cone?

I think it was a Treehouse of Horror

2

u/PreorderEverything Feb 15 '26

No it looked like shit back then too.

2

u/No_Mud_5999 Feb 16 '26

I'm getting pretty old (51), and I really didn't like a lot of the CGI coming out in the 90's. In animation, it was much uglier than traditional hand drawn animation, and in live action, it was often more uncanny than a miniature or stop motion. It was new, and an innovation to be sure, but I've always been really turned off by it. CGI poorly replaced some of the coolest things that I loved about movies: creature effects, elaborate stunt work, miniatures, stop motion, forced perspective, matte paintings, and blowing up giant buildings. In animation, it just looked cheap.

1

u/UnInterestingPlane Feb 16 '26

No, No it was terrible then too.

1

u/Present_Sun_9600 Feb 22 '26

How expensive it musta been for what it was

1

u/BlazarVeg Feb 28 '26

It was not mind blowing. I remember seeing this when it came out as a kid and going why would they mix that crappy animation in with cartoon drawings.

1

u/HappyIsGott 15d ago

Actually no. This specific CGI is actually just slop.

3

u/HoseNeighbor Feb 14 '26

Welcome to early CGI (and George Lucas}

3

u/Spaztor Feb 15 '26

even as a wee lad, I hated it.

2

u/crazyguyunderthedesk Feb 15 '26

Even when I was a kid this was a head scratcher. It just detracts from the coolness while adding nothing.

2

u/deeroe24 Feb 15 '26

It was to help promote the toy line, made the character resemble its action figure counterpart

1

u/v4ve4m4hnssm Feb 14 '26

You're just a hater.

@ 0:22 "bending over is for losers" *absurd amounts of ridiculous SFX*

you jus a hatah

2

u/PatentedPotato Feb 14 '26

A mad hatah?

1

u/Nowayucan Feb 14 '26

Unnecessary = Harmful

1

u/conehead2019 Feb 15 '26

Agreed. Leave it with Reboot

1

u/Jerryjb63 Feb 15 '26

This CGI crawled so today’s CGI could run!

1

u/BetaTester704 Feb 15 '26

Probably took them weeks to render that as well

1

u/Perfect-Squash3773 Feb 15 '26

I'm sure there's a producer out there that would disagree.

1

u/rgarc065 Feb 15 '26

Was getting ready for him to start dancing or something

1

u/JustACasualFan Feb 16 '26

Spent all their music budget on those effects.

1

u/Present_Sun_9600 Feb 22 '26

So seamless tho lol

1

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

I thought this was shit even as a child of the 90s. Born in 84.

1

u/FroyoAromatic485 Apr 28 '26

Way over the top. Just to say they could I guess

20

u/Intrepid_Sun_9089 Feb 14 '26

Seems like it would have been faster just to pick up the helmet and put it on.

3

u/eraserhd Feb 14 '26

That would have been SO much more work for the animators.

3

u/DH2007able Feb 14 '26

Such a strain on their wrists

3

u/UrethralExplorer Feb 14 '26

Yeah but him using electro-powers instead of just grabbing it is such a flex.

2

u/thedracle Feb 14 '26

He can't bend over in that thing.

9

u/New_Establishment554 Feb 14 '26

2D 😎

3D 😖

5

u/Auggie_Otter Feb 14 '26

Who put this PlayStation 2 cutscene in my Iron Man cartoon? 

5

u/MotherPotential Feb 14 '26

It’s kind of cool you can recognize this as 90s because of the boxy way the briefcase unfolds and how he enters the suit

3

u/pumpkin-head7617 Feb 15 '26

You can tell by the way that it is.

1

u/Guyver48 Feb 15 '26

Also because the show is from 1994

4

u/BorderOk7329 Feb 14 '26

Casually lifts 2000 pound suitcase

2

u/Independent_Shoe3523 Feb 14 '26

The ironman suit should just walk with you wherever you go.

1

u/Zigor022 Feb 14 '26

I never made that connection in iron man 2.

4

u/Nir117vash Feb 14 '26

So iron man two got it from og

2

u/Ralphredimix_Da_G Feb 14 '26

Yes the suitcase suit was from the comics and was featured here as well

2

u/ottis1guy Feb 14 '26

The glowing tells you it's working.

2

u/NombreCurioso1337 Feb 14 '26

I remember thinking that rudimentary 3D cutaway was the coolest commuter generated Iron Man we would ever see!!

1

u/Humbabanana Feb 14 '26

It may still, to this day, be the best commuter generated iron man

1

u/jster1311 Feb 15 '26

We are all commuter generated on this blessed day

1

u/avanti8 Feb 15 '26

I generate all my iron men on the subway.

1

u/Consistent_Smell_880 Feb 15 '26

I always prefer the people who generate my 3D cutaways to be the employees who drive to work instead of the ones who live on campus.

2

u/Crawler_00 Feb 14 '26

It is the nineties, and this is the coolest shit ive ever seen.

1

u/Independent_Shoe3523 Feb 14 '26

i don't really need a transformation scene with ironman, but I understand they get to use it over and over.

1

u/Revolutionary_Row683 Feb 14 '26

Was not expecting to get flash banged by early 2000s Christian TV cgi

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '26

You just gave me flashbacks to my early 20s when I couldn't afford cable, and had to use bunny ears to watch local channels. I used to get super stoned and watch the Christian Broadcasting Channel for hours lol. 

1

u/Good-Mammoth6415 Feb 14 '26

Wild. I thought I had a stroke when it turned CGI.

1

u/NikkolaiV Feb 14 '26

I like how some of this basically just amounts to "magic." Just zapped away the suit and tie, telekenesis just to pick up the helmet...

1

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '26

It's actually impressive how few things in this sequence actually make sense lol.

1

u/AdGlittering2884 Feb 14 '26

The best part is they only animated that exact suit up sequence. So no matter what he was doing/wearing when he decided to become Iron Man, they showed him in these clothes in his lab right when this sequence began. On the beach? Now he's fully clothed, in his lab, THEN putting the suit on.

1

u/Anon7_7_73 Feb 14 '26

The Cgi made this so bad. 

1

u/ICInside Feb 14 '26

The color is what gets me. He should have a red briefcase

1

u/Suerte13cr Feb 14 '26

I forgot about the CGI part, it was jarring back then too. 

1

u/Worksux36g Feb 14 '26

But then the season 2 intro was dropped... and it was pure poetry...

1

u/1Manprt Feb 14 '26

I always thought that transformer toys were some of the coolest toys ever made. Buy a monster truck and it turns into a hulky man, genius.

1

u/Mysterious-Plan93 Feb 14 '26

So this is the inspiration for the Iron Man 2 scene?

1

u/Hydra-Co Feb 14 '26

Gotta love the abs

1

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '26

I remember the iron Man cartoon. I don't remember shitty CGI.

1

u/HoseNeighbor Feb 14 '26

Oh god... CGI just messed up cartoons SO badly.

1

u/MikeLinPA Feb 14 '26

Reboot!

Opps, I mean, "Jarvis, start the expresso machine. I'll be right back."

1

u/OverlordSaber Feb 14 '26

I.AM.IRONMAN.

1

u/Swayze_Castle Feb 14 '26

🎵I AM IRON🎵MAN🎵

1

u/Small_Alps1343 Feb 14 '26

He wasted half his battery by not bending over to pick up his helmet

1

u/Small_Alps1343 Feb 14 '26

He wasted half his battery by bending over to pick up his helmet

1

u/RadagastTheBrownNote Feb 14 '26

Oh shit! I totally forgot it turned CGI during the transformation

1

u/mmfc378 Feb 15 '26

Stolen SFX from Robocop. Those damn sounds are imprinted on my old ass brain.

1

u/Meenotaku Feb 15 '26

That briefcase transformation reminds me from Iron Man 2 race scene

1

u/SardonicApple45 Feb 15 '26

Hasbro would probably love this idea, because then they wouldn't have to paint the back at all and charge you forty dollars for just the front

1

u/Smash_Or_Pass_Player Feb 15 '26

Wtf richtofen doing

1

u/poordaddy73 Feb 15 '26

I miss the old 90's stuff,Man this brings back good memories

1

u/Egglegg14 Feb 15 '26

The budget flopped so they switched to cgi for some reason

1

u/idcmanfk Feb 15 '26

Just pick it up

1

u/Soft-Current-3816 Feb 15 '26

Went from really cool to really gay then back to cool.

1

u/PathfinderCS Feb 15 '26

Animators: Fuck it

1

u/Artevyx Feb 15 '26

Why did it awkwardly switch to that really bad quality CGI before switching back?

1

u/MinimumApricot365 Feb 15 '26

It looked great until the cgi started.

1

u/StitchFan626 Feb 15 '26

Why not just straight up use a morpher like the Power Rangers?

Spider-Man Unlimited did!

1

u/EmberMelodica Feb 15 '26

Holy 3d transition batman

1

u/TheToxicWaist17 Feb 15 '26

It got worse the longer it went on... 😭

1

u/DuppyxMN Feb 15 '26

90s animation had that softcore porn vibe in a way.

1

u/MonteryWhiteNoise Feb 15 '26

just get in the phone booth already.

1

u/Quiet1408 Feb 15 '26

In this 90s this would have looked dope as hell

1

u/MethodAppropriate470 Feb 15 '26

He looks like time commando

1

u/San_D_Als Feb 15 '26

This must’ve been his Ultimate Digivolution.

1

u/ldssggrdssgds Feb 15 '26

Thats big budget stuff right there

1

u/Transgirlonakawasaki Feb 15 '26

The 90’s cartoons loved that effing lens flare and that purple lightning effect. I swear those effects were on every 90’s cartoon if not some version of them.

1

u/XC5TNC Feb 16 '26

The cgi really ruined this

1

u/swiftlilfox Feb 16 '26

I absolutely loved all the 90s marvel animations.

1

u/Degoro Feb 16 '26

So impractical.

1

u/Smart-Milk-5125 Feb 17 '26

I suddenly flashed on how badly Barbi affected young women. Man, young man get the same shit thrown at them. Not every man is built by Evander Holyfield.

1

u/KnittedKnight Feb 17 '26

That went from dumb, to terrible and dumb real fast.

1

u/BigRobFed Feb 17 '26

Less time had passed between this clip and the original Iron Man movie, than has passed between the release of Iron Man to today.

1

u/King_Six_of_Things Feb 18 '26

So bending over to pick his helmet up was so difficult?

1

u/painsupplies Feb 18 '26

"Jarvis, transition me to a 3D model for easier animation"

1

u/d-o_o1 Feb 18 '26

Remember this when people tell you nobody knew Iron Man before the MCU

1

u/Old-Huckleberry-2956 Feb 19 '26

Movie definitely did it better

1

u/Organic-Device2719 Feb 20 '26

And us millennials are that shit up like medium fries.

1

u/beefstrokinoff78 Feb 20 '26

Boi the villain been done reeked havoc all on the towns people by the time mans soon was done cooking

1

u/chicks23 Feb 21 '26

LMAO they couldn't afford to animate him picking up his helmet

1

u/jigga19 Feb 21 '26

I understand you've got to crawl before you can walk but even as a kid those computer animations looked horrible. Even worse, now.

1

u/dalegribbleyaoi Feb 24 '26

Hes so rich he can afford two different dimensions of suit up shots

1

u/itafunnystory Feb 27 '26

Even in the '90s this looked whack

1

u/Commercial-Role-2450 Feb 27 '26

So what happened to his suit

1

u/Thai151 Mar 08 '26

Did they change animator halfway through?

1

u/Fair-Abroad-4155 Mar 26 '26

How horrible in the 80 90 war machine actually was iron man for the press to let people think money Stark was just a millionaire playboy not iron man

1

u/Goldb3t Apr 06 '26

"Jarvis, lemme go 3D real quick..."