Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is new on Blu-ray and DVD, along with a 16-disc DVD mega-box set of the original Transformers animated series (below).

The Transformers franchise is pure nostalgia for any red-blooded North American boy and gung-ho girl who grew up in the 1980s.

The Transformers, divided into good Autobots and bad Decepticons, started their lives at a Japanese toy fair in 1983. Through Hasbro, they became enormously popular morphing toys in America — in lockstep with a hit comic book series and the equally popular animated TV series that launched in 1984. There was also a future-shock animated movie that propelled the story forward in 1986. Life on Planet Earth was good for Transformers fans.

The live-action version did not arrive until 2007, when Michael Bay first grabbed the franchise by the throat and shook out a mega-hit movie. It co-starred aw-shucks Shia LaBeouf and omigawd Megan Fox as the beleaguered human heroes. Transformers icon Peter Cullen revived the voice of Autobot leader Optimus Prime. Success spawned a sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which debuted on DVD and Blu-ray last week.

That release gave the indie distributor Shout! Factory a platform to roll out the original animated series again. New is the fan-friendly, 16-disc DVD set called The Transformers: 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition.

It is a treasure trove. While the outside box is flimsy cardboard (it should be thicker), the discs are safely housed inside in plastic (not those lame cardboard slots that scratch discs). The box contains the 98 animated episodes of 1984-87, restored but still containing the obvious mistakes that fans now admire as character. Goodies include a 60-page souvenir book, with synopses of all episodes, plus two fridge magnets (one Autobot, one Decepticon crest).

On the discs, Shout! recycles extras from the two seasons of The Transformers already issued as stand-alone releases. There are five documentaries overall, two exclusive to the complete series box. One of the exclusives is a voice-cast reunion. Transformers legend Frank Welker (Megatron) is involved, but Cullen is absent so you don’t hear him talk about his John Wayne inspiration (although I always thought Adam West snuck into Optimus’ voice, too).

I was taken with another doc, Into the Creation Matrix, featuring comic book editor-writer Bob Budiansky. He invented a lot of what Transformers fans now take as gospel, naming most major characters and developing character traits. In the doc, Budiansky holds up his original 1983 manila notepad. Among entries is one on Megatron, a name Budiansky felt invoked “robot, danger and power.” Hasbro execs at first nixed the name as too ominous. The character profile is pure menace, too. Budiansky wrote, “Love, compassion, mercy are words that have no meaning for Megatron.”

With those kind of insights no real fan of The Transformers can live without this box set.

NOTE: When I wrote about Revenge of the Fallen last week, I did not have a chance to test out a cool gimmick. Aim a webcam at the cover of the DVD or the Blu-ray and see holograms come alive on your computer. It turned out to be challenging. You may have to upgrade Adobe and then install the D’Fusion home web plug-in. Then you have to wait, fiddle, faddle and fuss with both webcam and box. By the time I got it going (and it does look great) I could not control the holographic Optimus Prime — and the bucket of bolts ended up on his head. Dead. A 12-year-old boy could do this better at this, I’m sure. The same cover gimmick is coming soon with the new Star Trek DVD and Blu-ray boxes, with the Starship Enterprise coming alive as a holograph.