Max, You may find it hilarious.  But 1) I think you're right that the passsion for Transformers is a generational thing primarily among the 1980s youth, and 2) Believe it or not, Transformers is more than a "Robot Smash" series, thought giant mecha fighting a war against each other is one of the series' primary elements.  Now, know where I'm coming from: I've always loved robots and so when Transformers came upon the scnee, I became one of the franchise's most hardcore fans on the planet.  I own over 1000 Transformers toys, most with their original boxes, all the Generation 1 (1984-1990) DVDs, and hundreds of comics, including 2 or more of each of the original 80-issue run (in the U.K., there were 322 issues, each 1/2 the size of the American comics, and half of those reprinting the U.S. storyline.)

Anyway, early Transformer episodes were gimmicky often with a group of Autobots sent on a mission, the Decepticons thrwarting them with something or a series of things, and the Autobots in the group each having the special abilities required to overcome the Decepticons' plan.  Fans knew each character's speciall abilities and weaknesses.  But important things began to develop:

1) Optimus Prime became a role model, always representing doing the right thing.  He always took the honorable road when faced with a hard decision.  His motto: "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."  Prime also taught us self-sacrifice: he would give himself up or risk himself for the good of others.  He taught us lessons that work as adults.  I actually met his voice actor, Peter Cullen.  He really wears a coyboy hat!  Comparisons to John Wayne were intentional.  Cullen himself believed in the concept for standing up for your beliefs and for others.

2) The series explored social and philosophical issues.  The most apparent is about the exploitation of resources or other people/ cultures.  The Deceptcions themselves kind of resembled something of a mix between Nazis, who believed other races to be inferior and expendible, and imperialists.  The issues weren't as deep as a series such as Doctor Who, but they did get there sometimes, especially as teh series progressed.  "The God Gambit" was a parable about not exploiting the religious beliefs of others.  "The Golden Lagoon" had a message about respect for nature.  The comic book explored such issues even more closely.  Max, one of the U.K.'s greatest gifts to us was the writer of the British TF comic series int he mid-80s, Simon Furman.  He came to America and wrote the final 1/3 of the original 80-issue comic run in the USA.  In one issue, released after Flag Burning was an issue addressed by our Supreme Court, he addressed the issue in comic #67, where the U.S. flag gave humans the drive to press on and fight Decepticons, even when nearly defeated.  A British writer made me proud to be American.  Another issue dealt with euthanasia and when is life worth living?  Some of the final issues dealt with the concept of peace by strength or getting along with each other?

3) The Autobots often prevailed because they formed an alliance with the humans.  The human spirit and knowledge of Earth, taught the Autobots many lessons, lessons that unlearned, would have led to their defeat.  Teamwork was a similar theme, as was loyalty, never giving up on those important to us, even when they turn on you, and treating both friend and enemy with respect.  In the third season, the Quintessons, who created both Autobot and Decepticon, were more afraid of humans than their own creations, who drove them from Cybertron.  The Autobots' associations with humans have changed their programming, making them unpredictible.  Often times, it was humanity's will power, ingenuity, or creativity that saved the day.  Of course, Spike still often lugged around one of the Autobots' guns and said he'd go fight the Decepticons himself, whenver the Autobots were about to give up!  It reminds me of the Borg in Star Trek, who would never be able to defeat humankind because no matter how much they adapt, we'd always come up with new ideas.

4) The robots had personality.  Besides the fact that they were giant robots fighting a civil war, this is what made fans out of so many.  They were cool, even trendy, as they were inquizitive about Earth culture.  Often a character had an ironic trait.  For instance, Silverbolt, the leader of the Aerialbots, is a jet who's afraid of heights.  Optimus Prime made him the leader so he'd have something else to worry about.  Of course, in the Michael Bay movies, all this was sucked out.

I could talk about this stuff forever, sooo sorry.  TFs have a deep, if slightly inconsistant backstory spanning 12 million years, in which I've deeply immersed myself.  It's rich and so it makes the series addictive, just as Star Wars has a deep world where so many fans have immersed themselves.  I wrote everything I learned down in a notebook, including names of all the toys, episodes, backstory, tech spec stats, etc.  This was in the mid 1980s, before there was a World Wide Web, and no one had this information collected in one place.  So, you see, this is my passion.  Max, you may be right, that it's a silly thing to get psyched up about.  But it's nice for each of us to have a passion.  It's Star Wars/ Star Trek/ Dr Who with many.  I noticed a trend with tween to college aged males getting this way about My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.  It seems as perplexing to me as TFs may be to you, Max.  I don't have to get it.  It's their thing.  More power to them, since it takes a bit of coming out of a comfort zone for a boy to enjoy what is stereotypically considered a "girls' toy".

Max, maybe it all makes no sense to you, and that's totally fine.  I just wanted to share with you what Transformers means to me, and that despite how the series looks at a glance, it is more than a lot of robots bashing each other and cliffhanger situations (even though there's a lot of that, too).  There's more to it than meets the eye.  I like the two-part "The Key To Vector Sigma" and a time travel episode that should be watched only after it, "War Dawn".  If you do want to give it a shot, these are some good episodes, mostly action, but with some subtle moral lessons too.

None of this is a criticism of what you said, either; it's just my view of TFs, and why I love them so much! 

Oh, and by the way, I'm also glad that MGM retained the intermission in 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of my favorite movies.  I really wish that they'd release the 154-minute version, and one with the alternate Alex North soundtrack score, which Kubrick threw aside (after all of North's work for the film) for classical music.