(OCT-2013) Animated Era - Rate it

[griffin]

Animated... short-lived, but one of the more popular and expansive Universes in Transformers.

Details of the Animated era can be read about here (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers_Animated_%28franchise%29).

The Entire Era/Series as a whole (you can include the Japanese version if you want), how does it rate in the world of Transformers:

- Best Ever
- One of the better ones
- Average
- Not very good
- I refuse to have anything to do with it

[BigTransformerTrev]

Next to G1 and perhaps a few episodes from season 3 of TFPrime, I think it's about the best TF cartoon we have had!

Excellent new characters, old characters represented faithfully, ongoing storyline, accessible to young kids but lots of stuff chucked in for the adult viewer. And if you were a proper TF nerd, a million in-references for you to squeal over, from a pic of Sludge showing up on a fence, to Weird Al doing the voice of Wreck Gar and saying "I dare to be stupid!"

Toys were very good, some were excellent! The only downer I could point out for the entire universe was that some great characters did not get toys (Omega Supreme, Mixmaster, Scrapper) and Bulkhead was a lackluster character.

But overall a brilliant series - LOVED Animated!

[Lint]

I would award Animated with the title of 'Best-ever' if it were not for the dissapointing quality of the toyline. Which is a shame really because it is a fantastic show!

[UltraMarginal]

When Animated started, I was extremely non-plussed. didn't really care for the animation style, didn't care for the non-realistic appearance of the toys. especially when compared against the movie toys and Alternators. I had not been collecting any of the unicron Trilogy stuff barring one or two that appealed.
Admittedly some of this lack of interest in Animated was to cover the fact that I was trying to save money and I knew if I went too far into collecting Animated I would end up collecting the lot and I didn't think I had the money or space at the time. I did pick up a couple deluxes, Jazz because well, Jazz. Prowl because I was genuinely intrigued by the transformation which I was very impressed with.

I didn't know if/when it was on TV so my exposure to it was quite limited.

Then a friend (SilverFromOz) convinced me over several years that I should go to Botcon. Which turned out to be the 2011 year.

I decided that since the convention set was going to be Animated related I would chase down copies of the cartoon and watch them and look into getting some of the toys so I could have an even number of Autobots and decepticons on upon returning from the convention.

I picked up characters here and there that were cheap/clearanced/noted as being particularly good toys.

I made my way through the entire 3 seasons and overall I really enjoyed it. The Homages to G1 were fun, the fresh look on some characters and creation of entirely new characters was great. It was kiddy, but obviously kids are Hasbro's primary market. Once I looked past that I could enjoy the elements that were for the more mature market. The utilisation of certain actors for guest/feature voices I also really enjoyed. I hate most if not all of the Human Villains in this series.

After going to Botcon 2011 and picking up the box set, all the convention exclusives including the Custom Class figure. I got home and bought a few more to even out the group. I realised that I had a significant portion of the complete set. I started a Thread which you can see in my sig. barring a few redundant toys (voyager Bulkhead, the clear legends class seekers off the top of my head) I now own pretty much the full set of Transformers Animated toys. Stupid exclusive activator Ramjet.

Most of them are still in their packaging as I was going to start a blog reviewing each as I opened it, from the perspective of someone who's seen the show and is only now working my way through the toys. That hasn't happened yet so you can imagine the full size BBTS box full to overflowing of sealed MISB transformers animated figures that I have at my place.

I look forward to a time when my interest in what's being released slows down a bit and I can take some time aside and open these up and appreciate them.

I was dissapointed that there were never any comics for the series (now I know better after looking at the other related threads for this month) but I guess we can't have everything.


Overall a great series that should have perhaps had at least another season. I have both the almanacs and have only glanced at them, i should pick them up over the coming weeks and have a look at them.
The toys were at times inspired, brilliant engineering and design marvels and from what I hear, at other times, just not.

For Me, this series sits 3rd after Transformers prime and G1 in no particular order.

[Trent]

I too was not too keen when I first saw the toys on the shelves. Slowly though they grew on me buy it wasn't until last year that I picked up my first toy - Grimlock. That was soon followed by the Stunticons and more and I still pick up one here and there.

I rate this on an equal footing with Beat Wars.

[Vector Sigma 13]

Hated the animation style from the word go. Nuff said. I do have a handful of the figures (that I'm forever contemplating selling). Blur was my favourite figure of the lot.

[Megatron]

Erm... have yet to watch this series to its completion. Been kinda slack with it but I was also unmotivated from the start because I hate the animation style, and from what I have seen of it many of the characterisations as well.

Like the toys, though, especially my leader Megs.

Have yet to complete my collection.

It's an Average from me.

[tinyJazz]

I love Animated! I voted best ever because, hey, someone had to do it. :cool: hi five, other guys.
Now this is a series I'm really passionate about. It's kind of a love letter to the G1 era, while still being its own fun and fresh universe.

It came out right after I'd become enamoured with the Transformers franchise and right before I started collecting. Like a lot of fans, I had the same knee-jerk reaction when I saw the promo image:

http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww93/tinyJazz/404px-TransformersAnimatedPoster_zps881700ee.jpg

"Haha! That looks terrible!" Actually, the poster's composition doesn't really do a good job of showing off the designs, and the forced perspective on Prime doesn't match up with the rest of the team. Argh! Anyway, I got over that initial reaction quickly. I think the art style is fine. It's unique in Transformers, and perfectly suited for 2D animation.

Of course, the show turned out to be great too. I was up at 4am every Sunday to catch a new episode - on youtube. I've never been this excited about a current series before or since. :D What I love the most would be the characters and the vast level of world-building that went into creating Animated. (The Almanacs are a testament to this) The dynamic between the two factions is excellent, the Decepticons actually feel like a threat for once.

It's a bit depressing that the art style seems to be a huge hurdle for new fans to enjoy the show. I just feel like they're missing out on a really superbly fun Transformers series. The writing, the characters, the absolutely stellar voice acting. Corey Burton delivers the best Megatron I've ever heard.

Don't ask me about the chins though. :/

[Gouki]

Animated was fantastic through and through. In both cartoon and toyline, and although I understand why they needed to partner with Cartoon Network is really hurt this incarnation of the franchise in the long run.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

It came out right after I'd become enamoured with the Transformers franchise and right before I started collecting. Like a lot of fans, I had the same knee-jerk reaction when I saw the promo image:

http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww93/tinyJazz/404px-TransformersAnimatedPoster_zps881700ee.jpg

I remember that as well. I admit I was an "uuurgh! What the hell is that" guy too. Thinking back on it though, I suspect the problem lies in the design of the poster more than the design of the characters.

Animated has to be my second favourite toy line to G1. I think it's fantastic that they managed to get such cartoony stylised characters into a coherent toy form AND they transform as well. I totally blows my mind that these robot Transformers looks like cartoon characters in that style. Lovely.

The cartoon was nice. Sure the first season was a drag but it really got cranking later on and the fact that Optimus was a repair bot instead of being an heroic leader from the outset was a nice touch. Yeah, overall a good series.

[i_amtrunks]

One of the best, to me only Beast Wars beats it in terms of characters and story.

The show was slow to start, but afterwards picked up and got incredibly interesting, Season 3 is one of the few tv series where I could happily watch the whole season in one go. (Avatar TLA, TMNT, Arrested Development are some of the others). Some great change ups, and different characters an character interactions. Some Autobots seem more like cons and generally the Autobots aren't painted with the "perfect hero" brush. Nice spin.

The comics were fun, but mostly irrelevant.

The Allspark Almanacs were brilliant and should be hunted down by every fan.

The toyline was interesting. Hasbro, in their wisdom, decided to cut costs and change factories. Animated figures suffered from a myriad of QC issues, bad paint applications. figures were loose straight from the packs and generally did not feel as well made as the Cybertron figures. This was a big disappointment since some of the toys are among the best made in any line prior, or since.
QC issues aside, some toys were hampered from the unique style of the show, the voyagers in general were small, Lugnutz and Bulkhead for sure. Blitzwing was just a horrible toy. The deluxes were well made, and of varying sizes, from the giant Blurr, Oils Slick and Lockdown to tiny Swoop and Black Arachnia. The activators were a welcome addition, roughly scout sized with the flip-former transformation from Beast Wars back. The leaders were excellent, and another nice surprise, no Optimus in that size class, there was however a Supreme size Optimus with an Auto transform gimmick.

Japan released a number of figures that Hasbro decided not to release: Cybertron Ironhide, Hot rod, Arcee and Blackout, all are brilliant. Hunt them down. Not manufacturing other figures such as Omega Supreme, Red Alert, Spittor the Constructicons etc was idiotic, and another negative of the live action movie crushing the franchise.

Animated was a great series, cancelled before its time. It had to deal with hasbro cost cutting and forcing the live action movie upon everyone, yet still came away as one of the best series/franchises in Transformers history. It seems, like Beast Wars before it, when Hasbro are onto a good thing, they cannot help but rush it to an early demise, only to replace it with a giant, steaming turd. :rolleyes:

[requiemau88]

Show was pretty good, however what got me was the toy line. I mean at this moment I still have Animated Ultra Magnus sitting on my desk because I think it was one of the best 'Leader' molds I've come across. It's solid and transforms from this big ol support vehicle to an awesome solid toy.

What really breaks my heart is that from what I can see is that S4 would of seen more Constructicons, you had 3 of them, and knowing Animated they would of brought out the rest and combined them, they would of hopefully brought out matching toys. Knowing the amount of engineering that has gone into some of the TFA stuff I truly thing it would of been one of the greatest combiners ever ... but if they were planning it ... its never seen the light of day :(