Cartoon review - Robots in Disguise (2015)

(merged the two review/discussion topics)

So now that several people have seen the first 13 episodes, has there actually been anything within the episodes that has specifically mentioned or referred to something in TFPrime?
Like, we have Optimus as a ghost, but do they actually refer to how he died, so that it clearly links this series to TFPrime?
Do the characters that were in TFPrime (Bumblebee, Optimus, Grimlock) actually behave the same, or are too different to be the same characters?

With so many new characters, and only three (so far) from TFPrime, I just haven't been hearing or seeing anything significant that makes this series a follow-on from the TFPrime cartoon... other than press releases telling us that it is. So far the episode descriptions and comments make this sound more like a stand-alone universe that shouldn't be shoe-horned into TFPrime.

Beast Machines was a clear follow-on from Beast Wars, while Energon and Cybertron were each including characters or plot elements from their preceding series even though the Japanese versions had "Cybertron" a separate universe. This one just doesn't feel like it would be a follow-on series if Hasbro marketing didn't claim it was just to help sell it to retailers and consumers.

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Originally Posted by griffin

(merged the two review/discussion topics)

So now that several people have seen the first 13 episodes, has there actually been anything within the episodes that has specifically mentioned or referred to something in TFPrime?

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Not exactly TFPrime specific but Bumblebee did mention that he had been to Earth before under Optimus' leadership in one of the first few episodes.
All that really says though is that it is a sequel to some TF series.
Which one though is anyones guess.
I'd have to rewatch what's been on so far to see if there are more clues I may have missed, I have a niggling feeling there was at least one other thing mentioned...
Oh, this may or may not be the thing but as I was writing that I also recalled Bumblebee talking about how he loved all the old cowboy stories, so again more references to him at least having been to Earth before (but not in which series dammit!).

I've not watched Prime, and there was nothing in the episodes so far that had me scratching my head or looking to a TFwiki for explanation.

Like DarkHyren says, the few mentions of BB being on Earth before with Optimus Prime, and name drops of Megatron and Starscream could be any TF series.

And I think it's a good idea actually that this isn't so tightly bound to a previous series, means a newcomer like me or a young kid can pick it up easily.

It feels like a 'soft sequel' to Transformers Prime. It has numerous indirect references to TF Prime, but not so direct that you wouldn't get it if you hadn't seen TF Prime before. Indirect references include:
+ Bumblebee being the war hero (as mentioned by DarkHyren)
+ Cybertron enjoying peace time with the Decepticon Remnant being reduced to a crime syndicate rather than a military faction.
+ Optimus Prime is deceased
+ Bumblebee speaks and is also voiced by Will Friedle
+ Starscream is mentioned at least once

As Paulbot said, it does make it more accessible to new viewers, but it doesn't feel like a complete reboot or different continuity either. :)

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

It feels like a 'soft sequel' to Transformers Prime. It has numerous indirect references to TF Prime, but not so direct that you wouldn't get it if you hadn't seen TF Prime before. Indirect references include:
+ Bumblebee being the war hero (as mentioned by DarkHyren)
+ Cybertron enjoying peace time with the Decepticon Remnant being reduced to a crime syndicate rather than a military faction.
+ Optimus Prime is deceased
+ Bumblebee speaks and is also voiced by Will Friedle
+ Starscream is mentioned at least once

As Paulbot said, it does make it more accessible to new viewers, but it doesn't feel like a complete reboot or different continuity either. :)

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You forgot:

+ Is fun to watch

Well I finally watched the last two episodes. I will say they were better than many of the previous ones - I quite like that Fracture and Drift both had Mini-Cons attached to them that they could deploy - makes the use of Mini-Cons mythos rather than them just being little bots.

The final episode, well, it was better than those that had come before which made it seem alright. And Steeljaw is proving to be an ok nemesis for Bee. However take into account the last two TF cartoons:

TFAnimated - at the end of Season 1 Starscream gets taken offline, Megs comes back to life, Optimus betrays Sari, Omega Supreme crashes into Dinobot Island, the Allspark is detroyed etc etc. Awesome!

TFPrime - at the end of season one they had just battled a bunch of gigantic stone Unicrons, having found out that Unicron actually IS Earth, and then Optimus and Megs are fighting side by side within Unicron himself as his antibodies attack. That was a freakin brilliant fight scene which ended with Optimus seeming to destroy Unicrosn spark and then revert to Orion and joining the Decepticons!


Considering how epic of an end to S1 we had for the last two TF cartoons, for this to be a half-hearted fight on a garbage scow with very little peril or really anything being at stake, it just didn't set me alight.

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

Considering how epic of an end to S1 we had for the last two TF cartoons, for this to be a half-hearted fight on a garbage scow with very little peril or really anything being at stake, it just didn't set me alight.

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To be fair this was just the mid-season final. Hopefully something super epic comes when the true season ending appears :)

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Originally Posted by drahsrebu

To be fair this was just the mid-season final. Hopefully something super epic comes when the true season ending appears :)

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Oh, ok, didn't know that :o

Kinda defeats my above rant doesn't it :p:o

I enjoyed reading your rant if that makes it any better :p:D

I've really enjoyed the first 10 episodes, it's nothing spectacular, but it's good light hearted fun. The voice actors obviously enjoyed their roles, there's a real cohesiveness to the voices and the art style.

Fixit is a perfectly cast comedic foil, the humans aren't too pushy, whiny or incompetent and the Decepticons, while mostly one dimensional, it's all they need to be on this show. They all seem to portray a negative aspect of humanity, greed, selfishness, bullying etc, the Decepticon designs are interesting, however I cannot see them translating well to toys, they are mostly obviously made for the show only (bar Underbite and Steeljaw, the recurring fugitives). I love that they name drop the cons as well, just in case they release them, the "gotta have them all" shtick!

Grimlock is easily my favourite, but I think he is about the only relatable character, the others all have too much to "learn".

I like that it only vaguely calls back to Prime, it was a series that didn't know what it wanted to be, dark and serious or fantasy and came up a mess, only being a spiritual successor with light associations works better for this far more light hearted series.

I'll keep watching, the toy line is now far more interesting to me, so the show works! Hopefully the young ones enjoy this as much as I have.