Transformers Prime - how is it?

[jimoinj]

Hi guys, I was looking for a review of the cartoon series Transformers Prime on this site, but I couldn't find it. I'm wondering what you think of it? In particular how does it compare to Beast Wars (given its 2D animation) and Transformers G1 (in terms of characters and storyline)? It looks like design wise its a hybrid of the (awful) Michael Bay movies and Transformers animated. How much do you think it takes from those two series, and how about the influence of G1 and Beast Wars? Of which does it show the greatest influence?

[5FDP]

Hi guys, I was looking for a review of the cartoon series Transformers Prime on this site, but I couldn't find it. I'm wondering what you think of it?

In a nut-shell, I'm not a fan. Kinda lost interest halfway through the second season and to date, still haven't finished it.

In particular how does it compare to Beast Wars (given its 2D animation)

IMO, for it's time, BW was technically more advanced and ground breaking.

...and Transformers G1 (in terms of characters and storyline)?

G1 was never about character building. Sure, it had it's 2 and 3 part episodes e.g. The Ultimate Doom, but once these were finished there was very little linking each episode together. As it has been described before, the G1 cartoon was a 20 min commercial to sell toys, nothing more.

Transformers Prime has tried to go with the over-arching story lines to generate interest in the characters, but since they have such a limited cast, characters have become very one dimensional and in some cases, downright annoying e.g. Miko.

It looks like design wise its a hybrid of the (awful) Michael Bay movies and Transformers animated. How much do you think it takes from those two series,

Aside from the character designs, very little. Animated had 'substance', which this series lacks.

...and how about the influence of G1 and Beast Wars? Of which does it show the greatest influence?

I grew up with G1 so by the time BW came around my interest had waned. Aside from watching a few episodes of BW (about a year ago), I know nothing about the series.

[sideswipes brother]

I really enjoy it but it would be great if they offed Miko. Hate kids in Transformers anime.

[The_Damned]

I like it and it is well worth a look at there is some awesome episode to see

[Hursticon]

• How does it compare to Beast Wars? (given its 3D animation)

Here I'd have to agree with 5FDP; Beast Wars was a show that was breaking new ground in CG Animation in the 'Televised Media' space at the time, that said though TF: Prime is certainly no slouch as it is most definitely at the forefront of Modern TV-based CG animation (Japan's Polygon Studios doing a superb job).

I'd say it's just as good as any of its contemporaries (Star Wars: Clone Wars) but as for breaking new ground, well, it's a different environment nowadays compared to that of '94-'95 as the only other 3d Animated program Beast wars had to compete with at the time was Insektors and that was it; CG back then was still an emerging art form where as these days its common place, I see TF: Prime as top notch as one only has to see the tiny nuances that Polygon work into each scene that takes the immersion to a higher level.

I highly recommend that if one wants to view Transformers: Prime then I implore that you see it in HD where possible, you're absolutely doing yourself a disservice by viewing it in SD or YouTube-quality; Madman Entertainment has released the entire 1st Season on Blu-Ray & DVD with both being available right now.

• How does it compare to Transformers G1? (in terms of characters and storyline)

5FDP is again spot on in his assessment; The G1 Cartoon was little more than 20min toy commercials, in their day being utterly awesome but nowadays?
Well... I know I'm about to offend a lot of people in saying this but its a fact: The G1 cartoon with the exception of the '86 Movie is really quite bad, both in animation, story telling & characterisation - Even when compared to its contemporary shows and utterly failing the test of time.

The Marvel G1 Comics (Of which I owe many thanks to you Jimoinj ) are where I derive my cognition of "G1" from now as it is superior in every way to the cartoon shy of having moving images itself.

Transformers: Prime seems to be suffering from what it seems a lot of American produced cartoons are going through these days in that it is rather episodic ; It does have multi-part short arcs but at the moment it seems that any large/long story arcs are very much put to the furthest edge of the background until rarely being called upon, that being said though the show is absolutely full of references to prior episodes primarily through spoken lines & visual cues outside of direct narrative links.

To me, this show is a product of its time just as much as Beast Wars; Transformers: Prime is still yet to complete its run (With a confirmed 3rd Season in production with a 4th a real possibility ) so I see it as really not yet-quite fair to judge it but at this point and time Beast Wars still holds the mantel of being the best piece of Transformers fiction ever written.

Don't write it off though; once you get past the initial '5-parter' of Season 1, the show really progresses well and contains some really awesome stories so I recommend people should really give the entire 1st season a viewing before making their mind up at least.

• It looks like design wise its a hybrid of the (awful) Michael Bay movies and Transformers animated, how much do you think it draws from those series?

People have their opinions on the Movie-verse aesthetic (I happen to like it ), just as much as people have certain feelings on Animated's aesthetic (Way too childish for my tastes ); Transformers: Prime is very much a combination of the 2 and I think it's for the better as it allows for a greater room for variety in visual design by not being trapped to the tired 'Blocky' aesthetic that whilst is great in nostalgia, is also quite dated by today's standards.

Personally, I think Transformers: Prime feels quite a bit more 'free' much as Beast Wars & RiD did in visual form - They both have their own 'style' but are far more open than the likes of G1, Unicron-Trilogy & Animated.

• How about the influence of G1 and Beast Wars? Of which does it show the greatest influence?

Hmm...
Here I'd say it leans more towards G1 in presentation narratively, sprinkling on a little bit of Beast Wars characterisation nuances & self-referencing (Though not enough) and displaying it all visually in a nigh-realistic 'Movieverse meets Animated' sense; I'd like to see a little bit more of a Beast Wars leaning both narratively and in character building, but at least we're not having to deal with the regular story/character 'memory-wipes' of the Unicron Trilogy.

...

All in all I'd say it's a great series but has a while to go before it can be in the running for the title of greatest, and to be honest it probably wont attain that status; but it is and certainly will continue to be superior to G1, G2, Beast Machines, RiD & The Unicron Trilogy - For me personally it sits equal with Transformers: Animated for 2nd, under Beast Wars' 1st place.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

It's no BW or Animated to be sure, but it is worth a look. There are some really well done moments, some pretty poor ones, and a whole lot of average in between. Ditto for the characters.
EDIT-Gotta second Husty in that it really should be seen in HD.

[GoktimusPrime]

Hi guys, I was looking for a review of the cartoon series Transformers Prime on this site, but I couldn't find it.

Review threads are all located in the Ratbat's Transformers Reviews section.

Eps 1-6
Ep 7
Ep 8
Ep 9
Ep 10
Ep 11
Ep 12
...and you can find the rest.

[UltraMarginal]

Hi guys, I was looking for a review of the cartoon series Transformers Prime on this site, but I couldn't find it. I'm wondering what you think of it? In particular how does it compare to Beast Wars (given its 2D animation) and Transformers G1 (in terms of characters and storyline)? It looks like design wise its a hybrid of the (awful) Michael Bay movies and Transformers animated. How much do you think it takes from those two series, and how about the influence of G1 and Beast Wars? Of which does it show the greatest influence?

Disclaimer: I've been composing this "review" over the course of the last few hours in between bouts of work."


I love it.
I've managed to watch all of it off the interwebs, and I will be replacing it with a Blu-Ray version when I finally buy a Blu-Ray player and the discs.

The styling of the show is a definite mish mash of G1, Animated, the movies and a fair few newer elements, some being recognised in the FOC game and also the related Novels that have come out recently (exodus and Exiles). This mish mash includes the visuals, character styling and designs and story/script. You could argue that it takes a little from Beast wars also, but those same elements could easily be referenced from Animated (airachnid, Insecticons)

I think it takes a lot of good elements from many places in transformers Lore, Scraplets for instance, made for a great early episode. and I hear they are from the comics of old.

The characters and voices of the transformers are great, Ratchet is a standout for me being a fan of Jeffery Combs. mostly from his various efforts in Star Trek.

While it is still primarily a childrens show, it has a depth that you won't find in a lot of cartoons these days, there are often dark undertones, either from the script, choreography or the background imagery. It does occasionally risk being too serious for it's own good, especially when Optimus Prime starts getting a little preachy.

Season one does start off feeling a little desolate, there are not a lot of background characters in any urban scenes, which feels a little odd, as the series progresses they seem to manage to locate the action in places where many background character models wouldn't be needed.

I like the Humans, some are irritating, Miko is a fine example, but I think she's irritating for the right reasons and doesn't deserve the hate that the character seems to receive from most of the fandom. She's a young teenage girl, with some sort of family issues. I'd be disappointed if she wasn't saying silly things or doing silly things to grab attention of the other characters.
Raph's uncanny ability to understand Bumblebee is a little irritating and Jack is a mid to late teens boy, getting a "little more life experience" than your average fella working at the burger joint for pocket money.

Agent Fowler is a cracker and a good catalyst for the show. the other humans have their place and MECH seem to be something of a long term installation that adds an extra dimension to the traditional two faction stories.

Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave and pretty much all of the decepticons are really well fleshed out, over the course of the show so far and there are some great moments of interaction.

The fact that there are also Transformers who don't necessarily fit in either of the two main camps of Autobots or Decepticons helps to add further complexity. there are short term allegiances from time to time, some of which have interesting reasons for existing.

I've seen some of it in HD and some in SD and I have got to say as someone who doesn't really care for the HD revolution, this show has converted me, there is so much more detail to be seen in the HD version, background, scratches, expression and battle damage.

It is by far the best looking transformers show there has ever been.
Story wise, I put it at the top of the list, it's serious, humorous, dark and light. and unlike Beast wars, it's been very well planned from the start, even the original writers of Beast wars have stated in interviews, they didn't have a particularly far reaching plan for the show and a lot of the elements that people love about it developed over time as a result of reactions to criticism both positive and negative. Not to say the TF Prime isn't evolving but it has a much more cohesive feel to it and being that they were working on the third season before the second even started airing gives you a good feel as to how far ahead this one is planned.

I'd recommend giving it a go, watch some on u-tube and see how you feel about it then get out there and buy the season box set when you can't get enough. I would be surprised if someone who was interested in Transformers didn't enjoy this show on some level, assuming they are happy to give it a chance past the first 5 minutes. I know I didn't give beast wars a chance when it debuted and I've since been back and watched the whole series and very much enjoyed it.

[Hursticon]

You bring up an absolutely major point that I forgot Ultra Marginal - The Voice Over cast is utterly top-notch and the performances they give are just as passionate as that of the Beast wars cast IMO.

[jimoinj]

Thanks for the comments and the links to the reviews!