(OCT-2013) Animated Era - Rate it

[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. 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:



"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. 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:

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.