Series Review: Transformers War For Cybertron (Netflix) - SPOILERS

[Autocon]

Watching the cartoon. Didnt know how id feel about the animation but im enjoying it. Id rate it 8/10.

Jetfire reminds me of dinobot. More later once i digest it all.

[Autocon]

Its been released on netflix now.

[klystron]

Yes! I know what I'm doing tonight.

[SMHFConvoy]

It wasn't the disaster that the Prime Wars trilogy was but personally, I'm kind of over this story being presented over and over again. It's like Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, we know this story.

[Paulbot]

My main takeaway from watching it: a good toy commercial that’s 18 months too late for the toyline it’s selling.

[Omega Metro]

My main takeaway from watching it: a good toy commercial that’s 18 months too late for the toyline it’s selling.

Exactly.

[GoktimusPrime]

WARNING: THIS REVIEW THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE NETFLIX TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON TV SERIES

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My thoughts...

• The animation is mostly fairly good. It's done by the same Japanese animation studio who animated Transformers Prime and Robots In Disguise (2015-17), but I suspect it may have been done on a smaller budget. The main thing that bugs me about the animation are the "soft bellies."

• The animation models are toy-accurate to a fault! They even have the blast-effects pegs and 5mm weapon ports! I love me some toy-accuracy, but this seems a bit much. Still, I'd rather have more than less. Now nobody can whinge about how the toys don't look like the show I wonder if the animators used 3D scans of the toys to base their animation models on. If so, then I think that this would be the second time that a Transformers series has done this (the first being Beast Wars).

• I liked Bumblebee's journey. He's much like what Wheelie is supposed to be like in G1! (although the Sunbow cartoon totally dropped the ball on that) and we see his journey towards becoming an Autobot. The Ultra Magnus Protocols thing seemed to be kinda pointless (other than a plot device to find the 1D12 MacGuffin)

• The other Autobots were pretty mundane as characters. I actually found that the Decepticons had better characterisation than the Autobots. Impactor and Jetfire deal with leaving the Decepticons as they realise that the cause that they used to fight for is no longer what they signed up for. Starscream's journey of ambition leading him to earning his command of the Seekers. Megatron being forced to further compromise his morals in the justification of ending the war (I liked how the killing of Ultra Magnus wasn't just a plot device but also a major turning point sealing Megatron's descent into amorality).

• Heh, I liked the spin that they put on Soundblaster and his splinter faction. He even sounds better than Soundwave.

• The voices are a mixed bag. I think that in an attempt to make them sound more robotic, some of these characters end up sounding like they're speaking inside a tin can, particularly Optimus Prime and Jetfire.

• I love how Mirage is finally seen using his electro disrupter powers as it's originally meant to be (as described by his original 1984 bio)! He doesn't become invisible, he creates illusions - he creates mirages! That's why he's called Mirage and not Chameleon! His "bunshin" tactic was also cool, and I liked how they showed how generating these illusions are also physically taxing for him (also accurate to his G1 bio).

• Some nice Easter Eggs with the repainted Gumbies - I saw a red Bumblebee (not Cliffjumper), a Sideswipe model painted like Deepcover, and another Sideswipe model painted in Sideswipe's G2 GoBot colours.

• The overall story doesn't seem all that fresh to me. It mostly seems to be stuff borrowed from what we've seen in the IDW comics and the Aligned Continuity. :/

• English is demonstrably not the writer's first language

• How did Omega Supreme end up beneath the Ark?!? (and without anyone noticing??)

• I like the way that they showed Elita-1 opting to stay behind to continue to fight Megatron's forces, as opposed to the G1 cartoon where she pretty much just missed the bus

• I don't find this Optimus Prime to be a likeable character. He's by no means evil, but I just don't find him to be likeable. He seems to be more emotional and prone to bursts of rage - which is very different from the "be strong enough to be gentle" standard set by Peter Cullen. He's not a badly written Optimus Prime, but I'm not fond of the way that he's portrayed by the voice actor. He sometimes come across as an angry kid (kinda like Anakin Skywalker from the prequels). This might make more sense if he were meant to be a younger Optimus Prime or Orion Pax but... he's not. He's already carrying the Matrix.

• At some points of the story it felt like the writer forgot that the Transformers can... transform. There were a fair few characters who just never transformed. Did any of the Refraktors ever transform? Bumblebee, Arcee and Cog are running from Soundblaster's crew -- running? They have wheels! Okay, I understanding using that conveniently located hovercar to getaway after Bumblebee shut down, but before then you'd think that they'd be rolling.

• There was at least one moment where the writer forgot that these robots aren't humans and aren't meant to be speaking English. A very common mistake with TF writers (even IDW frequently makes this mistake). Bob Budiansky was one of the better writers who made an effort to portray the Transformers as otherworldly. I understand the need to make them relatable to a human audience, but scifi/fantasy writers dealing with non-human species always need to be careful not to make them unrealistically too human.

• Cog's moment to shine, boiz! I did like how they found a way to wedge in Cog's Weaponiser mode during the Energon theft. Cheesy, but cool.

• I like how they maintained visual continuity by keeping Bumblebee without a logo and keeping the Decepticon logo on Jetfire's chest, as there were no points in the story where they would've had time to add/change logos.

• I wonder if the bomb implanted in Jetfire's head is removable or not

• Decepticon-disguise Mirage could've been his Diaclone red colours (with accurate yellow eyes)

Overall Thoughts: It's just okay. This mini-series has its moments but it doesn't seem to offer anything really fresh or groundbreaking story-wise. Most of the things that we see in this series are things that we've seen before in other continuities. It's not like say Beast Wars or the IDW comics which shook things up and brought something new to the table by doing things that had never been done before. Overall it's a very safe series by giving fans what they want (much like the Solo movie); so if that's your sort of jam then you'll be in for a treat, but don't expect anything terribly new.

[SharkyMcShark]

The animation models are toy-accurate to a fault! They even have the blast-effects pegs and 5mm weapon ports! I love me some toy-accuracy, but this seems a bit much. Still, I'd rather have more than less. Now nobody can whinge about how the toys don't look like the show I wonder if the animators used 3D scans of the toys to base their animation models on. If so, then I think that this would be the second time that a Transformers series has done this (the first being Beast Wars).[/list]

I recall hearing in an interview that they using the CAD files for the toys as a starting (and apparently ending?) point.

[Autocon]

Finished it. I liked it. Animation is more enhanced/refined then the trilogy though it looks wrong when they are in vehicle mode. Wonder if the recolours have names yet

Wonder if earthrise will be a cut down g1 esque story on Earth

[Bidoofdude]

Copying my thoughts from the Ozformers Discord:

I just finished, it was pretty good actually. Not at the level of Prime or Animated I think, but the storytelling, characters and themes were still quite good. I haven’t seen too much of BW but the ship scenes gave me some of that vibe visually (probably the somewhat similar CGI style and Ark). The animation and textures(?) were actually a lot more dynamic and visually grabbing than I would have thought. They did manage to avoid making them look stilted and toy-like, a big concern of mine with taking the direct CAD files of the toys.

They did fall into the “this war” schtick a little more than I would have liked, and the pacing was definitely a bit too slow in parts. I was very surprised when all the climax suddenly started happening, I thought there would be a little more before it. The voice acting except for a few characters (Elita and Megatron were good) was a bit piss poor and embarrassing/cringe for some characters. I am excited for the next chapter though, this is much better than what we have previously gotten in Machinima Prime Wars shows/bits.

I hope they pull a few more stops in Earthrise(?), it was easy in this one to see the limitations like the constantly reused character models and limited cast (not in a good way) in general. There was a lot of telling rather than showing. With the constant references to the period slightly before like the rise against oppressors, battle of Tarnergate, etc it would have just been nice and powerful to just see that stuff happen instead. Some prequel trilogy problems!

Side note: obviously a marketing technique but I did find myself appreciating a lot of the Siege toys on my shelf in a different way now, having seen them with voices, personalities and moving dynamically. It doesn’t really motivate me to get any more than I have however, seeing as most are getting superior new versions or I have a good one already (Henkei Hound and Mirage).