Personally I have to agree here. While I have enjoyed a few episodes (much more the Cybertron/space based ones over the earth/humans involved ones) of Animated, I think if they had have made it follow/emulate the movie continuity it would have been a far greater and even more marketable product than the copying of the Teen Titans/Powerpuff Girls/Puffy Ami Yumi thing that we have now. Sadly, no matter how hard I try, I am just not Aaron Archer.Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
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Nah, I like Animated, it's a breath of fresh air for the franchise. It's especially enjoyable for the younger kids (10 and under) and really, that's who it's aimed at. It's about getting the younger kids into Transformers, and it's succeeding in that respect.
BUT I WOULD LOVE IT IF HASBRO WERE TO COMMISSION A SERIES OF STRAIGHT-TO-DVD ANIMATED MOVIES BASED IN THE MOVIE UNIVERSE.
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Having it follow suit from the movie wouldn't necessarily exclude kids. WB's Batman animated series followed up on the movies with a new darker/grittier look and that's been really successful. And although Clone Wars has adopted a more Cartoon Network visual style (same animators as Powerpuff Girls for the cel-animated series) the story-telling still easily comparable with the movies... mind you, Clone Wars is in-continuity with the movies but the Batman animated series isn't. Ditto the Spider-Man and X-Men cartoons that followed the movie... new look and "attitude" for those franchises that were clearly influenced by their movies, but still marketed toward kids at the same time. When I spoke to Eric Siebernaler about this he did concede that Animated is definitely a "divergence" from the standard look and feel of Transformers. There's no reason why a franchise cannot be based on a movie and still be made to appeal to kids at the same time.
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Although saying that X-Men movie influenced X-Men evolution is a bit of a stretch it still serves to make your point.
That Animated Prime really stands out badly in the ridiculous sense
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Sounds like that would be putting all the eggs in one basket. I like the current three pronged (Movie/Animated/Universe) TF approach. It casts a wider net.
Just with the comparison with Star Wars...the cartoons actually add to the story (movies) so that a much larger and more complex picture is drawn in one continuity. Which I like.
Transformers now has so many totally different continuities (which I don't like) and with the movies we can expect 3 x 2 hr (approx) episodes. If the cartoon was in movie continuity we could have so much more from one Universe.
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I agree. Kind of like how the Ghostbuster cartoon complimented the movie.
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I like that to. In the Star Wars universe basically every character you see has some small detail about them, others have vast detailed histories and yet you only see them for half a second in the films.
Aurra Sing comes to mind. She has a big back story and yet is only in Episode I for half a second
On the other hand though, I also like having some stories that a different. The whole What If? thing. Having multiple continuities allows this, and you can see the same thing through different views or ways. It is interesting to see how each Optimus Prime is the same and yet different.
I do too. The main advantage I see is variaty. There is something for everyone (well at least almost everyone)
I like Animated's style, and the figure have some really good engineering and design. But I also like the more traditional style that we see in Classics/Universe. And I also dislike the style seen in the Movie line, we can't win them all, but I can have at least 2 out of 3. The Point I'm trying to make is that this way, we get something that we can enjoy. They may not enjoy as much as if they had put 100% into it, but the pay off is is that you get something to enjoy, otherwise they might take the other road and you would get stuck with something that they put 100% into that you think is 100% crap
For Batman:The Animated Series, yes very true, for The Batman, not so much.
The latter was a lot more light hearted. Just look at the way they did the villains, especially Joker, they were crazy and comical. And the latter seasons because a lot more campier. Have you heard the Theme song for Season 3,4 & 5?!?!?!
Think a cross between Hawaiian Surf music and the Batman theme from the 1960s live action TV series with Adam West
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I'm glad that Animated didnt visually follow on from the movie, the movie characters looked mostly like scrap metal, and although the designs look much better in the sequel comics having to animate all that useless horrible "detail" would have cost a fortune for any close up shots.
Story wise, if the Animated series expanded on the movie it would have more or less a blank slate as the movie had about as much plot and characterisation in it as the AHM comic series.
A different angle incorporating some of the more popular movie elements as Animated did was the smartest move Hasbro could make. Sure it could have been a bit more mature, but Hasbro had a target audience in mind and stuck with it.
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IMO You could say Hasbro are trying to appeal to all their demographics with the 3 current/future lines (ROTF = Non-TF people, Animated = kids & Universe = Collectors) & for that you'd definitely have to give them kudos
I just know someone's gonna flame me for expressing my opinion
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