Marty Isenberg gone. Animated no more?

[Paulbot]

I said that 6 years ago!! I was never impressed with HasTak's decision to 'reboot' continuity with Armada... by time Animated came along I just no longer cared. :/

Don't you mean Takara when they did Car Robots?

[GoktimusPrime]

Car Robot didn't feel like a true "G1 reboot" to me. First of all, it was a blend of G1 and Beast Wars, since it started off with Autobots vs. Predacons (Destrongers) - many of which were repainted Transmetal 2s (albeit oversized by BW standards). And it featured entirely new characters - Fire Convoy (not Convoy), Gigatron, X-Car, Ox, Gelshark, Gaskunk, Gusshar, JRX, Build King etc etc. - none of them carried G1 or BW character names or were ever portrayed as being elseworld equivalents of such characters.

Armada/Micron Legend was different though, that absolutely felt like a G1 reboot to me. Firstly we had Autobots vs Decepticons again. Secondly we had the return of G1 characters and names, such as Optimus Prime/Convoy, Red Alert/Ratchet, Megatron, Starscream, Cyclonus et al.

Also, I guess because Car Robot came along at the same time as Beast Machines, so while I enjoyed Car Robot as an alternate continuity, I still had Beast Machines as part of the "mainstream continuity." When Armada came along both Hasbro and Takara effectively abandoned the continuity that had been running since 1984. Then came Dreamwave's G1 reboot and then IDW's reboot. I came to like DW's G1 (from Series 2 onwards; don't like series 1) and I like IDW's G1... I'm pretty much climatised to reboots now, they don't phase me.

But when Armada first came along I must confess that it bugged me in terms of being the first "real" reboot. On the other hand, Armada thrilled me when it came out simply because I'd gone through that awful TF drought of 2002 and Armada broke that drought like an oasis in the desert!

[Kyle]

Animated ending with Season 3 is very very sad news for me.

[Stompy]

Same here. Sad as well. The focus on really humanizing the robots by (ironically) thru Sari and the high contact with humans was a very refreshing approach to the line. Not to mention all the "neutral" robots that made for some interesting plot and stories. Let's hope that if it is going to end with Season 3 that it wraps up pretty well.

[FFN]

Didn't TakaraTomy put Car Robots into G1 in the continuity map on the World of The Transformers website, based upon the one by one of the TFWiki editors (which was published in the official club newsletter)?

Not part of the continuity map on the site or the Kissplayers compilation book, but claimed on the actual website, was that the 2007 live-action was part of G1. What?

Not related, but this amuses me:

In addition to this serious working-over of the Generation 1 universe, the website timeline also took a moment to retcon Galaxy Force back into the same timeline as Micron Legend and Superlink (as it had always been presented in the West). American fans who had spent a year whining about how Hasbro had totally ruined the show by ignoring the super-cool and awesome Japanese intent were promptly pointed and laughed at.

[GoktimusPrime]

Well then that absolutely places Car Robot into G1 continuity meaning that Armada is definitely the first true "reboot," not CR.

American fans who had spent a year whining about how Hasbro had totally ruined the show by ignoring the super-cool and awesome Japanese intent were promptly pointed and laughed at.

*facepalm* This is why I dislike TFwiki...

[Paulbot]

Well then that absolutely places Car Robot into G1 continuity meaning that Armada is definitely the first true "reboot," not CR.

No it'd still be the Robots in Disguise cartoon not Armada

I think RID gets overlooked a lot, but I enjoyed the series and find it many ways similar to Animated. It had a vastly different animation style from the previous (Western) TF cartoons, it had a small core cast of Autobots and Decepticons with guest heroes and villains getting spotllight episodes, it could mix fun and silliness with a good TF story, and it had an overarching story which didn't dominate things the way the Unicron Trilogy did.

So yay to Animated! Hope they can make some more. And hopefully RID will get a local DVD release.

[FFN]

Something Kickback pointed out: It's possible that if Animated has ended, Hasbro wants to do a cartoon series in the direction of the movie, given it's enormous success.

At the Eric meet last year, I recall Gok asking Hasbro why did they go with Animated, such a vastly opposite visual direction to the 2007 Movie, comparing WB's decision to do the Batman animated series based upon the dark tone of the very successful Tim Burton's Batman movies. I assume he had forgotten at the time that Animated was actually in development before the movie was out (during which it wasn't known if the movie would be successful), and some details of the series were changed in production in anticipation of the then-upcoming movie, such as Hot Shot becoming Bumblebee.

Methinks at the time Hasbro were hedging their bets and going in two wildly different directions on the off-chance one didn't do as well as they had hoped. Fortunately for all concerned, both did well.

Well then that absolutely places Car Robot into G1 continuity meaning that Armada is definitely the first true "reboot," not CR.

No, it just means Takara retconned Car Robots into the Japanese cartoon continuity... for some reason. It was still the first reboot series.

*facepalm* This is why I dislike TFwiki...

But it's true. People who slobbered all over Galaxy Force and complained about how Hasbro was totally ruining Takara's intent by placing Cybertron in Armada-Energon's continuity (as both companies had originally planned) deserve to be mocked and derided for all they are worth.

[GoktimusPrime]

But it's true. People who <fapped> off at Galaxy Force and complained about how Hasbro was totally ruining Takara's Galaxy Force series by placing Cybertron in Armada-Energon's continuity (as both companies had originally planned) deserve to be mocked and derided for all they are worth.

Continued here.

No, it just means Takara retconned Car Robots into the Japanese cartoon continuity... for some reason. It was still the first reboot series.

But by the Law of RetCon it means that it's not a reboot, even if it may have initially been intended to be so.

[roller]

Although i dont rate Animated as my fave cartoon

i hope it goes longer, you guys should see the perth fans faces light up and their voices crack with excitement when soul trader Kyle bings them toys in his sack.

Did any cartoon run as long as Teenage mutant Ninja turtles?