TF Animated General Discussion

[kup]

I have just watched the next episode of Animated. I have to say that I enjoyed it much more than the first although the very start of it was stupid with the Archer character. Thankfully that only lasted for a couple of minutes.

Although it still had very kiddy elements and the TFs are continually regarded as celebrity heroes by the overall human community (robot paparatzis chasing them), the plot was overall better handled.

*Spoilers*



It focused on Megatron becoming concious and using the limited resources that were avaliable to him (due to his lack of body) to seek out the Allspark and destroy the Autobots. The focus was mainly on this and that's why the show felt more enjoyable despite the secondary plot of Sari's slumber party with the autobots and teaching them how to play Twister (yes, you heard right).

Prowl's character development was nicely done and well executed. From being a generic ninja with attitude, he is becoming a bit of a Beachcomber with his admiration and respect of nature. He has developed depth of character which also help to give the show also more depth and quality in its storytelling.

The show became more enjoyable when I went into a mindset that I was watching more of a Super Hero Team show than Transformers. In fact, several scenes reminded me more of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the way that the 'Bots interacted with one another.

Looks like this show has the potential for me to enjoy if I go into a similar mindset that I did with Beast Machines, as in treat it as its own show rather than part of the Transformers franchise. Its more Super Hero team than Transformers anyway and that is how I will watch it.

This show its definetly falling into the Beast Machines category of 'good show, but doesn't feel like Transformers' but it is definitely reaching a higher quality than the recent Japanese cartoons.

I am so glad that the Angry Archer crap only lasted less than 5 mins
________
Chevrolet Van Specifications

[liegeprime]

I just watched it ( 2nd episode) on youtube.... angry archer indeeed, a ripoff of DC's green arrow (do I hear lawsuit ringing, hehehehe), good thing its less than 5 min as you said kup. Having watched this 2nd episode makes me want the toys even more... can't wait! I'm more interested in the toys than the show anyway.

[Gutsman Heavy]

I think it was great that they dedicated most of the episode to fleshing out Prowl, in the "movie" he got neglected and I found him boring as hell, but now he's really sprung up as a character, I had no interest in getting his figure but now I do, so I guess it succeeded as a toy ad

[kup]

Yeah, there is a definite higher level of quality in the script of this new episode than the 'movie' one. Its less generic and its good to see that they are fleshing out a character that originally had the potential to be the most boring and annoying if not developed.

Some things still annoy me like how Prowl's room looks like a Samurai dojo when he is supposed to be an Alien with little knowledge of Earth culture but this is very minor. The Sari slumber party thing was also unsettling but it didn't dominate the core of the overall plot although it served to provided the setting and circumstances which is why I could deal with it.

A nice episode overall and a head above the first 'movie' one. Still not enough to change my mind about the series or collecting toys but definitly a step in the right direction. I hope that they continue to concentrate more on Transformers aspects than Super hero ones for future episodes.
________
Masturbation Shower

[GoktimusPrime]

I just watched ep2 and yeah, it's a lot better than ep1!

The Angry Archer character sh**s me to no end. With the sole exception of Circuit Breaker (I'm not counting Cobra Commander because he's not really a Transformers character), human villains in Transformers have always been terrible... The Robot Master (although he wasn't a true villain, but still extremely lame), The Mechanic, Lord Chumley, the Roadjammers... gah... we can lump the Angry Archer in that basket of atrocious human villains whom we'd all rather soon forget. But thankfully he only lasted for a few minutes, if only Wheelie lasted that long in G1S3 And his attempt at speaking in Shakespearean prose was kinda cute (not enough to redeem the character though).

But aside from that, I really enjoyed the episode. When I first heard that Prowl was going to be a martial artist, I shuddered because "martial arts" is almost always screwed up in shows, movies etc. - in short, I thought he'd be an Autobot ninja turtle. But I like how they focused on the philosophical aspects of martial arts, and it was done well too. In the Martial Arts discussion thread we recently discussed the notion of binary logic in fighting, which is often expressed in through Yin Yang and Ba Gua in Chinese martial arts (and other Asian martial arts influenced by China), so from that perspective I really liked how in this episode Prowl demonstrated the application of binary logic based combat. In this case, Yin (0) = stillness and Yang (1) = motion; and it was only through a sequential cyclical combination of both extremes was he and Bumblebee able to allow the Autobots to win.

We've never seen this level of practical martial arts philosophy in Transformers before. Not in Bugly, Bludgeon, Banzaitron or Dinobot! And best of all, it really makes Prowl actually earn his namesake! Let's face it, G1 Prowl never really did much prowling...

So yeah, right now Prowl is my favourite Animated character.

I didn't mind the idea of Sari's slumber party. It's part of her trying to initiate the Autobots into human culture, which they obviously find baffling - and this is cool. As I mentioned before, even Bob Forward, Larry DiTillio and Simon Furman often made the mistake of portraying the Transformers as being too earthly. I like how Isenberg is portraying the Transformers as being otherworldly - something I haven't seen done so well since the days of Bob Budiansky. The Twister game served as a simple demonstration of the episode's Yin/Yang theme - which is needed to engage a younger audience. Remember that Beast Machines totally ran off philosophies similar to Yin/Yang and Aristotle's Phronesis and essentially was just too adult, flying right over the heads of kids and making it distasteful to some older audiences who disliked seeing it get way too hippie - at least here Prowl shows an immediate practical application behind his theory instead of growing a garden.

As for the "super heroes" aspect... I don't think it's too bad. From most of the Autobot's POV they're just there to help - much like the Autobots in Car Robot (RiD). They're not looking for glory or publicity per se - with the exception of Bumblebee, but his attitude might change after being educated by Prowl.

And that's another thing that I'm enjoying about this series - character development! In the first ep Prowl developed from being an aloof brooding loner into becoming more of a team member. In this episode Bumblebee developed from being impulsive into learning that patience is a virtue.

I also really like what they did with Megatron. I found it both original and, as Prowl would say, "fascinating."

Also, there was a lot less emoting with the Autobots in vehicle mode, which was great to see.

[Paulbot]

If the Angry Archer had been the focus of the episode he would have been a bit annoying but as a couple of minute threat I just feel apathy. If this is what they meant by the Autobots fighting supervillains than I like the direction. I think he'll come back though, I don't think they'd create such complicated weapons for a one shot character.

What I imagine is that we'll get a few more random human supervillains (all quickly handled like this) and then eventually they will team up for revenge (maybe with a Decepticon sponsor and/or Decepticon technology) which will make them more of a threat (for one episode at least).

[GoktimusPrime]

They're such stupid weapons though. Punching arrows?! PUNCHING ARROWS?!?

=

But yes... thank Primus he only appeared for one scene. Would anyone care if he never appeared again? During G1 I really wanted to see Charlene and Astoria Carlton-Ritz again - it'd be cool to follow up on Skids and Powerglide's human girlfriends (yeah okay, Skids did technically break up with Charlene, but they can still be friends, right?) - but I wouldn't lose any sleep if I never saw Angry Archer again.

That's one happy Autobot

[iceburn]

just watched it today!!! hmmm prime died and revived...that's fast!
well...definitely a chance now to get the toys when it comes in June/July...
*curses in a good way*

[iceburn]

just watched it today
surprisingly...prowl has the battle mask

[Saintly]

mods, I'm wondering if we could merge this thread with that "ranking" thread... was confused by it and posted in the wrong thread :/

I'll fix it up if necessary