TF Animated General Discussion

[GoktimusPrime]

Watched it on YouTube - overall I liked it.

***This post contains spoilers***

I didn't think the animation was bad, but the art style is very cartoonish and parts of the animation is goofy (such as making their vehicle modes physically emote...(--;)) so I can understand why some people wouldn't be huge fans of the art/animation style. The transformation animation was mostly cheap... didn't like the whole "woosh woosh!" whirlwind transformation style. Then there's the over-the-top song and dance transformations that the Autobots had when they first appeared to fight that monster. Gah - had enough of that after seven years of Car Robot/RiD and Armadaverse... considering that this was an American-scripted show, was it really necessary? Thankfully it didn't happen every time someone transformed (which is more typical of what happens in the Japanese series). Some of the transformations were done well, like Starscream transforming in mid-air - that looked nice.

The story premise was interesting - like a futuristic version of the premise behind the live action movie where their recent technology is reverse-engineered by studying Megatron... and I liked the ending where the scientist (why do they always wear lab coats even when they're not working in a lab?!) expresses dread about his life's work from studying Megatron.

And although the story is overall aimed at kids, there were elements that were aimed at adults too. Not just G1 references, but lines which are definitely not aimed at kids, like Sari explaining sex to Optimus Prime. ;D

And I like the culture shock between the Autobots and humans as it reminds audiences that these robots are extra terrestrial aliens. It sounds agiven but a lot of writers (even Simon Furman and BW writers) often portray Transformers as being too earthly. It reminds me of the way Bob Budiansky used to portray Transformers as being other-worldly.

The G1 transformation noise was grossly overused. I don't mind them using it for actual transforming, but I didn't like how they were using it for everything... Bumblebee changes his hand to a tool/weapon - *krrk krrk krrk krrk krrk* - Optimus Prime puts on his face plate - *krrk krrk krrk krrk krrk* - Prowl scratches his butt - *krrk krrk krrk krrk krrk* SHUT UP!

The only real gripe I had was with the key that Sari has. It's too powerful and was used too much. And I don't like the message it's reinforcing to the kids that the current generation of teenagers -> early 20's has come to expect, that being that no matter how bad things go, or not your way, you'll always have a way to get off clean and scott-free. Consequences should be learnt, not get out of trouble for nothing.

I agree - although the G1 cartoon was even worse in portraying war as inconsequential. At least in Animated you see Transformers being hurt and killed (the instant wanton revival sucks) - there are no casualties. G1 was inconsistent - sometimes you'd have a Transformer brutally smashed only to be quickly revived, other times they would have to go to great lengths to repair them.

Omega Supreme nearly dies from a return flight from Cybertron. Optimus Prime nearly dies from a computer explosion and dies from sustaining multiple wounds in battle. Ultra Magnus is blown to pieces (in the G1 comic adaptation he is physically drawn and quartered by Sweeps) and the Junkions reassemble him like Lego(TM)! W T F ?!

Behold! Here's what's inside Sari's key!!

[Robzy]

Ratchet is a bit like Rhinox, old and wise, and picking up on Optimus when he makes the wrong decision.

I also thought it was very similar to the relationship between Kup and Hotrod in the movie...

Prowl starts off as an insubordinate Autobot, a bit like Rattrap, but looks to see the value of teamwork and working in the chain of command.

I actually thought they should've made this character Mirage instead of Prowl!

[roller]

i hate it how they dance around when transforming

[GoktimusPrime]

G1 Mirage doubts the Autobot cause (although this was never exploited in the G1 cartoon - there was one ep where Cliffjumper questions Mirage's loyalty for no apparent reason, but his doubts were utterly unproven) but Animated Prowl doesn't - he was just more of a loner in the beginning, more like G1 Snarl. But the difference is that Prowl learnt the value of teamwork by the end - and hopefully we'll see this character (and others) continuing to develop as the series progresses.

Character development was something that was sorely lacking in the G1 cartoon - for the most part, they remained static throughout, or they'll have random personality changes for one story to serve as a plot device e.g.: Cliffjumper's random aggressively hostile doubts against Mirage's loyalty... it disappeared by the end of that episode as mysteriously as it had appeared!

It's still early to tell how much character development will be in this series. Prowl's character development was similar to that of Slingshot's in "The Key To Vector Sigma" where his character evolved for that episode's story, but in Slingshot's case his character remained static after that.

I do hope that we'll see continuing character development as we saw in the G1 comics and Beast Wars/Beast Machines. Time will tell.

Animated Ratchet is a combination of at least three G1 Autobots...
Crotchety old fart
+
Ambulance medic
+
Magnetic beams
=
Ratchkupcharger!!

[Tober]

To me it was like watching a dumbed down version of Justice League. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself.

The more organic flow of the animation was refreshing and worked well imo.

I don't think it's too much to hope for a developed story line. Afterall Black Arachnia is in there as a spider so maybe...

As for some comparisons to Justice League:

Optimus Prime - Superman moralistic heavy-hitter
Prowl - Batman stealth mystery man
Bumblebee - Flash annoying youngster
Ratchet - J'onn J'onzz ancient vetran
Bulkhead - Green Lantern he's green (ok, now I'm stretching...)
Wonderwoman - Arcee ?
Hawkgirl - Black Arachnia ?

Who are currently heroes serving the city.

I liked the triple change head for Blitzwing, but not the choice of accent. Then again with a name like Blitzwing

[GoktimusPrime]

Personality(-ies)-wise Blitzwing reminds me of (Devil) Gigatron on Car Robot who had a different voice and personality in each of his 10 modes.

[springah]

You're all filthy pirates.

Also I have the DVD, haha

[1orion2many]

OMG it gets worse everytime I see this animated pile of Elephant DOO DOO!

[kup]

I watched it again. Since I knew what to expect I wasn't as dissapointed the second time and I think that I enjoyed it a bit more particularly at the very start and the Battle with Starscream. However all the bad points are still there such as the horrendous human animation and the 'City Super heroes' crap right after they awaken from stasis. The Nanotech bug monster thing battle didn't seem as long this time around but it was still dull.

The Human character's animation and style are awful, particularly at the robot factory tour and the park, the backgrounds are MASSIVELY cheap. After watching the first part in space and then Earth, there is a huge contrast where you notice the really cheap animation as if the first part (finding the Allspark/Megatron attack) was made by a different animation studio and a budget one took over when they reached Earth.

The Battle with Starscream is the saving grace of this first episode although it ends in a very cliche sort of way. If it wasn't for the Starscream battle this episode would have sucked royally as the battle had good pacing and Tom Kenny does an excellent Starscream (although I can still hear Sponge Bob in there :P ).

I don't see anything at the level that the US fans are raving about and its not better than G1 and certainly well below Beast Wars. Beast Wars showed thaty it had maturity and quality right off the bat in the first episode. First time I saw Beast Wars I was very skeptical and came out feeling good, I am not getting the same vibe here.

The comics would have been an opportunity to make it better but unfortunately they follow the TV show line by line.

I still think its alright, possibly better than the Unicron trilogy (although I enjoyed the Unicron Battles part of Armada better than this) but not much better. I still like G1, Beast Wars a lot more and as much as I dislike Beast Machines, I have to say that BM is of a superior quality than Animated.

I see nothing here that would motivate me to collect the toys just as I don't collect from RID and the Unicron Trilogy.
________
Yamaha V8 Engine

[The_Damned]

hmm i first saw it i hated it but as it proved with the movie when i actually watched it i enjoyed it and will now have to waste my money on the toys
ohwell hopefully it will be a little while b4 the toys come out.

does anyone know when the next episodes are out?