The Transformers thread (shows, comics, toys, all things TF)

[Pilky01]

The first movie was okat, though it bothered me that the tank was named Devastator instead of Brawl.

It was the first movie I can recall the ad placements just being so completely over the top it took me right out of the experience. Mountain Dew, Oakley, pretty sure some brand of head phones was in there....and that was in like the first 10 minutes of the film.

 

[The Nemesis]

I tried with Animated once before, but the art style really turned me off. Maybe I'll give it another shot one of these days.

As for Beast Machines, I'd say stick to your inclination to just "Almost" want to watch it, but not really watch it!

The art style of Animated is its biggest stumbling block. But after remembering it mostly as a silly comedy "kids show" I was surprised at how much the 2nd/3rd season content I watched managed to work in more dramatic material.

and Beast Machines is soooo frustrating, It follows a really good character-driven series as a direct continuation/sequel, but manages to mangle most of the characters in service of the patently stupid plot they came up with. Optimus becomes a fanatical zealot, Megatron basically a Transformers equivalent of a racist, Rattrap is a simpering coward, Blackarachnia a pining romantic, Silverbolt a whiny emo moper, Rhinox becomes a lunatic. The only character who makes out well in the series is Cheetor. And it doesn't seem entirely inconsequential to that development that Cheetor was pretty much the only character whose story path from Beast Wars through this series was more or less unbroken (evolving from the Bumblebee-esque "kid sidekick" character to a grown up and competent leader)

I'll grant that Beast Machines' art quality looked good, but stylistically they also ****ed it up with the ugly "technorganic" character bodies and stuffing Megatron into that weird swing-arm frame thingy.

I also get a laugh out of the fact that Simon Furman, the writer of the back half of the Marvel comics run (ie the good stuff) and a bunch of other great transformers fiction since then, and also the patron saint of dark, dark, dark, grim, murdery, bleak, heart-wrenching Transformers fiction (he himself as admitted that when he was approached to write the Beast Wars finale episode (Nemesis, Pt 2), his very first question to the producers was "who can I kill?"), has described Beast Machines as "too dark" That's quite the accomplishment

 

[Baby Punisher]

Hell yeah, just found a Fort Max for $150 Cdn.

So I just spent an obscene amount of money on Transformers this christmas in addition to the ones that I got for christmas. Must be going through my second childhood. I also forgot that I picked up the last in-stock copy of the Transformers Animated DVDs in my previous order. Rewatching a few episodes the other day reminded me how much I liked that series.


Anyone else get anything cool?

I got a new hammer drill.

 

[The Nemesis]

I got a new hammer drill.

Does it turn into a robot?

 

[glarb blarg]

Alright, I might see if i can track down some Animated episodes and give them a shot again.

Oh, I totally agree about Beast Machines. I loved Beast Wars (Or Beasties as it was called on YTV), so I was super hyped when I heard of Beast Machines. But to watch what they did with the characters was as you said "soooo frustrating". My memory's a bit rusty, but did they ever explain how Waspinator managed to travel from Earth to Cybertron on his own? I can't add anything else as for the rest of the characters as you nailed it.

Once again, I agree with your sentiments on the art quality and style of the show. Yeah, also not one of Megatron's better looks, and didn't he have a floating head base as well?

Ok, now that part about Furman is pretty funny. I guess Megs did steal all the sparks on Cybertron until the end when he and Primal fell into that hole and formatted the planet? I told ya, my memories rusty on this one, heh.

 

[The Nemesis]

Alright, I might see if i can track down some Animated episodes and give them a shot again.

Oh, I totally agree about Beast Machines. I loved Beast Wars (Or Beasties as it was called on YTV), so I was super hyped when I heard of Beast Machines. But to watch what they did with the characters was as you said "soooo frustrating". My memory's a bit rusty, but did they ever explain how Waspinator managed to travel from Earth to Cybertron on his own? I can't add anything else as for the rest of the characters as you nailed it.

Once again, I agree with your sentiments on the art quality and style of the show. Yeah, also not one of Megatron's better looks, and didn't he have a floating head base as well?

Ok, now that part about Furman is pretty funny. I guess Megs did steal all the sparks on Cybertron until the end when he and Primal fell into that hole and formatted the planet? I told ya, my memories rusty on this one, heh.

Yeah, I remember it being called "Beasties." Apparently because Canadian Standards & Practices thought that titles with the word "War" in it were too violent for kids. It happened to another Mainframe show as well, based on the "War Planets" toyline, forcing it to be named to the somehow less offisive name "Shadow Raiders." (Incidentally, that was a pretty solid show too.) What makes it even weirder is that while it was Canada that objected to the title, forcing the weird split, it was Fox as the US carrier for Beast Wars that forced some of the early season 1 goofiness and annoying aspects (like the characters making animal noises, Cheetor's incessant stupid slang, and the heavily episodic, disconnected story plots where each show was self-contained and there wasn't much of a story arc) Once Fox stopped paying attention to them so much, they were able to push the series into the more dramatic and serialized elements that we see through the end of season 1 and beyond. Kinda like how ReBoot got suddenly very dark and dramatic once ABC Family stopped giving two ****s about the show.

Yes, Beast Machines was also where Megs had the giant floaty head base, which I believe had a name I can't remember. It also posited that Megatron ridding himself of his beast mode (or organic "infection" as he put it) somehow created a werewolf-looking thing that turned into a sorta-dragon-like monster.... for some reason.

And as for Waspinator, I don't know of they ever did explain how he crossed space and time to land on cybertron. Just that the ancient proto-human/cavemen people got sick of him ruling and overthrew him. According to the TF Wiki, all that's ever said is that it "took forever" to make the trip. Maybe he has a weird indestructable mutant spark like Starscream?

 

[glarb blarg]

You sir, are a plethora of information.

I never watched "Shadow Raiders", but I did watch "ReBoot". I think I missed a chunk of episodes where Enzo and Andrea got caught in a game and grew up. Suffice to say I was pretty confused at what was going on when I began watching again. Weren't they going to bring ReBoot back recently?

Heh, that theory could possibly work. Maybe a bit of Starscream's indestructible spark powers rubbed off on Waspinator when he was "possessed"

 

[The Nemesis]

You sir, are a plethora of information.

I never watched "Shadow Raiders", but I did watch "ReBoot". I think I missed a chunk of episodes where Enzo and Andrea got caught in a game and grew up. Suffice to say I was pretty confused at what was going on when I began watching again. Weren't they going to bring ReBoot back recently?

Heh, that theory could possibly work. Maybe a bit of Starscream's indestructible spark powers rubbed off on Waspinator when he was "possessed"

for ReBoot: Yeah, there was a trailer that was little more than a shot of the city of Mainframe and the "warning, incoming game" voiceover. But it's been a couple years since then and no new news. I also am pretty sure that Mainframe (the production house) dissolved as well.

Shadow Raiders was pretty good. It was like half action show, half political drama. You can actually find both seasons on Youtube:

Season 1
Season 2

 

[glarb blarg]

for ReBoot: Yeah, there was a trailer that was little more than a shot of the city of Mainframe and the "warning, incoming game" voiceover. But it's been a couple years since then and no new news. I also am pretty sure that Mainframe (the production house) dissolved as well.

Shadow Raiders was pretty good. It was like half action show, half political drama. You can actually find both seasons on Youtube:

Season 1
Season 2

Well that is unfortunate to hear.

Thanks for the links, I watched a few episodes last night and have been enjoying it thus far.

 

[The Nemesis]

Inferno scrapped, Waspinator must salvage. Waspinator scrapped, nobody salvage.... Why universe hate Waspinator?

 

[The Nemesis]

I don't want to hijack the thread any more, but I did find that the apparent ReBoot continuation is going ahead. And it sounds.... really bad...

ReBoot: The Guardian Code - Wikipedia

Four teenagers at Alan Turing High School are recruited by V.E.R.A, a "virtual evolutionary recombinant avatar," to protect cyberspace

what. It's a live action/animation hybrid and though it will allegedly include some continuity nods to the old ReBoot (in the form of classic characters), it's also (from what I understand) not going to resolve the gigantic cliffhanger from the end of the last series.

So I guess it just goes to show that franchises besides the Transformers can ignore their target audience and **** it up something fierce.

In actual Transformers news, my Six Shot, Blitzwing, and Fort Max figures are supposed to arrive on Tuesday and Wednesday. Though if they get delivered to the post office it means I'm not going to have them in my hands until Wednesday/Thursday because of stupid Canada Post next-day-pickup rules bull****. My Animated DVDs apparently have yet to ship and are still targeted for a week from Monday.

 

[Baby Punisher]

Does it turn into a robot?

It turns masonry projects into dust.

 

[The Nemesis]

It turns masonry projects into dust.

But it does so without turning into a robot? That's no fun. I mean, I got a new duffle bag for christmas, but since it doesn't turn into anything I figured it was hardly worth mentioning....

 

[glarb blarg]

Inferno scrapped, Waspinator must salvage. Waspinator scrapped, nobody salvage.... Why universe hate Waspinator?

Ah Waspy, was there a more lovable Predacon?

I don't want to hijack the thread any more, but I did find that the apparent ReBoot continuation is going ahead. And it sounds.... really bad...

ReBoot: The Guardian Code - Wikipedia



what. It's a live action/animation hybrid and though it will allegedly include some continuity nods to the old ReBoot (in the form of classic characters), it's also (from what I understand) not going to resolve the gigantic cliffhanger from the end of the last series.

So I guess it just goes to show that franchises besides the Transformers can ignore their target audience and **** it up something fierce.

In actual Transformers news, my Six Shot, Blitzwing, and Fort Max figures are supposed to arrive on Tuesday and Wednesday. Though if they get delivered to the post office it means I'm not going to have them in my hands until Wednesday/Thursday because of stupid Canada Post next-day-pickup rules bull****. My Animated DVDs apparently have yet to ship and are still targeted for a week from Monday.

Yikes, yeah it's probably for the best that one didn't get off the ground.

I'm looking forward to pics of the Fort Max figure!

 

[The Nemesis]

Ah Waspy, was there a more lovable Predacon?



Yikes, yeah it's probably for the best that one didn't get off the ground.

I'm looking forward to pics of the Fort Max figure!

Oh, it's actually happening. It's scheduled for release this year. And apparently it's not a reboot (heh). It's meant to be a continuation of sorts and allegedly will contain classic characters like Bob/Dot/Enzo. Yeeesh.



I got my Sixshot and Blitzwing figures in the mail today. I'll probably have pics and a proper review of them in the next couple days (when I have Fort Max as well, which is probably Thursday because it's scheduled for delivery via Canada Post tomorrow, but my mail carrier doesn't bring along large packages, which means I'll get a delivery card that means I have to wait until 1pm the next day to pick it up from the nearest post office.)

Initial impressions is that both are very cool recreations of their G1 figures with modern conveniences (like better joints and posability). There are a few little quirks with Blitzwing that I don't like, in particular getting the tank barrel out of the turret for transformation causes some stress marking on the plastic (the purple turns white from being stressed). Sixshot is neat for having 6 modes, but most of them are kind of gimpy and there are a lot of times where you turn it into a mode and some aspect of it (especially the robot mode arms) stay kind of loose because they don't lock into place. And Sixshot has the hip joints I hate that some figures have where moving them makes a loud click that always scares me into thinking I'm breaking something. Armada Unicron does the same thing.

The fun thing is that since both are part of the Titans Return line, which had a big gimmick of being a Headmasters line, both figures are headmasters. Blitzwing's head is nothing of note (it looks like G1 Blitzwing as a head and looks like a unique bot as a mini robot) but Sixshot's head (the headmaster is called "Revolver" which is cool) has 2 quirks 1) It actually settles into the inside the molded "helmet" of the Sixshot robot instead of just being an entirely self-contained head. and 2) the headmaster robot is apparently modeled after a character from the Headmasters anime (urgh) named "Jack" who was most notable for being captured by Sixshot and turned into a suicide bomber meant to kill Chromedome (his old friend) and the rest of the Headmasters characters, and ultimately forced Chromedome to shoot and kill him to stop the plot.

That's.... really hardcore

 

[The Nemesis]

Got my Fort Max. It's ****ing gigantic.

Unfortunately they decided to bring back an old bit of Transformers jackassery: You have to apply the stickers to he figures yourself.

30 seconds into that I dropped the autobot logo for Cerebros' chest because it didn't separate from its backing and now it's vanished.

 

[The Nemesis]

I haven't gone through taking pics of my collection additions yet to post reviews. Soon.

I also today picked up the Power of the Primes Shrapnel on a whim because it was like $10. I am a little saddened to know now that Kickback and Bombshell were part of the previous two lines and are long out of circulation unless I want to a) go on amazon and spend $50 from some marketplace schmuck or b) go on eBay and spend $20 to get it from some sketchy Chinese seller that's using stock photos so they can probably sell me a knockoff. That's a shame. I would've loved to have a new-wave Insecticon trio to go with my classic insecticons (I actually have a re-issue 3-pack of their G1 figures from a couple years ago as well as original 80s Bombshell and Shrapnel in varying states of disrepair and wear (Shrapnel's legs no longer lock in place in robot mode, and Bombshell is missing some stickers and his gun.

 

[Baby Punisher]

But it does so without turning into a robot? That's no fun. I mean, I got a new duffle bag for christmas, but since it doesn't turn into anything I figured it was hardly worth mentioning....

Fair enough.

 

[The Nemesis]

Ah Waspy, was there a more lovable Predacon?

Waspinator was supposed to get killed off by the transwarp wave from the S1 finale, but he got a reprieve because the fans liked him so much and the Mainframe staff liked him as a fun-to-write comic relief character. So only Terrorsaur and Scorponok died.

 

[The Nemesis]

I promised a while ago that I was going to have pics of my last few TF purchases and I still will. Maybe over the next couple of days as I have to clean up my TF shelf and re-organize it to make room for the new acquisitions. That'll probably be on Saturday because it's likely to be an all-day job with a can of compressed air, cloths, q-tips, and a loooot of time to clean and dust everything. I probably should invest in a big plexiglass box to cover them in

Before I do that, I wanted to comment how hard it is to find Power of the Primes stuff right now. I saw a good run of Wave 1 just before christmas at Wal-Mart, but by christmas all I was able to get was Slag and Swoop. Since then they've only partially restocked and I picked up 2 of the 3 powermaster minis and Shrapnel, but I haven't seen restocks for Slash or Jazz or Starscream at all. And I've yet to see a single Grimlock or the biggest releases in teh wave (multi-form Orion Pax/Optimus and Hot Rod/Rodimus)

Meanwhile I hit up Toys R Us today while I was on my way home and they have no PoP figures at all. Their wall of TF is still like 60% Bayformer movie crap, 30% Robots in Disguise cartoon line stuff, and 10% Titans Return holdovers (mostly Seaspray and Cosmos, which are tempting because they're very retro-G1 cool)

I did see a Vector Prime powermaster at a Wal-Mart in Kelowna last month, but I thought to myself at the time "bah, I don't need to get it now. my local wal-mart will restock and I'll be fine instead of buying it and stuffing it in my duffel bag to bring home

 

[67 others]

I promised a while ago that I was going to have pics of my last few TF purchases and I still will. Maybe over the next couple of days as I have to clean up my TF shelf and re-organize it to make room for the new acquisitions. That'll probably be on Saturday because it's likely to be an all-day job with a can of compressed air, cloths, q-tips, and a loooot of time to clean and dust everything. I probably should invest in a big plexiglass box to cover them in

Before I do that, I wanted to comment how hard it is to find Power of the Primes stuff right now. I saw a good run of Wave 1 just before christmas at Wal-Mart, but by christmas all I was able to get was Slag and Swoop. Since then they've only partially restocked and I picked up 2 of the 3 powermaster minis and Shrapnel, but I haven't seen restocks for Slash or Jazz or Starscream at all. And I've yet to see a single Grimlock or the biggest releases in teh wave (multi-form Orion Pax/Optimus and Hot Rod/Rodimus)

Meanwhile I hit up Toys R Us today while I was on my way home and they have no PoP figures at all. Their wall of TF is still like 60% Bayformer movie crap, 30% Robots in Disguise cartoon line stuff, and 10% Titans Return holdovers (mostly Seaspray and Cosmos, which are tempting because they're very retro-G1 cool)

I did see a Vector Prime powermaster at a Wal-Mart in Kelowna last month, but I thought to myself at the time "bah, I don't need to get it now. my local wal-mart will restock and I'll be fine instead of buying it and stuffing it in my duffel bag to bring home

I have an original powermaster Optimus prime probably sitting in my dad's garage lol

 

[RobBrown4PM]

The two greatest moments in TF for me were:

Depth Charge and Rampage killing each other

The opening to Code of Hero. I wasnt old enough to truly understand what was happening, but as I got older, the significance of what he was about to do, and why, became ever more present, and it still gob smacks me to this day that this aired in a kids show.

 

[Baby Punisher]

I have an original powermaster Optimus prime probably sitting in my dad's garage lol

I still have mine. It's in mind condition.
Funny story about how I bought that toy. I was like 14 or 15 and had to have it. I had stopped playing with toys 2 or 3 years prior to that. My parents had thrown out my Transformers and I was heartbroken that I didn't have Optimus Prime anymore. So I go to Toys R Us which was within a nice little walking or biking distance from my house. I couldn't let anyone know that I was buying it. I would have been brutalized by my parents and God forbid a peer saw me with it. I remember getting it home taking it out of the box and hiding it so my Father wouldn't see it. I was so nervous he would get mad at me for buying it.

It was a weekday after school I go to the store and remember feeling so relieved that the store wasn't busy. I had to get in and out. It was like a Navy Seal extraction mission. I grab it get to the checkout and there is a young girl at the register, college-age most likely and for whatever reason, I felt the need to explain myself to her and told her I was buying it a gift for someone. I didn't know this girl, she didn't know me. But for whatever reason, I felt the need to lie to her. She just chuckled and told me it was ok. I was so embarrassed and self-conscious you think I was buying porn. It still bothers me to this day That I lied to her. Every time I walk into that Toys R' Us I think of that day. Years later I realized Adults are the ones who buy toys, not children.

 

[Baby Punisher]

The two greatest moments in TF for me were:

Depth Charge and Rampage killing each other

The opening to Code of Hero. I wasnt old enough to truly understand what was happening, but as I got older, the significance of what he was about to do, and why, became ever more present, and it still gob smacks me to this day that this aired in a kids show.

Now I want to see that.

 

[The Nemesis]

Now I want to see that.

that scene starts at about 1:52 (after the title sequence and the bit with the early humanoids)