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

[kingsholygrail]

Prime Shockwave is still such a badass.

 

[The Nemesis]

Finally got around to watching the new Robots in Disguise series.

It was.... different.

It's clearly set after Prime. the character models and overall design are much the same. But it's obviously skewing to be a lot more all-ages than Prime was. Which is weird because how do you transition from a show that was decidedly not for little kids to one that definitely includes them in the audience. It's also disappointing that there doesn't seem to be much link back to Prime except that the story does everything but directly say that it happened afterwards (Bumblebee has the same voice, same alt mode, same overall design, Prime looks the same and is dead, etc)

The animation is really cool and really disconcerting at the same time. The heavily cel-shaded characters and hand-painted style backgrounds make the show look like it's hand drawn in high detail, except it's also very clearly not. The animation style itself has a lot of anime styling in the exaggerated movements too. I almost feel like they designed this show with exporting it back to Japan where the TF brand is very much lighter and softer and meant for kids. I feel like it would've fit the character designs better if they were more G1-inspired and angular/robotic instead of the roundy Animated/Movie hybrid ones from Prime.

The voice acting is a mixed bag. Will Friedle is back from voicing Bumblebee at the end of Prime. He doesn't seem to fit a lighter tone of show with his deeper voiced bumblebee. Sideswipe seems to work well enough. But the one voicing the "cadet" Strongarm doesn't fit. She's got too deep and serious-sounding a voice for someone that tries to be serious but breaks into fangirly excitement half the time. Cullen is still the one and only voice for Optimus except for Garry Chalk. Khary Payton (Cyborg from Teen Titans) is the new Grimlock and it's... not a success. Even though they largely built the Prime cast's cache on having Cullen & Welker back in their original roles, it still had a lot of really great supporting VAs with past success (Steve Blum, Jeffrey Combs, Kevin Michael Richardson, Josh Keaton, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Daren Norris, Tony Todd) and less-known ones that proved to be solid (Tania Gunadi, Sumalee Montano, the one that played Predaking, whose name escapes me), this time the cast is Friedle, part-timing from Cullen, Payton, and.... a dude from Glee and Constance Zimmer (whose done a ton of TV including a run on House of Cards, but nothing super memorable)

I'll probably hang on to see if the show can get its feet and maybe become something halfway between Prime and the wacky, saturday-morning-cartoon-ness of Transformers: Animated, but so far it's not promising. I'm not even sure I can recommend this for folks wanting to get their own kids into the franchise because it's just not that interesting.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Finally got around to watching the new Robots in Disguise series.

It was.... different.

It's clearly set after Prime. the character models and overall design are much the same. But it's obviously skewing to be a lot more all-ages than Prime was. Which is weird because how do you transition from a show that was decidedly not for little kids to one that definitely includes them in the audience. It's also disappointing that there doesn't seem to be much link back to Prime except that the story does everything but directly say that it happened afterwards (Bumblebee has the same voice, same alt mode, same overall design, Prime looks the same and is dead, etc)

The animation is really cool and really disconcerting at the same time. The heavily cel-shaded characters and hand-painted style backgrounds make the show look like it's hand drawn in high detail, except it's also very clearly not. The animation style itself has a lot of anime styling in the exaggerated movements too. I almost feel like they designed this show with exporting it back to Japan where the TF brand is very much lighter and softer and meant for kids. I feel like it would've fit the character designs better if they were more G1-inspired and angular/robotic instead of the roundy Animated/Movie hybrid ones from Prime.

The voice acting is a mixed bag. Will Friedle is back from voicing Bumblebee at the end of Prime. He doesn't seem to fit a lighter tone of show with his deeper voiced bumblebee. Sideswipe seems to work well enough. But the one voicing the "cadet" Strongarm doesn't fit. She's got too deep and serious-sounding a voice for someone that tries to be serious but breaks into fangirly excitement half the time. Cullen is still the one and only voice for Optimus except for Garry Chalk. Khary Payton (Cyborg from Teen Titans) is the new Grimlock and it's... not a success. Even though they largely built the Prime cast's cache on having Cullen & Welker back in their original roles, it still had a lot of really great supporting VAs with past success (Steve Blum, Jeffrey Combs, Kevin Michael Richardson, Josh Keaton, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Daren Norris, Tony Todd) and less-known ones that proved to be solid (Tania Gunadi, Sumalee Montano, the one that played Predaking, whose name escapes me), this time the cast is Friedle, part-timing from Cullen, Payton, and.... a dude from Glee and Constance Zimmer (whose done a ton of TV including a run on House of Cards, but nothing super memorable)

I'll probably hang on to see if the show can get its feet and maybe become something halfway between Prime and the wacky, saturday-morning-cartoon-ness of Transformers: Animated, but so far it's not promising. I'm not even sure I can recommend this for folks wanting to get their own kids into the franchise because it's just not that interesting.

Is it like Rescue Bots basically?

 

[Mantis]

Any Cinemassacre fans here?

http://cinemassacre.com/2007/06/09/transformers-1986/

http://cinemassacre.com/2014/06/18/top-15-awesome-transformers-moments/

http://cinemassacre.com/2014/06/25/top-10-transformers-wtf-moments/

http://cinemassacre.com/2012/05/21/...-will-never-make-it-to-a-live-action-feature/

 

[The Nemesis]

Is it like Rescue Bots basically?

I never watched Rescue Bots. But I was under the impression that Rescue Bots was meant for little kids. This one isn't so much made for little kids as it is just a mishmash of parts that don't fit together. The bright and colorful animation and the less serious tone say that it's kid-friendly, but the fact that it continues from Prime (and will apparently feature more returning Prime characters in its second season) and some of the VA choices feel like it it should follow more in Prime's footsteps. Which it can't if it wants to be as all-ages as it claims to.

I'm just not sure what they're trying to do. I'll give it a few more shots because pilots and early can struggle to find the right tone before the show settles into a groove. If I were as critical when I was 10-12 as I am now, I don't know if I would've lasted through the earlier, goofier parts of Beast Wars to get to the point where it became an excellent show. So I kind of owe it to this one to give it the same opportunity.

 

[Guardian17]

Voice actor John Stephenson has passed at the age of 91.

The voice of several characters from the original Generation 1 series, including Thundercracker, Kup, and Alpha Trion.

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers...undercracker-the-flintstones-mr-slate-182757/

 

[The Nemesis]

Sad. We're slowly losing a lot of the original cast. Most of them are in their late 60s at least. I think the oldest remaining one is Alan Oppenheimer (Beachcomber, Seaspray, Warpath), but Jack Angel (Astrotrain, Smokescreen, Omega Supreme, TV Ultra Magnus, late-season Cyclonus (after Roger Caramel died) isn't far behind. Very few of the cast are less younger than 60 aside from Rob Paulson and the kid that played Daniel.

 

[The Nemesis]

I didn't want to post this in the morning and look crass segueing away from the sadness of cast member death, but after watching 5 episodes now of the new Robots In Disguise show, I just can't recommend it. It still feels like weird hybrid of being designed for export to Japan (where it's somewhat animesque animation style and its lighter & softer tone are more in keeping with what Japan expects out of The Transformers brand) and being stuck in the middle of about 3 different directions it could've gone but failed to actually pull off.

Voice Acting is still a mixed bag, there are way too many really dopey "humor" moments and it's hard to reconcile that this show wants to be something that follows Prime but is so completely divorced from the matureness of tone that Prime had the connection feels like an after thought.

It's a shame because they could've really done something with the heavily cel-shaded CG design style. It really does have some gorgeous potential. But it all ends up feeling like a giant let-down. I might check back in for season 2 where they promised to tie it more to Prime just to see how they manage to do so on a show that wants to avoid any/all the grimness that Prime was OK with exploring, but that might be it. Of course, knowing how this show has gone so far, that connection might just be something like Bumblebee reuniting with Raf, who's now a teacher or something and not acknowledging anything else like the fact that Ratchet was supposed to have stayed on Earth at the conclusion of Prime.

 

[MD thaivuN]

Had to post this

 

[The Nemesis]

Had to post this

That basically says everything you need to know about the Transformers in Japan. They don't see it the same was as we do here, where it's a franchise for slightly older kids and potentially for adults if you handle it maturely. Talking sentient robots are seen as particularly childish in Japan, so shows like the Transformers skew extra young and the age that would target Transformers here is instead given mecha series for their scifi/robot fix.

That's part of the reason that the Japanese follow-ups to the original G1 cartoon eventually became more about kids that became headmasters to lifeless TF bodies (where as western Headmasters-style fiction was more about the living being and the transformer forming a partnership) because as the original G1 audience got older, they wanted shows like that rather than focused specifically on the Transformers as a species of sentient robots.

 

[Baby Punisher]

RIP Kup. Rest well proud warrior.

On a side note, Thunder Cracker was the first TF I ever purchased with my own money. TC had a very limited role in the TF world and I never knew the same actor who voiced TC voiced Kup as well. Kup was also a sweet toy back in the day.

 

[kingsholygrail]

I honestly can't get into the new series.

 

[Guardian17]

RIP Kup. Rest well proud warrior.

On a side note, Thunder Cracker was the first TF I ever purchased with my own money. TC had a very limited role in the TF world and I never knew the same actor who voiced TC voiced Kup as well. Kup was also a sweet toy back in the day.

I know.

When you are watching the show as a kid you never clue in as to who is providing the voices.

Once you know who is playing whom you can pick it up like Optimus Prime/Iron Hide, Shockwave/Spike, Ultra Magnus/Astrotrain, Prowl/Swoop etc.

 

[The Nemesis]

I know.

When you are watching the show as a kid you never clue in as to who is providing the voices.

Once you know who is playing whom you can pick it up like Optimus Prime/Iron Hide, Shockwave/Spike, Ultra Magnus/Astrotrain, Prowl/Swoop etc.

Or sometimes you can't pick it up. Like Megatron/Blades/Buzzsaw/Chromedome/Frenzy/Galvatron/Groove/Junkions/Laserbeak/Mirage/Mixmaster/Ratbat/Ravage/Rumble/Sharkticon/Skywarp/Sludge/Soundwave/Steeljaw/Superion/Sweep/Trailbreaker/Wheelie/Teletraan II



I mean, come on. Wheelie. And Megatron.

 

[Guardian17]

Hasbro Official Transformers Facebook Page has been updated with two new posters for the Transformers: Combiner Wars line.

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers...ner-wars-superion-and-menasor-posters-182820/

 

[Guardian17]

Beast Wars spin-off possible?

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers...ers-room-beast-wars-spin-off-possible-182931/

 

[Acadmus]

Hasbro Official Transformers Facebook Page has been updated with two new posters for the Transformers: Combiner Wars line.

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers...ner-wars-superion-and-menasor-posters-182820/

That triggered a long dormant memory of the excitement I had when they first introduced the toy versions of the Aerialbots and Stunticons. Oh, to be a kid again

I still have Air Raid...that's it...

 

[Brodeur]

My parents gave my nephew some of my old TFs (couple Aerielbots and Stunticons) that were at their place. They didn't explain to him what they were, so he thought they were run of the mill cars/planes. I showed him how they transformed and he was into it. Surprisingly my niece joined in too. Picture on the left is me opening some of them (Xmas '87?).

I thought I was close to being done with the new Aerielbots and Stunticons to give to my nephew for Xmas. Then I saw that there's two online exclusives which I then had to order. I saw a few of the Protectobots at Wal-Mart yesterday, but I just was never into the Protectobots.

 

[The Nemesis]

Hasbro Official Transformers Facebook Page has been updated with two new posters for the Transformers: Combiner Wars line.

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers...ner-wars-superion-and-menasor-posters-182820/

trademark issues strike again. It's always interesting to see how legacy characters/names end up having to change with 30 years of legal wrangling in between uses.

Slingshot is gone, replaced with Alpha Bravo (goes from being a plane to a helicopter too)

Fireflight is now Firefly. Less of a nonsense name, but seems curious as to why it would need to be changed.

Wildrider is now Offroad. Also no longer a nonsense name, which is usually a lot easier to trademark than a generic real word, a point that is apparent because...

Offroad and Dragstrip are seemingly too commonplace to tradmark as product names, forcing their official packaging names to have "Decepticon" stuck in front of them. So it's officially Decepticon Offroad and Decepticon Dragstrip as full names.


Also found this promo image from the IDW comic series:

Menasor looks kinda Unicron-y

The most interesting thing is that the combiner wars toyline will/does also apparently include a combinable Optimus. Since the whole setup seems to work on the same principles as the original G1 "Scramble City"-origin toys, the various limbs and bodies are interchangeable (meaning you could put Superion's arms onto Defensor's body, for example). So they made an Optimus with connectivity like the other body/torso component combiners and you can hook whatever other pieces you want into him.

Haven't read yet if CW Devastator is like this too or still in its original 6-bot setup. Interestingly the comic storyline synopsis I read seems to say that at some point along the way Scrapper gets killed and replaced with Prowl. Yes, that Prowl. Seriously.

 

[Brodeur]

trademark issues strike again. It's always interesting to see how legacy characters/names end up having to change with 30 years of legal wrangling in between uses.

Slingshot is gone, replaced with Alpha Bravo (goes from being a plane to a helicopter too)

Fireflight is now Firefly. Less of a nonsense name, but seems curious as to why it would need to be changed.

Wildrider is now Offroad. Also no longer a nonsense name, which is usually a lot easier to trademark than a generic real word, a point that is apparent because...

Offroad and Dragstrip are seemingly too commonplace to tradmark as product names, forcing their official packaging names to have "Decepticon" stuck in front of them. So it's officially Decepticon Offroad and Decepticon Dragstrip as full names.

With the toys, they renamed Slingshot as "Quickslinger" but no idea if he appears in the show. Wildrider is now "Brake-Neck" and hopefully both of them arrive on my front door this week.

 

[The Nemesis]

With the toys, they renamed Slingshot as "Quickslinger" but no idea if he appears in the show. Wildrider is now "Brake-Neck" and hopefully both of them arrive on my front door this week.

that's weird. If you look at the posters in that link, it identifies the component pieces with those names. The Aerialbots are stated as Silverbolt, Firefly, Alpha Bravo, Air Raid, and Skydive. The Stunticons are called Motormaster, Dragstrip, Dead End, Offroad, and Breakdown. It's even weirder if they changed the names again after production of those posters.

 

[Brodeur]

that's weird. If you look at the posters in that link, it identifies the component pieces with those names. The Aerialbots are stated as Silverbolt, Firefly, Alpha Bravo, Air Raid, and Skydive. The Stunticons are called Motormaster, Dragstrip, Dead End, Offroad, and Breakdown. It's even weirder if they changed the names again after production of those posters.

Those two are the online exclusives; Apparently enough folks complained so this was their way of placating them. I imagine neither would be mentioned in the show, but Hasbro definitely milked another $30+ out of me.

 

[Leaf Rocket]

the new Robots in disguise isn't near to the Prime series....it's sort of sad, yet im enjoying it but as Nem said it...it's trying for the universal appeal.

 

[Guardian17]

In Combiner Wars, Optimus Prime combines into Optimus Maximus.

 

[Guardian17]

trademark issues strike again. It's always interesting to see how legacy characters/names end up having to change with 30 years of legal wrangling in between uses.

Slingshot is gone, replaced with Alpha Bravo (goes from being a plane to a helicopter too)

Fireflight is now Firefly. Less of a nonsense name, but seems curious as to why it would need to be changed.

Wildrider is now Offroad. Also no longer a nonsense name, which is usually a lot easier to trademark than a generic real word, a point that is apparent because...

Offroad and Dragstrip are seemingly too commonplace to tradmark as product names, forcing their official packaging names to have "Decepticon" stuck in front of them. So it's officially Decepticon Offroad and Decepticon Dragstrip as full names.

You would think they would hold onto the trademark for the names in perpetuity.