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Steve Vader posted:The important thing to know about Soundwave is if his arm and fingers are poseable enough to tap his own eject button. And if he's thick enough to put multiple tapes in his chest at once, so they can keep coming out in one go. His tape area has a spring loaded backplate which pushes the tapes forward. When you put more than one tape in it locks and there's a button on his back you can press to unlock it and push the tapes forward so you can get them out easily! MP Soundwave is incredible.
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Jul 1, 2013 19:00
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So that black and silver truck that we thought was probably Motormaster? Yeah, probably Nemesis Prime, it turns out. Which I guess is obvious in hindsight.
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Jul 1, 2013 20:02
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Keldroc posted:So that black and silver truck that we thought was probably Motormaster? Yeah, probably Nemesis Prime, it turns out. Which I guess is obvious in hindsight. Nemesis Prime, herald of Unicron? 
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Jul 1, 2013 20:18
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Keldroc posted:So that black and silver truck that we thought was probably Motormaster? Yeah, probably Nemesis Prime, it turns out. Which I guess is obvious in hindsight. So is the Bayverse version of Nemesis Prime actually, like, a really swell guy who hates conflict? In other news--   Budora 
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Jul 1, 2013 21:19
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Keldroc posted:So that black and silver truck that we thought was probably Motormaster? Yeah, probably Nemesis Prime, it turns out. Which I guess is obvious in hindsight. I'm glad the thread doesn't have a bunch of the "nemesis prime is scourge" goofiness though.
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Jul 1, 2013 22:10
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Bag of Sun Chips posted:How fast do they usually sell out? With Acid Storm, probably a day. With MP Soundwave, minutes, not hours.
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Jul 1, 2013 22:36
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While I don't normally advocate buying anything from TFSource over their issues in the past, they've got MP-12 on sale for $109.99. Still a $50 savings from BBTS price right now, and only $30 over original retail. http://tfsource.com/masterpiece/mp-12-sideswipe/ edit: its a Pre-Order for a restock their expecting in "early July" so considering the restock of Soundwave they never got, YMMV. Corn Glizzy fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Jul 1, 2013 |
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Jul 1, 2013 23:54
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I'm willing to bet that a US release of atleast MP Sideswipe & Prowl (or atleast those molds) will be announced at SDCC.
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Jul 2, 2013 00:13
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What issues has TFSource had in the past? I was tempted to get in on that Sideswipe, but haven't decided ... if they are a lovely place to buy from I'll just live without it.
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Jul 2, 2013 00:32
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therealjon_ posted:What issues has TFSource had in the past? I was tempted to get in on that Sideswipe, but haven't decided ... if they are a lovely place to buy from I'll just live without it. You can't cancel an order once you've placed it, you pay in advance, and there's no real way to check your order status aside from emailing them, which they don't like very much. A lot of people also got screwed when they offered up a preorder for MP Soundwave but never delivered on it. I've never had an unfulfilled order from them, but it is a bit like throwing your money in a hole and hoping it coughs up a toy robot a few months later.
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Jul 2, 2013 00:42
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Keldroc posted:You can't cancel an order once you've placed it, you pay in advance, and there's no real way to check your order status aside from emailing them, which they don't like very much. A lot of people also got screwed when they offered up a preorder for MP Soundwave but never delivered on it. I've never had an unfulfilled order from them, but it is a bit like throwing your money in a hole and hoping it coughs up a toy robot a few months later. We live in the year of our lord 2013 and there are still retailers out there that charge for preorders up front? What the gently caress?? 
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Jul 2, 2013 01:30
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Captured Prey does as well, but at the time I thought it was my last shot at Quakewave.
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Jul 2, 2013 01:42
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Keldroc posted:You can't cancel an order once you've placed it, you pay in advance, and there's no real way to check your order status aside from emailing them, which they don't like very much. A lot of people also got screwed when they offered up a preorder for MP Soundwave but never delivered on it. I've never had an unfulfilled order from them, but it is a bit like throwing your money in a hole and hoping it coughs up a toy robot a few months later. I'm gonna step in here and say that they finally sent mine and apologized appropiately for the delay (I had mentioned my situation earlier in the thread I think). They also shipped it super fast, on a weekend, and I received the package faster than I've ever received anything from either TFSource or BBTS so they did at least put some effort. They were respectful and reasonably fast to answer when I emailed to inquire about the Soundwave situation. The other stuff you mention IS completely true however. I still prefer BBTS over them but I have to retract some of my earlier criticism of TFSource. Or maybe I'm just too drat happy with my Soundwave to be angry at anything right now  .
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Jul 2, 2013 01:47
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Well, that's good that they came through on Soundwave, then. But I still feel like the ordering process with TFSource is a bit too faith-based for my taste. Again, they've never screwed me on anything, but I prefer BBTS' methodology.
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Jul 2, 2013 01:58
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A few years ago my Mom had ordered me something from TF Source as a Christmas gift. She placed her order mid-November and it still hadn't shipped by the beginning of December. She e-mailed them a few times and they finally responded on the third e-mail when she threatened a charge-back on her credit card. They told her that the shipment was delayed but that she would receive it at the latest a week before Christmas. When the time came, she found out that they had canceled her order without her knowing and never issued a refund. It took until after the New Years to get her refund back from them. There was also that credit card hack they had a few years back that resulted in people getting fraudulent charges and identity theft.
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Jul 2, 2013 02:09
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therealjon_ posted:What issues has TFSource had in the past? I was tempted to get in on that Sideswipe, but haven't decided ... if they are a lovely place to buy from I'll just live without it. I've never had a problem with them. I use Paypal only, and PayPal isn't charged in advance, only when the item comes into stock. I use them for 98% of my transforming robot toy purchases.
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Jul 2, 2013 02:48
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3 posted:We live in the year of our lord 2013 and there are still retailers out there that charge for preorders up front? What the gently caress?? I think it's totally understandable for small/startup retailers. They just don't have the capital available to pay for the product they're selling without taking the money at the time of order while also purchasing regular stock to sell after it arrives. TFsource appears to be a bit larger and more established than I would expect for continuing the practice. The problem I have with TFsource is they occasionally send me e-mails with other peoples account/order information, so I trust them about as far as I do funpub.
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Jul 2, 2013 03:09
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I haven't had any problems with TFSource, but I don't order a whole lot there. I think they pack their toys better, BBTS does a fairly good job and TFSource does an excellent job.
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Jul 2, 2013 04:53
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Yeah, TFSource's packing is second to none, that's for certain. It would take a low-yield nuclear explosion to dent some of the boxes they've sent me stuff in.
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Jul 2, 2013 05:07
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I bought encore omega supreme from TFSource. They put double styrofoam inserts between the box and the outer package as well as using super tight bubblewrapping. The box was also encased in a dual layer cardboard harness. All in all their packaging is way superior to what bbts offers.
Ka0 fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 05:45
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Normally I really dislike Beastformers, but Rhinox actually looks really good, or at least he will with a bit of gap-filling and a coat of paint. I'm a bit less hyped for all those new releases than most here, but then I'm just a contrarian who's mostly waiting for the new movie toyline. To catch up: Gammatron 64 posted:If Blackarachnia and Professor Princess bother you, then hoo boy, never read Spotlight Arcee. Gravitas Shortfall posted:Why, by the way? Your writeups are great, I'd love to read some on BW. Animated S2 Ep1-7 So far in Season 2 it seems the odd numbered episodes are good to great and the even ones "eh" to terrible. Weird. The elite guard is a great set of characters to introduce now, able to create a more interesting kind of conflict than the simply evil and now just too powerful Decepticons or the laughable human villains. They do a good job of making you wonder what Magnus' deal is (since he's clearly not just the kind of sunshine-and-rainbows Autobot we're used to) and Sentinel is irritating, but crucially, he's irritating in a way that works in the context of the rest of the show. Rather than just being annoying for the sake of providing empty conflict or overbearing "comic relief", he acts as a subject through which to further humanise Optimus, who as a result becomes a much more interesting character. He serves as a perfect contrast to Blitzwing on how to do an annoying character well. Starscream's immortality and subsequent cloning is a really neat idea and gives a previously one-note character a lot more dimension. His little montage in episode 3 was fun and I actually felt for him for once toward the end when he kept being shot down again and again and just became more and more apathetic and weary. The visuals of that sequence are just so good. *sigh* Garbage in, Garbage out. How do you hire Weird Al and then gently caress his part up? So Animated has a lot of little G1 jokes and references to give the adults something to giggle at. Usually, these are fairly obscure and subtle, stuff like a TV losing signal and the "please stand by" image showing a little Kremzeek. That's cute and clever! The problem with Wreck-Gar is that they just decided to get rid of every. ounce. of subtlety. Every single sentence out of his mouth is an obnoxiously overdrawn "REMEMBER THE 1986 MOVIE!? WE DO!" The worst offender for me is the "dare to be stupid" joke, in which the writers have Ratchet cite a set-up that kinda sorta makes sense in context but sounds completely unnatural in that moment and then Wreck-Gar makes a dramatic pause for drumrolls and fanfare as the screen shifts into a cinematic angle and he raises up his finger and, with inflection, says the name of the song. Then confetti falls from the heavens under cheer from the audience as he turns to them and says "GET IT? BECAUSE THAT WAS MY THEMESONG IN G1 AND NOW THEY GOT THE GUY WHO MADE THAT SONG TO VOICE ME! AMAZING!" Okay not all of that actually happens but it really might as well. It's not even a bad joke in concept, but there were so many better ways to execute it. The reason this annoys me is that even if you mute all the dialogue, the episode is already full of clever and subtle nods. Even just Wreck-Gar's character design - the original Wreck-Gar constantly quoted TV and that's where he learned to talk, so they referenced that by making the new one's head an actual TV. Or that one time he throws a suspiciously familiar motorcycle at Ratchet. That's enough! You don't need more! I'm not sure why I liked Velocity so much, but I think it's the small scale of the episode. Rather than another devious plan to blow up half (always specifically half) the city, it's just Bumblebee wanting to figure out what blue car guy's deal is out of sheer curiosity, and although the mystery isn't even resolved at the end, he still emerges a slightly better person. It's a format that works very well for a children's cartoon, and works well for TF because again, it places greater focus on the characters. The little morality tales also work pretty well: They're sensible, and not too patronising or artificial, just presented as kids learning something from their life experiences. Here's what didn't work, however: Blitzwing. Even beyond his dialogue, Blitzwing is unique in that he's the one character whose presentation is terrible. For every other character, the animation works to convey their emotional state, shifting proportions and such to create a very subtle form of body language. Although Bltzwing's entire gimmick is his extreme emotional states, he's always drawn the same. His face twists around, but the body remains totally static. Why? And then there's the voice acting. The badly faked accent just keeps getting worse, and the actor actually has to pause and audibly draw breath whenever he switches personalities. The whole character feels totally put-on and artificial and completely takes you out of the show the instant he opens his mouth. Rise of the Constructicons is the worst episode of the show. Full stop. Worse than Along Came a Spider. I could start ranting about classism, but I think this summary speaks for itself: Bulkhead befriends two literal newborns who have no idea about the world or what they even are, and when they're forced to pick a side in a war they have zero understanding of, he decides to fatally poison them. When they miraculously survive, but again are without any knowledge or memory, Optimus explains in his best moral-for-children voice that if they side with the Decepticons, it'll be alright to put them down like dogs, because of course they won't go with the guy who bribes them with goods and shelter and empty promises, but will turn to the kind and enlightened Autobots who just assaulted them in the streets, as their first memory in life. Throughout all this, the onus is constantly on them to miraculously intuit that the Autobots are somehow the good guys here and make the right decisions, and no one ever makes an effort to even remotely reach out to them - but this isn't presented as a bad thing, because they should bootstrap themselves into being educated, dammit. What the gently caress!? I could see the movie Autobots pulling this poo poo, but here they've always been presented as good and compassionate. This is completely disgusting and basically totally turned me off Bulkhead and Optimus as characters, possibly irrepairably. Thankfully, Fistful of Energon is a return to full force, and basically on par with Thrill of the Hunt for me. It's amazing how the writers managed to not just make Starscream interesting, but also made him consistently bring out the best in the characters around him. Prowl's writing and presentation is full of little subtleties, and Lockdown in a poncho Lockdown seems like one of the less complex characters in the show at first glance, but I loved the shot of him during Prowl's ending monologue that paints him as very lonely and a little sympathetic. More of that, please.But, because it's bitching hour, I'm going to complain some more: Megatron's character turned out exactly the way I feared. Having back his body, it seems he decided to settle on his throne and mostly glare menacingly at the camera. It's clear he has all the power and could wipe out the Autobots in instants, so the writers have to keep coming up with contrivances over why he doesn't just do that. I mean, why not pick off the repair crew right now just so they won't be around later to bolster the enemy ranks? I'm sure you could come up with some explanation, like that he doesn't want to draw attention or w/e, but that would be rationalising things in hindsight and is in no way organically presented in the show. As a result, his character just suffers, and instead of the clever, somewhat sympathetic but still clearly dangerous head in a lab who grasped at every tiny opportunity that presents itself he's just another ineffectual cartoon villain. So far they even dropped all the little personality touches like his newfound distrust of his own underlings. Between this, Blitzwing constantly taking himself out, Blackarachnia being a bad joke, and Lugnut not getting to do much, literally the only character who still comes across as a serious threat is Starscream of all people. And really, all that is my big problem with Animated: I can't actually give unconditional praise to any part of it beyond the consistently good animation because for every good or great thing it does, it inevitably introduces something else that's absolutely terrible. It's true that Season 2 is so far better than Season 1 in many ways - but it's also worse in just as many, equal ways. As a result it's a show that I mostly enjoy while I'm actually watching, but the more I look back and think about it, the more bitter the whole experience becomes.
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Jul 2, 2013 13:26
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Got iGear's Cogz and Veer (Gears and Swerve) yesterday and wow, they sssuuuck. Big time. I don't know what the hell happened; I've really liked the Mini Warriors line up until this point, but this mold just don't work for me at all. I also got Bushwhacker (Outback), who still has problems, but at least he's a redeco of a far superior mold. The vehicle mode has a very chunky aesthetic to it which I don't mind by itself, but it results in having HUGE chunks of plastic hanging off the back of the legs and shoulders. In fact, the entire shoulder assembly is pretty poorly designed; the joints sit too low on the body and because they pull outwards from the torso during transformation, there's a big gap between the arms and the body and the torso itself looks skinnier than it should (especially in contrast to Gears' big fat head). Also I dislike the gradual gigantification of the Mini Warriors line - Huffer started off as Legends size, Cosmos was roughly scout-class, and Brawn was a smallish deluxe. Gears/Swerve is even bigger than that, but somehow less complex. His design might have been passable at a smaller scale but at its current size it feels like one of those scaled-up Beast Hunters Cyberverse figures. The colors are also really ugly to my eye. The exact shades of red and blue used on Gears look like the toy's been bleached by the sun for the better part of a decade. I dunno how else to describe it - the colors look faded and almost translucent. Just super cheap looking. Swerve on the other hand is more of a dark salmony pink than any shade of red, and he fares even worse in robot mode as he has no other color detailing aside from the pink and white. At least Gears has some dark gray and yellow in his design; Swerve is just completely boring to look at. Outback's colors are completely wrong too - he's white and gold instead of tan and brown. I have to wonder if iGear is deliberately trying to pull the same poo poo they did with Rager, where they re-release the figure in "correct" colors later on for maximum profit. They can gently caress right off if that's the case. All three figures' weapons can't be held in their hands or attached to their vehicle modes out of box, the pegs need to be sanded/shaved down first. They all get unique weapons, at least. One big positive feature I'll grant the set is that all three characters have reversible heads, so you can choose between toy- and show-accuracy, just like with Hench. Bottom line is the Cogz/Veer mold is pretty much my biggest disappointment in a third-party purchase thus far. At least the PerfectEffect Arcee looks pretty cool when it isn't breaking from looking at it the wrong way. No way it's worth the $45-$55 they're asking for it, but if you can get it for less and are a fan of the character, it's not execrable. Figures that Hasbro announced a way better Swerve like, a day after the package shipped too. Oh well, c'est la vie.
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Jul 2, 2013 14:59
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I'm really glad I cancelled my preorders for Swerve and Beachcomber. Especially now that Hasbro is making a Swerve. Honestly, I just don't dig the Mini Warrior aesthetic. There's being a G1 reference, but their alt modes are identical to the G1 toys, even in that they're squished super deformed things. At a tiny scale that looks okay, but at the size they are, it doesn't look so hot. I think they look bad and don't fit with your classics figures that well. Definitely not worth the money they're charging for them. GET IN THE ROBOT fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 15:12
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I think they should have stuck to the original size rather than scaling them up to small Deluxe size. Seaspray and Huffer were pretty cool little figures, but the upscale made everything get kind of weird.
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Jul 2, 2013 19:58
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Looks like Bumblebee gets a second form in Transformers 4: http://jalopnik.com/here-is-the-cra...dium=socialflow
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Jul 2, 2013 21:45
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Preview for RID #19 Good news for Beast Wars fans. Waspinator shows up. Maybe that means others will get mixed in at some point. Steve Vader fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 22:30
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I was reading Terry's post, and that got me thinking: we've reached a point where Transformers is so full of fan service, it has no effect anymore. When I was 12 or 13 and I saw Ravage transform into a tape and make the G1 sound in Beast Wars, I just about flipped my poo poo. Even moreso when they discovered the Ark with all the G1 dudes on it. Nowadays? That's not really anything. Optimus Prime saying "One shall stand, one shall fall" in Prime elicits groans today, but 10 years ago people would be like "awesome!" It's been a long time since I've seen Animated. I didn't notice the whole BOOTSTRAPS thing in the Constructicon episodes, probably because I was too busy going "HOLY poo poo THEY BROUGHT BACK THE CONSTRUCTICONS." I also enjoyed the Wreck-Gar one because "Holy crap, it's Wreck-Gar voices by Weird Al!" In 2007, people were going nuts over Classics figures and Alternators... now we've pretty much run out of notable G1 characters to remake. You know, I often say that overexposure will ruin anything, and I think that's become the case with retro callbacks these days. Before, it was a rare surprised to get one, now it's par for the course.
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Jul 2, 2013 23:27
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Keep an eye out at your local Targets. Found Sandstorm there today, and boy is he bad-rear end. I think I like Sandstorm more than I do Springer. Orange, yellow and black, plus huge buggy wheels is a plus in my book.
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Jul 2, 2013 23:37
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Gammatron 64 posted:You know, I often say that overexposure will ruin anything, and I think that's become the case with retro callbacks these days. Before, it was a rare surprised to get one, now it's par for the course. Animated at least brought us some new stuff. WFC/FOC gave us dark energon and the only thing anyone remembers is Metroplex Heeds The Call of the Last Prime. Why didn't they focus on more stuff like that, less reusing the door falling on a Quintesson joke in a scene it doesn't work in at all? I need to replace a fan in my tower, its shuddering and now it appears Ripclaw is cold and shivering. Keldroc posted:I think Sandstorm pretty much destroys this idea and grinds it to powder. Nobody would call Sandstorm notable as a G1 character, but he made for a thoroughly kickass toy. As always, overexposure isn't the problem, lack of inspiration is. A fanservice callback is only as good as the idea behind it, and a lot of the callbacks these days are just Family Guy style "HEY REMEMBER THIS?" stuff.[/timg]
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Jul 3, 2013 00:11
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Gammatron 64 posted:In 2007, people were going nuts over Classics figures and Alternators... now we've pretty much run out of notable G1 characters to remake. I think Sandstorm pretty much destroys this idea and grinds it to powder. Nobody would call Sandstorm notable as a G1 character, but he made for a thoroughly kickass toy. As always, overexposure isn't the problem, lack of inspiration is. A fanservice callback is only as good as the idea behind it, and a lot of the callbacks these days are just Family Guy style "HEY REMEMBER THIS?" stuff. Beast Wars' G1 tie-in was great not just because it was paying homage to the classic series, but because what BW actually did with it was interesting and cool in its own right. Hell, at their core, MTMTE and RiD are just big G1 callbacks, but the writers are doing new and interesting things with those callback characters, and it's awesome. I don't think callbacks are old or over, I think the creators need to be smart about using them. On the flip side, TFA is possibly the most obvious example of how not to do callbacks. Also it is past time for some Beast Wars chocolate callbacks in the G1 peanut butter callback material. When The Agenda aired, G1 was 13 years old. Beast Wars is currently 17 years old. Speaking of which, you know who's 13 years old next year? This guy: 
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Jul 3, 2013 00:11
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Gammatron 64 posted:I was reading Terry's post, and that got me thinking: we've reached a point where Transformers is so full of fan service, it has no effect anymore. Yeah, I'm a huge G1 fanboy, but it's time for new territory.
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Jul 3, 2013 00:38
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I'm glad Animated is getting a more critical eye instead of "you don't like animated HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE FUN". For all Prime's problems, and I do admit the characters don't have the best motivation or interactions, they are at least understandable and developed as characters. I'll get into this later. As for G1 exposure, I was surprised at recent reviews of the Machine Wars toys because I was actually kind of liking the color schemes. Just because they were... different, new, inspired. I grew up with Beast Wars, and that had NO characters from G1 except guest stars. And you know what? That's what I grew to appreciate. Ingenuity, creation, new characters, new color schemes, new altmodes - in Beast Wars, no two altmodes were alike, they went through so many bizarre choices for animals. I suspect, given the hilariously out-there, toyetic, just plain crazy Beast Hunters line and the new attempts to reach a younger audiance with the scaled up legends figures that the sequel series to Prime, even if it's in the same continuity, may not be so serious and may not have as many callbacks.
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Jul 3, 2013 00:56
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Just because I missed out on the earlier MTMTE panel-love. I can't recall a moment when I went from 0 to Love on a character anywhere else than I did with Swerve in this one panel.
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Jul 3, 2013 01:30
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Keldroc posted:Speaking of which, you know who's 13 years old next year? This guy: The Best Toy. ...I still need a new RID Magnus.
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Jul 3, 2013 01:52
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Spiderdrake posted:The High Moon games, I think, were the breaking point for me. Way too many homages and callbacks and bizarre quotes that were just a chore to listen to. I really like subtle homages, like Prime Megatron's legs. Stuff like arguing over [element] [deli meat] in the middle of the Grimlock chapter just made me wish I was playing something else. The Beast Wars stuff showed up what, a season or two in, and it fit right into the narrative? You know, I was thinking of Fall of Cybertron in particular when I was writing all that out. The scenes in FOC and Prime where they take quotes straight from the '86 movie are pretty shameful. Yes, MTMTE is based on G1, but let's be honest, before MTMTE, guys like Swerve, Skids and Whirl barely even qualified as characters, so James Roberts' take on them may as well be considered totally brand new characters. Before MTMTE, Swerve showed up in one episode of G1, and got stepped on by Trypticon. Skids got turned into a throne for Blitzwing and sat on a table in Ratchet's sickbay once. That's it. RID and MTMTE are some of the most inventive TF fiction we've gotten in years. You know I've said this a million times, but since the 2007 movie, I feel like they've kept rehashing the same poo poo over and over and over to the point where it gets tiresome. Really, only in the comics are they brave enough to explore new ground. I unashamedly love the poo poo out of G1, but I would love to see Transformers go in a wild, crazy, new direction. I love Decepticons. I loving love them, man. I think the Decepticons are awesome. But a part of me wants to see a show with some entirely new antagonists that are completely unknown and alien. Of course, we're never going to get another radical reinvention like Beast Wars until Transformers stops making profits hand over fist, but after DOTM, Transformers has been getting steadily less popular.
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Jul 3, 2013 02:36
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I think there are a lol of parallels between the recent history of Transformers and Marvel comics. At the time when both were effectively dead or nearing bankruptcy, the powers that be threw caution to the wind and really let the creative juices flow, resulting in Beast Wars for the former and Marvel Knights for the latter, both of which arguably turned their respective entities around. However I'd say both are now victims of their own success, as the stakes riding on them (movie-wise in particular) are so great that they can no longer afford taking risks and editorial/corporate oversight has jumped to the point where the only thing allowed is to keep returning to the well and maintaining the status quo. I have a feeling the only time we'll see a Beast Wars calibre show again will be when the franchise inevitably collapses in on itself again in a few years
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Jul 3, 2013 03:03
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I don't know where you guys are getting the idea that the brand is in decline or due for collapse in a few years. It's still incredibly strong, possibly still the top selling boys' toyline, and TF4 (like it or not) is going to boost it back into the stratosphere next year. Also consider that we are more than halfway to the first Bay film's 10th anniversary, meaning the kids who grew up with that version of Transformers are hitting their twenties in the latter half of this decade. And we all know being in your twenties inevitably leads to the "I should see if I can find that old toy I loved when I was a kid" itch, which will just make it all even stronger. The brand is not going to see a low point like the one that resulted in Beast Wars in a very long time, if ever. At this point I'd say the best hope for really inventive new TF fiction remains with IDW. The fact that Hasbro is now making IDW characters as toys as a regular thing would indicate that they acknowledge the value of that facet of the brand, at least. There's a much better chance of MTMTE and RID leading to tremendously new takes on the material and being given the necessary time to evolve than there ever will be for a cartoon series that's mostly just racing to the magic syndication number of 65 episodes.
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Jul 3, 2013 03:57
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I'd have high hopes of Roberts becoming some kind of showrunner/brand ambassador. The fandom is certainly behind him (pleasantly surprising, considering their ability to hate everything)
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Jul 3, 2013 04:41
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Terry van Feleday posted:90s CGI, pretty much. I'm aware it's just petty, but I always focus more on visuals than writing, and if I don't enjoy the visuals the show as a whole just isn't going to do it for me no matter what.  " aside and take the show on its own merits/detriments.
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Jul 3, 2013 04:56
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| # ? May 13, 2024 23:19 |
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Really I just want MTMTE: TAS. Face it, the following are huge reasons why MTMTE is so good: No Optimus. No Megatron. No Bumblebee. No Starscream (I say this as a huge Screamer fan btw). No humans. No Arcee. No Bumblebee (bears repeating). And sure, the vivid art and fun story and the fact that every robot has a personality, but all that goes without saying. Transformers has gotten so loving bogged down with the idea that if they deviate from the standard formula they'll alienate the audience somehow. Uh, sure, kids are gonna wonder for a while where they went, but only because you've shoved them down everyone's face for the better part of the last decade. Kids are gonna laugh at Swerve, love the impetuous Rodimus as a leader, stick their tongue out at the Ship Dad that is Ultra Magnus, question Cyclonus' motives, etc. They'll pick up very easily that in addition to aliens (because I would shfit the focus a little bit to the planet-hopping on their adventure/quest) the enemies are Decepticons that don't realize the war is over, and Decepticons that don't care the war is over. Man, you throw a rogue Autobot in there and you've got a "don't judge people by what group they belong to, but individually" message. I mean, is anyone gonna argue that MTMTE is the best TF fiction we've had since Beast Wars? Hell, I'll say for the record I think it's the best TF fiction ever. You tweak it to be a little more adventure-oriented in an episodic sense, and you've got a cartoon, man. Go back to REAL animation so there can be more than three characters on screen at once, too.
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Jul 3, 2013 05:06
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