Transformers: No Gift Receipt, Thanks, These Toys Are For Me

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > BSS: Bisexual Super Son > Transformers: No Gift Receipt, Thanks, These Toys Are For Me

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

Gammatron 64 posted:

As far as our protagonists are concerned, the only ones that are even remotely interesting are Wheeljack, Smokescreen and Ratchet (because Jeffery Combs.) Wheeljack barely shows up, Smokescreen doesn't show up until late in season 2, and Ratchet spends an entire season doing nothing. Everybody else is basically "stoic guy who fights bad guys." I mean, really, who would honestly care if Prime, Bumblebee or Bulkhead got killed off?

I'd be bummed out if Bulkhead were killed off; "Single dad Bulkhead" makes for some good episodes and character moments, even if they're few and far between. Bumblebee as a mute character doesn't really do much to make him memorable or relatable in any way, and it bothers me that if an Autobot got killed, it would probably end up being Wheeljack.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2013 15:08

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 8, 2024 05:09

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

Rei_ posted:

Animated is great when you realize it's long tail story arc is really a story about Ratchet from beginning to end. Everyone had agendas and backgrounds and stories, and all of these interweaving details. Sure it wasn't high art, but it was a really solid attempt at ANIMATING these characters, both in terms of character and style.

Prime is a story about...nothing, really. Like it's not even a good toy commercial, since most of the toys aren't even in the show at this point. It's just...banal.

I thought it was pretty interesting that Ratchet was an old veteran with occasional bouts of robo-PTSD. There's one episode where that's a central plot point, and the end of the episode is just him and Prime sitting down and Prime basically saying "tell me about it" and the two characters just connect before the credits. When that show wasn't about human supervillains, I absolutely loved it.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2013 19:11

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

GD_American posted:

Post-War (Decepticons win, Autobots hunted and scattered)

While I don't share the same criticisms of Prime that a lot of people in this thread do, they absolutely squandered this. Season 3 opens with the Autobots scattered and Megatron in his Doom Fortress Playset, guns trained on major cities and generally being boss of the place. Then, by the second episode of the season, everything's blown up and we're more or less back to the status quo. I would have really liked if most of the season involved Ultra Magnus leading the Autobots and then at the end of the series they could bring Prime back. I'm happy they've kept Wheeljack more or less in the regular cast since then, but the beginning of the season had a much more interesting setup.

The_Doctor posted:

You know, with Prime pretty much wrapped up (save for lovely 2014 toy dregs), Hasbro have to be at least planning for the next tv series, right? What was the turn around between Animated ending and Prime being announced?

I think it was about a year and a half between series.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2013 18:03

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

Man, Voyager Beast Hunters Shockwave is a terrible Transformer, but it's a hell of a toy.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2013 05:50

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

Honest Ray posted:

He looks fantastic as a robot but has an absolutely imcomprehensible transformation and alt mode. Also, I can't get his tread to hold in his gun to make the connection line regrettably. Still one of the best looking ROBOTS even if it's a garbage Transformer if that makes sense. He's so beefy and purple and monoeyed~~~

I couldn't even figure out the entire transformation since there's not really a frame of reference for the altmode; he just turns into a pile of robot parts in a kind of tank-ish shape.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2013 16:09

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

Yonic Symbolism posted:

I would not be surprised if the next series is the complete opposite in tone, a Teen Titans Go/Ultimate Spiderman crazyfest, going by this philosphy. The most popular animated shows on the air right now seem to be Adventure time, mlp, and TMNT (when it actually airs, pilot beat Korra in viewing numbers). Yes I know Animated already existed and Rescue Bots exists too, but I think they're going to get even less serious while still having bots fighting cons.

I'm actually really curious where they'll go next, setting-wise and tonally. Animated seems like it kind of beat a lot of the wacky, newer animated shows to the punch, and Prime is so on the other end of the spectrum. Maybe if it went for an 80s campy feel, that could be something different, but I'm not sure what direction it can go in. Basically the reason I'm bummed that Prime is ending (aside from actually liking the show) is that it means we need to establish a new Transformers before this one can do more interesting things with its story and reach the potential that it has. Maybe it didn't quite set up the 4th season that Animated did, but I would have liked to see it run longer to get to a bigger climax.

it's sort of the same frustration I feel with TV shows based on superheroes. Aside from the new Avengers cartoon being godawful, it means a TV show needs to establish who these people are again even though we already know from the movies, cartoons, video games and comic books. I guess that's how it goes for franchises.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2013 20:52

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

Yonic Symbolism posted:

We want to encourage people to read his comics
Let them discover how hard JR can break your heart and destroy all you love on their own.

I just picked up the first trade this weekend because of the folks in this thread; looking forward to digging into it!

# ¿ Aug 28, 2013 21:58

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

CAPT. Rainbowbeard posted:

Just get the original voice actor t do it. He did a great job in Fall of Cybertron, different as it was.

The Bay films have a precedent set for it with Soundwave and Prime, so I could see it happening. I think Bay said he wanted Prime to not be the focus of "the next trilogy" or whatever, so if there was a couple movies with Grimlock as the leader that'd be pretty cool. Then again, I (for the most part) like those movies, so I'm in the minority here.

Optimist Prime posted:

And now my 100% official, totally comprehensive Beast Wars character rankings!

I don't think I've ever found a character in all of Transformersdom as awful as Transmutate, save Michael Bay's Skids and Mudflap. Something about the gross way it looks, annoying voice and so on just make me glad it only lasted one episode. It was a sort of interesting concept but I didn't like the character at all.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2013 17:12

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

WendigoJohnson posted:

Remmeber we got the dark of the moon pointless skydiving scene because bay saw them on TV while filming and thought they were cool so he added an entirely pointless sequence last minute. I just hope we don't get something stupid like Truckasarus or something that's just vaguely dinosaur related and it gets passed off as Dinobots.

If Truckasaurus happens to be Grimlock hiding for all this time, I'm pretty sure that would be next-level brilliant.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2013 15:21

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

LightsGameraAction posted:

Was that on fast forward or something? That seems like an incredibly short stage for an arcade rail shooter. Especially since it costs $1.50 a play now or however much.

It was jumping forward, there were a few crossfades in there. Even then, you don't have to pay again until you die in arcade shooters.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2013 16:33

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

404GoonNotFound posted:

...I may have just fused the waist of my Mini-Con Assault team with a super glue mishap

Super glue or plastic glue? If it's super glue, you can just leave it in the freezer for a bit and that'll weaken the bond. If it's plastic glue, well, you just melted the plastic to the other plastic and there's no going back.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2014 22:05

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

Rythe posted:

Looks like the HUB channel is showing the original Transformers cartoon at 5:30am, they are not that far into the series too, maybe 6 episodes or so in. Not a bad way to start my day, a bowl of cereal and cartoons before I have to head off to work.

I did this with G1 since it's on Netflix. It went from a fun trip down memory lane to background noise to a test of endurance just to get through it. After the movie, that show gets downright dire. Still, its aged better than a lot of toy commercial cartoons of its era.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2014 21:24

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 8, 2024 05:09

SRM: Jul 10, 2009; ~*FeElIn' AweS0mE*~

There's entirely too much going on in those films from a visual and narrative standpoint for it to all be accidental. If you take nothing away from Terry's thread, let it be that someone, somewhere, maybe Bay himself, really cared about what was going on onscreen. If nothing else it was an interesting thread to read to get some insight into film criticism and subtext.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2014 20:34

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > BSS: Bisexual Super Son > Transformers: No Gift Receipt, Thanks, These Toys Are For Me