Transformers: Animated. Discuss

[Yulian]

New season started this Saturday. 90 minute movie.

Discuss. Likes? Dislikes? I'll chime in if there are thread replies.

- Yulian

[chiasaur11]

Like.

Very like.

Don't like the fact I don't have cable and the computer's acting wonky so I won't see the new season as soon as I'd like.

[Starscream]

Like, though I grew up on the original series. The episode with Weird Al was particularly awesome.

[BlueWizard]

I too grew up on the original, so it'll always have a special place for me over all the newer forms they've made.

[Shades of Gray]

Like, though I grew up on the original series. The episode with Weird Al was particularly awesome.

There was an episode with Weird Al?

[Ellipses]

This show if now 97.5% awesomer.

[Yulian]

Well, I was kind of wondering if watchers liked the apparent new direction the series was headed.

We've seen a lot more characters finally, and it seems to have gotten a bit more mature in the writing as well.

Man, poor Blur. That's good, old-fashioned nightmare fuel for the kiddies, huh? Still, it's great to hear Corey Burton and his old Shockwave voice again. And he gets to actually do stuff! Like murder Blur!

Sari...I'm so amazed this human sidekick doesn't grate on me. They've written her surprisingly well, especially considering what's just happened. That, and Tara Strong is an excellent voice artist.

The references are also a great deal of fun. Perceptor, looking like Adam Savage (with Wheeljack as Jamie Hyneman), with a voice like Stephen Hawking? Double-ref!

The ep was also a great deal more violent than we've been seeing. It felt a bit more like a war, which I liked seeing.

- Yulian

[Starscream]

There was an episode with Weird Al?

Yup. He plays Wreck-Gar, who was played by Eric Idle in the 1986 movie.

It's an interesting connection, because Weird Al's song, "Dare to Be Stupid" was featured prominently in the main Wreck-Gar scene in that movie. So when he appeared in Animated they had him announce "I am Wreck-Gar! I dare to be stupid!"

Edit:
Witness the Awesome! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3-bw9E5kw0)

[Ascension]

Though Beast Wars remains my favorite Transformers series, I've been loving Animated.

I don't have time to go into the whole thing in detail, but here's a specific comment on the Season 3 opener, copied from my response to an Animated topic on a TF-specific forum.

I for one was highly disappointed with how Sari was handled in this episode. Animated has been heavy handed with the whole "upgrades are bad" aesop since the first season, but having Sari go haywire like that is just... ugh. She was so awesome for the minute or two she spent in masked hero/magical girl mode, but then they had to go and turn her into a damsel in distress again just to prove a point they've already beaten into the ground. I'm tired of Animated harping on power corrupting or being uncontrollable. And it may just be because I'm taking a Diversity in Education class at the moment, but honestly the whole thing seemed pretty sexist as well... While Animated is admittedly no worse than any of the series that came before it from a feminist perspective, we have Elita-1/Blackarachnia traumatized, Arcee's brain wiped, First Aid has a passive role as a healer and was dealt with handily, and Sari's brush with power is crushed with what can't help but come off as a message that girls like her should stand back while the men go be heroes. The only combat oriented female in the series (Strika) is a villain with an unfeminine build.

The whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. A very bad taste indeed. I'm still enjoying Animated, but it seems like with Sari's transformation they had the perfect chance to introduce a strong female hero right in their grasp... but they blew it.

[Vic_Sage]

Tugged at my heartstrings when poor Blur was crushed and killed.

[chiasaur11]

Tugged at my heartstrings when poor Blur was crushed and killed.

Well, he is a speedster. Seems like half of the silver age was devoted to ways they could fake their deaths. Not saying he isn't dead, just that speedy guys tend to be the most likely to have a way out.

[Obrysii]

Am I the only one who finds it loathsomely bad?

The animation is laughable - the original, with its eighties-level budget and animation quality is far, far better.

The designs are laughable. Simple transformations or an anime-flavored transformation = lame.

The faux anime stye. Just ... no. It worked for Teen Titans. It does not work for Transformers unless it's GOOD quality design and animation.


Overall, I can't find anything redeeming about the show.

[Yulian]

The faux anime stye. Just ... no. It worked for Teen Titans. It does not work for Transformers unless it's GOOD quality design and animation.


I have exactly the opposite view. Greatly disliked Teen Titans, like the designs here because they are robots and all.

That and TF has so many incarnations none are definitive as such.

- Yulian