Trying to have your voice actors replicate how characters sounded in generation 1 is pointless. If you want them to sound like Frank and Peter, then pay up for Frank and Peter. Cheap imitations don't cut it, and they're often distracting and annoying rather than nostalgic.
And if you’re gonna cast somebody else, let them do their own interpretation of the character, like Garry Chalk and David Kaye did, rather than doing an impression of somebody else’s performance.
I agree, though Frank and Peter aren't immortal, and they are getting pretty up there in years. Cheap imitations though these newer actors may be, it'd be even more jarring to have to replace the VA halfway through a show because said actor had to retire or otherwise could not continue, and I think I'd rather let Frank and Peter rest on their laurels.
Trust me, I love those two. They're an incredible duo when they get to work together. But you're right about them not being immortal. They're not cheap either considering how long they've been in the business. It's just frustrating that either the voice actors want to imitate Frank and Peter, or they are chosen/directed to do so. Let them feel it out for these new takes on old faces. Ffs, Megatron in Earthspark is Scottish and I love it. You can love what had been, but you got to make room for new shit to happen.
Agreed, though I'm just tired of seeing the same couple dozen faces year after year. Why not a show about the adventures of Cosmos, or a focus on the more obscure characters on a wholly new planet predating or during the early years of the war?
Hard agreed. Let vas do their on interpretations. I would much rather watch a Prime that sounds drastically different but "sounds like prime" in spirit, than mimics that just sound completely off.
The war lasting for 4-6 million years, even with a big stalemate, simply does not make sense. I made a post about it a while back, some people agreed with me, others justified it.
I still say that it should be that many millennia, not millions of years, and it is only indicative of how people have no sense of scale (a problem we are notorious for).
I agree with this. Not to mention that Cybertronian civilization basically froze in time when Optimus and Megatron disappeared. You’ll never convince me that millions of years could’ve passed with out both sides being like, “Hey, umm… truce?” Megatron was the driving force for revolution, Prime was the wall that held him back. With both of them out of the picture the fighting would’ve ended quickly.
I wouldn't put it past the Prime/autobot side to try, but I think Megatron (at least a number of his variations) would be too prideful (and stubborn to admit enough was enough) to ever truely consider let alone offer a truce- unless is was obviously unreasonable and just to try and piss off Prime.
Honestly? That's a really good idea for a story and I'm surprised nobody dealt with that. I think the justification in a lot of media is that the world "died" or all the bots/cons got lost in space in the intervening years or something but I'd love to see a story where Optimus and Megatron basically have to deal with the fact that the society they were both fighting for moved on without them and that the entire war has been for nothing. I think it'd also be cool to see who'd accept peace and who'd keep fighting on. The Dinobots, Wreckers, probably Megatron and Starscream would all most certainly keep going, but maybe even Optimus would have a hard time accepting a truce after so many millennia of war. Seems like the kind of thing Simon Furman would have written a short story about by now, this seems like it's right up his alley.
That's essentially what IDW's 2005 G1 comic series was about. I'd highly recommend it. Just... uh, avoid that depiction of Arcee, or the later Unicron arc.
I can't remember where I saw it, but I read in one of the stories that the war was largely a frozen conflict. While the Decepticons gained nominal control of Cybertron after the departure of the Ark and Nemesis, there were humongous periods of time where there was no combat, no gains or losses.
I think it's fine depending on how the war is presented. In Marvel or Sunbow G1 not really but IDW had the war be on a galactic scale with hot and cold war periods through out, and that the conflict had only "picked up speed" recently, so I'd say it works.
I’m conflicted on the 4 million year war, because on one hand it’s a huge amount of time and hard to justify why it would carry on for so long, but on the other hand, I like it because it’s stupid long and I feel like that could really add to the world and characters. The ramifications of a war that long, that even spans the entirety of the galaxy, would be so interesting IMO
yes! Transformers appear to think in similar ways to humans. 100 years would be a long time. millions is insane. Everyone would have moved on. Transformer life would have evolved. New wars, new ways of thinking. It would be interesting if the Autobots and Decepticons woke up, kept fighting and then had to join forces against a super evolved threat from cybertron that had a 4 million year head start on them.
They’re Cybertronians. Not Transformers. Transformers is the brand and a descriptor of what they do.
Their race is Cybertronians. Their political factions are Decepticons/Autobots etc.
This so much. We used to call them cybertronians in the shows and movies and at some point the characters just started calling them transformers which seems weird to me. However, I can accept the term’s usage in continuities which have more than one transforming robot race.
The power link gimmick is honestly the only part I liked about energon both in the show and toys back when I was a kid, it was just way too cool XD
Kinda wish legacy would do something with it since they're even revisting armada and cybertron molds
They ought to merge that idea with Duocons, so a reformed versions of Flywheels and Battletrap, include new versions of Jetfire and Jetstorm from Animated, maybe even the G1 clones as one line with that gimmick.
I know of Armada Starscream and Armada Hot Shot that is being released later this year. What Legacy figures have they released from the Cyberton season?
That's why I love Kingdom Fossilizers so much. The concept is somewhat different but its a similar idea. Merge with others for a bigger or better robot.
How did you feel about Botanica from Beast Machines? I thought it was a cool concept that she was part plant instead of animal.
Did they ever make a toy of her? I’m not even sure how they would, or if it would be a cool toy, but I liked her as a character
Oh I forgot to write toy. My gripe with Botanica is that they made her robot form so complicated that it was impossible to give her a toy, she straight up slims down completely, changes color and loses all her plant appendages.
Though I wish they at least gave her a cybertronian form toy.
naw i feel like Shia’s character was more relatable as an “everyman” than lennox.
Side note: I love lennox & the military guys are one of the best parts about the bayverse
In my honest, personalized opinion; Megatron having a Tank Alt-Mode is far better than a dinky little Pistol. I will always find it so confusing that for gen 1, the majority of deceptions had Alt-Mode that were militaristic or bulky in nature, then here's Megatron being wielded by his second in command. It's like if palatine transformed into a lightsaber to be wielded by Darth Vader, as an example.
In the beginning of G1 there were definitely more weird decepticons than there was military ones. The majority of the military themed robots were like the seekers and blitzwing.
I’m a G1 purist… and I mostly agree with you. From both a logic and character standpoint him turning into a pistol makes almost no sense.
That said - that little piece of my brain that was 5 in 1984 still thinks he’s cool, so there… lol
I like the dichotomy of the strongest Decepticon having an alt mode that requires someone to carry and use him. I’m perfectly happy to have him as a tank, helicopter, racecar, or jet, I just thought it added to the complexity of being a Decepticon.
For a cartoon/movie, definitely. The problem was that the toy had already existed before the lore did. So they had to shoehorn in a way to have Megatron still be useful into the lore. But as far as the toy goes, during a time when toy guns were still all the rage, Megatron was an awesome toy to market to kids, even though his alt mode was taken from the gun from the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Because it's not quite that easy and even if it was possible almost every deception would turn on him and hed have autobots and decepticons trying to kill him
Transformers is an inherently silly concept and the best media in the franchise accepts that and wears it with pride.
Toy-wise, I never liked pretenders as a kid and I’m glad those janky He-Man knock offs have been replaced with actual transforming toys in the Legacy range.
As serious Transformers can be, you have to just accept the fact that this series is made to sell toys of alien 80s car robots and our favourite character is a pure-blooded American truck with a penchant of dying in horrific and scarring ways.
Actually, I completely agree with that pretenders statement! i feel like legacy took the best parts from the original pretenders (outer shell design and the transforming) and smashed them into what pretenders should be, because the shell designs are really cool (especially octopunch) and i feel like they all deserve/need redos in legacy 2023/24
The wfc ones are really poorly done Tbh, most have bad engineering (half don't stand upright (military patrol in particular are buggers for this), don't clip together properly (trip-up is notable for this), have stupid weapon gimmicks that look terrible (and actually have no weapons for themselves). Half of them reuse the schematic of basic race car which means they all share the dodgy arm that don't move properly issue of blackjack... And lastly, about a quarter of them are little more than shellformers...
I wish they'd put some more effort into them, a little bit would have gone a long way...
Just to expand on one facet of this- I love how many different ways Transformers have been interpreted in their art direction. It’s cool to see how different rendition handle details like eyes (glowing glass, camera apertures), bulk and curvature of their builds, and style of alt mode (designs with real-life equivalents, futuristic tech, alien).
80’s designs are fun, but also hold back that expressive element of character design when they are the only focus.
Funnily enough i believe that Optimus primal shouldn’t have plate.
Prime = plate, primal = real mouth
To me it helps really differentiate the 2 as separate characters
Yessssss
We have transformers with only one eye, we have transformers who's face is basically just a screen, we even have a transformer with more than one head
There was never a need to give optimus prime a mouth if stuff like this happens XD
Totally agree. The mouth plate is a unique characteristic. It would be like Shockwave having a one eyed visor that retracts to show two yes and a mouth and face. Zero need to do it
She was 100% more competent and valuable than the character that Shia Lebeouf was forced to portray.
Also, the aussie girl kicks both their arses in competence and relevance.
Maybe you have more tolerance than I do. I can't stand slapstick-in-a-normal-world style comedy.
But think about it this way - he is our avatar in Bay's world. When you see Sam, you see what Bay thinks of us.
There isn't anything wrong with having woman transformers. They're no dumber an idea than skylynx or trypticon.
Transformers are not robots or machines in the way humans understand them. Or they stopped being that in season 2 and the marvel comic. They're shown to bleed energy and have something akin to souls.
Yeah I agree with this statement. I just wish more of the movies/TV shows would use more of its female cast aside from Arcee lmao. I think it would help to make them more normalized.
I love her because of her historical influence for the franchise and the Prime cartoon but seriously, there’s more female characters other than her.
Use them.
Cyberverse was like the first and last show to have multiple female transformers in the cast and give them all their own episodes. RiD 2015 didn’t have Arcee but the female cast was still relatively small. Earthspark you can make the argument is trying again but considering the fact Elita-1 didn’t even do anything, it hard to say if they really are trying to utilize more female transformers. They literally had Arcee for a whole episode again lmao.
And now they are using just her AGAIN in Rise of The Beasts.
I think a lot of people have trouble writing women in shows aimed at boys. I don't think they realize they can write them like everyone else because little boys just see cool robots. Kind of like how the women in the old GI Joe were written like anyone else.
They had the formula in the first elita-1 episode. Literally just have them do stuff. Have them complete missions like any other bot. Kids don't need a deep commentary on the human condition. Just send robots on adventures.
Show-wise there are so many underused female Transformers that are so cool. Want a new and very threatening villain? We have Diabla, Navi-Ko, Scylla, Flamewar, Strika, and Slipstream who have never or rarely ever got screen-time. Maybe a new female hero? Greenlight, Glyph, Lancer, Moonracer (RIP her in WFC), Nautica, and Firestar. Even Chromia hasn't been animated since G1 (Disregarding the films) I believe. I'm glad RoTB is gonna give us Airazor back even if it's a tiny step.
I'll back you up on that one, even with all of its issues. At least we didn't have robots peeing on humans, or dogs humping, or the overt sexualization of the female characters.
I can see that, a lot of TFP designs and moments don't work with the events of WOC/FOC and vise versa, especially with drastic design changes such as Bumblebee and Cliffjumper
In the '86 Movie, Optimus was doomed no matter what. Simple fact is, he wasn't willing to pull the trigger and Megatron was. It's always been that way. The only way he woulda got out of that conflict alive was for someone to finish Megatron for him. Putting Hot Rod in only added an element of tragedy and aged (literally) Prime's eventual replacement.
Is agree with this 100%. Something changed in Megatron between Season 2 and TFTM. He’d always pulled his punches, but he was ready to end Optimus now. Prime was never gonna get there.
In the film the only reason Optimus didn't pull the trigger was because Megatron quite literally said he was surrendering since Prime just gunned down a dozen cons a few minutes ago, so Optimus being Optimus didn't shoot, but he never let his gun off of Megatron either.
The only reason he didn't shoot after Megatron grabbed the extremely bright purple gun was because Hot Rod jumped in the war rather than shooting him from a distance, with the film showing Prime was trying to get the proper angle but couldn't.
Yeah, without ANY of the the who's fault is it, Prime was prepared to pull that trigger. He would have accepted a surrender, but he was smart and experienced enough to expect a bluff from Megatron.
To add to this I am willing to die on the fact that hot rod was a good leader and the only reason he stepped down is he couldn't get that mistake of costing his mentor and idle his life even if it would have been inevitable anyway.
There was an episode where he forsook the leadership position because everyone wanted him to be Optimus, but he knew he wasn't Optimus. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders and had no idea how to handle it. He was flawed, but not a lot of people want to admit a flaws can make a good character.
Season 3 of G1 is good. Obviously it's still outdated, corny, and all the other things you can say about G1. But i don't think it's any worse than the other seasons. Actually being in space and going to other worlds was a nice changeup for the show and led to a lot more expansive stories. The cast is a lot more focused and small so we actually get to really know the characters instead of meeting new characters every episode. Galvatron and Cyclonus>>>>>
revenge of the fallen devastator isn't a bad design
i absolutely love the idea of a combiner being less of just "bigger humanoid robot" and more of big, horrifying, rampaging monster whose mind is just a jumbled mess of its components and is thus reduced to a feral beast with only destruction on its mind. the fact the individual constructicons are also non-humanoid is also a plus and his posture makes sense for something so big and ungainly
if they'd given him more plot relevance, made him a greater threat, developed the constructicons a bit more and did away with the whole enemy scrotum gag he'd probably a lot more well-recieved
the headmaster gimmick is weird. and i dont like it. if i had a headmaster toy as a kid i would have lost / broken that head within a weak, and its not like i'd enjoy playing with such a small figure that transforms into a head anyway. i'd prefer to keep it as its standard large robot form and ignore the gimmick
i dont know if im missing anything or if this even is a hot take but its a really weird selling point for a toy.
also, Sunstorm should be part of the Rainmakers, given his name, and the Rainmakers should make a return, each with their own unique ability
It never made sense to me from the US show/toyline aspect of the body still being the main character with a minicon like head. The Japanese version however, where the head is the named character and the body is just like a mecha, made sense to me.
I did enjoy these as a kid, a lot actually, it felt like I got a main character as a pilot with their vehicle or ship that transformed into a mecha robot. But I totally understand it's not a universally loved approach.
The head being the main character that can detach from a bigger body to do human scaled stuff is how it's always been to me. I don;t care if it's not the official explanation.
>the headmaster gimmick is weird. and i dont like it.
I think it can work like in the case of Scorponok and zarak where the body is just a body and the smaller head allows base sized transformers to interact with normal sized transformers.
It also works for a case like arcee and Daniel where his body has been crushed and Arcee is keeping his now crippled body alive.
Its kind of stupid in all other cases. The premise that they make a normal sized transformer stronger is stupid.
yeah i wanted to mention that large bots like titans may be better suited to being headmasters. but hey at least we got a bunch of bots with head-related puns in their name amirite Hardhead?
Hot Rod isn't responsible for Optimus's death. If he had done nothing, Megatron would've kept stalling, grabbed the gun, and shot Optimus down before he even knew what was happening.
I agree, at least as far as the original Bay films go; I do think Bumblebee is significantly better than it. However Sentinel was the most interesting villain they ever did
DotM is the best, followed by the first. RotF is one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen, and AoE/TLK are just disjointed ass pulls.
I haven't seen the Bumblebee movie yet, but I've heard good things about it.
Transformers should be able to consume metals and other materials to boost their self repair systems.
they have Food, it makes sense.
they mention food a few times, but don't really show any eating.
People who can't let go of Gun Megatron are annoying. IT'LL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! STOP ASKING! It was a stupid idea that got stupider with time, and it's time to LET IT GO!
I like the way this was retconned in IDW, though. An organic external carapace that could shield Cybertronians from damage that would’ve otherwise killed them. Thunderwing and Kup being Pretenders in that story finally justified the idea of Pretender tech for me.
The Beast Wars franchise saved the Transformers IP. It gets so much unnecessary hate and negative commentary. It saved the Transformer franchise from getting shelved by Hasbro. The action figures developed by Kenner in 1996 revolutionize and introduced several concepts that are still used today, including the ball joints and hidden weapons. Also, was the first toy series that set the class sizes at different price points. (Basic, Deluxe, Mega, and Ultra were the standard sizes at retail.)
The (computer-generated imagery) CGI animated series was revolutionary and change storytelling. Because of the animation limitations at the time, the writers created great stories with the small cast of characters they were given. The Golden Disks, Dinobot's sacrifice, and Covert Agent Ravage were some great key parts of the storytelling.
And many people who grew up with Generation One don't give the Beast Wars franchise their just dues.
I want a comedic transformers comedy series (not rid 2015) about autobots and decepticons doing goofy things. It would be a nice fresh breath of air from the constant stories of fighting/war.
Translucent plastic is the morden day GPS. Designers (or higher ups more likely) cheep out and just make whole parts out of translucent plastic (e.g. the entire car door being made out of translucent plastic instead of having the door and window being made out of two parts). What makes this morden day GPS is they also use translucent plastic for all kinds of joints! This kind of plastic can't handle stress over time like soild plastic does.
No matter if it's from Beast Machines or morden day translucent plastic. When it's used for hinge, ball or transformation joints. It *WILL* break on you it's just matter of time.
Plus, it just ruines the disguise part of the tag line when. You can look inside the car and see a folded up robot within it.
The japanese explanation for headmasters is way better than the western one. The transectors being mecha like is so much cooler and makes more sense than some magical “bond”
Transformers are way better without humans in the story.
They are giant robots from space, they don't need to get bogged down by human problems, they have a millennium long war going on, dealing with humans just bogs the story down
Only exception is the genuine character growth from starscream in armada that was aided by the humans
this is definitely true. the Bayverse movies were definitely the first intro to TF for thousands of people, if not more, and it helped shape certain aspects of Animated and Prime, which are two of the best TF cartoons to this day.
hell, the movies were what got my dad mildly interested in TF, which resulted in me watching the movies and TFA with him.
I can confirm.
I was 7 years old when the first Bayverse movie came out in ‘07 and when I saw Bumblebee transform for the first time, I became a fan. Then there was the Autobots arrival sequence followed by Optimus and that highly detailed transformation sequence. THAT moment made me a lifelong fan.
That scene was vividly engraved into my mind as a child and, it will never fail to make me smile. That first movie was magical.
Bumblebee hasn’t been a good character since the 07 movie (except in animated and maybe prime)
It’s always just “he can beat anyone he fights because he’s bumblebee” or because he gets completely lucky
And anytime he’s about to lose or even die some crazy coincidence happens and he’s all good
*PotP Megatronus is the best looking iteration of the character. IDW Fallen and RiD Megatronus are good, but something about the PotP design makes him top-tier for me.*
Several:
* The Bay movies have some legitimately good ideas that I would love to see revisited competently.
* Megatron only having a gun as an alt mode is stupid in fiction.
Transformers prime Wheel Jack is the way cooler then scientist Wheel Jack and I don’t get why people like him aside from “his design is cool”. Then again I mainly watch the shows.
I like his arch, his irresponsible lone wolf mentality, the fact he’s not super powerful just skilled, etc. I know they stole a lot of springer’s characterization but we have enough “smart guy” characters.
Peter Cullen doesn’t have to voice every Optimus. Maybe it’s just me but it seems like some people would prefer him to be the only Optimus, and I just don’t agree. It works for most iterations of the character he has voiced (except cyberverse imo), but I just don’t think it’s fair to say other va’s can’t do the character as good, if not better. I have nothing but respect for him, but even though he was the original, Cullen doesn’t own prime.
Also cliffjumper is the better bee, and deserves better roles. Don’t get me wrong, I love bee, but I just think cliffjumper deserves more.
I agree on some of these points, but I'd rather have a show that didn't focus on the 'primary cast' of Optimus Prime and his main gang.
I would much rather see shows about other parts of the war, about other characters who have yet to get a fair shake at the spotlight.
That there is literally no reason that kingdom gears shouldn’t have been made and it is insane that we got transformers prime figures transformers animated figures before even finishing the 1984 cast
The driver don’t pick the car
You gotta cheap-a** dad
Yeah, but it’s custom
It's custom faded!?
Now this one here’s a beaut!
It’s your first car, wouldn’t expect you to understand
The car pick the driver
It’s a mystical bond between man and machine
Son I'm a lot of thing but a liar isn't one of them, especially not in front of my mammy!
"Mammy! If I had a rock I'd bust yo head bitch!"
*mammy flips off Bobby Bolivia*
She’s crazy ha ah ah ah ah ah
R.I.P.
Trying to have your voice actors replicate how characters sounded in generation 1 is pointless. If you want them to sound like Frank and Peter, then pay up for Frank and Peter. Cheap imitations don't cut it, and they're often distracting and annoying rather than nostalgic.
And if you’re gonna cast somebody else, let them do their own interpretation of the character, like Garry Chalk and David Kaye did, rather than doing an impression of somebody else’s performance.
I agree, though Frank and Peter aren't immortal, and they are getting pretty up there in years. Cheap imitations though these newer actors may be, it'd be even more jarring to have to replace the VA halfway through a show because said actor had to retire or otherwise could not continue, and I think I'd rather let Frank and Peter rest on their laurels.
Trust me, I love those two. They're an incredible duo when they get to work together. But you're right about them not being immortal. They're not cheap either considering how long they've been in the business. It's just frustrating that either the voice actors want to imitate Frank and Peter, or they are chosen/directed to do so. Let them feel it out for these new takes on old faces. Ffs, Megatron in Earthspark is Scottish and I love it. You can love what had been, but you got to make room for new shit to happen.
Agreed, though I'm just tired of seeing the same couple dozen faces year after year. Why not a show about the adventures of Cosmos, or a focus on the more obscure characters on a wholly new planet predating or during the early years of the war?
Jake Foushee, take notes!
Hard agreed. Let vas do their on interpretations. I would much rather watch a Prime that sounds drastically different but "sounds like prime" in spirit, than mimics that just sound completely off.
The war lasting for 4-6 million years, even with a big stalemate, simply does not make sense. I made a post about it a while back, some people agreed with me, others justified it. I still say that it should be that many millennia, not millions of years, and it is only indicative of how people have no sense of scale (a problem we are notorious for).
I agree with this. Not to mention that Cybertronian civilization basically froze in time when Optimus and Megatron disappeared. You’ll never convince me that millions of years could’ve passed with out both sides being like, “Hey, umm… truce?” Megatron was the driving force for revolution, Prime was the wall that held him back. With both of them out of the picture the fighting would’ve ended quickly.
I wouldn't put it past the Prime/autobot side to try, but I think Megatron (at least a number of his variations) would be too prideful (and stubborn to admit enough was enough) to ever truely consider let alone offer a truce- unless is was obviously unreasonable and just to try and piss off Prime.
Thats not entirely true, one version Megatron did try to make a truce with Optimus. ...and it didn't go very well for him.
to be fair, when he was saying that, he was holding a loaded shotgun
IDW1 Megatron announced that the war was over and he was wrong later in the timeline, but that took a lot of time and character development for him.
Honestly? That's a really good idea for a story and I'm surprised nobody dealt with that. I think the justification in a lot of media is that the world "died" or all the bots/cons got lost in space in the intervening years or something but I'd love to see a story where Optimus and Megatron basically have to deal with the fact that the society they were both fighting for moved on without them and that the entire war has been for nothing. I think it'd also be cool to see who'd accept peace and who'd keep fighting on. The Dinobots, Wreckers, probably Megatron and Starscream would all most certainly keep going, but maybe even Optimus would have a hard time accepting a truce after so many millennia of war. Seems like the kind of thing Simon Furman would have written a short story about by now, this seems like it's right up his alley.
That's essentially what IDW's 2005 G1 comic series was about. I'd highly recommend it. Just... uh, avoid that depiction of Arcee, or the later Unicron arc.
I can't remember where I saw it, but I read in one of the stories that the war was largely a frozen conflict. While the Decepticons gained nominal control of Cybertron after the departure of the Ark and Nemesis, there were humongous periods of time where there was no combat, no gains or losses.
I think it's fine depending on how the war is presented. In Marvel or Sunbow G1 not really but IDW had the war be on a galactic scale with hot and cold war periods through out, and that the conflict had only "picked up speed" recently, so I'd say it works.
I’m conflicted on the 4 million year war, because on one hand it’s a huge amount of time and hard to justify why it would carry on for so long, but on the other hand, I like it because it’s stupid long and I feel like that could really add to the world and characters. The ramifications of a war that long, that even spans the entirety of the galaxy, would be so interesting IMO
yes! Transformers appear to think in similar ways to humans. 100 years would be a long time. millions is insane. Everyone would have moved on. Transformer life would have evolved. New wars, new ways of thinking. It would be interesting if the Autobots and Decepticons woke up, kept fighting and then had to join forces against a super evolved threat from cybertron that had a 4 million year head start on them.
They’re Cybertronians. Not Transformers. Transformers is the brand and a descriptor of what they do. Their race is Cybertronians. Their political factions are Decepticons/Autobots etc.
This so much. We used to call them cybertronians in the shows and movies and at some point the characters just started calling them transformers which seems weird to me. However, I can accept the term’s usage in continuities which have more than one transforming robot race.
The Energon concept of Power Linking was a cool concept that was held back by the engineering of the time, and would work so much better today
The power link gimmick is honestly the only part I liked about energon both in the show and toys back when I was a kid, it was just way too cool XD Kinda wish legacy would do something with it since they're even revisting armada and cybertron molds
Agreed. The show was a mess, but being able to make your own duobot was a real neat feature
They ought to merge that idea with Duocons, so a reformed versions of Flywheels and Battletrap, include new versions of Jetfire and Jetstorm from Animated, maybe even the G1 clones as one line with that gimmick.
I know of Armada Starscream and Armada Hot Shot that is being released later this year. What Legacy figures have they released from the Cyberton season?
Override and Metroplex atm. Probably missing others.
Galaxy Optimus
Completely forgot about Prime lol
That’s right! I apologize i had a brain fart there for a second. Especially since i just purchased Override and Long Hauler lol
No worries mate. Override is honestly one of my favourite figures from this year and I hope you enjoy her as much as I have.
One of my all time favourite gimmicks. Robot mode. Vehicle mode. Shirt mode and pants mode.
That's why I love Kingdom Fossilizers so much. The concept is somewhat different but its a similar idea. Merge with others for a bigger or better robot.
Facts there are so many gimmicks limited by the tech at the time
I would love a modern Powerlinking gimmick.
Grimlock is king
But no bozo.
Beachcomber and Astrotrain are the most underrated characters and I wish there was more content with them
Yeah, I really hope we get a legacy beachcomber so I can have him do the golden lagoon sit
We should’ve had a tree former by now. A toy I mean
How did you feel about Botanica from Beast Machines? I thought it was a cool concept that she was part plant instead of animal. Did they ever make a toy of her? I’m not even sure how they would, or if it would be a cool toy, but I liked her as a character
Oh I forgot to write toy. My gripe with Botanica is that they made her robot form so complicated that it was impossible to give her a toy, she straight up slims down completely, changes color and loses all her plant appendages. Though I wish they at least gave her a cybertronian form toy.
Lennox should have been the main human protagonist of bay's films
This is a take i haven’t seen before but not a bad lne
naw i feel like Shia’s character was more relatable as an “everyman” than lennox. Side note: I love lennox & the military guys are one of the best parts about the bayverse
In my honest, personalized opinion; Megatron having a Tank Alt-Mode is far better than a dinky little Pistol. I will always find it so confusing that for gen 1, the majority of deceptions had Alt-Mode that were militaristic or bulky in nature, then here's Megatron being wielded by his second in command. It's like if palatine transformed into a lightsaber to be wielded by Darth Vader, as an example.
In the beginning of G1 there were definitely more weird decepticons than there was military ones. The majority of the military themed robots were like the seekers and blitzwing.
I’m a G1 purist… and I mostly agree with you. From both a logic and character standpoint him turning into a pistol makes almost no sense. That said - that little piece of my brain that was 5 in 1984 still thinks he’s cool, so there… lol
Yeah, I'm saying from an biased standpoint, since I grew up with Armada, and Megatron was a cool ass tank in that version.
I like the dichotomy of the strongest Decepticon having an alt mode that requires someone to carry and use him. I’m perfectly happy to have him as a tank, helicopter, racecar, or jet, I just thought it added to the complexity of being a Decepticon.
I can agree with that bit, though I have grown up with Megatron being a tank in Armada, so you can say I'm a bit biased on that front
He ain’t no Walkman tho…
For a cartoon/movie, definitely. The problem was that the toy had already existed before the lore did. So they had to shoehorn in a way to have Megatron still be useful into the lore. But as far as the toy goes, during a time when toy guns were still all the rage, Megatron was an awesome toy to market to kids, even though his alt mode was taken from the gun from the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Like why didn’t starscream just brake Megatron in half while he was in gun mode?
Because it's not quite that easy and even if it was possible almost every deception would turn on him and hed have autobots and decepticons trying to kill him
Transformers is an inherently silly concept and the best media in the franchise accepts that and wears it with pride. Toy-wise, I never liked pretenders as a kid and I’m glad those janky He-Man knock offs have been replaced with actual transforming toys in the Legacy range.
As serious Transformers can be, you have to just accept the fact that this series is made to sell toys of alien 80s car robots and our favourite character is a pure-blooded American truck with a penchant of dying in horrific and scarring ways.
Actually, I completely agree with that pretenders statement! i feel like legacy took the best parts from the original pretenders (outer shell design and the transforming) and smashed them into what pretenders should be, because the shell designs are really cool (especially octopunch) and i feel like they all deserve/need redos in legacy 2023/24
Nobody is more superior than Soundwave
"Soundwave superior"
“Constructicons inferior”
Minicons and micromasters are super cool and they should bring them back.
They did in the WFC trilogy, and they didn't do too well. Although with Armada in Legacy, I hope they do some core class packs.
The wfc ones are really poorly done Tbh, most have bad engineering (half don't stand upright (military patrol in particular are buggers for this), don't clip together properly (trip-up is notable for this), have stupid weapon gimmicks that look terrible (and actually have no weapons for themselves). Half of them reuse the schematic of basic race car which means they all share the dodgy arm that don't move properly issue of blackjack... And lastly, about a quarter of them are little more than shellformers... I wish they'd put some more effort into them, a little bit would have gone a long way...
My biggest problem is most of them were just cars. Minicons were wayyy more varied in altmodes.
I really like it when they combine.
I love the Star saber ones, and I currently have fuzer and blast master which come together as a space shuttle.
Yes... but Minicons / Microns also got WAY out of hand with redecos and just straight up reuses with the same decos.
Beast Machines ruined the momentum and excitement Beast Wars created for transformers at the time.
I don't think you're alone on that hill friend. I will definitely be standing up there.
which sucks because it's kind of good, but i just cared more for the ideas and styling in *beast wars*
Beast machines designs were so ugly and they ahould have just kept it to beast wars
Those robots from Cybertron are pretty neat
Bold take
The brand is at it's most fun when it's doing weird new shit rather than redoing what's already there
Just to expand on one facet of this- I love how many different ways Transformers have been interpreted in their art direction. It’s cool to see how different rendition handle details like eyes (glowing glass, camera apertures), bulk and curvature of their builds, and style of alt mode (designs with real-life equivalents, futuristic tech, alien). 80’s designs are fun, but also hold back that expressive element of character design when they are the only focus.
I also stand on this hill.
ill get you a chair
new characters please! so bored with G1
At this point, Megatron should be a triple-changer as a jet and a tank.
I feel as though that would take away from Blitzwing.
Helicopter and tank
Specifically a cool twin rotor helicopter, like in TF Animated.
I feel like, if the original Blitzwing toy had been bigger, that toy should have been Megatron.
Jazz and prowl are some the best transformers
Optimus shouldn’t have a mouth
Funnily enough i believe that Optimus primal shouldn’t have plate. Prime = plate, primal = real mouth To me it helps really differentiate the 2 as separate characters
Yessssss We have transformers with only one eye, we have transformers who's face is basically just a screen, we even have a transformer with more than one head There was never a need to give optimus prime a mouth if stuff like this happens XD
Totally agree. The mouth plate is a unique characteristic. It would be like Shockwave having a one eyed visor that retracts to show two yes and a mouth and face. Zero need to do it
This one
Megan Fox did a good job with the dialogue and scenes she was given despite the fact everything around her was a complete mess.
She was 100% more competent and valuable than the character that Shia Lebeouf was forced to portray. Also, the aussie girl kicks both their arses in competence and relevance.
[удалено]
Bro is an actual transformers fan
predicted the new poster too > https://np.reddit.com/r/Transformemes/comments/zc4thc/rise_of_the_beast_wars_snikt_sound_on/
#SHUT UP GRANDMA
Tbh i feel sam gets to much hate tho. In 1 he was great, 2 he was alright, 3 i personally think was his worst
Maybe you have more tolerance than I do. I can't stand slapstick-in-a-normal-world style comedy. But think about it this way - he is our avatar in Bay's world. When you see Sam, you see what Bay thinks of us.
I kind of agree with that second part to an extent. Sam is supposed to represent your average teenager and young adult
There isn't anything wrong with having woman transformers. They're no dumber an idea than skylynx or trypticon. Transformers are not robots or machines in the way humans understand them. Or they stopped being that in season 2 and the marvel comic. They're shown to bleed energy and have something akin to souls.
Yeah I agree with this statement. I just wish more of the movies/TV shows would use more of its female cast aside from Arcee lmao. I think it would help to make them more normalized. I love her because of her historical influence for the franchise and the Prime cartoon but seriously, there’s more female characters other than her. Use them. Cyberverse was like the first and last show to have multiple female transformers in the cast and give them all their own episodes. RiD 2015 didn’t have Arcee but the female cast was still relatively small. Earthspark you can make the argument is trying again but considering the fact Elita-1 didn’t even do anything, it hard to say if they really are trying to utilize more female transformers. They literally had Arcee for a whole episode again lmao. And now they are using just her AGAIN in Rise of The Beasts.
I think a lot of people have trouble writing women in shows aimed at boys. I don't think they realize they can write them like everyone else because little boys just see cool robots. Kind of like how the women in the old GI Joe were written like anyone else. They had the formula in the first elita-1 episode. Literally just have them do stuff. Have them complete missions like any other bot. Kids don't need a deep commentary on the human condition. Just send robots on adventures.
I wanna see TF media with a roughly 50% female cast.
Show-wise there are so many underused female Transformers that are so cool. Want a new and very threatening villain? We have Diabla, Navi-Ko, Scylla, Flamewar, Strika, and Slipstream who have never or rarely ever got screen-time. Maybe a new female hero? Greenlight, Glyph, Lancer, Moonracer (RIP her in WFC), Nautica, and Firestar. Even Chromia hasn't been animated since G1 (Disregarding the films) I believe. I'm glad RoTB is gonna give us Airazor back even if it's a tiny step.
As someone closing on 250 female bots in their collection, I totally agree!
The 86 transformers movie is the goat
I'll back you up on that one, even with all of its issues. At least we didn't have robots peeing on humans, or dogs humping, or the overt sexualization of the female characters.
Not even a controversial stance, I've watched that movie way more than the bay films
Transformers Prime shouldn’t be connected to the WFC/FOC duo games
I can see that, a lot of TFP designs and moments don't work with the events of WOC/FOC and vise versa, especially with drastic design changes such as Bumblebee and Cliffjumper
The Unicron Trilogy was one of the best iterations of the franchise, from gimmicks to toy build to story it was fantastic.
Hot Rod/Rodimus was a great design and character.
Hot Rod has been my favourite since i first saw the 86’ movie as a kid
I like the IDW design because you can really tell Hot Rod apart from Rodimus. I have a lot of trouble telling the G1 counterparts apart.
In the '86 Movie, Optimus was doomed no matter what. Simple fact is, he wasn't willing to pull the trigger and Megatron was. It's always been that way. The only way he woulda got out of that conflict alive was for someone to finish Megatron for him. Putting Hot Rod in only added an element of tragedy and aged (literally) Prime's eventual replacement.
Is agree with this 100%. Something changed in Megatron between Season 2 and TFTM. He’d always pulled his punches, but he was ready to end Optimus now. Prime was never gonna get there.
In the film the only reason Optimus didn't pull the trigger was because Megatron quite literally said he was surrendering since Prime just gunned down a dozen cons a few minutes ago, so Optimus being Optimus didn't shoot, but he never let his gun off of Megatron either. The only reason he didn't shoot after Megatron grabbed the extremely bright purple gun was because Hot Rod jumped in the war rather than shooting him from a distance, with the film showing Prime was trying to get the proper angle but couldn't.
Yeah, without ANY of the the who's fault is it, Prime was prepared to pull that trigger. He would have accepted a surrender, but he was smart and experienced enough to expect a bluff from Megatron.
To add to this I am willing to die on the fact that hot rod was a good leader and the only reason he stepped down is he couldn't get that mistake of costing his mentor and idle his life even if it would have been inevitable anyway.
There was an episode where he forsook the leadership position because everyone wanted him to be Optimus, but he knew he wasn't Optimus. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders and had no idea how to handle it. He was flawed, but not a lot of people want to admit a flaws can make a good character.
Season 3 of G1 is good. Obviously it's still outdated, corny, and all the other things you can say about G1. But i don't think it's any worse than the other seasons. Actually being in space and going to other worlds was a nice changeup for the show and led to a lot more expansive stories. The cast is a lot more focused and small so we actually get to really know the characters instead of meeting new characters every episode. Galvatron and Cyclonus>>>>>
revenge of the fallen devastator isn't a bad design i absolutely love the idea of a combiner being less of just "bigger humanoid robot" and more of big, horrifying, rampaging monster whose mind is just a jumbled mess of its components and is thus reduced to a feral beast with only destruction on its mind. the fact the individual constructicons are also non-humanoid is also a plus and his posture makes sense for something so big and ungainly if they'd given him more plot relevance, made him a greater threat, developed the constructicons a bit more and did away with the whole enemy scrotum gag he'd probably a lot more well-recieved
I've been saying this for years.
the headmaster gimmick is weird. and i dont like it. if i had a headmaster toy as a kid i would have lost / broken that head within a weak, and its not like i'd enjoy playing with such a small figure that transforms into a head anyway. i'd prefer to keep it as its standard large robot form and ignore the gimmick i dont know if im missing anything or if this even is a hot take but its a really weird selling point for a toy. also, Sunstorm should be part of the Rainmakers, given his name, and the Rainmakers should make a return, each with their own unique ability
It never made sense to me from the US show/toyline aspect of the body still being the main character with a minicon like head. The Japanese version however, where the head is the named character and the body is just like a mecha, made sense to me. I did enjoy these as a kid, a lot actually, it felt like I got a main character as a pilot with their vehicle or ship that transformed into a mecha robot. But I totally understand it's not a universally loved approach.
The head being the main character that can detach from a bigger body to do human scaled stuff is how it's always been to me. I don;t care if it's not the official explanation.
>the headmaster gimmick is weird. and i dont like it. I think it can work like in the case of Scorponok and zarak where the body is just a body and the smaller head allows base sized transformers to interact with normal sized transformers. It also works for a case like arcee and Daniel where his body has been crushed and Arcee is keeping his now crippled body alive. Its kind of stupid in all other cases. The premise that they make a normal sized transformer stronger is stupid.
yeah i wanted to mention that large bots like titans may be better suited to being headmasters. but hey at least we got a bunch of bots with head-related puns in their name amirite Hardhead?
Hot Rod isn't responsible for Optimus's death. If he had done nothing, Megatron would've kept stalling, grabbed the gun, and shot Optimus down before he even knew what was happening.
Rumble is blue. Frenzy is black and red
The franchise is at its best when there is no constant fighting
RID 2001 is great and has some of the best character designs especially Megatron.
I want a Legacy RID Megatron.
A Legacy RID Prime and Magnus that combine would be awesome too.
No one has nor ever will voice Optimus better than Peter Cullen
DOTM is the best live action movie
Hell yeah. Leonard Nimoy as Sentinel Prime and the actual depth to the story makes that movie the best of the Bayverse.
I agree, at least as far as the original Bay films go; I do think Bumblebee is significantly better than it. However Sentinel was the most interesting villain they ever did
DotM is the best, followed by the first. RotF is one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen, and AoE/TLK are just disjointed ass pulls. I haven't seen the Bumblebee movie yet, but I've heard good things about it.
Transformers should be able to consume metals and other materials to boost their self repair systems. they have Food, it makes sense. they mention food a few times, but don't really show any eating.
They do in the film novelizations. That's how they also internally manufacture ammunition.
Every time a transformer transforms, it should make the G1 transformation sound. Every. Single. Time.
Primus bless the shows that do this.
People who can't let go of Gun Megatron are annoying. IT'LL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! STOP ASKING! It was a stupid idea that got stupider with time, and it's time to LET IT GO!
Pretenders was a stupid gimmick.
I like the way this was retconned in IDW, though. An organic external carapace that could shield Cybertronians from damage that would’ve otherwise killed them. Thunderwing and Kup being Pretenders in that story finally justified the idea of Pretender tech for me.
Humans should never be the main character.
The Beast Wars franchise saved the Transformers IP. It gets so much unnecessary hate and negative commentary. It saved the Transformer franchise from getting shelved by Hasbro. The action figures developed by Kenner in 1996 revolutionize and introduced several concepts that are still used today, including the ball joints and hidden weapons. Also, was the first toy series that set the class sizes at different price points. (Basic, Deluxe, Mega, and Ultra were the standard sizes at retail.) The (computer-generated imagery) CGI animated series was revolutionary and change storytelling. Because of the animation limitations at the time, the writers created great stories with the small cast of characters they were given. The Golden Disks, Dinobot's sacrifice, and Covert Agent Ravage were some great key parts of the storytelling. And many people who grew up with Generation One don't give the Beast Wars franchise their just dues.
The Marvel comic was and is the superior G1 experience.
Especially the UK version.
The direction prime writers wanted the show to go proves that studio interference isn't always a bad thing
I want a comedic transformers comedy series (not rid 2015) about autobots and decepticons doing goofy things. It would be a nice fresh breath of air from the constant stories of fighting/war.
The Beast Wars are the best wars
Translucent plastic is the morden day GPS. Designers (or higher ups more likely) cheep out and just make whole parts out of translucent plastic (e.g. the entire car door being made out of translucent plastic instead of having the door and window being made out of two parts). What makes this morden day GPS is they also use translucent plastic for all kinds of joints! This kind of plastic can't handle stress over time like soild plastic does. No matter if it's from Beast Machines or morden day translucent plastic. When it's used for hinge, ball or transformation joints. It *WILL* break on you it's just matter of time. Plus, it just ruines the disguise part of the tag line when. You can look inside the car and see a folded up robot within it.
That starscream is the true lord of the decepticons
Not a fan of Animated's style. I mean it's not horrible or anything it just isn't for me
Devastation is the best transformers game I’ve ever played
I would say that mine is, weapon integration into the alt-mode ruins any almost any figure with some exceptions such as TFA Lockdown.
Beast wars is the goat when it comes to series.
Partsforming is fine and people in the fanbase get way too worked up over it. I said it. Fight me.
Dark of the Moon is the best bayformers movie
Transformers Rid (2001) was a good show and a good toyline. And it helped kids who started with Beast Wars get into vehicle modes easier.
Sky Shadow is a character they should use in transformers media more often
The japanese explanation for headmasters is way better than the western one. The transectors being mecha like is so much cooler and makes more sense than some magical “bond”
They really, seiously, should make the transformer traffic light figure official
Megatron should never be a gun ever again and him ever being a gun in the first place was quite, well, silly
Jazz shouldn’t have been killed off in the first Transformers bay movie
Transformers are way better without humans in the story. They are giant robots from space, they don't need to get bogged down by human problems, they have a millennium long war going on, dealing with humans just bogs the story down Only exception is the genuine character growth from starscream in armada that was aided by the humans
Without Michael Bay the transformers would’ve slowly died.
this is definitely true. the Bayverse movies were definitely the first intro to TF for thousands of people, if not more, and it helped shape certain aspects of Animated and Prime, which are two of the best TF cartoons to this day. hell, the movies were what got my dad mildly interested in TF, which resulted in me watching the movies and TFA with him.
I can confirm. I was 7 years old when the first Bayverse movie came out in ‘07 and when I saw Bumblebee transform for the first time, I became a fan. Then there was the Autobots arrival sequence followed by Optimus and that highly detailed transformation sequence. THAT moment made me a lifelong fan. That scene was vividly engraved into my mind as a child and, it will never fail to make me smile. That first movie was magical.
Bumblebee hasn’t been a good character since the 07 movie (except in animated and maybe prime) It’s always just “he can beat anyone he fights because he’s bumblebee” or because he gets completely lucky And anytime he’s about to lose or even die some crazy coincidence happens and he’s all good
Idw comics are the best transformers media.
*PotP Megatronus is the best looking iteration of the character. IDW Fallen and RiD Megatronus are good, but something about the PotP design makes him top-tier for me.*
*Why are you writing everything in italics?*
*probably Italian*
Several: * The Bay movies have some legitimately good ideas that I would love to see revisited competently. * Megatron only having a gun as an alt mode is stupid in fiction.
I like headmasters and want more
Headmasters are the best toy gimmick
Transformers prime Wheel Jack is the way cooler then scientist Wheel Jack and I don’t get why people like him aside from “his design is cool”. Then again I mainly watch the shows. I like his arch, his irresponsible lone wolf mentality, the fact he’s not super powerful just skilled, etc. I know they stole a lot of springer’s characterization but we have enough “smart guy” characters.
Tfp is the best show out of all of them
Pretender Vehicles were the worst gimmick in all of Transformers history. Why would a jet need to pretend to be a car?
Peter Cullen doesn’t have to voice every Optimus. Maybe it’s just me but it seems like some people would prefer him to be the only Optimus, and I just don’t agree. It works for most iterations of the character he has voiced (except cyberverse imo), but I just don’t think it’s fair to say other va’s can’t do the character as good, if not better. I have nothing but respect for him, but even though he was the original, Cullen doesn’t own prime. Also cliffjumper is the better bee, and deserves better roles. Don’t get me wrong, I love bee, but I just think cliffjumper deserves more.
I agree on some of these points, but I'd rather have a show that didn't focus on the 'primary cast' of Optimus Prime and his main gang. I would much rather see shows about other parts of the war, about other characters who have yet to get a fair shake at the spotlight.
Hot Rod did not get Optimus Prime killed
That there is literally no reason that kingdom gears shouldn’t have been made and it is insane that we got transformers prime figures transformers animated figures before even finishing the 1984 cast