Eh, I think the melee and close-quarter combat makes the fighting more interesting and intense. They're not just sitting behind a rock shooting at each other.
I thought they said the massive firepower was something that was added to the toy without the Animators knowledge, sorta like the Laserbeak Guitar. And Leader Bulkhead also has toy-only weapons as they're just there to help make him look different from his smaller version and allow his headmaster gimmick and electronics to work. Unless you mean OS who was also never fully confirmed to be joining the cast...yet. Unless I missed something, I've been trying to avoid any real specific episode spoilers. As stated before, this is a case of "Guns are bad, so only bad guys use guns". Though I'm sure there will be exceptions, this will generally be the rule.
You know, there's something else to consider here,,, just how effective would "guns" be against 30 ft. tall metal robots from space? Your average 50. cal slug (which is pretty big for a human weapon) probably only masses a few ounces. How many rounds would it take to do any sort of REAL damage against say,, Lugnut? And how many magazine racks could BumbleBee carry? In Call of the Wild he seemed to have trouble packing for just a camping trip, so bringing enough ammo to the front lines to deal with Megatron might be a problem. On the other hand Prime's Axe has some sort of energy based blade, is approximately 4 feet long, and can be propelled by a rocket. (when it's not being leveraged by a 30' robot on the other side of a 15' shaft. Do the math.) That "mere Axe" could probably cleave a cement truck in HALF in one blow! Yet it took Mythbusters hours of prep work to fill a cement truck with enough explosives to decimate it. And I can't imagine how long it would take, SHOOTING a cement truck (hell use the Vulcan on an A-10) to destroy the aformentioned cement truck.
I think what they're doing with the Autobots not having guns is playing up the superhero aspect. I prefer it when the toys have guns, like Ultra Magnus and Blitzwing do. But a giant freaking hammer just makes me grin like a kid.
I assume due the fact the autobots are repair-bots they need not have guns, and their melee weapons are for the most part built into them when they were first activated. There's also the fact that Decepticons hadn't been part of the Autobot's life for hundreds of years. It's likely that they got rid of most of their guns and weapons since there seemed to be no need for them, Megatron was presumed destroyed.
The Autobots are actually mis-using their construction tools as weapons for self-defense. Prowls cutters are meant to cut things open, not to throw them at enemies. Ratchet's magnetic-beams are there to lift metallic things. Bulkheads wrecking ball is to wreck things down. Bumblebee's stinger are to welds things together. And Prime's axe is there to chop down things. It just happens that their personal equipment also can be used in melee battle.
Not every cartoon operates under the same set of "rules" though... Even if they are produced by the same parent company. In Powerpuff Girls, it's likely that the animation team was going for a slight dose of reality (i.e. real cops have guns) in an otherwise superhero story... To me, the Autobots having tools/powers vs. the Decepticons having Blasters and such is simply a method of indicating that the Autobots are working class bots while the Decepticons are War Machines that have been upgraded for the sole intent of Destruction. It's not a simple case of 'Guns R EVL...' it's merely a utilitarian device denoting a bot's function. The elite guard - particularly Ultra Magnus - probably has combat upgrades himself (in context of the toy) so that he would be able to hold his own against the firepower of a Decepticon.
It is because the autobots are portrayed as superheroes and not soldiers anymore, this was obvious in the first episodes, where they are called heroes in the news reports. Also just check Prime's design, the broad chest and the hands that look like gloves.
Well here is how I see it. Its like saying give superman a gun and make him shoot luthor in the head on a kids show. Due to all these crazy ass parents, good guys cant have guns anymore. To dumbasses that would be like saying its ok for the good guys to have guns too. Its ok for the cons to becuase well there bad guys.
Are we all forgetting that the last 4 transformers cartoons all featured autobots that used guns? Have tv "rules" really changed all that much since cybertron was on the air? I don't think it's as much guns = evil (like it was in Beast Machines) or parents throwing a fit as it really is just a style choice.
Actually, I think Prime's axe is a left over from his days training for the Elite Guard, not a "work tool". Prowl might actually be the "security guy" on the repair ship. Even these days in "unsafe areas" our contractors are protected by armed forces. So Prowl could be the guy that is there to watch their backs, which is why Prowl wasn't helping Bulhead and Bumblebee in the first episode, he was scouting the area.
Prowl was called by Optimus to help in the repair of the space bridge, also, Prowl would be useless anyway by any Decepticon raid (which incidently, none of the younger robots thought would happen because the Decepticons were destroyed/defeated) with their own warships. He isn't security at all. Too puny, too few, too bad equipped. He just wasn't a teamplayer (which most certainly was the reason why he's put to work with other loser-bots).
Remember in the premiere when the Autobots tried to activate the ship's guns to engage the Decepticons? The guns could not be activated because the ship's computer restricted access, for safety or something. I imagine that's why they weren't issued individual guns, in the name of safety.
Dude you have NO idea what your talking about. Not insulting you, just saying thay physics disagrees with you. One .50 cal round can pierce the engine block of an average car (the barret rifle is in fact designed to take out no-to-light armoured vehicles in that way). Or take your head clear off. The vulcan cannon from an A-10 is desgined to take out tanks. It's a 20 or 30 mm rotary cannon that fires depleted uranium slugs. Which can and do rip through tanks quite effectively. You see force is mass*acceleration. Human weapons would be effective against cybertronian armour. It would just have to be the heavy tank killing stuff. Oh and your Mythbuster example doesn't count. That truck was filled with concrete. Concrete can absorb quite a bit of explosvie force.
