I mean, they have the show stuck in a boring setting. It seems like a nearly-deserted wasteland, the fight scenes can be pretty choppy, most flashbacks are nothing but glorified slideshows, and now Dreadwing is a reused model. We can't get the character diversity we got in G1 or in TFA. Should they have gone with 2D?

 

No.

 

Hey, at least they added cars in Operation Bumblebee Part 1 and the sideshows are actually cool.

 

That's the one problem I have with computer animation....the backgrounds are always so plain it takes away from the show IMHO.

 

I think part of setting the main location in Nevada was so they could actually get away with having wide, open spaces. Makes it easier to fully animate scenes when there's less crap lying around.

Fight scenes...I'll admit they're hit or miss.

Having flashback slideshows, like the desert setting, helps save on production time by not needing to animate things.

But you can't go and complain about Dreadwing when in the very next sentence you say "G1 was diversified". Half the characters in the show were just recolors of somebody else, and HOW many refelctor soldiers do the Decepticons have anyway?

Skyquake was, in my opinion, a neat character design, and I was pretty pissed when he ended up dying before actually doing anything of note. The fact they're bringing back the design in different colors as Dreadwing is actually a pretty smart move. There's motive for the new character (a common theory is that Dreadwing wants revenge for Skyquake's death), it's using precreated assets so time is saved in creating a new character outright, and for Hasbro there's repaint potential.

 

Fuck no.

 

But on the other hand, everyone looks as they should all the time. You have the advantage of having multiple characters moving in complex ways on screen at once without that much extra strain on the animators. The settings, while boring, are always consistently rendered. We can have complex camera views with panning shots, tracking shots and POVs that look good. Plus they can, in theory, add a lot more realism to certain scenes.

Unfortunately there's the drawbacks you listed, plus I noticed they're not taking advantage much of the ability to move the camera like the character, however that seems to be returning with Op Bumblebee p1. On the other hand, the attempts at realism like the "shaky cam" they use sometimes just end up looking silly because the shakiness doesn't match the onscreen events sometimes.

Plus, while the CGI is nice, it has some drawbacks. Sometimes characters move very unrealistically (Arcee's jump attacks) and lip snyc is overall poor. Plus some effects, like weapons firing, is just poorly done.

 

That is the point. Reflector was to fill out the army. Dreadwing is a singular character, and is supposed to have a "compelling arc".

 

Say that again and I will end you.

But no, the animation is fine. The only detraction is the inactive environments, and the payoff was the super-detailed character models and excellent animation, and thats what matters.

 

Like I said, popular theory is that he's Skyquake's brother out for vengance.

Besides, look at Animated, they did some model reuse as well. One of the minor villians; Wasp, spent almost the entire series as a Bumblebee variant, even impersonating BB at one point. He didn't go full beast until his last appearance, and even then he was still a BB retool for half the episode. Same with Cliffjumper, who may have been a minor character but he did show up a few times and even got a speaking role at one point.

And Ironhide, who also showed up occasionally, is clearly a Cybertronian Ratchet retool.

Personally, as long as Skyquake doesn't die in the first episode he shows up in, he's practically a keeper in the Decepticon fold for that reason alone.

 

There are ups and downs already stated above, my biggest problem with the 3D animation are the physics during battle and how the characters move, which means the fight scenes can be pretty choppy *hides*

The action lacks the firepower from other series (shots just PING and dissipate with no real oomph), when the story dictates a character can defy gravity, they defy gravity, and the melee combat lacks the intensity and weight of the live action films (although both sword fights with Optimus and Megatron were pretty good).

 

Yes.

I'd rather have the show animated by T.M.S who recently did Justice League Doom or Gainax who did Gurren Lagann.

 

Character Diversity in G1? Hur Hur Hur!

But I dunno if the choice in animation has anything to do with it, unless after deciding to make it 3-d animated, they made sure the story took place in jasper nevada (the desert). Let's assume they went to animate it like a drawn cartoon, would that change the setting? I don't think so.

 

Sometimes I think people are complaining for the sake of it.

Prime's 3D animation is amazing.

 

What are you talking about? Of course it makes a difference. Animating in 3D is far more difficult, restricting and time-consuming than just drawing something.

 

no. I think the 2D animation was dull, restraining and ripe with frame errors. With CGi theres no chance of it as long as the designers are not completely clueless.

 

So, you're watching the show just to see the backgrounds?

Why do people get so wrapped up over what's happening in the background? It's just stage dressing and props. Maybe it just doesn't bother me because when I grew up, cartoons consisted of Wile E. Coyote chasing Roadrunner across the same flat barren desert show after show, and the only variation came in the method of Wile E.'s demise.

If it's that problematic for you, change the channel? Get out and get some sunshine? Go to the park with friends and have a cookout and play some football?

 

No.

And I always thought they used the Nevada landscape because it was less populated so less chance of the Autobots being discovered.

 

Certainly not.

Yes CGI has it's own restrictions but so does hand drawn animation. Some people need to remember that contrary to popular belief CGI animation is much harder then 2D animation and the animators are having a hard enoguh time trying to make the characters looks alive and not souless. And before you say about how Clone Wars did it better bear in mind that it has LucasLTD,CN and ILM backing it up while Prime on the other hand has the Hub which is still new and has a lesser known Animation studio which in the past did some amazing CGI of their own.

If it wasn't CGI we wouldn't have gotten the cenimatic feel and details which make the show stand out from the rest of the past TF shows. You can't say that the robots themselves aren't detail at all at least. The Green Latern show looks much more underdetailed but is everyone complaining about it?

Besides the budget may increse in time and we'll get more different backgrounds and settings have you people ever thought of that?

I thought we're watching the show for it's characters and storys not settings/

 

Yes, but I think it comes down to personal preference. For me, animation errors can be pretty annoying, but what makes it worth is that they can do so much more than with CG, which is extremely limiting unless they're working with a high budget (something only Clone Wars does). That and it doesn't tend to age as quickly.