Also, I was looking at this thread I started a while back http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans...ould-you-rank-all-transformers-tv-series.html and noticed alot of people have it high on their lists

 

I never thought I would like it but last night I decided to give it a try and I LOVE it. The animation isnt what I would really have liked to see but all in all its awesome.

 

I actually can't recommend this series enough. It offers a very different take on many established characters, and most are fresh and work very well in this canon. You've heard about Optimus in here, and while you see him as a relatively "weakened" version than what we're used to seeing, he displays his strength in other ways. I know a few will disagree with me, but Sari ended up being one of few human characters in many canons that I felt for and sympathized with as the shows progress. Actually, MANY characters in the show are developed slowly but well, and it's a big reason that people say the last season was the best.

To give you an idea how different generations liked it, I have a ridiculously smart 8-year-old goddaughter that started watching it on her own when it was new with no previous exposure to Transformers, and she loved it. Her dad, who hates the Bay take on Transformers, watched it with her and fell for it too. Now that her little brother (3-years-old) is old enough to follow storylines, he can't get enough of it either, and now the both kids are into the G1 cartoons too.

I look at it as probably the best-crafted series since the Beast universe. After a couple seasons, I sought out the Hasbro team at SDCC to personally apologize for doubting the concept when the first pictures came out. After you see it, you'll want to get both Allspark Almanacs, too.

 

Again, yes, TFA is great. Absolutely my favourite. The fact that Starscream succeeds in blowing up Megatron inside three minutes of the first episode won me over. "Remember: Solemn face, solemn face..." might still be my favourite TF moment ever.

I know that human-villain-of-the-week episodes in series one can be annoying but they work well in the long term by bringing out different aspects of the Autobots.

I'd also quibble with people who don't like Sound & Fury - Professor Princess is a great parody of all our little sisters and pressure groups who don't like violent toys (while being antagonistic about it). Also: Soundwave.

Generally, I'm part of the Optimus-Is-A-Dick crowd (in G1, Bay movies, etc). He's infallible and unbeatable and there's nothing interesting about that, IMO. In TFA, however, he's resentful, ambitious, trying to do the right thing, conflicted about what he's doing and who he works with. He has to earn the respect that is expected of his name and role.

TFA also gives us Decepticons who believe in their cause (and believe that they are doing the 'right' thing), a charismatic Megatron, a brutal Autobot system that uses torture and weapons of mass destruction, dislikable Autobots who have grown comfortable and pompous in their years of victory. It is great. It is more than a kids' show. In many ways, it brings out Animal Farm or Watership Down, too.

Also, don't judge all the human villains the same. SloMo (the villain from SUV) is a riff on the old Katherine Hepburn characters of '40s screwball comedies, and is a great slot in to the episode; the Headmaster is a joke about us, the internet nerd man-children; and Porter C Powell is ace.

Highbrow is drawn to look like Terry-Thomas. That is awesome.

Go: Watch it all and weep for the unmade toys - Hot Shot, the Constructicons, Warpath...

 

the Highbrow/Terry-Thomas thing could define the show as great in itself. I'm not siure than can ever be topped really...

God I wish I had a toy of that.

 

They also really help the show by allowing the decepticons to not be the enemy in every single episode, meaning they aren't beaten in every episode. As a result, every episode the decepticons are the enemy in, they are treated a valid threat, unlike pretty much every other TV series.

 

It also allows the show to build an entire world around the main cast that becomes more interesting with each episode, and does a great job of giving insight into the characters so you will actually care about them.

I totally understand it when people do not like Animated, and/or think the first 2 seasons are slow - I don't necessarily agree, but I do know the reason (for me) season 3 is so great is because you care about what happens to characters - I don't think it would have had the same impact if season 3 was season 1.

 

TFA Optimus Prime should have been the template for all Future Primes. I dislike the new Transformers Prime, Optimus Prime.

He had to learn from humility and self-sacrifice as well as a 10 second death to get to the warrior he was destiny to be.

He is probably my favourite Optimus after the 1986 movie G1 Optimus Prime.

 

Yeah I like the idea of seeing how he became Optimus prime and him transformering into a firetruck is a plus imo.

 

TFA is definitely one of the best written TF series out there. I hated the look at first when the previews came out, but I decided to give the show a try when it came out, and I was hooked! I agree that TFA's Optimus Prime portrayal is awesome. He's way better than TFP's card board cut-out Prime

 

Yes. The story gets REALLY good during season 3 but that hasn't been released on dvd. But what is on dvd I recommend you get. And just in case you don't know, The pilot movie has to be bought separately. I suggest you get that too.

 

animated is pretty good. But their human villains are lame.

 

You YouTube that stuff RIGHT NOW. The first couple seasons are good, but Season 3 is GREAT.

The core cast is fine and all, but the Decepticons are the really standout characters, more so because the show refuses to overuse them. Make no mistake, we see plenty of them, but every single one remains an intelligent, ruthless threat to the very end.

 

Good to hear people are still discovering TFA, I hope you enjoy it as much as we have man, cuz that's allot of money!

 

Animated was essentially Beast Wars placed in modern (well, ambiguous future) times and with Autobots and Decepticons instead of Maximals and Predacons. You grew along with these characters throughout the series, especially Optimus. This is seriously one of the best-developed Primes in the entire franchise.

Honestly, I watched the show illegally, since the DVDs are oop, but it was great. Decepticons are great. Autobots are great. The humans were great.

 

I'm I the only one to find it average? I know a lot of people love it, and a lot of people hate it, but I'm just mehh on it? Often finding every strength it had, was countered by a weakness, leaving me with an over all uneventful experience. A very well made experience, mind you. But nothing I could either hate or love. Is it just me?

 

Yup. This is how I feel, definitely.

 

I was just looking at the characters on Tfwiki and there are quite a few G1 guys. Not just the names cause every show has G1 names, but the designs are that of G1. Then there are BW and BM character lookalikes(Wasp and Strika)

I CANNOT WAIT to get this in the mail so I can watch it.

 

It was made by guys who had a lot of love for G1, and the head writer had previous experience with BW and BM, so there are a LOT of in-jokes and easter eggs to find, too. For instance, the human villain Angry Archer is designed after Aaron Archer of Hasbro.

--Moony

 

This is what I consider one of Animated's greatest strengths, that it takes old established characters and instead of just rehashing them, the writers re-imagined and redefined them, while still keeping them recognizable. Optimus as a rookie, disgraced, maintenance-bot. Ratchet as a burnt-out and grouchy old veteran. Blitzwing with multiple personalities. Soundwave wanting a robot-rebellion. Shockwave as a deep-cover spy. Waspinator's bad luck and nigh-immortality played seriously and threatening. Omega Supreme as a WMD.

Not to mention that all of Animated's original characters were big enough hits to be homaged in different lines less than two years later.

In short, I have nothing but praise for the series that got me back into Transformers.