I agree. I've noticed the first season eps holding together better story-wise, and a little more serious in tone. I'd just chalk it up to the changeover from weekly to daily shows, upping the schedule by a factor of 5. (give or take) More writers were brought in, and several episodes were written and produced concurrently. Since it would be tougher to coordinate all the writers and scripts with more episodes per year, the decision was probably made to relax the overall sense of continuity (or the story editor(s) got lazy or overwhelmed, who knows).

 

How idiots like ed liu are allowed to write stupid reviews out of their a$$holes?

 

That is Orion Pax! He was in ONE episode (yes he becomes Optimus but it was a one-off)! Then comparing that to a faraway screenshot of Megatron isn't exactly a fair nor accurate comparison.

I don't hate everything about Animated. It does have strengths like great voice acting and some of the storylines are good (though some are as cheesy as ANY other TF show) but the designs of the show are far too juvenile and honestly they just don't resemble robots at all. Of all the designs for Animated I would say the best for Animated probably was Megatron but even that is a sad version of him. I just don't respect the fact that it doesn't take a lot of talent to draw Transformers Animated especially compared to previous shows we have gotten.

That said I do appreciate Valkysas that you seem more calm and providing examples of the show as a valid way to argue your point so I applaud you for that. We disagree but I respect that you are arguing with examples rather than insults.

 

G1 would have been FAR worse if it wasn't for Sideswipe. Just having a character radiating this much awesomeness saved the series and toyline from being a one year wonder destine for obscurity.

 

Sideswipe is so awesome he has now broken out of his thread and into other threads because the awesomeness cannot be contained!

 

sideswipe rarely actually did anything in the show, aside from piledrive a rock, and give prime his jetpack. which he didnt even want to do at first. Hell, he's one of the few characters who ever made G1 Optimus Prime raise his voice. and the only autobot to do so.

sooooo doesnt matter.

War Dawn is a GOOD episode from G1 (in my opinion), as I stated before. I still like it today. so I'm grabbing an example from a GOOD episode of G1, and comparing it to an example from one of my favorite animated episodes.

and that THING in the screenshot doesnt even remotely resemble a robot. much less come as close to looking like a robot as the animated designs. it looks like a very ugly person in a cardboard costume.

doesnt take any talent to draw most G1 show designs. look at that thing I posted. look at it. no talent needed. the animators sure as hell didnt have any talent. they pretty much gave up after more than meets the eye.

some talent is needed to do Animated, proven by just how FEW people are able to do it correctly. hell, not one person who ever worked on the animated comic ever managed it.

 

Are you talking about Animated? If so I agree.

NO talent needed?!?! Come on Valkysas seriously?

I think even the few Animated fans that shout "GEEWUNNN" all the time have to admit that G1 designs are more complex than Animated. It takes some talent to draw ANYTHING however the amount of talent is what is in question. The more complex the less people can accurately draw it.

I honestly think a lot of people could make Animated because it is so kiddie looking with few lines and pathetic proportions. It isn't the worst looking cartoon show ever but it is up there that is for sure. I also honestly think ANY Transformer show I have ever seen whether G1 or Armada or computer designs of Beast Wars etc. looks better than Animated.

This is also the reason I think that it failed as well. The kids were turned off by designs that didn't remotely resemble robots. I was in Target this morning and STILL see Animated toys shelfwarming on clearance with characters from the very first wave up until the last one.

 

Oh joy. Some other online tragic has decided to put an animated series on the closer side of nearly three decades old up against the wall to take a few cheap shots at it. There are several things I'd like to say to this chap, but I'll my personal favourite right here:

Fuck you, arsehole.

G1 is severly broken, it is poorly animated and its characters are 2D on a good day, on a bad day if they stood in profile we may not actually see them. Its stories are ripped from the worst examples of sci-fi pulp and sometimes show obvious signs of writer fatigue and not giving a shit. That being said, it is the root system. It was the beginning and without it, we may never have gotten Beast Wars, Animated, the Marvel or Dreamwave comics and certainly not a live action film.

 

johnator, designs that didnt look anything like robots?

I think your definition of "robot" is fucked up.

look at this:
http://www.goertzel.org/blog/uploaded_images/nao-robot-791451.png
it's a robot.

look at this:
http://allnum.typepad.com/aigoblog/images/robot.jpg
also a robot.

smooth, curved lines, no hard edges. proportions are a bit different from the typical humanoid shape. but they are robots. and they'd honestly look right at home in the animated world.

when robots become everyday household objects, they're going to resemble those things more than anything in the non-animated TF series. they already do. fiction and factories are the only places big blockly robots, covered with tech detail with sharp corners exist.

 

I like how you didn't address any of the points I brought up. You want to hear my definition of a robot design? It looks like a machine. Animated Transformers don't look like machines they look like people in misproportioned superhero costumes.
These are definitely not machine like in any aspect.

 

Your picture isnt big enough. could you post another one? the 2531 × 3000 one you posted just isnt cutting it for me.

and I addressed the closest thing to a point that you had.

 

They look machine enough to me.   At least every bit as machine as G1 did.

 

Sometimes you have to use big pictures to convey simplistic ideas.

 

the only thing you conveyed is that the aesthetics for the animated designs and the robots I linked to are pretty much the same.

 

Isn't that a narrow definition of what a robot is, though? Just by visual cues?

 

I can't believe this is being debated.

I have every sympathy for those people who aren't big fans of the over-cartooned style of Animated. It was a hurdle for me, and I got over it. I like Animated, both the toys and the show... though I still wish sometimes they would blend into my collection better.

Obviously one of the design themes for Animated was "super-heroes" (remember the show was originally to be called TF:Heroes). However, there's no question that TFA looks like "robots"... as much as anything from Astroboy or Megaman or Mighty Orbots ever did. They're stylized, but that's one of the strengths of a hand-drawn medium... it allows for expressive license, and leaves room for your imagination to work.

Personally, as far as extremes in TF design go, I prefer the Animated crew to just about anything from Beast Wars (fur, fangs, rounded organic forms and asymmetry, etc...) or Beast Machines (the blunt, unaesthetic industrial look of the Vehicons), and I think I like them better than the Bayformers (who occupy sort of the exact opposite end of the spectrum, I would think).

zmog

 

He didn't have to DO anything. He is awesome just standing around looking awesome. Prime didn't raise his voice in anger, he raised it to be heard above Sideswipe's awesomeness!

 

SMOG - I loved the vehicon look!! I agree they are all robots however if you had to pick the ones that most resembled humans it would be animated. I just dont like the soooo cartooony look. But they are robots.

 

I think if it was a question of which TFs looked the most un-robotic (ie: organic) I think that would go to Beast Wars before Animated. Consequently I tend to dislike BW figures (I only have a few that I actually like the design for).

In terms of "humanlike" qualities, yeah... Animated has that look... at least as far as Animated HUMANS look (very stylized and unrealistic, just like the robots).

As for Beast Machines and the Vehicons, the reason I never liked them was not because they didn't look like robots... it was because they looked like very awkward, primitive robots. After a decade or so of sweet, sweet Japanese robot design, refining the medium of stylin', super-cool mecha to a supreme level, the Vehicons felt like a step backwards. They looked like clumsy 50's era tin-toy robots...

For me Transformers has always been about that distinctive japanese super-robot mecha approach... and the Vehicons reminded me too much of the simplified, slightly dopey knock-off (perhaps american designed) robots that you'd occasionally see trying to cash in on the transforming robot craze of the 80's.

zmog

 

SMOG, you must share the same brain as me. I call you a very smart man.  


And Johnater, with his calling of Transofrmers Animated robots looking kiddy, notice how he takes the five main Autobots? The ones DESIGNED to look more like humans?

He needs to look at the Decepticons. Few are round or smooth. Shockwave and Wasp for example, are examples of this.

Plus, he fails to realize the fact that Transformers IS A KIDS SHOW. ALWAYS HAS BEEN, ALWAYS WILL BE. Except the movie, but thats not in this. TRANSFORMERS ISN'T MADE FOR JOHNATOR, PLUS HIS NEEDS THAT EVRRYTHING LOOK LIKE HOW HE WANTS IT.

I'm perfectly fine with the ANimated design's and apparently, many people are too.

And frankly, I find G1 easier to draw than Animated. A box with bow arms and legs makes for an easy thing to draw.

MTL