Vangelus, Megatron already said why he keeps Starscream around. Yes, you are right about the process of thinking. Keep in mind, however, that Starscream in this iteration has a vast intelligence network. If you have watched Gungrave, then you know about how intelligence networks break down when the person coordinating them is dead. He alone knows where many Decepticon cells are at that even Megatron himself does not know about. This is why. It was explained to Airachnid before she betrayed Starscream and that is why Megatron was pissed at her.

Dreadwing was just a generic loyal soldier to Megatron. He is a dime a dozen to him. Starscream actually has made himself valuable to Megatron which is why he puts up with his insubordination. I do not know if this changes your mind about this. It made perfect sense to me when watching the show.

The Forge of Solus Prime can only make items that Optimus has some familiarity with. He cannot create phase shifters and other relics because he does not have the no how to do it. Optimus' Space Bridge knowledge could of been easily supplied by Ratchet. The Forge of Solus Prime is not like Forge from X-Men. Sorry, I am seeing some flaws with many of the arguments. I am presenting what the fiction has stated about the limitations of the Forge of Solus Prime.

Gogdog, watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes for flawless story telling. Trust me after you watch it, all other fiction will never be the same again.

I do not know, I might be to forgiving with Prime. I do not think so. I tend to pride myself on having a critical taste. Prime has done nothing to offend me as much as all of you have said it has to you. At most, I would predicate my complaints as nit-picks.

 

It was so long ago when they talked about it, so I could be misremembering, but wasn't at least part of the reason the Autobots didn't have a space bridge that they didn't have enough energon to keep it running or send them far away?

I suppose the Forge gave Optimus insight on how to make a more fuel-efficient model.

 

IIRC, it was that the technology the Autobots had to work with on Earth wasn't advanced enough to give them Space Bridge range. It's been awhile since I watched the opening 5 parter.

 

You know guys there are interviews that explain that Season 2 was originally going to be different from the ones we have now the same with Season 3 which means that the arcs with MECH,Breakdown and Dreadwing were more longer and to some extent more developed then how they were presented in the final presentation. However Hasbro butted in and made them make Season 3 the Beast Hunters saga which lead to most of the arcs being cut short. If that's the case then Hasbro's to blame because if they didn't intervened then we would've gotten Breakdown's story properly done,MECH's and Dreadwing's arcs more longer,and perhaps some other things like more character insights on the Autobots.

This may not be true but there's actually good back up and evidance to show this like here.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans...er-talks-beasts-mythology-michael-bay-12.html

Also if I recall correctly I remember in an interview last year concerning Season 2 that we'll see the Quintessons now this may be reffering to later on in the series but still this can be the case of plans being changed at the last minute and knowing Hasbro's butting in to past series like BW and Animated this is likely the case. Hopefully once the show ends at some point we'll get a TFP book similer to that of the Allspark Almanic or the Art of Fall of Cybertron book that'll explan what happened behind the scenes and what plans were changed to see if this is true or not. If it's indeed true then that explains a lot of things concerning how the arcs turned out in Season 2.

 

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. If true it explains a lot.

 

I realized I had forgotten about the 'Bulkhead being crippled' storyline until you guys mentioned it. D:

I'm glad you guys are continuing with Prime Time, I always listen even if I don't comment.

 

You're welcome and yes this is likely the outcome. I mean when I thought back about how some episodes of Season 2 were some did felt rushed or have too many storylines in some episodes like Armada which now that I think about it. It was more like the writers were trying to keep some of their original plans in it and trying to tie the loose ends of the arcs they didn't leave hanging like how they tried to have the Dreadwing and MECH arc have somewhat of an ending and not left unresolved like poor Breakdown's somehow which resulted in into having episodes feel more cluttered,rushed or uncomplete as a result when compaired to how Season 1's stories were made. And this may explain some character's "Reset" moments. Luckly we do have episodes like Out of the Past as well as the rest of Season 2's episodes to make up for some of them in my opinion.

Again this may not be true but the evidance I've found does have valid points. Hopefully the Season 2 DVD and Blu Ray will explain and confirm if this true or not too.

 

I edit for grammar and to clarify my position if I think I goofed up. I will use the explaination bit from now on I suppose if you are picking on me about it lol.

Okay, lets say you are right about that explanation being weak sauce. Lets say that doing things off screen is the worst thing ever in cinema. I for one see nothing wrong with it. Why is this? I believe it was an issue of budget and time constraints. Things like Hasbro meddling aside (which is probably happening as well), the writers felt that instead of animating those gluing scenes that you and me would love to of seen, they instead worked on a very awesome fight scene with dogfights (The Macross theme dogfighter was going through my head as I watched Starscream vs Wheeljack DOG FIGHTER - Macross - YouTube). I work at a warehouse and have seen hammers smash into machines until they work, I even thought hey that is the Forge of Solus Prime for a brief instant. Yes, I am a nerd.

In conclusion, Ratchet helping out with Space Bridge schematics is not weak at all in the context of everything in Prime. In the much vaunted Beast Wars, the original Megatron's spark was returned to him off screen. Every series (yes even Beast Wars and except Legend of the Galactic Heroes) has its flaws.

In the end, I place this complaint in the nit pick category. If Prime was on Myanimelist, I would give it either a 7 or an 8 depending on how I felt about certain key aspects.

I mean people are acting like this is Energon or Armada bad level of a show.

I have watched some really bad shows in my day, Gundam SEED being super bad. I think also that as people should watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes for flawless story telling, people should watch Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny to learn what true pain is all about.

 

I have a feeling you still don't understand how to use the Edit button.

 

Huh? Do you mean two posts one was in response to someone and one was just a general comment? Can you just delete the old post and fold them into each other if it is that bad on you all.

 

Are you new to the Internet or forum posting? Pretty much every board I've ever been to frowns on double-, triple-, (or so on) posting.

If you have separate thoughts to express, well, that's what paragraphs are for. This forum even has multi-quoting so you can reply to many posts at once.

 

If I am 'new' to forum posting it is because I find forums to be horrible places to express ideas.

I did not know how people took relentlessly editing posts.

My points still stand in terms of what I think about Prime regardless if I double or triple post. My comments were in reaction to points in the podcast at the times I was listening to it. At least I am actively listening to the podcast writing down what I think about Aaron's, Gogdog's and Vangelus' points. It shows I did that extra step of critical thinking before I post.

 

Thinking before posting is ALWAYS a great thing. For that, I thank you. But it is improper internet etiquette to make multiple posts. It is more appropriate to simply edit your post and generally indicate the new addition, usually by saying something along the lines of, "EDIT: ". If there has been a response since your last post, then it is completely acceptable to post again. It is merely successive posting that is considered impolite.

 

Gotcha, Some of the posts were 20 minutes apart. It was 4 in the morning and such. I work nights so there was no forum activity. If editing is not frowned upon, I should just mercilessly chop up and polish any posts I do from now on.

Also, thanks for the compliment. I also try to avoid a giant wall of text as well. The internet sometimes has contradictory rules of engagement when it comes to forum posting.

I still think that if Gogdog wants a masterpiece tv show, he needs to watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It just sounded like he just was fed up with current writing trends. I want him to be happy again. LotGH will cheer him up I swear.

 

Honestly, if you rate Prime as a 7 or 8, it makes me hesitant to follow up on your recommendations. No offense meant at all.

 

I can take this one of two ways. You are just kidding around and respect my views or you are calling my opinions crap only in the way TFW can, sanitized. For the sake of us all, I will take option a) because I know that I am also accused of such things and I am much more forgiving than most. I really do care about you in this sense. You sounded burned out. You need to watch a real series.

The book series has international critical acclaim.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - MyAnimeList.net

This is what you need. I am watching Prime for fun. I take it as such GogDog. If I took the show super seriously, yeah I would be upset at some things, but remember this, I have seen MUCH more unceremonious deaths in my watching mecha. Quite literally I have seen a ton of mecha and I think you would be super upset at Zeta Gundam and how characters are casually killed off in that. Granted, Zeta Gundam is the best Gundam of all time next to the original movie trilogy (Gundam the Origin is also coming out so that much change my top 5 favorite anime). Dreadwing's death was nothing like Katz's death in Zeta Gundam. (Note that Katz was a character who survived the first Gundam). Also, I think you would die watching Victory Gundam or Ideon. I think by the end of the day, you would hate Tomino. I personally love Tomino.

Sit back, watch it with friends. If you still do not believe me, go on /m/ and ask their opinion. There is always a LotGH thread on there. Even though it has no giant robots, it is considered honorary /m/. If I ever did a Transformers story, I would wish to some how incorporate elements of LotGH into the series. Just saying.

I also give it a 7 or an 8 not because of the flawless story telling, but because of the music and award winning animation. I think that justifies my score.

 

This is very interesting news. If it is true that can explain why season 2 didn't show as much potential as it could have. Thanks for sharing.

 

That is the conclusion I also reached. Remember they did the same thing with Animated. They said no more human bad guys. Focus only on the Decepticons.

 

I give Prime high marks just because it keeps me entertained, honestly. I won't lie, there were quite a few facepalm moments for me, but in the end - I never came away from an episode with a bad taste in my mouth. But that's just my perception of the show, which is of course different from everyone else's. One man's treasure, as they say....