The father of the Unicron trilogy and the man who midwifed the live action movie series will be at TFNation 2018! TFNation® - Blog Post
Awesome! He was a fantastic guest both times he was at TFcon Toronto - glad the UK crowd gets him now too.
The man who set back all articulation related progress in Transformers by 20 years and brought Michael Bay into our lives is not someone I'd be interested in meeting. The fact that there's only two comments above me speaks volumes.
"Creative force behind A-E-C" yet "didn't know BW TMII Rhinox and others would appear in the show and stated they wouldn't even have cameos" and also stated "minicons would never be needed to transform figures" right as Armada Blur was hitting shelves, Cybertron itself not lining up to previous story elements too. And other more Takara led those than Hasbro obviousness. xD Nah, but Aaron's cool and his contributions to the brand as a whole were fantastic and much thanked. Transtech really should have gone to series too, and those designs still to this day reverberated through other works too. And as eras go. His work on Transformers Animated figures to this day has yet to be matched. Much much praise for those. The engineering elements to Animated were absolutely brilliant in both approach and execution. Especially in how the transformations were very intuitive and natural with how they evoked characteristics of each's individuality. Like the downward axe motion of Optimus, or the sweeping arms of Prowl. Or for that matter, Bulkhead's spring loaded hugging transformation and Gutsman style repaint. And we absolutely do have him to thank for getting Classics through corporate red tape altogether which is what eventually gave birth to Universe 2.0 and then Generations though with some help to make all 3 possible. And his movie 1 work was absolutely fantastic too. It took time to cut through that corporate red tape that was limiting what Transformers could be back in his era, but he is one of the big contributing factors in getting that red tape cut away to prove how well merchandise could do if it wasn't limited so much to rigid lines of thought about modern vehicle accuracy. It was lines of thought like that that gave us the SUV perceptor, whereas it was the removed corporate line of thinking that finally gave us Microscope Perceptor. Which was done entirely as a big thank you to Archer himself. The brick that is Armada Scavenger. Overload's lack of knees or elbows. The horridness of hot shot's first mold. The list can go on and on. Thank god some other areas intervened and we eventually got Classics then Universe 2.0 because of it. But even those. Omg the atrocity of what Ironhide and ratchet were. The fiddly mess of SUV Perceptor. Drift/Blur was done well though. So it's hit or miss. Though it is hard to argue that there was a massive quality and creativity upswing after he left the toy handling departments. RTS Jazz/Tracks as well as Sideswipe/Sunstreaker and Prowl being the main standouts from his era of handling. But it is thanks to him that something like Universe itself existed for there to be a universe 2.0. And there was stuff like Megabolt Megatron with its fortress maximus compatibility that were cool. Kind of wish there was a full list of who to thank for what figures from design to toy engineering. Sometimes it does feel like we praise the known names while the unsung heroes get nothing.
I've said this in every thread I've ever seen with Aaron's name attached but here goes: Aaron Archer is single handedly THE nicest person you have ever met in your life. Anywhere. Forget Transformers, has just a hell of a nice guy. My wife and I spent 20-30 minutes talking with him and his mom at Botcon 2010. We talked about everything from Transformers to family and beyond. He most likely will not remember this experience but I, however, will never forget it. It single handedly made my experience that year. Anyone who says otherwise is clearly ignorant and has never met the man. /rant
"he played a significant role in bringing Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg on board for the Transformers live-action movie,"
Look at everyone in this thread ragging on one of the most influential people in Transformers history, just because he's credited for getting Bay involved. First of all, at the time, TF2007 was about the best thing that could have happened to the brand. Second, the absolute trainwreck that Bayformers became could not have been known at the time-- it's a criticism we can only make in retrospect.
Sorry for been harsh here, but none of this matters in the slightest. The man is been judged by his work in the franchise. I could care less if he was an insolent prick that did drugs and whores so long as he did his job well. So far he is responsible for major fails in the history of the franchise. I wont have him as a neighbour or a friend, so I repeat: He can be as nice as he wants and it means nothing. An employee is judged by his performance on his area. And that area is that brought such things such as: The end of the Beast era, the Unicron Trilogy, and the beginning of the movie verse, to name but a few that are not bright spots in the TF history pages. I respect him for been (allegedly) a nice person, but that is another matter entirely.
I don't doubt he's a nice person, but he was the face of the team who went backwards in articulation after R.I.D. and I'm not a fan of the Bayverse. I never claimed to have met "the man" and I'm at least partially educated, so no, not ignorant.
According to him in the Star Wars episode of The Toys that Made Us, not every single one, but significantly more than anyone else ever has. Poor guy.
"Transformers Creator Aaron Archer to attend TFNation 2018" I think it would be a good idea to edit that front page headline. It's too easily read as meaning THE Transformers creator, rather than A Transformers creator. While most of us may know better, it leaves too much room for misinterpretation.
Opinions, but they are not facts. Opinion: The end of the Beast era. Fact: The Beast era was dead. Beast Machines, as a line, failed, with its final assortment cancelled. The creative decisions predated Aaron's leading role, he was just a designer at the time. Opinion: The Unicron trilogy was a backward step in articulation. Fact: Well, yes, it was. But it also opened the line up to a new audience. Transformers Armada did so well that retailer demand drove Hasbro to retool some Beast Wars toys to get more product to store shelves. Energon did well enough that a whole fifteen extra toys were released - the three Combiners. The Unicron Trilogy might not be a fan favourite, but it worked. It introduced a new generation of kids to Transformers. And also, Unicron. We got a toy of Unicron. Don't forget that. Got to take that good with the bad. Opinion: The Movies were not good. Fact: The movies made Transformers culturally relevant again. The first one was a fantastic realisation of the concepts and themes of Transformers. And they made huge amounts of money. The Transformers Universe 2.0 line, that was 100% off the back of the movies succeeding. I have my opinions on the whole thing. But I also respect the fact that Aaron actually was extremely good at his job, taking Transformers to new heights of prosperity and relevance. There is more than one creator. I stand by my wording, 13 years or more than 1/3 of the brand's total lifetime, and significant contributions qualify him to be called "Transformers creator". Yes, he certainly did. He also got the Masterpiece line started with the 20th anniversary edition Optimus Prime.
I think we are just having fun. I agree there was no way to have known bayformers would have turned out so bad. There is no reason to believe he is a horrible human being, and a lot of this is just us joking. Hopefully with the new movie deal Hasbro will have more say in the final design and script. I think it will be a much better time to be a Transformers fan.
