In parallel with the "Biggest Complaint Per Series" thread, I've decided to ask what each series had going for it, but could be done much better? This isn't a straight "what's your favorite" thread. More like, "I didn't like this series that much, but x was cool and if it was done right, I'd see it again." BW: Rampage. TFA: Megatron's personality. Waspinator. Autobots having to use cunning and numbers to defeat a Decepticon. An interesting post-war reality. ROTF: Drastically different Transformer designs from different time periods. Devastator's design for Monstructor. DOTM: Sentinel Prime's appearance and voice, but for Alpha Trion. Megatron's design for an older Decepticon. Prime: Interesting government characters, like Agent Fowler. Ancient Cybertronian predators. IDW: 90% of it.
G1 cartoon: the voice acting was great on the show, they made some really bonkers and loveable off the wall characters. Starscream and megatron made a great comedy double act G1 comic: in the uk run it came alive under furman and we got a great villain with galvertron Beast wars: great everything. Some brilliantly missmatched eccentric characters with premise which got the franchise out of the g1 rut. Beast machines: was a bit hit and miss but at least it took some risks as when it was good, it was great Armada (plus the rest of the unicron trilogy): it did a lot of the ground work in bringing the franchise in the public conscious and kept the flame burning Animated: brilliant new take on optimus prime . Art style and toys par excellence Prime: knockout was awesome . Franchise best versions of soundwave and starscream Some really epic fights Movie 1: good use of comedy. Pretty good fights and humans that where not too bad Movie 2: erm, sorry Movie 3: lazorbeak was creepy as hell. Alien invasion finale was surprisingly brutal Dreamwave: see armada Idw: in terms of fiction the best we have ever got. It has had a few low points over the years but the writer James Roberts has really upped the quality.
I guess,i know which ones ill point out... TOY line wise. Armada- they had minicon ports,a kind of round 5mm with small holes. and had some of the one interesting minicons. Energon: it had cools off-screen characthers,like sharkticon,tow line (they should retool him to make a new ironhide,and no like in the botcon retool. also the omnicons. which most have 5mm weapons. Rotf: well,it had a good sub-line,and i shoulda got recon ironhide. i hope hasbro makes a repaint of that version of voyager ironhide. either as a "memorial" repaint or a offscreen hero. cuz' that mold is as armed as AOX Hound. which makes sense. i love toys with lots of accesories. Dotm (M3): Mechtech introduced "hidden" 5mm ports,it's a rather great gimmick and is a missed oppotunity that the prime line had those mechtech ports. since well. BH smokescreen needed it. i like symentry. i blame to the fact people hating the gimmick because of the "ugly oversized weapons" i mean,the gimmick is about the large,interchangeable weapons and hidden ports,which was good. i love 5mm weapons.
Movies: Face ripping and Human Alliance toys MTMTE: The whole cast needs to be in more Transformers media. Especially Pharma.
BM: Botanica RID: Scourge Armada: Sideways of course, just having him around would be neat. Cybertron: Okay so I kind of liked Cyber Planet keys...
G1 - Made the Transformers a household name. BW - Everything. It was really well written. BM - well written as its own serious, Jetstorm, Cheetor and Megatron we're good. RID - Scourge and Sky-Byte Armada - The art style, Transformer characters themselves, Starscream and Hot Shot. Energon - Shockblast, Infenro and Demolisher's character arcs till their deaths, the cel animation when it was used in that one episode. Cybertron - almost everything Animated - Best Optimus Prime ever as well as Cybertron and world building. Prime - top notch animation, voice work, Knockout, Starscream, Arcee, Ratchet, Predaking, Fowler. Rescue Bots - The Bots and Burns family dynamic.
I'll start with G1. Season 4 could've been great with Optimus back and a new cast of characters. Instead we only got 3 episodes where Hasbro tried to cram all their upcoming toy in
G1- I loved just about all of it, but there were to many cheaply made episodes, and some of the eps went to far off into wacky land. BW- it was nice to have TFs go in a very new direction. Characters and character interaction was definatlty it's strongest point. Connecting it back to G1 was the smartest thing they did though. BM- Took place entirerly on cybertron. Great character designs and much improved in the area of style. Car Robots- beyond awesome designs and cast. Cel animation YAY! Armada- I applaud for it's balls. It had so many great ideas and you could see where they were trying so hard to make the best TF series ever. It just fell kind of on it's face. Movies- damn they are ugly, but it works. It was awesome. Even the worst live action TF movie is still the best of all robot movies. Animated- perfection, the only way it could be improved was to not be cancelled. Prime- um, Cullen and Welker..... the designs were almost great... minus their blank flat faces. Character wise.... Arcee and Starscream were the only stand outs.
G1 had a nicely sized roster of characters, BW had Dinobot, RID had Sky-Byte, Armada's Starscream is baller, energon's gimmick is good on writing, Cybertron featured different planets, the movies gave Optimus swords, Animated respected older continuities, and Prime made Bulkhead cool.
G1- Uh... first piece of TF media? Beast Wars- almost everything Beast Machines- Different take on things Armada- Some characters that were introduced into the franchise, like Hotshot and Demolishor Energon- Space Pickles on Mars eat all the Magical Emus Cybertron- Dat toyline Animated- Almost everything TF07- Almost everything ROTF- Uh... The toyline, some of the designs. Prime- Uh... Tony Todd? WFC- Characters like Breakdown DOTM- Sentinel Prime Energon-
G1: A camp classic with the start of the best franchise ever. Beast Wars: Awesome characters, especially with Megatron and Waspinator. Also solid performances from Garry Chalk, David Kaye, and Scott Mcneil. Beast Machines: Darker tone and best 3D animation until Prime. RID: Sky-Byte and the Predacon trio. Armada: A starscream that was unique, steller performances by David Kaye and Paul Dobson, and Sideways of course! Energon: The Room of the Transformers franchise. Cybertron: Awesome Sideways design. Animated: Fred Willard as Swindle, multiple personality disorder Blitzwing, Lockdown with Lance Henrikson voicing him, and seeing Blurr again. Prime: Everything from the casting, animation, performances, Knockout, Predaking, the best versions of Megatron, Starscream, Ultra Magnus and Ratchet, and an epic conclusion. 86: Orson Welles as Unicron 2007: Made me an official fan. ROTF: Best fight scene and awesome Ravage and toyline. DOTM: Sentinel, Laserbeak, and the battle of Chicago.
RotF: The Pretenders There could have been a cool movie made revolving just around characters like Alice.
