Is Moonracer the first case of a toy's animation model being a recolour while her actual toy has a different head? It usually works the other way around.

 

I did not like it. It felt like the Machinima series. I could not get past the voice acting and the switched characters personalities (Hound-Ironhide).

 

If your focus is wondering why the overuse of character models for background fodder then you're focusing on the wrong thing. You don't need to know why because it's not important. If they had referenced it in the show in a throwaway line then you'd complain it was just explained in a throwaway line.
If anything it's a hilarious commentary on the fact that the TF franchise is more or less built on the reuse/recycling of character models since day one.
You also understand the "assembly line" aspect of the Quinteson origin story, which will likely be explored in the following chapters.

 

Reading the receptions here to the show makes me really want them to do something completely different after Kingdom. No more G1. No more Optimus Prime. A totally new cast and setup.

The problem with doing anything with this set of characters (or, at least, characters with these names and who look like this) is that everyone has their own idea as to what the show should be, and how he characters should act. And those preconceptions are all over the map based on the version of the franchise that a particular person is most familiar with. I’d say that pre-movie G1 is different to the movie, which is different to S3/S4, which is again obviously different to Prime, TFA, Cyberverse, etc.

The result is that the writers are in somewhat of a creative halfway house, where they have to appeal to nostalgia and be somewhat deferential to the original, but also try to be “fresh.” It’s a very difficult needle to thread. Hence there are a lot of complaints here about certain characters (notably Optimus) not acting like they “should”, which is a bit unfair because this Optimus is not G1 (or any other) Optimus. And yet he has to be.

The opinion I would be most interested is that of the person, maybe a kid, who has never seen any Transformers before. That would be fascinating - but then, I’ve seen people opine that all of the vague references to other parts of TF lore make the show impenetrable to people who are newbies.

I heard someone on the Radio Free Cybertron podcast suggest that they people who like this show the most will be 35-45 year olds who loved TF as a kid but haven’t seen much or any of the intervening media. And it’s interesting because I loved the show (it’s what I’ve always wanted) and this almost describes me. The only part of G1 I’ve watched as an adult with any regularity is TFTM. I’ve seen fewer than 10
episodes of Prime and Animated combined, and I haven’t bothered with much else other than watching the live action movies once or twice each and most of Beast Wars when it came out. So I’m not really comparing this show to anything other than my memories, which I think is helpful to my enjoyment of the show.

So I’d love them to do something completely brand new with the brand and concept starting in 2023. They won’t - for business reasons I don’t think they can - but I think it’s the only way that a lot of people here would be able to let themselves enjoy TF media again.

 

Should have used the Burts instead of Reflectors for Decepticon ground forces...
*grumbles*

 

At last we agree on something.

And we agree on this, too.

 

Watched it last night and it was better then most ppl here made it out to be and I'm one who grew up watching g1. I didnt like the slow running and some of the voice acting was meh but overall not a dealbreaker. We didnt see Ultra Magnus in vehicle form. My one real gripe is that Jazz isn't in it. Can't wait for part 2 and 3. Even tho I dislike beast wars I wanna see how this plays out to bringing them in.

 

Cool. You’re smart and articulate; our opinion just differs on this show. Consider this the olive branch.

 

One thing I don't get... were the animators so unused to the CAD models Hasbro sent them that they could not modify them, take them apart? I find it unlikely as we see body parts and robots in pieces. Maybe they could not reattach those parts to the skeleton of the mesh? Because they could have easily created more variety than "25 Cogs, 50 Reflectors, 10 Impactors" for background characters by simply mix and matching character parts. Add a Seeker head to Impactor, and replace the shoulder gun with Soundwave's, for example! The most in changed models I have seen was that they removed the wings from some seekers we see at Soundblaster's place.
It was extra hilarious that Arcee mentions Soundblaster looks a lot like Soundwave, due to this. She could have also said "Hey, Barricade looks a lot like Prowl!" or "Half our forces are just clones of Cog and Sideswipe!"  

Also, it is quite evident they did not have the Arcee toy in production (but oddly, Wheeljack was already done?) when this was made. I sincerely doubt she could turn into anything with such zero kibble. Even if you remove the 'hoverboard' from the Earthrise toy, she still has the car's front there.


And disappointed that despite the many repainted Battlemasters in the Walmart toyline, there were none in the show at all. Neither did we have a power-up sequence where Shockwave summons his extra arms and armor, Power Rangers style.  
Also, pretty weird that they were going on about needing a lot of energon to launch the Ark, then apparently two head-sized crystals of energon were all that was needed?

I don't think anyone's saying it was terrible. I don't hate it, either - I will keep the episodes and burn them to BR, unlike Prime Wars which I just deleted immediately after watching. It was just... rather bland. Both story and animation-wise, I'd take the combined cutscenes and in-game videos of the WFC and FoC games over this. Better story, better characters, better voices and animation, especially better action scenes.
It was miles above the atrocity that was Prime Wars, even if that had some badly used big name voice actors. This one at least did not make me facepalm every 5 minute, or laugh bitterly whenever texan Overlord shows up to go yeee-haaawww!  
Still, it was not the (bumble)bee's knees many people make it out to be. But then again, we had the exact same argument with some people over Prime Wars - some folks insisting this was the G1 they always wanted. Me, I am still waiting. Maybe that upcoming animated movie...

Huh, Wheeljack was voiced by Chris Latta? I thought he only did Starscream... never realized.
After Animated and Cyberverse, kinda gotten used to the more rough and tumble sounding WJs.

 

Nitpick much? But I do agree with the needing alot of energon and all of a sudden two balls   (no pun intended) are all thats needed and yea what happened to the battle masters

also what was the insignia that soundblaster has stand for?

 

That made me laugh, too. I half expected Bumblebee to say to Arcee when he pointed out he looks like Soundwave that "And I just walked past 6 guys who look like Impactor, your point?"   Not to mention shortly afterwards we see Cliffjumper who is just a red repaint of Bumblebee.
Also, was that repaint of Reflector even in this show? He got a toy but unlike Hotlink who was at least in a few shots (repeatedly, after dying like 3 times) I don't recall seeing him.
I assume the difference would be between body types and clones that the latter even have the same basic personality as well. Still, Soundblaster while an out of nowhere character, was at least an interesting original idea. Makes me wonder why Megatron tolerates so many neutrals and mercenaries to operate, when he supposedly wants everyone to join the Decepticons. The Allspark would likely have rewritten more than just the Autobots.

Oh I nitpick a lot, but after G1 where we saw them loading TONS of energon cubes into Astrotrain, and one cube being enough for maybe an afternoon snack... it felt little. Maybe it was concentrated energon? Who knows.

That was the Mercenary symbol. Exhaust so far is the only toy who has it, but supposedly guys like Doubledealer also belong here, neutrals who work for the highest bidder. Makes me wonder why they did not use Exhaust as well, when they had Wheeljack's model. Likely that head design was not yet done.

So was Impactor, but he still survived. I think like in IDW comics it takes a lot to actually kill a cybertronian.
Which is why I have my doubts about

Spoiler

Skywarp

really being dead. He got shot in the back, then flied away and reported to the others, I doubt someone fatally wounded could transform and fly...

Actually, I was an ardent defender of the show after the trailers, where everyone was badmouthing the animation. I defended it explaining they used the toy models... and I expected fully this means we can see everyone in alt mode. Well, that did not happen. Many characters never even transform, often even when it'd be totally necessary, like when they are escaping from Soundblaster's dome.
I was more disappointed at the sudden and unneeded changes in character. Jetfire is not Jetfire apart from his design, he shares more similarities with Dinobot or Carnivac. Then there is Red Alert, who is still remembered by everyone for his jittery paranoid nature... being basically G1 Ratchet in all but name. Fine by me, but then use characters who HAD these traits! Bumblebee is another one who is a wild departure from his traditional role. Now this would not be a problem normally - see TF Prime or Cyberverse on how they can change a character - however the rest of the show and characters are unabashedly G1, even down to some backstories being straight up lifted from IDW, like Megatron and Impactor being in the mines, that Prime and Megs were fighting together against the previous regime, Starscream being exactly like the G1 one, etc... That's why when some characters are very much complete opposites of their G1 selves that one cannot help but notice.

 

I'd be very interested to watch this subtitled with a Japanese dub - maybe a new voice track by experienced VA's will make a difference.

It also needs a better soundtrack - SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] would pump some life into this.

 

Several people are.  

It’s not a nitpick to point out excessive and lazy model reuses, especially if said model reuse becomes a plot point to a specific character.

I mean, if Energon can be more creative with its generics, this show sure as hell can.

 

I do wonder how well Siege will hold up on second viewing. The defects may become more apparent and the positives fade into the background.

 

Watching this show makes me see why the G1 Cartoon and the G1 Comics were different. You can't make the Deceptions sympathetic with out making the Autobots look like Dicks. This works in a Comic where you have TIME to flesh out both sides reasoning not a Six episode Cartoon. The Autobots being a Scrappy Militia made up of Civilians against an Oppressive Government of Ruthless Soldiers with the Civvies having use their unique skills to stay one step ahead of the Powers that BE WORKS. Megatron being a Military General who pulled a Coup WORKS? All this talk of Slavery and what not just muddies the waters. It's bad when Cyberverse gets this but a show with a higher budget can't.

 

I know that when I was watching and reviewing the show, I noted that Starscream had a "dull surprise" face. There may have been some emotion that I didn't pick up on (I am on the autism spectrum, so I'm not always good at reading facial expressions), but it made me giggle.

  And of that last 5%, 1% is Hound (I saw some generic Hounds scattered around as well), and 1% is Mirage (ditto).

It's not the show's fault (budget restraints) but it was funny, especially when they would pan across a scene and there would be 2 named characters, 6 seekers, and 4 Reflectors with a recolored Barricade thrown in.

 

General question for everyone: does anyone know if the show clearly established what the effect of the AllSpark would be if it was removed from the planet? I was recording reactions while I was watching the episode, so I might have missed something. Did any of the characters know? Was it all just speculation? Or did they establish for sure what the AllSpark's removal would do? This is not a criticism, I'm genuinely not sure.

 

The long lasting effects won't be truly known until the story continues. But given that those left behind survived after the Arc made the jump then it's assumed everything they believed about the AllSpark wasn't true.

 

Since the characters are modeled on the toys, do you think we'll see the origin of Prime's trailer?

 

Damn this was awesome. Watched them all with the kids and it became my favorite transformers animated series very easily.