It's not really a nitpick to point out just how weird it is to comment on one character looking the same as another character as if it's something special when most of the cast are that same thing. Whilst it doesn't affect the story it was definitely weird.

 

I mean, I tried that today, and honestly it felt more like I was watching a show instead of the “passion project of a bunch of fans with too much free time.” That said, I’ve never been a huge fan of Japan’s approach to Transformers media—the leaders all sound like old samurai (lots of wakaran, dekin, onore’s flying back and forth) and the whole militarism of the Japanese dubbing with “soushireikan (supreme commander)” and such always gave it an odd vibe IMO. That said, language issues aside, they certainly provide more nuance that makes the scenes feel more poignant. I think it’s better on the whole, & I can see why Japanese Twitter’s reactions are pretty universally positive right now.

 

I feel like the reception to Animated - which very quickly swung to positive once we were a few episodes in - proves that they can reinvent whatever they like as long as they do it well. The issue with most of the reshuffling here is the total arbitrariness and the inability to make it hang together.

The twin millstones around every new version of the storyline are Megatron and Optimus Prime. As soon as you put them at the centre of the story, it has to be in some way about the big picture of the war, its beginnings, where it's going etc. Imagine if every WW2 movie had to feature Churchill and Hitler in prominent roles - you wouldn't be able to do a Saving Private Ryan, or a Dambusters, or The Great Escape, or Where Eagles Dare, or Das Boot, or Bridge Over the River Kwai.

Hasbro aren't in a bind. All they need to do is put down their big gun characters and tell a story about any of the dozens and dozens of other characters in the franchise, who exist as sketches and hints of heroism and tragedy.

 

Watched it with my Son and We both loved it! NUFF said!

 

i feel like this show has a lot of missed potential. there are some interesting ideas such as what i would consider the central theme being the desperation of war, we see how it has turned prime irrational and sends himself and others on suicide missions without second thought, we see megatron go from wanting"peace" to wanting genocide. i feel like this theme could've been better if they actually showed this decent into desperation rather than relying on other characters explaining how the leaders used to be more rational. there is also this super brief talk about the arts of cybertron prior to the war and it would be cool to either get a flashback or additional hints about what cybertron was like before. another think is that megatron sometimes act as a ministry of truth, twisting the autobot's choices to fit his narrative and it would've been cool to have more focus on the propaganda of the deceptions throughout the show.

also im 90% sure that ark scene was inspired by evangelion:

 

Two things that still bug me a bit from a sort of "Easy way to tell a more interesting story" angle that I'll keep in spoilers just for ease and to prevent people who wanna watch from getting some of the story ruined:

Spoiler

The idea to use Magnus' corpse as a vessel for the virus made me think they were essentially gonna reanimate it zombie-style and have it go infiltrate the Autobots and essentially destroy the protocols in Bumblebee. It probably would have been an even better use of his relationship with Megatron and Prime. Megatron uses his former "brother" as a mindless weapon while Optimus is forced to finally put down one of his closest friends to stop him completely. Better than the flatter reaction he had to sensing Magnus' death.

Speaking of zombies: The sparkless. Could have easily explained them as corpses of bots killed by the sea of rust being reanimated by the allspark as a defense mechanism. Instead they just make a weird...nonsensical explanation that they died...but then got back up to look for a new spark. No explanation as to how, just they get back up for it. It's lazy and the fact that an object in the story was there to give them an easy out of an explanation but wasn't taken is a bit baffling.

 

All right, final assessment:

Pros:
Unintentionally hilarious, start to end
Pretty sure Cog has a bigger part than Sideswipe, lol, Sideswipe not doing anything record remains undefeated
Surprised BW Dinobot showed up two chapters early, really enjoyed his new huge red and white body

Cons:
Excuse me I was led to believe there would be a non-zero amount of Rung

 

Finished the 6 episodes. Overall, I give it 8/10. Only being 6 episodes is the main thing that hurts this. No chance to develop most characters. Only characters to get growth are megatron, bumblebee, and Jetfire.

Otherwise animation is tops. Sea of Rust scenes are amazing. This is my 3rd favorite take on transformers. G1, Animated, then this. It’s darker, yes, but other than one scene with zombies, it’s not nearly as dark as Prime.

This is a great rebirth of the Transformers mythos. It’s not G1 anymore than the MCU is 1960’s Marvel. While I’m glad it’s on Netflix, I really wish Hasbro would do stuff like this on direct video market, similar to the dc animated films. I’d love to see a series of 1 hour movies fleshing out individual characters more.

anyway, this is a definite series I’m going to follow. Has enough nostalgia for a “geewunner” and is fresh and different enough to not be trying to freeze time.

 

Watched it last night. Enjoyed it for the most part. I think the voice acting could have been a little better, or at least make them more.... different from each other. I thought it was great in Sunbow season two when the new characters showed up, they had different accents to help make them more distinguished from each other. I did enjoy the channeling of Chris Latta on Stsrscream. Too bad most everyone else was just a generic voice.

Until I watched it, outside of the toys, I’ve avoided any info on the show. I was disappointed to find it was only 6 episodes, while most Netflix shows have 8-10.

The whole time, I’m waiting for Cog to get killed... and then he gets shot. AND SURVIVES.  

Also, you could tell they had a limited budget based on how many times generics used the same bodies as main characters. Even Moonracer and Cliffjumper were straight repaints. That’s the one huge downside of CGI shows... Hopefully part two will get a new mix of CGI models.

Also.... Where’s my Siege Buzzsaw! I’m glad I grabbed Soundblaster on clearance, because he turned out cooler than Soundwave. I was not expecting him to be a separate character. But Buzzsaw!

 

I realize now, apart from "War For Cybertron - Causal Stroll", the other subtitle could also be "War For Cybertron - Awkward Grunting" for this show.   Seriously, everyone grunts all the time, even when they are in the background. If someone was just listening to this, they would get the idea this was... well, a very different genre.  
The final battle between Megatron and Prime was very disappointing. They just grappled each other for a bit then fell over. No fast transformation clashes, they did not even use weapons.

I assume the reason they kept saying "Sector Seven" was a reference to Bayformers, even if here it means an actual sector of Cybertron.
I still dunno why:
-Ratchet had to activate the space bridge and keep it active for 2 episodes instead of just starting it once, seeing that it works, then shutting it down.
-Soundwave reported this to Megatron and he just went "hmmmm" but did not send anyone else there. Then he too late realizes when Optimus is heading to that sector what they need the space bridge for?
-So the whole Alpaha Trion protocols - I assume a new fancy name for Vector Sigma - are gone? All that buildup and Trion's speech to Bee, him being the chosen one... totally pointless.
-Megatron starts out dismissing Shockwave's plan about the Allspark, then ordering him to pursue it, then totally forgetting it again, then only at the very end does he realize what might happen if Prime takes the Allspark away. All this, I remind you, about an artifact that until now, everyone considered a myth. Despite it being in an area in the Rust Sea that the seekers have thoroughly mapped.
-Optimus makes a half-hearted plea to (a ridiculously oversized, he is easily WFC game Metroplex scale) Omega and the other Guardians to help, but they refuse, saying they only care about Cybertron, not factions. Then at the end, they show up to help Prime... right after he threw the Allspark through the spacebridge, dooming Cybertron. So... why exactly is he suddenly showing up?
-Why is Astrotrain there, randomly, not really doing anything, just casually strolling, and being gigantic? It was time for his afternoon walk?
-Supposedly all the Autobots are there at the Ark. Why is Elita staying? For the few neutrals remaining, like Soundblaster? It felt more like she chose this moment to quickly break up with Optimus, even at the end it was like she massively hated what Prime has done.
-What happened with Omega at the end? He quickly tippy-toed away in the confusion, someone the size of a building?  

 

I found this hilarious since so much effort was made to showcase the toys on the screen. The fandom is grumbling very loudly for that Buzzsaw Hasbro! We're confused why ER Soundwave is showing up with Ravage and Laserbeak...

 

I dunno about you guys, but I\'m really looking forward to the inevitable comedy-laden space adventure that will be episode 2!!!

Seriously though, I think they just need to flip the switch from Noir to Pulp, and their endeavor will work a whole lot better.

 

That's exactly what I thought. Their relationship had been going down the tubes the entire show and now Elita finally had a perfect opportunity to get some distance from Optimus.

 

Thank you.

 

I do agree that the Prime/Megatron fights were disappointing. The first fight was just Prime getting his behind kicked, and the second was pretty boring to watch. The weird thing is that not all the fight scenes were bad, so it's not just that they couldn't do fight scenes.

I actually thought he was dead, got frustrated because I had liked him, and was then relieved that he survived. It was especially funny because he got shot immediately after I had noted that I liked him.

The funny thing about Moonracer is that I thought she was Chromia right up until she died and they said her name. I guess that's the downside of being a repaint with a color scheme so similar to the person you're a repaint of. Although really, the fact that Chromia was at the space bridge and couldn't also be fighting zombies somehow didn't clue me in...I have no idea what was going on while I was watching the last episode, but I somehow missed almost all the major plot points in that episode (and ONLY that episode).

I originally assumed that the Alpha Trion protocols were going to summon him, but unless Omega Supreme took a really long time to get moving after the protocols were activated at Soundblaster's lair, that didn't seem to be the impetus for him showing up.

You know, gigantic Astrotrain seems to have become a thing lately. He was huge in Cyberverse, too. It makes sense (considering he turns into a space shuttle), but it's the most notable Astrotrain development in the last three years.

EDIT: I just went back and found the part where Giant Astotrain shows up. He's just there, without much buildup, not even really fighting...and huge...and it's hilarious. I missed him the first time because I was focusing on the speeches.

 

Omega joined in cause he knew that for the greater good the allspark had to leave cybertron cause a planet of hiveminded slaves and killers was not a planet worth saving had Megatron succeeded.

Megatron wanted nothing to do with it until Magnus sent that communication to Prime which he then said search for it to draw Prime etc out, it wasnt till he realised Prime wanted to take it off world and doom the planet to end the war he then made a point of wanting it.

The reason the mapped area of the sea of rust had never spotted the Allspark is because it moves location and thats why they said well we should wait till its somewhere safer to which Prime says no we need to get there before Megatron.

Elita stayed cause she felt duty bound to protect the cybertronians left behind and to stop the Decepticons from overthrowing the planet in Primes absence otherwise all their efforts would be for nothing. Also she wasnt happy with what Prime did but as his subordinate she went with it dispite her best efforts to make him see sense.

Ratchet turned on and kept on the space bridge for what seems like 2 episodes but all these episodes take place over the course of a day or two. So it wasnt on as long as assumed.

 

I hesitate to call the Bay movies good, but I do feel like they're better than this show. I'll take any Bayverse movie over this. Those movies can be monotonous at times, but I feel like they're genuinely more entertaining. I found most of this show downright boring and bland, I might feel like revisiting 10% of the show at some point. I certainly couldn't watch the Bay movies every week, but I do genuinely feel the urge to revisit them here and there.

Personally, I don't think I'd consider either "good" entertainment. I see it as a "pick your poison" sort of situation. Personally, I'd prefer to sit through stupid stuff like Sam's parents at college and Simmon's underwear than to sit though this again. In the months and year to come, I think I'll mostly remember this show as CAD models of toys awkwardly walking around ugly environments and talking about impersonal stuff in monotone, overly serious voices. Whereas I remember the Bay movies as an artist's insane and fresh take on the Transformers. I'll take the latter any day, without question. But I totally get if someone prefers the former.

 

I just finished the show. And let me tell you, it was well done. Not perfect, but well done. Here's why: *SPOILERS*

Pros: unpopular or at least not too well known got more screen time, i.e elita-1, impactor, cog.
- Beautiful animation, however, sometimes when certain robot's move, their hips move as if it is like human skin.
- Voice acting was good, (though some people think Prime's voice as bad, think of it as a somewhat young Optimus Prime.)
- Impactor's loyalty to Ratchet after he saved him was touching and very well done.
- Jetfire's transition from 'Con to 'Bot went smoothly.
- Megatron's transition to a darker side was well done, and the times where there was subtlety in him was very well executed.
- Overall relationships were absolutely great.
- The story and darker plot was enjoyable.
- Soundblaster's arc was fun to watch.
- Mirage's arc using his abilities to his fullest extent was good as well.
-Ultra Magnus' arc was one of the best. Seeing him doubting Prime's leadership and then getting tortured by Megatron and then being used as a vessel for the virus was so damn awesome. It also shows the rough relationship between Prime and Magnus like in other 2000s shows.
And of course, OMEGA SUPREME!!

Cons: - They mentioned they were inexperienced, however it clearly shows that Elita-1 could be more of a leader than Prime, as he clearly doesn't know how to fight.
- Important characters were reserved as 'cameos' like Ironhide, Arcee and especially Astrotain.
- (To me,) Bumblebee is usually seen as a happy-go-lucky bot and very friendly. However, in this series, he is seen as a sort of Mercenary as he only does the job if he gets paid, however, this arc was put to sleep when he got the Alpha Trion Protocols.
- While the voice acting was well done, there were no original voice actors to spark nostalgia. (though I found it refreshing to get new voice actors)
- Even though the Soundblaster arc was nice, he was still a clone of Soundwave and it was weird to see a bot resembling Soundwave acting 'hip'.
- There wasn't really much character development for some well known characters like Ironhide and Hound.
Overall, it was a good show. I rate it an 8/10!

 

Idk i think it is a Nitpick that models were reused for "generics" yet not many complain about the repaints and "exclusives" with a different head that they buy