Decided to spoiler tag this.

Spoiler

I LOVE this show so much. I'll have to watch a little bit more of it, but it might be my favorite TF show to date. The animation was beautiful, I love the robot's expressions and the visual effects, very colorful and lively. I also like how the Transformations have improved since TFP. It's more than just a split second jump now. The characters were all very fun and likeable, even Fixit and Stronarm who I expected to hate. I could see Strongarm getting old after a while, but she's funny. And when Underbite spoke in that accent, with that ego...I almost died it was so unexpectedly funny! The storylines are simple, but fun, and I LOVE the more humorous approach as opposed to TFP's serious, moody tone. Not that it was completely bad, but we've seen it in too much media nowdays. Nice to see that Hasbro doesn't take the franchise too seriously, lol. I'm definitely sticking with this, it's pure fun all the way!

 

I have to say this show's already off to a great start

I'll start with the negatives.

I think the pacing in the first episode is pretty bad actually, you really need to watch the first two episodes back to back to really enjoy it. How every gets set up is kind of mediocre and could have been done is a more fluid way.

Fixit's whole mispronouncing words gimmick....that really needs to be nipped in the bud real quick. He's probably my least favourite at the moment.

the frame rate animation is way too slow for my liking, it needs to be increased a little bit more. It doesn't flow as naturally as I'd like it to be.

Spoiler

Optimus Prime's suddenly coming back at the end to save the day and defeating Underbite was very forced and no real reason is given to why he showed up at the end outside of it's part of the universes plan or something like that. At least this show will be about Bumblebee for the most part.

Now on to the Positives:

The new team is fantastic and has a lovable amount of dysfunctional kind of like the Maximals or the TFA Autobots. Bumblebee is the tryhard young leader, Strongarm is the uptight young cadet, Sideswipe is a delinquent punk, Fixit is scrambled scatterbrained little minicon and Grimlock is a bombastic brute.

Denny and Russell are so far very likeable as human characters go. It seems like Denny and Russell's mother are divorced or separated. Russell is the kind of kid who just wants more excitement in life...like we haven't seen that before but I think Stuart Allen's performance is making him more likeable to me than if it was someone else doing the voice. Denny's occupation of working at a scrapyard makes for a neat occupation and a good setting for a Autobot base. He could easily be this generations Sparkplug Witwicky. His shirt it very tacky though.

Denny has a truck that is eerily similar to that old pickup truck that was seen in the background every so often in Transformers: Prime. I have a theory that Denny was the one in that truck the whole time back then.

Sideswipe and Russell make a great human partner duo, very reminiscent of the human/autobot duos of Prime. I'm surprised how much more likeable they are than they appear at first glance.

Grimlock is basically Cyborg as a T-Rex and it's awesome. Khary's voice is a little bit deeper than you'd usually expect from him and it works well. I'd love it if he could someday tackle a more aggressive Hulk like Grimlock. I'm very interested to know how he became a Decepticon?

Underbite is a great first episode antagonist. He's a gluttonous body builder who needs to eat to keep his strength up. He constantly brags about the fact that HE ATE A WHOLE CITY! I hope we see more of him. He's very unique as a character for this franchise.

The voice work. Everyone is great here, the standouts to me were Darren Criss as Sideswipe, Khary Payton as Grimlock, Stuart Allen as Russell and Liam O'Brien as Underbite. Jamie Simone is back as the voice director for Transformers returning from his duties he did back in Prime.

Spoiler

Even though Peter Cullen is still bland and stoic like he usually is,

everything else is great just like his direction for Prime.

Fixit's Michael Jackson reference was funny. I'll give him that.

Spoiler

Optimus's speech to Bumblebee, it's such an Optimus thing of him to do but it's a nice words of encouragement that will go a long way to Bumblebee's character development.

It was fun. The most important thing to have out of a cartoon. I can tell the show will improve tenfold as it progresses. I want to believe this could become the best Transformers cartoon yet.

 

Ah, you guys are having such fun seeing this stuff before I do  

But the positive feedback sounds great, I look forward to finally seeing this show. It sounds like it'll be a fun and entertaining watch!

 

Huh... I really wish they held off on bringing Optimus back for a little while, but I guess that was always going to happen.

Any older fans can comment on this, is it true that the first time Optimus died (and Rodimus was introduced in the original 1984 movie), the season following his death was not well received because of his absence? Or was the G1 show just not as good in general after the movie? Maybe sales went down or something, but it seems to me like ever since they brought OP back all those years ago, he's never been gone for long in the fiction. Maybe that's why I like Beast Wars so much. The brand is so much more than Optimus and Bumblebee...

But overall I am enjoying the show right now.

 

I agree with the negatives and positives especially the last part. After watching it, I think I'm starting to like Strongarm and Grimlock.

 

When Sideswipe transforms into his Cybertronian mode in the woods, you can just subtly make out the classic "robots in disguise" instrumental tune in the background for a second.

 

No need for spoiler tags, guys. It's a spoiler thread.

I doubt it was done for no reason. It may feel like that now, but it's clear that they've got something in mind. Now whether or not what they do with Optimus Prime will be any good is unknown, but they definitely have a plan for him.

They said she's working in Copenhagen. They MIGHT be separated, but it's quite possible that she's just working overseas.

As for the truck... I feel like that's a coincidence, or at the very least, they based the truck in RID off the one in Prime. I don't think they planned this years ago. I'm sure some people are still saying it's Kup, but you know, whatever.

I might not have been born in the 80s, but I can answer this (at least, I'll try). Basically, Optimus Prime was a big deal to children back then. Kids got really attached to him, watching him every week (or every weekday, depending on when they were watching it), and he was their hero.

When the movie came along, not only did they kill off Optimus Prime, but they killed off a bunch of other characters that children had grown up with, and that upset a lot of them. It's true that there were a lot of children who cried when Optimus Prime died, and parents were angry - they wrote letters to Hasbro, accusing them off upsetting children etc., all over corporate greed (because they wanted to get rid of the old cast to bring in a ton of new toys).

So to that end, a lot of kids didn't care for season three. They didn't care about Rodimus Prime. He wasn't Optimus. I don't think sales decreased, though. As far as I know, it was more so just a negative response, primarily emotionally.

 

I couldn't help but notice that they actually had differences in their models after getting new alternate modes.

They're not obvious changes though, most notable one I could see was Strongarm's shoulders.

 

Well I watched them, definitely better character then in Prime already.
Bumblebee has went from an annoying R2-D2 clone in Prime, to a really awesome leader character in this show.
He's like the next Hot Rod...Only not everyone hates him.

My favorite is Strongarm, she's the most adorkable Police Cadet ever, and not bad to look at either.
Fixit is okay I guess, not as annoying as I expected and I hope he stays that way, but it would be better if they named him Wheelie.
Sideswipe is...Well Sideswipe. Minus the rocket pack.
Grimlock in this show, is basically what a teenager G1 Grimlock would be like, naive, headstrong, and always looking to fight.
But in a Lovable way though.

As for Underbite well he's got two dimensional characterization at best, but then again that more then what half of the Decepticons had in TF Prime.

Russel is a good human kid character, which is rare coming strait out of the first two episodes.
And he's surprising not annoying.

It's a good start and has promise, whether or not it lives up to it is a matter of time.

 

I am already in love with this show. The way the characters interact and the general light heartedness of it reminds me of Animated. It seems to be a bridge between the moods of Prime and Rescuebots. While the humor isn't the kind to bust me up laughing it has me giggling slowly throughout the episode. I like the animation style and designs more than Prime's.

So far, I at least like all the characters. They're already distinct and have a lot of personality. I'm very curious to see how they get developed, especially the human characters.

Russel is probably the least of my favorites. I just don't find him as interesting as the rest of the cast. I'll probably write out more specific thoughts I have when I'm not as tired.

I pretty much agree with what people before me said about the negatives: pacing issues in the first episode especially.

That said, I am very much looking forward to the rest of the show!

 

A lot of factors were at play there. In addition to abruptly shattering the childhood's of kids everywhere (hehehe), season 3 made drastic changes to the entire show. Instead of being set primarily on Earth in the then-present day, now everything was in space. Instead of realistic cars & stuff for alt modes (that you might see on the road in real life), they were all futuristic looking things that often didn't resemble anything (seriously- what kind of Pickup doesn't have a truck bed, Kup?). The entire feel of the show was radically altered & not many shows can survive ripping away everything that people originally enjoyed about it.

Look what happened to X-Files when they lost Mulder.
Two & a Half Men when they lost Charlie.
That 70s Show when they lost Eric (much as I can't stand that actor, it marked the end of the show).

And that's just the main star. Now imagine if they also made huge, sweeping changes to the time & setting too like G1 did. No show could survive that.

ANYWAY!!! I haven't had a chance to check out NuRid, but based on the positive reactions, I'm sure it's going to more than live up to my expectations, as I loved TFP & was already excited for the new show.

 

The start of the first episode wasn't great, in fact the monologue was rather... bad.
But the story is good enough, I'm all in for episodic villains, and the quips are quite funny.
I lost it at how Bee explained what a dad is.  

As for Mufasamus Prime... well, that was quite the vague explanation, I never wanted him to show up, so I'm biased anyways.
As long as he remains minor I'll stand it.

Not a bad setup for the rest of the show, it's not the greatest debut ever but there are many things to like.

 

It's just ok so far. I have no strong opinions positive or negative yet.

The more Optimus Prime stays out the better this show will be. He's just as boring as ever.

 

You mean the part where they somehow got even less funny because the regular doses of cocaine dried up?

 

Loved these eps, and the third one. YES, please, folks, for those of you that read ahead to the end of the season, keep your thoughts on those eps in the thread discussions for those eps. I didn't want to find out some things that were offhandedly mentioned in a thread about the episodes i just watched...

 

Yep! I had long since stopped watching even before he left. Just throwing out examples.

Like when they replaced the Duke boys with the Duke cousins!

 

Underbite's lines are so funny they crack me up

 

I'm really liking the show. You know, the opening and the 6:05 mark of Episode 1 almost sold me on it by itself. Why? The museum guard and the traffic. The simpler art style means we get more bots!

Plot wise, I'm glad Optimus isn't really back already. I'm sure he'll be back "in full" soon enough, but making him a ghost is a good compromise for me thus far. Also, I'm glad to see such a colourful cast of characters on the Autobot side. I really liked Prime's Autobots, but I'm looking forward to some Knock Out/ Starscream tier shenanigans with the good guys too.

Also, with Sideswipe being a little "kid", I guess any last hope M. Scott had of tying Prime and the Cybertron games together was lost. Also the lack of Space Bridge will have an interesting effect on the show. I'm liking these smaller scale skirmishes thus far.

 

I know but I still don't care for that. If they explained a little bit more I wouldn't mind so much,

Based on the way that Denny greeted Russell, I would say more likely divorced. Like he hasn't seen his boy in a while.

Yeah the last part is probably a coincidence but I want to believe!!!!

 

I watched the first three last night. I have some thoughts, and I guess I'll split them up between the Threads;

-I actually really, really like the animation and general aesthetic. I think the combination of cell shaded CGI and 2D looks really, really good, and I think it works well for Transformers specifically. Much better than Prime's (admittedly impressive) full CG.

-I also like the introduction of subspecies of Transformer, each with it's own unique attributes. The whole concept of Chompazoids eating metal and converting it into fuel is exceedingly Budiansky.

-All of the characters have clear motivations and goals right from the start. The lone exception is Grimlock. While it makes since that he'll be helping them in the long run to prevent them from returning him to Stasis, why exactly he starts off fighting Underbite is incredibly unclear. The reason for their feud goes without explanation, and it's rather head scratching. Do they have some sort of history? If so, why not imply that they have some sort of history? It's not like it's being played for mystery.

-Also, Fixit's sudden speech impediment was nonsensical. There was literally no cause for it, and since the character's don't really draw attention to it, I guess it's not getting an explanation.

-Underbite making a muscle and referring to himself as having musculature was, for me, over the line with anthropomorphization. They're machines. Says so right in the title; Robots in Disguise. Leave that ill defined "metal organism" crap with Prime.

Overall, it was an average opening two parter. Nothing to write home about. I like the setting and setup, it feels really distinct and original, and yet there's something fundamentally Budiansky about the world. But, the script's sense of cause and effect is wonky, and leads to some WTF moments.