I love Animated. I was worried when I first saw the promotional pictures, but as soon as I saw the trailers and the toys I knew Animated was going to rule. I don't think there has been such a realistic toyline for a Transformers line. All the toys look and Transform just like their cartoon counter parts. What really annoys me is people who complain its not G1. Get over it. None of the Transformer series have been G1 since G1. Animated has gone beyond the call of duty in terms of G1 nods and I think its great that Hasbro and Cartoon Network have supplied such a great show that gives so many nods to its roots. Animated is my favourite continuity so far (Movie excluded)

 

Agreed. At Botcon 2007, (which of course took place at the same time as the movie release), David Kaye confirmed that he had finished recording the voice work for the entire first season and much of the second season of TFA. Things were very well underway by the time the movie debuted. Additionally, if I remember correctly, some of the production artwork we saw for TFA was dated 2006 (specifically a pic of Bumblebee, if memory serves).

 

this is hyperbole, but seriously, hasbro doesnt take chances. ever.

thats what differentiates hasbro and takara (used to anyway) marketing. hasbro wont deal with the in between/niche products that takara used to gamble on (robot masters, hello? hasbro even reinvented the universe brand). hasbro only invest in sure things. for them, TFA was a sure thing.*

*im not saying everything that hasbro does is right. but they sure as hell know how to avoid a losing product.

id also like to bring up another production trivia; the average turnaround for a line is approx 2 years. that means, products that you see on the shelf now? they were on the drawing board 2 years ago. taking chances is for people who do not plan.

i mean, come on, if hasbro were to really do something based off the movie's success, wouldnt they have just based it on the movie (either as a prequel or sequel)? thats what threw ppl off when TFA was 1st previewed. ppl were expecting it to be movie related.

 

At first I was like "Hmmmm...interesting..."

Now, I'm like "Gimme more....MORE!!"

Yeah, I really like them  

 

I've been a fan since day one! Not a new convert.
Saturday mornings are exicting again.

 

What I first remember is seeing some of the promo art and then checking out the thread for it. I forget who posted it, but it was the scene from planet of the apes, when Heston sees Liberty. PERFECT visual of what I thought. 

Fast foward a little and I come across pics of the Grimlock and Snarl (Slag) protos. Seeing those two made me feel like a kid again. Instant love from then till now. It's like G1 plus more for me. 

Also would like to thank FanTransformers for the youtube videos. Now Saturdays can have some fun cartoons again!

 

Then: A little surprised but happy with the new direction.

Now: Absolutely love every bit of it, this line will bankrupt me and fill my download lists.

 

I first reaction to the Animated pics with Prime & Co. "Oh Noes not another Teen Titans!" And even though I was filled with sense of dread I was willing to give it a chance after seeing the Cons. When the first pics of the toys hit the board I was actually excited about the toyline, which remains very close to the show in the looks department. Now that I've seen about half of the shows my excitement for the toys grow each and every day. If my brother is only going to collect a selected number of Bots I'll be buying the rest for sure. Right now I am trying to clear as much space in my storage as possible by selling off the toys I don't care too much for in anticipation of Animated and Classics 2.0 line.

 

How is what I said hyperbole? With any new line (even if it is based on something old) you take chances that can't be exaggerated, that's common sense. Look at NEW Coke ??

TFA is very similiar to the movie and G1 for that matter it's hasbro's New Coke. The main plot is still the same as the movie. They all want the all spark, Autobot vs. Decepticons. Its the same basic plot since the 80's, the Cybertronian War brought to Earth.

You're acting like the cartoon is completely independent of the movie. No way in hell.....Movie was in production, then someone says. "hey, i bet this will be a hit let's get a cartoon going we can make even more $$ generated by all the fans from the movie" Ka-ching!!!!

 

I, on the other hand, was very open to a Teen Titans styled Transformers. I've grown to love the titans show, with it's great characterisation and storytelling. Even it's anime wannabe goofiness is good in my book.

But TFA looks and feels like a watered down, cheap wannabe of TT. The characterisation etc is of course miles better than Arm/Eng/Cyb, but that really boils down to the essential difference between Japanese juvenile animation and American juvenile animation.

Fact is, there are tons of better cartoons on CN or other channels that beat TFA by miles.

The writing seems to be getting better by the episode, but reall, step back and the plots are still thin and predictable and some of the characters are flat and one-dimensional.

So far, the only characters I've started to like are Ratchet (5***** performance by Corey), Starscream, Soundwave, and Bulkhead.

Sari's just plain irritating.

Megatron's the generic villain in the shadows. His role was done much better by Deathstroke in TT.

Prowl can't seem to decide if he's a ninja or a dick.

Blackarachnia has an interesting backstory but Cree's performance is kinda flat.

Blitzwing and Lugnut are R2 and 3PO: the comedic duo.

Sentinel Prime's only schtick for me is that he's secretly the Tick.

Lockdown, for all of Lance's involvement, comes across as boring.

TFA Prime is possibly the most boring and unattractive Optimus since Beast Machines.

And TFA has won the covetous honour of creating a TF voice that's even more irritating than G1 Wheelie (here's looking at YOU, Bumper "Bee" Robinson!).

I don't even want to mention the horrible "human villains".

I may sound like i hate the show. Well, I do enjoy watching it for the G1 juiciness, but take that away and it's not that spectacular compared with the cartoon fare that's available today.

 

no, no, what *I* said was hyperbole, not you - that bit abt hasbro not taking chances, tsk tsk.

im not saying that TFA is not affected by the movie, and as different as it is from previous product, theres still a lot of underlying similarities that it shares with several previous incarnations. im just out to point these plain facts:

- that TFA has been planned in advance of TFTM07's success.
- that hasbros partnership with CN ensured that the cartoon would be on track regardless of how the movie performed. while speculative, this is irrefutable: CN isnt going to spend developing something then shelf it if say the movie didnt perform. to them thatd be just dreamworks lost. they have their own prerogative as far as pushing their own product.

these are the points im trying to get across, i think theyre pretty obvious if youve followed the development of things. otherwise, lets agree to disagree.

lastly i'd like to add, as much as we'd like to think that TFA is a carryover success from TFTM07, i noted how ppl who embraced TFA had nothing to do with the fact they liked the movie design. this is evident based on the fact that these 2 are actually polar opposites in that TFA carries kiddie/simplistic sensibilities while TFTM07 goes for a more sophisticated, so called, realistic look. in summary; TFTM07 does not equate automatic TFA fan. when the fans divide it basically goes back to g1 argument, which is in fact, the same way with TFTM07. the only similarity between TFA and TFTM07 is the usage of the allspark as a mcguffin (but we all know this is more due the abandonment of the matrix concept.)

 

Ahh ok, I misunderstood. I understand your arguement, good points but I'm just saying that Animated has gained some support from the movie. It got me back into transformers again, kids who went to the movies and saw them now have something similiar to watch every Saturday morning AND hasbro gets to sell more toys. It's all connected, is all I'm saying but if I was running a business like Hasbro and wanted to get back the glory days of 80's transformers the two only options are feature film or cartoon.

I just think the film idea was first, then they prolly said, wow this is going to be a hit, how else can we make $$$ even if the movie does tank. Let's do a cartoon. Transformers the Movie was a HUGE success, the animated has benefitted greatly from that fact.

If the movie would have not done well I don't think alot of toy companies would have been lining up to buy commercial time which might effect their decision to release it.

That aside 2 weeks ago I didn't really like the show but after Lost and Found I find myself waiting for new episodes so it's growing on me. Hell 2 weeks ago I was busting on the show and now I'm digging it and can't wait for the toys.

off topic- how are there all these animated toys on Ebay when they are not supposed to be released for another 3 months? I'm getting itchy to get them but not 50-60 bucks a figure itchy.

 

The first image with prime and his rediculous foreshortening had me a little worried; but I decided to focus on the facts and wait for more images.

The Facts at the Time.

1. American Studio and Designer.
2. American Writers.
3. Not a terrible anime dub.
4. Following up a blockbuster moive megahit.

Bearing those in mind, I knew it would be at least something watchable and wasn't really worried... I just waited. I did like the look of Prime in the initial image, but the forshortening had me a little confused about what they were getting at... After waiting and seeing... I was happy.

And still am! Also, the groaning and moaning of the collective fandom you mentioned usually just indicates change, whether it's negative or positive..., so I didn't let it get me down. As a matter of fact, I spend most my energy on this board ignoring a lot of people and and that collective groan just so I can remain positive about my chosen realm of fantasy. Hahaha..

Don't get me wrong, you aren't all bad.   Hahaha...

Mike.

 

on top of what you said, i'd add this. hasbro for the longest time since bringing in RID did not bother to push the cartoon, that was left to takara. im sure theres a bunch of factors involved contract (takara wanted dibs on producing it since they created RID?) and logistics (hasbro not confident in doing a new show/unsure how to do a new show - thats why theyve adapted contemporary trend of cartoon?) but im betting hasbro was itching to get the cartoon production back stateside and the movie presented a nice window: i can just see marketing dudes going 'hey guys since were pushing the movie lets bring back the cartoon too!' or something like that.

if hasbro had tried to bring back cartoon stateside earlier, im not sure it would be garnering this kind of positive respond so far weve been getting. it might have been a hit with fans only, but done poor commercially/critically, i dont know, im just guessing here.

 

For me at first it was the movie Bumblebee leak all over again. But just like the movie,i have been silenced! Best TF show since Beast Wars! Feelin' the show and the figures.

 

Well I watched the first double episode of Animated and really didn't care much about it... it was too strange and way too copy/paste like from G.1

However after LoC_Soundwave begged me to act middleman on ebay to supply him with Animated toys and we talking back an forth about the series things changed. I reshipped the toys to him but after watching them I found their designs and transformations interesting... now he dragged me so much into Animated that I've bought MISB Animated Starscream, Megatron, Bulkhead and loose Dlx Optimus Prime & Bumblebee.
I must say I've grown to like Animated, especially cartoon wise where the series now build up it's own story and not copying G.1. It's a fresh new breeze of wind instead on the story heavy and a bit too long Cybertron.
The toys just look so wacky enough it's hard not to like those little toddlers when having had them in hand.

So yes I admit I've been converted... and my wallet doesn't like that !

 

Pros:

Solid story so far

Good Decepticons

Plenty of fun stuff for kids and adults alike.

Best looking Megatron toy since.....ever.

Cons:

Still not sold on the design style they use.

Annyoing humans, I swear to Christ, Issac Sumdac is a moron and his daughter needs a kick in the arse. And yes, I find Sari more painful than Alexis from Armada, hell I liked her, it was those four boys who were fuck ups.

Unmasked Prime; I still have this gripe about movie Prime: he looked ten times cooler with his mask up than down.

Prowl, I'm sick of cartoons dressing up Samurai principals in a Ninja guise. Ninja's are assassins, and intelligence gatherers. If Prowl, instead of jumping around all the time just walked up behind Lockdown and stabbed him in the back, I'd have been impressed.


I enjoy the story, its the best I've seen in Transformers outside of the comic books. I just wish the line future success so they can do another show, aimed at the 12 - 15 year bracket, perhaps detailing the war on Cybertron.

And as an anime fan I feel compelled to say this: Japanese writing doesn't always end up poor: there are many well written anime. Transformers Armada, Energon and Cybertron were just unlucky enough to get shabby treatment by bad writers aimed at a young audience. I'd love to see a Transformers anime that was written by the guys that do Ghost in the Shell, Akira or Evangelion.

Ultimately though, the best thing about this show is this: its ensured the continuation of something we love to a new generation of fans. That alone, makes it excellent.

 

I've always thought this too. Doesn't bother me in Transformers so much, because they never actually claim that he is a ninja, rather a swift, agile and stealthy character, but in other shows (namely one of my other favorites TMNT), the turtles are trained as Ninja, and while they do stick to shadows, they are not assassins, and have a code of honor that would keep them from attacking an enemy from behind, or defenseless. Hell they even accuse Shredder of being dishonorable for attacking a defenseless enemy, which assassins sometimes do. All of these televised ninjas, be it in cartoons and some movies are actually following a samurai-esch code. I guess it's just not as cool, despite the fact that Transformers, especially G1 characters, have a striking resemblance to Samurai (that is, their head design resembles that of Samurai masks).

 

Before = intrigued by the off-the-wall designs, and the premise of something more enjoyable than A/E/C (which did less than nothing for me).

After = Loving it. The show, the toys - heck, I want the lot.  

 

ditto here on the misperception of ninjas, but that problem is not specific to TFs and is basically a whole nother can o worms.