This

I love the G1 designs but for fucks sake they are using it as the basis for pretty much every series with no new unique designs or adaptations that vary enough to make it new. It's just more of the same.

 

I got a few
One: forgotten characters and concepts like: the commandos and cyber planet keys
Two: people trying to explain the origin female transformers which is very dumb in my opinion

 

There's one thing I can say.
Wasted. Wasted. WASTED potential all around! Pick a continuity and there's always something sorely lacking due to Hasbro "hiring mercenaries" to make a show to sell toys rather than tell stories. That, and poor management that brought Prime and every single animated show after that down. Primus knows I'm sick of Dumb Executive Aftheads' Decisions after Sonic the Hedgehog's rollercoaster of a series. Pick a series branch, any series branch. You'll find concepts that could have been explored, that could have made engaging stories that could have developed engaging characters in any single one. In G1, in Animated, venerated it may be, in the entire Aligned Universe, in Cyberverse even more so, oh, so much potential cut by the budget. Well, I heard Beast Wars and Beast Machines is as close as it gets to narrative perfection... such a shame it's not in in the main "Autobots Vs. Decepticons" verse.
I look at great character bios and I see a great waste.
I look at the movies, I look at the REST of the Bayverse that has great comics, great games and great novels, and I see a great waste.
So much waste.

...well, for every, mmm, two things wasted there's a very well executed one. And we do have HMS Duology and other great stories. Alas, we can't always stay on top of things.

 

Also this

This is probably single-handedly one of the most aggravating things in the franchise because nothing kills a series more than just straight up forgetting about something good.

 

Tigerhawk was only in 2 episodes and it felt like he was around longer than that. They also didn't need to give him that much development because it was Tigatron and Airazor fused together, two characters we already knew.

I will admit of all it's characters Scorponok was the most boring. But he wasn't "dumb" maybe compared to Tarantulas who was a lot better as the Predacon scientist but Scorponok did make a few viruses which he used his Cyberbee to inject into the Maximals. That Cyberbee was a useful tool which couldn't be used anymore after he died since he was the only one who had access to it.

Inferno was little more besides being loyal and dumb but they had more fun with him because he actually thought he was a ant in a colony with a queen. Scorponok was a lot more useful but his personality was boring stick in the mud.

They were actually BOTH suppose to die but Inferno was saved due to toy sales.

Anyway... he's still memorable for being Megatron's loyal body guard and the lesser scientist in the group... Cause again Tarantulas filled that role so much better but Scorponok was like the second smartest Predacon there.

I think one thing that hurt Scorponok the most is actually his toy. The season 1 toys weren't very accurate to the show to begin with but Scorponok was the worst offender out of all of them. He's not even the correct color, which neither was Taranatulas until the reissue 10 years later, neither of his heads really look like the show model. And worst of all is the Cyberbee... in the show it shoots out from the middle of his claw but he still has a claw... the toy the Cyberbee actually forms from his claw leaving him without a working "hand" on one arm if you have the Cyberbee deployed. Scorponok is the one character who most needed an update but he still has never gotten one. I hope Kingdom fixes that cause gawd he had the worst toy back then that doesn't even remotely look like he does in the show.

 

As far as fiction it would have to be the humans. Look, I dont have a problem with human characters, in fact I think they would ideally enhance a tf story and are necessary at least in the beginning. The problem is they never do them well and all they ever end up doing is annoying the viewer and getting in the way of the action and screentime of the robots. Another issue I've had is the dumbing down of optimus prime into the holier than thou speech regurgitator. If you look at something like g1, beast wars, animated, or hell, even the unicron trilogy sure optimus made speeches and was morally righteous but he didnt have a stuck up additude qnd he didnt act like he was above being emotional with his autobots or just having a normal conversation.

As far as figures it would have to be the awful plastic quality of recent figures. Like if I hold a flashlight behind an average deluxe class figure I can practically see through a lot of them. Also the shrinking of them has caused a problem in my collecting when I have a dotm bumblebee or a chug prowl displayed with a modern ss figure for example.

 

Human allies have been a huge problem in the series for a very long time. They were just ok at first but they keep reusing the same dumb formula over and over again with no good variation or new dynamic. More series need to experiment with either no humans at all or change how literally every aspect of how they interact with transformers in a way that doesn't suck.

 

The worst part about Transformers has to be us, the fans.

 

Huh, tricky. I can't think of a lot of stuff I downright hate. There are a few recent trends that I sort of hate, like the constant hiring of non-union voice actors and the use of overly toy accurate designs in stuff like the comics and Siege show (and use of Evergreen designs in fiction). That sort of stuff has been kind of ruining modern Transformers for me, because it makes everything a bit samey. But as far as the brand goes overall, I can't think of a lot of aspects I hate.

One aspect that bugs me is not utilizing alternate modes enough in clever ways. I criticize stuff like the MTMTE comics for not using alternate modes much, but the fact of the matter is that most Transformers cartoons and stories also don't use the concept of disguise nearly enough. Like, the G1 cartoon mostly just uses alternate modes for transportation and combat, which is a bit lame to me. My ideal Transformers show would utilize alternate modes for the purpose of disguise every single episode, and do all sorts of covert missions that are alternate-mode specific (like, characters might have to adopt tank disguises to infiltrate a military base). I also think the Transformers should change alternate mode frequently, instead of being assigned "their vehicle mode" that they keep throughout the course of an entire show. The Bumblebee movie basically nails what I want in terms of disguises. I see a lot of untapped potential for stories featuring disguises, and I kind of hate that in a brand about "robots in disguise", the aspect of disguise usually tends to take a backseat.

 

It’s a catch-22, G1 is the franchise’s bread and butter because it’s the only thing given attention in media. It’s a self-fulfilling loop, G1 is given attention by Hasbro because G1 always got attention from Hasbro, they rely on it now.

 

I have plenty of issues, but I’m willing to forgive almost everything if Hasbro takes the rights away from Paramount/Viacom and give them to Warner Bros or Universal, as long as Disney doesn’t touch it and Paramount never has it again.

Disney would release a very pretty but narratively cold and empty TF movie based on boring generic formulas that would take no storytelling risks whatsoever, and Viacom/Paramount are absolute shit-brained buffoons who mishandle just about every single property they own, and anything they own that is good is good in spite of Paramount, not because of it.

Tl: Dr - I hate that those clowns at Paramount have the film rights to Transformers

 

I dislike the constant reboots. I wish all Transformers fiction was like Beast Wars, where it was a loose, broad-strokes sequel to G1. You could still watch it without having seen G1, but it had that connection. I would prefer for there to be 1-4 continuities that every piece of fiction fit into.

This is especially true with media like Cyberverse and the Bumblebee movie that use the G1 aesthetic. I don't see a reason for these to be set in a separate universe when they're so similar. In my ideal world, WFC, FoC, Siege, the G1 cartoon, Beast Wars, Cyberverse, and Bumblebee would all be in the G1 universe.

 

I don't know which is worse, trying to make sense of connecting the continuities or trying to make sense of Sideways's wiki.

 

Fandom.

 

Eh, I heard the Japanese have a single continuity for EVERY piece of Transformers media. Somehow.

 

How the Japanese series never got a professional English dub and recut.
I'd love to see all 3 series (plus Zone?) dubbed & re-cut for American audiences, editing out some of the cheese and fluff & speeding up the pacing, similar to what they did with DragonBall Z Kai. Basically toning down the Japanese-ness, all the posing and anime antics, etc. Getting the same sounding narrator and using the symbol transitions b/t scenes. And maybe working in Ginrai actually being Optimus Prime reborn instead of a new character.

Transformers : The Headmasters
Transformers : Powermasters
Transformers : Final Victory

 

In my ideal world, they would all have been made slightly differently so that they all fit together.

However, the upside of there being separate continuities is that either Hasbro or fanfic writers can make cool crossovers between universes.

 

How come Japan always get the good stuff when america doesnt

 

Mass-shifting
No dedicated molds for Sentinel/Nominus Prime.
No dedicated masterpiece molds for Windblade, Elita-1 or most of the fembots.
No dedicated run for the 13 Primes?!?
No set in stone class/size system.
Out of ideas? kill Optimus Prime again.
Arcee is a pink car, not a blue bike. that was chromia, I don't care what they called her, that was Chromia.
If it's called "leader class" they should have have a spark/matrix chamber for a universally-accepted matrix.
The Matrix should be diecast, polished aluminum, lit by micro LED, and an internal battery source.
Robots don't have [Noughty word] or [Noughty word] they can't have [Noughty word] therefore they can't be [Noughty word] leave your issues at home IDW.
If I'm dropping $150+, all those fingers better move.

Earth is not Unicron!

 

Combiners being stupid.
Overabundance on G1.
The Aligned continuity.
CLEAR PLASTIC JOINTS.
The bumblebee movie scale.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
Mp-44.