The Energon Pub

Wingus wrote:

Hotrod wrote:In case you have not noticed this site is more then a news site. It has been a site about opinion from day 1. News is just one of the many things this site offers. And if you want to say news sites should not give their opinion, then I guess you have never read a newspaper, watched the real news, or been to a news website.

Funny. I thought news was about facts.

http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20070502.html Chew on that in regards to opionion.

Like I said read a newspaper, watched the real news, or go to a news website, you will see the same thing. We have never claimed to be an official news site. Look at our front page, we offer news and much, much more.

Wingus wrote:It's my belief that if you're running a big site like this, that hundreds, if not thousands of TF fans and regular folks visit every day,

Around an average of 25,000 every day, but that's irrelevant right now.

Wingus wrote:you should go for neutrality. I'm not intolerant of opinions, I'm intolerant of using a site that people use for news on their hobby as a soapbox to present your views to.

Nope. I haven't invested 10s of thousands of dollars into this website over the past 7 years to prevent me from voicing my opinion. If you want neutrality, some of my competitors are far better at it than I am. Please feel free to visit the following sites if you want what might be perceived as neutrality:

http://www.tfw2005.com
http://www.tformers.com
http://www.allspark.com

Seibertron.com will never be neutral and I will be more than happy to share my opinion with the fandom when I feel it is necessary AND appropriate. Mind you, I haven't said a lot since the Megatron 101 incident last August, but considering the amazing amounts of traffic that we received and the incredible number of emails I received from people thanking me for being so bold in expressing my opinion and the sheer number of websites that linked to that little stunt, I'd say I was in the right. I have done anything controversial since then. It's been almost 8.5 months since that incident. I'd like to think that I know when to say something. I've had plenty of opinions both positive and negative during those 8.5 months but I haven't used the homepage of the site to really express those opinions since then. I pick my battles carefully. This isn't a battle this time. It's too late.

I'm just letting everyone know where Seibertron.com stands behind this issue. If you don't like that I'm doing this, you're more than welcome to visit this site's competitors that don't express their opinion in public.

Wingus wrote:I'm all for showing my opinion. I'm doing it right now, here in the forums, where it belongs. Not out on the FRONT PAGE, cluttering up news with heavily one-sided opinions.

You are more than welcome to express your opinion and I really appreciate you telling me what you think about me expressing mine. I welcome opposing views such as yours. I'm glad that you are telling me that you disagree with me using Seibertron.com to express my opinions. The very thing that you don't like is the very thing that makes this site different than the other major Transformers websites. As much as I hate to say this, I guess I'd consider this site to be along the lines of Fox News amongst news agencies like MSNBC and CNN. The difference between Seibertron.com and Fox News is that Fox News lies by saying that they're the "No Spin Zone". Well, we tell it like it is here. If we don't something, there's no bullshit here. You'll know we don't like it. I'll always call a spade a spade.

Wingus wrote:I'm just tired of all the complaining. Prime has all the big things down. Red and blue truck. Blue head. Peter-freakin'-Cullen, and yet people wank and soapbox about A MOUTH AND SOME FLAMES.

That's your opinion. I don't think they've got all of the major things down pat NOW. Prime was the ONE character that I thought they did their best to which they stayed faithful. I can no longer say that. Prime is now one of the screwed up bunch. Prior to this news, I had been saying that I wish they had paid as much respect to the other characters prior designs as they did with Prime. Can't say that anymore except for maybe, just maybe, Jazz. But that's even a stretch.

Wingus wrote:

Hotrod wrote:In case you have not noticed this site is more then a news site. It has been a site about opinion from day 1. News is just one of the many things this site offers. And if you want to say news sites should not give their opinion, then I guess you have never read a newspaper, watched the real news, or been to a news website.

Funny. I thought news was about facts.

http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20070502.html Chew on that in regards to opionion.

As Hotrod has mentioned above, do you not actually watch the news? CNN's Headline News is probably the closest thing to actually reporting news, but I'm sure that's even somehow skewed. If you think any of the other major news agencies simply report news, then you are truly kidding yourself. Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, all of them ... they spin the news to their audience. If someone here thinks that we should just be posting mindless news and that we don't have the right to express our opinions how, when and where we feel it is appropriate (notice that key word there), then Seibertron.com isn't the website for you. I'm not going to change ... that's how I've wanted this website to be run since day one. If you were somehow misled that we'll keep neutral here on every single news topic, then I'm very sorry that you were somehow misled. I certainly haven't misled anyone with my intentions with this website.

Just for the record so that we're all on the same page ... Seibertron.com is a website that's sole purpose is to entertain Transformers fans. I don't claim that Seibertron.com is a news website. Or a game website. Or a toy gallery website. Or a forum website. It is an ENTERTAINMENT website plain and simple. There's a HUGE difference. I don't want to have anything to do with a plain ol' boring news website. That's not my forte. Not in the least.

Nelson can kiss my ass.

Hotrod wrote:And if you want to say news sites should not give their opinion, then I guess you have never read a newspaper, watched the real news, or been to a news website.

Generally, the news media is supposed to strive for objectivity .

D-340 wrote:Meh, don't bother me all that much. He's had a mouth on and off since G1, so to me it ain't all that big a deal . Besides an earlier post said it perfect, Archer's been pushin' for a mouth on Prime for years. Now we got one. For those who absolutly hate it, it ain't just Bay, you know Archer's got his hands all over this. Ultimately, it not just the movie guys changing for the sake of change, Hasbro is as well. It's kinda obvious that this the direction Hasbro wanted as well, so we just gotta deal.

I've been saying for years that I thought Hasbro's been trying to figure out a way to give Prime a mouth. I want it to be known that I'm not opposed to him having a mouth. I think it looks great on Primal, which I've thought since day 1, and I also was really impressed with the implementation of Cybertron Prime with a mouth, both of which are very similar. This Prime's face looks ridiculous with the mouth that they designed. I never felt that way with Primal or Cybertron Prime. There's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. In my opinion, they chose the WRONG way to do it which is why I'm more than happy to express my opinion about this.

The Paragon of Virtue wrote:

Hotrod wrote:And if you want to say news sites should not give their opinion, then I guess you have never read a newspaper, watched the real news, or been to a news website.

Generally, the news media is supposed to strive for objectivity .

And generally we do, don't we? When was the last time that we weren't objective about a news story? Last August? Megatron 101? We post an average of 10 news stories per day. 8.5 months is roughly 2,550 news stories. We've got 2 stories where I posted my opinion? Even if we've got 20 stories where we've posted our opinion, I'd say out track record is pretty damn good for just posting news as news without our opinions.

Seibertron wrote:

The Paragon of Virtue wrote:

Hotrod wrote:And if you want to say news sites should not give their opinion, then I guess you have never read a newspaper, watched the real news, or been to a news website.

Generally, the news media is supposed to strive for objectivity .

And generally we do, don't we? When was the last time that we weren't objective about a news story? Last August? Megatron 101? We post an average of 10 news stories per day. 8.5 months is roughly 2,550 news stories. We've got 2 stories where I posted my opinion? Even if we've got 20 stories where we've posted our opinion, I'd say out track record is pretty damn good for just posting news as news without our opinions.

I never said you didn't.

Seibertron wrote:

D-340 wrote:Meh, don't bother me all that much. He's had a mouth on and off since G1, so to me it ain't all that big a deal . Besides an earlier post said it perfect, Archer's been pushin' for a mouth on Prime for years. Now we got one. For those who absolutly hate it, it ain't just Bay, you know Archer's got his hands all over this. Ultimately, it not just the movie guys changing for the sake of change, Hasbro is as well. It's kinda obvious that this the direction Hasbro wanted as well, so we just gotta deal.

I've been saying for years that I thought Hasbro's been trying to figure out a way to give Prime a mouth. I want it to be known that I'm not opposed to him having a mouth. I think it looks great on Primal, which I've thought since day 1, and I also was really impressed with the implementation of Cybertron Prime with a mouth, both of which are very similar. This Prime's face looks ridiculous with the mouth that they designed. I never felt that way with Primal or Cybertron Prime. There's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. In my opinion, they chose the WRONG way to do it which is why I'm more than happy to express my opinion about this.

I was no where near bashin' your opinion Ryan, apollogies if it came out that way. Just stating that this is also what Hasbro wants. Me personally, I'm about totally indifferent to the bad movie designs(i.e. Megatron, Starscream, Frenzy, ect.) now, so any bad moves really don't shock me anymore. I just always find it humorous when some die hards rip Bay to shreds over these things, when it needs to be realized that Hasbro is not just signing off on everything, they totally approve of them.

Duo Prime wrote:

For Gondor! wrote:

Duo Prime wrote: I'm disgruntled they did'nt take advantage of bringing(as i read someone say before) japanese style mecha to the big screen with a budget and CGI tech that could have looked real, and have been somthing that would satisfy more of the fans.

Totally agreed. There's even a number of talented fans that have produced some great concepts that look a hell of a lot better than what I've seen from Bay. There was a nice G1/movie fusion concept of Prime posted here a couple of weeks that I would have been delighted to see in the movie for example.

Yeah, i've seen some really good fan designs that would have looked way better than what these guys came up with. Why is it that the untalented people get the jobs that should be filled with talented people? At this point, i think some of those "fake" test shots look better and more likely to be a transforming alien robot from space. By the way, where is that fan Prime you mentioned?

Sorry, I'll try and find it.

1337W422102 wrote:

Duo Prime wrote:Oh, i already heard about the G.I. Joe Movie. Mike Bay is directing. Cobra Commander is going to ba a 15 year old girl, Snake Eyes is going to have a mouth hole and red lipstick, and Zartan is going to turn into a duck instead of changing colors. Oh yeah, Shaq is goin to play Storm Shadow.

Close enough. One of the guys responsible for the TF movie is working on the GI Joe one. He wants the GI JOE MOVIE to be about ACTION MAN.

Yeah, it's that DiBonaventura idiot. The same gimp who said "why would you want the original voice actors?" and who mocked the original designs.

Wingus wrote:Real mature, whoever the webmaster is that approved that "news post". In the same line as that terrible "Megatron 101" thing a few months back. Get over the designs already. This is a movie to make money, not a "Multi-million Dollar Valentine to the fans".

What a load of crap.

For Gondor! wrote:

1337W422102 wrote:

Duo Prime wrote:Oh, i already heard about the G.I. Joe Movie. Mike Bay is directing. Cobra Commander is going to ba a 15 year old girl, Snake Eyes is going to have a mouth hole and red lipstick, and Zartan is going to turn into a duck instead of changing colors. Oh yeah, Shaq is goin to play Storm Shadow.

Close enough. One of the guys responsible for the TF movie is working on the GI Joe one. He wants the GI JOE MOVIE to be about ACTION MAN.

Yeah, it's that DiBonaventura imbecile. The same gimp who said "why would you want the original voice actors?" and who mocked the original designs.

I feel bad for the G.I.Joe folks. The TF movie folks who think they're going to do the G.I.Joe movie are in for a whole other story. Cobra Commander, Duke, Zartan ... they've all looked basically the same for the past 25 years. It's also, for the most part, been the same storyline for the past 25 years. This isn't like Transformers where the key characters undergo major changes every year (hence the confusion about what is and isn't important to each fan). For Lorenzo to come along and have the arrogance and ignorance about G.I.Joe to say that "Cobra is stupid" ... man, all I can say is "I'm sorry" to the Joe fans. They're going to get ripped apart more than the Transformers fans were.

D-340 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

D-340 wrote:Meh, don't bother me all that much. He's had a mouth on and off since G1, so to me it ain't all that big a deal . Besides an earlier post said it perfect, Archer's been pushin' for a mouth on Prime for years. Now we got one. For those who absolutly hate it, it ain't just Bay, you know Archer's got his hands all over this. Ultimately, it not just the movie guys changing for the sake of change, Hasbro is as well. It's kinda obvious that this the direction Hasbro wanted as well, so we just gotta deal.

I've been saying for years that I thought Hasbro's been trying to figure out a way to give Prime a mouth. I want it to be known that I'm not opposed to him having a mouth. I think it looks great on Primal, which I've thought since day 1, and I also was really impressed with the implementation of Cybertron Prime with a mouth, both of which are very similar. This Prime's face looks ridiculous with the mouth that they designed. I never felt that way with Primal or Cybertron Prime. There's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. In my opinion, they chose the WRONG way to do it which is why I'm more than happy to express my opinion about this.

I was no where near bashin' your opinion Ryan, apollogies if it came out that way.

I know you weren't. I hope I didn't come across as trying to agressively defend my opinion to you. I was just trying to make my opinion more clear.

D-340 wrote:Just stating that this is also what Hasbro wants. Me personally, I'm about totally indifferent to the bad movie designs(i.e. Megatron, Starscream, Frenzy, ect.) now, so any bad moves really don't shock me anymore. I just always find it humorous when some die hards rip Bay to shreds over these things, when it needs to be realized that Hasbro is not just signing off on everything, they totally approve of them.

I think you're right, but ironically, the toys don't have this feature so I'm kind of wondering why not? Was it because the toys were designed before this decision was made? It seems like the toys would have this as a feature but oddly, none of the toys have this feature. Jazz has his visor. Bumblebee has his non-battle mode face. Prime has his battle mode face. They basically took the best version of each face/mode for the toys.

For Gondor! wrote:

Wingus wrote:Real mature, whoever the webmaster is that approved that "news post". In the same line as that terrible "Megatron 101" thing a few months back. Get over the designs already. This is a movie to make money, not a "Multi-million Dollar Valentine to the fans".

What a load of crap.

I agree. I normally don't say this, but if it wasn't for us fans and the resurgence of 80s brands, this movie wouldn't be happening. There's a reason that the Transformers have been around for 23 years. The fans are what's ultimately consistent. That and random family members buying these as random gifts for random children. There should be enough things in a movie like this to keep the fans happy. If the movie is a success or if it fails, the fans stick by the side of the movie no matter what. I hope that's what happens. I guess we'll know for sure in 2 months. I've already been working on my "wow, the movie guys were right ... the movie is incredible" speech as well as the "wow, the movie guys should've listened to us" speech. This could go either way. I'm prepared no matter what. That's what an Entertainment medium does.

Seibertron wrote:

For Gondor! wrote:

Wingus wrote:Real mature, whoever the webmaster is that approved that "news post". In the same line as that terrible "Megatron 101" thing a few months back. Get over the designs already. This is a movie to make money, not a "Multi-million Dollar Valentine to the fans".

What a load of crap.

I agree. I normally don't say this, but if it wasn't for us fans and the resurgence of 80s brands, this movie wouldn't be happening. There's a reason that the Transformers have been around for 23 years. The fans are what's ultimately consistent. That and random family members buying these as random gifts for random children. There should be enough things in a movie like this to keep the fans happy. If the movie is a success or if it fails, the fans stick by the side of the movie no matter what. I hope that's what happens. I guess we'll know for sure in 2 months. I've already been working on my "wow, the movie guys were right ... the movie is incredible" speech as well as the "wow, the movie guys should've listened to us" speech. This could go either way. I'm prepared no matter what. That's what an Entertainment medium does.

I'm still at a loss sometimes when I see images of the robots in this movie. It would have cost them nothing to apply a little bit of recognisability and slightly more familiar aesthetics..

Seibertron wrote:This really pisses me off. It's Optimus-f'in-Prime for crying out loud. Can we at least have ONE thing in this movie not be changed for the sake of changing? I can't believe how passive so many people are being about this decision. And don't bring up the whole Optimus Primal thing. I would have been fine if they did the Beast Wars or Cybertron approach with movie Prime. This just looks ridiculous. How anyone at ILM or Dreamworks or even at Hasbro thought this looked even remotely good or "cool" seriously needs to get their eyes checked.

Please keep the entire design staff as far away as possible from G.I.Joe and any future Super Hero movies. Next thing you know we'll have a yellow Spider-Man with a visor and pinchers on his face as well as the Blue Lantern, a red Batman, a green Superman and a pink Wolverine. After seeing Spider-Man tonight and seeing how faithful they are to his costume, it helped me realize how disappointed I am to this day in the robot designs in this movie. I don't care what the reasons are for it, these design changes were poor decisions from the get-go and are completely unnecessary regardless of what mumbo-jumbo they want to make up to spin these changes to the public.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm extremely excited about the movie. But I feel a strong sense of Deja Vu. Beast Machines comes to mind. Great story. Absolutely horrible designs.

I second that. I have not seen Spider Man yet, I plan to very soon, but still, this is a load of baby back bullshit. This is it folks, somehow or other these guys felt that they were given this huge franchise to deal with and now no matter what anyone says or does, they're right everyone else is wrong, any questions?

I will about guarantee you, this is the end of Transformers. I heard all about Michael Bay's reputation as a poor director. I've never seen one of his films, my cousins seem to think Armageddon was the greatest film ever, but then again they have poor taste in films usually. I've heard Pearl Harbor was unrealistic, so I was disappointed with who was making the movie. Best director/producer combos were Robert Zemeckis/Steven Spielberg and Gore Verbinksi/Jerry Bruckheimer. Get one of these pairs to do Transformers, then you just might have a movie worth watching.

The only thing this movie might, and I use the term might very loosely here, get an honorable mention for is voice acting. If the audio clips circulating around are viable then Starscream has the best person for the job other than Cullen and Welker. Which I'm not entirely convinced Welker is not in the movie and the whole Hugo Weaving thing is to keep the fanbase off balance. They have to surprise us somehow right? I mean this movie is going to bust, so they have to get people to come to the theater just to see if the rumors are true.

Seibertron wrote:

For Gondor! wrote:

Wingus wrote:Real mature, whoever the webmaster is that approved that "news post". In the same line as that terrible "Megatron 101" thing a few months back. Get over the designs already. This is a movie to make money, not a "Multi-million Dollar Valentine to the fans".

What a load of crap.

I agree. I normally don't say this, but if it wasn't for us fans and the resurgence of 80s brands, this movie wouldn't be happening. There's a reason that the Transformers have been around for 23 years. The fans are what's ultimately consistent. That and random family members buying these as random gifts for random children. There should be enough things in a movie like this to keep the fans happy. If the movie is a success or if it fails, the fans stick by the side of the movie no matter what. I hope that's what happens. I guess we'll know for sure in 2 months. I've already been working on my "wow, the movie guys were right ... the movie is incredible" speech as well as the "wow, the movie guys should've listened to us" speech. This could go either way. I'm prepared no matter what. That's what an Entertainment medium does.

Their is one thing you forgot to mention, Ryan. The saturation of Transformers Movie Products in the market. I'm afraid that the market will be so saturated that it's going to turn a lot of people off... I'm having flashbacks of Star Wars: Episode 1 all over again.

OMG! I just read that G.I. Joe thing on a yahoo movie page. WTF are these people thinking?!? I've been reading in this forum for quite a while, because i'm a child of the 80's and just got my interest back into my childhood favorites like Transformers and GI Joe. Now, with that said, the movie folks are trying to change the name because international audiences won't like it? Excuse me? Isn't GI Joe the "Real AMERICAN Hero?"
As for Prime's face and the designs...I looked at it and said the same thing i'm sure every kid I grew up with will say when they see the movie...."WTF is that monstrosity? Optimus Prime has two spikes on his head and no mouth!
Now, as I remember correctly, I grew up in the G1 era, and just about every kid I knew was obsessed with two things...GI Joe and Transformers. What we most remember about those toys?

1. The overall look. Meaning, the cartoon humans looked like they were from America, not anime stuff. The TFs will be recognizable anywhere they went because of their design.
2. The sounds. Who can forget the voices, the transformation sounds? I guarantee you, if you blindfolded a hundred 28-20yr males, and Peter Cullen/Fank Welker/Soundwave talked, they would be instantly recognizable. Why mess that up?

Ok, so its late and i've read EVERY post on here, so i'm a little braindead, hehe. I really like this site opposed to others, because it seems more "educated" and mature, if you call debating over toys mature hehe:)

Ya'know....I read a newsweek or Time magazine article yesterday about fanboys and movies and such, and one thing in the article really stuck with me...These movies like fantastic 4 and espically Spiderman...



It was important that they got a FAN to direct the movie.

i agree hot rod. brawl kinda looks like a beat-up dog. maybe they can teach him a trick or two

Who cares if he has lips? Fans wanted the voice of Peter Cullen coming out of Prime and that's what we ended up with. Content and characterization will make or break, not a set of lips.