The Energon Pub

Newsflash! The Generation 1 animated series was poorly written and animated! ZOMG!!!!!11!! HOW CAN THIS BE??!! I just love how nostalgia distorts perspective of how things actually are.

And to those that want "sophisticated Transformers", it doesn't matter what kind of toy (they are toys) you carry up to the register, that cashier and people you pass, still think you're a loser.

trent hughes wrote:Newsflash! The Generation 1 animated series was poorly written and animated! ZOMG!!!!!11!! HOW CAN THIS BE??!! I just love how nostalgia distorts perspective of how things actually are.

And to those that want "sophisticated Transformers", it doesn't matter what kind of toy (they are toys) you carry up to the register, that cashier and people you pass, still think you're a loser.

Sounds like someone may still have issues of their own with collecting toys, aye?
And contrary to popular belief, the G1 cartoon was not poorly animated. I'm a Classically trained Animator myself and I can tell you that for a daily tv show involving characters that were more detailed than average, it was pretty well done. In the TV Animation industry, the deadline is your god, and you have to really move with things. No ifs ands or buts, and considering that this stuff was done on hand drawn and hand painted cells...no Flash, no After-Effects, no USAnimation, no computers, nada...I'm impressed. You can't make a fair comparison between a show from 20+ years ago to one today. Its obviously not going to make the grade because of the leaps in technology, and in that biz they've been major. You look at what was available at the time and judge it accordingly. Same can be said of the writing. Simplistic by today's standards, yes, but average to most other American cartoons of the day.

Now, as for the toys, I actually like them better than the cartoon; they're kinda cute in a playschool sorta way. Where I think the show would've pleased more people is if they went cg with the robots.

Funkmaster Fleximus wrote:Sounds like someone may still have issues of their own with collecting toys, aye?
And contrary to popular belief, the G1 cartoon was not poorly animated. I'm a Classically trained Animator myself and I can tell you that for a daily tv show involving characters that were more detailed than average, it was pretty well done. In the TV Animation industry, the deadline is your god, and you have to really move with things. No ifs ands or buts, and considering that this stuff was done on hand drawn and hand painted cells...no Flash, no After-Effects, no USAnimation, no computers, nada...I'm impressed. You can't make a fair comparison between a show from 20+ years ago to one today. Its obviously not going to make the grade because of the leaps in technology, and in that biz they've been major. You look at what was available at the time and judge it accordingly. Same can be said of the writing. Simplistic by today's standards, yes, but average to most other American cartoons of the day.

Now, as for the toys, I actually like them better than the cartoon; they're kinda cute in a playschool sorta way. Where I think the show would've pleased more people is if they went cg with the robots.

No issues here. I just don't make any pretentions that I'm not a 29 year old loser buying toys made for kids.

Skowl wrote:

Jaz-Zen wrote:This should be "newsified." Those of us that like TF Animated will want to see this. Good find, Sephron.

Indeed it should!

Front paged and credited

Woo!! Thanks!!

There's such a huge divide, it seems, among those that like/love these new figures and those that just absolutely hate them! I'm surprised, actually. If it's not your cup-o-tea, that's cool. Personally, I like 'em and I'll be picking up a few (probably all). I see where people may not like the new designs and/or figures, though. To each his own.

Who's the Green/Black guy with the hook hand?

Prime looks cool. Is Megatron a paperweight? Wait, I know, he's a letter opener. No, I've got it-he's a set of garden shears. It must be easy to design a figure when it doesn't matter what it transforms into. What is it with the "new" Megatron-is he too damn good now to transform into an Earthly shape? "Hi, I'm Megatron, I'm too cool to become one of your lowly jets, or guns, or tanks." Jerk.

I just came from Youtube and watching about 13 minutes of the new cartoon footage..!!! I gotta say, optimus Prime is a cool character, though in like maybe his early 20s, he's still a badass.. !! I like his cybertronian Deluxe Bot more now that I've seen his character in action on the youtube...

I like Bumblebee, he's like a slightly more experienced scout, but still probably about as young as prime..think 3rd year Private..Optimus would be 1st year Officer..Prowl is a cool and advisory character..kinda like Jaga from Thundercats, only not a ghost, and Ratchet is like Kup...not bad overall...

Apparently Cybertron is under a government and Prime isn't the huge leader of 1/2 the faction in a civil war... we'll see where this new story takes us, but back on the figures side of things, i must say I'm really interested in seeing what Prime's voyager will turn out to be, and toi see if a "Matrix" upgrade will end up being an even better and bigger, "leader class" design down the road..

But so far so good... I'm just still perplexed by that Megatron..Have to see him in action..

But wow that Starscream is the best..

Personally, I like the look of toys a lot. They're definitely different from what we've seen before, and I'm impressed at how well the look of the characters has been carried over from the cartoon to the toys. (I had some serious doubts in that regard, I'll admit.) One thing's for sure, they'll add diversity to my TF shelves, and show the range of styles that can be applied to the Transformers characters. I like the fact that they'll look unique when displayed next to my G1, Alternators, Classics, Titaniums, and Movie TFs.

Also, the Mighty Orbots inspiration doesn't bother me at all either, since I seem to be one of a handful of people who actually remember the show. When it originally aired, it was one of my favorite shows on Saturday morning... second only to Transformers.

Will Likely Buy:
• Optimus Prime (Earth Mode)
• Megatron--Very cool! One of my favorite designs for Megs to date. Looks like he has a BFG too, which I do prefer my Megatrons to feature.
• Black Arachnia--My favorite version of her thus far.
• Blitzwing
• Bumblebee
• Grimlock--The bulky look suits him well, and I love the new sword. (Like Megatron's BFG, it's something I feel he should always have.)
• Prowl--Looks to be fast and nimble... kinda ninja-like, perhaps a bit truer to his name. I dig it.
• Starscream
• Soundwave--Different, yes, and the guitar thing is undoubtedly corny. Still, I like 'im just the same. (The guitar doesn't really matter that much to me, as I'll likely display Laserbeak in condor-mode anyway. I'll see to it that my Soundwave and Prime are outfitted with more traditional weapons as well.)

Will Likely Pass On:
• Bulkhead
• Lugnut

Looking Forward To:
• Arcee--If she looks as good as Black Arachnia, I'll be happy.
• Jazz
• Shockwave
• Ultra Magnus--Please, not another Prime repaint! Here's hoping we'll see something different!

The others, well, I'm not too sure about them just yet. Whatever the case, between these and Classics 2.0, it appears that I have a lot to look forward to in terms of Transformer Toys.

DevastaTTor wrote:Who's the Green/Black guy with the hook hand?

Lockdown.

I'm getting ready dor work so I need to be quick. For the most part I like the Decepticons. BlackArachnia looks like a less bulky version of her TM2 self.

The AutoBots however look like something from the Failed Go-Bots line. I do not like them.

I am intrested in seeing an actual BlitzWing as he was always one of my favorite characters, and I'm hoping it'll be good to see his return.

trent hughes wrote:

DevastaTTor wrote:Who's the Green/Black guy with the hook hand?

Lockdown.

Thanks.

What is lockdown's altmode...???? if I had to guess I'd say he was a motorcycle..or a Harley chopper

Everytime I see these molds, I keep thinking "Gobot" for some reason. Not that all of them are bad molds, I just keep thinking Gobots.

I'm definitely getting Grimlock(I like the jaw, it suits him), Starscream(look at that smirk), Soundwave(Lazerbeak GUITAR!), and Earth-mode Optimus. All in all, I'm impressed with the lack of kibble. These look really good.

Slag looks...well...awful. Which is a shame, because I really want another full set of Dinobots. Bulkhead, I could live without. Megatron looks awful. I can understand why they designed him the way they did(capitalizing on the movie design, while combining it with G1). That chest would look super on a Shockwave, though. Can't wait to see what HIS toy will look like.

I want all of them. I dont get why you people don't like Lugnut and Bulkhead....

What is lockdown's altmode????

dabattousai wrote:I said it before, when I saw Soundwave, I thought...

I thought the same thing

I think lockdown alt mode is like a helicopter or something..I may very well be mistaken.

dabattousai wrote:I said it before, when I saw Soundwave, I thought...

Now I'm imagining Demyx to sound like Dr. Smoov's Soundwave in the "Decepticons Superior" video.

So Blackarachnia is Larxene?

Can't wait for these toys! X3

trent hughes wrote:Newsflash! The Generation 1 animated series was poorly written and animated! ZOMG!!!!!11!! HOW CAN THIS BE??!! I just love how nostalgia distorts perspective of how things actually are.

THANK YOU. I disagree with the animation complaint on a few cases (Season 1 & 2 had good animation most of the time, the movie's animation was incredible, Season 3 dipped) I have to agree on the writing, I think the movie and Dark Awakening were the best things to come out of G1.

As for the toys, I really like Lugnut, in both modes. Bulkhead and Lockdown (Who turns into a car I believe since someone asked) I'm not digging right now. I want to see pics of Lockdown's vehicle mode before I pass judgement, it may be pretty awesome.

Overall I think I may enjoy this line. And i am 75thing the love of Prowl.

skywarp-2 wrote:What is lockdown's altmode...???? if I had to guess I'd say he was a motorcycle..or a Harley chopper

He's a sort of muscle car dragster thing. Here's a screenshot from the preview vidoe shown at Botcon:

with the armada trilogy I never felt like the characterful distinct G1 toys had returned so to speak, looking at the toys on pegs just left me very uninterested. I bought a few of the energon (link types) and cybertron toys i liked (and theres only a few), binaltech are amazing but hardly fun, the classics were awesome, the movie toys are too dull, some OK but for the first time in 20 years i feel that an honest attept to restart the series properly with a real core line up of immediately memorable characters and toys, I think the whole thing is quite ingenious, if im not mistaken is it not the australian guy who designed classics bumblebee who was involved with these toys?

I agree that perhaps some of the the robo designs are a little bit too humanish and a touch too cute, i'd prefer a 25% evolution into a more angular robo look and 25% less cuteness but overall I think this is the best thing to happen to TF in a long time. The upcoming waves of movie toys just seem so bland by comparison. for those who hate all this there are the classics/universe that are also amazing.

ANYONE KNOW WHEN THESE ARE DUE?????

ahem.. thanks.

For the most part, I do not like the looks of these toys, however...Starscream is pretty funny. I like him. Anyway, I am not sure how they are classed as "Clearer" with that watermark smacked across them... Anyway, Cool! looking foward to Starscream

if im not mistaken is it not the australian guy who designed classics bumblebee who was involved with these toys?

Does anyone know what the Australian guy's name is. If you have contact details, even better. Please pm me

Cheers

DevastaTTor wrote:Prime looks cool. Is Megatron a paperweight? Wait, I know, he's a letter opener. No, I've got it-he's a set of garden shears. It must be easy to design a figure when it doesn't matter what it transforms into. What is it with the "new" Megatron-is he too damn good now to transform into an Earthly shape? "Hi, I'm Megatron, I'm too cool to become one of your lowly jets, or guns, or tanks." Jerk.

Yhey said buy the end he will look COMPLETELEY DIFFERENT and more traditional altmode with is a gun.