The Energon Pub

That is hilarious.

GOOD. Netflix Transformers looked amazing but the stories were uninspired and boring.

I think that's an incredible generous take for the train wrecks that were Prime Wars and WFC. Maybe Netflix decided that the series would again be substandard and that doesn't help Netflix. Those series weren't serious or adult oriented, they were juvenile and laughable. From menasor's voice acting to spirit plane sky lynx.

The pairing was bad to begin with. Rooster Teeth can't write a good story to save it's life. Netflix is just doing what Netflix does. Put out garbage content, and then cancel at the first sign of trouble. The only difference is that unlike many of their other projects, WFC trilogy didn't cost very much.

I think it could have been much better, with different writers, and actually on a network of some kind, NOT Netflix.

Now for the next 2 years at least, there will be no new TF content to enjoy. I could watch the original series or BW for the Hundredth time. Or Car Robots or Prime for the dozenth time. But there are plenty of other things to keep me going.

Other than a couple of toys. 2022-23 seem to be a very TF light year.

The most exciting bit of animated news is that Discotek will be releasing Dorvack the complete series as SD on BRD. I can't wait to see OG Whirl and Roadbuster in animated form

1. I'm half-surprised the cancellation didn't happen to Kingdom, Netflix have a bad habit of dropping things before they run their course it feels like.
2a. Wait, the Prime Wars machinima were on Netflix? Geez.
2b. The Prime Wars machinima being received lukewarm isn't exactly a surprise, they weren't very good from what I understand. Combiner Wars did a worse job hawking combiners than freaking Energon (let alone the toyline's actual TV ads), Titans Return was just kinda there, and Power of the Primes A. didn't do much to unify and hype the line's gimmicks beyond "moar combiners, B. used models of 3P toys instead of what it was supposed to hawk in some cases, and C. Drowned itself in negativity like the worse parts of the 2000s Battlestar Galactica.

3. The WFC trilogy was... okay, based on seeing SIEGE and reading summaries. Certainly has good character bits. But it could have been better. Rooster Teeth made the mistake of writing with the assumption most viewers would be fans already immersed in the lore, so for people who aren't in the know the series doesn't establish certain key things very well. For all that people call the G1 cartoon shallow, it does a good job of establishing its key ideological conflict in the pilot miniseries - the Decepticons are military imperialists, whereas the Autobots are workers who've had to become soldiers because they oppose the Decepticons' imperialism. It also might have been nice to see Rooster Teeth work together with IDW to build a collaborative storyline, instead of yet more fragmented G1 continuities that don't really work with each other.

I'd still like to see a series, cartoon or comic, that does what the Wings Universe did (but to a broader extent and where possible better): Flesh out the G1 cartoon's universe (I'd love to see stories of cartoon-continuity Megatron's early days, see how he grows into the role he was built for) and unify bits of lore that snag on each other (either by tweaking them or explaining how they work together). As well as providing: an actual depiction of the Protectobots' belatedly-established origins, retellings of Season 1 stories (or at least of snapshots of them) that insert the "Here all along" Season 2 characters into those events, a re-do of B.O.T. as something that doesn't fail (or else an official statement from Hasbro that that episode does not count and is retroactively 100% on the4 cutting room floor)...

o.supreme wrote:Now for the next 2 years at least, there will be no new TF content to enjoy. I could watch the original series or BW for the Hundredth time. Or Car Robots or Prime for the dozenth time. But there are plenty of other things to keep me going.

You could always give the TF show that comes out on March 25 a chance. It looks fun and lighthearted and will probably have better VA and writing than either prime wars or WFC.

I'm not saying it's going to be bad. It's just not for me.

o.supreme wrote:The pairing was bad to begin with. Rooster Teeth can't write a good story to save it's life. Netflix is just doing what Netflix does. Put out garbage content, and then cancel at the first sign of trouble. The only difference is that unlike many of their other projects, WFC trilogy didn't cost very much.

I think it could have been much better, with different writers, and actually on a network of some kind, NOT Netflix.

Now for the next 2 years at least, there will be no new TF content to enjoy. I could watch the original series or BW for the Hundredth time. Or Car Robots or Prime for the dozenth time. But there are plenty of other things to keep me going.

Other than a couple of toys. 2022-23 seem to be a very TF light year.

The most exciting bit of animated news is that Discotek will be releasing Dorvack the complete series as SD on BRD. I can't wait to see OG Whirl and Roadbuster in animated form

You really don’t know anything.

Rooster teeth writers didn’t write WFC. They produced it. It was written by previous transformers writers with the bulk of kingdom being written by cyberverse writers. Netflix doesn’t typically cancel shows when they falter(They don’t reveal numbers unless it’s a trending hit and that’s to gloat it’s success), they have fully admitted they only see most of their original shows going for 2-3 seasons. I’m saying most by the way. There’s a few exceptions but transformers isn’t worth comparing to orange is the new black or stranger things.

And I’m sure you’ll still watch all the new shows if only to complain about them on forums.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:1. I'm half-surprised the cancellation didn't happen to Kingdom, Netflix have a bad habit of dropping things before they run their course it feels like.

I'd reckon the contracts were written in such a way that they couldn't cancel it mid-way through. Also note "Offered"... Netflix declined renewal instead of cancelling it when the numbers fell.
Netflix received that offer, looked back at the previous four years and didn't want another embarrassing Transformers show under their belt (third time's the charm I guess).

In my view, Hasbro shortsightedly put their name on the cheapest toy commercial possible with the WFC trilogy. Hasbro could learn from Marvel. Marvel would never put their name on something at the level of WFC. Marvel has done an excellent job of investing in their IP, and, as a result, people trust a Marvel product will hit a certain level of quality. By pinching pennies, Hasbro only damages the Transformers brand.

The pandemic has shifted entertainment to streaming, and the quality has gone up (e.g. WandaVision, The Mandalorian). Hasbro needs to compare reasonably with the competition if they want to make a toy commercial.

WFC was just one in a long long list. Netflix has had far worse series since, and will keep making terrible decisions, then cancel them after the fact

It all comes down to money. If Netflix didn't had enough viewership for that series, of course they'll pull the plug.

mikeb wrote:In my view, Hasbro shortsightedly put their name on the cheapest toy commercial possible with the WFC trilogy. Hasbro could learn from Marvel. Marvel would never put their name on something at the level of WFC. Marvel has done an excellent job of investing in their IP, and, as a result, people trust a Marvel product will hit a certain level of quality. By pinching pennies, Hasbro only damages the Transformers brand.

The pandemic has shifted entertainment to streaming, and the quality has gone up (e.g. WandaVision, The Mandalorian). Hasbro needs to compare reasonably with the competition if they want to make a toy commercial.

Hasbro makes both marvel and transformers. They’re not really competing dude. They know who buys what as well as there people who get both and don’t compare the MCUs fiction to transformers. They’re apples and oranges

The WfC trilogy wasn't lukewarmly received because they were mature. It's because they were garbage. The writers couldn't actually write for peanuts and it showed all too clearly.

~ Grim

Big Grim wrote:The WfC trilogy wasn't lukewarmly received because they were mature. It's because they were garbage. The writers couldn't actually write for peanuts and it showed all too clearly.

~ Grim

Wasn’t well received…siege has a 96% on rotten tomatoes, Earthrise has an 86% and kingdom has an 83%.

Wasn’t well received by grown adults who play with toys who think their fan fiction is better and spend most of their time on message boards complaining about everything. Know who takes those reviews serious? NOBODY! But the companies do take the professional reviewers serious.

Randomhero wrote:

mikeb wrote:In my view, Hasbro shortsightedly put their name on the cheapest toy commercial possible with the WFC trilogy. Hasbro could learn from Marvel. Marvel would never put their name on something at the level of WFC. Marvel has done an excellent job of investing in their IP, and, as a result, people trust a Marvel product will hit a certain level of quality. By pinching pennies, Hasbro only damages the Transformers brand.

The pandemic has shifted entertainment to streaming, and the quality has gone up (e.g. WandaVision, The Mandalorian). Hasbro needs to compare reasonably with the competition if they want to make a toy commercial.

Hasbro makes both marvel and transformers. They’re not really competing dude. They know who buys what as well as there people who get both and don’t compare the MCUs fiction to transformers. They’re apples and oranges

I think he was mainly referring to the TV/Movie side of Marvel rather then toy side, after all more people watch Marvel tv then buy Marvel toys. You're end assumption is right though, they are apples and oranges really.

I haven't posted on here in YEARS. I came on here to say that the NETFLIX transformers shows were terrible! I'm surprised kingdom ever got made the way the first two were so slow and painfully devoid of any plot or humor or excitement. I would rather watch a stop motion toy commercial than subject myself to more than a few minutes of WFC trilogy. SO BORING!!

This has nothing to do with Netflix not wanting mature transformers content the WFC shows were just bad.

I am honestly not surprised. Siege and Kingdom were ...ok... shows. But they weren't good. and the rest were just horrible. (except the cw-pw megatron, he was gold) Hell, even the idw comic prequal stories were worse then bad, they were boring.

I know theres a lot of blame put on rooster teeth, and with VERY good reason, however I think there's a large sum of blame to be levied on hasbro themselves and the constraints they put on the story.

writing was bad, voice direction was terrible, some characters were a complete waste (looking at you skylynx). In the end, there's barely enough there to justify a webtoon, let alone a full blown series.

Randomhero wrote:Wasn’t well received by grown adults who play with toys who think their fan fiction is better and spend most of their time on message boards complaining about everything.

Yes, taking this tone is entirely acceptable.

I collect the odd Transformer. I don't write fan fiction. I DO write. About various things. Not about Transformers though. I don't complain about everything. In fact, I rarely "complain". I praise what I enjoy and will offer my opinion on something that I believe is terrible. The Netflix shows were terrible. They were poorly written. That's my opinion. It's not insulting anyone

Please take your incredibly broad insult and chuck it. It's unnecessary. Cheers.

~ Grim

Honestly, Siege was so bad that it amazes me just how much better a fanmade stop motion production can capture all the feels and emotions of the story concept of Siege so much better than Siege tried and failed to do.

What stop motion? why, "Target: Alpha Trion", of course:



Give it a watch. It is amazing. It's got Garry Chalk, Peter Spellos, and a Megatron who sounds like an impression of Tim Curry!

Sabrblade wrote:Honestly, Siege was so bad that it amazes me just how much better a fanmade stop motion production can capture all the feels and emotions of the story concept of Siege so much better than Siege tried and failed to do.

What stop motion? why, "Target: Alpha Trion", of course:



Give it a watch. It is amazing. It's got Garry Chalk, Peter Spellos, and a Megatron who sounds like an impression of Tim Curry!

Nah. I’m not giving that a view nor allowing YouTube to throw that in an algorithm to suggest more of that fan wank

Mercy Killing based on the last two trilogies that were put out.
Good animation wit Bad writing hurts. Bring back the writers for Beast Wars, Prime or Animated and maybe we could get something good again.

Randomhero wrote:

Big Grim wrote:The WfC trilogy wasn't lukewarmly received because they were mature. It's because they were garbage. The writers couldn't actually write for peanuts and it showed all too clearly.

~ Grim

Wasn’t well received…siege has a 96% on rotten tomatoes, Earthrise has an 86% and kingdom has an 83%.

Wasn’t well received by grown adults who play with toys who think their fan fiction is better and spend most of their time on message boards complaining about everything. Know who takes those reviews serious? NOBODY! But the companies do take the professional reviewers serious.

Bingo. The only people I’ve seen trashing the War For Cybertron show are people on forums like this who are to be frank, probably too beholden to the original source material to give a new interpretation a decent shake.

Netflix deciding to pass on Legacy is a sign that the viewership wasn’t there and little else. They care about what brings them new subscribers and views and obviously the War For Cybertron Trilogy didn’t move the needle to their satisfaction.

TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:Netflix deciding to pass on Legacy is a sign that the viewership wasn’t there and little else. They care about what brings them new subscribers and views and obviously the War For Cybertron Trilogy didn’t move the needle to their satisfaction.

Exactly.
Whenever a show is "good", "bad", "outrageous", or "amazing" is of no importance.
Money talk.

Great show with little views get cancelled all the time while horrible show but with high view counts get renewed seasons after seasons. It's always viewership.

Thinking about it, viewership for Animated season 3 must have taken a nosedive for S04 to be cancelled. Maybe too much random human villains?

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:1. I'm half-surprised the cancellation didn't happen to Kingdom, Netflix have a bad habit of dropping things before they run their course it feels like.

As someone who was looking forward to season 2 of Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, I can relate...

As for these news, I'm...rather ambivalent. On the one hand, I'd like to have seen a better, mature Transformers series just to show it can be done outside of comics (Prime Wars was a trash fire that improved too slowly too late, not helped by the exaggerated hype and expectations - "Game Of Thrones of animation", seriously? - and WfC, while not exactly bad - at least from what I've seen, I haven't had the chance to watch Kingdom yet - had the potential to be so much better, especially if instead of reusing already tried story threads like the search for the Allspark they followed on some of the more original plot points, like a Bumblebee with a Matrix-analogue to grow alongside Prime or a Quintesson who helped the Transformers rebel against his enslaving brethren), and I'd like to see the Transformers multiverse explored for a wider audience. On the other hand, unless there's some changes in the staff and/or story directions I really don't trust them with another "mature" storyline, and the less time I have to spend watching Bulkhound pretend to be Prime Bulkhead the better, and yes I'm still mad about that!