The Energon Pub

[padfoo]

Devastator is a bit small in that scale slide isn't he?

[King Kuuga]

:?: Devastator is a bit small in that scale slide isn't he?

Well we don't really know how any of them stack up to Metroplex but in this show, Devy is about the same size as the other combiners, roughly twice as tall as Megatron, and let's assume Overlord is roughly the same size as Megatron too. So Devy is scaled right, and the giant Victorion is the combiner of combiners they all formed in this last episode.

[Sabrblade]

Here is episode 7 - https://www.go90.com/videos/37rr2B0WBM6

Titled "Run For Our Lives"

That does not bode well.

[Sabrblade]

Oh man, where do I even begin with this episode?

I must confess, that when the super-combiner Victorion appeared in front of Trypticon at this episode's start, I got the faintest, briefest, tiniest bit of excited that the obviously forthcoming fight between Vicky and Tryppy might possibly be something like the fight between Optimus Supreme and Unicron in the Energon cartoon, which was arguably the best and coolest part of that show. But, alas, what we got instead not only quick to kill any and all traces of that hint of excitement in me, but also served to illustrate the notion that Victorion in this episode is, both figuratively and literally, the biggest idiot this side of the known galaxy. And considering that her opponent right next to her was Trypticon of all people, that's saying something.

And it didn't hit me until after the previous episode came and went, but last episode's having Optimus get the Matrix back could have been the perfect opportunity for this episode to advertise one more toy in the Titans Return toyline (even if it would be so late in the game at this point) by having Optimus upgrade into his Leader class Powermaster Optimus Prime toy body. Once again, this episode missed the mark on that by having Optimus keep his normal look (Guess it would have been too expensive to create a whole new Optimus CG model on top of the one they already had carried over from Combiner Wars).

The whole thing with Windblade and Emissary was just ridiculous. He keeps yelling at her to "DISENGAGE!", yet he's the one who's at the controls. He's the one who should have the power to free her. She's bound up by stuff that he set in motion last episode. She can't free herself, Emissary. It's all your doing!

And once again, we're only fed table scraps of what it means to be a Cityspeaker in this show, as though it's already expected of the audience to fully understand what that term means, not accounting for the very real possibility that there may be a good portion of this show's audience that hasn't read/doesn't read the IDW comics (and based on evidence I've seen from others' reactions, that is very true).

And when Optimus gave the Matrix to Perceptor to keep safe, when he was thinking that Optimus was trying to pass it onto him, did anyone else immediately think "Oh great, he's passing the Matrix onto Wesley Crusher! "?

And was anyone else really disappointed that Fort Max was formed, head and all, without Emissary needing to first attach himself to Cerebros, as though Emissary may be treated as a fully separate entity from Fort Max in this show?

At the very least, Michael Dorn sounded... "adequate" as Fort Max (honestly, anyone with a deep voice could play this role decently enough with this quality of writing/directing).

[o.supreme]

the obviously forthcoming fight... might possibly be something like the fight between Optimus Supreme and Unicron in the Energon cartoon, which was arguably the best and coolest part of that show.

Agreed on both the assessment of TF Energon & the anticipation of this fight...and its huge letdown.

This is an episode that could have been easily 5 minuets long but is padded quite a bit. Didn't need to see the interior of Windblades cockpit for 20 seconds or whatever it was... also does anyone know what Trypscream said to giant Victorion...? something about power?

Also, the lack of transition from Emissary, to Cerebros, to become Fort Max's head was a letdown. Well 3 episodes of this left to go...I'm guessing we might not see what happens to Rodimus until the very end, as the set up for the next series.

[Sabrblade]

also does anyone know what Trypscream said to giant Victorion...? something about power?

There are closed captions to turn on.

Also, the lack of transition from Emissary, to Cerebros, to become Fort Max's head was a letdown.

To be a little fairer, after I made my post about that, it was pointed out to me that what we saw was still admittedly toy-accurate, since Emissary actually isn't needed to be attached to Cerebros to form Fort Max's robot mode, head and all.

Still, Fort Max operating without Emissary at all kinda diminishes Emissary's whole point of being a key part of Fort Max in the first place.

[o.supreme]

also does anyone know what Trypscream said to giant Victorion...? something about power?

There are closed captions to turn on.

I watched a ripped copy on Youtube that doesn't have CC, Ill have to wait until I get home from work to watch on go90 I guess...


Also I know Emissary doesn't "have to" be part of Fort Max in robot mode to be toy accurate. But in fiction, it isn't exactly explained the relationship between the 3. I always have Emissary in the compartment below the head in my Fort Max when in Robot mode. That way I know he will not get lost

[Sabrblade]

also does anyone know what Trypscream said to giant Victorion...? something about power?

There are closed captions to turn on.

I watched a ripped copy on Youtube that doesn't have CC, Ill have to wait until I get home form work to watch on go90

I'll take a quick peek for ya.

Scary rumbling voice: "Victorion..."
Starscream voice straining in pain: "...It is too powerful for you to defeat."


Also, so much for the closed captions being helpful. What was obviously spoken as "Victorion..." was captioned as "Then come on..."

[o.supreme]

thanks. I found the same to be on Youtube, either the English is bad, or they don't offer it at all, just in Spanish. Might as well be watching one of those cheaply produced anime dvd's made in china with horribly translated English subs.

[Sabrblade]

Episode's on KimCartoon now - http://kimcartoon.me/Cartoon/Transformers-Titans-Return/Episode-7

[Bronzewolf]

So, we've finally reached the seventh episode of Machinima's Titans Return animated series. Last week was miles away from the best episode we've gotten thus far, so does this week's fare any better? Let's find out and dive deep into Episode 8 of Titans Return.

Before we get into the episode we're greeted with a title card that presents the name of this episode.

You heard it. We really should.

After that we get a 30 second long establishing shot of the Basilica shooting its laser at Trypticon. 30 seconds for a shot like this wouldn't be awful, except the whole episode is only around 11 minutes long. Take out the intro and title card, you get closer to 10. On top of that, the shot is of something we already know is happening, thanks to it being established in the last episode. This could have easily been cut to half the time at least.

Anyway, moving on. The reason we have this big of an establishing shot is because we're just in time for the arrival of Victorion (or, the super combiner version of her), and the following string of sequences completely baffles me. So first, Victorion materializes right in front of Trypticon, with the basilica's laser passing right over her head. She randomly calls for Overlord, even though there's nothing saying he's even remotely close to her, and somehow doesn't notice the giant robot dinosaur behind her, or the giant laser beam firing at it, and gets launched across the city by Trypticon's fire breath. I didn't think is was possible to get ambushed by a 150-story kaiju, but here we are.

He's right behind me, isn't he.

To add some sort of insult to injury, she then comes back with the line that they "almost forgot about" Trypticon. What?! You almost forgot about Trypticon rampaging through the city?! Sure. I don't know if this is just a poorly-executed taunt, but the line isn't delivered that way. It's just confusing. In fact, on my first watch, I couldn't believe this was actually the plot they chose to go with. I'm still in total disbelief.

Victorion then tries to fight Trypticon, taking a huge swing with her sword, slicing through a building, just to find Trypticon casually walking to the complete other side of her. Seriously, in one shot he's directly in front of her, and then in the next he's just waltzing around on her left.


What the f*** is HAPPENING?!?

Also, I'm completely glossing over the fact that somehow a combiner made of combiners just looks like a giant Victorion, because we have bigger fish to fry.

She's just a cosmic girl, from another galaxy...

Moving on from the Victorion fight for a moment, we also have Windblade still strapped up to Fort Max. Something is obviously going wrong, as Emissary tries to talk to her, and keeps telling her to disconnect from the system. It doesn't make a lot of sense, as he's the one at the freakin' controls! Seems like he'd be more in a position to help her disconnect. Meanwhile, on the outside she seems to be in pain, she is actually making contact with the titan city. In the brief discussion, he asks, very appropriately, why he should trust her. Why she wouldn't at least mention that Emissary sent her is beyond me, but she apparently convinces him anyway.

We interrupt Titans Return to bring you "Contact"

A very sudden transition cut later, we return to the Chorus of Prime's chamber, where Optimus decides to hand the Matrix of leadership over to Perceptor for safe keeping, as he believes that's what Trypticon is there for. He tells Perceptor to just run, and takes him to the outskirts of the city. He accepts, and promises he won't let Prime and Cybertron down.

"That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of Metroplex City. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across all of Cybertron."

Back with Windblade and Emissary, the ground starts shaking, and they realize their attempts have worked, and Fort Max is finally waking up again. She transforms and they take off. Fort Max finishes his transformation as well, and they take off, headed to stop Trypticon.

He'll save Windblade in a second, first Emissary needs to do his daily aerobics workout.

This episode severely dipped into "So bad it's good" territory. Like, at least I enjoyed myself watching it. I laughed more at the ridiculousness of the entire thing then I have the entire past two shows. I do have to say, though, I'm really enjoying the color palette they chose for this show. The mix of glowing purples, oranges, and then the bright neon blue is very ascetically pleasing. They really did capture that 80's feel.

If you slowed these episodes down and replaced the audio with some Vaporwave, it would work 100 times better.

I look forward to seeing Trypticon and Fort Max fight, as it seems the Titan V Titan fighting is when this series is at it's best, at least in the earlier episodes.

As the next episode won't be out until just after Christmas, happy holidays to all of you, and thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts on the episode down below, and your thoughts on the review/my opinion. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Let me know! See you next week!

[o.supreme]

So, we've finally reached the eighth episode of Machinima's Titans Return animated series.

I know you really want the pain to end, we all do, It's only episode 7 though...

He'll save Windblade in a second, first Emissary needs to do his daily aerobics workout.

Thanks Bronzewolf. I was hoping you'd get this shot. DJ- M IZ HARRY in the house y'all !!!!!

[Sabrblade]

Okay, to be a little fair to Giant Victorion's singleminded calling for Overlord when she first appears, she did come to the city to seek him out specifically, so as to avenge the death of the Mistress of Flame. It's just that her singlemindedness blinding her to virtually everything else happening around her in that moment was what was so baffling.

Also, almost the entirety of Fort Max's transformation was done offscreen. Not even his head attaching to his body (his main toy gimmick!) was shown.

[Bronzewolf]

So, we've finally reached the eighth episode of Machinima's Titans Return animated series.

I know you really want the pain to end, we all do, It's only episode 7 though...

He'll save Windblade in a second, first Emissary needs to do his daily aerobics workout.

Thanks Bronzewolf. I was hoping you'd get this shot. DJ- M IZ HARRY in the house y'all !!!!!

Oh Damn it! Star Wars on the brain. Fixed. Thanks! (And yes, I also wanted to make a DJ reference, but I did that a couple reviews ago with Perceptor.)

[Lorekeeper]

If you slowed these episodes down and replaced the audio with some Vaporwave, it would work 100 times better.

I would love if someone did some creative video editing and made like a 15-hour loop of vaporwave to Machinima Tramsformers... maybe just DJ Emissary.

[CobraKai]

Have they even shown any Titan Masters transforming with their Autobot? I started watching, but kinda got bored. All I want to see at this point is how they handle the transformation.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Have they even shown any Titan Masters transforming with their Autobot? I started watching, but kinda got bored. All I want to see at this point is how they handle the transformation.

A titan master has yet to transform in this series. And Emissary is the only titan master who has appeared

[o.supreme]

Transformation in general is handled pretty poorly, probably because of the low frame rate. I think the only ones that Transformed in CW were Optimus, Megatron (2 different modes wow...), Windblade (& Maxima that was the same model...), Starscream...that's about it.

No combiner components were shown other than 3 separate constructicons in CW and one of the helicopters from Victorion in TR. No combination sequences. No scenes of Titans actually transforming, they just kind of *rise up*. The transformations are not that complex either, not sure if anyone slowed them down frame-by-frame but I'm pretty sure a lot is skipped over.

Also it's pretty obvious Perceptor & Overlord have TM's as heads, but the rest of the cast do not, despite them having toys in the TR toyline. (Except Mistress of flame who is obviously an anomaly and Im pretty sure there isn't even an animation model for an alt mode for her) I guess it would have been a pain, and too much explaining to do if they all suddenly had TM heads . They would have had to come up with an actual long-form story.

I figure at some point Emissary will give Fort Max a power up much like he did the other Titans, but I doubt we will see Cerebros.

Also, while It's nice to see Overlord in semi-animated form. If it does turn out that his bad touch turns Hot Rod into Rodimus Unicronus as a tease for POTP, wouldn't it have been better for him to be The Fallen? or...maybe even Sentinel Prime? Somebody evil that has a connection to the Prime's or Unicron?

[Sabrblade]

Have they even shown any Titan Masters transforming with their Autobot? I started watching, but kinda got bored. All I want to see at this point is how they handle the transformation.

Machinima? Showing the main gimmick of the toyline that their Transformers cartoons are meant to advertise? Sure you jest.

[o.supreme]

^ so should we expect in PotP to see Titan Masters running around everywhere , or making a futile attempt to attack whatever the big bad of that series will be.

[King Kuuga]

If Emissary isn't the head of Cerebros and therefore Fort Max, why does he have Cerebros's face on his back? And why does Perceptor have titan master legs on his head when he's not shown to have a headmaster/Titan master unit? God damn it Machinima.

And yes, Super Victorion (for lack of a better name) teleporting right in front of Trypticon and then completely ignoring him is utterly baffling.

This season started off with potential! Bring it back!

[Bronzewolf]

The new Titans Return Animated Series by Machinima has been available for viewing on Go90 for people in the US. It's long been a talking point on both this series and it’s predecessor, Combiner Wars, how inaccessible the episodes are if you're outside the US. Well, for international fans of the show, we might have some good news. Go90 has thrown the first episode of the new series up on their Go90Saga YouTube channel. It will be interesting to see if the rest of the episodes are also released there, or if it will continue to be primarily on Go90. You can watch the video below, and then read our Seibertron.com review of this episode here!

[DeadCaL]

Good news everyone. The 'vanilla' Titans Returns has been dragging it's feet so long that the trailer for the Geewun Rone version is already up

[WreckerJack]

I may have said it before but the voice acting in this is really great. I think Starscream's voice actor is also really well done, sounds really close to his G1 voice. It rivals TFP Starscream's voice for being my favorite.

[primalxconvoy]

The YouTube video is not for EVERYONE outside the US, but only for selected countries. It's blocked in Japan, for example.

Come on, Seibertron, we had this discussion during the Combiner Wars videos.