The Energon Pub

[Tyrannacon]

After reading through the constructive criticisms about the episode here I went ahead and watched the first episode again with that in mind. I still feel mostly positive about it despite the short length. Actually I put it into the perspective when I did this that this is a web series and in some ways it's an entirely different media than say television. Yeah it sucks they can't get the voice actors we like and we instead get Internet celebrities, but it's really not terrible. That doesn't make it terrible in my mind because there's some decent effort put into the performances to make them sound familiar and also believable too in some ways. In terms of a web series, the production values are definitely high in this case I feel.

I just figured I'd offer a different perspective here with how I saw it now this time after reading through the thread and trying to look at it from different angles. I usually give a TV show an entire season if I didn't otherwise loathe the first couple episodes for a myriad of reasons for them to get the flow. So I can see how and what their larger story line or story arc is here. Web series, in this case, usually have their entire run equate one or one and a half 25-50 minute episode of a TV series.

[Stuartmaximus]

The only niggle i have, apart from it's short running time, per episode, is Menasor's voice! I mean.....to me anyway.....it doesn't sound like a combined Gestalt's voice(ok...ok! i guess i can only take reference from the G1 original cartoon series Menasor) i mean...Computron sounded much like his G1 original did.

[Stuartmaximus]

I've seriously never been disappointed by Transformers this much before it's strange for me.

it is isn't it. But don't worry I've had my fair share of disappointments (Beast Machines, Armada, Animated). they come and go. If you are patient, while another spectrum of the fandom is being catered to, it will come back around to what you like, just might take a few years. Combiner Wars was definitely not what I was expecting but I am enjoying it whilst all other parts of the medium aren't really "my thing" right now. Prime was amazing, and I don't expect to see another series as great, at least as far as what I'm looking for, for another decade or so. So, while CW is far form perfect, I'll take what little scraps I can get until Transformers decides to do something again mainstream more to my liking.

Btw what's wrong with Armada? if it wasn't for Armada....we finally wouldn't have gotten a Unicron toy! nor a Tidal Wave one either! nor would we have got the Armada videogame that everyone....well....almost everyone....seemed to love at the time....& maybe there's a few that still love it today as well).

[Sigma Magnus]

I've seriously never been disappointed by Transformers this much before it's strange for me.

it is isn't it. But don't worry I've had my fair share of disappointments (Beast Machines, Armada, Animated). they come and go. If you are patient, while another spectrum of the fandom is being catered to, it will come back around to what you like, just might take a few years. Combiner Wars was definitely not what I was expecting but I am enjoying it whilst all other parts of the medium aren't really "my thing" right now. Prime was amazing, and I don't expect to see another series as great, at least as far as what I'm looking for, for another decade or so. So, while CW is far form perfect, I'll take what little scraps I can get until Transformers decides to do something again mainstream more to my liking.

Btw what's wrong with Armada? if it wasn't for Armada....we finally wouldn't have gotten a Unicron toy! nor a Tidal Wave one either! nor would we have got the Armada videogame that everyone....well....almost everyone....seemed to love at the time....& maybe there's a few that still love it today as well).

The Armada cartoon suffered from a bad beginning that, in the eyes of many, condemned the entire series. Although it improved as it went along (with the "Unicron Battles" story arc regarded as fairly good in comparison), the sub-par start left it laboring under a bad reputation that it never escaped. Much like this show probably will. That and the Mini-Con gimmick was, at the time, rather controversial, with many comparisons to Pokémon.

[Kurona]

I've seriously never been disappointed by Transformers this much before it's strange for me.

it is isn't it. But don't worry I've had my fair share of disappointments (Beast Machines, Armada, Animated). they come and go. If you are patient, while another spectrum of the fandom is being catered to, it will come back around to what you like, just might take a few years. Combiner Wars was definitely not what I was expecting but I am enjoying it whilst all other parts of the medium aren't really "my thing" right now. Prime was amazing, and I don't expect to see another series as great, at least as far as what I'm looking for, for another decade or so. So, while CW is far form perfect, I'll take what little scraps I can get until Transformers decides to do something again mainstream more to my liking.

Btw what's wrong with Armada? if it wasn't for Armada....we finally wouldn't have gotten a Unicron toy! nor a Tidal Wave one either! nor would we have got the Armada videogame that everyone....well....almost everyone....seemed to love at the time....& maybe there's a few that still love it today as well).

It was a terrible show with a terrible toyline. Not much else to say.

[Ironhidensh]

agr

I've seriously never been disappointed by Transformers this much before it's strange for me.

it is isn't it. But don't worry I've had my fair share of disappointments (Beast Machines, Armada, Animated). they come and go. If you are patient, while another spectrum of the fandom is being catered to, it will come back around to what you like, just might take a few years. Combiner Wars was definitely not what I was expecting but I am enjoying it whilst all other parts of the medium aren't really "my thing" right now. Prime was amazing, and I don't expect to see another series as great, at least as far as what I'm looking for, for another decade or so. So, while CW is far form perfect, I'll take what little scraps I can get until Transformers decides to do something again mainstream more to my liking.

Btw what's wrong with Armada? if it wasn't for Armada....we finally wouldn't have gotten a Unicron toy! nor a Tidal Wave one either! nor would we have got the Armada videogame that everyone....well....almost everyone....seemed to love at the time....& maybe there's a few that still love it today as well).

It was a terrible show with a terrible toyline. Not much else to say.

Agreed. Though that was an awesome PS2 game.

[karyuudo]

I've seriously never been disappointed by Transformers this much before it's strange for me.

it is isn't it. But don't worry I've had my fair share of disappointments (Beast Machines, Armada, Animated). they come and go. If you are patient, while another spectrum of the fandom is being catered to, it will come back around to what you like, just might take a few years. Combiner Wars was definitely not what I was expecting but I am enjoying it whilst all other parts of the medium aren't really "my thing" right now. Prime was amazing, and I don't expect to see another series as great, at least as far as what I'm looking for, for another decade or so. So, while CW is far form perfect, I'll take what little scraps I can get until Transformers decides to do something again mainstream more to my liking.

Btw what's wrong with Armada? if it wasn't for Armada....we finally wouldn't have gotten a Unicron toy! nor a Tidal Wave one either! nor would we have got the Armada videogame that everyone....well....almost everyone....seemed to love at the time....& maybe there's a few that still love it today as well).

It was a terrible show with a terrible toyline. Not much else to say.

Before passing final judgement on it, you should watch my group's fansub of the series. Legends of the Microns is so much better in Japanese.

http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x3p ... eo=x2k7gl1

[Kurona]

I've seriously never been disappointed by Transformers this much before it's strange for me.

it is isn't it. But don't worry I've had my fair share of disappointments (Beast Machines, Armada, Animated). they come and go. If you are patient, while another spectrum of the fandom is being catered to, it will come back around to what you like, just might take a few years. Combiner Wars was definitely not what I was expecting but I am enjoying it whilst all other parts of the medium aren't really "my thing" right now. Prime was amazing, and I don't expect to see another series as great, at least as far as what I'm looking for, for another decade or so. So, while CW is far form perfect, I'll take what little scraps I can get until Transformers decides to do something again mainstream more to my liking.

Btw what's wrong with Armada? if it wasn't for Armada....we finally wouldn't have gotten a Unicron toy! nor a Tidal Wave one either! nor would we have got the Armada videogame that everyone....well....almost everyone....seemed to love at the time....& maybe there's a few that still love it today as well).

It was a terrible show with a terrible toyline. Not much else to say.

Before passing final judgement on it, you should watch my group's fansub of the series. Legends of the Microns is so much better in Japanese.

http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x3p ... eo=x2k7gl1

It's really not. It just has less errors.

[Sabrblade]

I've seriously never been disappointed by Transformers this much before it's strange for me.

it is isn't it. But don't worry I've had my fair share of disappointments (Beast Machines, Armada, Animated). they come and go. If you are patient, while another spectrum of the fandom is being catered to, it will come back around to what you like, just might take a few years. Combiner Wars was definitely not what I was expecting but I am enjoying it whilst all other parts of the medium aren't really "my thing" right now. Prime was amazing, and I don't expect to see another series as great, at least as far as what I'm looking for, for another decade or so. So, while CW is far form perfect, I'll take what little scraps I can get until Transformers decides to do something again mainstream more to my liking.

Btw what's wrong with Armada? if it wasn't for Armada....we finally wouldn't have gotten a Unicron toy! nor a Tidal Wave one either! nor would we have got the Armada videogame that everyone....well....almost everyone....seemed to love at the time....& maybe there's a few that still love it today as well).

It was a terrible show with a terrible toyline. Not much else to say.

Before passing final judgement on it, you should watch my group's fansub of the series. Legends of the Microns is so much better in Japanese.

http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x3p ... eo=x2k7gl1

I second this. The Japanese version was a vast improvement that fixed many of the issues that plagued the English version: better animation, better voice acting, better dialogue scripting, no misnaming, no translation-born continuity errors, etc.

About the only things the English version had going for it that weren't also in the Japanese version were Scott McNeil as a fun Jetfire and Paul Dobson as a cool Sideways (all thanks to these two having no lip movement to match that could have otherwise hurt their performances).

[Kurona]

Thing is though, that's really just technical issues. Praising something for not having dire animation or misnaming things is setting the bar extremely low; it's like saying the Animorphs transformers toys were good because they didn't literally crumble to dust in your hand. Just because something is without error does not mean it's good. It just means it's passed mandatory standards.

[Sabrblade]

Thing is though, that's really just technical issues. Praising something for not having dire animation or misnaming things is setting the bar extremely low; it's like saying the Animorphs transformers toys were good because they didn't literally crumble to dust in your hand. Just because something is without error does not mean it's good. It just means it's passed mandatory standards.

I said it was an "improvement", not that it "good".

But, in all honesty, I rewatched the first half of Armada awhile back, and most of the problems it had were indeed problems that stemmed from the technical side of the dub and the animation. The stories themselves weren't perfect but weren't completely awful either. It was just the bad dialogue, the bad acting, the bad animation, the script inconsistencies, etc. that made them painful to sit through more than anything. Fix those and the pain goes away.

[dabattousai]

The episode was meh. Menasor did not sound like a menacing Decepticon, let alone a Gestalt at that. The designs of the bots looked great, but the animation felt hallow. I'll continue to watch and see where it goes, but I feel that if this was done with a much bigger studio, this would probably be amazing. I would like to see an animation studio take a comic series and animate it much like how Japan animates their Shonen manga.

[X3ROhour]

5 MINUTES!?

Whaa?

We were told a long time ago that this would be the format. An online mini-cartoon of eight 5-7 minute episodes.

I must have missed it somehow.
Maybe I thought it was so WRONG and ridiculous that it could not possibly be.

I give it
of 5

And a

[X3ROhour]

Thing is though, that's really just technical issues. Praising something for not having dire animation or misnaming things is setting the bar extremely low; it's like saying the Animorphs transformers toys were good because they didn't literally crumble to dust in your hand. Just because something is without error does not mean it's good. It just means it's passed mandatory standards.

I said it was an "improvement", not that it "good".

But, in all honesty, I rewatched the first half of Armada awhile back, and most of the problems it had were indeed problems that stemmed from the technical side of the dub and the animation. The stories themselves weren't perfect but weren't completely awful either. It was just the bad dialogue, the bad acting, the bad animation, the script inconsistencies, etc. that made them painful to sit through more than anything. Fix those and the pain goes away.

Ahhhh

Armada

I used to watch it with the volume off.

So pretty
So dumb

[Burn]

Take the Armada discussion to another thread please.

[Sarahthecutevixen]

I'm sorry but, that dennis kid was a bigger menace than This Menasor,

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Is this still available on youtube, or is it only on go90 now?

[Kurona]

Is this still available on youtube, or is it only on go90 now?

It's on Go90 for America, Youtube for the rest of the world.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Finally watched it. Can't say I'm too impressed on first glance, but then again, there are 7 more to go

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Thanks to the BatInTheSun's YouTube channel and an alert from Seibertronian Madeus Prime, we bring to you a new video commissioned by Machinima showing off some behind-the-scenes work for their Combiner Wars show! The video includes an interview with both Jason Marnocha (who voices Megatron) and Amy Johnston (who voices Maxima), and shows off the voice cast in the recording booth. Check out the video below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

[Deadput]

Not sure why the character that had two lines at most before she died is getting an interview done and not someone like Windblade's voice actor or even an interview with Jon who is pretty much the best voice actor there besides the guy playing Devastator (forgot name sorry).


It's probably the budget or rather the lack of budget which explains things neatly.

[Sunstar]

After reading through the constructive criticisms about the episode here I went ahead and watched the first episode again with that in mind. I still feel mostly positive about it despite the short length. Actually I put it into the perspective when I did this that this is a web series and in some ways it's an entirely different media than say television. Yeah it sucks they can't get the voice actors we like and we instead get Internet celebrities, but it's really not terrible. That doesn't make it terrible in my mind because there's some decent effort put into the performances to make them sound familiar and also believable too in some ways. In terms of a web series, the production values are definitely high in this case I feel.

I just figured I'd offer a different perspective here with how I saw it now this time after reading through the thread and trying to look at it from different angles. I usually give a TV show an entire season if I didn't otherwise loathe the first couple episodes for a myriad of reasons for them to get the flow. So I can see how and what their larger story line or story arc is here. Web series, in this case, usually have their entire run equate one or one and a half 25-50 minute episode of a TV series.

thanks for looking at it from an open minded perspective. I have my bones of contention, (mostly the synching was startling) but I'll see how it is for a few episodes. I think a good story told my be worth it. its just difficult to get a feel for the story in such a short period of time.

[Stuartmaximus]

The episode was meh. Menasor did not sound like a menacing Decepticon, let alone a Gestalt at that. The designs of the bots looked great, but the animation felt hallow. I'll continue to watch and see where it goes, but I feel that if this was done with a much bigger studio, this would probably be amazing. I would like to see an animation studio take a comic series and animate it much like how Japan animates their Shonen manga.

Agreed coz that's what i said(about Menasors voice) many posts back

[Sunstar]

Agreed coz that's what i said(about Menasors voice) many posts back

It does seem to lack the power. For an individual character that is only one mind it probably would suit.

[Tyrannacon]

thanks for looking at it from an open minded perspective. I have my bones of contention, (mostly the synching was startling) but I'll see how it is for a few episodes. I think a good story told my be worth it. its just difficult to get a feel for the story in such a short period of time.

I don't mind actually looking at things from different perspectives to gain some insight. I do agree it's too short to get an accurate feel for it specifically. I'd wait at least a couple of episodes myself before making a definite and concrete answer about it. As it stands my feelings are best surmised as cautiously optimistic.