Name_Violation wrote:It Is Him wrote:American production and aesthetics
Quoted and made annoyingly large for truth!!!!!!
I agree as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of anime and other types of cartoons but there's just something about the Japanese produced Transformers that I'm not a big fan of. I do enjoy watching them from time to time but they just feel slightly off. There's a lot of "fighting spirit" and other typical anime tropes going on, which feel odd for a Transformers story.
However, I do like anime for its variety and the Japanese openess to the media of animation whereas typically in the West, animation/cartoons are strictly children's fare.
If a Transformers cartoon could be done in a similar fashion to Avatar, I would definitely watch it. Avatar takes all the best parts of anime(good storytelling, good pacing, balance of lightheartedness and heavier drama) and runs with it. The show displays a definite affection for anime and homages are regular but it doesn't try too hard to be anime. It takes inspiration from anime and does its own thing.
Getting back to the topic, I think the main factors a Transformers show cannot lack are:
Competent protagonists and antagonists: Using TFA as an example, we see two types of competence. First we see the Autobots under Optimus Prime's command stepping up to the plate as they are mainly non-military. Ratchet is a vet and Optimus was well on his way to the Elite Guard but they're a maintenence crew when we are introduced to them. Secondly, we see Megatron as a more cunning adversary who does not use the goofy fallback of "taking over the universe!". He is the unquestioned leader of the Decepticons, and has a more realistic goal in taking over Cybertron, a power struggle of planetry scale rather than something galaxy or universe wide. His use of Shockwave almost secures this take over.
Strong storytelling and a compelling overall concept: Despite the franchise being based on selling toys and the general story involving giant alient robots, there's no excuse for bad storytelling and concept. Character development and good narrative should never be absent in a story.
We should have reasonable motivation as well, within the context of the story. As mentioned previously, TFA Megatron was not aiming for a ridiculously high goal as other Megatrons/Galvatrons usually do. To have more depth, I would like to see the Autobots and Decepticons portrayed as opposing factions who have many issues in common.
Rather than having the shallow division of "good guys" and "bad guys", there should be many areas of grey. No doubt there should still be definite evil and villainy in the Decepticons but why not portray Megatron as a Cybertronian who wishes to unify his world under a strong government? But at the same time, we should see fundamental psychological flaws that distort his intent such as an attitude that the ends justify the means and a pure prejudice against any non-Cybertronian so that he doesn't care what happens to those not of his race, making him ruthless in the pursuit of his vision?
For Optimus, I would like to avoid the perfect leader portrayal so often seen in his many incarnations. The TFA OP was a refreshing take in making the character a military academy washout but not for incompetence. He was a morally upstanding character with natural leadership qualities but he had issues in his past that interfered with his ability to lead with all of his confidence at times.
Good quality animation: With all the money that Hasbro gets from Transformers sales, they should be able to fund a well produced cartoon. I would also prefer avoiding mixed styles such as the traditional animation/CGI in the Unicron Trilogy unless it is done well, which is often not the case.
Optimus Prime and Megatron: We need to have these two iconic archetypes to exist in one form or another. Now please understand that this is not a requirement for the characters to exist within the main cast. They could be used as characters of legend/ancient history or even more recent history, similar to how it was done in Beast Wars. I don't even think we need an Optimus and a Megatron as the leaders in the story. I know it isn't a popular view but I think that as long as plotting and writing of the story is done well, you don't need to rehash the same characters over and over again. Now this isn't ultimately a realistic option because as a company who has built Transformers around Optimus and Megatron, Hasbro would not likely opt to try different main cast leaders in a show. Hasbro wants to use name recognition and rightfully so.
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