The Energon Pub

[PhotonWaveZero]

On the contrary, I've acknowledged plenty that has come after G1 that was quite interesting. High Moon studios has done some of the most interesting work to date with the transformers franchise. War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron were excellent, both in terms of storyline and tone. They were not traditional G1 Canon, more of a reimagining. Transformers Prime was also interesting, however flawed. Armada also had its moments. RID also had its moments. The war for Cybertron trilogy, had it been handled better, had promise, but the voice acting and morose tone was questionable.

This take on the franchise just feels very childish, with some Nickelodeon style humor in the vein of that most recent Seth rogen turtles film, which was incredibly lousy.

I hope to be proven wrong, but my expectations are being kept extremely low.

To say G1 was flawed in every way is an understatement. I took my 14-year-old daughter to see the re-release in theaters a few months ago, and we laughed hysterically at some of them ridiculous things that went down in the first few episodes. Rose colored glasses for sure, but it's still responsible for all that has come after.

I'm not expecting the sheer badassery that was the divisive transformers Autobot City siege that resulted in Prime's death.

[Sabrblade]

This take on the franchise just feels very childish,

No moreso than Michael Bay's special brand of juvenile humor has been.

with some Nickelodeon style humor

Well, in all fairness, it is a movie made by Paramount, Nickelodeon's parent company.

I hope to be proven wrong, but my expectations are being kept extremely low.

In a previous interview, the director said he crammed so much humor into the first trailer because of how deep and tragic the film's story gets, to prevent people from thinking it was going to be a moody film with no fun in it.

I'm not expecting the sheer badassery that was the divisive transformers Autobot City siege that resulted in Prime's death.

Which was never about being bold or daring, but about cynical hubris born out of a capitalist desire to sell new toys and discard the old ones like trash. They killed off Optimus back then because they didn't care about Optimus, a carelessness that backfired on them big time and from which they've never recovered to this day.

[Sabrblade]

Reevaluating the joke in this clip, I think I figured out what it is that's actually wrong with it. It's not that it's childish or trying too hard, it's that it doesn't seem to have a complete understanding of what it's trying to.

The kind of silly voice repetition gag Bumblebee uses is typically found in the kind of humor that's meant to make preschoolers laugh, but the word used in this repetition is a cuss word; cuss words humor is more commonly meant to get a laugh out of teenagers and young adults.

In theory, it seems this joke is trying to appeal to as many audiences of all ages as much as possible, but in execution, it's trying to do so by using two completely different tactics from polar opposite ends of the age range spectrum. This results in a joke that's trying to make adults and teens laugh at a gag that they feel too old to laugh at, and trying to make preschoolers laugh at a word that traditionally isn't aimed at that young a demographic.

In this sense, the joke itself isn't necessary dumb, but rather, it's having an identity crisis.

[william-james88]

I know I've heard positive buzz about this, but all these years of waiting for a new animated film to hit the heights of the original series or beyond, and this is the BEST they can come up with?

For one thing, the designs are very chibi and unappealing, and the humor is complete slapstick and very meta / will not age well.


I just don't see who this is targeted at? You can make something appealing to all age groups without completely aiming for the little little kids. If the characters in the storyline is good, kids will get it. X-Men 97 was a prime example of bringing back a series and making it appealing to modern audiences. This is just pandering to the demographic. I'll support it just because it's a transformers property in some form, whether I rent it off Amazon or go to a theater, but I'm tremendously disappointed with the end result. I don't think we're ever going to get a worthy follow up to G1.

X-men 97 is a prime example of pandering to a specific demographic. It had fan service by the gallons. But since you are a fan and you felt serviced, you were ok with it.

[chuckdawg1999]

I know I've heard positive buzz about this, but all these years of waiting for a new animated film to hit the heights of the original series or beyond, and this is the BEST they can come up with?

For one thing, the designs are very chibi and unappealing, and the humor is complete slapstick and very meta / will not age well.


I just don't see who this is targeted at? You can make something appealing to all age groups without completely aiming for the little little kids. If the characters in the storyline is good, kids will get it. X-Men 97 was a prime example of bringing back a series and making it appealing to modern audiences. This is just pandering to the demographic. I'll support it just because it's a transformers property in some form, whether I rent it off Amazon or go to a theater, but I'm tremendously disappointed with the end result. I don't think we're ever going to get a worthy follow up to G1.

X-men 97 is a prime example of pandering to a specific demographic. It had fan service by the gallons. But since you are a fan and you felt serviced, you were ok with it.

I'm sorry but I don't think Xmen 97 was pandering to a specific demographic. It's set in the year 1997, were you expecting smartphones and Taylor Swift? The stories were being drawn from the 80s and 90s,considered some of the best comics ever printed, it wouldn't make sense to do more modern stories, yet.

[Sabrblade]

I know I've heard positive buzz about this, but all these years of waiting for a new animated film to hit the heights of the original series or beyond, and this is the BEST they can come up with?

For one thing, the designs are very chibi and unappealing, and the humor is complete slapstick and very meta / will not age well.


I just don't see who this is targeted at? You can make something appealing to all age groups without completely aiming for the little little kids. If the characters in the storyline is good, kids will get it. X-Men 97 was a prime example of bringing back a series and making it appealing to modern audiences. This is just pandering to the demographic. I'll support it just because it's a transformers property in some form, whether I rent it off Amazon or go to a theater, but I'm tremendously disappointed with the end result. I don't think we're ever going to get a worthy follow up to G1.

X-men 97 is a prime example of pandering to a specific demographic. It had fan service by the gallons. But since you are a fan and you felt serviced, you were ok with it.

I'm sorry but I don't think Xmen 97 was pandering to a specific demographic. It's set in the year 1997, were you expecting smartphones and Taylor Swift? The stories were being drawn from the 80s and 90s,considered some of the best comics ever printed, it wouldn't make sense to do more modern stories, yet.

"Nostalgic adults who were kids in the '90s" is a demographic.

[chuckdawg1999]

I know I've heard positive buzz about this, but all these years of waiting for a new animated film to hit the heights of the original series or beyond, and this is the BEST they can come up with?

For one thing, the designs are very chibi and unappealing, and the humor is complete slapstick and very meta / will not age well.


I just don't see who this is targeted at? You can make something appealing to all age groups without completely aiming for the little little kids. If the characters in the storyline is good, kids will get it. X-Men 97 was a prime example of bringing back a series and making it appealing to modern audiences. This is just pandering to the demographic. I'll support it just because it's a transformers property in some form, whether I rent it off Amazon or go to a theater, but I'm tremendously disappointed with the end result. I don't think we're ever going to get a worthy follow up to G1.

X-men 97 is a prime example of pandering to a specific demographic. It had fan service by the gallons. But since you are a fan and you felt serviced, you were ok with it.

I'm sorry but I don't think Xmen 97 was pandering to a specific demographic. It's set in the year 1997, were you expecting smartphones and Taylor Swift? The stories were being drawn from the 80s and 90s,considered some of the best comics ever printed, it wouldn't make sense to do more modern stories, yet.

"Nostalgic adults who were kids in the '90s" is a demographic.

I understand that but the show was a continuation of the lady season, there was a thread to follow, if the called the show X-men 97 but set it in 2024 it wouldn't have made sense. If anything it was refreshing to see an Xmen show that wasn't Wolverine and friends.

[megatronus]

I know I've heard positive buzz about this, but all these years of waiting for a new animated film to hit the heights of the original series or beyond, and this is the BEST they can come up with?

For one thing, the designs are very chibi and unappealing, and the humor is complete slapstick and very meta / will not age well.


I just don't see who this is targeted at? You can make something appealing to all age groups without completely aiming for the little little kids. If the characters in the storyline is good, kids will get it. X-Men 97 was a prime example of bringing back a series and making it appealing to modern audiences. This is just pandering to the demographic. I'll support it just because it's a transformers property in some form, whether I rent it off Amazon or go to a theater, but I'm tremendously disappointed with the end result. I don't think we're ever going to get a worthy follow up to G1.

X-men 97 is a prime example of pandering to a specific demographic. It had fan service by the gallons. But since you are a fan and you felt serviced, you were ok with it.

I'm sorry but I don't think Xmen 97 was pandering to a specific demographic. It's set in the year 1997, were you expecting smartphones and Taylor Swift? The stories were being drawn from the 80s and 90s,considered some of the best comics ever printed, it wouldn't make sense to do more modern stories, yet.

"Nostalgic adults who were kids in the '90s" is a demographic.

I understand that but the show was a continuation of the lady season, there was a thread to follow, if the called the show X-men 97 but set it in 2024 it wouldn't have made sense. If anything it was refreshing to see an Xmen show that wasn't Wolverine and friends.

That doesn't really contradict Will's point. X-Men '97 100% pandered to a specific demographic of fans.

I don't know what that has to be controversial. There's nothing wrong with that. It is a great show. But let's not pretend it was a mere continuation of the original. It went into much darker and emotionally resonant places, and matured the content to match that demographic they were pandering to.

[chuckdawg1999]

I know I've heard positive buzz about this, but all these years of waiting for a new animated film to hit the heights of the original series or beyond, and this is the BEST they can come up with?

For one thing, the designs are very chibi and unappealing, and the humor is complete slapstick and very meta / will not age well.


I just don't see who this is targeted at? You can make something appealing to all age groups without completely aiming for the little little kids. If the characters in the storyline is good, kids will get it. X-Men 97 was a prime example of bringing back a series and making it appealing to modern audiences. This is just pandering to the demographic. I'll support it just because it's a transformers property in some form, whether I rent it off Amazon or go to a theater, but I'm tremendously disappointed with the end result. I don't think we're ever going to get a worthy follow up to G1.

X-men 97 is a prime example of pandering to a specific demographic. It had fan service by the gallons. But since you are a fan and you felt serviced, you were ok with it.

I'm sorry but I don't think Xmen 97 was pandering to a specific demographic. It's set in the year 1997, were you expecting smartphones and Taylor Swift? The stories were being drawn from the 80s and 90s,considered some of the best comics ever printed, it wouldn't make sense to do more modern stories, yet.

"Nostalgic adults who were kids in the '90s" is a demographic.

I understand that but the show was a continuation of the last season, there was a thread to follow, if the called the show X-men 97 but set it in 2024 it wouldn't have made sense. If anything it was refreshing to see an Xmen show that wasn't Wolverine and friends.

That doesn't really contradict Will's point. X-Men '97 100% pandered to a specific demographic of fans.

I don't know what that has to be controversial. There's nothing wrong with that. It is a great show. But let's not pretend it was a mere continuation of the original. It went into much darker and emotionally resonant places, and matured the content to match that demographic they were pandering to.

Because it wasn't pandering, the show got darker because the source material got darker, much darker. If I seem defensive it's because fans have made the term pandering a negative like they did nostalgia.

[william-james88]

Because it wasn't pandering, the show got darker because the source material got darker, much darker. If I seem defensive it's because fans have made the term pandering a negative like they did nostalgia.

Na, there's a bunch of storylines and source material they could have chosen and they went with the one that Beau De Mayo felt would be a better fit for the audience it was made for (as he recently confirmed when Disney was asking him to do different stories). And the source material did not get darker. The darkest material from the comics is not from the late 90s but instead from the earlier 80s with God Loves Man Kills and then from the more recent era of X-Force from 10 years ago (which they didn't use).

And yes fans have made the term pandering negative, but that's on them. And that's what I was pointing out. Someone called this new film pandering to its audience and all I did was call out that what they liked was pandering to them. If people are triggered by a term, then they shouldn't use it themselves because it can always be flipped right back to them.

And I want to be very clear, there is NOTHING WRONG with liking something that was specifically made to appeal to you, that's the point. There is nothing wrong with good fan service. We are fans, we will give our attention/money to what services us.

I loves X-men 97 and I can't wait to watch Transformers One. Till all are ONE

[william-james88]

We are weeks away from the Transformers One coming out and the marketing is in full force.
Bryan Tyree Henry was promoting the film on Jimmy Kimmel the other day, you can check out the clip below.
Speaking of clips, we have another one for you below. It's from world famous chocolatier, Amaury Guichon, who Paramount teamed up with to commission a giant chocolate head of Optimus Prime. It even has LEDs for eyes.
You'll notice that the backdrop for that clip happens to be the newly released theme song for the film. You can check the full song out below as well, it is performed by Quavo, Ty Dolla $ign, and ARE WE DREAMING.



Link to Facebook Reel with Chocolate Optimus Prime: https://www.facebook.com/reel/950793770140081

How to Share With Just Friends

[william-james88]

One of the most famous skits from Key and Peele is the substitute teacher, which we have linked below. Knowing that, Keegan-Michael Key has done a bit where he does the same thing with the Transformers characters from Transformers One. You can check it out below.

Link to the sketch: https://www.facebook.com/reel/884455593570356

How to Share With Just Friends

[Sabrblade]

Video unavailable

The uploader has not made this video available in your country

[Bumblevivisector]

Never saw him do this bit before, but now I'm more pissed than ever that Emirate Xaaron isn't in this movie.

[Rodimus Prime]

They killed off Optimus back then because they didn't care about Optimus, a carelessness that backfired on them big time and from which they've never recovered to this day.

Considering that Optimus hasn't only been a part of every franchise media in 1 for or another ever since 1084 and has the most diverse selection of figures in the entire franchise (even after the 2007 movie made Bee the main star), I will disagree with that. They actually recovered rather quickly, bringing back Prime in season 3, as well as changing Duke's fate in the G.I.Joe animated movie.

As for the SS B-127 from TFOne, I saw him at Wal-Mart and wasn't impressed. The figure is small, and the paint job is dull. Looks more like 2-step changer.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

They killed off Optimus back then because they didn't care about Optimus, a carelessness that backfired on them big time and from which they've never recovered to this day.

Considering that Optimus hasn't only been a part of every franchise media in 1 for or another ever since 1084 and has the most diverse selection of figures in the entire franchise (even after the 2007 movie made Bee the main star), I will disagree with that. They actually recovered rather quickly, bringing back Prime in season 3, as well as changing Duke's fate in the G.I.Joe animated movie.

As for the SS B-127 from TFOne, I saw him at Wal-Mart and wasn't impressed. The figure is small, and the paint job is dull. Looks more like 2-step changer.

SS was just revealed, that's the mainline toy

[cloudballoon]

They killed off Optimus back then because they didn't care about Optimus, a carelessness that backfired on them big time and from which they've never recovered to this day.

Considering that Optimus hasn't only been a part of every franchise media in 1 for or another ever since 1084 and has the most diverse selection of figures in the entire franchise (even after the 2007 movie made Bee the main star), I will disagree with that. They actually recovered rather quickly, bringing back Prime in season 3, as well as changing Duke's fate in the G.I.Joe animated movie.

As for the SS B-127 from TFOne, I saw him at Wal-Mart and wasn't impressed. The figure is small, and the paint job is dull. Looks more like 2-step changer.

SS was just revealed, that's the mainline toy

Ironic that, to me at least, I'm feeling the SS version is no better than mainline? They're about even. Mainline got a better looking upper body, SS got rid of the atrocious hollowness in the legs. Mainline's alt mode look sleeker, SS got all the weapons for a higher price. BOTH look unimpressive because they lack a ton of shiny, shiny gold paint. I'm going (again) with Yolopark AMK and some Threezero MDLX if I'm going into TF:1.

[william-james88]

They killed off Optimus back then because they didn't care about Optimus, a carelessness that backfired on them big time and from which they've never recovered to this day.

Considering that Optimus hasn't only been a part of every franchise media in 1 for or another ever since 1084 and has the most diverse selection of figures in the entire franchise (even after the 2007 movie made Bee the main star), I will disagree with that. They actually recovered rather quickly, bringing back Prime in season 3, as well as changing Duke's fate in the G.I.Joe animated movie.

As for the SS B-127 from TFOne, I saw him at Wal-Mart and wasn't impressed. The figure is small, and the paint job is dull. Looks more like 2-step changer.

If you actually saw SS b-127 from tfone in stores that would be a major new sighting. Next time you are there, please take a pic of this SS figure

[Seibertron]

They killed off Optimus back then because they didn't care about Optimus, a carelessness that backfired on them big time and from which they've never recovered to this day.

Considering that Optimus hasn't only been a part of every franchise media in 1 for or another ever since 1084 and has the most diverse selection of figures in the entire franchise (even after the 2007 movie made Bee the main star), I will disagree with that. They actually recovered rather quickly, bringing back Prime in season 3, as well as changing Duke's fate in the G.I.Joe animated movie.

As for the SS B-127 from TFOne, I saw him at Wal-Mart and wasn't impressed. The figure is small, and the paint job is dull. Looks more like 2-step changer.

I would argue that killing off Optimus Prime unintentionally left a huge impact on young fans back in the day that it cemented an unlikely emotional connection between content and fans that continues to have lasting effects. Had Optimus survived the movie, I feel that this brand would not be what it is today. It was a poor decision at that time but it accidentally created an unprecedented bond between a toy brand and fans of that brand.

[william-james88]

They killed off Optimus back then because they didn't care about Optimus, a carelessness that backfired on them big time and from which they've never recovered to this day.

Considering that Optimus hasn't only been a part of every franchise media in 1 for or another ever since 1084 and has the most diverse selection of figures in the entire franchise (even after the 2007 movie made Bee the main star), I will disagree with that. They actually recovered rather quickly, bringing back Prime in season 3, as well as changing Duke's fate in the G.I.Joe animated movie.

As for the SS B-127 from TFOne, I saw him at Wal-Mart and wasn't impressed. The figure is small, and the paint job is dull. Looks more like 2-step changer.

SS was just revealed, that's the mainline toy

Ironic that, to me at least, I'm feeling the SS version is no better than mainline? They're about even. Mainline got a better looking upper body, SS got rid of the atrocious hollowness in the legs. Mainline's alt mode look sleeker, SS got all the weapons for a higher price. BOTH look unimpressive because they lack a ton of shiny, shiny gold paint. I'm going (again) with Yolopark AMK and some Threezero MDLX if I'm going into TF:1.

Yeah I agree that both mainline and ss have their pros and cons leaving them about as good. But that makes mainline the winner for me since it is priced lower. At a lower budget/price point they were able to come up with something on par with a higher priced deluxe.

[chuckdawg1999]

Because it wasn't pandering, the show got darker because the source material got darker, much darker. If I seem defensive it's because fans have made the term pandering a negative like they did nostalgia.

Na, there's a bunch of storylines and source material they could have chosen and they went with the one that Beau De Mayo felt would be a better fit for the audience it was made for (as he recently confirmed when Disney was asking him to do different stories). And the source material did not get darker. The darkest material from the comics is not from the late 90s but instead from the earlier 80s with God Loves Man Kills and then from the more recent era of X-Force from 10 years ago (which they didn't use).

And yes fans have made the term pandering negative, but that's on them. And that's what I was pointing out. Someone called this new film pandering to its audience and all I did was call out that what they liked was pandering to them. If people are triggered by a term, then they shouldn't use it themselves because it can always be flipped right back to them.

And I want to be very clear, there is NOTHING WRONG with liking something that was specifically made to appeal to you, that's the point. There is nothing wrong with good fan service. We are fans, we will give our attention/money to what services us.

I loves X-men 97 and I can't wait to watch Transformers One. Till all are ONE

I never said the source material was from the late 90s,that's when things got a little... odd. I thought it was common knowledge that Xmen was drawing from the early/mid 80s since most comic shows usually reached back for content. FYI I think they adapted God loves man kills back in the day the best they could.

[Rodimus Prime]

I would argue that killing off Optimus Prime unintentionally left a huge impact on young fans back in the day that it cemented an unlikely emotional connection between content and fans that continues to have lasting effects. Had Optimus survived the movie, I feel that this brand would not be what it is today. It was a poor decision at that time but it accidentally created an unprecedented bond between a toy brand and fans of that brand.

I agree on the impact of Optimus dying, as well as the subsequent backlash. But I do disagree that Hasbro never recovered from it. Not only did they recover, but practically built the franchise on the fandom's bond with Optimus.

[Rodimus Prime]

If you actually saw SS b-127 from tfone in stores that would be a major new sighting. Next time you are there, please take a pic of this SS figure

No I was wrong it was the mainline figure. It was hung up next to SS86 Bee and I guess I subconsciously conflated the 2 boxes. My bad. It was 11 PM after I worked 12 hours.

[william-james88]

If you actually saw SS b-127 from tfone in stores that would be a major new sighting. Next time you are there, please take a pic of this SS figure

No I was wrong it was the mainline figure. It was hung up next to SS86 Bee and I guess I subconsciously conflated the 2 boxes. My bad. It was 11 PM after I worked 12 hours.

No worries, I'm just looking out for news. Thanks for clearing it up!

[william-james88]

As we showed yesterday, the marketing for Transformers One is firing on all cylinders. Below you will see:
- a clip from the film featuring the scene on the train as the four main bots reach the surface.
- a TV spot featuring the fight between Optimus and Megatron and some really high praise
- a general ad for the film showcasing the upcoming Studio Series figures for the film and pro football players like Calvin Johnson/Megatron.
- a quick featurette showing the voice acting, which can be seen here on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_vhg9JOjB6/