The Energon Pub

No toys for the show???

Seems like the character designs are a mix of the Movie-line and Macross F. Again some toys would be nice....AGAIN, some toys would....be nice!

once i read "more human drama" and realized that blue fembot is Arcee i lost the little hope i had for this show. How do we get something awesome like War For Cybertron then get grade A crap like this? Come on hasbro pull your collective heads out of your collective ass' and give us something good again. Its not that hard.

Megatron Wolf wrote:once i read "more human drama" and realized that blue fembot is Arcee i lost the little hope i had for this show. How do we get something awesome like War For Cybertron then get grade A crap like this? Come on hasbro pull your collective heads out of your collective ass' and give us something good again. Its not that hard.

I think they've been working with Costa too much or something

Holy crap! Twisted Whiskers has it's own show now?
Deltora Quest! I remember those books! They always had some rad monster on the cover.
It's refreshing to see that each show has it's own unique art style.


Oh, human drama. Well, nearly every cartoon ever has that, as well as nearly every Transformer series.
Can't wait to see Prime.

Whoa Photoshop!

They look all smeary and blurry- esp Prime's eyes...

Aside from that though- I am so freakin excited about Ratchet being put back to a young guy again. It worked so well in the Marvel comics- it was great following him as a character- so I hope they got some good stuff planned for him here.

Young Ratchet = Win.

I'll buy him as a toy as soon as he comes out to replace saggy Universe Ratchet.

"More human drama than ever"?! For the love of-... WHY?! I just want to see robots for once! They always have to put in humans so we have "someone to relate to". We have plenty of Autobots that already cover that, i.e. Optimus, Bumblebee, etc. Can't we have a series like War for Cybertron for once? Not necessarily as gritty, but with a semi darker tone like "Batman: The Animated Series", or close to it? I'd be fine if it was just the robots, plain and simple.

So, human drama. Well, I'm not going to complain about it like other people, because I realize, as much as we as fans don't want to admit it, these shows are for KIDS. I've been a fan since I was a little kid, and now twenty something years later, but the point is, most of us were fans when we were kids. That's what this is all about.

Puck wrote:Gonna tangent a bit, did you guys hover over to see what the new GI Joe looks like?




Yeah, yikes.

Great, A-team versus Umbrella. That'll be spectacular...

Prime might be good, I dunno.

ChrisRiss wrote:So, human drama. Well, I'm not going to complain about it like other people, because I realize, as much as we as fans don't want to admit it, these shows are for KIDS. I've been a fan since I was a little kid, and now twenty something years later, but the point is, most of us were fans when we were kids. That's what this is all about.

Since when do kids give 2 asses about human drama over giant robots blowing stuff up? I want to see a voilent TF show, where robots are riping eachother apart! Like in the movies.

SlyTF1 wrote:

ChrisRiss wrote:So, human drama. Well, I'm not going to complain about it like other people, because I realize, as much as we as fans don't want to admit it, these shows are for KIDS. I've been a fan since I was a little kid, and now twenty something years later, but the point is, most of us were fans when we were kids. That's what this is all about.

Since when do kids give 2 asses about human drama over giant robots blowing stuff up? I want to see a voilent TF show, where robots are riping eachother apart! Like in the movies.

Kids need something to relate to most of the time, so they feel like something like this could happen to them.
And as much as I hate to admit it, you look at *shudder* Twilight, and how many kids there are reading that. Honestly, the real reason is because it's some drama, and the characters are so one dimensional that they can relate to them. It's the same thing, and by the way, I apologize to everyone here for comparing Transformers and *shudder* Twilight.

Puck wrote:Gonna tangent a bit, did you guys hover over to see what the new GI Joe looks like?




Yeah, yikes.

Were all the talented artists and designers killed in an accident I didn't hear about?
Ye Gods that's ugly! Seriously, why are their noses six inches wide?

After closer look I have the following observation to share.

Rachet = X-Man villan Caliban when he's running around as Death only armoured up. So I say WIN. Let's just hope he's not the usual ugh character they have made him out since forever. Animated actaully gave him personality. I say make him an agressive SOB this time around.

Cliff Jumper = Finally has his own look and feel since G1. Animated did him a bit of justice but not enough for my taste. That said I see a Bad A$$ rendition of DareDevil when I look at him. And Dang! It's about time.

Arcee = I like that she's not red, white, or pink. Blue looks good on her. But another bike? I'm not feeling it yet. I am so tired of the whole transforming bike thing. They could have made her one of the Spyder's (3 wheel bike/ reverse tryke) but then that would have been groovy. When I see her I just see a generic fembot. Like another Jean Grey charater. Just blah. Let's hope they give her some depth though I doubt it.

Prime = Well here is your Superman or Capt. America bada$$. I like the streamline look but I've always thought the movie prime look was rather blan. Here's my take on him. Another generic Prime. I'm good and powerful so I don't have to be a real character anymore because everyone will love me because I'm Optimus Prime for Pete's sake. LOVE ME!

Sorry but I don't know about you, I'm kinda sick of Optimus and Megatron. I know they are staples but there are so many new ways to introduce a new leader. How about Ops being more of a Alpha Trion mentor rather than the primary lead. You know? More of a OMG! the friggin story moved on beyond Ops and Megs? Holy Sweet Mother of Tin!
Now we have something new and not regergitated stories.

I know I'll have haters knocking at my door, but just be opened minded. Think about the possibilities of a New charater that doesn't depend on Prime, BB, Rachet, Megs, Soundwave, Shockwave, or Starscream.

It blows the mind a bit. Don't you think?

ChrisRiss wrote:Kids need something to relate to most of the time, so they feel like something like this could happen to them.
And as much as I hate to admit it, you look at *shudder* Twilight, and how many kids there are reading that. Honestly, the real reason is because it's some drama, and the characters are so one dimensional that they can relate to them. It's the same thing, and by the way, I apologize to everyone here for comparing Transformers and *shudder* Twilight.

I may not be the biggest fan of a lot of humans in my Transformers, but you are right, I must admit. It's something we will all have to deal with, and move on.

So, answer me this.

Transformers, from the beginning, has been about giant robots battling- for the most part- on Earth. There are 6.5 billion people on Earth. So, the odds are that humans are going to get in the way. Humans have ALWAYS been in the way. Spike, Sparkplug, Buster, Carly, Daniel, Sari, Una, Jok, Koji, Rad, Carlos, Alexis, Kicker, Bud, Koji...shall I go on? Humans have ALWAYS been in the storyline because the flippin robots fight ON OUR PLANET. Look, if you want a TF series without humans, do it yourself and put it on Youtube like everyone else. Otherwise, quit your whining and grow up. Use some common sense. This is a KIDS show. Kids have been shown to need something human to connect with because some concepts are just too alien for them. Giant alien robots may be one of those things, or maybe not, but if you're Hasbro you're not going to risk the investment or take the chance.

I just can't believe that there are so many people on this site (and others) that are SO closed minded. You look for something specific and whine and cry when something isn't that way. Well boo-effing-hoo. It's not made for you. Ignore it. Deal with it. Grow up. Transformers is about change...whether it's their forms or the series themselves, it has always been about change. This is another change. It happens. Personally, I'm going to roll with it. Enjoy it, maybe, for what it is...something to keep our beloved toy line alive for another generation. Would you rather they just decide, "We're not going to make Transformers cartoons anymore." How much does it affect the sales? A TON. That's why they make the cartoons. Builds the brand recognition in youth and creates sales. The movie exhibited that: Transformers sales increased over 400% when the movie came out. In between, sales are not as good.

If you don't like it, fine. Deal with it, don't watch it, whatever. you're never gonna be happy about anything TF related then...there will always be "human drama". Grow up, though. Whining isn't going to change it. So stop it. Us adults are getting sick of it.

First-Aid wrote:So, answer me this.

Transformers, from the beginning, has been about giant robots battling- for the most part- on Earth. There are 6.5 billion people on Earth. So, the odds are that humans are going to get in the way. Humans have ALWAYS been in the way. Spike, Sparkplug, Buster, Carly, Daniel, Sari, Una, Jok, Koji, Rad, Carlos, Alexis, Kicker, Bud, Koji...shall I go on? Humans have ALWAYS been in the storyline because the flippin robots fight ON OUR PLANET. Look, if you want a TF series without humans, do it yourself and put it on Youtube like everyone else. Otherwise, quit your whining and grow up. Use some common sense. This is a KIDS show. Kids have been shown to need something human to connect with because some concepts are just too alien for them. Giant alien robots may be one of those things, or maybe not, but if you're Hasbro you're not going to risk the investment or take the chance.

I just can't believe that there are so many people on this site (and others) that are SO closed minded. You look for something specific and whine and cry when something isn't that way. Well boo-effing-hoo. It's not made for you. Ignore it. Deal with it. Grow up. Transformers is about change...whether it's their forms or the series themselves, it has always been about change. This is another change. It happens. Personally, I'm going to roll with it. Enjoy it, maybe, for what it is...something to keep our beloved toy line alive for another generation. Would you rather they just decide, "We're not going to make Transformers cartoons anymore." How much does it affect the sales? A TON. That's why they make the cartoons. Builds the brand recognition in youth and creates sales. The movie exhibited that: Transformers sales increased over 400% when the movie came out. In between, sales are not as good.

If you don't like it, fine. Deal with it, don't watch it, whatever. you're never gonna be happy about anything TF related then...there will always be "human drama". Grow up, though. Whining isn't going to change it. So stop it. Us adults are getting sick of it.

First-Aid brings up several good points, points that I should have considered before making my first post in this topic. I would find it interesting if they had a series that took place on Cybertron, or at least for a few episodes, like how G1 started on Cybertron in the first episode. But I doubt it'll happen, as First-Aid here pointed out, it'll always end up on Earth within the cartoon, and we'll see people. It's how Hasbro and the directors of the shows want it, and it will always be.

Thinking about "Prime" thoroughly makes me think that, regardless of how much human drama there is, it will hopefully be a good series. I wasn't the biggest fan of Animated initially, but it was decent enough that I watched it 'till the end since it was Transformers, and it has grown on me a little. So I'm sure that "Prime" will be a good series, and if it isn't, as First-Aid said, we'll just move on.

You know, the humans wouldn't be so bad but....they always make them as annoying as possible, that one girl in Cybertron and...Kicker....

Sari was ok, I'd actually rather the series just have one human, three(and one of them being a random small kid who doesn't seem to be related to the other two) seems..like a recipe for annoyance..

Plus, I MISS MY INSECT FACES!

please be good

please

You guys have to keep in mind that this show isn't necessarily made for hardcore TF fans - it's made for kids who watch Saturday morning cartoons. Of course there are going to be humans, very likely children, because it's a way for kids to relate. Take Batman, for instance. Robin is a pretty retarded character, but he was largely included for kids to have a way to relate to Batman - by imagining themselves as his sidekick, working with him, cracking jokes & keeping things lighthearted as a foil. It's largely the same deal here, and it's absolutely nothing new for TF shows, anyway.

And I'll probably get flamed for this, but I'd much rather see someone like Kicker or Coby (from Cybertron) than RiD's useless Koji or the band of whining brats from Armada. Coby and Kicker (the latter especially) actually contributed to the fight, and served as a much more tolerable (to adult viewers, anyway) human element than everyone else who sat on the sidelines and gave them advice. But my bet is it'll be more kids and/or teenagers that will draw parallels with the audience and likely reflect the current digital generation's culture and sense of hip.

As for the designs, they're about what I expected - an amalgamation of the Movieverse & Animated styles. I'm excited they're included Cliffjumper as a main character this time around, and not just an insubordinate grunt (G1) or a high-ranking officer with zero dialogue (Animated). I'm hoping they'll use his character in a similar capacity to what's been done with him in the Movieverse prequels - essentially functioning as Bumblebee's more confident, badass big brother. I like that Arcee is blue in this, because the familiar pink feels sort of old-hat and almost cheesy at this point in the mythology. And this is just speculation, but I'm guessing that the new blue color scheme will represent a subtle change in character - probably adopting a more masculine, take-charge personality a la Energon Arcee or Cybertron Override.

Prime looks virtually identical to the Movieverse incarnation, and while I find that perfectly acceptable, it still shows laziness. I guess this could have something to do with the fact that they don't want it to look too different for fear of it throwing viewers off when TF3 comes out, but kids really aren't that stupid. Animated was wildly different than the Movieverse design style, and yet kids still drew movie parallels with the Allspark, Megatron's Cybertronian mode at the beginning, and Bumblebee as main character/child's companion. Others have mentioned the strangeness of Ratchet's face, and I'd have to say I agree - it looks like a goat. Then again, Movieverse Ironhide's face strongly resembles a bear, so I guess that makes for consistency (lol).

To be honest, I'm a lot more curious about the Decepticons, because that's the element that could make or break the show for me. I remember reading that there was only going to be Megatron, Soundwave, and Starscream, but they just can't be smoking that much herb - that's just ridiculous. Granted, Animated had like 5 core Decepticons, but the ranks expanded throughout the show, and the 'Cons were seriously overpowered (as well they should be). Things are gonna get reaaallly stale if we end up seeing the same 3 familiar faces over and over and over again. They need to throw in some minor, previously unrecognized characters like the Autobots' Cliffjumper. Dead End, Bludgeon, Mindwipe, Skywarp (a real Skywarp this time, not a bit player), Tankor - all good choices, given the recent attention in the toylines. And if Bay isn't planning on using the Stunticons, I'd hope they'd be included as well as a nod to fans and a way to sate the fans' expectations.

Well, that about wraps it up. Damn, I wasn't intending to type up a book here, but I guess I did, huh?

ChrisRiss wrote:

SlyTF1 wrote:

ChrisRiss wrote:So, human drama. Well, I'm not going to complain about it like other people, because I realize, as much as we as fans don't want to admit it, these shows are for KIDS. I've been a fan since I was a little kid, and now twenty something years later, but the point is, most of us were fans when we were kids. That's what this is all about.

Since when do kids give 2 asses about human drama over giant robots blowing stuff up? I want to see a voilent TF show, where robots are riping eachother apart! Like in the movies.

Kids need something to relate to most of the time, so they feel like something like this could happen to them.
And as much as I hate to admit it, you look at *shudder* Twilight, and how many kids there are reading that. Honestly, the real reason is because it's some drama, and the characters are so one dimensional that they can relate to them. It's the same thing, and by the way, I apologize to everyone here for comparing Transformers and *shudder* Twilight.

"Human involvement" is just about within the limitations of what a Transformers show needs. However "human drama" falls within the realm of a bunch of whiney teenagers, and collage kids, or for an example as you put it "Twilight."

Frankly I think it is insulting both my and every kid or fan out there who will be watching this intelligence that they think they would need to add simple human drama, which we see everywhere else on TV, just to keep people interested in a show that's meant to be about machines from another world.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be a story, I'm asking, why can't it can't actually be about the robots for once? From the vary bare concept of Transformers, they are meant to be living machines whom have their own lives and personalities. So why do we need humans to relate to?

So far, all movie and television writers know, is the extremes. Either it's just about blowing stuff up, or it's a bunch of drival humans whining over insignificant problems. Still, that does not mean you can de-humanize the humans themselves either, and so long as it still takes place on earth, Earthlings do have to be in it.

Transformers Animated was probably the closest thing to a balanced show in this sense. Yes it did have a main human character which the show revolved around frequently, but a good amount of episodes mostly focused the indevidual transformers themselves, not to mention, Sari's story was actually getting interesting towards the end.

It's only the good shows that get canceled nowadays.

Ratchet is a bit orange. They just can't seem to give him his proper colours these days. Well, at least he's not puke green.

Admittedly human drama doesn't sound promising, but massive lols at all the people making definitive statements about how this show will turn out based on a paragraph of text.

As a fandom HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING?!

Puck wrote:Gonna tangent a bit, did you guys hover over to see what the new GI Joe looks like?




Yeah, yikes.

Alright! Who's little brother is trying to draw again? Is Doug, Porkchop, and Patti Mayonnaise gonna be making an appearance?

DavidT wrote:

Puck wrote:Gonna tangent a bit, did you guys hover over to see what the new GI Joe looks like?




Yeah, yikes.

Alright! Who's little brother is trying to draw again? Is Doug, Porkchop, and Patti Mayonnaise gonna be making an appearance?

Hmmm...the style reminds me of a combination of the new "Spectacular Spider Man" cartoon combined with the CGI "Iron Man: Armored Adventures". Not a big deal for me with one exception: why, in an elite military outfit, is there a fat man? From a strictly logical standpoint, these should be the top physical specimens in the US. THen again, I suppose my own argument about kids relating has to be in there- for kids who are overweight, they have a character to relate to. Kinda like Bulkhead from TF: ANimated was kinda the big, dumb, overweight, clumsy kid. It's a dumb stereotype, to be sure, but I suppose it helps them identify better.

Speaking of stereotypes, I wonder if that's why Arcee isn't pink. "Female" doesn't necessarily equate with "pink" anymore and, since this is a cartoon aimed primarily at the male child demographic- should a toy come out- what little boy would want a PINK action figure? I mean, it's almost like having a flippin Barbie doll...

First-Aid wrote:Hmmm...the style reminds me of a combination of the new "Spectacular Spider Man" cartoon combined with the CGI "Iron Man: Armored Adventures". Not a big deal for me with one exception: why, in an elite military outfit, is there a fat man? From a strictly logical standpoint, these should be the top physical specimens in the US. THen again, I suppose my own argument about kids relating has to be in there- for kids who are overweight, they have a character to relate to. Kinda like Bulkhead from TF: ANimated was kinda the big, dumb, overweight, clumsy kid. It's a dumb stereotype, to be sure, but I suppose it helps them identify better.

Speaking of stereotypes, I wonder if that's why Arcee isn't pink. "Female" doesn't necessarily equate with "pink" anymore and, since this is a cartoon aimed primarily at the male child demographic- should a toy come out- what little boy would want a PINK action figure? I mean, it's almost like having a flippin Barbie doll...

Interesting point about Bulkhead, that hadn't even crossed my mind before. For some reason, I immediately thought of Tanaka from Genshiken (an otaku-lifestyle anime, for those not familiar), the stereotypical overweight otaku. Come to think of it, that show is rife with stereotypes, although that all fits perfectly well within the context. But giving overweight children someone to relate to might not completely cover it, though. I suspect that characters based around negative stereotypes like that are often included in order to encourage acceptance from the "cool" crowd or, in this case, the "fit" crowd. The same thing was done on a massive scale with race issues, and it seems to have really helped with the acceptance thing. Just look at Nickelodeon - when I was growing up, it was nothing but white kids on the comedy shows. Nowadays, there are quite a few largely all-black shows, and all of the others always feature various minorities as regulars. And look at Static Shock - that's a prime example of how to largely transcend issues of race in Saturday morning cartoons. Of course, it walks a fine line - making the token white sidekick an eloquent gadget nerd - but no one noticed that, and if they did, no one cared. Pretty much everyone I knew who had watched it loved it, and no mention of race was ever made in talking about it.

And you're right about "female" not equating with "pink" anymore. With the rise in gamer/geek/fan girls, pink has taken a backseat to colors more traditionally associated with boys. I've even spoken to some girls that were raised with neutral bedroom colors so as not to influence their nature in any way, so the times they are a-changin. Granted, most nerdy females aren't that into mecha/robot destruction shows like this (you're right on it being a boys' audience), but the ones who would watch it and enjoy it would likely be put off by a pink foo-foo token female character like G1 Arcee, with her motherly instincts and whatnot. They'd want to see a female that could function as one of the boys, holding her own with the rest of the male cast. If you watch a lot of anime, you'll notice that most shows that try to cater to a wider audience typically throw in one or two of these types of characters to offset the typical foo-foo helpless female archetype that the boys want to see.

And as for G.I. Joe, well, that's the same sort of Bulkhead/token fattie syndrome at play, as you said. I'm not very familiar with the Joe characters at all, but I'm assuming he'll be used as more of a long-distance explosives expert character, rather than a melee brawler. Also, from what little I know about G.I. Joe, I'd assume that since the members are specially hand-picked, there could always be more than meets the eye with this dude. But in reality, that wouldn't matter - he wouldn't be able to hold his own with the other team members. That kind of thing almost gives overweight kids a false hope, in my opinion.

Imagining Frank Welker-Superstar's voice coming from this thing is what's got my stomach turning already
http://tformers.net/g/albums/14118/megatron.jpg
Ye gods, when will the Bayverse nightmare end??
Sigh...I'll give it a chance, still, but even so, I also still have a feeling this show is going to suck, really, really bad...As for 'the more human drama than ever before' stuff...When I was a kid, I couldn't stand Buster, or Spike or Daniel or Chip Chase, and especially the girl who loved Powerglide. All I cared for was the giant robots, cause that's who I wanted to see myself in.

TF: Animated got it right when they made the human a robot too...and 'Autobot Spike' was the only time Spike wasn't a pain in the rear .

Other than that, the design for Ratchet looks ok.

Rodimus the Prime wrote:Imagining Frank Welker-Superstar's voice coming from this thing is what's got my stomach turning already
http://tformers.net/g/albums/14118/megatron.jpg
Ye gods, when will the Bayverse nightmare end??
Sigh...I'll give it a chance, still, but even so, I also still have a feeling this show is going to suck, really, really bad...As for 'the more human drama than ever before' stuff...When I was a kid, I couldn't stand Buster, or Spike or Daniel or Chip Chase, and especially the girl who loved Powerglide. All I cared for was the giant robots, cause that's who I wanted to see myself in.

TF: Animated got it right when they made the human a robot too...and 'Autobot Spike' was the only time Spike wasn't a pain in the rear .

Other than that, the design for Ratchet looks ok.

LOL'd at your mention of "the girl who loved Powerglide". Spike, Buster, Daniel & Chip were all pretty useless, granted. The key to this, though, is making sure they take enough of a backseat to the real stars. They're a necessary evil with these shows, but either you put them on the backburner (Spike, most of the G1 humans) or you work them into the main plot (Kicker, Sari). Just having them stand there and do a lot of useless talking in every episode is what brings shows down in the fans' eyes, and is largely a reason for most fans hating Armada and RiD.

As for Welker voicing that Megatron design, well...it all kind of depends on how he ends up being animated, for me. His voice clashed harshly with the Movieverse design in both of the movie-spawned video games, but there was something else, too - the voice just wasn't quite the same as before. To be perfectly honest, some of it was downright cringe-worthy, and inappropriate for the mostly serious tone of the Movieverse Decepticons. Welker's star power is meaningless if it doesn't fit the character. Hell, even the guy who did Megatron's voice in RiD fit better with that particular design than Welker did with the Movieverse Megs, and most fans would agree that that's pretty much the worst Megatron voice thus far. This being CGI, though, it could go either way - David Kaye's voice was perfectly suited to the brooding, calculating Megatron from Beast Wars & the Unicron Trilogy, as was Corey Burton's to the similarly manipulative Megatron from Animated. But Welker's voice suits a manic, violent Megatron that charges into battle without thinking, and screams at his troops when those battles are lost. That design doesn't look like it would represent that type of Megatron, but like I said, the animation will prove me right or wrong.