The Energon Pub

Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:05 pm

Since this is now the new master universe we're having despite the flaws and things that don't add up what are your thoughts on the ideas of the Aligend continuity so far? Do you think it's done well or do you think it's a juvinile attempt at being "epic" by tieing everything together without making a lot of sense of it nor are they fleshed out well at all?

News Credits: 462 · Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:06 pm

I'm good with it. It ain't perfect, but it's better than a lot of things we've gotten before.

Unlike many others, I don't mind the visual aesthetic diversity that comes from the games, cartoons, and comics all being made by different parties. About the only issues I take with it are when the cartoon makers do something in the shows that contradict things already established by previous Aligned fiction, forcing more and more retcons to be made to patch up those continuity errors they keep making, instead of just taking things more carefully since Hasbro has stated that their philosophy of continuity means "no contradictions" rather than "everything fits perfectly".

News Credits: 37 · Sun Nov 17, 2013 7:43 pm

It's inconsistent as hell and I don't like how it portrays Cybertron and the Cybertrinian race, itself. I could make a better continuity.

News Credits: 462 · Sun Nov 17, 2013 8:08 pm

SlyTF1 wrote:I don't like how it portrays Cybertron and the Cybertrinian race, itself.

You don't like how it gave Megatron easy reasons to start the war and to pretty much hand him victory on a silver platter?

News Credits: 37 · Sun Nov 17, 2013 9:50 pm

Sabrblade wrote:
SlyTF1 wrote:I don't like how it portrays Cybertron and the Cybertrinian race, itself.
You don't like how it gave Megatron easy reasons to start the war and to pretty much hand him victory on a silver platter?

I do not. I also don't like how the made the Well of Allsparks a physical place. I always thought it was like Heaven, a place you can't actually physically touch until you die and get there. I also don't like that Cybertronian life just... comes from there.

News Credits: 462 · Sun Nov 17, 2013 10:14 pm

SlyTF1 wrote:I do not.

But aren't you pro-Decepticon? Isn't the Cons' winning the Great War a good thing to you?

SlyTF1 wrote:I also don't like how the made the Well of Allsparks a physical place. I always thought it was like Heaven, a place you can't actually physically touch until you die and get there.

It was a physical place from the moment it was first created by Simon Furman:

It was Animated that borrowed the name to use to refer the afterlife since the original afterlife name of "Allspark" was already in use at the time for the physical "AllSpark" object.

And, really, the TF afterlife has no single name, since it was first called "the Matrix" in Beast Wars, then "the AllSpark" in Beast Machines and everything up to 2007, then "the Well of All Sparks" in animated, and now "the Afterspark" in IDW.

As a hint of things to come, there's gonna be a big TFWiki article coming soon from user Chris McFeely that will reconcile all of this like what he did for the "Transwarp" article.

SlyTF1 wrote:I also don't like that Cybertronian life just... comes from there.

Only the protoforms are made there. The sparks still come from the AllSpark.

Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:27 am

Sabrblade wrote:I'm good with it. It ain't perfect, but it's better than a lot of things we've gotten before.

Unlike many others, I don't mind the visual aesthetic diversity that comes from the games, cartoons, and comics all being made by different parties. About the only issues I take with it are when the cartoon makers do something in the shows that contradict things already established by previous Aligned fiction, forcing more and more retcons to be made to patch up those continuity errors they keep making, instead of just taking things more carefully since Hasbro has stated that their philosophy of continuity means "no contradictions" rather than "everything fits perfectly".

And, as an added bonus, Hasbro isn't even entirely consistent about the canon. The Beast Hunters toyline has its own fiction and forms a micro-continuity of its own.

I've said repeatedly I wish we could isolate the High Moon games away from the Prime cartoon and create similar lines of canon, and ideally excise the Alex Irvine novels from the continuity altogether.

Other than the gripes about consistency, I'm fine with a lot of it. Of course, for something meant to last 10 years (2010-?) there doesn't seem to be much story left to work with, unless Hasbro is keen on introducing new factions in whatever sequel series they're currently working on.

News Credits: 462 · Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:26 am

Henry921 wrote:Of course, for something meant to last 10 years (2010-?) there doesn't seem to be much story left to work with, unless Hasbro is keen on introducing new factions in whatever sequel series they're currently working on.

Theres always those thousands of years of unexplored material after the Great Exodus but before TF: Prime for them to go into. I'd kill for a TF: Prime prequel.

News Credits: 767 · Mon Nov 18, 2013 9:26 am

I like it, but I would prefer them to stick to the TF Prime aesthetic, the other ones we've seen till now kinda look boring and me, while the TF Prime style is more unique, alien, fantastical and organic looking.

I would prefer more consistency, so we won't need so many retcons (like the damn TFPrime GN which was then contradicted by the episode by the same author telling basically the same story), I also wish the Novels would be rewritten by a competent writer, or at least adapted in comic form to mesh better with the show.

Tue Nov 19, 2013 1:32 pm

While each part of Aligned Continuity is great on he's own, I don't feel this all "One, epic saga thing.". Universe in WfC and FoC is completly different than in Prime. I just can't belive that cartoon is the direct sequel of games. The same is for Exodus, for me is more like a prequel to G1, Prime is based mostly upon Bayformers, WFC fused both ideas.

News Credits: 22 · Wed Nov 27, 2013 9:35 am

OK, I'm more or less a Geewunner, though I never felt that that makes me an elitist or G1 better, though that's the common association with the term. Can someone please explain to me exactly what the Aligned continuity entails, from beginning to end (or present)? Thanks.

News Credits: 462 · Wed Nov 27, 2013 9:58 am

Rodimus Prime wrote:OK, I'm more or less a Geewunner, though I never felt that that makes me an elitist or G1 better, though that's the common association with the term. Can someone please explain to me exactly what the Aligned continuity entails, from beginning to end (or present)? Thanks.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Aligned_continuity_family
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Aligned_timeline

Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:27 pm

I would prefer if War For Cybertron was a prequel to G1 but otherwise my only problem is the no nose Prime aesthetic. I prefer the G1 look that WFC resembles.

Otherwise, it's well written for the most part which is the most important thing to me with franchise. I do wish that they recoloured and renamed Smokescreen as Hot Rod as he's obviously a homage to him.

While Rescue Bots is obviously aimed at a younger audience, at least at first glance, I do like it and it's nice to a see a team of Autobots that doesn't include Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet or Ironhide. I know BB and Prime do appear but they're not the main characters.

I know it doesn't fit well but I did enjoy the Aligned novel.

Apart from one or two things mentioned above, I am happy enough with the Aligned Continuity.

News Credits: 462 · Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:22 pm

The Covenant of Primus seems to have Ruined the Aligned Continuity FOREVER for some folks.

News Credits: 7 · Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:52 pm

Not a fan of Aligned. Feels like the spend too much time simply stitching together previous concepts and not enough time coming up with new ideas, and when they do come up with new ideas they're often pretty lousy. And the G1 Movie quotes, holy hell, all the G1 movie quotes.

Prime squandered it's potential, WfC/FoC felt like generic shooter games, and from the sounds of things I'm glad I didn't preorder the "Covenant of Primus" book, so overall Aligned hasn't been a pleasant trip.

On the other hand, Rescue Bots (from what little I've seen) is quite charming, and has Tim Curry, so it wasn't all that bad.