Machinima Titans Return Episode 10 REVIEW
Tuesday, January 9th, 2018 3:39PM CST
Categories: Cartoon News, Reviews, Site ArticlesPosted by: Bronzewolf Views: 56,763
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We rejoin the action with Trypticon having just eaten Victorion, the Enigma of Combination, Perceptor, and the Matrix of Leadership. This is obviously too much power for even the giant Titan, so he automatically rejects them all, coughing up the two Autobots and the two relics. Starscream's ghost is also released from Trypticon's body, and he falls, having basically been turned into an empty shell. The former council member says his final words to the Megatron and the rest of the cast, and then disappears into the ether. Sort of an anti-climatic end to the main plot thread of the series, but it at least makes some sort of sense. For the first time in a few episodes, Overlord is shown again, now overlooking (badumtiss) the aftermath of the battle.
"Well ain't that downright...finger lickin' good."
Victorion tries to retake the Enigma, but it catches her on fire, burning her right forearm, an entire half of Dust Up (Who may or may not exist as a separate personality in this continuity, given this series' track record with Combiners), completely off.
She recoils from the attack as the fire spreads, creating a ring around both the Enigma and the Matrix. The fire climbs higher and creates the shape of a...fairly non-threatening smiley face?
"Children of my third cousin twice removed's wife's sister's bank teller!"
The Emoji from hell reveals himself to be some sort of God to the Transformers, and Optimus wants to defend Cybertron from his obvious evil intentions, but Megatron convinces Prime to let him talk to the mystical being first. As Megatron approaches, the being reveals himself to be none other than Megatronus. Megatron speaks to him, reminding the God that he has, for eternities, fought under his name with respect and honor, and united the Decepticons Megatronus created. Megatronus tells him to move on to his point, so Megatron continues.
I have a few issues with Megatron's speech here.
The first is that Megatron curses Megatronus, saying "Goddamn you!". It caught me so off guard that it totally pulled me out of the episode. I haven't really shared my thoughts on the PG-13 nature of this series' dialogue yet, so I'll throw those two cents in now. It's not the principle of swearing that bothers me specifically, I think it's fine to use for effect, but in this series it feels like they're including it just because they can. There's no drama to it, no anguish, it's just there. Not only that, but in this specific case it makes no sense, as he's the God doing the damning. Perhaps it would have been more of an effect had he said "Primus Damn you!" or something to that effect, referencing a power higher than Megatronus. I digress.
My second issue with this scene is Megatron himself. Megatron's voice actor is one of the best parts of both this series and its predecessor, Combiner Wars. The sarcastic and flippant take on the classic character is seriously one of the best Megatrons we've seen since G1, but in this specific scene, it doesn't completely work. He's lamenting to his God and Idol about all of these things he's done to try and honor Megatronus, but he still maintains his indifferent exterior. It actually would have been an interesting scene to have him perhaps become slightly vulnerable at the feet of his idol when he's so buffed against vulnerability toward everyone else. It would have deepened his character, and would have really shown that he felt betrayed about doing all these things to gain approval of Megatronus just to receive nothing in response.
It's awesome to see our podcast staff in official media...
Anyway, Optimus and Fort Max use this opportunity to try to attack Megatronus, and it ends, uh, very poorly.
Fort Max actually uses the Master Sword, which is pretty awesome to see in an American series, but Megatronus easily blocks his attacks. He then gets rushed by Prime, though Optimus is similarly no match for the god, and gets blasted through the chest by a lazer. Yep, we get to deal with this again.
Oh, guys, no. Why? Didn't Transformers: The Movie teach you anything about what happens when you kill Optimus Prime?
As the life drains from Optimus's eyes, Megatronus warns of an apocalyptic event that will bring an end to the Transformers. With that cryptic warning, he disappears. Megatron realizes he knows where to find Megatronus, and asks the rest of the team to follow him there, promising the new adventure for the cast in the next series.
Overlord is still on a nearby hill watching what's transpiring before him, and for one final twist to this huge episode, it's revealed to us that he has turned Hot Rod into Rodimus Unicronus. With that, the episode, and the series, ends.
While on the whole this was a very enjoyable episode, there were bits and pieces that irked me. Line deliveries, pacing issues, the norm for this series. It answered a few questions and ended a few plot threads, but started quite a few more, but does lead in to a cliffhanger to transition into Power of The Primes. The amount of new characters and plot twists has definitely peaked my interest, and was an exciting episode, but I feel that spreading some of them out over the past couple of episodes would have been better. Some of the more recent installments have felt a bit too dull and filler-like, but it did make for quite a nail-biting episode today, like I said. And if there's one thing you can say for these Machinima shows, they're always unpredictable.
Looking at the series as a whole, it was not bad by any stretch. I've maintained since the beginning that it is leagues ahead of Combiner Wars, and it really is. In voice talent, animation, pacing, even the mouth movements on the characters, everything is a huge improvement. I can say unequivocally this production team learned a lot from their past mistakes and tried to remedy some of them. There lies the problem, though: They didn't fix enough of them. The pacing still feels off, some of the conversations need, desperately, to feel more natural and flowing. Character movements need to be more natural, and need to express more emotion when someone's talking. It's all very close to being good, and they have made vast improvements and learned a lot, I just think they need to learn a bit more.
Thanks for reading this review, and, as always, please share your thoughts down in the Energon Pub forums. Sorry today's review was a tad longer than what I normally do, there was a lot to unpack. Tell me if you agree with the points I made, or if I'm way off base. See you later this year, with the release of Power of the Primes!
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Posted by primalxconvoy on January 9th, 2018 @ 3:42pm CST
o.supreme wrote:Well It was kind of cool to see Fort Max as a fully powered Titan, able to stand up to Trypticon even with augmented Powers. Having Trypticons transformation again shrouded was disappointing. They should have just made this an actual animated series instead of a cheap web-series. Of course when I say full animated series, I mean with professional level writers, directors, animators etc...Yeah I know Hasbro would never go for it, that's why we cant have nice things.
I would have been happy with just an animated comic style affair, with great voice acting and some nice effects. There was a pretty good motion comic a while back about the War Within that seemed better than Machinima's efforts.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JPeHw4laWos
Posted by o.supreme on January 9th, 2018 @ 3:47pm CST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYny1tadpPM
but, for better or worse, I always keep them separate form official media.
Posted by primalxconvoy on January 9th, 2018 @ 3:54pm CST
o.supreme wrote:Fan made videos are fine. I have ma favorites also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYny1tadpPM
but, for better or worse, I always keep them separate form official media.
I meant that Machinima could have used this style of animation to save money and spend more in the writing, visual effects, voice actors, length, etc.
Some might say that there are practically no differences in frame rate between a motion comic, and what we have got right now
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on January 9th, 2018 @ 4:30pm CST
Posted by o.supreme on January 9th, 2018 @ 4:37pm CST
chuckdawg1999 wrote:I feel bad for the voice cast on POTP, because Joe's gonna kill them.
I haven't watched rasslin' since 2002, so I have no idea who this guy is. After looking him up online, he seems like a good fit for Predaking.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 9th, 2018 @ 4:39pm CST
Posted by Rysquad on January 9th, 2018 @ 5:01pm CST
chuckdawg1999 wrote:I feel bad for the voice cast on POTP, because Joe's gonna kill them.
..HAHAHAHA!!
Posted by Burn on January 9th, 2018 @ 5:09pm CST
chuckdawg1999 wrote:I feel bad for the voice cast on POTP, because Joe's gonna kill them.
Just imagine if the timing had been right, they could have had a different voice actor for when Fortress Maximus WOKE.
Posted by King Kuuga on January 9th, 2018 @ 5:32pm CST
Bronzewolf wrote:I haven't really shared my thoughts on the PG-13 nature of this series' dialogue yet, so I'll throw those two cents in now. It's not the principle of swearing that bothers me specifically, I think it's fine to use for effect, but in this series it feels like they're including it just because they can. There's no drama to it, no anguish, it's just there.
I have a minor point of contention regarding this: this show is not PG-13. It's solidly PG. You can fit a few "damns" and "hells" and (according to TF:TM) even a "shit" in a PG film. It's not language alone that determines the rating, it's the level of action, violence, themes, and intensity of what's onscreen, and nothing in this series surpasses is any worse than TF: Prime, it just sticks in a few curse words because..... reasons. I agree with your comment that the profanity doesn't add anything, but considering this a PG-13 work is a bit much.
So, this episode..... I got halfway through, stopped and rewatched episode 9, and I realized they still didn't show the Combiners being released from Trypticon's control. I assume it happened when he ate the Matrix but still, the episode opened with them just standing there. Not a great continuation after last week's cliffhanger. This whole episode felt anti-climactic, and I don't like that the plot thread with Overlord and Hot Rod was ignored for most of the series only to make a brief appearance here teasing the POTP show. I also don't quite get how Menasor and Devastator can be so mad at Megatron for claiming to want to reignite the Decepticons when they're supposed to be his (at least former) underlings, but I guess that goes along with Combiners effectively being their own faction here, which is strange since I think they still have faction symbols. Maybe I'm mis-remembering. The world of this show is not very well fleshed out at all. Megatronus was an interesting development at least, with an all-new design. Kudos for that, let's hope they don't squander that storyline next year. (not holding my breath) Oh and Optimus Prime is dead. How sad, this has never ever happened before in the history of the franchise, and I'm absolutely shaken that they would dare to kill off such a beloved icon permanently.
Well, this has been a trip. The show was, overall, better than Combiner Wars, but burdened with its own flaws. Ultimately we saw 6 standard toys from the toyline (but despite Perceptor's head-legs, none of them appeared to be Headmasters), both titans, and one single Titan Master who never actually formed anybody's head despite clearly having Cerebros's head on his back. And we never saw Cerebros at all, Fort Max just appeared fully formed. Not that I'm terribly surprised but Trypticon's drone never got used either. The show technically lived up to its title with the appearance of 3 titans, but didn't serve to advertise the toyline very well by not featuring its main gimmick at all. (of course, again, neither did CW so I don't know what I expected.) It feels weird to criticize a show for not being a blatant advertisement for toys, I'm not gonna lie, but there's just so much more unexplored potential in this series. I'm now betting that we will see at most 2 Prime Masters and maybe one Decoy Shell in the POTP series, and Elita One will be the only new toy character (barring Nemesis Hot Rod) and we'll never see her combine.
Posted by Bronzewolf on January 9th, 2018 @ 6:42pm CST
King Kuuga wrote:Bronzewolf wrote:I haven't really shared my thoughts on the PG-13 nature of this series' dialogue yet, so I'll throw those two cents in now. It's not the principle of swearing that bothers me specifically, I think it's fine to use for effect, but in this series it feels like they're including it just because they can. There's no drama to it, no anguish, it's just there.
I have a minor point of contention regarding this: this show is not PG-13. It's solidly PG. You can fit a few "damns" and "hells" and (according to TF:TM) even a "****" in a PG film. It's not language alone that determines the rating, it's the level of action, violence, themes, and intensity of what's onscreen, and nothing in this series surpasses is any worse than TF: Prime, it just sticks in a few curse words because..... reasons. I agree with your comment that the profanity doesn't add anything, but considering this a PG-13 work is a bit much.
You misunderstand. I never said it was a "PG-13 work", just a PG-13 nature of the dialogue specifically. I understand the action/violence factor, and I agree with you, it's nothing worse than Prime, which is why I specified dialogue.
I hesitate to talk about any 80s movie in reference to PG-13, as it was brand new at the time, having been instituted in late 1984. A lot of 80s PG movies pushed the envelope, and I'd argue that TF The Movie potentially deserved a PG-13 rating, between the language and violence, as many of the 80s PG movies do. (Back to the Future comes to mind) I think the only thing that saved it (other than PG-13 not being very widely used) was the fact it was animated.
You'd be surprised how many people get offended by "Goddamn", which is why it's censored on TV and in songs on the radio, while "Damn" isn't. I stand by my thought, I think it's accurate.
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on January 9th, 2018 @ 6:48pm CST
o.supreme wrote:chuckdawg1999 wrote:I feel bad for the voice cast on POTP, because Joe's gonna kill them.
I haven't watched rasslin' since 2002, so I have no idea who this guy is. After looking him up online, he seems like a good fit for Predaking.
Are we sure he's Predaking? I just thought that pic was for reference.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 9th, 2018 @ 6:51pm CST
You did read the POTP voice cast announcement, right?chuckdawg1999 wrote:o.supreme wrote:chuckdawg1999 wrote:I feel bad for the voice cast on POTP, because Joe's gonna kill them.
I haven't watched rasslin' since 2002, so I have no idea who this guy is. After looking him up online, he seems like a good fit for Predaking.
Are we sure he's Predaking? I just thought that pic was for reference.
Posted by MFA on January 9th, 2018 @ 6:56pm CST
http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/6/64/Henrymastersonandhead.jpg
This: machinima-transformers-titans-return-animated-series-discussion-thread-t104773s2075.php#p1930620
Posted by Mindmaster on January 9th, 2018 @ 9:55pm CST
Also, any reason TFWiki is calling him “Rodimus Cron?”
Posted by Sabrblade on January 9th, 2018 @ 9:57pm CST
That's what the voice cast announcement for POTP has the evil Hot Rod listed as.Mindmaster wrote:Also, any reason TFWiki is calling him “Rodimus Cron?”
Posted by primalxconvoy on January 9th, 2018 @ 10:01pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:That's what the voice cast announcement for POTP has the evil Hot Rod listed as.Mindmaster wrote:Also, any reason TFWiki is calling him “Rodimus Cron?”
Like Uni-cron? Surely it would be Rodi-cron?
Posted by Rated X on January 9th, 2018 @ 10:52pm CST
Cant we just call them what they are ? (cartoons and comics)
Seems like someone is just trying to make something sound overly sophisticated. Like if they feel the need justify adults watching cartoons or reading comics.
I dont know if the terms are offically coined by Hasbro/Takara or just fan made, but thats my 2 cents on them.
Posted by Bronzewolf on January 9th, 2018 @ 11:04pm CST
Rated X wrote:Wouldn't it be awesome if we could stop calling them "Machinimas" and "Magnas" ?
Cant we just call them what they are ? (cartoons and comics)
Seems like someone is just trying to make something sound overly sophisticated. Like if they feel the need justify adults watching cartoons or reading comics.
I dont know if the terms are offically coined by Hasbro/Takara or just fan made, but thats my 2 cents on them.
I'm a bit confused what you're referring to. I refer to it as Machinima's Titans Return because
1. It's produced by Machinima
And
2. I want to be clear that I'm talking about the cartoon and not the toy line.
Posted by Burn on January 9th, 2018 @ 11:23pm CST
Posted by Madeus Prime on January 10th, 2018 @ 2:43am CST
Whereas Combiner Wars was a 3/10 for me, I'll give this show a 6.5/10. The only thing holding me back is the overly drawn out plot and poor dubbing/voice acting. Though it's light years from how bad CW was, Windblade is just so snore-worthy (thank god Mistress of Flame is dead).
One thing I did like, Optimus totally miscalculated that attack. It was a dumb move, and it's honestly kinda funny to me that he would attack so blatantly and get blown away like he's nothing.
Posted by ausbot on January 10th, 2018 @ 2:46am CST
Posted by ZeroWolf on January 10th, 2018 @ 4:25am CST
Rated X wrote:Wouldn't it be awesome if we could stop calling them "Machinimas" and "Magnas" ?
Cant we just call them what they are ? (cartoons and comics)
Seems like someone is just trying to make something sound overly sophisticated. Like if they feel the need justify adults watching cartoons or reading comics.
I dont know if the terms are offically coined by Hasbro/Takara or just fan made, but thats my 2 cents on them.
To be fair Manga is used to describe comics of Japanese origin, and is used specifically to distinguish them from the western counterparts, though both cover many varied topics.
Posted by Va'al on January 10th, 2018 @ 5:27am CST
Comics is the Anglophone name of the medium of sequential storytelling with interaction of image and text. The comic book, manga, manhwa, quadrinhos, fumetti, bande dessinnée are various regional incarnations of that medium (Anglosphere, Japan, China, Brazil, Italy, Francosphere respectively; examples, not comprehensive).
News answer:
So yes, we will keep using the accurate term for all of these. If it's an AngloAmerican comic book, it's a comic (book), if it's a Japanese manga, it's a manga. If it's an animated series produced by Hasbro and Machinima, it's Machinima's animated series.
Posted by Rated X on January 10th, 2018 @ 7:42am CST
Bronzewolf wrote:Rated X wrote:Wouldn't it be awesome if we could stop calling them "Machinimas" and "Magnas" ?
Cant we just call them what they are ? (cartoons and comics)
Seems like someone is just trying to make something sound overly sophisticated. Like if they feel the need justify adults watching cartoons or reading comics.
I dont know if the terms are offically coined by Hasbro/Takara or just fan made, but thats my 2 cents on them.
I'm a bit confused what you're referring to. I refer to it as Machinima's Titans Return because
1. It's produced by Machinima
And
2. I want to be clear that I'm talking about the cartoon and not the toy line.
1. I dont see the word "Sunbow" being used in the title to describe every story about the G1 cartoon (such as all the unreleased audio clips)
2. If you want to be "clear" that you are talking about the cartoon and not the toy line, wouldnt using the word "cartoon" make more sense?
Because you sure as hell confused me. Im sure Im not the only one on here who doesnt read the credits and know the names of executive producers or the companies they work for.
Posted by primalxconvoy on January 10th, 2018 @ 7:50am CST
Posted by Rated X on January 10th, 2018 @ 8:02am CST
Burn wrote:And Magnas are a model of car put out by Mitsubishi ... so ... yeah. Cool story X, cool story.
Well im referring to the use of the word "magna" here:
https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ine/40367/
Even though other sites clearly skip the Japanese moniker and call it what it is, a comic
http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/09/30/taka ... ine-349980
I love both sites equally but I fail to see the point of using the word "Magna" on this site when describing a comic.
By the way I dont follow Japanese auto makers, I drive a Chevy.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 10th, 2018 @ 8:08am CST
I don't see the word "magna" in there. I see the word "manga", but not "magna".Rated X wrote:Burn wrote:And Magnas are a model of car put out by Mitsubishi ... so ... yeah. Cool story X, cool story.
Well im referring to the use of the word "magna" here:
https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ine/40367/
Even though other sites clearly skip the Japanese moniker and call it what it is, a comic
http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/09/30/taka ... ine-349980
I love both sites equally but I fail to see the point of using the word "Magna" on this site when describing a comic.
By the way I dont follow Japanese auto makers, I drive a Chevy.
Posted by Rated X on January 10th, 2018 @ 8:12am CST
primalxconvoy wrote:Surely there shouldn't be any confusion as to which animation is being discussed as that's the title of the thread? Or is it the title that's being debated?
I wouldnt really call it a "debate".
Im just suggesting the addition of the word "Machinima" is unnecessary. Its a damn cartoon.
Some over-analytical individuals on here will surely seize the opportunity to say X doesnt know his Hasbro affiliated CGI animation companies so he must be a complete moron.
I got better things to do than read the credits at the end of 5 minute cartoons.
Posted by primalxconvoy on January 10th, 2018 @ 8:13am CST
Rated X wrote:primalxconvoy wrote:Surely there shouldn't be any confusion as to which animation is being discussed as that's the title of the thread? Or is it the title that's being debated?
I wouldnt really call it a "debate".
Im just suggesting the addition of the word "Machinima" is unnecessary. Its a damn cartoon.
Some over-analytical individuals on here will surely seize the opportunity to say X doesnt know his Hasbro affiliated CGI animation companies so he must be a complete moron.
I got better things to do than read the credits at the end of 5 minute cartoons.
Noone thinks you're a moron. If anyone states as such, simply report them.
Posted by Rated X on January 10th, 2018 @ 8:25am CST
Sabrblade wrote:I don't see the word "magna" in there. I see the word "manga", but not "magna".Rated X wrote:Burn wrote:And Magnas are a model of car put out by Mitsubishi ... so ... yeah. Cool story X, cool story.
Well im referring to the use of the word "magna" here:
https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ine/40367/
Even though other sites clearly skip the Japanese moniker and call it what it is, a comic
http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/09/30/taka ... ine-349980
I love both sites equally but I fail to see the point of using the word "Magna" on this site when describing a comic.
By the way I dont follow Japanese auto makers, I drive a Chevy.
Ok you clearly got me on that and I give you all the credit in the world.
So now that weve gotten past the fact that ol X doesnt bother to thoroughly read the spelling of obscure Japanese terminology, lets get to the meat and potatoes of my argument:
Does the news guy feel more sophisticated because he is using Japanese terminology on an American site?
I doubt theres any confusion that the comic originated from Japan considering the comic is wriien in ummmm....Japanese.
News flash: its a damn comic. Call it such. Manga....sheesh
Apologies in advance if I went a bit off topic. I know this is not the Takara Legends comics forum. I was just killing two birds (or words) with one stone.
Posted by primalxconvoy on January 10th, 2018 @ 8:32am CST
Rated X wrote:Sabrblade wrote:I don't see the word "magna" in there. I see the word "manga", but not "magna".Rated X wrote:Burn wrote:And Magnas are a model of car put out by Mitsubishi ... so ... yeah. Cool story X, cool story.
Well im referring to the use of the word "magna" here:
https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ine/40367/
Even though other sites clearly skip the Japanese moniker and call it what it is, a comic
http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/09/30/taka ... ine-349980
I love both sites equally but I fail to see the point of using the word "Magna" on this site when describing a comic.
By the way I dont follow Japanese auto makers, I drive a Chevy.
Ok you clearly got me on that and I give you all the credit in the world.
So now that weve gotten past the fact that ol X doesnt bother to thoroughly read the spelling of obscure Japanese terminology, lets get to the meat and potatoes of my argument:
Does the news guy feel more sophisticated because he is using Japanese terminology on an American site?
I doubt theres any confusion that the comic originated from Japan considering the comic is wriien in ummmm....Japanese.
News flash: its a damn comic. Call it such. Manga....sheesh
Apologies in advance if I went a bit off topic. I know this is not the Takara Legends comics forum. I was just killing two birds (or words lol) with one stone.
Well, to be honest, "manga" is an English loan word. It's not elitist to call it such, especially if it was a comic from Japan. "Comic" is fine, too, as both are just terms of preference.
As for "machinima", well, there are two reasons for the term's use; either it is an animation using (video game) assets, and/or was made for or by the "Machinima" channel/brand/company/whateveritis.
Here's the definition for the former:
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima
Hope this helps.
Posted by King Kuuga on January 10th, 2018 @ 9:12am CST
And the comics are referred to as manga because that implies the Japanese sequential illustrated tropes and mechanics they employ that are not seen as much or at all in American comics. Might also remind people to read from right to left.
Bronzewolf wrote:King Kuuga wrote:Bronzewolf wrote:I haven't really shared my thoughts on the PG-13 nature of this series' dialogue yet, so I'll throw those two cents in now. It's not the principle of swearing that bothers me specifically, I think it's fine to use for effect, but in this series it feels like they're including it just because they can. There's no drama to it, no anguish, it's just there.
I have a minor point of contention regarding this: this show is not PG-13. It's solidly PG. You can fit a few "damns" and "hells" and (according to TF:TM) even a "****" in a PG film. It's not language alone that determines the rating, it's the level of action, violence, themes, and intensity of what's onscreen, and nothing in this series surpasses is any worse than TF: Prime, it just sticks in a few curse words because..... reasons. I agree with your comment that the profanity doesn't add anything, but considering this a PG-13 work is a bit much.
You misunderstand. I never said it was a "PG-13 work", just a PG-13 nature of the dialogue specifically. I understand the action/violence factor, and I agree with you, it's nothing worse than Prime, which is why I specified dialogue.
I hesitate to talk about any 80s movie in reference to PG-13, as it was brand new at the time, having been instituted in late 1984. A lot of 80s PG movies pushed the envelope, and I'd argue that TF The Movie potentially deserved a PG-13 rating, between the language and violence, as many of the 80s PG movies do. (Back to the Future comes to mind) I think the only thing that saved it (other than PG-13 not being very widely used) was the fact it was animated.
You'd be surprised how many people get offended by "Goddamn", which is why it's censored on TV and in songs on the radio, while "Damn" isn't. I stand by my thought, I think it's accurate.
I still disagree but I see your point. I'm an opponent of the ratings creep that's been apparent in recent years, with g-rated content getting slapped with a PG and PG-13 films running the gamut from family films with some language all the way to bloodless brutal violence. But that's another topic. So we'll agree that the profanity was ill-used in this show, and agree to disagree on how extreme it is in principle.
Posted by Sunstar on January 10th, 2018 @ 9:17am CST
I feel like one of those hyenas from lion King.... Machinima... machinima.. machinima... sorry
I'd call Japanese Comics Manga - and North American comics as Comics. As a person who writes, it's not an elitist feel when I use a different term or phrase, it's just I like a variety of words. I love learning new words, and using those words when the opportunity arises.
Posted by Black Bumblebee on January 10th, 2018 @ 9:24am CST
primalxconvoy wrote:o.supreme wrote:Well It was kind of cool to see Fort Max as a fully powered Titan, able to stand up to Trypticon even with augmented Powers. Having Trypticons transformation again shrouded was disappointing. They should have just made this an actual animated series instead of a cheap web-series. Of course when I say full animated series, I mean with professional level writers, directors, animators etc...Yeah I know Hasbro would never go for it, that's why we cant have nice things.
I would have been happy with just an animated comic style affair, with great voice acting and some nice effects. There was a pretty good motion comic a while back about the War Within that seemed better than Machinima's efforts.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JPeHw4laWos
Awe! Someone remembers my old cartoon Still sad that I never was able to complete it--teaching full time and being the primary guardian of a grandchild has kept me too busy.
Posted by o.supreme on January 10th, 2018 @ 9:27am CST
Rated X wrote:Cant we just call them what they are ? (cartoons and comics)
Seems like someone is just trying to make something sound overly sophisticated. Like if they feel the need justify adults watching cartoons or reading comics.
I don't think there is any misidentification in most forums. Anything published by Marvel, DW, IDW or Punpub etc... is always referred to as a comic. Anything that is published in Japan such as the in-package stories with Transformers Legends is referred to as Manga because that's what it is. It's short for Mangajin (Romanization of Magazine in Japan). Aesthetically they may be very similar, but calling anything that comes from japan a Manga is not over sophistication, its just correct.
Would you force everyone to stop calling all of Jim Henson's creations as Muppets, and just use the general term puppets? It is true they are all puppets, but what gets the point across more-- "I saw that new Puppet movie with Kermit the Frog", or just I saw "The Muppets"
As for Cartoon. I see it this way...Can you refer to the TR series as a "cartoon" , sure. But for me personally (and I don't expect anyone else to follow this logic...) the word "cartoon" has always been synonymous with humor (think of the film, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"- Toon Town, and all creatures from there were "Toons") -Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Popeye, Scooby-Doo and all their kin' I would consider as cartoons.
However for anything that involves action, adventure, sci-fi etc...I refer to those as an "animated series". Sure its a bit longer, but IMHO it gives a little more respect to the work, and distinguishes it from others. One case in point, I don't think I've ever heard anyone on a forum write "The batman cartoon from the 1990's", or "Fox's Batman cartoon". I've always seen it written as "Batman: The Animated Series". - that title alone makes it absolutely definitive which Batman you are talking about, among the many Batman shows that have been produced over the years.
So when speaking of any Transformers show, in context, I will always use the term "Animated Series", and not cartoon. Though technically cartoon is not incorrect, and I don't call people out for using it. The same goes for "G1". Personally I hate that term. To me it waters down and is completely disrespectful to everything that defined what we have now, almost 34 years later. Star Trek fans use the term "OST" (or Original Series Trek), and I think that's fine. Me personally I always refer to "The Original Series" in relation to anything that occurred with Transformers between 1984-1991. You will never see me use the term "G1" unless I'm quoting someone else. But by the same token, I don't fault others for using it. I know its popular, its just not for me.
Posted by Va'al on January 10th, 2018 @ 9:40am CST
Posted by Sabrblade on January 10th, 2018 @ 10:46am CST
Oh, but look! A wild Megatronus has appeared! Out of nowhere! Completely disconnected in meaning from anything that came before! Because!
I myself call those "shorts". "Animated shorts", to more precise.o.supreme wrote:-Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Popeye, Scooby-Doo and all their kin' I would consider as cartoons.
Posted by o.supreme on January 10th, 2018 @ 11:23am CST
Sabrblade wrote:So we go through two episodes building up to Trypticon's threat, and seven episodes of a big fight against Trypticon, only for the last episode to have Trypticon just fall over with no real payoff, rendering the entire fight against him completely and utterly pointless.
Oh, but look! A wild Megatronus has appeared! Out of nowhere! Completely disconnected in meaning from anything that came before! Because!
Yeah, I totally get that. But it at least explained -why Starscream's disembodied spirit went into Trypticon. I mean Starscream was an unwilling participant. He referred to "The Gods", but I had the lingering question from the beginning as to Why would they do what they did? Megatronus being behind it all at least was an explanation (even if not a good one). Why Megatronus could not have simply brought back Trypticon himself, or perhaps possesed Trypticon wasn't really well thought out. Maybe they just thought "Starscream's Ghost"= Nostalgia for the animated series, we'll go with that...I don't know...
I used the Lord of the Rings explanation earlier. Again I'm not excusing what was done, I feel just as unfulfilled that Trypticon didn't get a real beat down we were hoping.
What fascinates me however is, the cast and character reveals from yesterday. With the introduction of Optimus Primal (who will probably start out something akin to his BW S1 form and through obtaining the Matrix will upgrade to his Optimal Optimus form). it appears Optimus Prime will not be coming back, and there is little chance of Rodimus to be restored back to his original form. -Two Primes possibly going down *forever*, to give rise to Optimus Primal? That would be refreshingly different if nothing else.
Posted by Rodimus Knight on January 10th, 2018 @ 12:29pm CST
They way the ultimately portrayed Rodimus Prime is really awful. They could have portrayed, bu him as a young leader learning to lead, but it feels more like they've portrayed him as a mostly incompetent leader who hates being in the role of leader. Sure it was thrust upon him, but if the Matrix Chooses it's leaders, then he should have been better able to handle it. Again, show him as learning to be a leader, not just making him a fool.
Also annoyed that the voice actor apparently couldn't come up with a younger sounding voice for those moment he went back to Hot Rod, nor could you tell his robot modes apart. But I digress.
He does have his moments, but they felt like they were few and far between.
So yeah, they killed Prime to sell more toys or different characters but they could have at least given the replacement a better portrayal and given some more meaning to the Death of Optimus Prime instead it felt like his death was meaningless in the animation. Even with them planning on bringing him back, Rodimus / Hot rod could have taken up a place a second in command under Optimus afterwards to continue to learning to lead.
Posted by Bronzewolf on January 10th, 2018 @ 12:55pm CST
Rated X wrote:Bronzewolf wrote:Rated X wrote:Wouldn't it be awesome if we could stop calling them "Machinimas" and "Magnas" ?
Cant we just call them what they are ? (cartoons and comics)
Seems like someone is just trying to make something sound overly sophisticated. Like if they feel the need justify adults watching cartoons or reading comics.
I dont know if the terms are offically coined by Hasbro/Takara or just fan made, but thats my 2 cents on them.
I'm a bit confused what you're referring to. I refer to it as Machinima's Titans Return because
1. It's produced by Machinima
And
2. I want to be clear that I'm talking about the cartoon and not the toy line.
1. I dont see the word "Sunbow" being used in the title to describe every story about the G1 cartoon (such as all the unreleased audio clips)
2. If you want to be "clear" that you are talking about the cartoon and not the toy line, wouldnt using the word "cartoon" make more sense?
Because you sure as hell confused me. Im sure Im not the only one on here who doesnt read the credits and know the names of executive producers or the companies they work for.
I'm only using Machinima as a possessive proper noun, not as a replacement word for "Cartoon". (E.G. Machinima's Titans Return, a cartoon belonging to the company Machinima)
Credit reading is unnecessary quite a few people and every news story refers to it in this way. (Also, there aren't even credits to read in this series, just a giant logo sequence for Machinima at the end of every episode. It even audibly says MACHINIMA at the end.)
It's just to differentiate the Toy line from the series. I personally don’t like to call it a cartoon or a show because it's not, really. Being only 11 minutes long and entirely online, it's an Animated Short more or less in my eyes.
(Also, a lot of people use Sunbow when talking about the G1 cartoon. Just like people say "the G1 Marvel Comics".)
Rated X wrote:
So now that weve gotten past the fact that ol X doesnt bother to thoroughly read the spelling of obscure Japanese terminology, lets get to the meat and potatoes of my argument:
Does the news guy feel more sophisticated because he is using Japanese terminology on an American site?
I doubt theres any confusion that the comic originated from Japan considering the comic is wriien in ummmm....Japanese.
News flash: its a damn comic. Call it such. Manga....sheesh
"Manga" is not a elitist term, and not ever remotely close to being obscure. Barnes and Noble has a Manga category. Heck, my local libraries have a shelf designated "Manga". We are not the first people to bring this term to the American market.
Also, as far as I understand it, Manga isn't interchangeable with comic. Manga refers to a specific kind of Japanese comic, as, you know, comic book is a different thing than a comic strip over here. I could be wrong, but that's what I've gathered from personal experience.
Posted by Stormtalon on January 10th, 2018 @ 1:38pm CST
Posted by partholon on January 10th, 2018 @ 1:53pm CST
i have to say i really liked it. the introduction of megatronus reminded me alot of how he got introduced in dreamwaves books by furman. the bit with fort max and the master sword is practically channeling what happened in the books with grimlock.
pretty much straight off the batt you see your dealing with something in a totally different league.
i also found it strangely touching in how fort max caught trypticon as he was falling over. i really did get the sense there was feck all titans left and as such cared about any of them that was left. TBH none of this was his fault- it was all starscream in the driving seat- so who knows what we'll get from trypticon should he appear in POTPs
once again i still find myself smiling that for a program called "titans return" we get waaaaay more combiner action.
at this rate POTPs will be all titans and just one prime.
still this searies was alot better than CWs . the script and voice acting is improved greatly , and the designs have a lovely kirby-esque fell to them. which i wasnt expecting at all.
yes the frame rate still sucks, and it did annoy me that we never got to see ANY titan transform clearly. seriously that should be an awsome sight and a selling point for the show- yet we get a confused "cloudy" mess to cover up swathes of it.
but i gotta give credit where its due. this DOES feel like its own thing set an indeterminate ways ahead in the future thats started to hint at whats gone on before to get us to this place.
im looking foward to the next series.
Posted by Burn on January 10th, 2018 @ 2:09pm CST
Va'al wrote:Glad to see we're all on topic.
I'm just glad to see we've got another one who thinks they can tell us how this site should be run instead of just getting the fuck over it and clicking the back button.
Posted by primalxconvoy on January 10th, 2018 @ 3:18pm CST
Burn wrote:Va'al wrote:Glad to see we're all on topic.
I'm just glad to see we've got another one who thinks they can tell us how this site should be run instead of just getting the **** over it and clicking the back button.
There's no need for that, Burn. You have all the tools at your disposal to issue warnings, PM people or ban them. You're a mod and I'm sure a very respected member here. I have appreciated your help even when we disagree on matters, which definitely gets my respect. However, what did that comment above achieve, except to take the discussion further off topic and/or incite "another one" to reply?
"Speak softly, and carry a big stick."
(Source: - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Stick_ideology )
Plus, for the record I've just spent time defending the News Staff's decision regarding vocabulary choice, not criticising it.
Thanks for your time.
Posted by primalxconvoy on January 10th, 2018 @ 3:49pm CST
Black Bumblebee wrote:primalxconvoy wrote:o.supreme wrote:Well It was kind of cool to see Fort Max as a fully powered Titan, able to stand up to Trypticon even with augmented Powers. Having Trypticons transformation again shrouded was disappointing. They should have just made this an actual animated series instead of a cheap web-series. Of course when I say full animated series, I mean with professional level writers, directors, animators etc...Yeah I know Hasbro would never go for it, that's why we cant have nice things.
I would have been happy with just an animated comic style affair, with great voice acting and some nice effects. There was a pretty good motion comic a while back about the War Within that seemed better than Machinima's efforts.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JPeHw4laWos
Awe! Someone remembers my old cartoon Still sad that I never was able to complete it--teaching full time and being the primary guardian of a grandchild has kept me too busy.
You're welcome! As a teacher myself, I fully understand the lack of time, even within the job itself!
Those motion comics were great. I remember a while back Hasbro made some of their own and they were worse than yours.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 10th, 2018 @ 5:14pm CST
I mean, we literally go from "WemuststopTrypticon!WemuststopTrypticon!WemuststopTrypticon!WemuststopTrypticon!" to "Oh, he stopped... That's goodWHOA! A wild Megatronus has appeared! Because!"
And then there's the cliffhanger ending from last episode. Trypticon eats the Matrix and is about to power up from it... only for that to just be one big fake-out as he quickly just spits it (and Perceptor, Victorion, and the Enigma) right out at the start of this episode, with the sudden jump over to Megatronus being this all new threat from out of nowhere likewise making the entire series one big fake-out.
This whole show was one massive case of trolling that it begs of the question of just why should we have cared about any of what happened in it at all if all of it was of no consequence whatsoever? And that's on top of the fact that, even before this final episode told us that there was no point to any of it at all, the episodes before had already given us so little to care about in this show in the first place.
Posted by Burn on January 10th, 2018 @ 5:42pm CST
But yeah, what you said pretty much covers everything. This would have been a great way to market Trypticon had it been released to coincide with his release. But otherwise you could probably take all the episodes, cut them up and splice them together to maybe a 30 minute episode simply to connect Combiner Wars to Power of the Primes.
Posted by padfoo on January 10th, 2018 @ 7:12pm CST
It makes no sense, but I enjoy the few character models they have. Seeing them in action is visually exciting and Megatron is still fantastic. I could go on for days criticizing the series and I do wish it was better, but I am happy we have it and I cannot wait for season three!
Posted by Va'al on January 11th, 2018 @ 2:39am CST
Voiced by Luke Skywalker's cousin Mark Hamill, though no Gershwin was gargled on the show, the Prime (as in of the Primes) character will also return in the third and final series Power of the Primes, also released by Machinima as reported here, during the Spring of this year. The discussion thread for that series can be found following this link, but check out the image below!
Not everyone will survive Megatronus’ arrival on Cybertron. Watch the finale of Transformers: Titans Return on go90 now go90.show/2CJToSC
If you’re outside of the US head to go90.show/TransformersINTL to watch.
Posted by ZeroWolf on January 11th, 2018 @ 3:20am CST