Transformers General Discussion thread

The place to discuss anything relating to anime or manga.
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Mu La Flaga
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

I will say, I want to get War for Cybertron if I get a PS3 sometime in the future.
The Transformers Animated ones looked like very simple or aimed for kids far more so.

I would also like to try and get hold of 1-2 of the PS2 Japanese ones.
Might look in to them sometime.
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Don't get the Takara PS2 game!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2h0u1UopSY

I had a friend let me play a pirated copy. It's really terrible. Clunky controls, boring levels, awful animation which is just looped and looped(stop playing that Optimus clenching fist animation!!) and bleh voice acting. Also some of the models make the characters look even more like bricks than before.

I also used to play Convoy no Nazo for NES. It was.... challenging. Ultra Magnus explodes as easily as he does in the movie. A bit of fun, but there were so many much better games from that era.

Haven't played any of the other games since I'm not a fan of those series.
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Mu La Flaga
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

2NA Fish wrote:Don't get the Takara PS2 game!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2h0u1UopSY

I had a friend let me play a pirated copy. It's really terrible. Clunky controls, boring levels, awful animation which is just looped and looped(stop playing that Optimus clenching fist animation!!) and bleh voice acting. Also some of the models make the characters look even more like bricks than before.

I also used to play Convoy no Nazo for NES. It was.... challenging. Ultra Magnus explodes as easily as he does in the movie. A bit of fun, but there were so many much better games from that era.

Haven't played any of the other games since I'm not a fan of those series.
I can see why you dislike it, but i myself want to get it and try it myself possibly.

I haven't decided yet.
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

That's cool then. The gameplay is a bit like a very simplified version of the Armada PS2 game, for reference.
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Mu La Flaga
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

That would be fine with me for the controls personally.
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Mu La Flaga
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Something that bugged me or made me wonder recently.
In Beast Wars and all that, how the heck could the Japanese mistake Air Razor as a male instead of a female Maximal?

It's something which still baffles me, Black Arachnia was plain obvious though.
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skyknight
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Alright Mu's reply from Gundamn has sent me here!

By the way, my username is Mach Wind for tfw2005.com and Seibertron.com, if any of you here are also members there as well.

Well, what can I say? Loved Transformers to death - yes, I destroyed my TF's as a kid, that includes Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Devastator (I snapped off his head while playing)! Yes, I cried when Prime died in the Movie, and I missed US TF while I was living in Taiwan - the good thing is that I saw Headmasters, Master Force, and Victory - yes, there is a cultural difference about TF in the Japanese series.

SO... did I have high expectations with Micheal Bay being chosen to direct the TF live-action? Yes, I was hoping for something good and maybe bold from others. Unfortunately, even with the first one, I was underwhelmed by Bay's work, and the next two were huge disappointments, regardless of the box office numbers (it can be cooked - if you force viewers to go with 3D!). I felt Bay had no love for the Transformer lore, and from my understanding, he never wanted to communicate with the TF fans at all - the live-action trilogy was to be his pet project, if you didn't like it, then go f**K yourself.

As stated in the reply for the Gundamn ep, I say Beast Wars, Galaxy Force, and Animated has better storylines and character development. And as I stated earlier, there is a cultural difference between JP and the US TF - most JP TF are self-contained universe: Victory is a minor-sequel to Master Force (Ginrai is the only recurring character, and... SPOILER
Spoiler
he dies and reformated as Victory Leo to combine with Star Saber!
). Energon (SuperLink in JP) is the continuation of Armada (Micron Legend), while Cybertron (Galaxy Force) is a stand alone - vs the US Unicron Trilogy.

OK, I'll stop here, and I do wish for REBOOT of the Transform live-action film - NO MORE SEQUELS!!!
How much better is being a Creepy Bishonen compared to an AEUG slapping boy?

If Ginrai, the Japanese truck driver living in America, can be the leader of Cybertron Forces, then what can a pizza delivery boy be?

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Mu La Flaga
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Skynight welcome to the thread mate.
And all I will say is Seibertron I used to go to, that was ages back though.

I kind of dropped off Transformers sort of around Energon.
I never got to see Cybertron, Animated I only saw bits of, can't get past that stupid simplified look.
Yes I know it's only part of the show, but I would prefer something on the level of Beast Wars to that.

Bay's movies I would call Bayformers as they are his stamp on the Transformers movies as his own thing.
But yeah there are so many things that could have been done better.

Such as 90% of the Autobots are cars, trucks, ect.

The Cons get the cool stuff like construction vehicles or millitary vehicles, how about a little balance?


If this was your supposed final movie Mr Bay, you know what I would have done?
I would have had the Autobots find a weapon that turns the tide of the war in their favor when the city is being attacked, they activate Omega Supreme who crashed on Earth millions of years earlier and has been laying dormant.

Not just yet another big battle in a city like the 1st movie.
I mean yeah Sentinel Prime was interesting, but in the end, you knew Optimus would kill him.
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Aha. I used to go on Seibertron.com as Darkscream. Always had fun there despite the occasional flame war, but I dropped off quite a few years back myself.

If they're planning another TF movie, I'd agree with a reboot. Oh, and get a different director. And oh, get a different design team. And get better music. And change everything else too. :roll:

I think I have the same gripe with Michael Bay as many other guys. He explicitly said in interviews that he didn't care what the old fans wanted. He ignored advice from producers about important elements of the franchise and just did whatever he wanted. He changed his mind on things and added or took away stuff on whims. Took away Bumblebee's mouth because he thought it was unrealistic, then added a mouth to Optimus because he thought you couldn't get enough emotion without one. He had no respect for Transformers the franchise, nor the fans.

Back in the day I wrote a rant about Bayformers on Seibertron and it ended up 2000 words long. I've mellowed out since then.... just a bit.

On the cultural differences between Japanese and American Transformers, I do find there are good and bad points in both. Japanese are better at planning that long background story that plays out over many episodes. On the other hand, the American productions have very much better characterised villains.
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Mu La Flaga
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

As much as Chris and Neo have made the point of trying not to let nostalgia goggles cloud your judgement.

At the same time, Bay gave us such great humor NOT and Revenge of the Fallen.
That movie I can nitpick to death and list numerous gripes on top of that the series has suffered from.

I mean hell.
I wanted to see some more awesome shit, I mean we only got one combiner and his design was turned in to an odd coloured Hollywood monster.

Really.
Bay is only good so much, you know I would like to see John Faverau do Transformer movies.
He knows how to do characters and action to an extent.

Also if you liked Beast Wars Skynight what was your opinion on Beast Machines?

To me that is one of the worst Transformers entries and I lean towards hating on it as I said.
The hate is somewhat justified in parts.
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skyknight
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Galaxy Force has the Transformers coming to earth trying to find a solution to stop the black hole caused by the death of Unicron - in this series, like RiD, all Transformers are be under the radar of every daily human activities; there's even an Autobot that transform into a traffic signal - but he does have a cool lance! But for the Unicron Trilogy adaption, Cybertron, not much explanation is given on why the Transformers must hide, considering the events that have happened in Armada and Energon, humans should be fully aware of Transformers.

Animated, yes, I do NOT like the designs, and shall NEVER buy any of the toys (now the same is for Bayformers!) - but under the cartoonish designs, it does have a serious tone, Optimus Prime is a young leader that has more to learn, and he is interrupted by the Elite Guard (that included Sentinel Prime and Ultra Magnus!) later on. And Autobots make fatal mistakes that leads to defection of several of their comrades to the Decpiticons.

As for Beast Machines, story wise, it is original, but the major problem is the screenwriters were trying to recreate Transformers in their own image (just 2 or 3 guys I believe), not the one shared by many passionate fans. The concept of TechnOrganic never sit well with me, nor the character development - I hated every bit of it, yes, it was trying to be different. Here's the beef, Primal went from a tactical/adaptable leader into a templar (with such blind faith!) following the guidance of the Oracle - which turns out be a big mistake for the Maximals for S2. Cheetor did muture, but nothing else besides a follower of Primal. Rhinox and Silverbolt got corrupted and became all bitter about it, and each choose a different path after regaining their own conscience back. Nightscream was an emo teenager.

The best part is definitely the end battle between Primal and Megatron, and yes some aspects were reused, particularly Transformers as being "organic" - this was a major point for Galaxy Force.
How much better is being a Creepy Bishonen compared to an AEUG slapping boy?

If Ginrai, the Japanese truck driver living in America, can be the leader of Cybertron Forces, then what can a pizza delivery boy be?

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Mu La Flaga
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

I will say this.
Beast Machines I liked some of the Vehicon designs but what was with the colours.
The Maximals had weird colour and design looks to them.

Out of the Maximals here is going down the list of all characters and nitpicking them.

Optimus Primal: As you said not to mention his change in attitude to trying to make Cybertron embrace organics, how did Cybertron even have Earth like fossils in the rock or plant life somehow anyway?

Rattrap: Going cowardly or defecting at worst, that doesn't seem like him, even in Beast Wars when he had non weapons he would fight "dirty"

Black Arachnia: Character wise she wasn't too bad, but her colours were just odd.

Cheetor: He grew, he went somewhere and that was good to see.

Nightscream: I wil say this once and I will say it again, I didn't mind him, I can see how he annoys some people.
He had his moments with Savage/Noble.

Silverbolt: His dark side I kind of liked and thought it was reasonable he wouldn't be the same honour bound Silverbolt from Beast Wars.


Megatron: Since when did he want to purge his Beast mode?
Not to mention his fetish/obsession with capturing sparks lots of times.

Tankor: Ok, we've seen Rhinox go evil before in Beast Wars and get reprogramed forcfefully and with Black Arachnia's case, usually Predacons that tend to be from a different faction before they tend to have a shell program.
So a friend of mine and me reckon he was acting more so under a shell program, even though later his conscience got activated, they just seemed to mingle or meld weirdly.

Just seems out of character for him. for Rhinox to swap sides willingly and stay there.

Thrust: Somehow he is Waspinator more so dangerous/competent.

Strika&Obsidian: Interesting new additions and deadly very much so.

Jetstorm: Bugged me to no end, I liked him as Silverbolt, he was just arrogant and cocky of himself far too much.


Then you have the end result of the series, tecno organic world which results in mechanical plants and all that.
Really also there were other silly things and it's just really not the best note to end the G1-Beast era on.
Anwyay those are some of my thoughts.

RID was a real wlecome breath of fresh air and back to basics after Beast Machines.

I appreciated some of the ideas it tried to do, but it didn't execute them the best way.
Last edited by Mu La Flaga on Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Just wanna jump in to say thanks for the read guys. I'm not able to reply with much since I haven't seen Beast Machines, Galaxy Force and Animated, but it's some good information.
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Mu La Flaga
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

So for those who may be around, what are opinions on Prime?
I haven't seen it much, like part of 1 episode, the CG could have been better.


And the designs could be better, instead of using Bay's movie designs.
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

I'm currently rewatching TF:Headmasters and TF:Super God Masterforce simulatenously.

Last time I watched Headmasters it was this horrible quality singaporean release english dub where Spike Witwicky was called 'Sparkle' and other characters had equally stupid names, but now I'm watching it in full japanese with english subs.

This was probably the last true TF G1 show (although masterforce and Victory do take place in the G1verse as well) but featuring still many known US G1 characters like Jazz, Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Kup, etc, and ALL the gestalt/combiner characters who are constantly fighting/assembling in nearly every other ep. For those TF fans who just want to see as many TF characters animated and appearing on screen all the time, this is the show for you.

But the show itself had probably the most rushed pacing as they seemed to cram in too much all the time and with its cast of hundreds, sometimes it was hard to keep track who was where all the time.

Masterforce, OTOH, was a much more japanese show that still featured robots but made humans a much bigger part of the show, actually making them just as major characters if not moreso than the autobots and decepticons. Hell they even make the first batch of autobots (pretenders) appear most of the time in their human disguises rather than robot forms. All the other characters; the Headmaster Jrs, Godmasters, etc were basically enhanced human chracters in power armor bonding with lifeless TF bodies making them fighting robots...but still human characters. Despite this, I still think this is the best of the japanese G1 TF series.

Thankfully TF: Victory goes back to Autobots and decepticons being true sentient robots again and human characters were really peripheral this time. Story was a lot more formulaic in classic TF style but it was cool to see the story all over the galaxy rather than have a focus on Earth like Masterforce did. Also my favorite robot designs; Star Sabre and Victory Leo were in this series as well as their combined form: Victory Sabre.
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Mu La Flaga
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

You got any opinions on the other Transformers series entries kayone73?

Just to ask.
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kayone73
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Mu La Flaga wrote:You got any opinions on the other Transformers series entries kayone73?

Just to ask.
Other than Beast Wars, not really. When Car Robots, Armada, and those other series came out, I was already too old to get into them, and plus nothing about the short clips of the shows drew me in. All the minicons, and other gimmicks rang too much of Pokemon, another show that seems childish to me and thus didn't grab my interest.

I like the japanese G1 shows because of their late 80s aesthetic because those are the shows I grew up with.
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skyknight
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Masterforce did have an awkward leadership transition - the Cybertron force was lead by a group of human specialist that had contact with Grand Maximus, and each was given the power of the Pretenders - the initial leader was Metalhawk; but then a Japanese truck driver living in the US, happens to discover his truck has regeneration (and other weird) capability, and he was discovered by the Cybertron force - they helped him to unlock the God-master force (PowerMaster), and after seeing his power, the Pretenders let Ginrai take over!

YO, Soul Bro, a truck driver can be the leader of the Cybertron forces! So, what could a pizza delivery boy be???

IF there was anything that bugged me for Victory, it would have to be Star Saber transformation - you would have to see the whole process entirely, and OP theme would be playing in the background!
How much better is being a Creepy Bishonen compared to an AEUG slapping boy?

If Ginrai, the Japanese truck driver living in America, can be the leader of Cybertron Forces, then what can a pizza delivery boy be?

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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

Mu La Flaga wrote:Something that bugged me or made me wonder recently.
In Beast Wars and all that, how the heck could the Japanese mistake Air Razor as a male instead of a female Maximal?

It's something which still baffles me, Black Arachnia was plain obvious though.
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Airrazor#Gender
japan has had issues with strong female charaters they changer arcee from an solder in the us produced footage to an secretary.
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Popular_Earth_ve ... nate_modes
here is all of the common alt modes.
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Re: Transformers General Discussion thread

On Headmasters, it was a difficult situation because they suddenly lost all their American scriptwriters, but they wanted to keep the feel the same. The Japanese scriptwriters were trying to write in the American cartoon style and it didn't work out as well as everyone was hoping, despite some great ideas. American comic and cartoon writers are very good at squeezing plots into these frantic little sequences due to a very pragmatic approach to writing, but you could see the Japanese writers were struggling to get the same effect. It wasn't until some of the later anime that Japanese learnt to pick up the pacing well.

MasterForce worked because the producers allowed the staff to go in a more traditional Japanese direction, but it's like the 00 of the series. If you look at other anime around the same time, they've basically tried to rip off everything they could, mashing it together in this wonderful silly world. Funny how amongst the Autobots, you could see obvious designs ripped off City Hunter, that jungle boy style manga, Captain Tsubasa, Wolverine and GI Joe/Mobile Armoured Strike Kommand style characters. Minerva's design was a typical 60's shoujo manga lead and the Powermasters were so much like that typical Getter Robo Super Robot style team it wasn't even funny, it was hilarious. On Decepticon side, you had the VERY fantasy style designs for the leaders, and the Darkwing brothers having such typical Yaoi manga designs for the period. The whole humans in armour thing was of course popularised by Saint Seiya, and Japanese love their sea monsters... Finally, somewhere in that mess we had robots too.

By the time we got to Victory, the American flavour of Transformers was lost completely, which was a pity. That's why we got the super long transformation sequences. Pragmatic American writers would never have allowed that. Victory and Zone were Transformers in name but basically Yusha series. While I love the Yusha series as much as Transformers, it was a bittersweet way for G1 to go.
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