Transformers:Prime Series Review

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Post by Countdown »

I'd rather see the Transformers genre go back to the G1 roots but I know that is unlikely and unfair to the series. But, that is what I would prefer.

As far as TF: Prime goes I think the series is entertaining for what it is. I would like to see a wider range of Autobots and I don't want them to screw around for 1-2 seasons to introduce them like they did in TF: Animated. Also, I would have preferred to drop the kids entirely, but then that goes to having the kids as a secondary part like G1 and not a main character. Just me being selfish.
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Post by PrimeDirective »

Countdown wrote:I'd rather see the Transformers genre go back to the G1 roots but I know that is unlikely and unfair to the series. But, that is what I would prefer.
Well, you've always got IDW. And Half Price Books is a good place to look for cheap copies of Dreamwave and Marvel stuff.
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Post by Countdown »

1/2 price books closed up shop by me. They are now over 30 minutes away. :( But, yes those are good resources!
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Post by LD2062 »

I finally saw some of prime. Not bad. I find it a lot less annoying than I did all the other series since BW. Still not as interesting a BW. But to be fair I only saw 2 random episodes. It could have an interesting overall story line like BW and I just haven't seen any of it yet.
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Post by Blackjack »

LD2062 wrote:I finally saw some of prime. Not bad. I find it a lot less annoying than I did all the other series since BW. Still not as interesting a BW. But to be fair I only saw 2 random episodes. It could have an interesting overall story line like BW and I just haven't seen any of it yet.
It doesn't. The first five episodes are a continuous story, but after that it all becomes episodic like TFAnimated.

My comment was actually that she pretty much should have been called Blackarachnia, but now that you mention it TT she really is a completely different character and deserves her own name (but a less stupid one than Airachnid).

Optimus Prime is a gentle badass. Very well put.

I also wanted to note that the title of the episode Predatory felt very appropriate to me for several reasons. First is the fact that the character of Airachnid is very reminscent to the Beast Wars Predacon spiders. Second, I kind of felt like I was watching the movie Predator but instead of Arnold screaming "c'mon, kill me!" and blowing up the Predator, Jack blows up her spaceship with his survival kit.
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Post by Time Traveller »

PrimeDirective wrote:
Also, Optimus is a gentle badass. Just as he should be.
Very well put, PD.
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Post by LD2062 »

I noticed they do a lot of barehanded fighting. Even when they were standing there waiting for a whole group. Very odd to me. Blast them at range. I've seen the motors cycle's hands turn into guns so they do have them. Do they have hand weapons too?
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Post by Blackjack »

After watching the episode Sick Mind all I can say is finally.

"How long must I be stuck in this lab surrounded by these antiquated machines".

After watching the episode Out of His Head I am fully pleased.

"It will be a miracle if you survive what I have planned for YOU!"

Is it me or did Megatron sound black when he uttered the 'you'?

Also Shadowzone looks promising.

Update: Shadowzone is promising. Starscream is a badass.

I'm actually surprised there hasn't been anything posted on here since my last post. I have now managed to get caught up by watching Operation Breakdown and Crisscross. My thoughts.

The organization M.E.C.H. is really the best human antagonist in a Transformers series. There a few comic baddies that I liked, Circuit Breaker is very very interesting although she's not really a bad person. I'm really interested to see what M.E.C.H. is planning and how this will play in to the overall plot that is developing.

I generally don't like episodes about a singular character, but both of these are excellent. I particularly like the character development we are getting for some of the Decepticon characters now. Both Breakdown and Airachnid are interesting as characters and Starscream continues to develop well. I can only see good things for this series in the future.

And now I have seen Metal Attraction and Rock Bottom. I am disappoint.

These are alright episodes. I particularly liked how Miko is trying to match Bulkhead and Arcee and how they have to work together to fight their rivals. It's nice that they have rivals.

What isn't nice is that Bulkhead and Arcee are the only characters the series cares about anymore (well them and their corresponding humans). What happened to Bumblebee and Prime, we haven't seen them in forever. Ratchet stands around and operates the Ground Bridge but he never talks. What the heck is going on here? Getting a lot of Starscream too, but I can forgive that. I just want to know why we only see the same two characters in every episode.

Also I am quite concerned for this series. There is one more episode scheduled for Season 1 and they have not come up with a coherent plot yet. Everything is so episodic. It's good that they reference past episodes and yes the Decepticons are rebuilding as a team, but I really feel like nothing has happened. I was really hoping there would at least be some kind of cliffhanger that would lead into the last episode. But it looks like we're going to have to wait until November for any coherency in this series if it ever comes. Even Animated ended Season 1 with a big two part special. This series gets an episode about Starscream trying to join the Autobots? Great, I can't wait. At least I can get the disappointment over with soon since it's actually going to air this week instead of making me wait another two like usual.
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Post by PrimeDirective »

Guys, don't forget that Beast Wars had no coherent plot until the very end of Season One. And look how that turned out.

Also...

ARBLUS, LOOK!
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Post by Blackjack »

I guess I always felt like Beast Wars was building up to something, but perhaps you're right.

And that little teaser is fantastic. There's much hope in store for this series.

Thanks PD for that information.

However I still feel like the series leaves off on kind of a lame note. Sure Starscream is awesome and I've been waiting for Megatron to tear into Airachnid, but nothing really happened this Season. They introduced a bunch of characters and that's about it. So I guess that's what we have for now, a nice introduction and set up to something that may eventually be amazing.

Kind of like the first two Bay films were to Dark of the Moon.

August 28th: And then I thought I'd give TT a call one day and one of the first things he asks is:

"Have you been keeping up with TF Prime lately"

Me: "Why should I? They're not making new eps until November."

Him: "No, they're actually up to episode 23 now."

(Not the actual dialogue).

So I checked 21, 22, and 23 out. They actually made it feel like a real season ending. And I see that there may even be a 24 coming out soon. So if you're not up to speed on TF Prime, go check it out. Everything I complained about has been fixed. Everything. Miko doesn't suck, Ratchet gets and episode, Prime gets more Primetime, and someone almost dies. Plus it feels like an actual season ending. Good stuff.
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Post by Blackjack »

Moar double posting. I apologize but this needs a bump anyway. Since it's the reason why I was encouraged to come back to TFL after a brief hiatus.

Episode 24 is up, technically Season 2, Episode 1. Fantastic.

I'm rather impressed by this series as it is sort of a throwback to many G1 series and comic concepts and they do it very well. They also have a lot of strong emotion between the characters that really keeps you interested in the story. Having moved beyond episodic nonsense just for now they've really taken the series a lot deeper than I expected. They've also done something with it that I never expected to see in a TF series, something completely awesome and terrifying.

The one complaint I have is that Megatron pretty much started bending over backwards for Unicron in this latest episode (yes, Unicron). I miss the '86 movie's "nobody summons Megatron..." dialogue exchange. Instead we have a Stascream/Megatron relationship developing between them. But maybe it will evolve into a teaming up with Prime to kill Unicron moment which would be awesome.
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Post by Minerva »

Great episode indeed ..although, I found it slightly disturbing as well. :P
I'm really looking forward to the next!
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Post by Countdown »

I agree, good episode. I was a little taken aback by Megatron's groveling though. Too much of a pushover.
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Re: Transformers:Prime Series Review

Post by ancientspark »

SentinelPrime wrote:I just saw the two first episodes of Transformers Prime. It is great to hear Cullen and Welker doing their respective character voices. Like all the Autobots, esp. Rachet. I like his sense of humor and dislike for humans! Hope its not the end for Cliffjumper. Liked him too!

The overall feel of this show reminds of the following previous transformers series: (Beast Wars) for the energon deposits, (RID) for the highway warp gates to all over the planet, and the robot and vehicle modes of the live action movies.

I don't like the way Megatron's face looks. The eyes on all the robots looks kinda strange. I do like Welker's new voice take of Megatron! Starscream is cool too!

As for the CGI animation...I don't think its as sharp as Beast Wars. Don't like Bumblebee not being able to speak.

Overall...I like it, but it may take some time to really grow on me!
I agree about Bumblebee, and I know we're starting season 2 now soon so I'm a late comer to this board and this thread alike.... but I must say that I enjoy this show far more than most of the other incarnations.

Starscream is very rich in character even if his voice is never going to be the same, R.I.P. Chris Latta. However the work on his writing is SUPERB this time around. Just SPLENDID.

Megatron as we know now has been slipping clearly into his G1 voice since the beginning of this show and I really enjoy the two different tones he utilizes for the voice (he being Welker, that is).

This Optimus Prime, even as he IS Cullen, is FAR better than the LIVE ACTION O.P. with the SAME voice actor, Cullen. It's Bay and Speilburg vs the wriiters from the first film, Orci and the like. If we had THIS prime in TF3, it would NOT have been the same...

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed TF3, but the REAL Optimus Prime would NOT have allowed so much carnage he would have made a 15 to 20 minute movie and he would have stopped at NOTHING to insure that no humans were harmed, good OR bad. And that's how TF-PRIME's O.P. is FAR greater in all respects than the live action movie version.

I consider him to be THE REAL Optimus Prime AS he was also in G1, he is HERE.

I have to stop with this now because some might not have seen it or all of it yet and I do not wish to give too much away.

Good show, Mate, nice post.
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Post by ancientspark »

skywarp408 wrote:i'll make it quick and just say that i liked it enough to watch it again. I also agree that the faces of many of the characters look really weird.
I've finally gotten used to that, ergo Ratchet has THE best eyes of all of them, many levels deep one might say. Yeah, Meg's eyes are really haunting and very organic.. but I like them more now than I did at first.
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Post by ancientspark »

Dai Atlas wrote:I was opposed to it initially but it's not bad really, the animation is not good but it is more tolerable then G.I. Joe Renegades. The story they started off with is pretty cool and being a Unicron fan I like the fact that he has been included this early on in the series. The humans so far aren’t annoying like in previous series (RID, Armada, Energon). So overall I was impressed and actually look forward to seeing more of the series. On a scale of 1-10 I give Transformers Prime a hardcore 7.
The animation is not good? Did you SEE Armada? Animated? its smooth and crisp in my humble opinion and bests Beast Wars and Beast Machines in resolution....


... also they FIGHT for REAL... they incur DAMAGE!!! So please.. indulge me and tell me why you personally feel the animation is sub-par, and make comparisons, please. And as much as we ALL love G1, please don't compare it to that... 'cause really. :) Peace. I mean you no harm.
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Post by ancientspark »

Time Traveller wrote:Haters gonna hate, but I thought this series was excellent beyond reproach. The characterizations and voices were exceptional... Within a few dozen minutes, they added something unique to each character. Further, they blew me away by making my day without filling any of my expectations.
Things they changed that I like:
"The kid" is not "Sam", "Spike" or "Witwicky". *sigh of relief*
Bumblebee is not "the kid's" main contact within the Autobots.
Arcee is not excessively doting. She has a lot of compassion, but remains strong and follows her own principles.
Starscream doesn't have such a high pitched voice. Don't get me wrong, Chris Latta was great, but they have done something different and been successful with it.
Ratchet wasn't old and grumpy sounding. He is professional and curt, and while he doesn't like the humans, he doesn't show outward anger... he just goes about his work giving one-word answers so they'll leave him alone. His character is absolutely brilliant.
Soundwave is faceless and perhaps voiceless- I think he always was (since they never portrayed his character traits in G1 other than total subservience to Megatron), but now they've made it literal.
Bulkhead isn't just comedic relief!
Ben's internal monologue: "Holy crap! They KILLED someone in the first episode! Holy CRAP! THEY TURNED HIM INTO A CREEPY ZOMBIE! HOLY CRAP! HIS COMRADES HAD TO WATCH, HELPLESS, HIS DEFILED CORPSE DIE AGAIN IN THE MINE!" Wow.
Does Megatron's face remind anyone else of a skull? Kinda creepy, I like it.
Also, they've admitted that pretty much the only Decepticons that matter are Megatron, Soundwave, and Starscream. Instead of pretending other Decepticons have character, they made them drones. Does this mean we won't have 38 meaningless seeker repaints? Yay!
I still haven't decided whether Arcee or Ratchet is my favorite. I guess I'll have to watch again.

ONE MORE THING... (please read even if you skipped the rant )

I haven't heard anyone like the new animation. I haven't heard anyone like the animation of Animated, Beast Wars, Energon, or Armada, either. What types of animation DO you like?

In conclusion, this series is well on its way to unseat Beast Wars as my all time favorite TF show. The characters, the well-captured Southwest scenery, differentiating itself from all the other 'classic' restarts so well... 10/10. I hope they stay this strong.


The ONLY thing I disagree with is the drone topic. Now... it's a SMALL disagreement and let me say EVERY other point you hit on was 100 percent CORRECT. Now, I have to defend the likes of Swindle, Bombshell, Blitzwing, Astrotrain.. The Constructicons when dealing with Omega definately had character... They were also important as well.

Bombshell and Swindle have the same wheel-and-deal attitude and it is displayed in the Traitor episode with Mirage and many times with Swindle. The insections were decepticons AFTER they were insecticons.

Blitzwing ended up going rogue and leaving the Decepticons after warning Rodimus of Galvatron's plot, doing THE RIGHT thing... but still could not be an Autobot but RESPECTFULLY declined Rodimus's offer and simply left on his own. This shows TONS of character and I hope you remember the God Gambit as that is my entire argument for Astrotrain.

There are many more, but I feel as you do that they WERE meaningless filler... But I have to disagree on some of them.

The constructicons all seemed to JUST be the chore-boys for Megatron as far as heavy lifting UNTIL The Secret of Omega Supreme, and after that I have always respected them because they were screwed over by Megatron's Reprogrammer and they have a past with Omega as well.

Thanks for listening.

and I for one LOVE the Animation. Period. BEST.
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Post by ancientspark »

Blackjack wrote:Haters gonna hate indeed. That said I have my own counterpoints to all of the things being said about this series. I've watched the existing 4 parts up to this point and overall find it to be an excellent series.

I particularly enjoy the character reimaginings this series has. Every single one of these characters is probably my favorite version of them, aside from Optimus who isn't any different than usual except maybe a little more angry.

Ratchet particularly stands out. He is explemplary.

I also very much enjoy this Megatron. It's the insanity that I see in the character that I enjoy. He's such a dark character and it's excellent.

I have no problem with the animation. It's very Beast Wars-esque, but also very different. Some characters look a little too much like their movie counterparts for me, but that's probably to give newer fans something to relate to. And Optimus's mouth in this one is even more disturbing than the Liptimus Prime in TFAnimated.

The cast of seasoned voice actors and screen veterans has thoroughly impressed me up to this point. Each character is well voiced and even old hats like Cullen and Welker have given a new edge to their respective characters.

I have one MAJOR problem with the series that is keeping me from liking it more. Let's review the facts:

American G1 was a series primarily about the Transformers and their wars coming to Earth, etc. etc. There was the character of Spike Witwicky and later his son Daniel. They were annoying but not in every episode of the show and not central to the story by any means. In the American G1 comics, Spike is a little more significant but is an even more tolerable character.

Japanese G1 series: Headmasters, SupergodMasterforce, and Victory all have their respective human children which accompany the robots. In Masterforce the interaction between human and TF was central to the story and the characters were again more tolerable.

The Transformers live action movies are primarily the story of Sam and Mikayla (sp?) with the Transformers playing a backseat role to teen drama and angst.

TF animated has Sari, the single worst thing to happen in a Transformers series. It also has annoying human characters like Headmaster.

Beast Wars which is my favorite TF series to date has no commonly reoccuring humans. There are some primative humans in a few episodes and those are the low point of the series for me. But overall the characters are the TFs and they are allowed to develop and be more human themselves because of it.

Notice a pattern? This series so far has been about nothing but the humans. Optimus goes so far as to pair up his Autobots with human children. All the series needs is for Optimus and Ratchet to get human partners (pair Ratchet with Agent Fowler while they're at it) and it will be complete. Let's get some evil humans to pair with Megaton and Starscream too.

The point is, I like Transformers better when there aren't humans in it, no matter how interesting or likeable they are. I want to watch a show about a centuries old interglactic war fought between giant robots with can turn into cars and jets. Not teenagers whining about their problems and the giant robots who befriend them. If that's what this series turns into (and it certainly seems to be going that way), then I may not watch it no matter how well done it is or how epic the music is.

5/10, oh and Miko is well on her way to unseating Sari as the worst thing ever to happen to the TF universe.
I am back and forth on the human aspect, but I agree a show devoid of any humans would be VERY interesting and fun... in its own way. However, the entire premise to having jets and cars is that these are EARTH vehicles... and why bring the whole Cybertronian lot TO Earth if they were just going to ignore humans all together?

I like the G1 idea of having them there but not all the time, like a light seasoning here and there... and then having plenty of screen time where there is JUST the bots... But I feel there has to be some balance, because the Autobots have to learn from the Humans and Prime's entire.. thing... .is helping humans and loving them for their strong will and resolve to do right... for the.. most part.

So I could take it either way, but how would the series ever grow without humans to learn humanity from? Both Autobots AND Decepticons would have a bloodbath and almost killed themselves totally out of the picture at the time they HAD to leave Cybertron.
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Post by ancientspark »

Dirge wrote:after careful consideration ( and being asked by my danish beauty to watch it :lol: ) my thoughts are thus ...

twas brilliant watching but i dont like the idea that soundwave cant talk and has no face and the idea that all the cons aside from megs screamer and soundwave seem to be just drones and have no personalities

more importantly ...

YET AGAIN THERES NO SIGN OF ME IN THERE ... WHEN DO I GET SOME LOVE IN A TF SERIES ????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now ive got that off my cockpit ...

me being a G1 fanatic ... i did like how they used the one shall stand line at the end

gotta wonder if unicron himself will make an appearence at some point though since theyve already mentioned him

and what will become of cybertron itself ?
I actually was surprised by myself to find out how much I DO like that Soundwave is mute... he uses SOUNDBYTES to speak and mainly harass the hell out of Starscream by replaying points that make him wrong and repeating orders to him... but as far as his own voice, it's an excellent and VERY genius idea to actually make SOUNDWAVE a mute, of ALL things... he can USE sound to communicate as long as it is recorded sound... but cannot actually speak.. or WONT... we don't really know still. but I think it's CANT.

But I did NOT at FIRST like it, as the first clip he played was of something Arcee said and for a split second I thought they made him female... WOW. but no... I figured it out a second later and after several more times I realized what they had done with him. Simply.. SMASHING to say the least.

So I respectfully disagree...

And Dirge... I really never saw much character out of him in G1, to be totally honest how does one identify with him? You tell me... is it the comic version you identify with? There is little more than what is on his tech specs as far as what is divulged about him in the show.

I'm not trying to ruffle your rudders, pal.. I'm simply asking you to tell us what it IS in fact that you do like about Dirge so much to adopt his character here?
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Post by ancientspark »

Roadbuster wrote:Skyquake kicked major tailpipe in this episode. Shame he bit the dust so soon without any future character development.
This is funny.. there is later development don't you worry... he's stuck in limbo right now... :) HAHAHA...

Was he supposed to be Skyfire?
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