[Netflix] Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy: Siege

[TangledThorns]

Watched the first episode, well written and better than expected.

'You mean that hand?'

 

[Bolt]

I'm digging it

[Hikuro]

So, it’s okay, I’m not big on the voice overs cause many I don’t feel fit the character they’re portraying (ironhide......wtf?) but like MANY cgi based animations you got a handful of body styles recycled again and again and again. That was my problem with the Star Ware cartoons as well. Same character design, but let’s make this one blue and the other green. Or this one will look identical to a senator but let’s make her hair brown and her outfit a lighter blue. Same thing applies with this show.

[TangledThorns]

Damn, didn't expect it to be that short. Oh well, can't wait for more

[Mechapilot77]

On 7/14/2020 at 4:59 PM, Old_Nash said:

Jetfire pure valkyrie XD

 

 

WOW, lol right at the 20 second mark.  jetfire is ozma wiht a mini mini itano circus.  definitely an homage...forgot what scene in frontier (or was it a frontier movie or game?) that ozma is standing on the ground and launches missiles like in the same pose.

[tekering]

4 hours ago, Hikuro said:

So, it’s okay, I’m not big on the voice overs cause many I don’t feel fit the character they’re portraying (ironhide......wtf?) but like MANY cgi based animations you got a handful of body styles recycled again and again and again.

Like Cog, you mean?

Or Impactor?

Or Sideswipe?

Mirage?

Hound?

It's totally inexcusable, I agree.

In fact, it's downright lazy.  

With 35 years of toys, comics, and video game characters to draw from, this should not be happening in 2020.

And just when you think it couldn't get any worse...

...the dialogue even tries to lampshade it!

[peter]

Just watched the first few episodes, not bad....maybe the most tolerable TF since G1.

Observations:

Prime's waist looks wierd when he walks.

While the voices are ok, the show would have benefited tremendously with the original voice actors.  Some of the voices just sounded tinny and generic.

They should have gotten the guy that did the Randall Ng/NGSmoov guy, lol!

Willing to watch more and give it a chance though, despite my gripes.

[Hikuro]

9 hours ago, tekering said:

Like Cog, you mean?

Or Impactor?

Or Sideswipe?

Mirage?

Hound?

It's totally inexcusable, I agree.

In fact, it's downright lazy.  

With 35 years of toys, comics, and video game characters to draw from, this should not be happening in 2020.

And just when you think it couldn't get any worse...

...the dialogue even tries to lampshade it!

Don’t forget the seekers and reflectors....think those made the mass of the deception army.

 

6 minutes ago, peter said:

Just watched the first few episodes, not bad....maybe the most tolerable TF since G1.

Observations:

Prime's waist looks wierd when he walks.

While the voices are ok, the show would have benefited tremendously with the original voice actors.  Some of the voices just sounded tinny and generic.

They should have gotten the guy that did the Randall Ng/NGSmoov guy, lol!

Willing to watch more and give it a chance though, despite my gripes.

they were all that way when you watch but yes for a bit with a grill as his abdomen it looked very out of place. All the fembots got hip sway though so I guess that’s okay?

[peter]

15 minutes ago, Hikuro said:

l the fembots got hip sway though so I guess that’s okay?

Lol, I noticed that too, though I'm totally ok with that, hahHHaha

[peter]

17 hours ago, Hikuro said:

So, it’s okay, I’m not big on the voice overs cause many I don’t feel fit the character they’re portraying (ironhide......wtf?) but like MANY cgi based animations you got a handful of body styles recycled again and again and again. That was my problem with the Star Ware cartoons as well. Same character design, but let’s make this one blue and the other green. Or this one will look identical to a senator but let’s make her hair brown and her outfit a lighter blue. Same thing applies with this show.

Omg, just heard Ironhide's voice for the first time, lol, totally agree, what in the actual fuk???!?

He had a really distinct voice in G1, not sure what's going on in this series.

The doing Soundwave doesn't know how to do Soundwave.  Shockwave isn't right either.

I like Starscream.  Megatron is grown on me.

[peter]

Spoiler

Where is Jazz??!?

 

[peter]

Spoiler

Also, I'm going to need to find an Omega Supreme toy now....even a 3rd party version will do, hahHa!

 

[Bolt]

It's by no meat perfect or completely on point. But I'm enjoying it. Like many, Transformers was a big part of my childhood, and it's fun to see it still going.

[JB0]

5 hours ago, Hikuro said:

All the fembots got hip sway though so I guess that’s okay?

I'm suddenly interested in this cartoon.

[tekering]

9 hours ago, Hikuro said:

Don’t forget the seekers and reflectors....think those made the mass of the deception army.

Well, there's decades of precedent for that, at least...  

5 hours ago, peter said:

  Hide contents

Where is Jazz??!?

 

It's a toy commercial, and only characters from the Siege line participate in the story... but even within that limited cast, there were some surprising omissions.

Where was Siege Springer, for example?  Or Brunt?  Or the Micromasters?  Or the Battle Masters?  

9 hours ago, peter said:

Just watched the first few episodes, not bad....maybe the most tolerable TF since G1.

You clearly haven't seen Transformers: Prime... or Animated.  Much better casting and dialogue than what's represented here.  

[peter]

4 hours ago, tekering said:

You clearly haven't seen Transformers: Prime... or Animated.  Much better casting and dialogue than what's represented here.  

Hmmm.....not sure I can stomach the designs (old guy here.....stuck in my ways).....and it looks like there are an awful lot of people in it.

Might take some getting used to.

 

[peter]

Come to think of it though, the designs are a bit on the blocky side.

Spoiler

When Magnus body  is just hanging there after he died, you can barely tell it's him....just a bunch of blocks.

And is he seriously dead??!?  I'm thinking he'll come back to sell more toys, but who knows.  

 

[Old_Nash]

1 hour ago, peter said:

Come to think of it though, the designs are a bit on the blocky side.

  Hide contents

When Magnus body  is just hanging there after he died, you can barely tell it's him....just a bunch of blocks.

And is he seriously dead??!?  I'm thinking he'll come back to sell more toys, but who knows.  

 

Good Point.

His toy sugest he's a coincient living-dead TF.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sGtJEWqGhO7QRDJjJxNR30ZDl4M=/1400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20790147/super_spoilers_high_res.jpg

[mikeszekely]

Just finished it tonight.  I fell asleep yesterday watching the fourth episode, and again today on the last one.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement, eh?

Actually, it was pretty ok.  The action scenes and the animation were good, and it had a decent plot.  The guy who did Optimus' voice was... ok.  He's no Peter Cullen, but he did alright.  I thought the voices for Ratchet, Elita-1, Starscream, and Bumblebee were fine, and I actually really liked that Megatron.  Jetfire's VA did a good job, I'm just not sure he was the right choice.  Soundwave, Shockwave, and Omega Supreme were really off, though.  The rest of the cast was pretty unforgettable.  On the whole it was enjoyable and a big improvement over the Prime Wars Trilogy, but there's been better TF fiction.

14 hours ago, tekering said:

You clearly haven't seen Transformers: Prime... or Animated.  Much better casting and dialogue than what's represented here.  

Yes to both of those.  And while I'm really not a fan of robots turning into organic animals and therefore am not particularly into Beast Wars toys or characters I'll happily admit the show was well-written and well-acted.  I've only see the first season of it, but what I've seen of Cyberverse started off pretty slow but picked up steam and I was thoroughly enjoying it by the end.

But Siege is definitely better than RiD (either one), the Unicron Trilogy, or the Prime Wars Trilogy.

21 hours ago, peter said:

  Hide contents

Also, I'm going to need to find an Omega Supreme toy now....even a 3rd party version will do, hahHa!

 

While he's based on the Siege toy in the Siege show (of course), I was recommending this one at full price and now it's almost $100 off at BBTS.

[tekering]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

I was recommending this one at full price and now it's almost $100 off at BBTS.

That's a great deal on Gabe!  

Spoiler

Of course, even he's not big enough to represent the Titan-sized guardian depicted in Siege....  

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Actually, it was pretty ok.  The action scenes and the animation were good, and it had a decent plot.

More than can be said for most Transformers fiction, sad to say.  

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

The rest of the cast was pretty unforgettable.

I think you meant unremarkable.    Most of the voices were so indistinct as to be interchangeable.

What really elevated the experience for me, though, was seeing so many onscreen characters depicted almost exactly as their toys look.  It was so satisfying that I bought a bunch more figures I hadn't been interested in before...

Unfortunately, the characters that hadn't already been designed as toys (Bumblebee, Elita-1, Arcee) will end up looking quite different as action figures.  

[mikeszekely]

8 hours ago, tekering said:

I think you meant unremarkable.    Most of the voices were so indistinct as to be interchangeable.

Actually I think I meant forgettable.  Don't know why I tacked "un" on the front, but yeah, we're basically on the same page regarding the voice quality.

8 hours ago, tekering said:

Unfortunately, the characters that hadn't already been designed as toys (Bumblebee, Elita-1, Arcee) will end up looking quite different as action figures.  

The perils of using characters for the Siege show that weren't in the toyline (instead of the numerous Siege toys that didn't make it into the show).  Although your point about the models in the show looking like the toys reminded me of another complaint I had.  For a show called "Transformers" there wasn't a lot of transforming.  Cog did the weaponizer thing twice, Prime, Jetfire, and a few Seekers transformed a few times, the Autobots that went to the Sea of Rust did at least once, and that was kind of it.  Magnus walked to Megatron's house, the Autobots walked into the trap, and Bee, Arcee, and Cog walked to Soundblaster's (and stole a truck to drive home).

Nice Seeker pic, by the way.  Were they some of the newer purchases?  Or some of the other Siege Seekers?  I've got eight of that mold now, and I'm still secretly hoping for one more release as Sunstorm.

[tekering]

37 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Were they some of the newer purchases?  Or some of the other Siege Seekers?

I only bought the ones available at MSRP, "Sheige Star Screen," "Sander Lacquer," and "Warfork Cybertron Hot Link."

I'm tempted by Redwing, but I can't find him under ¥6000...

...and Siege Skywarp was apparently some impossible-to-obtain US exclusive...

...and I wouldn't be caught dead with that ugly "Seeker Ion Storm" set.  I have CHMS knock-offs that look more legitimate than that crap.  

56 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Magnus walked to Megatron's house, the Autobots walked into the trap, and Bee, Arcee, and Cog walked to Soundblaster's (and stole a truck to drive home).

I actually laughed out loud when the Autobots starting sprinting from Megatron and the seekers, and the Decepticons gave chase on foot...  

[peter]

For a show about Transformers, I felt like they could have transformed a bit more.

I don't recall seeing any mass shifting.  Does that mean guys can't ride in Jetfire or the Seekers?  

[mikeszekely]

14 hours ago, tekering said:

"Sheige Star Screen," "Sander Lacquer," and "Warfork Cybertron Hot Link."

Those names are Peg-level great! 

14 hours ago, tekering said:

I'm tempted by Redwing, but I can't find him under ¥6000...

...and Siege Skywarp was apparently some impossible-to-obtain US exclusive...

Dunno about Japan, but yeah, Skywarp was only available in an Amazon-exclusive set with some Battlemasters and retailed for something like $40-$50.  Redwing's price wasn't bad, but to get him you had to buy him from Target.com (not in stores), and even then only if you paid with their store debit or credit card.  I don't recall having a particularly difficult time getting either of them, though, but by now they're only being sold on the aftermarket.  

14 hours ago, tekering said:

...and I wouldn't be caught dead with that ugly "Seeker Ion Storm" set.  I have CHMS knock-offs that look more legitimate than that crap.

They're a very monochrome set, and it does sort of make them look like less-detailed KOs.  But it's also screen-accurate:

A part of me does think that Sunstorm's orange creamsicle and white and the design they used for MP Acid Storm with two tones of green, some black, and digital camo on the wings would be more visually interesting, sure.  In hand, though, I kind of love the bright yellow and neon green they used for Nova Storm and Acid Storm.  I'm not a huge fan of Ion Storm's Thundercracker sans silver and black, but the set of three retailed for $20 less than three Voyagers normally cost, so ultimately I'm glad to have them in my little fleet.  I just really want one Sunstorm in this mold.  Now that I think about it, maybe Nacelle, too.  Then I could have them flying in a wedge-

V    V    V    V
   V    V    V
      V    V
         V

13 hours ago, peter said:

I don't recall seeing any mass shifting.  Does that mean guys can't ride in Jetfire or the Seekers?

Not so far, anyway.

[tekering]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

They're a very monochrome set, and it does sort of make them look like less-detailed KOs.  But it's also screen-accurate:

Well, I see more muted colors with a lot more detailing and color separation in Siege.

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I don't recall having a particularly difficult time getting either of them, though, but by now they're only being sold on the aftermarket.  

That's perhaps the most egregious error, as it was with the Prime Wars cartoons...  As toy commercials go, their timing is atrociously bad.  

[tekering]

So, it turns out those rather amateurish voice actors were all non-union; Netflix didn't want to pay out for the real voice talent, despite their enthusiasm for the roles.  

[Mog]

On 8/1/2020 at 1:15 PM, Old_Nash said:

Good Point.

His toy sugest he's a coincient living-dead TF.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sGtJEWqGhO7QRDJjJxNR30ZDl4M=/1400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20790147/super_spoilers_high_res.jpg

 

OMG, Zombie Magnus!  ZOMBIE MAGNUS!!

On 8/3/2020 at 2:12 AM, tekering said:

That's perhaps the most egregious error, as it was with the Prime Wars cartoons...  As toy commercials go, their timing is atrociously bad.  

This is Hasbro we’re talking about;  we have about a decade’s worth of evidence that they’ve become horrible at timing their toy releases with media, movie, and TV show tie-ins.

Edited August 4, 2020 by Mog

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

So, it turns out those rather amateurish voice actors were all non-union; Netflix didn't want to pay out for the real voice talent, despite their enthusiasm for the roles.  

To be fair I doubt Netflix had much input. Rooster Teeth made the show, and Hasbro commissioned it, so I'd say either Hasbro didn't want to pay for it, or Rooster Teeth was hiring from their circle of web content creators (you may, in fact, know the voice of Prime as the Honest Trailers guy).

[Bolt]

Finished it last night with my son. Looking forward to season 2. 

[Convectuoso]

Watched it last night with my wife. We liked it, but as others have mentioned, there aren't many transformations.

Still, I liked the old school designs and the animation. Now I'd like to start reading some Transformers comics, since my only reference was the '80s movie, which I watch every now and then. I don't remember much of the G1 series.

What Transformers comics would you recommend?

[tekering]

More Than Meets the Eye, by James Roberts.  Nothing else in Transformers fiction will ever compare (except perhaps Roberts' debut mini-series, Last Stand of the Wreckers).

[Convectuoso]

Thanks, @tekering

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

More Than Meets the Eye, by James Roberts.  Nothing else in Transformers fiction will ever compare (except perhaps Roberts' debut mini-series, Last Stand of the Wreckers).

This, this, 1000x this.  I mean, you could technically read all of pre-reboot IDW Transformers.  Not all of it is great, but I wouldn't say any of it is bad.  Or, if you do want to skip a bit so you can start reading More Than Meets the Eye you might actually want to start with the one-shot "The Death of Optimus Prime," which is sort of a post-Chaos soft-reboot (Chaos ended the current ongoing stories, but everything that followed was still set in the same continuity until the actual reboot years later).  You might also want to read Transformers: Robots in Disguise (which kept the numbering but dropped the "robots in disguise" part after the new cartoon started).  It's not as good as MTMTE, but it runs concurrently with with it and you'll be less confused during stories like Dark Cybertron and Combiner Wars that served as crossovers between the ongoing Transformers series.

But yeah, if you read nothing else read MTMTE.  It's probably the best Transformers fiction in existence, Alex Milne is definitely one of my favorite artists at IDW, and Roberts' take on several characters have become the definitive versions of those characters.

EDIT: BTW @Convectuoso, if you go all in on IDW PM me.  I organized the entire pre-reboot run of IDW Transformers comics in chronological order instead of order of release, and I can send you that reading order.

Edited August 5, 2020 by mikeszekely

[sqidd]

I liked the show. It's a stand alone for me. I haven't seen a TF cartoon since I was a kid and I walked out of the first Bayformers movie and never even started another.

But, Prime came off as a bit of a dufus to me. Very one dimensional and not a powerful leader. Megatron on the other hand was really quite good. I came away from this more a Megatron fan than I thought I was.

[tekering]

1 hour ago, sqidd said:

I walked out of the first Bayformers movie and never even started another.

Watch Bumblebee.  The opening sequence on Cybertron looks like a photo-realistic version of Siege, but with much more dynamic action... and far better voice acting.

1 hour ago, sqidd said:

Prime came off as a bit of a dufus to me. 

And Ultra Magnus, even more so... as if approaching the Decepticons with his face obscured by a hood did anything to hide his distinctive shoulder pylons...!  

8 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

We liked it, but as others have mentioned, there aren't many transformations.

Just a word of warning, then: As a post-war Transformers story set on a starship in deep space, More Than Meets the Eye features almost no transformations whatsoever.  

11 hours ago, Mog said:

This is Hasbro we’re talking about;  we have about a decade’s worth of evidence that they’ve become horrible at timing their toy releases with media, movie, and TV show tie-ins.

They've been pretty on-the-ball when it comes to Star Wars and MCU releases (as opposed to Bandai, MAFEX or Hot Toys)... but Transformers seems to be their Achilles' heel.