[Netflix] Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy: Siege

[JB0]

4 hours ago, tekering said:

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...!  

In fairness, that's not even in the top ten worst ideas a cybertronian has ever acted upon.

[sqidd]

6 hours ago, tekering said:

 

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...!  

 

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.  

Yeah, UM takes the cake!

Well, the did botch the Baby Yoda release in spectacular fashion.

[tekering]

34 minutes ago, sqidd said:

Well, the did botch the Baby Yoda release in spectacular fashion.

Not at all!  Filoni and Favreau kept Hasbro in the dark about "the child" until The Mandalorian was released.  Lucasfilm was more concerned with spoilers than merchandising sales, bless their hearts...  

To Hasbro's credit, they've gotten the Baby Yoda merch out pretty quickly (especially compared to other Star Wars licensees equally blindsided by the premiere).

However, now that Siege is finally streaming, anyone looking to pick up the toys the show was explicitly designed to advertise will find they've long since been phased out:

Studio Scale, Cyberverse, even Movie Masterpiece figures are easier to find than Siege products.

[Convectuoso]

11 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

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

Thanks, I just downloaded the IDW Transformers app for Android, so I'm definitely going to PM you.

Really???

[TangledThorns]

This series is great but when it comes to TRANSFORMERS has there yet to be anything better than the 1986 movie?

Discuss

[Convectuoso]

1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

This series is great but when it comes to TRANSFORMERS has there yet to be anything better than the 1986 movie?

Still the best of Transformers to date

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

This series is great but when it comes to TRANSFORMERS has there yet to be anything better than the 1986 movie?

Discuss

Not in animated form.

[Mog]

3 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

This series is great but when it comes to TRANSFORMERS has there yet to be anything better than the 1986 movie?

Discuss

There’s bits of Beast Wars that are pretty up there with the movie.

[Runs for cover from the imminent Monkey vs Truck flame war] 

Regarding this latest series, I still wanna reserve judgment until I watch next season.

They did some nice homages (First scene being Wheeljack and Bumblebee searching for energon), and added some interesting twists (Bee not being all-in for the cause.  Prime still learning on the job).

But I’m curious how those not too familiar with Transformer lore felt about the series.  Were they able to follow along about the backstory between Prime and Megatron?  What about the Leadership Matrix, the Allspark, and the Alpha Trion Protocols?

One criticism of some movies is that they expect you to know all the backstory or details from some supplementary material or from previously knowing the source material (e.g., They mention it in more detail in the original books.”).  Just curious if the casual fan gets that same impression. 

[Convectuoso]

19 minutes ago, Mog said:

But I’m curious how those not too familiar with Transformer lore felt about the series.  Were they able to follow along about the backstory between Prime and Megatron?  What about the Leadership Matrix, the Allspark, and the Alpha Trion Protocols?

I had never heard about the Trion Protocols before, and it seemed to me it was explained well enough in the series

[JB0]

13 hours ago, tekering said:

However, now that Siege is finally streaming, anyone looking to pick up the toys the show was explicitly designed to advertise will find they've long since been phased out:

Studio Scale, Cyberverse, even Movie Masterpiece figures are easier to find than Siege products.

Stores in my area still have mostly Siege stuff stocked. Also about half that amount of shelf space given over to Transformers in general.

[Lexomatic]

2 hours ago, Mog said:

some movies [...] expect you to know all the backstory or details from some supplementary material or from previously knowing the source material

As a trivia-oriented TFwiki-reading Geewunner I'm definitely not the right person to answer that question  but IMHO it's not a problem as is, say, the position of the game Enter the Matrix vis-a-vis the latter two Matrix movies. Rather, each new version of TF adds some elements to the mythos, and then later versions pull from the pot and remix. Each time they're introduced adequately for their immediate purpose, and knowing the lore is more likely to confuse than enlighten the casual viewer.

The life-creating function of Vector Sigma (G1) is rolled into the giant cube-shaped Allspark (Bayverse), then appears in Animated, becomes an icosahedron in Cyberverse, and shares that shape in WFC:S; in most of those iterations, it's either lost or specifically jettisoned into space by Optimus Prime. Galaxy Force/Cybertron creates the colony world of Velocitron, which we visit in Cyberverse and is name-checked in WFC:S. Hasbro creates the character of Windblade, who's fleshed out in an IDW four-issue mini (2014), is first animated in RID (2015), and whose function as a Cityspeaker is key in Cyberverse s3. The idea of Cybertron having an ecosystem dates to the G1 Tech Specs cards (e.g., Mirage hunting turbofoxes), and there were hints in Prime, but Cyberverse s3 is the first time we've toured it in detail.

Bumblebee, Hasbro's favored son since 2007, has a different personality each time. Now, that's likely to confuse anybody who's more into characters than trivia, and is unclear which of the iterations are meant to be compatible.

[M'Kyuun]

Good points; lots of history in the brand at this point, so there are lots of options for them to cherry pick.

Just binge watched the series, and overall, I liked it. It's got a good story that mixes in all sorts of references, I like how they portrayed the characters (I'm trying very hard to divorce it in my mind from G1 and let it be its own thing), and I like the gritty feel of it.  I haven't watched Cyberverse or the Machinima series, so, other than the WFC game, this is the most action I've seen taking place on Cybertron prior to their leaving for Earth. It followed the basic G1 story, but fleshed it out quite a bit, too. I do kinda wish they'd adhered to the G1 backstory for Starscream and Jetfire as scientists. I always liked that.

The only negatives I have are the stilted dialog deliveries, and the forced enunciation, both of which sound un-natural. The VA for Prime was most notorious for it throughout, but a few others did likewise, and I have to assume that was the voice direction they were given. Personally, I'd prefer more natural speech.

Anyway, it was an overall enjoyable series, and I'm looking forward to Earthrise. 

[derex3592]

16 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

This series is great but when it comes to TRANSFORMERS has there yet to be anything better than the 1986 movie?

Discuss

No. And there never will be. 

I'm gonna try to binge the new series this weekend. 

[M'Kyuun]

I disagree with the '86 film being the best; even when I saw it as a kid, there were any number of things I didn't care for, and still don't, about it. Overall, I enjoy it, and there are any number of remarkable things that came out of it, too. The most noteworthy things are the verbal exchange and fight between OP and Megs, which has been quoted ad nauseum ever since, Unicron (in a world of transforming robots, what can possibly outcool a transforming planet that eats other planets for energy? ), the world-building, the introduction of Cyclonus (biased- love his design), "Soundwave superior", and other funny moments like this.  I never cared for the Quintessons- they were so out of left field, and without any prehistory, they just didn't seem to fit. However, the whole mock trial was intriguing, and gave us a cool action scene with Kup and Hot Rod taking on the Sharkticons. Slag''s "'Scuse me" towards the end of the Quint scene still makes me chuckle. 

On the whole, I still think Beast Wars is one of the best Transformer shows. They did a brilliant job of character building, the VAs gave phenomenal performances, and the dialog was generally very well done throughout. Too, most eps are just enjoyable for what they are. And Dinobot's last episode still brings a tear. Personally, I'd rather my bots turn into vehicles or mechanisms of some sort, but alt modes aside, everything else about BW was top notch, and unless Hasbro feels like taking another big leap into the unknown, I doubt we'll ever see anything like it again.

Transformers: Prime, written by Kurtzman and Orci, the scribes for Bay's abysmally loathsome films, turned out to be an excellent show, despite my initial prejudice b/c of of who was writing it. Eventually, I began watching more eps, and found that, while they did keep annoying traits like Bee's inability to talk, and Prime's oft pedantic delivery, and annoying humans (Miko), overall, the show was great. 

Animated was a love letter to G1, but in many ways, to me anyway, better, in most regards. I never cared for the G1 cartoon beyond first season, and as I said, there are things about the '86 film that just didn't grab me either.

But, everyone likes what they like. I'm just glad that Transformers as a brand is still relevant 35 years on. It's such a great concept- the whole puzzle aspect, with two toys-in-one (sometimes more). Marry that to good character and world-building, a cool backstory, and you've got a winning combination.

[tekering]

16 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

This series is great but when it comes to TRANSFORMERS has there yet to be anything better than the 1986 movie?

Honestly, Bumblebee is a much better movie.  In terms of structure, characterization, plot and dialogue -- everything a functional story relies on -- Michael Bay's films aren't any better than The Transformers: The Movie, but Travis Knight has proven he knows how to construct a cohesive narrative.

The '86 film has some great vocal performances, and a driving soundtrack, but it's virtually incomprehensible without prior familiarity with the TV series (despite how inconsistent with the TV show it really is)... and the plot is a disjointed mess, to put it mildly.  Without the benefit of nostalgia glasses, it would be difficult to appreciate as an adult.

Oh, and I agree both Animated and Prime are superior to Sunbow's original series, both in writing and execution.

[M'Kyuun]

Man, I forgot about the soundtrack for the '86 film. Definitely a high point, especially "Dare" and "The Touch", not to mention all of Vince DiCola's background music, the awesomeness of which has faded nary one iota in all these years. Great stuff!

Prime and Animated also took the animation style in different directions, and the toys were pretty sweet as well. Both broke the mold, so to speak, and enriched the franchise in different ways. Very good ways, IMHO. After they're done with WFC: ER and Kingdom, I hope they make another departure from the 'norm'. 

[peter]

On 8/5/2020 at 8:50 PM, Lexomatic said:

 

Bumblebee, Hasbro's favored son since 2007, has a different personality each time. Now, that's likely to confuse anybody who's more into characters than trivia, and is unclear which of the iterations are meant to be compatible.

At least he still has a voice in this series.  If he ends up talking through the radio because he loses his voice next season, I'm out.

[Dynaman]

If anybody thinks this show (and all the others) exists as anything other than feature lengths commercials for toys they are watching the wrong show.

I tried watching the first five minutes and gave up.  I never expect much from Transformers but even that was too much to ask.  Bad writing, bad acting, and bad animation are too much to handle.

[sqidd]

On 8/6/2020 at 11:45 AM, tekering said:

Honestly, Bumblebee is a much better movie.  In terms of structure, characterization, plot and dialogue -- everything a functional story relies on -- Michael Bay's films aren't any better than The Transformers: The Movie, but Travis Knight has proven he knows how to construct a cohesive narrative.

The '86 film has some great vocal performances, and a driving soundtrack, but it's virtually incomprehensible without prior familiarity with the TV series (despite how inconsistent with the TV show it really is)... and the plot is a disjointed mess, to put it mildly.  Without the benefit of nostalgia glasses, it would be difficult to appreciate as an adult.

Oh, and I agree both Animated and Prime are superior to Sunbow's original series, both in writing and execution.

I can't watch the Bumblbee movie. If I like it I run the very real risk of buying this thing. I alreday want it simply because it;s SO over the top and I love the engineering. I'm not a fan of the Bayformers OP look though. Liking the movie could push me over the edge.

If it was a "toon style" OP I would have PO'd one for sure. I kinda hope they release one at some point. I've got too Ultimetal OP's. I could contort my justifications enough to get one if I sold one of the Ultimetals.

[M'Kyuun]

On 8/5/2020 at 8:50 PM, Lexomatic said:

Bumblebee, Hasbro's favored son since 2007, has a different personality each time. Now, that's likely to confuse anybody who's more into characters than trivia, and is unclear which of the iterations are meant to be compatible.

Well, even in the Bumblebee Movie, he essentially had two personalities; in the opening on Cybertron, he's a brash, mature, and competent warrior; thanks to plotting, he conveniently experiences amnesia, and becomes a meek, childlike, emotionally needy bot who only resumes his former personality when he's fighting. I realize Travis Knight wanted to make him accessible to audiences as a buddy character, but I think they handled that relationship far better in the characterization and dialog of G1 first season between Spike and Bee (and Hound) without condescending to making the Autobots meek and puerile in Spike's presence. Spike himself was portrayed with more gravitas, considering he was a teenager. Then again, he was working with his father on an oil rig, which is no place for incompetence.

I think rendering Bee mute throughout nearly the entire movie also helps to dissociate his actual maturity. Too, the slapstick living room and beach scenes don't help. I find it difficult to associate the Bee from the movie's first few minutes to the Bee we see in these and other scenes where Bee is portrayed in a more clownish light. I will forever harbor a grain of disdain for Orci and Kurtzman for their galactically stupid idea of making Bumblebee mute; it seems to have become the favored method of portraying him for no good reason. It's annoying and pointless, and speaking via the radio even more so. 

 

That Yolopark hyperarticulated Bee Movie Prime is crazy expensive, especially for a non-transforming figure.  No interest here, but if you've got the disposable income, and it floats your boat, more power to ya. 

Edited August 9, 2020 by M'Kyuun

[Lexomatic]

On 8/6/2020 at 8:27 PM, M'Kyuun said:

Man, I forgot about the soundtrack for the '86 film. [...] all of Vince DiCola's background music, the awesomeness of which has faded nary one iota in all these years.

For more of that style, DiCola did the soundtrack for the "Angry Birds Transformers" game, which is available on Soundify. (And I happen to own The Protoform Sessions, a special CD produced for BotCon ... 2000, maybe? Its availability, I don't know.)

On 8/6/2020 at 11:28 AM, M'Kyuun said:

the verbal exchange and fight between OP and Megs, which has been quoted ad nauseum ever since

The "Soundwave superior, XYZ inferior" line is also popular; it's used several times in Cyberverse season 3 (in which -- minor spoiler -- Soundwave ends up as a rival to Hot Rod for command of a small mixed band of resisters).

On 8/9/2020 at 12:15 PM, M'Kyuun said:

in the Bumblebee Movie, he essentially had two personalities [...] brash, mature, and competent warrior [... he] experiences amnesia, and becomes a meek, childlike, emotionally needy bot

I guess it's his emergency backup personality. (With apologies to Douglas Adams and Eddie, the shipboard computer of the Heart of Gold.)

To briefly review the variations of Bumblebee:

• The Transformers (1984): Scout. Cheerful. Proper voice. VW Beetle.
• The Transformers (2007 et seq.): Scout-fighter, progressively more heavily armed. Speaks in radio clips, Junkion-style. Camaro.
• Animated (2007): Cheerful sociopath; practically G1-Swindle. Proper voice. Compact car.
• Prime (2012): Scout. Speaks in Artoo-like buzzes which are somehow comprehensible to human kid Raf.
• Robots in Disguise (2015) (pseudo-sequel to Prime): Uncertain junior commander, similar to Optimus in Animated. Proper voice.
• Bumblebee (2018): Scout-fighter. Amnesia. Speaks in radio clips. Several shapes, incl. VW Beetle.
• Cyberverse (2018): Amnesia and goofy, initially speaks in radio clips.
• War for Cybertron (2020): Surly loner scavenger. Proper voice.

Edited August 10, 2020 by Lexomatic

[jenius]

First transformers I've watched in a long time. Felt like season 4 of a longer running show and made me think season 1, 2, and be 3 would be more fun.

[Mog]

^^That’s kinda what I was driving about:  lot of the backstory was told to us instead of shown.

Not sure if a billion flashbacks or all the backstory-filled dialogue (that they decided to go with) would have been the better option. 

[tekering]

13 hours ago, jenius said:

Felt like season 4 of a longer running show

That's because it basically is.  Most of the same staff produced Combiner Wars in 2016, Titans Return in 2017, and Power of the Primes in 2018...

13 hours ago, jenius said:

made me think season 1, 2, and be 3 would be more fun.

Unfortunately, they were most assuredly not.  

12 hours ago, Mog said:

lot of the backstory was told to us instead of shown.

Well, since it's all recycled from other Transformers media, most of it had already been shown... particularly in IDW comics like Megatron Origin.  

[Kanedas Bike]

Watched this the other day out of boredom, and well I fell asleep on it because it was boooorrrrring up until the last 1 or 2 episodes.

I wanted to like War for Cybertron simply because it was the first animated Transformers show I've watched since Beast Wars/Machines, but it was extremely underwhelming.

-b.

[Mechapilot77]

binged his recently.  WAY better than the Combiner wars trilogy...like a bajillion.   not that it was a high bar to pass.  enjoyed it a lot even though its nothing special as far as story telling or animation.  Its cool to see G1ish sorta kinda designs animated in modern (albeit budget) CGI.  skyfi.....jetfire has never looked better (except as the g1 toy lol).  he stole every scene he was in.  starscream was great too.  prime....just isn't  prime without cullens voice or that calm and powerful leadeership style.  best thing TF related i've seen since tf prime...which was better - but i like g1ish designs way better than the budget cgi toonish bayverse inspired desings of tf prime (there wer of course gems).  i have hope that earthrise will be good or better.  based on teh toyline for kingdom though....i fear the ending of the trilogy will be something i really really dont like.  *sigh*  now....someone makea  jetfire blade already!  lol

[technoblue]

A hint for Jetfire’s blade: check out the Shockwave Lab SL-81 Energy Sword. 

[Mechapilot77]

9 hours ago, technoblue said:

A hint for Jetfire’s blade: check out the Shockwave Lab SL-81 Energy Sword. 

thanks!   i do however think that looks "too" blue.  it was more bright white with a hint of blue in the show.  also "Clear" 3D printed parts are usually frosty.  was hoping for some either pale blue injection molded plastic (like an acrylic maybe?) or something metallic white with transparent blue.  that being said i don't have a way to make that happen so i may get that one for now.  lol.  hopefully someone else will make something (is dr. wu you still making stuff?  those skybreaker swords were the right blue if a i remember).

[technoblue]

1 hour ago, Mechapilot77 said:

thanks!   i do however think that looks "too" blue.  it was more bright white with a hint of blue in the show.  also "Clear" 3D printed parts are usually frosty.  was hoping for some either pale blue injection molded plastic (like an acrylic maybe?) or something metallic white with transparent blue.  that being said i don't have a way to make that happen so i may get that one for now.  lol.  hopefully someone else will make something (is dr. wu you still making stuff?  those skybreaker swords were the right blue if a i remember).

Yeah, I hear you on the printed parts. I picked up one to see it for myself in person too. If it looks the part, I may pick up another.

In the WFC space, Dr. Wu is releasing more tapes for Soundwave which is actually pretty cool. Dr. Wu is also making Scraplets, which could fit in with the Quintesson set if you're so inclined. They will definitely go with any TF Prime figures that you may still have kicking around.  

[sh9000]

 

[sh9000]

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

So I gave this a watch just for giggles and Sh*ts.   First thing I took note of is the voice actors for Prime and Megatron trying to sound like the originals.     I haven't sat down and watched transformers on TV since the 80's.   It's like going back now as adult and re-watching, Voltron,  or Gi Joe.. and seeing how silly it really was.     Great for nostalgia but no. 

As for movies..  I saw the 86 movie in 1986! I never thought any of the Bay movies were even worth the time or effort,   I saw the first one and bailed on the rest.    I did give the Bumblebee movie a go and I thought it was enjoyable,  but I wouldn't get invested in it again.

With all that said War for Cybertron was OK,   it honestly felt like most of the story was told to us in dialogue rather then actually happening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sh9000]

 

[sh9000]

[peter]

Watching it now, the finally Megs transforms.......

Ok, I didn't mind the voice acting in the first season, figured they're new at the job, they'll get better, but they clearly didn't.  These guys are just reading off the script with the volume turned down.

Megs to one of his peons when a communication comes in "Excuse me".....lol, so polite.

Anyway,  I'm out.  They lost my attention.  I'm here writing this instead of focusing on the show.  The voice acting is just way to crappy for me to get through this.....and way too many filler bots.

Someone PM me if they decide to redub the whole thing with some character, lol!