Transformers Armada & Energon

[Protoplast]

Having watched many oldschool Transformers series.. I think the new TF series are all crap..

The mecha design are totally uncool or like they were designed by Fisher Price, bright colors and no sharpness to their design.

As for character designs.. I thought Optimus Prime in the Energon series suddenly became a hippie or teenager, no longer he speaks with wisdom like the good ole Optimus.

The rest of the characters like Megatron is a joke, I thought Megatron acted very weak or dumb as he has no clue what he was doing when Scorpinox revived him.

Why can they just follow the previous TF story lines and keep them serious..

No wonder kids today can't pass 3rd grade because the cartoons are just as dumb!

[Hoptimus]

Armada was crap.

Energon is much better. More like Gen1 than Armada.

No stupid mini-cons.

Still not as good as Gen1 or BW but at least they are improving.

[areaseven]

Armada was crap.

Energon is much better. More like Gen1 than Armada.

No stupid mini-cons.

Still not as good as Gen1 or BW but at least they are improving.

True, but the Energon toys are still crap. If only they were as good as Car Robots.

[McKlown]

The rest of the characters like Megatron is a joke, I thought Megatron acted very weak or dumb as he has no clue what he was doing when Scorpinox revived him.

Apperently you missed that whole part where he makes Scorpinox and Hot Shot his b****es and takes over an Energon mine the Terracons couldn't get even close to.

[motley]

yeah... its still crap.

the animation is horrible, getting marginally better, but still beyond bad. its the same cell shaded CG that they used in the Zoids shows a couple years back, but the Zoids animation (while not great) was orders of magnitude more well done. the characters are more annoying than ever. and the toyline, while full of G1 references, is worse than the shows animation. some of the small basic toys are ok, but the combining autobots are very very bad, and the designs on most of the upcoming decepticons leave a lot to be desired.

[JRock]

How come I sense that a lot of peoples are seeing this show with G1 branded goggles.

Truthfully, I like Energon. Much better than Armada, and Robots in Disguise. The animation is no different from Zoids and Gundam Force, The kids from Armada are grown up and replaced by a slightly less annoying teen and there's a Megatron that kicked as much booty as G1 Megatron with a cosmetic homage to Galvatron (Who was the best Decepticon leader, evah). Heck, the transformations are more fluid compaired to past TF episodes (Don't believe me? Get one of your G1 discs and slo-mo through every transformation out of one episode.) I'm a firm believer of giving shows a chance, and I'm glad I gave Energon a chance.

PS: Energon Megatron toy owns.

Edited March 19, 2004 by JRock

[Radd]

I do think that many people see the old G1 toy with the rose tinted goggles of nostalgia. It had a lot of dumb aspects, and some episodes were just utter crap. However, even looking back on those episodes with a more critical eye, I do like the characters protrayed in the G1 show better than RiD or Armada (haven't seen Energon yet). The movie is still, in my eyes, the pinnacle of Transformers.

Beast Wars and Beast Machines often had the best writing in any Transformers show, but I really disliked where they took the franchise with those. I like my Transformers as giant war machines, beating the crap out of each other, not as hippie techno-organics fighting the evil machines. I also hated most, if not all, of the character designs from those shows, Beast Machines moreso than BW (wich actually had a few I liked).

Armada and RiD were just even more kiddified than G1, and far more than Beast Wars/Beast Machines. The animation in the episodes I saw was also actually worse than the original G1 show, and that wasn't exactly Fantasia. I have nothing good to say about either of them. Energon looked to be more of the same, so I'm passing on that as well.

However, on the toys I can speak with more authority. I've disliked most Transformers toys since the initial Diaclone/Microman run of G1 ended. I hated the post-movie toys with a passion. I still dislike the headmasters and their ilk for the same reasons I hated the Armada toys and the Energon toys. I think they're ugly. They're not just ugly, they're fugly. Fat Prime? Every incarnation of Hot Shot has been a wreck. Same with Megatron. Armada Prime's robot mode was at least decent, though his truck mode was still too bubbly and cartoony, and the trailer was an eyesore. The bright, neon colours, the cartoonish-preschool-aimed vehicle designs. Not my cup of tea. Not my cup of tea at all.

I can't complain too much, though. 20th Anniversary Prime, and the Alternators give me everything I want. Now if they would just get a show or a comic (that Simon Furman wasn't allowed to touch, nothing personal I just don't like his take on Transformers all that much either), then it would be the perfect TF line.

Edited March 20, 2004 by Radd

[Vostok 7]

MPC Prime + Alternators > all else.

Vostok 7

[eriku]

I find that once I set my nostalgia aside I am open to far more things and can appreciate them on their own levels. It's the same thing with watching a movie that's based on a book. Once you can appreciate things on their own terms without constantly making comparisons, there is more enjoyment to be had. This is why I don't really care who the Bin/Alt characters are or what colors they are. If they are G1 accurate, cool. If not, so what, it's still a cool toy. I'm in this hobby more because I love cool toys than I am for nostalgia stroking. And although G1 Transformers are high on the nostalgia scale, most of them aren't very great toys as far as design and creativity go.

That said, I didn't like the Armada series. Granted, I only saw maybe a dozen episodes of the series, but that should be enough to get an accurate feel. RID/Car Robots wasn't that much better. Actually, I found myself most enjoying Sky Bite, who was really the most nonsensical element of the show. Something about a mecha-shark 'swimming' through the air and singing songs to himself really clicks with me, but hey, I'm a weirdo. The later episodes with Fort Max were pretty cool too.

As for Energon, I've seen the first 7 episodes so far, and although I thought it had a terrible start I have to say it's really picked up. I would even say that I eagerly await the new episodes.

The toy lines all have their good and bad elements. There isn't a single TF line where I don't like at least a few of the toys. RID had some great stuff across the board, and even though Armada bordered on unwatchable as a cartoon it did spawn some great toys towards the end. Supercon Prime, Overload, Tidal Wave and Unicron are some really damn cool toys. I like Energon toys so far too, and so far out of the one's I've purchased the only one I've been disappointed with is Prowl.

And it goes without saying that I think Bin/Alt and 20th Prime are the cream of the crop. They're my favorite toys in my TF collection by far, with the Worlds Smallest and Choro-Q's taking a close second.

I can see why a lot of people don't like Transformers beyond G1, or why some people don't like them at all. What I can't understand is why some of those people seem like they can't accept people who DO. There's nothing more strange and pointless than one group of geeks chastising another group of geeks. We're all geeks who like cartoons and toys, some people just dig on differen't flavors. Your flavor may taste better to you and you may not like my flavor. We disagree, big deal. It doesn't mean you have to be a confrontational dick.

[Hoptimus]

Armada was crap.

Energon is much better. More like Gen1 than Armada.

No stupid mini-cons.

Still not as good as Gen1 or BW but at least they are improving.

True, but the Energon toys are still crap. If only they were as good as Car Robots.

Yeah if you compare toys both Armada and Energon are junk.

RID/Car Robots were much better toys.

[Granbeetle san]

I'm not a die hard transformers fan but, I buy a few here and there. I'm really enjoying the binaltech/alternators line. That said, I have watched some of the energon cartoon and the story is getting better. Still, I really, really, hate most of the mech design;Especially, the main man himself, optimus prime(aka Fat @$$ prime). WTF happened with prime's design? Who looked at that and said, yeah looks good. Can anyone honestly say they like his design? Also, I dislike the physco color scheme for all the toys. Energon is way too power rangerish. I'm still considering getting Megatron though because he is about the only energon toy that I think is cool. My dislike of Energon has nothing to do with nostalgia(I kind of liked armada). I just dislike the designs. Anyways, Thanks to God for Alternators.

[Ali Sama]

the main problem with rid, aramda and energon is that there are relativly few real characters. Most of the autobots and deseptocons all act the same. they are all yes sir people. No personality!!!. You look at g1 and they took tiime to shwo them as unqieu individuals who had personalities! When a kid played with a g1 toy he would not care if it was show accurate because he coudl use his imagination to fill the gap. He woudl personify the autobot and decepticaon he liked and he would role play. Who in aramda anergon etc had real perosnality except for prime and megatron. Everyoen eles are minicon level characters.

[Radd]

I gotta agree wholeheartedly with Ali Sama on that point. Whatever other flaws G1 had, the characters all oozed personality. Beast Wars did as well, though there were fewer characters overall. Beasts Machines less so, but still more than anything since (in Beast Machines they thoroughly trashed many of the characters personalities that had been set in BW, one thing I really didn't appreciate about that show).

Many of the G1 characters had at lthe very least some superficial personality quirks that made them all unique. Ironhide and his brunt, "let's kick some Decepti-butt" personality. Sunstreaker's vain, pretty-boy persona, with his somewhat gung-ho violent streak. Huffer's 'short-but-strong-guy' archetype. Jazz, do I really need to say anything about Jazz? He was simply The Man.

Then you had hints at much deeper personality traits, like Mirage in the first few episodes of the tv series. Mirage was leaning towards, "why are we sticking around this dirtball? I just want to go home." And he almost did do just that, but his loyalty to Prime and the Autobots held out in the end, despite it ruining his big chance to get back to Cybertron.

I just haven't seen much of that in the newer shows (RiD on up to Energon). I mean, there's definitely a little bit here and there, but for the most part the characters seem interchangable.

[Protoplast]

I don't know what they made Starscream so stupidl in Energon. In previous G1+, Starscream was slick and always a pain in the neck to Megatron, the Energon Starscream is so cheezy with his morphing trick.

Optimus Prime seemed like he's a clueless grandpa. He talks to himself "how did he(starscream) do that?"

"We are not going to give you any energons no matter how hard you try!" Says Optimus Prime to Megatron..

The dialog in TF Energon is so lame..

I missed the good serious TF G1 with Vector Sigma and Perceptor talking all the scientific stuff.

[eriku]

I'm just curious, but for those of you who make the G1 series sound like it was a well-written and terriffic show, have you watched it recently? I remember loving it as a kid and was exiceted when the DVD sets came out, but I'm glad I rented them before buying becuase I found the show almost painfully bad. Even with the nostalgia factor it's hard for me to make it through a full episode.

[gerwalk25]

The only complaint about Energon/Superlink is the whinny Kicker and Ironhide/Roadbuster. They need a swift kick in a$$ from Chunky Prime. I only seen three episodes and I'm usually out on Saturday nights so I missed many.

However I do like the Toys especially the Superlinks i.e Hot Shot, Inferno, Hot Rodimus and Prowl which I all own. I like how they can combine with their ilk, albeit not infinite combinations but it gets the job done. I'll stand them next to my Alternator Smokescreen and their about the same height. Cool toys IMHO.