[madman1366]

Well we've had some small discussions lately about things here and there, but not much for all things Prime. Well, this is it. Talk about the show, the figures the likes, dislikes, surprises, and letdowns....vent it all here.



I kind of had a feeling that after the way Animated flopped out that a lot of folks might be afraid to commit themselves to another new show only to like it and see it suffer the same fate. Let's face it, with The Hub it's future will never be certain, because the networks future really isn't. However for now, we have one of the best shows and accompanying toy lines ever.

With good always comes bad however. The slow pacing of season 1, then a nearly year long wait for figures most of us either hardly saw or never saw at all in a store. It's not been handled very well, I think we can all agree on that point. But it appears to be getting better fast!

So far in the 2nd season we've had a better run of new episodes with no wait. Finally have Prime figures in every store, though the deluxe sales seem to be a little stagnant, I think we all know who to thank for that! Voyagers, Cyberverse Legion and Commander class are all turning over pretty regularly so I would think the only hold up is the no less than 10 Bumblebees plaguing the pegs of nearly every store you walk in.

Usually in my experience if you're still watching after the first 20-25 episodes and liking it, then it's only going to get better. Slow starts have killed interest for shows in the past, and some parts of season 1 did drag on a bit, though I suspect the pacing of airing new episodes did more to turn people off than anything else. Here through 6 episodes of season 2 I can say it's not disappointing. It's been a fun show. The characters, yes even the kids, are all adding something to the show. The voice cast is quite simply one of the best I've ever seen. Period.

The only thing I can see that needs to be stepped up, is new characters. If you've been watching, you know, a bunch more should be showing up soon.


Overall I'm thrilled. I'm genuinely excited for new figures and the show. I did enjoy Animated, more for the series than the figures, but Prime is the perfect blend between that and the movie aesthetic. I'm a junkie for the figures already and only wished new ones were coming more often.

Now that it's for the most part behind us, we need to get past the nightmare of the first edition letdown and not let that leave such a bad taste that it makes people not want the line at all. It's a fantastic line! One that is quickly rising on my all time list and could easily be at or very near the top when it is all said and done both for figures and TV show.

This post has been edited by madman1366: 30 March 2012 - 07:35 AM

[Jason X]

I thought we were doing this in the "It's about Prime!" thread. Regardless, I love the show and like the figures. The FE debacle was crap, but hopefully some of those will show up at Ross, Marshall's, ect.
I'll pick up some of the less frequently relased figures, but I'll have a hard time jutifying Optimus and Bumblebee this time around.

[Tripredacus]

Yeah there is a Prime section now!

[Lord_Onslaught]

So there is a Prime section and people don't use it?

[Blitz-Wing]

There is a Prime section now, and this thread is being moved there

[Jason X]

There is a Prime section and apparently it needs better PR.

[madman1366]

Yeah, my bad. Just pelt me with some tomatoes or something.

[Jason X]

Screw it. I'll talk about TF Prime anywhere. I love the show, and like I said earlier, the figures are getting better with every wave.

[Lord_Onslaught]

madman1366, on 31 March 2012 - 12:42 PM, said:

Yeah, my bad. Just pelt me with some tomatoes or something.

All I got are rotten tomatoes, would stones work instead? LOL

Jason X, on 31 March 2012 - 01:50 PM, said:

Screw it. I'll talk about TF Prime anywhere. I love the show, and like I said earlier, the figures are getting better with every wave.

RiD Vehicon is all I'm going to say

[ShellformerV1]

Animated was all about fun, fun, fun and complex yet simple transformations for toys that closely (sometimes, astoundingly so) fit their on-screen templates. The toys had just as much personality as the characters you saw on the T.V. screen. The Bayverse was not about fun at all but mind-numbing detail and complexity--sometimes, overly so, where the toys bore nothing so much as just a general resemblance to their CGI counterparts--exposing the limits of producing animation models of such mind-numbing complexity. The toys--even the very best--will not fully measure up. I'm not even going to discuss the movies themselves because that's been done to death and I've done that to death.

Prime has literally taken the best of both franchises and eliminated nearly all of the bad, and the resultant witches brew is the functional equivalent of a fully nirvanic, transcendental experience--being awash in a sea of TF-induced multi-orgasmic pleasure. Kibblicious toys (Cliffjumper, RID Arcee, Wheeljack, RID Prime) don't look kibblicious at all. The kibble is barely in the way, if at all. In some instances, as much of the alt mode as possible is incorporated into the robot mode (Wheeljack), which makes you ignore the opposite of that (RID Arcee), because even with her kibble, she looks closer to the animation model than the FE version does. RID Prime is breath taking, and the transformation for this toy is one of the best of any voyager I've had the pleasure of owning. And the 3 Decepticons I've got (Starscream, Soundwave and Megatron) are various degrees of excellent--with Starscream being well and truly without flaw, Soundwave coming awfully close and Megatron having a nearly perfect robot mode.

It's enough to (almost) make me want to pay the exorbitant and outlandish cost to get FE Bulkhead. And its been years since I've felt that way about any TF toy.

I find it amazing--Prime is obviously incorporating elements from G1, Animated and the Bayverse...but Prime is channeling more Bayverse into their designs from what I see. And yet...the animation models and the toys have actual, fucking personality. Incredible. In other words, if not for the cinematic splash page that was DOTM (and it wasn't just a splash page...it was a Jim Lee splash page from circa 1988-1991 when he was at his best), I'd really be bemoaning the waste of 5 years worth of time with the Bayverse. The toys were more often than not excellent, but they lacked personality and cleverness. It was and is like a 9 year old's fascination with military jet aircraft. It's cool, but lacking something. It's remote and a little bit hollow...IMO. And the show: the characterizations, the voice work from the entire cast, the mood and settings, the animation itself...Prime is, in many ways, the TF program I have always wanted to see. It's dark, gritty, and the protagonists pose a credible threat.

Essentially, this was just my pedantic way of saying long live TF: Prime.