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one of the reasons i loved TF:TM was for the detailed transformations.. especially Hot Rod and Kups, both were done in great detail in all thier scenes.

i agree but its not that much of a biggie IMO just so long as they dont skip on the quality

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Yeppers. Even the not-so-slow ones were cool, like Starscream transforming just as Megatron yells "ATTACK!" (You know, the part where Megatron tragically fails to blow Daniel and Hot Rod to smithereens.)

BTW: DOUBLE DEUCE!!!!

dude...g1 had fast transformations....especailly for toys that were different than the cartoon character...there were a few slow transformations, yes (my perssonal favorite the seekers head turning to cockpits while standing) but it really wasn't untill the toys were show accurate like armada (one of the few good points) or actually must of the japanese series...I mean can you trasnform sideburn as fast as the show? lo;

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BM had the Worst Transformations, they Glowed and then were in the other form.

It's true, it's true... WHOOSH!!!

In BW they had to stay in their beast modes most of the time b/c there was too much raw energon on the planet they landed on, and it would have overloaded their circuits. The beast modes were a protection against the energon.

This is an issue that i'd like to address. I too feel that the new shows lack plausible need for the alt modes. They dont need to drive or fly anywhere they have those stupid warp things... They aren't "disguised" in the slightest, and the vehicles lack any noticable militristic advantage (for the autobots anyway). In G1 they transformed for speed, power, whatever. In BW it was necessary to survive. In armada/energon, it was just a waste of time.

Yeah, let's take a look at Energon... we've got cars and SUVs shooting hundreds of feet into the sky to hit a warp gate, and then we've got scenes like the one where Kicker rides Arcee down from flight altitude to land on Cybertron. That would've at least been an excuse to use Skyblast's alt form, but instead, let's let the kid plummet thousands of feet from the sky on a bike. REAL smart. And let's not forget - the Autobots can fly in space in bot mode, so any aerial Autobots have no alt mode advantage there either.

it's my belief that if actionmasters hadn't tanked, hasbro would have attempted to weed out the transformation gimmick and turn tf's into just another giant robot toyline.

So true, they first glow then they say "I am transform". It was just sad to see what happen to the BW group.

That brings up another thing.


What's with the "HOT SHOT TRANSFORM!" being shouted out just before transforming? And, even more annoying, "I AM TRANSFORMED". WTF? Nobody could tell they changed modes? They have to remind themselves? What is the reason for that?

well good news all...for those who may have not seen Galaxy Force...The autobots are taking earth modes to actually hide. I thought that was nice...to finally bring back the reason...
Oh and for voice activation, I know an episode of RID poor Skybyte couldn't transform because his mouth was full lol.

Yeah, BM transformations were crap, and I see no reason for anyone to ever announce the fact that they're transforming. That's why it makes a sound in the first place. I liked the BW transformations the best because they seemed almost painful... it was like their bodies resisted the change into something unnatural (a rhino being unnatural for a robot, i mean).

But I agree, Energon transformations are entirely too fast. My favorite part of the original series was probably the bumpers in-between breaks where you got to see one specific TF transform in high detail.

There were episodes in G1 (mostly the later releases) where they didn't transform, but just "melt" down into the vehicle mode

That season 1 Jazz bumper is the best one, and my favorite transformation is Hot rod turning into a bot at Lookout mountain.

This problem is precisely the reason I love stock footage.

When you animate a particular transformation every time it happens, it is to be expected that shortcuts will be taken (i.e. the 1/10 second transformations in Armada and Energon). However, stock footage which is re-used every time a robot transforms allows the animators to make a detailed, design-accurate animation that is slow and enjoyable. Sunrise and Takara's Brave series are classic examples of this concept in action.

Here is a taste of GaoGaiGar's amazing stock footage: The combiner team of HyoRyu and EnRyu.

http://kaedeex.tripod.com/hyoryu_enryu.wmv

Enjoy and be sure to PM me any comments.

Yeah, Jazz was my favorite. I liked the one of Grimlock too, where he smashed the rock with his tail. It was nice, because you didn't get to see Grimlock transform much otherwise.

EXACTLY...you hit right on the money for me OPP.

I love the toys, but Honestly...no reason for their Alt. modes at all in Armada/Energon...just pure Lameness.

Now where the heck is Bodycount to defend the Armadaverse with his life?

Banned.


And to address the stock footage thing : The only problem with stock footage is that the backgrounds have to change with the scene, or the background has to be some kind of flashing lights and faction symbol mini-movie to make any sense.

Really, what I would prefer to see is the animation company be given more time so that they can do the transformations properly, without resorting to flashing backgrounds and stock footage.

BC...BANNED???!!!

When, how, what?

There's more info here.

yeah Roddy and Kup had great transformation throughout the movie, so did megs and galv to me, bw were excellent, not sure i like the whole screaming thing but you get use to it. oh and Zoom Zoom's tf footage on the Mazda website was great and that made BB that's floating, and the comercials, the rest i really don't remember except that BM didn't transform, they morphed like the rangers

Hey, don't they say "_______ TRANSFORM!" because they are activating some kind of transformation unlock program in their internal CPU's? Just wondering if this is the reason and would make sence if this was the reason. I think that since G-1 and all the upgrades that were made to the TRANSFORMERS ona a whole, they needed a more failsafe way of controlling their individual transformations that was virus free and less likely of being able to be corrupted by an enemy.

As for ENERGON and ARMADA, wasn't transforming a part of their basic society anyway? They would still have alternate modes even if a CYBERTRONIAN was just a merchant. The transformation might have not been the most useful, but I think that the ability would have been instilled never the less.

The speed I have no problem with as it's more due to the expediency that being either battle ready or just making sure you're on your feet is to you.

In the Japanese dubs of Season 1 and 2 they already announced that they were transforming...at least in Season 2 anyways, I've only got the Search for Alpha Trion, and as Moonracer and Chromia are taking off from Shockwave's place, when they transform outside they're yelling, "Moonracer transform!" etc...

It's one of the few things I don't like about the Japanese stuff, that's where that came from. Yelling " transform!" before transforming is like me going, "Squelch, sit!" before sitting down...

Nah. They transform so fast that they're still saying "_______ TRANSFORM!" even after they've already done it. Heck, they still haven't finished making the transform noise after they've completed transformation.

I would think that TFs wouldn't want to spend to much time transforming. In BW characters get shot in mid-transformation all the time. Mostly during season 1.

Its so the kids would know what characters to beg their parents to buy for them. [I want _____.]