Well we've only had five episodes (1-3 were grouped together), and usually in a show the first 3-4 episodes are done with a higher quality than the rest to promote and push a new show. It's kind of sad, but that's how it works in the industry usually. The Dinobot episode still retained much of it's fluidity, motion, and all that. It was still a well-animated episode.

Thrill of the Hunt had obvious animation lacking to me. It was still animated well, but not up to par with the 4 episodes prior. It wasn't horrible, but it seemed as if the animation was done with a lesser drawings-per-second rate and/or the director (which could have been a totally different guy than the first few episodes) chose a lot more in-close shots that used less movement - more static shots, which seemed to be the case IMO.

WHAA WHAHHH [/Debbie Downer]

I thought it was a great episode; it was nice to see Arcee (OMG this is me saying this) b/c it was kind of a sad story and she seemed more sympathetic/vulnerable. i.e. more of a real character, I suppose.

and she's totally Blackarachnia

which is funny if it's true because there's another nod to an old TF show -- Blackarachnia in BW had the access codes to the Autobot Ark in her brain.

I also liked the fact that when Ratchet and Prime finally talked at the end, you didn't hear what they actually said. What was important was that they were talking. Which is a surprisingly mature story decision to make IMO. Favoring character over plot is always win IMO.

I agree Pete. I agree a lot.

oh BTW I want Bumblebee's horn sound on my car

I see they skipped Total Meltdown again But that's alright, this dude seems to have it covered!

I might be responsible for him being able to get that episode.

is it still considered to not be in the g1/bw continuity by many or are they coming around tothe idea now?

Just saw Total Meltdown and Thrill of the Hunt, and I just have to say for the record...

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!!!!!!

It's a new continuity, if that's what you meant.

There is zero percent chance it's G1. The clips at the beginning of the pilot were fanwank only, and are taken out of context on purpose. If it was in G1's continuity, it would clash so severely that it would take an entire team of writers to fix it.

The biggest clash is that when the autobots first arrive on earth, nobody has any idea who they are, or what they are.

It's pretty blindingly obvious that this isn't connected to the G1/BW/BM timeline.

Indeed. I have no idea how people could even think that they are connected...

YES YES YES

This episode was excellent.

Total Meltdown was a pretty good episode too, and I'm glad that I got to see two new episodes in the last two days.

It's getting very hard to put into words how good I think this series is.

Damn... my son just left for NH... guess I'll have to watch it without him.

They might use G1/BW references, but just in names only. I don't think it's their intention to tie old with new in any way other than names and general images... or else it would be completely coincidental.

ok, I guess w/ all the nod references everybody's puttin out I thought that the consensus was that they tie in somehow.


sorry, don't execute me yet. ;-)

Most of you have metioned most of the cool parts of todays episode.

However, I want to mention that Prowl was badass in this episode. That fight scene with Lockdown was sweet. I think he could of won if it wasn't for that cheap emp gun. And LD knew this, and that is why he used it.

Also, noticed how there was no meddling humans? I think they are giving some eps where we just the TF's to there thing, ala BW/BM

Anyone want to upload an avi of "Total Meltdown" to megaupload or rapidshare? I wouldn't mind burning it to a DVD.

Blitzwings crazy personality reminds me of

Oh, And I think this last episode just provoked me to buy Ratchets toy even though I'm not too fond of it as a mold. They did such a great job characterizing him in this that I actually care about him now.

PS: The Sari=Arcee theory is officially out the F'n window now btw.

Wow. Thrill of the Hunt was awesome. Meltdown was pretty cool, too, but TotH was the best Animated episode so far and right up there with some of the greats from Beast Wars on the list of best Transformers episodes ever. I wasn't planning on getting Lockdown's toy originally since I wasn't fond of his spiky car mode, but I'm definitely getting one now.

I also liked how they gave him a rubsign instead of a regular insignia. I hope the toy matches in that respect.

I don't notice any decrease in the quality of the animation, but if there was a bit of corner-cutting in the dialogue scenes it was probably so that they could focus on the action scenes, of which this episode had a hell of a lot.

Also, where'd you get that Animated Hot Rod picture, RodimusZero? Is it official or fan-made? It's pretty impressive, if it's the latter.

lol

This was totally the best episode so far.

He made it along with the Prime in his Avatar. Trips me out because it looks so official.

Damnit....stupid quote reply error...

I haven't watched today's episode yet, as I haven't been feeling too well. Was Arcee voicd by Susan Blu?

And are all of you guys really watching Total Meltdown on Youtube, or is there some way to download it that I haven't found yet. I never use torrents (mostly because I don't know how), so I'd really appreciate it if there was another way to get the episode.

Yes, Susan Blu voiced Arcee.

Yes, I really did. I watch every ep on Youtube because I don't have cable. fanof transformers usually has the eps up the same day they air.

http://youtube.com/profile?user=FanofTransformers.

I don't like Torrents so this my only option.

That dude rocks, it's the only way I get to see the episodes and he usually has it up within an hour of airtime. I don't do torrents or other peer-to-peer systems like Limeware, IMO you just ask for something nasty to land in your system.

Yeah, I try to avoid those programs to. The only one I use periodically is Iaconhub, and sometimes it takes forever for episodes to show up there, and even then it has to be from someone who you can download from. Very irritating.

Nice episodes.
Meltdown was kinda lame.

But Hunt was pretty awesome.

Check the news section. At least five of us have watched it via the method I posted there.



It's really hard to spike a torrent. It'd take the original download being virus filled to do that, and most torrents(For TV shows, at least) come straight from the release groups.

Actually its not that hard. A) Most torrents come Zipped along with text files and M3U's and other crap stuff.
B) You can add Alternate Data Streams to basically any file. One of the few nice things about Vista, is that you can conveniently search and clean out ADS. XP and Macs - not so easy. (ADS is actually something added to windows in response to the way Macs save files)

Yeah.. but VisDuh sucks many levels of ass (hugs his XP desktop and laptop machines)

I agree with Plumper's agreeing with Pete.

You know, that smiley just doesn't work when it's used by some one other than Pete

Lance Henrikson PWNS!

wow.. chubby ol ratchet beat the snot out of Lockdown. Enjoyed this episode quite a bit. Ratchet isn't one of my favorite characters, but it's nice to see the guy get his dues. Heck if it was a Japanese TF show, you'd be lucky to spend more than 5 mins with the guy.

Atleast they're giving these guys souls.. its good. =)

I agree, I think the 5 autobots have nice character now. I like how they didn't throw all the deceptions at us at once either. They will be doing it slowly and probably develop their characters better that way.

Anyway, saw Meltdown and Thrill today. Black's voice in Meltdown is TERRIBLE, it's really annoying to hear. Otherwise it's not too bad an episode, and does a lot for Bumblebee's character.

Thrill was AWESOME! A nice second-best to Blast from the Past.

Can anyone remind me what happened to Starscream at the end of Episode 3? I forget...

I got a total G1-Marvel-Comic vibe from the Ratchet stuff.
For those of you who haven't read - in the comics at one point all the autobots are dead and/or captured and Ratchet has to take take on Megatron solo.

not saying anything literally here - just that it strongly reminded me of that story arc.

Yeah, I thought about that too. I much preferred the Marvel Comics characterizations.

I saw Total Meltdown...you aren't missing much by not watching it. Some good character building for Bumblebee, though.

"Are you yella?"

"Well...duh."

I thought it wasn't going to be that great at first, i'm so glad I was wrong, I've seen the first few episodes on youtube and wow.

I am kinda hooked.

Meltdown was ok but it seemed like a gap filler then anything that was needed for the story (bar adding black to the cast)

Thrill of the hunt was great its nice to see what made ratchet ratchet and lockdown is teh cool

Just nods? Have you seen Arcee? She's a dead ringer to her G1 variant, downright to the same voice actress.

This show is getting better by the episode. I really like how they slowly build up meeting the Decepticons. And Blitzwing is just plain awesome.

Yes, just nods. With Arcee it's a very strong/obvious nod, but just a nod non the less. Yes, she's pretty much a copy of the G1 character as far as her looks and voice go, but she's a separate character in a separate continuity.
Animated is its own continuity. It's in no way connected to the G1/BW/BM continuity. Why is that so hard for people to accept?

Absolutely
It was still nice to see Meltdown even though it wasn't going to officially air but the episode itself was not very entertaining for me.

UPDATE: "Total Meltdown" has now officially been placed on Cartoon Network's schedule in February.

February 9th - "Total Meltdown"
February 16th - "Blast from the Past"
February 23rd - "Along Came a Spider"
March 1st - "Sound and Fury"

I wonder why they are airing "Blast from the Past" again...

And "The Thrill of the Hunt" was amazing. I watched it this morning. Great characterization for Rachet, and awesome action scenes.

I've just got to say that we really need a Cybertron Ratchet toy.

I absolutely love this series. For the first time since forever I've been running downstairs, putting my phone on silent and watching a Saturday morning cartoon

I find the humor to be a nice balance between kiddy and mature, the fan nods are wonderful, and the characterizations in just these 7 episodes are far above and beyond what I remember from the last few series.

Why?

I haven't really contributed much (if anything) to this thread, so I suppose I'll give my thoughts;

Really liked the movie special (or first three episodes...or whatever). Very cool beginning. Starscream kicked all kinds of ass. But by the end, like others have mentioned, I was getting tired of Sari's Key already.

So far, all the other episodes have been completely forgettable, save for the Dinobot episode, and the most recent Episode (the one with Lockdown, and Ratchet's past.) That one's been my favorite so far.

Anyway, every episode I watch makes me want the animated figures more. I go to ebay and just stare at the animated figures for a half an hour or so, debating on whether or not it would be worth the $100 or so to get one early. Come on Hasbro, dammit. Get those figures out now.

All the others? you mean just Meltdown then right?

Is that it? I thought there were 7 or 8 episodes out.

There was the movie, which I enjoyed. I didn't see the episode after that until later (didn't care for it. The one with the Archer bad guy) then they skipped an episode and went straight to the Dinobot episode (liked it. Didn't care for the one they skipped) and then...was there another episode between that one and the one with Lockdown? Maybe not.

Don't get me wrong, I guess for the majority I'm liking it. Maybe there aren't as many episodes as I thought there were, yet...