Ahhhhhhhh...Animated. How I miss you. Some things seem to just go on forever, while the very best are taken from us...

 

...while they are young.

 

Animated is the single best show I've seen outside of G1/S1. There have been other good/great shows (Beast Wars, TF: Prime), but only Animated was able to make the TF universe as fun now as it was back in '84 when this was all new. Only Animated could show me their wares ala Sofia Vergara, and make my jaw hit the floor. Only Animated could make me feel like a kid again and make me run to the T.V. set or to the store. This is a prescient proclamation right off the bat, because we are talking about a franchise that is supposed to be just that (FUN), before it is anything else.

 

Episode after episode after episode, Animated picked up the ball and did their best Barry Sanders impersonation, scoring touchdown after touchdown, and basically making the Bayverse look juvenile, sloppy and all-around inferior by comparison. Animated told a very complex story in spite of all the flak the show gets, and made certain characters relevant again. This show made me love both Optimus Prime and Ratchet--characters I previously hated. It somehow made me love Starscream, Shockwave and Megatron even more. It introduced elements into the TF universe that have been or will become canonical. I almost cannot imagine any other iteration of Shockwave, Ratchet or Blitzwing being as unique and awesome as they were in Animated. For all the flak the designs get, the Animated mechs looked more alien than any other iteration of the TFs by virtue of the fact that they were so organic in appearance, and yet were able to transform--TRANSFORM, not MORPH--into a standard, earth-borne vehicle. Animated also did something other incarnations of the TF Universe are unable or unwilling to do:

 

Be different. Be unique.

 

It had something for the fan who has been one since '84 or just became one in 2012, and I strongly suspect that this is because the show was written by people who LOVE THE TRANSFORMERS. And that is not a feeling that I immediately get from almost every other iteration of the TF universe. The people who put the Animated universe together obviously loved TFs and loved what they were doing, which makes Animated, IMHO, the TF equivalent of a Zepp or Tool or Alice in Chains jam session. We just got to sit back and eavesdrop on the whole thing, and we saw a fair amount of magic taking place while we did so. I mean, Animated tied in every major (and even the lesser) iterations of the TF mythos together in one package, and they did it CONVINCINGLY. Animated did it with flair. Animated busted out those Jagger-like moves and got wicked on the dance floor and dropped that ill technique that makes me come back for more and more and more. Animated can do no wrong.

 

Insofar as the toys are concerned, the fact that we have an existing toyline (TF: Prime) that is (rightfully so) copying the Animated style of simple yet decetively complex transformations (and admittedly taking it to another level) is proof positive of the sheer genius of the Animated toyline. You cannot deny it, you cannot explain it any other way than the way I just did. They are channelling Animated, not the Bayverse, and Prime fans can count themselves fortunate--not because the Bayverse toys suck. They don't. I just think that the Animated/Prime take on what you can squeeze into one and how you can get a robot to turn into fill-in-the-blank vehicle while also disguising the robot mode is the much better take on the idea.

 

With all due respect for all those who were unimpressed with Animated or just plain did not like it, Animated to me was what the TFs are all about as a franchise, a hobby and a kickass diversion: fun and a push for originality to further the franchise as a collective whole.

:wtf ok? too each their own on this one

Many Soundwave figures in the initial Galaxy Force run had a serious misassembly issue preventing the toy from correctly transforming into fighter mode. The large hinge bar that connects the upper torso to the waist is bolted crookedly on one side, making it impossible for the legs and the canopy to properly form the front of the fighter.

 

From TFwiki

 

Again, what defect? come on Breaker mine has no defects, and TFWiki is notorious for having incorrect information.

 

So again Breaker what defect? so far what you have posted tells me it is different figure from what I have. because my Cybertron Soundwave has no issues, and my Galaxy Force Soundblaster has no issues their transformations

 

Our roles are reversed. I had all the luck in the world with Animated while you didnt. My Cybertron Soundwave has the defect and can't completely transform to jet mode.

yeah i can't defend cybertron soundwave. his arm kibble was just awful and his poseability suffered from it

 

simply a 5 sequence transformation at most to transform the figure

 

More Cybertron toys fit that description than animated

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Shockwave figure to play with and enjoy

 

Your right animated better fits a 3 point transformation sequence, don't break your shockwave you know how that soft plastic breaks easily,

 

Please enlighten me. Which animated toy has a 3 point transformation? I just went through all of mine and found no such toy. Starscream comes close due to his automorph, but that's all I could find. The only 3 point transformation Shocky has is going from tank to crane mode. His plastic is sturdy and has never broken in the 4 years I have owned him. In fact....None of my animated toys have broken....

 

Again, what defect? come on Breaker mine has no defects, and TFWiki is notorious for having incorrect information.

 

So again Breaker what defect? so far what you have posted tells me it is different figure from what I have. because my Cybertron Soundwave has no issues, and my Galaxy Force Soundblaster has no issues their transformations

 

Our roles are reversed. I had all the luck in the world with Animated while you didnt. My Cybertron Soundwave has the defect and can't completely transform to jet mode.

Wouldn't know the only animated figure I ever bought at the store was Arcee twice

 

 

Please enlighten me. Which animated toy has a 3 point transformation? I just went through all of mine and found no such toy. Starscream comes close due to his automorph, but that's all I could find. The only 3 point transformation Shocky has is going from tank to crane mode. His plastic is sturdy and has never broken in the 4 years I have owned him.

 

You missed the sarcasm Atmo :P

I'll keep this short and sweet...gotta go with Breaker and Lord Atmo. I liked :animated as well (no thanks to Hasbro's mismanagement). It was a refreshing relaunch to the tired Unicron Trilogy of "power up" gimmicks, IMHO. Still got all my Animated toys as well...can't say the same for Cybertron (although, I do still have some notable Armada/Energon figures).

 

On a different, yet related note, TF:Prime is beyond either...however, I feel like they're kinda getting the same redheaded stepchild treatment that Animated received from Hasbro. :tfmad

I thought you had a ton of QC problems with them Onslaught? Or is that just part of your argument? I admit that a fair amount of people seemed to run into problems but I only had one. The common dlx Ratchet with the loose leg constantly falling off. I do admit I'm worried about some of the soft plastic. Especially on my favorite Oil Slick.

 

@ John 14:6: I too enjoyed the new additions in Lugnut, Lockdown and Oil Slick. I also think it's cool that Lugnut has been retrotractively added to G1 cannon and Lockdown has made his way into the movieverse. Now give me a classicverse Oil Slick pls!!!

I thought you had a ton of QC problems with them Onslaught? Or is that just part of your argument? I admit that a fair amount of people seemed to run into problems but I only had one. The common dlx Ratchet with the loose leg constantly falling off. I do admit I'm worried about some of the soft plastic. Especially on my favorite Oil Slick.

 

Everybody I know that has bought animated has run into problems, one of my friends who bought Blurr literally had Blurr fall apart on the shelf. My only problem is I only had one Bulkhead shipped to me in Iraq for demolition. And I still had plenty of C-4 left over

Pluss the figures themselves look more like playskool, something I would buy my 2 year old

The only QC issue I've had with any Animated toy--and I've got them all save for Blackout--is the paint apps on the roof of Soundwaves' alt mode. FWIW, I've put mine through their paces and they are proving to be no less durable than any Bayverse, TFU/Classics/Generations or Prime toy. Honestly..? These days, it's the Prime toys that have me worried about their fragility, both FE and post-FE.

 

I, for one, would also love to see:

 

A Classics Blitzwing, done in the Animated mold. I liked G1 Blitz, I really did, but this is like Tool's cover of Zepps' No Quarter: for all intents and purposes, Tool's version of the song outclassed the original and I tend to associate the song with Tool. I already know it's blasphemy. The same holds for Animated Blitz: Animated did more with the character than any other continuity, and actually seems to have had an origin episode set up for what would have been S4 of Animated (according to the AllSpark Almanac, Vol. II).

 

Speaking of the AllSpark Almanac, anybody else own volumes I & II? You know something's special when even your sourcebook is giving you a hard-on.

 

The one thing, the ONE thing I will say that I did not like at all about Animated was this: no way should Optimus have literally defeated Megatron nearly every time he faced him. That just no-sold Megs' character, which was a shame as the Animated Megs was one of the very best incarnations of him, as well as his seriously underrated LC toy. Just totally level-headed, cold-blooded, manipulative, direct and arrogantly certain of self and role, without even a hint of insanity.

 

If that's not Megatron, I don't know what is.

Blitzwing was so great in animated. He's still my 2nd favorite toy in that line after Shockwave

Blitzwing was so great in animated. He's still my 2nd favorite toy in that line

 

I Thought voyager Blitzwing was one of the better designed Animated toys. I think the toy could have really been more awesome if hasbro & takara used darker colors & more shinny factory colors on the toys.