Gigazz put down a lot of text, but if you'd take the time to actually read it, he has a good point. If you're short of an attention span (What his (Her?) post basically boils down to.), the point is: Why the hell have big-ass transforming robots with guns talk each other in to oblivion when they could shoot ech other?

 

I agree. More explosions, less talking. These are robots with guns, not a discussion group.

Gigazz put down a lot of text, but if you'd take the time to actually read it, he has a good point. If you're short of an attention span (What his (Her?) post basically boils down to.), the point is: Why the hell have big-ass transforming robots with guns talk each other in to oblivion when they could shoot ech other?

 

I agree. More explosions, less talking. These are robots with guns, not a discussion group.

TFs would suck if it was all action, we need charector Development too.

I think the point is Balance X-Bob

and what Energon Characters actually have any "Character" to develop

 

"Remember darling, just because you ARE a character, doesnt mean you HAVE Character"

 

Hunter

Kids love TFs. My mates mom owns a daycare, and I brought in my MP Prime and alternators, and they got the hugest kick out of it. It was so forigen to them. But they regconized Prime right away.

I think the point is Balance X-Bob

and what Energon Characters actually have any "Character" to develop

 

"Remember darling, just because you ARE a character, doesnt mean you HAVE Character"

 

Hunter

I concur entirely.

 

I am feeling that X-bob is pro-energon and yet seems to be contradicting himself (apologies in advance to X-bob if i am misreading/misinterpreting/ignoring his other posts in this thread because I cant be bothered to go back though it :P) Energon has zero chracter development and is quite frankly inane in almost all aspects, it could very easily be pretty damn good and yet falls down in all aspects (voice acting, story, characters and CGI) at least in the english version, you can tell in parts of it that there are many direct translations from the japanese language that make no sense and just dont work as no effort has gone into the script, its like they just ran it through the translation program and gave the scripts to the voice actors.

 

As I said previously I am fairly sure this is a funny show in Japan but is super lame in english, as an advert it fails miserably (and thats all it is)

 

It needs to be done like Megas XLR and i was determined to hate that show when I saw the adverts for it but it has humour, character development and action (ok so there isnt much of a plot but I am sure one could be worked in if they wanted ;))

When people bring up the cartoons as a factor for kids not liking the toys, I actually believe it also has an effect on some adult collectors as well. When people see a stupid cartoon it can really lower their opinion on the toyline. At the same time, a really good cartoon could probably help make a toyline that might be somewhat lacking seem really cool.

 

What leads me to this conclusion is the fact that I've seen a lot of collectors in the last year who wouldn't even touch Energon because the cartoon was too lame so they never even bothered to give the toyline a decent chance. Beast Wars had a good cartoon and the entire toyline did fantastic when in reality there were a lot of really weird figures in it.

 

Basically, no toyline will ever be perfect. That's why it's so important to have a good cartoon to promote it. G1 and BW were the 2 most successful lines because they had the better cartoons promoting them. BM was kinda lame but the toyline didn't really do too bad. Hasbro needs to wake up and realize that in order to perk up the interest in the line that all they need to do is put out their own cartoon that's more designed to win over english speaking audiences because the Japanese stuff just isn't working.

 

Everyone has already brought up all the good reasons why the Japanese made cartoons haven't been working so there's no need for me to get into it. I think the movie will play a HUGE roll in the future of tf's. If the movie does great then I fully expect to see Hasbro going back to producing their own cartoons again. If those 2 things happen then the Transformers could very well end up climbing back to the top of the toy world and so long as they don't get too lazy or too greedy then it could stay there for awhile.

 

Hopefully by then Hasbro would have learned the errors of their ways and we won't be subjected to the lower grade, poorly dubbed imported cartoons anymore, just so they can save a few bucks. If Hasbro wants a loyal consumer base then they had better start showing a little loyalty of their own towards the people who have kept the Transformers line profitable for over 20 years. If they want to keep taking the cheap way out and cutting corners to save a few bucks then.....well, I think we all know what to expect.

Here's the problem with TFs:

- Poor marketing, the cartoon is shown pretty early and CN hasn't finished it. Cartoons sell toys. It's the main reason why there are no TFs in the mainstream market in my country, and that would also be here.

 

- Poor distribution, the toys are not distributed evenly and updated very well. Some assortments are overstocked while the rest are understocked. Add to that greedy scalpers and hoarders, and we have a serious TF shortage in many areas and a glut in others.

 

- Weak cartoon, I agree with the most of you guys, the story is just too continuous and kids have to watch the show religiously just to understand what's going on. For me it is best that they should have self-contained stories for each episode (or at most a 3-parter), but have an overarching plot brewing in the background. They could also add a "Previously on..." so kids can catch up if they miss an episode. That is why Pokemon worked. Each episode had a self-contained storyline about Ash and his friends fighting other Pokemon collectors, but at the same time there was an overarching plot which is Ash's journey to become the greatest Pokemon fighter there is.

 

Even with this problem, TFs sell surprisingly well and the next TF line is better than the one before. If TFs sold so badly, the line would have been dead long ago, or at least Hasbro wouldn't have bothered shelling out extra money to produce extension TF lines like Universe, Alternators and the seemingly-defunct G1.

 

I believe kids still love Transformers, just as long as the Transformers come to them. I've seen kids whose eyes brighten up when they see Optimus Prime, even though they have no idea who he is. He's just cool-looking and transforms into a truck. What's not to love?

At the risk of starting another flamewar; I think Geewun had a good balance. There was a fair share of talking and character development within the main characters, we all knew who was who and what their character gimmick was, and they shot each other on a regular basis. The movie was a fine example. Beast wars did the same, only somewhat more coherent and mature and even Armada had a balance. Energon, from what I've seen, looks great (I like cell shading.) but is essentially boring as ****.

Beast Wars had the perfect balance.

 

There was plenty of character development but also action as well. Beast Wars saw some of the best action ever! :thumb

 

Energon is pretty boring compared to Beast Wars and the Transformers are dull. Though Snow Cat's yodeling is funny though. But they are trying to repeat G1 (with Shockblast wanting to overthrow Megatron like Shockwave wanted in the comics) and rather poorly at that.

 

Some ideas are neat but not worked out well enough.

 

And perhaps there should be less reliance on super modes. Why rely on inner strenght, the balance between beast/robot, fighting abilities or intelligence when you have a super mode?

 

I remember well how Rattrap blew up Ravage's ship all by himself. Sure, he was not the toughest Maximal but he had street smarts and lots of guts. :tftongue

First, please forgive me, I'm walking in on page #3 with out reading the first 2.

 

It has been eons since I watched Energon, and this morning I was up at 6am and decided to watch it. Boy, was I lost! For a show that's on at 6am, you'd think it wouldn't be like a soap opera where you have to watch it every day to understand it.

 

As a geewun fangurl, I had to say in the interst of catpuring a childs attention and interest, the 80's series did a great job at that, IMO. You could miss an episode here or there and still know what's going on.

 

The toys that went along with the were simple & easy to transform. The present toys come with instructions, ans sometimes with out those, you'd be lost. On recent trips for TF toys, I've noticed that the TF sections are pushed farther & farth back and in corners instead of out in the open where you couldn't miss them (6 months ago).

 

I think it Energon and Armada weren't so indepth & required religious viewing, they might be right up there with some of the other popular toys out right now. I do enjoy the detailed animation, but considering I'm not a morning person, and I doubt CN would change the airing times just me for, I think that choices suck as those impact the possible flow of a dedicated view audiance.