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Unable to "get into" Armada/Energon


Elita-One

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Armada wasn't that bad. But the problem lies with people growing up. I know that there are a lot of young kids who really liked the series. Okay, it was dumb, but what do you expect from a show aimed at kids? High-brow entertainment? Don't be silly. It's no surprise you can't get in to these series if you're older than 15, japanese language or not. Armada did what it had to do, colourfull designs (Which I liked) and a simple story. 

Energon has got me a lot more puzzled though... There was a bit too much talking for the young kids and too little for us big kids. We want BW writing, kids want action and a simpler story, Energon gave neither...

 

How does GF stand up agianst these two?

 

I liked the toys for both shows.

My god. It's my sentiments in a nut shell. I thought I was the only one that thought that way. :eek

It is true that ultimately, these shows exist to sell toys. And it is certainly cheaper to import and dub an existing cartoon than to produce one here. However, one thing you miss out on by doing so is a Western perspective. These shows are written by Japanese people for Japanese people, and there is a great cultural gap between Eastern and Western thinking.

 

When I compare G1 to RiD/Armada/Energon, I don't think any one of them is really any better than any other, but what makes me *enjoy* watching G1 more is the fact that I can relate to what's going on a lot more easily. I understand where the writers are coming from and what they're trying to convey. Watching anime-formers, I feel like I have to translate what happens onscreen and what informs the characters' actions, not just the language.

 

Maybe that makes me a xenophobe, but so be it. I'm sick to death of anime b/c the market has become so oversaturated with it. It was "cool" five years ago but now everything is an anime dub, and it's just not the same.

:pfx Anime has well worn out it's welcome with all things tv based. Movies are still cool but for the love, enough with Pokemon/digimon/Yughio/Beyblade cramming up the airwaves. IMO I'd rather watch reruns of Spongebob Squarepants than any of that. At least that gives you a cheap laugh here and there if you're really desperate. On the plus side I'd sooner watch RID/Armada/Energon over any of the above shows.

IMO I found Armada a lot easier to get into than Energon. While Energon instead opted to make everything bigger/louder they forgot to provide a half decent/comprehensible script. (kind of like Bad Boys2) Armada while being invade by kiddies for the first twelve to 24 eps actually became enjoyable with the final Unicron arc.

The Megatron/Starscream rivalry were by far the most captivating moments in the entire series. Though it parallels G1 earlier on with Starscream being driven by the ultimate power it goes the unexpected route of a matter of just being unappreciated and lead into utter confusion as to what he's trying to accomplish under Megatrons ruling.

For a cartoon that caters only to the 15 and under crowd it handled some pretty dark material. Though it happens in small doses it's worth it alone since until TFTM was released Hasbro wouldn't have gotten away with half of it.

 

Megatron: Oh shutup Squidhead.

Thrust: Don't call me Squidhead!!!!

Megatron: Whatever you say Squidhead.

Thrust: AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRHHHHHHH!!!

 

Falure indeed, I think Megatron's constant Verbal abuse led to Thrust's insanity.

;)

Okay, is that, like, real dialogue from Armada?

 

 

 

 

'Cuz if so my opinion of that show just improved. :lol

Probably not word for word but it's close.

 

Thrust's only clever comeback was "fathead."

 

:wtf but yeah it works for a :lol

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It is true that ultimately, these shows exist to sell toys. And it is certainly cheaper to import and dub an existing cartoon than to produce one here. However, one thing you miss out on by doing so is a Western perspective. These shows are written by Japanese people for Japanese people, and there is a great cultural gap between Eastern and Western thinking.

 

When I compare G1 to RiD/Armada/Energon, I don't think any one of them is really any better than any other, but what makes me *enjoy* watching G1 more is the fact that I can relate to what's going on a lot more easily. I understand where the writers are coming from and what they're trying to convey. Watching anime-formers, I feel like I have to translate what happens onscreen and what informs the characters' actions, not just the language.

 

Maybe that makes me a xenophobe, but so be it. I'm sick to death of anime b/c the market has become so oversaturated with it. It was "cool" five years ago but now everything is an anime dub, and it's just not the same.

AMEN, brother! :thumb

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But while it is cheaper to dub a cartoon it may not be worthwile in the long run. Hasbro think "we dub cartoon which is cheap and sell toys". Pretty shortsighted if you ask me.

 

The Beast Wars cartoon really brought back Transformers. The show was excellent and that is what sold the toys. Turantulas was overlooked by collectors at first untill he appeared on the show. Rattrap and Rhinox also sold for the same reason.

 

They could even get aways with selling multiple version of a character which only works if people like the character so much that they want that new toy. I bought Beast Machines Rattrap not because the toy was so darn cool. (TM Rattrap was a lot better.)

 

But Rattrap was one of the coolest Beast Wars characters so toy is must have. :tftongue

 

Right now I do not care much for the show just like a lot of people. So when I get the new Transformers I either use the bio from the Hasbro site or make up my own. I mean Tidal Wave being reformatted into Mirage. The Mirage body look and alternate mode do not suit Tidal Wave. He is a huge battle ship not a speed boat of some sort.

 

But how long can one go on doing that? Especially for little kids who generally go by the tv show as that is what they have access to. When I saw Beast Wars Optimus Primal I really felt that is a guy I want a toy of. (Ok, I did not collect in those days but bought Universe Optimus Primal later.)

 

The same with Megatron. They could even resulpt Optimal Optimus' head into Megatron and call him final Battle Megatron. It would be totally cool if he was resized to be as big as Air Attack Optimus Primal. That would sell.

 

Energon Optimus Primal does not scream "buy me" as the character is rather dull. I liked the Armada Air Defense Team in the comic with only Runway speaking and Jetstorm and Sonar just giving short answers. :tftongue But the Mini-Cons in the series did not really do much for me.

 

The excellent More Than Meets The Eye comic series gives all those characters much needed life. These bio's make the characters much more interesting.

 

The fact that this thread has been going on for a long proves that Armada and Energon leave too much to be desired. The kids will surely feel the same. We watch because we are Transformers fan and "have" every show. (And most of the toys are cool so we watch the show for that too.)

 

But I did not even bother to download the Energon cartoons and I have had the Armada box in my possesion ever since it came out. Not one episode has been watched.

 

To illustrate that: got in several Buffy The Vampire Slayer boxes and am watching a few episodes a day if possible. And just yesterday I got in Season 5 of The Simpsons. More than half the epsiodes have been watched.

 

And I am a huge Transformers fan because I also watched the final season Beast Wars in one sitting. So that definetely says something about the recent cartoons and how much they suck.

 

Kids do not have this bond with Transformers. Were my nephew the age of 5 now he would see Energon and go "yawn" and change channel. No kid watching the show, no toys being sold.

 

And even if he did watch the show a lot of characters would not appeal to him so he would not want those either. I am a completist but had I not been, Energon Demolisher would not have been on my buy list. Same as most of the Galaxy Force/Cybertron Transformers.

 

I am sure that if Mainfraime is allowed to produce Transtech written by decent writers such as Brad Mick, Simon Furman or any of the Beast Wars writers, it would result in a kick-ass show.

 

The kids would love it and as a result would even love the crappiest toys. I mean G1 Ironhide's toy was bad but he is a cool character so buy worthy. Energon Ironhide has a bad toy but the character is also a whiner. So 2 reasons not to buy him. :tftongue

 

Even I cannot stand another Japanese series because really long for a Mainfraime produced series with good storylines. The Japanese just do not understand what Transformers is about and do not manage to get my attention with an excellent storyline such as Beast Wars did.

 

Armada/Energon just seem to copy G1 elements and write their own story around them. :tdown The Dreamwave G1 comic also did that but in a good way with Scourge and Cyclonus still being servants of Unicron but not Skywarp and Thundercracker in a new body.

 

In short, in the long run it may be better if the cartoon is made here again. Sure it will cost more but "The riskier the road, the greater the profit." because I know it will appeal a lot more. And what appeals sells toys.

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Did you notice your posts are getting longer every time?

 

I agree with you on a lot of levels. Characters who are cool on screen, are often considered cool as toys, even if they aren't as good as toy who aren't show characters. Imagine how cool E-slugslinger could have been if he was portrayed as some crazy genious warmonger?

 

But don't go out and bash Japanese toons like that. The Japanese understand TF's, hell, TF's ARE japanese, they only give it another style. I like the way the japanese view the Transformers, Masterforce is my number 2 cool series. It's a matter of taste and no fact.

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The Japanese shows that I have seen just do not capture Transformers in my opinion. All the Japanese shows seem to put humans alongside Transformers in a starring role. In Energon Kicker even has more screentime.

 

While in G1 the humans only played a minor part and never took the center stage.

 

And what do you mean by Transformers are Japanese. The Transformers show was created in the US. Even though the toys it is based on are Japanese the idea of removing the human drivers/pilots making them sentinent and into two different factions (Autobots and Decepticons) is Hasbro's. A stroke of genius on their part.

 

I know I am being negative towards Japanese cartoons but I just do not like them. They miss the great characters that Beast Wars (and to a lesser extent G1) had. And the Japanese style does not appeal to me.

 

But that goes for a lot of Transformers fans because G1 was US made for US viewers. That set the standard and style for the show. So viewers are used to that and changing from a US to a Japanese cartoon is a big change indeed.

 

I tried watching Masterforce and it just did not do it for me. They had a few Transformers controlled by humans and that is so not Transformers in my opinion. Transformers are sentient robots, not mindless drones. So it turned me off.

 

May not be fair but my idea of a Transformer is a huge sentient robot, not a human inside a large machine. That is why I liked Transformers so much because it was a show that did not focus on solely humans. It had sentient robots! Yay!

 

I do not mind humans being in a Transformers cartoon but in Japanese cartoons they often take the foreground such as during Armada or Energon. Add to that the annoyingness of Kicker and the show quickly becomes unwatchable.

 

As stated before the Japanese generally prefer their giant mecha to be piloted and that is the complete opposite of what Transformers is about.

 

At least for me. What do the rest of you think?

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As stated before the Japanese generally prefer their giant mecha to be piloted and that is the complete opposite of what Transformers is about.

 

At least for me. What do the rest of you think?

Good point. Half of all Japanese cartoons seem to be about some giant robot being piloted by some kid (or "young person" as they like to be called) with an attitude and battling some other giant robot . . .

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As stated before the Japanese generally prefer their giant mecha to be piloted and that is the complete opposite of what Transformers is about.

 

At least for me. What do the rest of you think?

Good point. Half of all Japanese cartoons seem to be about some giant robot being piloted by some kid (or "young person" as they like to be called) with an attitude and battling some other giant robot . . .

You forgot the spikey hair :tflaugh

 

Yeah I noticed it too.. I'm gettin tired of seein that stuff too. It's been done so many times it's getting old already. I really don't think Transformers are really all that popular over in Japan next to gundam and so forth. Otherwise the animation and plotlines would probably be more thought out. :roll

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