I know I may take some flack for saying this but I'm glad that the new movie looks like it will be from Spike's P.O.V. and I just plain like Transformers with humans.

 

I think RiD, Armada and Energon made some wrong turns with the concept, sure.

 

But Transformers are robots in disguise and that just doesn't work unless they have someone to disguise from or a world to blend in with. Robots who turn into vehicles is a concept we see everywhere.

 

What made Optimus Prime such a great hero, IMO, was summed up in his tech spec quote: "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." Optimus Prime was not only an epic hero but humans represented the little guys that he was sticking up for.

 

Intergalactic war between robots is kinda interesting to me... But intergalactic war between GIANT robots with humans trapped between the two forces just adds so much.

 

Minicons had the potential to be that group in Armada except Optimus just plain didn't value then enough. He acted like a posessive dictator, demanding them. I'm not sure what made the Autobots good guys except for the fact that they weren't as homicidal... But they were soldiers, mostly without personalities.

 

Energon improved this somewhat but I think what made G1 great was how all the Autobots had human personalities with regional dialects and interests in various kinds of earth culture.

 

And when Spike tried to help the Autobots, you really felt how overwhelmed he was... Unlike the Armada kids who could just show up and verbally spar with the Decepticons or Kicker who just seemed to blend in with the team.

 

This really isn't a G1 specific rant. I think the Beast Cartoons and Energon surpass the animation of G1 by lightyears. They have a lot of novel action that G1 never really approached...

 

... But G1 was the show where you felt like you could look out your window and imagine the car across the street transforming. Humans were at stake. These things could CRUSH us. And the Autobots were heroes because they would do anything, even take serious personal losses and possibly death, to keep that from happening even though it might really BE in their interests to stripmine earth. And the Decepticons were bad guys not because they had evil laughs or more guns but because they didn't mind crushing you and many would take pleasure in it.

 

Humans, when done right, make the Transformers war personal for us real live humans without making the robots look ineffectual.

There's nothing bad about humans in TF shows. As you stated, they bring the war closer: nothing like a few houses being crushed under a falling TF, humans squished to death when a TF steps on them, etc...

 

The problem most have with humans is that in (RiD)/Armada/Energon they are whiny little brats who have no reason to be around the TF's and are only trouble for the Autobots. If you look at G1, Spike was a teen (and thereby older than the target audience) and actually contributed to the Autobot cause -- and also getting them in trouble. The same goes for Buster in the comics.

There's nothing bad about humans in TF shows. As you stated, they bring the war closer: nothing like a few houses being crushed under a falling TF, humans squished to death when a TF steps on them, etc...

 

The problem most have with humans is that in (RiD)/Armada/Energon they are whiny little brats who have no reason to be around the TF's and are only trouble for the Autobots. If you look at G1, Spike was a teen (and thereby older than the target audience) and actually contributed to the Autobot cause -- and also getting them in trouble. The same goes for Buster in the comics.

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agreed, if optimus was really as noble as he is supposed to be, no way would he let three 12 year olds go with them into battle.. that makes no sense.  But with G1, Spike was there but with his father's permission, Sparkplug, who also aided the autobots as much as ratchet

 

assets to the cause people, that's all we wantk, assets

The problem most have with humans is that in (RiD)/Armada/Energon they are whiny little brats who have no reason to be around the TF's and are only trouble for the Autobots. If you look at G1, Spike was a teen (and thereby older than the target audience) and actually contributed to the Autobot cause -- and also getting them in trouble. The same goes for Buster in the comics.

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well, you're in luck. the human sidekick for the movie is going to be in his late teens or early twenties.

 

personally, i'm hoping for something similar to how Terminator 2 was done: first there was scenes of exposition with the humans, then there were action scenes with the robots, then some more exposition with the humans, followed by another action scene with the robots. rinse, repeat for 2 hours.

Japanese love shows with early to late teens.  Masterforce, Victory, Zone, all have kids running along side the TFs.  Not to mention other robot lines such as Gundams, Mazinger series, Sentai, etc.

I don't see how Kicker, even though he was often annoying with all that shouting, was not an asset to the Autobots/Cybertrons.

agreed, if optimus was really as noble as he is supposed to be, no way would he let three 12 year olds go with them into battle.. that makes no sense.  But with G1, Spike was there but with his father's permission, Sparkplug, who also aided the autobots as much as ratchet

 

assets to the cause people, that's all we wantk, assets

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There were also plenty of times when Spike asked Prime if he could "go along" on whatever dangerous mission was happening that day, and Prime was like "agreed." :tflaugh But hey...

 

I think Rawhide hit it on the head. Transfans are averse to human characters because so many of them (in TF series) have been annoying. There's nothing wrong with a guy like Chip (who was my favorite human character FWIW) helping out the Autobots. But Transformers isn't Digimon. No one wants to see "The Adventures of Carlos, Rad and Alexis" on the big screen.

it seems that Gonzo was able to strike a decent ballance for Galaxy Force. yes, the kids are in every episode but no, they're not the center of attention. there's only one kid centered episode once every 6 or 7 bot centered episodes.

it seems that Gonzo was able to strike a decent ballance for Galaxy Force. yes, the kids are in every episode but no, they're not the center of attention. there's only one kid centered episode once every 6 or 7 bot centered episodes.

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I don't think I can remember a single kid-centered G1 episode....... but maybe I'm forgetting something.

the first episode with Chip was pretty centered... you know around chip