So how do I go about this. :schin

 

The other night I came across the thread promoting the 24th episode of Beast Machines at Hasbro.com. I barely visit so I decidely checked it out. I had time to kill so I decided to catch up on Cybertron. The last one I attempted to watch was ep 8 Collapse. From there I watched through 9-13. There's still a lot I absolutely hate about this show but I'm actually finding it more enjoyable than Energon.

 

Cybertron notably started out as a mess of animation and some nonsense about finding a cyberkey to prevent a blackhole from destroying the entire Universe or something to extent. As the story progresses from incomprehensible to worse we now learn of something called the Omega lock which apparently reveals the location of the cyberkeys. As the Autobot forces and Decepticon forces race to find it somewhat reminiscent of RID and the Oparts. Eventially after various decoys it's discovered underwater as is the City of Atlantis. Right.  :roll While all of this is happening on earth Hotshot, and Redalert are mixing it up with Speed Planet's inhabitants. Apparently the Cyberkey the Autobot's require is disguised as a racing trophy in the possession of the headstrong racing champion Overide. I didn't think it was possible but she is completely believable as a fembot, and holds her own well aginst the likes of Hotshot, and Megatron and his recruits.

 

Back on earth, the least interesting location IMO Megatron has learned the location of the second cyber key. Jungle planet. This where this actually begins to get interesting. Megatron, and Starscream enter the portal with Optimus and others behind but only Overhaul makes it through. From here the inhabitants of Jungle planet steal the show. Scourge, and Snarl are as expected but I could never have been more surprised with both Undermine, and Backstop. Undermine is hilariously miscast as where Dinobot would be more appropiate and Backstop as an eastern monk/Budist. As bad as it is it works. By now I've also gotten used to Jetfire, and Redalerts thick accents. Thundercracker though is still the worst of course I also hated BWs Quickstrike for the same reason.

 

Cybertron at this point is running three story arcs, and is actually flowing pretty coherently. Also the lame cyberkey effects shots and poorly scripted battles are finally taking a back seat to some fairly decent exposition. A lots happening at this point and just as it seems like it's getting interesting the writers botch it up with another meaningless battle where Prime has to again combine with his trailer and clach with Megatron. Then there are these stupid kids and minicons who really don't serve much of a purpose but ultimately remind us this is children's fare. Teaching Optimus and others to swim was a bit much though Scattorshot id genuinely funny in this bit. Also, who are all these generic transformers popping up all over the place. It's kind of neat that there's world wide networking and the original robot's in disguise concept is being again recognised but this a bit too self serving for the sake of moving the plot along. I guess all those unemployed stranded minicons needed something to do after Armada ended.

 

Again plenty for am adult viewer to dislike but here's what's worth crediting. Gary Chalk who absolutely sucked as Optimus in Energon has again reached Armada status and is actually being given something interesting to say opposed to just rallying up the troops. He's not perfect but it's a vast improvement over Energon. I really liked how he actually acted like a leader when reprimanding Hotshot, and Red alert for jeopordizing their mission on Speed planet. It turns out he was wrong when he finally confronts Overide but you can't blame him for being upset. David Kaye from day one was born to play Megatron. No matter how bad the scrip/dialogue he portrays him perfectly evil everytime. Cybertron is no exception. Not too impressed wuth the rest of the cast but Starscream, Hotshot and Vector Prime are noteworthy.

 

I was initially convinced this was easily the worst incarnation of Transformers yet and though it's nowhere near as inovative and well structured as Beastwars or Beast Machines it's a lot better than what Energon gave us with the spark of combination and nonsencial Unicron retread. I'm actually interested to where this goes from here.

 

Now I know how Ebert must've felt after he gave Saharra thumbs up. :redface

 

Later :wave   

Do yourself a favour and download Galaxy Force from TV-Nihon. I haven't seen any of Cybertron (I'm not getting up at 6 am to watch it on Saturdays :redface), but I'm absolutely loving GF.

It must be kind of like One Piece. Even though they screwed up the voices and edited the hell out of it in the beginning, but the coolness of the series shines at the end.

Yeah from what I've heard most of the problems with Cybertron at the begining are due to them trying to shoehorn the series into the Armada-verse. You should just watch GF, it's always been easy to follow.

I love the Cybertron show. The translations finally make sense, the humor is funny and can watch it with out reading subtitles.

I love the Cybertron show. The translations finally make sense, the humor is funny and can watch it with out reading subtitles.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Many also consider the dubbed version superior to the subbed version. I, myself, haven't watched Galaxy Force to compare, but I've heard this many times from those that have.

Actually I've only been watching em on Hasbro's site. Not the best for quality but this way I can watch em whenever I want or when I have time. :thumb Subtitled doesn't sound too bad but I personally really hate having to read at the same time as watch. For Cybertron it probably wouldn't be too bad but trying to watch something like the recent Appleseed or Ghost in the shell is difficult because visually there amazing and trying to read the subtitling is distracting and obnoxious.

 

As I've said Cybertron isn't perfect but it is getting better which is already much more than I expected from it. One thing I forgot to touch on earlier is the music. With the exception of the intro is the music the same? Most of it isn't half bad but what really stands out is this Decepticon scoring whenever you see Megatron, and Starscream together. Doesn't quite fit IMO. Too epic and sinister, but I guess that's appropiate for Megatron. :roll On the topic of voice work I really don't agree with what they decided for Sideways. I had expected something more similar to Armada Sideways voice acting. As is he isn't nearly as intriguing or interesting for that matter. Also it didn't take him long to switch sides. I hope they decide to do more with him because that's a pretty lame one shot use of a cool gimick.

 

BTW isn't GF pretty much wrapped up in Japan or does it still have a long way to go?

BTW isn't GF pretty much wrapped up in Japan or does it still have a long way to go?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's a few episodes left, something like 6 or 7.

The thing is Cybertron has a large number of dialouge changes as well.  Most simply make some changes to the characters personalities, and at the beginning really make the Autobots look like idiots i think.  But a few change the plot a little to try and fit it into the armada verse.  And if you watch both you can see how forced a number of the changes are.

 

So honestly I prefer the subbed version of GF instead of Cybertron.  But its really jsut a prefrence thing, some people love Cybertron.  I say watch both a bit and see which you prefer.

A lot of people really hated the accents they gave characters and Jetfire received a lot of crap for his accent and voice actor change. Some characters though deserve to be picked on. Leobreakers voice is just horrible to listen to. But Cybertron gave more characterization to Dirt Boss. Same with Undermine, he doesn't talk much but I love the voice they gave him. I don't like Scourge's dual voice though. One for robot mode and one for dragon, that just doesn't work for me.

 

I've watched both Cybertron and Galaxy Force and I equally enjoy both. The voice acting in GF is better, but then the Japanese seem to have more respect for voice actors.