has anyone here actually watched the last couple of transformer series, do you really want that crap linked to g1? i mean a lot of the old stuff (classic filler episodes like autobot spike)  sucked too, but rid armada and cybertron are just garbage.

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I haven't seen any Cybertron but I've watched a few dubbed Galaxy Force and it's quite a good show, and to be honest I'd be far happier with that series linked to G1 than episodes like the girl who loved Powerglide...

As others have said, the relaunching of Power Rangers every couple of years was still for the most part the same continuity and was actually more like the change from the original G1 to the movie era or to the Masters era etc.

 

On the Japanese side however, excluding Denjiman and SunVulcan, the Rangers' sentai counterparts are relaunched each year in their own simple continuities...only to have the waters mudded at the end of the year with an AU crossover involving the previous year's fighters. Without really paying too much attention, this was something I kind of assumed had happened with Car Robots, Micron/Super Link and now Galaxy Force and, in all honesty, I don't think it's a terrible idea. It allows the things that Takara/Hasbro want to keep reselling (Convoy, Megatron etc.) to appear year in year out (in much the same way as  the central themes of sentai tradition also continue) without having to explain anything more than 'these are Transformers!'...which is great for recycling certain names and all the things that everyone in this thread has been getting irrate about.

 

Personally I'm more than happy with yearly continuity reboot because, well, I don't want to see the MUK or Movie continuity dragged through the mud and stapled together with series that have failed to stir my emotions (the two Beast series plus GF fall into this group). With the continuity reboots I can say 'I like Micron/Super Link/Movie/MUK' and not have to sigh as I see decent storylines crushed into the ground by aspects of the franchise that I don't follow.

 

Possibly that sounds too elitist, sorry.

As others have said, the relaunching of Power Rangers every couple of years was still for the most part the same continuity and was actually more like the change from the original G1 to the movie era or to the Masters era etc.

 

On the Japanese side however, excluding Denjiman and SunVulcan, the Rangers' sentai counterparts are relaunched each year in their own simple continuities...only to have the waters mudded at the end of the year with an AU crossover involving the previous year's fighters. Without really paying too much attention, this was something I kind of assumed had happened with Car Robots, Micron/Super Link and now Galaxy Force and, in all honesty, I don't think it's a terrible idea. It allows the things that Takara/Hasbro want to keep reselling (Convoy, Megatron etc.) to appear year in year out

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I've never seen an episode of Japanese Power Rangers, but I did know it took this appraoch to continuity.

And that's fine for Power Rangers, especially because it built it's fanbase on that approach from day one.

 

But for 16 or 17 of the 21 years of it's existence Transformers built it's fanbase on the more American "one established continuity" style, more like something you'd associate with a comic.

 

In the years since we've had 4 series with 3 continuities, and as there's always been a Red Ranger, there's always been an Optimus Prime, visually recognisable, yet different.

 

And what response does that get?

 

On one side, some G1 fans enjoy it but want 'their' Prime back ideally, whilst other Transformers fans complain they're sick of seeing a Prime and people need to get over G1 and that they want something totally new.

And of course there's people in between, but even they will soon tire of yet another Optimus Prime.

 

So it doesn't matter which 'side' your opinion is on, it seems that what works for Power Rangers in Japan just does not work for Transformers in the west.

 

I don't wanna see all lines merged into one continuity, but I do think that introducing a new continuity ever year or two is counter productive.

The 'side' stories people mentioned elsewhere on the other hand would work well I think.

No matter which continuity, we always see Prime and a few 'bots.

There was a whole planet full, there's no way others didn't get into interesting stuff elsewhere.

So it doesn't matter which 'side' your opinion is on, it seems that what works for Power Rangers in Japan just does not work for Transformers in the west.

 

I'd be willing to concede that as I really have no wide ranging contact with what people want from the anime/comics/cartoons nowadays ~ all I'm going on is my own reactions to it and *some* of the new stuff is the first since MUK to really catch my attention.

 

I don't wanna see all lines merged into one continuity, but I do think that introducing a new continuity ever year or two is counter productive.

 

Wasn't there a comic that featured Optimus Primal coming back from the dead for a knees up with a couple of AU mates and a fight with Unicron? Did that get anywhere/have any kind of impact on any of the continuities it infringed on?

 

The 'side' stories people mentioned elsewhere on the other hand would work well I think.

No matter which continuity, we always see Prime and a few 'bots.

 

I think there's certainly room for this and I know I wouldn't object to it...I guess Takara/Hasbro however are depending on having key bestsellers for each range and, in terms of sales, there are very few toys that are going to equal Convoy/Prime and Megatron. Personally I'd like to see Fortress Maximus return as a central leader but at the end of the day, whatever's offered, I feel I can take it or leave it because the reboots don't encourage me to follow beyond any of the current storylines I follow. Which is probably a double edged sword.

But for 16 or 17 of the 21 years of it's existence Transformers built it's fanbase on the more American "one established continuity" style, more like something you'd associate with a comic.

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There has never been one American TF continuity, even back in the early 80's there were two, the show and the comic, which were radically different.

 

I don't wanna see all lines merged into one continuity, but I do think that introducing a new continuity ever year or two is counter productive.

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That I agree with.

the fact of the matter is that HasTak is already rehashing the same things year after year. Hot Shot, no matter how much character development he has during the previous series, always goes back to being a hot-headed rookie by the next series. Megatron, no matter how many times he gets upgraded to Galvatron, always goes back to calling himself Megatron. Starscream and Optimus, no matter how often they die, are always revived sooner or later. Unicron, no matter how often he's destroyed, is always brought back for the next series. Humanity, no matter how many individual humans have seen the TF's, always seem to forget about hem by the next series. HasTak is pretty much rebooting for every series now, the only difference is that they're trying to shoe-horn them all into the same continuity, which just ends up making the characters look like amnesiatics. a bi-yearly reboot would give HasTak more freedom to reuse iconic elements of the TF mythos without making things seem horribly convulated.

But for 16 or 17 of the 21 years of it's existence Transformers built it's fanbase on the more American "one established continuity" style, more like something you'd associate with a comic.

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There has never been one American TF continuity, even back in the early 80's there were two, the show and the comic, which were radically different.

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But everyone knows the cartoon was crap and didn't count... :tftongue

 

No, in all seriousness, you're right.

 

However, as War Within showed, there are enough similarities that many stories can be told that contradict both the comic and cartoon, yet stay faithful enough to both and deliver the same characters.

Eh, I know what I mean anyways.

 

HasTak is pretty much rebooting for every series now, the only difference is that they're trying to shoe-horn them all into the same continuity, which just ends up making the characters look like amnesiatics. a bi-yearly reboot would give HasTak more freedom to reuse iconic elements of the TF mythos without making things seem horribly convulated.

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Problem is that you say "reuse iconic elements", but to some that reads as "I can't let go of G1" and others still as "waste G1 characters on yet another crappy continuity."

It doesn't matter if they're different continuities or the same one, watching the same few characters do the same few things over and over is boring to old school fans and new alike.

It's like multidimensional groundhog day.

It doesn't matter if they're different continuities or the same one, watching the same few characters do the same few things over and over is boring to old school fans and new alike.

It's like multidimensional groundhog day.

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things are already like that, at least a bi-yearly reboot would help simplify things.

It doesn't matter if they're different continuities or the same one, watching the same few characters do the same few things over and over is boring to old school fans and new alike.

It's like multidimensional groundhog day.

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things are already like that, at least a bi-yearly reboot would help simplify things.

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Or they could actually try to be creative and not take the easy way out.

 

On UK TV Transformers gets the run-around, it jumps from channel to channel unannounced, and doesn't carry a prime time slot.

And why?

 

Because those slots are filled with shows like One Piece and PokeMon, Teen Titans.

Shows with continuity or at the very least the same characters every week.

Kids care about what Luffy gets up to, they give a damn if Ash gets his 5th whatever league badge, and what bizarre plan Team rocket have this week.

 

That is what sells, they're not so stupid just to see a shiny robot and be suckered in.

And I think some have finally cottoned on to that which is why they're trying to link their shows.

 

A new reality may be enough of an explanation to an adult, but to a kid, they're not telling the story they were interested in anymore, that's all that matters.

And they've already seen Transformers land on Earth a few times before and make their long and boring 3 episode introductions, sat through about  5 episodes of setting up the series arc, so they switch over to Yu Gi Oh which, by not repeating the whole story again, is giving something new and exciting.

Or they could actually try to be creative and not take the easy way out.

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that's never going to happen so long as Hasbro sees the tf cartoons as nothing more than 25 minute toy commercials. until they do, i'll settle for a bi-yearly reset so as to give everything more consistancy.