Among all the merchandise animes (animes specifically devised to sell toys), I felt the Transformers franchise has probably the more decent presentations among them. A lot of fans whined that the Armada series was a Pokemon rip-off, but that's too much of an exaggeration. At least we didn't have a story involving kids controlling robots and fighting in tournaments every damn episode like the rest of this kind of anime (Crush Gear, Beyblade, Battle B-Daman, Yu-Gi-Oh and all similar crap).

 

I like a good balance between homages and creativeness. I think Cybertron was able to nail it, although they had fewer homages, since Energon practically did almost everyone already. But in essence, Cybertron was able to make nods to all TF franchises. Every person who were into realistic earth modes, beasts and futuristic vehicles had their share of toys from Cybertron. We even get to have the first Primus toy which is really awesome.

 

My biggest beef with the fandom, is people who can't get past G1 and does not collect anything or even remotely currently collecting G1 constantly Starscreaming about the changes made throughout 20 years of the TF franchise.   Some of these fans take G1 so seriously making it look like the new TFs are bastardizing the franchise, as if G1 was the Holy Grail. I mean get a grip, the Transformers franchise was made in 1984 to make money, and the same thing applies today.

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I dont understand why people are upset that others have something they like and miss.  G1 started everything, its what people first think of if you say Megatron, not some tank or space ship, they think of him as a gun.  Lets face it, G1 might not have been the best show around or the best written, but the charachters all had personalties, even smaller ones like cliffjumper or grapple.  And G1 was fresh, the shows now just cant even come close, there relying to heavy on gimmicks or rehasing old names, I think its the fact we see charachters we grew up lovings name being used for a completely diffrent charachter whos only got the same name to evoke older fans into buying the toy, if that wasnt the case they'd be better at using original names or charachters, I think thats why a lot G1ers complain.

It's all because of why we're fans.

 

Take X-Men.

If I wanted to read X-Men it's because I like the characters.

If I wanted to read about a whole new bunch of mutants in a different world, I'd read Gen13 or something.

And if they do another version of X-men, like the movie or animated show, it's just an alternate take on the original continuity.

But it's still about the X-Men and as such I expect to see them in it.

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you expect to see the actual characters in thse, not just their names. would you still be so enthsiatsic if the animated show used all the names, but totally changed the characters?

 

the characters and the use of their names are entirely different. in the xmen comics, movies and animated series, logan was logan, scott was scott, professor x was professor x. the characters were the same in each medium outside their name, the personality and character's history was consistant throughout.

 

between RiD, Armada, Energon, and Cybertron the same set of character names appears everytime, but that's as far as the consistancy goes. the characters have nothing to do with their alternate ceries counterparts. hell, laserbeak was an autobot?

 

people aren't complaning about the use of the names, they're complaning about how they're not the right characters. want to take a new spin on optimus and the autobots? by all means try, but do it right and keep the characters the same.

 

look how popular BW was. BM only bombed because the story was so weak. hasbro is just behaving like capcom.

It's all because of why we're fans.

 

Take X-Men.

If I wanted to read X-Men it's because I like the characters.

If I wanted to read about a whole new bunch of mutants in a different world, I'd read Gen13 or something.

And if they do another version of X-men, like the movie or animated show, it's just an alternate take on the original continuity.

But it's still about the X-Men and as such I expect to see them in it.

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you expect to see the actual characters in thse, not just their names. would you still be so enthsiatsic if the animated show used all the names, but totally changed the characters?

 

the characters and the use of their names are entirely different. in the xmen comics, movies and animated series, logan was logan, scott was scott, professor x was professor x. the characters were the same in each medium outside their name, the personality and character's history was consistant throughout.

 

between RiD, Armada, Energon, and Cybertron the same set of character names appears everytime, but that's as far as the consistancy goes. the characters have nothing to do with their alternate ceries counterparts. hell, laserbeak was an autobot?

 

people aren't complaning about the use of the names, they're complaning about how they're not the right characters. want to take a new spin on optimus and the autobots? by all means try, but do it right and keep the characters the same.

 

look how popular BW was. BM only bombed because the story was so weak. hasbro is just behaving like capcom.

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Could you please explain what you mean by behaving like Capcom? I'm not trying to be a smart-ass or anything, I just don't get where you're coming from.

On more recent IDW update news:

 

I like updates but not at the expense of ruining a well known aesthetic compromised. Yeah. EJ Su has me all in a huff. Though I'll still buy the comic. I can't accept this as "new", it's not new. It's Gundam. I like the odd homage thrown in here and there but not anime-ize the entire franchise.

http://forums.idwpublishing.com/cgi-bin/ik...t=ST;f=21;t=925

 

But then again, I'm a hypocrite because I love GI Joe Sigma 6 for the anime look. :redface But the vehicles are unmistakably Joe.

 

I guess I'm more passionate about G1 since I grew up with it. Damn I miss Don's style of updating the classic look. Right now this is all I see:

 

 

 

Not stuck in the past, but if you're going to have the universe you're depicting actually be the classic characters. I want it done right.

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:rofl

 

 

GUNDAM RATCHET FOR THE WIN!

 

Seriously though, I think EJ Su can cram it. He's one of the least talented, hackiest artists out there. I recently picked up the Castlevania TPB, and man is some of that art painful to look at...

you expect to see the actual characters in thse, not just their names. would you still be so enthsiatsic if the animated show used all the names, but totally changed the characters?

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First off, welcome to the forums. :wave

 

In answer to your question, it depends on how well it was done, for I did mean the characters too, not just the names.

 

See, I agree with you on X-men. The cartoon origins and stories, the movie origins and stories are not identical to the comic, but they are the same X-Men we know, the differences are subtle.

But if you read Age of Apocalypse, it's a whole other story.

 

And that's how I see Transformers.

 

In all honesty, If you'd have told me that the initial scripts for Armada (for instance) were for a random show  called "Pan Galactic Interchange Machines" or something and Takara bought the rights and tacked on the Transformers related names and likenesses to make money, I could easily believe it.

And I don't blame a G1 fan for not finding it appealing.

 

But that doesn't matter as much to me because it's not G1, it's Transformers Armada, or Energon or RiD or Cybertron.

These are all seperate continuities, people do act differently.

 

Armada is no more G1 than the X-men: Evolution or the AoA is X-men's main continuity.

I don't resent how different to the comic it is, I just watch it for what it is and enjoy the similarities that are there.

Mind you, I don't have endless people telling me Marvel's continuity is in the past, I should move on and not want to see more issues or old X-Men appear in Evolution either...

 

In the end I'd have prefered to have seen a new G1 series or a G1 continuity based series with new characters.

What we got wasn't ideal, but there was more there for a G1 fan in terms of characterisation than given credit for.

I dont understand why people are upset that others have something they like and miss.  G1 started everything, its what people first think of if you say Megatron, not some tank or space ship, they think of him as a gun.  Lets face it, G1 might not have been the best show around or the best written, but the charachters all had personalties, even smaller ones like cliffjumper or grapple.  And G1 was fresh, the shows now just cant even come close, there relying to heavy on gimmicks or rehasing old names, I think its the fact we see charachters we grew up lovings name being used for a completely diffrent charachter whos only got the same name to evoke older fans into buying the toy, if that wasnt the case they'd be better at using original names or charachters, I think thats why a lot G1ers complain.

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Unfortunately, it seems you are in the minority of the opinion of the fans. A big beef by many G1 purists is they want Transformers to be like the "old days", which means they want the new toys or plotlines to be G1 rehashes. That's why you can read in message boards about fanboys Starscreaming about how the movie will suck just because Megatron is not a gun, and why this certain character is like that or he's supposed to be like this. That's the reason why a sequel to BM, Transtech was canned and RID was released because fanboys were Starscreaming too much about how TFs are getting too different and welcomed the return of realistic car modes in RID. Also regarding the gimmicks, it was fine in the first years of G1, simply because the transformation itself was the gimmick. But of course as time passed, you had to constantly make things more interesting and we have the Powermasters, Headmasters and *gasp* Pretenders among others.

 

Also there's a hint of elitism of some of the more hardcore G1ers who treat the Transformers franchise as some sort of sacred cow and any gimmick that HasTak would plan in order to sell more TFs and cater to their primary target, children (like in our days) as a "bastardization" of TFs. So what if the ripped off Pokemon with the Mini-cons? Is it so bad? IMO, I think the mini-cons were some of the better ideas in TFs today and is a great hybrid of G1's Powermasters and Micromasters.

 

I'm not saying that people have to like every new TF that comes out, but if you're going to contribute the fandom either in criticism or in praise, it would be best to take off those nostalgia glasses and reason out sensibly why you think this show or this toy sucks or rocks. If you're going to Starscream about every single toy just because it's not G1, and you haven't been collecting or caring about TFs since the 80s, get a life and move on. We already know that you only like G1, so why bother posting the same message for the nth time?

IMO, I think the mini-cons were some of the better ideas in TFs today and is a great hybrid of G1's Powermasters and Micromasters.

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:thumb And Vector's "Targetmaster". :thumb

 

I personally think there's elitism on both sides and a feeling that those who are only G1, and not just the whiners who go into non G1 threads just to bash, are looked down on just for having their own reasons to like the line.

 

I mean I've noticed the overly condescending "it IS only a line made to sell toys" used on more than one occasion.

Most things in life were created to make money, doesn't mean the media used wasn't of quality to leave a lasting impression or fanbase tho' or that that fanbase doesn't belong because it's not the aspect they like...

 

Not saying everyone's like that, not by a long shot, but like I said, the elitism seems to be pretty high on both sides.

i am glad you guys sorted out the 'fly' issue.

 

i know that many of the new shows are not designed to emulate, replace or even exist in the G1 universe.

 

And i do realise that to get better they need to take the essence of what transformers is and try new things, some are better, some aren't.

 

As for the issue of Megatron as a gun. there are a number of solutions

 

1. forget megatrons gun mode and just have the tank.

 

2. Make Megs a triple changer (a gun and a tank) and have a hand gun toy (that can be held by another TF, and leave the main toy as just robot to tank.)

 

3. Make megs a gun at first then have him reformatted. (sell as a double pack origanal megatron and delux megatron)