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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Amph The Transformers. More than meets the eye!

Discussion in 'Community' started by HL&S , Jan 7, 2006.

  1. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    Well, Transformers Prime started its second season today and its a strong start, I felt.

    Although that fakeout when Arcee almost ran into Optimus was annoying, but with all the suspense I wasn't surprised when they didn't meet. Honestly, with the amnesiac leader, I was expecting Megatron to convince Orion Pax to take a crash course in fighting and then send him at the Autobots and laugh at the angst. This way is much better, and more plausible that Orion Pax doesn't notice more wrong yet. Just keep him in a room decoding important information. Kind of funny to hear the Key to Vector Sigma is locked to Jack (sure, Ratchet said biosignature or something... but not like they had much biological life on Cybertron), but looking forward to seeing Cybertron (although hearing Ratchet called doctor of doom was funny), wonder how many zombies are left on there.

    And they played the original animated Transformer the Movie after the new episode, ah, that was nostalgic. Certainly better news than hearing about Transformer 4 (new characters I think, not sure if its a reboot or continuation and don't really care as its the same director, so I'm probably going to skip that one, still regret wasting money watching the third one).

    And Fall of Cybertron continues to look awesome. Can't wait for that one.
     
  2. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Well, the latest update says Bay intends to focus and develop the robot characters more in the next, but... I'll believe it when i see it. Would have been nice for him to have that revelation BEFORE he killed off the two characters with the most depth of character development material.

    And, yeah, Prime's return here with the Pax arc has been surprisingly excellent. The series is really touching on all the great ideas and points of previous mythology and series. Here, we even get a brief "land of the giants" with the trip to Cybertron (though it was too brief for my tastes). Everything with Vector Sigma was great (though with the huge dynamo/gyro and the chanting music, I couldn't help but think "Metroid Prime 2") and such. I think that chamber is similar to the well of sparks in TWW: The Dark Ages as well..

    However, I think the resolution was not as satisfying- everything about both the Unicron arc and the Pax arc seemed to be heading towards something definitive (especially since it basically starts with Prime declaring Megatron must be destroyed- yet here the Autobots completely outnumber Megatron and they still retreat), so the "back to status quo" open ending left something to be desired.

    Still, fantastic work for the series. Nice to see them even work in those creepy Burton-esque mites again as well, not to mention an Insecticon.
     
  3. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    So, Prime returned a couple weeks ago and, so, far, it's carrying the momentum of the last season forward quite well. Dug the Miko/Wheeljack revenge episode and loved the flashbacks of the Cliffjumper and Smokescreen episodes. A little odd that they recast Cliffjumper's voice, though- but this is balanced out by Nolan North (aka Deadpool) voicing Smokescreen (as an aside- bringing him into the show seems like a little random of a choice as he's a bit obscure as far as supporting characters go, but I guess that works for the character).

    In general, really appreciating the elevated writing the series has developed. Even the brief bookends between Arcee and Miko during the flashback episode are very well done and contain more emotion/characterization in a couple minutes than Bay managed to achieve in over 7 hours.

    I'm guessing the fate of Alpha Trion will be something they'll be building to, especially with the ongoing Archives/Orion Pax/Database throughline.

    Also: Shockwave! :cool: They got his logic-centric personality down very well (even down to his actions/priorities during battle) and his design is pretty good (not sure if I like the ammo-chain-wire holdover from the movie design but I can live with it) and I dig the unique sound to his arm cannon as well. Not crazy about the voice, though- it's serviceable, but it's lacking the David Warner qualities of Burton's G1/TFA performances.

    I've heard that Corey has retired that voice or something to that effect, so I imagine that was a significant contributing factor to the voice here, though even his John Hurt-like TFA Megatron would have had enough qualities to work well here as well.

    My prediction at this point is that the APEX armor will be used to get Bulkhead back into action. I also can't help but think somethings going to go down between Megatron and Miko, between what she did to Hardshell (and Megatron's reaction to being informed that it was a human girl that did it) and her "NEVER!!!" threat against him last season.
     
  4. Aytee-Aytee

    Aytee-Aytee Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2008
    Just like Democrats and Republicans.
     
  5. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    Hugo Weaving when asked if Bay contacted him about another Transformer's movie:


    No. That’s a weird job for me because it honestly was a two-hour voice job, initially. I was doing a play and I actually didn’t have time, anyway. It was one of the only things I’ve ever done where I had no knowledge of it, I didn’t care about it, I didn’t think about it. They wanted me to do it. In one way, I regret that bit. I don’t regret doing it, but I very rarely do something if it’s meaningless. It was meaningless to me, honestly. I don’t mean that in any nasty way. I did it. It was a two-hour voice job, while I was doing other things. Of course, it’s a massive film that’s made masses of money. I just happened to be the voice of one of the iconic villainous characters. But, my link to that and to Michael Bay is so minimal. I have never met him. I was never on set. I’ve seen his face on Skype. I know nothing about him, really. I just went in and did it. I never read the script. I just have my lines, and I don’t know what they mean. That sounds absolutely pathetic! I’ve never done anything like that, in my life. It’s hard to say any more about it than that, really.


    And Bay's response:

    Do you ever get sick of actors that make $15 million a picture, or even $200,000 for voiceover work that took a brisk one hour and 43 minutes to complete, and then complain about their jobs? With all the problems facing our world today, do these grumbling thespians really think people reading the news actually care about trivial complaints that their job wasn’t ‘artistic enough” or “fulfilling enough”? I guess The Hollywood Reporter thinks so.
    What happened to people who had integrity, who did a job, got paid for their hard work, and just smiled afterward? Be happy you even have a job – let alone a job that pays you more than 98% of the people in America.
    I have a wonderful idea for all those whiners: They can give their “unhappy job money” to a wonderful Elephant Rescue. It’s the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Africa. I will match the funds they donate.

    wtf.



     
  6. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    Honestly? I'm on Bay's side in this. While Weaving wasn't really whining, it its a bit insulting (in my view at least) for him to say that he didn't care about the role when he took it. I realize actors will take roles that are meaningless to them/don't care about; but to for Weaving to say his work on Transformers was a 'meaningless job,' especially, as he admits an iconic villain like Megatron, does actually offend me, a bit, as a fan, of maybe not necessarily the films, but the franchise as a whole and the characters. And makes me beyond grateful that they got Peter Cullen to voice Prime for the films instead of recasting Prime's voice.
     
  7. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I think people are accentuating Hugo's comment. He's basically saying he didn't have any connection to the franchise or the character when he took the job and that it was a quick job. No harm in that. Voice actors do ton of roles they don't have a particular affinity for or just forget about afterwards.

    EDIT- Just watched the latest episode of Prime. I should be disappointed that it was a clipshow, yet the fact that it was a clipshow centered entirely on the Megatron/Starscream dynamic automatically makes it awesome. Plus is did manage to move some character arcs forward.

    Megatron (to Starscream): "A word of advice: Stop thinking aloud." [face_laugh]
     
  8. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    Its been a while since I watched season 1 (maybe I'll go check it out on Netflix), but I just loved the part where Starscream was... dancing? The part with the "All Hail Starscream" chanting. Another clipshow, but at least this one was pretty entertaining. Although it also reminded me just how... pathetic this Starscream has been. Ambitious/treacherous Starscream is one of those multiversal constants, and he has somewhat played the part of comic relief (as so many flashbacks showed), but whereas Animated Starscream was silly too, at least he had his immortality and Allspark fragment and clones to fall back on. Here? Not so much.

    While I like the references, I just hate these treasure hunts as they always end badly for the good guys. Or even more cliche, it looks like the heroes are winning and then things get worse. The Cybertron anime series was like this (Starscream stealing most of the keys is probably a reference to that series), and here, Optimus Prime gets to be awesome with the Star Saber for about two minutes and then... its shattered the very next episode.

    Not too sure on the Transformer movie comments. Felt like Hugo Weaving just never connected with the character much, but he still did a decent job, I think. Not as iconic as if it were Peter Cullen and Frank Welker doing both roles again (one of the reasons Prime is so good), but meh, best not to get too involved into any of the movie controversies. Anyway, considering how bad the portrayal of Megatron was in those movies (the first one was ok, but by the third one, ugh), not like there was much to connect with.

    And this isn't the video game forum, but anyone else here play Fall of Cybertron? I think I like War a bit more, but Fall was still a Transformer fan's dream. Hope that isn't quite the end of those High Moon sort of G1 universe, but if so, at least those can stand as excellent Transformer games. Hm, maybe I should go dig up the thread in the game forum, although forget if it was brought up on the temp boards.
     
  9. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I hope to play War/Fall sometime in the next year. Until then I can just drool over the trailers.

    I don't think the dancing during All Hail Starscream was in the original episodes- that was added for comic relief here. I didn't quite like that, unless one takes the justification that it's presenting Starscream's state of mind and how he perceived things in that moment, as opposed to a literal documentation of his actions (whereas everything else he "saw" of anyone but himself would still be accurate).

    This Starscream..I wouldn't say he's pathetic. He's been ruthless and had some good plans- but even in G1 he groveled at Megatron's feet on a few occasions (until he was immortal). But he does seem to have run out of options and simply has no other course for survival.
     
  10. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    Its just that this Starscream has acted as comic relief which stands out a bit more starkly against the rest of the atmosphere of this show. The G1 cartoon was pretty silly, and some moments were funny (like Megatron immediately strangling Starscream in that Triple Takeover episode as obviously Starscream was involved in the coup attempt somehow), so Starscream groveling fit in... yet it still felt in character when a really gloating Starscream tossed Megatron out the airlock. Here, he's caused trouble, but he's groveled, begged, and etc., but he's been on a bit of a downward spiral- trying to go rogue, but then his transformation cog is stolen (did he ever get around to transplanting his clone's cog in yet?), he tries to plot with Airachnid and she just ignores him, and he gets the Apex Armor but then that's stolen from him too (although he got Red Energon out of it at least).

    Yeah, I figured the dancing wasn't in the original- it was just too funny for me to not laugh at. Stupid though, and the flashbacks were inconsistent. Obviously as a flashback episode these are mostly just clips of external moments, leading to Megatron's mocking line about not thinking out loud so often, but the dancing stood out since back then Starscream wasn't quite that blatantly treacherous. And I think Megatron already knew about Starscream removing the dark energon shard from his body after that space bridge explosion anyway.

    At least the conclusion felt quite in-character, a sign of the excellent writing. It probably is better to have Starscream back in the fold rather than running rogue and causing trouble and he's suffered mostly enough humiliations (and if not Megatron can always just blast him again). Now Dreadwing is another problem- just not sure who he'll be mad at the most- he's blamed Optimus Prime (since Prime did mostly kill Skyquake along with Bumblebee) but finding out what Starscream did with the corpse is pretty enraging too.
     
  11. GenAntilles

    GenAntilles Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2007
    Honestly I think G1 cartoon Megatron only keeps Starscream around for exercise. With Starscream always waiting for a chance to take over Megatron constantly has to be at his best and never show weakness. If Starscream does try something Megatron knows it'll never work and beating up Starscream allows him to intimidate his other troops. That's the only reason I can see as to why he kept him around.

    Armada Starscream was essentially 30% Starscream + 70% BW Dinobot. Prime Starscream started out as the most competent Starscream we've seen but now has turned into more and more of a failure.
     
  12. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    If Weaving doesn't want to do more voice work for Megatron or hasn't been asked, does this mean we might finally see Galvatron?

    Bay's Megatron is pretty pointless now anyway, he's died in 2 or the 3 movies and got wrecked badly in the other one. His credibility is pretty shabby now so a rebirth would work better.
     
  13. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    There was a slight level of Sith apprenticeship between Megatron and Starscream, at least initially. Megatron wanted Starscream to be worthy of what Starscream aspired to, but always fell short. Despite the wisdom Megatron occasionally gave him, there was still that undercurrent of "I want you to try to take me down, but I also want you to know/think you'll fail.".
     
  14. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    Another great episode today, nice to see references to so many things over the course of the series. Though, ugh, the kids had to end up as hostages, but at least they didn't go running into danger like other times. Though honestly in theory any human could act as a hostage as the Autobots are supposed to be the good guys, just that in case Optimus doesn't give in, his team might rebel at that point. And Starscream even came up with a good idea too for once. In hindsight Ratchet or someone (like that lazy Wheeljack :p unless he shows up later) should have picked them up, but then any human would suffice as a hostage really. I wonder how much Optimus Prime knows and isn't telling, but cool to see the whole team using all the artifacts they had at once.

    Well, there goes Dreadwing, at least his character arc is over with, and cool to see Optimus putting that Forge to such good use, no wonder the plot couldn't let him have it earlier, its really handy.
     
  15. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Well, that was a pretty epic season finale. Loved Ratchet's reaction to Optimus's actions- I really hope they play up that conflict in the next season.

    And, well, the bad guys getting their day is just all kinds of awesome (plus: we get Welker delivering the "Transform and rise up!" command; really glad they haven't forgotten that little tidbit of excellence that Animated contributed to the mythos).

    I do hope we get at least a little military action against the Cons at the start of next season: if Fowler can last that long ina copter, there's no reason some jets couldn't tango, even if they ultimately lose. And you can't have them ignore/cover-up the presence of New Kaon.
     
  16. DantheJedi

    DantheJedi Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 23, 2009
  17. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    My wallet is screaming at me from the bowels of hell. Don't ask me how it got there.
     
    Juliet316 likes this.
  18. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    Honestly I liked the first season finale better. This one was probably more epic though. Sure last time they were fighting Unicron but that was mostly a case of just getting Optimus close enough to open the Matrix. Here Optimus sacrificed Cybertron for earth... but glad that he stuck to his principles. If Ratchet had picked up the kids they could have avoided some of this, but really any human would do as hostages. And the rest of Team Prime understands mostly what Optimus did. Optimus doing it in a badass manner helps too.

    And Starscream is doing really well as Megatron's follower again, whereas before he was blundering about on his own, he's actually quite menacing. And he gets his own Vehicon troops.

    Nice to see Wheeljack pitch in, although with the Star Saber still not quite sure why Optimus doesn't just shoot the Nemesis out of the sky. Or use the Forge of Solus Prime to make more awesome weapons for his team (unless a Prime is required for all such weapons, and at least Optimus cut off that stolen arm).

    Interested to see where things go next with the Decepticons basically out in the open now. A human military response (though doomed to fail) would be nice to see, but despite being somewhat of a stretch, Fowler is probably still my favorite human in a Transformers story for being a competent and pretty friendly ally and able to hold his own in battle.

    Its been a great second season, looking forward to whatever comes next. Also pleasantly surprised that Smokescreen turned out so well- at first thought he was just the young, bratty Transformer common to many series, but he's pretty respectful. Ratchet probably still remains the grumpiest of the lot, not having a human to bond with, so he's the least understanding about Optimus choosing to destroy the Omega Lock rather than let earth be wrecked. Great character writing and animation (this is what a Transformer fight scene should look like, not a bunch of blurry metal silver things clashing), Prime is doing great, just wish there wasn't such a (probably) long wait until the next season.
     
  19. Aytee-Aytee

    Aytee-Aytee Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2008
  20. AAAAAH

    AAAAAH Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2012
    why are they making these? why are transformers important? the only relevant transformer in my view was unicron, because he was a planet that ate other planets and that is amazing.
     
  21. LordMortis315

    LordMortis315 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Power doesn't automatically make a good character.
     
  22. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Normally I'd say the validity of this next one will depend on what characters they use (since they're supposedly doing with a new bot cast), but going by how Bay has treated the characters in the first three films... there is no answer.
     
  23. Aytee-Aytee

    Aytee-Aytee Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2008
    Maybe if Bob Iger finalizes that rumored deal for Hasbro, Disney (or Pixar) will reboot the franchise?
    [​IMG]

    Cliffjumper McQueen.
     
  24. Everton

    Everton Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Jul 18, 2003
  25. darthcaedus1138

    darthcaedus1138 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2007
    No no no no no no no no no no no no no no.

    Yes.