Animated Series discussion thread (spoilers allowed)

[Dominic]

At least "Animated" seems finished. All of the post-Beast era fiction seemed like a draft, with many good ideas and little real execution.

Dom
-never seen a genocidal Prime before Scourge.

[onslaught86]

The first two seasons set a pace of complacency. Sure, the Decepticons are a big threat when they do come out, but when do they come out? More than one at a time, that is. Given that Starscream alone almost trumped Magnus in the one time they actually faced off, what's with the hiding? The Autobots no longer have the advantage of the Allspark, either..

I'm hopeful that the third season will give us a real sense of conflict. We've had some fun casual episodes, which G1 and the like had plenty of also, but this isn't the same stalemate setup. It's not..dramatic enough yet.

[BWprowl]

The first two seasons set a pace of complacency. Sure, the Decepticons are a big threat when they do come out, but when do they come out? More than one at a time, that is. Given that Starscream alone almost trumped Magnus in the one time they actually faced off, what's with the hiding? The Autobots no longer have the advantage of the Allspark, either..

I was under the impression Megatron was keeping the whole thing under wraps so he could work on the Space Bridge (more or less) in peace. The more noise he makes upstairs, the more likely it is that the Autobots will eventually find out where he's hiding, and that would screw up his big plan to conquer ALL of Cybertron, as opposed to the decidedly belittled victory of killing five guys on Some Organic Planet.

As for Starscream...well, he was busy building an army of homages, whattaya want?

[Gomess]

As for Starscream...well, he was busy building an army of homages, whattaya want?

Foreshadowing!

And less "Oh, look, the baddie really SURVIVED" endings like Soundwave got. That really, really sucked. I mean, actually offended my sensibilities as an aspiring writer. It didn't MEAN anything! It would've been more effective to not show whether he survived, and then gradually bring him back into the story when the time was right. But that "I.. still.. function..!" thing, in a SEWER WHERE NO ONE CAN SEE YOU, is a tepid waste. D=<

86, though, I think you pointed out what I was getting at. But also, there is just a sense of a lack of continuity, but a pretence that it has some. Beast Wars had sorta the same setup, but pulled it off. You could believe, if a character didn't turn up in an episode, they were out on patrol; something established early on. But when events are largely forgotten, discounted, or just not discussed by the characters, it's a real bump in the road.

It's good to realise why something that's otherwise very good makes you bizarrely annoyed and empty every episode you see. >_>

[onslaught86]

You could believe, if a character didn't turn up in an episode, they were out on patrol; something established early on. But when events are largely forgotten, discounted, or just not discussed by the characters, it's a real bump in the road.

That, plus Prime's dismissal of the Constructicons disappearing. No, Prime, rampaging mind-wiped construction robots are nothing to be concerned with. And way to go, Bulkhead, for setting a great first impression once their minds were wiped.

Now, let's see. We've got Swindle, Wreck-Gar and Soundwave as loose ends, plus the fates of Blurr and Omega Supreme. Lockdown works as a fly-by-night character, and I can sorta-kinda buy the Dinobots being fine on their island. Then there's Meltdown, who clearly survived, and the rest of the human villains. I will be irked if these do not get followed up on.

I will also be irked if we get insufficient Bitchin' Birdguitar upon Soundwave's return.

[Sparky Prime]

Given that Starscream alone almost trumped Magnus in the one time they actually faced off, what's with the hiding? The Autobots no longer have the advantage of the Allspark, either..

I'd have to agree. If ONE Decepticon is a match for a whole team worth of Autobots, then really why have the Decepticons been laying low? Megatron did say the Autobot's only advantage besides the Allspark is the Space Bridge network, however, it seems to me the Decepticons could easily just take one, seeing that the one Optimus Prime's crew were fixing up in the first episode was in the middle of nowhere and defenseless.

I really have to say, there have been several things that have annoyed me with Animated. When Starscream kept coming back to try and kill Megatron for example. The second time the Decepticons made sure he was dead (no spark) but when he kept coming back after that, why didn't they check to find out what the source of his apparent immortality was? Similarly, every bot that has been brought to life by an Allspark fragment, why haven't the Autobots tried to recover? Even if Ratchet thought Wreck-Gar was dead, shouldn't they have gone to recover the Allspark fragment he had? Same deal with the Constructions, Bulkhead just scares them away and they don't bother to try and get them back despite each having a fragment.

[Gomess]

I hadn't seen the Constructicons' episode until after my girlfriend, and she informed me in advance that it had the most ridiculous ending. I though that'd prepare me, as I couldn't conceive of what it could be, until... well, until I saw it. Forget ridiculous, I was just... confused. Seriously, very, very confused.

WHY DID BULKHEAD DO THAT?!

It's little bits like that which really stick with me throughout this series, and convince me it's not written by humans at all, let alone ones with any knowledge of dialogue or social skills. Raaarrgggglllle.

[Dominic]

What exactly did Bulkhead do? (Remember, I rely on summaries, so my recollection is fuzzy.)

As for nobody checking for Allspark chunks, why would they? I get the sense that the Allspark is seen as being somewhat unreal by the characters. Yes, they know the legends and such. But, they do not operationally follow them. When they see someone/something die, they are not in the habit of checking for the McGuffion of the week. Characters coming back from the dead are likely just considered to be oddities.

How much do the Decepticons believe the legends? They may back Megatron politically, but do they buy into the mysticism?

Dom

[Gomess]

Well, you'll know he became drinking buddies with the Constructicons, and then inevitably had to ditch them to continue his Autobot career.

But. Then. The. Constructicons'. Memories. Were. Erased. And. He. Still. Told. Them. To. Leave. Rather. Than. Reason. With. Them.

It was like that Simpsons episode where Homer gets a gun, which ends with Marge not throwing it away. I knew a slew of people who didn't give a toss, just saw it as... an ending. But a small group of us actually felt uncomfortable with what a sudden, disturbing, pathetic excuse for an ending it was. I felt the same about Bulkhead's behaviour, here. That kinda thing's enough to put a fella off a series for good, if repeated.




The scene of Marge not throwing the gun away was cut from its 6pm UK broadcast, believe it or not; but they left the bit right after, where she waltzes off to The Avengers theme. It was one of those edits where your *eight-year-old cousin* says, "Did they miss a bit there??"

[Dominic]

Uh, did they make a point in context of saying, "Bulkhead is a moron."?

Dom