War for Cybertron Siege cartoon

The modern comics universe has had such a different take on G1, one that's significantly represented by the Generations toys, so they share a forum. A modern take on a Real Cybertronian Hero. Currently starring Generations toys, IDW "The Transformers" comics, MTMTE, TF vs GI Joe, and Windblade. Oh wait, and now Skybound, wheee!
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JediTricks
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War for Cybertron Siege cartoon

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Netflix's WFC:S cartoon dropped, all 6 episodes of it, last weekend. Created by Rooster Teeth, this series is a new telling of the final pre-Earth days of the battle between Autobots and Decepticons, using actual CAD files from the action figures as computer animation models for the characters.

Most of the voice acting was limp and thin, which is bad since this show was nearly all talking. The Optimus Prime voice actor is trying to imitate Cullen and almost gets away with it until he has to actually emote, then it just doesn't hold up. The worst for me was Jetfire, no idea what that was going for but it missed, hard. Best is probably Elita-1, less to compare to and she did an ok job with what little she was given. They used a good sound-alike for Starscream, but it lacks the intensity of the original character.

Visually, there wasn't much going on, it had a "TF Cybertron" feel with lifeless CGI robots moving awkwardly, albeit more surface detail than that show. The mouths here are all rubbery and there's an awkwardness to the way the bots move, with rubbery midsections and swiveling hips. They move with a weightlessness, and almost never transform since being in disguise is of no concern, so they run... very... slow... ly a lot. When they're not walking and talking or slowly running, they're punching which is just as stupid as it sounds and carries no weight whatsoever.

Story is thin pretending to be bold, and repetitive. I won't say more as it's all spoilers, but I was left feeling like it just didn't have enough to say. It felt like a lot of video game cutscenes, which is bad because there's already a fantastic video game with this same title covering this ground.

Characters, there's not really that many on either side. There's mostly Siege figures with a few Earthrise designs thrown in and I think a Power of the Primes design. For background extras, they infuriatingly just recolored the Siege molds over and over and over and over and over and over to the point where if a character wasn't talking it wasn't entirely clear who that was.

All in all, I didn't care for it in the least, which is sad. It had a really bad case of grimdark, and with that came the inevitable "kill all the characters we can get away with" crap.
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andersonh1
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Re: War for Cybertron Siege cartoon

Post by andersonh1 »

I've only seen the first episode so far. It looks good, and I enjoy the look of so many familiar G1 characters. I agree with you about the Peter Cullen and Chris Latta soundalikes... sometimes they can capture the original voice, sometimes they can't. I think the big flaw so far is the failure to set up the story and tell the audience what the status of the war is and what started it. There are some hints in the dialogue, but not as much information as I'd like.

I did enjoy seeing Bumblebee and Wheeljack were the first two characters on screen, just as they were in the original G1 series, and they're hunting for energy, just like that first episode.
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Re: War for Cybertron Siege cartoon

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I mostly enjoyed it. My biggest problems with the voice acting were with regards to the voice acting in that some times they... just... talk.. so... slowly. I don't know if that was the director telling them to play it that way or if it was a decision by the actors, but it really throws the pacing off. And it's a bit jarring when you have a scene where on character does it and the other doesn't. I thought the animation was fine and I do like that they used the toy models for the character renders, but the recoloring really does make it difficult to tell who's who. I wonder if this is what it was like for our parents all those many years ago (didn't we already buy that one? No, that was the white one, this is a blue one.) LOL. But other than that, I was fine with most of it and look forward to the next installment.
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Re: War for Cybertron Siege cartoon

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Two episodes in, and honestly I'm enjoying it too. There are a lot of standard Transformers callbacks that feel a bit too-familiar, but I like Megatron's restrained temper as contrasted with some past versions of the character. Bumblebee as a free agent and a more cynical portrayal than is usually the case with the character works well enough. My kids always fuss at me for taking so long to watch a show, but I like to make things last rather than binge, so I guess I'm out of step with the times. :lol:
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Re: War for Cybertron Siege cartoon

Post by Dominic »

I have heard nothing good about the voicevactiong. (JT is charitable compared to other reviews I have read, if only because he says less.)

I read a few summaries. Impactor was pointlessly misused. They got the name and visual of the character, while missing the entire point. (Had the creative team been literate enough to read the comics, they could have used Impactor correctly in a grimdark series, without missing the point.)
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Re: War for Cybertron Siege cartoon

Post by JediTricks »

andersonh1 wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2020 2:40 pmI did enjoy seeing Bumblebee and Wheeljack were the first two characters on screen, just as they were in the original G1 series, and they're hunting for energy, just like that first episode.
I thought it ironic that in order to get them, they had to use Earthrise files. :D
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Re: War for Cybertron Siege cartoon

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So I finally got around to watching all six episodes. I have a few thoughts:

- The voice acting - I was watching this last night with my wife and daughter in the room working on other things, so they were doing more listening than watching. I made the comment that my main problem with the voices was that in contrast to the original G1 series, too many of the voices in Siege sounded the same, and unless I was looking at the character I had a hard time telling them apart. My wife agreed, she was working on lesson plans and listening while she worked, and had no idea who was talking most of the time. Optimus Prime and Starscream are the exceptions, and both of their voice actors were trying to mimic Peter Cullen and Chris Latta, with varying degrees of success. Soundwave had the voice modulation, so he's easily recognizable, and Elita One is one of the few female characters, so she's easy to distinguish. Megatron is fairly distinctive. But none of the others stand out as memorable or all that different, which is something I remember Susan Blu talking about when casting for Beast Wars, finding actors and actresses that all sound distinctive. And as JT pointed out, there is a LOT of talking in this series, so this is a problem.

- This is a very bleak storyline and the visuals and music all reflect that. I appreciate that there's no unnecessary levity and silliness, but a little humor to leaven things would have been appreciated. Not a lot, I appreciate that the writers took this dire wartime story seriously, but the grimness is just unrelenting, and therefore a bit tiring.

- Six episodes feels a bit short for the slippery slope that Megatron went down, going from offering praise to Wheeljack even as he intends to kill him and having some lines he won't cross, to being willing to torture Magnus and rewrite the minds of every Autobot on the planet. Similarly the character arcs in the opposite direction for Impactor and Jetfire feel a little quick, but they did only have six episodes, so I appreciate that we do see some characters that are not static. Though when I see two characters who have always been Autobots on the Decepticon side, I immediately started watching for circumstances that would cause them to switch sides, so it wasn't a surprise when they did.

- Poor Ultra Magnus gets the short end of the stick in this story. All he does is surrender, try to reason with Megatron, get tortured, murdered and then used to spread Shockwave's virus. That's pretty brutal stuff.

- The Alpha Trion protocols are built up as this majorly important event, and they accomplish two things: bring Bumblebee into the Autobot fold, and tell everyone where the Allspark can be found. And then they're erased. I felt a bit shortchanged by that, but maybe we're again limited by having only six episodes.

- Despite all of my observations and criticisms, I generally enjoyed the series. I hadn't intended to watch the whole thing in one evening, but I would get to the end of an episode and think "I want to see what happens next", which is one sign that the story has drawn me in. So I watched it all in one evening. I'm not sure how well this all stands on its own if the viewer isn't already familiar with Transformers, because there isn't a lot of history given to the viewer as to what Cybertron was like before the war, and why the war began. There is some indication in the dialogue that the Decepticons felt oppressed, and some indication of class resentment (Impactor's statements to Mirage about miners vs. the rich), but it's just hints in the dialogue, nothing spelled out in detail. We're thrown into the deep end where we were all the way back in the original Transformers, with the Autobots on the verge of extinction, and Wheeljack and Bumblebee out looking for Energon. This is a series that assumes the viewer is an older fan who knows the characters, doesn't need much explanation, and appreciates all the G1 nods.

- I loved the look of the show, all the textures, the light and shadows and the damaged character models.

Despite my comments, I'll go more positive than negative with a score: 6 or 7 out of 10. I enjoyed it, even though I think there were a number of things that could have been done to make it better. Some opening narration that set up the history and situation, more distinctive voice actors to better differentiate the characters, and some lighter moments here and there so the viewer can catch his breath. Flawed but enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to the second part of the trilogy to see where the story goes next.
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