The originals... ok, not exactly, but the original named "The TransFormers" anyway. Take THAT, Diaclone! Generation 1, Generation 2 - Removable fists? Check. Unlicensed vehicle modes? Check. Kickass tape deck robot with transforming cassette minions? DOUBLE CHECK!!!
You wouldn't edit old movies to take out cigarettes because they're now considered taboo. You wouldn't take the shotguns out of ET and replace them with walkie talkies. You wouldn't change Boba Fett's voice actor to Jango's. Because then you're 'altering the original intent.' You're, in effect, replacing the original thing and substituting it for a revised version that's more to your liking.
I see what you did here.
Okay, here is the thing though, the property owner has the right to make what changes they see as being necessary.
Lucas owns SW. The earlier movies are drafts of the movies that he really wants to make. Making Boba Fett sound like Temura Morrison makes more sense than leaving his voice the way it was in the early 80s.
Hasbro is less concerned with recreating the experience of seeing the cartoon in Japan 20+ years ago and more worried about keeping their brand consistent today.
Yeah, I think some of the changes are clumsy, (tapes=Minicons being particularly vexing). But, I am not going to cry foul over it.
Dom
-admits that the tapes can plug on to hard points....
Dominic wrote:Lucas owns SW. The earlier movies are drafts of the movies that he really wants to make. Making Boba Fett sound like Temura Morrison makes more sense than leaving his voice the way it was in the early 80s.
Hasbro is less concerned with recreating the experience of seeing the cartoon in Japan 20+ years ago and more worried about keeping their brand consistent today.
And while I understand that perspective too, there's also an audience (G, myself to some extent) who feel more betrayed by this than anything else.
Ginrai becoming Powermaster Optimus Prime would just be wrong.
BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
Yeah, but that segment of the audience is very small. As long as nobody is denying that it was ever "that way", I am okay with making some changes now.
Of course, making Ginrai into Optimus Prime would be dubious.
Dom
-always liked the Japanese take on Head/Power Masters better.
Onslaught Six wrote:Here's the problem I have with it--although it doesn't bother me 'too' much as the differences are at least noted out there--and I assume that G has with it as well. It's 'revisionist history.'
You wouldn't edit old movies to take out cigarettes because they're now considered taboo. You wouldn't take the shotguns out of ET and replace them with walkie talkies. You wouldn't change Boba Fett's voice actor to... oh wait, nevermind . Because then you're 'altering the original intent.' You're, in effect, replacing the original thing and substituting it for a revised version that's more to your liking.
And, to me, that'd be fine if this were a dubbed show. That's the job of a dub. But when you're watching with subtitles, it's because you want the most accurate experience possible without actually going out and learning Japanese. (Of course, there are ways to screw this up too.)
Fix'd. Sadly, as we're all aware, Lucas did exactly that and there have actually been examples of this throughout Hollywood for decades. Whenever new technology comes out and someone wants to take an old movie and "make it better". Look at the public backlash from when they started colorizing everything.
The Daniel-copter on the closing credits always makes me laugh.
Rebellion on Planet Beast
Are those Battle Beasts in this episode? I vaguely remember those things, but they weren't a part of the Transformers line in the US. The Decepticons have taken over their planet and enslaved most of the ones who didn't join them, so the Autobots go to free them of course. Daniel and Wheelie are a major annoyance this time around, since they're central to the plot rather than on the edges of it. On the other hand, the Monsterbots make an appearance and get to go with Rodimus Prime. And is this the first time we've seen the Sweeps in this show? Maybe not, but seeing them show up just reminds me of how little they've been around. Cyclonus and Scourge show up fairly often, but the Decepticon Headmasters seem to be Galvatron's new favorites.
Man, what's up with the deer-headed beast guy with sunglasses? And the lion has an eyepatch! I guess if I had any interest in or knowledge of Battle Beasts (or Beastformers as this episode calls them), I'd enjoy seeing them animated. As it is, they're just another alien race for the Autobots to help, and they work fine in that role.
Approach of the Demon Meteorite
Oh my word... Daniel goes from bad to worse. So he gets to go save everyone rather than his mom, who's an adult? And he cries like a baby? And keeps insisting he's a man? Some of his plotline is funny, and some of it is just bad bad bad. I get that the kid is scared, and that's fine. No problems there. But Cerebros makes silly faces at him like he's one? Yikes. And Wheelie sure does love to call him a coward.
The "Demon Meteorite" is certainly unique as far as superweapons go. It warps Transformers and spacecraft, and presumably any mechanical object. Galvatron sends it to destroy the Autobot base on Athenia. While it's nice that once again the Decepticons underestimate humans and don't take them into account to their own detriment, I'm just not buying that Spike would send Daniel out to do the job. I get what they were going for this story, but it's hard to suspend my disbelief, even for a show as nonsensical as Transformers.
andersonh1 wrote: I guess if I had any interest in or knowledge of Battle Beasts (or Beastformers as this episode calls them)
Woah, woah, woah, slow the hell down. They edited all the Transformers names to match their American counterparts, swapped out inconsequential function designations with anachronistic American comic terminology, and randomly called them 'Deployers' instead of 'Cassettes', yet they decided that editing over the Japanese-market name of 'Beastformers' would be going too far?
(Count me in the "I'm boycotting the Masterforce set if they don't call him Ginrai" club.)
Yeah, that's...weird. My thinking is that someone at Hasbro had no idea those were actually Battle Beasts. On the other hand, they might not legally even be allowed to call them Battle Beasts.
andersonh1 wrote:But Cerebros makes silly faces at him like he's one? Yikes.
See, this is why this shit is confusing. Who's Cerebros, here? Because in the original, the tiniest head is called Cerebros and the next robot up is named Fortress. Are they consistant with that? Or are both robots just referred to as "Cerebros?"
BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
Onslaught Six wrote:Because in the original, the tiniest head is called Cerebros and the next robot up is named Fortress.
Where'd you get this? The middle robot doesn't have a name in Japan, he's just Fortress' Transtector.
...I am amazed they changed "Fortress" to "Cerebros". Their characters couldn't be more different. Do they give separate names to the "Nebulans", like calling Chromedome "Stylor" when he's disconnected from his Transtector...?
That said, it's not like it matters who "Cerebros" refers to here, it's clearly Fortress that Anderson's talking about.
...NEARLY AT ZARAK'S PROPER DEBUT! EXCITEMENT! I really do love his first appearance, though I read more into it than the animation director probably intended.
