Transformers. Shit to begin with(not the films)

[Ryu-Kage]

The movies are great. I only ever watched beast wars but it was great. There is no real problem with the movies. It's all nostalgia driven "haters gonna hate" issues.

Because the badly-designed CGI robots, unpleasant and unlikable human characters, putrid attempts at humor, badly-written and jumbled plots, and incomprehensible action scenes that feel like they go on for decades are all "haters-gonna-hate" issues, right?

And this is coming from someone who isn't a big Transformers fan. I've seen maybe one or two episodes of G1, and they honestly didn't catch my attention. I DID, however, kind of enjoy Transformers Animated. The robots were fun to watch, I could tell what was going on in fights, there was a sensible plot going on (albeit a simple one), and I honestly liked how most of the noteworthy robots in Animated were... designed to be noteworthy (for example, Bulkhead's round frame, Optimus Prime's Jay Leno chin, Blitzwing's Man-E-Faces gimmick). It wasn't an epic for the ages, but it was at least fun to watch.

...and that's all I ask. Something that's fun to watch and makes sense.

 

[spartan231490]

The movies are great. I only ever watched beast wars but it was great. There is no real problem with the movies. It's all nostalgia driven "haters gonna hate" issues.

Because the badly-designed CGI robots, unpleasant and unlikable human characters, putrid attempts at humor, badly-written and jumbled plots, and incomprehensible action scenes that feel like they go on for decades are all "haters-gonna-hate" issues, right?

And this is coming from someone who isn't a big Transformers fan. I've seen maybe one or two episodes of G1, and they honestly didn't catch my attention. I DID, however, kind of enjoy Transformers Animated. The robots were fun to watch, I could tell what was going on in fights, there was a sensible plot going on (albeit a simple one), and I honestly liked how most of the noteworthy robots in Animated were... designed to be noteworthy (for example, Bulkhead's round frame, Optimus Prime's Jay Leno chin, Blitzwing's Man-E-Faces gimmick). It wasn't an epic for the ages, but it was at least fun to watch.

...and that's all I ask. Something that's fun to watch and makes sense.

And yet, when you get exactly what you ask for, you continue to complain. Transformers are perfectly fun to watch and they make sense. They really do, but I digress. I get somewhat irritated by all the hate for transformers that I see on the internet, because none of the people I respect, including a man who has spent more on movies than he has on his car and who is an avid transformers fan, have no problem with the movies. I have a hard time giving credibility to an opinion with that little support.

 

[CODE-D]

I adore the old Transformers cartoons, and Beast War was fantastic. So was War for Cybertron.
Not for everybody I suppose.

Also, the Bay movies were universally shit.

Have to disagree withya there. the g1 cartoons while fun were stupid as hell and the movies arent that different from anything else in the franchise. Say for war for cybertron which is the best of all things transformers.

 

[King Toasty]

I adore the old Transformers cartoons, and Beast War was fantastic. So was War for Cybertron.
Not for everybody I suppose.

Also, the Bay movies were universally shit.

The movies are great. I only ever watched beast wars but it was great. There is no real problem with the movies. It's all nostalgia driven "haters gonna hate" issues.

...No, the Bayformers were legitimately bad movies. Bad writing, bad acting, bad robots. An overall bad series. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it.

 

[The Heik]

Now that the third Transformers movie is out there will be a lot of complains. Among of them being how it's bad for the Transformers franchises as a whole, not very true to source and so on

But did it ever occur to anyone that Transformers started as shit? The way I see it the movies are bashed on G1 which is the cartoon everyone watched when they where a kid. And I seen a lot of people that when they look back on it they agree that G1 and the film is in fact just one long toy commercial and shit. I also seen a lot of people who says that Transformers TV series didn't turn good until Beast War

So what do you think? just bad movies? bad source material? should the films have been based on Best War instead?

Beast Wars didn't really leave much room for movie material. They were out in a time where only cavemen really existed, and all they could fight was each other. Not much room for ranging out (I mean besides the transmetal awesomeness)

As for bad material, the Transformers franchise, whilst clearly made with selling toys in mind, was fun and original. They were a cool idea, and they had some pretty good storylines and action scenes to back it up.

The Transformers movies on the other hand, are as Movie Bob says, Michael Bay dry humping the military. Clear over half of the the running time is about the people rather than the giant shape-changing robots *facepalm*, and those people aren't very interesting to begin with. Not to mention the fact that each movie after the first recycle plot points and scenes like they're the most environment-friendly people in the universe.

Honestly, the first movie is arguably good, but from that point on it's just bad, which is entirely Michael Bay's fault.

 

[thepyrethatburns]

Is it well animated? *Looks at earlier cartoons such as Bugs Bunny* *Looks at other cartoons of the time such as He-man and G.I. Joe.* For the time, yes. If you want to compare it to current animation, then Beast Wars also doesn't stand up.

Was it even well animated for it's time? I remember that the movie got bashed for not being very well animated and yes I do know that Beast War looks bad today (or at least the CGI itself not sure about animation)

I don't recall that being said at the time so I can't really refute that without a link to the source material.

good action scenes? Yes, for the most part.

are the action scenes more then just robots firing at all directions and never hitting anything?

Actually, they hit each other because they were robots and didn't fall under the "humans can't be shot" rule that plagued cartoons such as G.I. Joe.

Good Story? Define "good story". If you're talking overall, it's a story about giant robots going to war. We're not talking Shakespeare here. Overall, it's probably on par with the average video game in terms of story.

....good question. I guess I mean stuff like how good is it, how well does it present itself, how does it handle the subject and so on. are the plot for each episode more then just

Megatron: Lets scheme something
Decepticon: YEEEAH

Prime: cut that shit out. time to stop you

Megatron: Yaarth you win this round

and then they do this again the very next episode

Less so than others such as He-Man or Thundercats if only because a number of them were multi-episode shows but, yeah, that is a lot of the shows. However, once again, that gets into "different decade". I mean, if you look at a show from an earlier decade called Superfriends, Superheroes were not allowed to punch anyone. That's why He-Man always flipped people and why Superfriends would devise these elaborate snares rather than just punching the villain out.

This


would never have been allowed during the Superfriends decade but, now, we look at those rules as laughably quaint.

The multi-episode shows for G1 Transformers were considered risky because it was thought that children did not have the attention span to follow multi-episode cartoons. That's why, with so many, you only had multi-parters at the beginning and, often, not even then. These days, that notion seems quaint but, back then, it was still considered a foolish gamble to have a cartoon that wasn't wrapped up in a half-hour. Frankly, I'm surprised that G1 did it as often as they did.

 

[Triangulon]

I have all of G1 on DVD and I still watch it. Ok it's through a veil of nostalgia but I bloody love it. The original movie is fantastic (with a quality soundtrack). Who cares that it was a franchise designed to sell toys? As a happy side effect they accidentally created my favourite cartoon of all time. One that I have repeatedly rewatched and gained a huge amount of pleasure from. Also, how is no-one metioning the comics? They were brilliant. As was the recent dreamwave reboot.

This clip of devastator is my favourite piece of animation ever:

 

[Srdjan Tanaskovic]

most kids shows were toy commercials, that doesn't mean they were not great still.
the movies are just explosions are bending the source material as much as they can.
as bob says its a transformers film and their just background.

but is G1 good? thats what I want people to think about

and I expect explosions when there are robots fighting

and this whole "robots are in the background" was really only true in the second movie and maybe they also get so little screen time because they cost a lot.

Because the badly-designed CGI robots.

the only badly designed once are Decepticon

As for bad material, the Transformers franchise, whilst clearly made with selling toys in mind, was fun and original. They were a cool idea, and they had some pretty good storylines and action scenes to back it up.

Yes fun, original and all that

but like I ask is it any good?

 

[Cpt Combofumbler]

Loved watching G1 as a kid early on saturday mornings with the other cartoons like M.A.S.K, Thundercats and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. Always preferred the Transformers comic to the cartoon though. Bumblebee getting fragged by the bounty hunter Death's Head. Optimus Prime losing to Megatron in their virtual reality battle and suffering the consequences in 'reality'. I think I cried out aloud in horror in the queue at the newsagents at that one . Regardless of art and story quality they'll always bring a smile to my face.

 

[Spade Lead]

Now that the third Transformers movie is out there will be a lot of complains. Among of them being how it's bad for the Transformers franchises as a whole, not very true to source and so on

But did it ever occur to anyone that Transformers started as shit? The way I see it the movies are bashed on G1 which is the cartoon everyone watched when they where a kid. And I seen a lot of people that when they look back on it they agree that G1 and the film is in fact just one long toy commercial and shit. I also seen a lot of people who says that Transformers TV series didn't turn good until Beast War

So what do you think? just bad movies? bad source material? should the films have been based on Best War instead?

Anyone who says that Transformers (the movie trilogy) is not accurate to the original series just doesn't remember the original series that well. Jazz is a racist stereotype in the new movies? HE WAS A BLACK STEREOTYPE IN THE ORIGINAL SERIES TOO! The voices were actually very similar. (I torrented the first series just to see what it was all about since I loved the movies.) I am two episodes in, and let me tell you this. The First two episodes are very similar to the movies. I don't see where Michael Bay took a "Huge Departure" from the source material.

 

[The Heik]

As for bad material, the Transformers franchise, whilst clearly made with selling toys in mind, was fun and original. They were a cool idea, and they had some pretty good storylines and action scenes to back it up.

Yes fun, original and all that

but like I ask is it any good?

I'm not sure I understand the question. Fun and original usually means good in most people's cases. It's something that we've never seen before (back then), and people enjoyed it so much that it lasted decades through various different shows, never really losing steam. So the frachise must be doing something right with the quality.

 

[Srdjan Tanaskovic]

I'm not sure I understand the question. Fun and original usually means good in most people's cases. It's something that we've never seen before (back then), and people enjoyed it so much that it lasted decades through various different shows, never really losing steam. So the frachise must be doing something right with the quality.

Let me give you an example

2012 is a original movie in the way that it's every disaster movie at once

it's fun because nature is destyryoing shit

But is it good?

 

[The Heik]

I'm not sure I understand the question. Fun and original usually means good in most people's cases. It's something that we've never seen before (back then), and people enjoyed it so much that it lasted decades through various different shows, never really losing steam. So the frachise must be doing something right with the quality.

Let me give you an example

2012 is a original movie in the way that it's every disaster movie at once

it's fun because nature is destyryoing shit

But is it good?

You're not getting my point. "Good" and "Bad" are not some absolute values that can be simply slapped to any object and apply to everyone who sees it. As with any form of art, perspective matters most. Your value of a movie often comes from how much you enjoyed it, how much it moves you. It's why I called the first Transformers movie arguably good, since there were people who loved it and people who didn't, and they could argue until the end of time about whether or not it's good and still have people on both sides of the fence. Heck, I've seen some movies that were classics that made every movie critic of the time love them, and my reaction to viewing them was a resounding "meh". So to me those movies weren't particularly good for me.

So really, the only way to answer your question is for you to ask yourself "did I enjoy it?"