TALKBACK - Transformers: Robots in Disguise - Series Talkback (SPOILERS)

Gatordragon

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Episodes 001-002

Pilot Part 1 & 2
premieres
TONIGHT at 6:00 PM

This week...
Part 1 - Assigned on a solo mission to Earth, Bumblebee unexpectedly finds himself saddled with a team.
Part 2 - Bumblebee and his new team must stop a Decepticon from reaching nearby Crown City.​
 

Sonic_Eclipse

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Saturday mornings at 6:30am. CN death slotting a Transformers show, what a surprise.
 

BlackoutCreature

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This was fun. Prime grew on me, but I never got over the loss of the energy and quirkiness and humor and fun of Animated. This was a great return to form and a perfect merging of the two previous Transformers series. I look forward to the rest of the season.
 

ajac

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Saw the first 3 about a week ago.. will wait till the end of the season before I decide.. weird that Grimlock is a deception but maybe they just slap the symbol on anyone in trouble these days.
 

Neo Yi

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I really liked it. I think it works as Transformers Animated's spiritual successor and more Animated-ish is all good with me. It beautifully captures a lighthearted, fun nature with snappy dialogues and mixes it perfectly with a serious story that hints of something greater. The two-parter does an excellent job demonstrating the chaos when five radically different robots are stuck together. Bee's exasperation is well earned and his self-doubt about his role as leader is a compelling angle. I also dug his defense of Sideswipe because it recalls his younger years in Transformers Prime (and possibly his time with Smokescreen, that annoying dork.) Each of the characters are vibrant characters - Strongarm is my personal favorite so far; I love how by-the-book she is, yet pragmatic enough to find loopholes to get around it in order to perform her job. I also love how hammy Underbite is because he chews up (literally and figuratively) the screen and it is glorious.

So yeah, I'm impressed. I can't wait for more.
 

SaneMan

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This was pretty good, looking forward to more

as I already said on another threat, I love how the backgrounds and the transformers themselves look in this art style
however the same can't be said about the human characters

Saturday mornings at 6:30am. CN death slotting a Transformers show, what a surprise.

what did you expect?
it's not a CN original
 

Sonic_Eclipse

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What did you expect?
it's not a CN original

Yes, such is the fate of the acquired cartoon.

But why even do an hour premier in a prime time slot, only to death slot it the following weak? It's also been getting a surprising amount of advertising for a non CN original, unless that stops after this week. And it's Transformers, a proven franchise deserves much better than that.
 

Gatordragon

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These pilot episodes were pretty good. I'm going to have to get used to the animation. It's a bit choppy if you ask me.

Anyone thinks it's funny how Bumblebee's team is supposed to be "Robots in Disguise", but one of them transforms into a giant metal T-Rex as a disguise. Apparently robot dinosaurs are common on Earth now.

The fight scenes were decent. This being an action series, I hope the fighting gets better as time goes on. I love me some fightin'.

Russel and his dad are rather lackluster personality-wise, but at least they're useful.

Optimus Prime as a ghostly guide is pretty cool, but him briefly rising from the grave to save everyone felt like Deus ex Machina. I hope he doesn't pull that stunt too often.

Overall this left a good first impression on me and I'll see if I can catch this show at a later time. I think this show would do nicely partnered with Ninjago on Monday nights. Having two action shows premiere back-to-back doesn't sound like a bad idea.
 

Mostezli

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Pretty good start and is about as good as I expected it to be.
All the Decepticons seem to be Predacons now.
The humans aren't nearly as interesting as the bots. It's such a stock relationship being displayed through obvious archetypes that is putting me off.
I wish the story could be a bit more complex right out the gate.
There was that one Decepticon that might have alluded to something bigger. It's simply a "monster of the week, lesson of the day" with a need to go back home, for now.
Was not expecting Optimus to physically appear...at all. Just once, it would be great for him to just stay dead.
 
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Ed Liu

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Saturday mornings at 6:30am. CN death slotting a Transformers show, what a surprise.

Increasingly, I don't think timeslots are as important as they have been in the past. We're in an age where audiences have regular access to multiple legal digital download and on-demand viewing services. Part of the reason why TV ratings have been declining steadily over time is because people are taking advantage of them. There is a reason why Disney and Nickelodeon release material early via their apps and websites and cable on demand services. The only shows that my son would watch on a schedule were less because of desire to seek out the show as much as it's "here's what's on PBS before school or before bed, so we have a gauge to know when we have to (leave for school | go upstairs for bedtime)." All his favorite recreational shows are all watched on-demand. He gets confused when we can't pause a live TV show so he can go use the potty. He's 5, and his generation is growing up with the expectation that they can watch what they want when they want to. Telling him "Transformers is only on a 6:30 AM on Saturdays" is not only demonstrably not true, but also not a factor in his decision to watch the show at all.

Companies haven't figured out how to monetize those shows to the degree that they have in the old ecosystem, but that has nothing to do with the content itself.

Speaking of the content itself, I loved the premiere, though some of the decisions in the back half strike me as a bit odd in hindsight. I think it's a great balance between the seriousness of Prime and the lightness of Rescue Bots, so my son can graduate to it pretty cleanly. I thought Underbite was hilarious ("because I ATE IT!!!" :)), I like Grimlock because he's explicitly one-note and Khary Payton brings the funny. I love Strongarm because she's awesome: so gung-ho and enthusiastic without being annoying. The little bounce she does when she busts in on the junkyard saying, "I'll take down the fugitive, then we can bring down the perp!" is one of the best little grace notes in an animated show I can remember in some time (one of the others being the way Underbite's tail wags as he's eating the junkyard). I like the way they signal that Sideswipe really is a fundamentally decent guy who's just a little reckless (and even demonstrate how that works in his favor at the end when he disobeys orders and saves everyone else's bacon). And if I had doubts about making Bumblebee the leader on this show, those doubts were dispelled with his hero's journey to become the kind of leader that Optimus Prime was to him. Of the main characters, the only one who I'm not as fond of is Fixit. I think his design is adorable, though, and I like the role he plays on the show and in the ensemble. The problem is that I find his speech impediment more annoying than funny. I hope they drop that or do something meaningful with it, because it falls flat as comic schtick to me.

I'm confused why Bumblebee and Strongarm felt like they didn't have any other alternatives when the capture devices provided by Fixit didn't work -- didn't they bust out their hand blasters in part 1? I even thought that was even one of the funnier moments in that episode, when Underbite tries to impress them and they respond Indiana-Jones-vs-Cairo-swordsman style. I suppose you can chalk up any failure in their plans to inexperience, but some of those felt more like sloppy or careless writing than Bumblebee's inexperience as a leader.

The moment when Optimus actually shows up was also a terrific twist, making a real pump-your-fist and scream "yeah!" at your TV kind of moment, and it's always great to hear Peter Cullen again. It seems like he's going to play a role more like he did in Rescue Bots, where his shadow looms large over the show without him actually being there to dominate. I'm totally OK with that; as much as I love him in the role, the cast we have is cool enough that I don't need to see him all the time. In a lot of ways, keeping him offscreen makes him loom even larger when he does show up (and I'm fairly sure he will).

I also didn't follow Prime, but I know that they made reference to some events between Prime and Rescue Bots. I don't know what happened to the Rescue Bots, but I'd be tickled beyond belief if they showed up in a guest spot, maybe with more grown-up Cody or Frankie or the Burns family.
 

JoeMabbon

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I think things are off to a strong start. Its clearly aiming for a younger audience, but its not pandering or dumbing itself down. The Decepticon of the Week format runs the risk of wearing out its welcome. I can see the beginnings of a long-term plot forming, so there's that.

Dragnet Opening: 9
Colorful Characters: 10
Vibrant Backgrounds: 9
Humor: 9
Action: 8


Final Score: 45/50
 

Ed Liu

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Two other stray thoughts while I remember them (and since my post is now far enough away that I'm not double-posting ;)):

- Does anyone else miss the trademark "Transform" sound? It's an element in the new show, but there's lots of other sonic effects on top of it. There's something comforting in the way that unique noise showed up in nearly everything since G1.

- The timeslot might be a function of what kind of advertising they could get for the show. One reason the Hub floundered is that lots of other toy companies shied away from advertising on the network, assuming (at least partially correctly) that they'd only be enriching a competitor by advertising on their network. So maybe CN shopped this around to advertisers but didn't get the usual suspects like Mattel, so it had to shove the new show into a timeslot that could be supported by the advertising dollars it was able to attract. Advertising and timeslots go hand-in-hand.
 

Gatordragon

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- Does anyone else miss the trademark "Transform" sound? It's an element in the new show, but there's lots of other sonic effects on top of it. There's something comforting in the way that unique noise showed up in nearly everything since G1.

The transformation sound used here is the same one used in Transformers Prime. It sounds like a more metallic version of the original sound. I have no problem with it, though. I binge watched all of Transformers Prime a few months ago, so I'm used to the new transformation sound.
 

ABrown

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After watching the two part premiere, I'm fairly certain that I won't enjoy Robots In Disguise as much as I enjoyed Prime. That doesn't mean that I won't like the series though. Prime became one of my favorite actions cartoons of all time. It was exactly how I like my Transformers: similar to the original animated movie and the Beast Wars/Machines series. RID appears to be a little bit lighter in tone than Prime was, which is understandable. Action cartoons overall seem to be a little lighter in tone these days. But like I said, I still might end up really enjoying RID. I do love Will Friedle. I think he is one of the great vocal actors of our generation. I'm just glad to have more Transformers to look forward to.
 

Mostezli

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[video=youtube;RmcgyVPbTJU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmcgyVPbTJU[/video]
^Is this the opening for the international release? I would really prefer it to the current.
 

Gold Guy

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The premiere was pretty fun. It didn't wow me, mainly because it might take a while for me to get to like most of the cast. Bumblebee is a fine leader, but Sideswipe and the kid (Rusty) already annoy me. Strongarm means well. I mean, maybe too eager to please, but then again, who wouldn't want to work alongside, and possibly impress, Bumblebee?

My favorite character in the premiere was actually Underbite. I kinda hope we see him again.

I'm mixed on the ending. I love Optimus Prime, always have, so it was cool seeing him appear and kick butt. OTOH, it did feel like a deus ex machina, and I hope they don't pull the lame, "Nah, he didn't really die" card. That wouldn't be cool.
 

JoeMabbon

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[video=youtube;RmcgyVPbTJU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmcgyVPbTJU[/video]
^Is this the opening for the international release? I would really prefer it to the current.

I think Anglophone audiences are getting the shorter version with G1 Transformers theme (maybe it isn't as iconic to international audiences?). I'm not blown away by either. I wish they had used more original footage for the intros.

Here's the Japanese OP and ED (plus commercials):
[video=youtube;I1Uyw2NRKFM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Uyw2NRKFM[/video]

Its okay.
 

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