Netflix War For Cybertron

[The Huff]

I hate being negative all the time.
Tomorrow I will list the positive things I liked about this series.

[Benn]

Matt was never seen again.

[The Doctor]

I love the Siege toy line.

-Ralph

[The Huff]

Right. Bit of a delay. Still thinking...

[The Doctor]

You can do it.

-Ralph

[The Huff]

Right: Going to come up with ten great things about War For Cybertron: Siege.

1) They got Mirage's powers right for once instead of that invisibility nonsense.
2) Wheeljack actually acted and sounded like Wheeljack.
3) Arcee looked kind of hot next to all the toy accurate characters.
4) Sideswipe sounded a bit like Sideswipe should.
5) Cog was a character and he did his weaponiser thing. I was expecting someone to use his corpse as weapons in the same morbid style Prime did to Jetfire in ROTF.
6) Windblade wasn't in it.
7) Wheeljack introduced Bumblebee as a 'pain in the arse'.
8) I did see a few Transformers transform.
9) Ultra Magnus did sound a bit like Robert Stack for a bit.
10) Arcee sounded like Arcee.

Done! I will now nominate Pinwig to do the same and then pass it on to the next person.

[Pinwig]

Whaaaa? Ten more on top of your ten?! That's going to take some thinking.

[Benn]

I think it’s only fair that you can repeat points. This should be what worked for you.

[The Huff]

Aug 6, 2020 8:24:58 GMT Benn said:

I think it’s only fair that you can repeat points. This should be what worked for you.

Of course.

[Pinwig]

Right, let's try then.

1. The character models look like the toys, which I think unites the brand better. No buying toys and being disappointed with the kibble - esp the tetrajets.
2. The synth music is cool.
3. The story explained elements of the toyline that made no sense, like the Impactor Vs Mirage set and why Mirage had a Decepticon repaint.
4. There are a lot of characters included, far more than you'd usually expect to see in a first season and covering most of the early toy range.
5. Lots if throwbacks to the original cartoon including the wartorn Cybertron and starting with Bee and Wheeljack.
6. Bumblebee had an unusual character twist.
7. Characters died unexpectedly showing they are fallible.
8. Jetfire was a major character and riffed off Fire in the Sky.
9. Often overlooked characters are given larger parts, such as Sideswipe.
10. It's a cartoon about the Generations line on a high profile service.

Done! I nominate Urzu next.

[Benn]

Well done!

In the morning then. I cannot type for long without a keyboard.

[Toph]

Would someone mind spoiling the bumblebee twist? I keep seeing various people talk about how unusual/unique it is, but no one ever talks about it.

So far this is about the only thing that's made me interested in what happens.

[Pinwig]

Bumblebee...

SPOILER: Click to show

Spoiler
He isn't the usual Bumblebee - he's an independent mercenary type who is initially paid by the Autobots to find energon for them. He's with Wheeljack to start with because he's showing him where to find it.

[Toph]

Thank you!

[Benn]

That's a spoiler? I thought that was just set up.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}I mean, there's the fact that he is the unwitting chosen recepient of the Alpha Trion Protocols, which he recieves upon Magnus's death and after providing one plot relevant detail are wiped from existence just in time for him to officially join the Autobots for realsies cuz Alpha Trion's ghost memory told him to.

[Pinwig]

Yes, that's what happens to him in the story, but the point I found interesting is that he isn't the usual Bumblebee character in the first place. That's more interesting to me than what happens to him.

[Benn]

But can where a character start the story be a spoiler in a whole new universe?

I don't know, I thought spoilers and twists were what happened to them.

I mean, true, it's not the Bumblebee we knew from all the other continuities...

Well, the whole thing is there now, I guess.

[Pinwig]

I just said Bumblebee has a twist to his usual character, which is true. Whether that's a spoiler or not is up to the individual I suppose.

I wouldn't want to know that before I started watching because finding that out through the narrative is more fun. That scene between him and Wheeljack at the start is interesting because the dominant character is the opposite way round to the scene it homages in the original cartoon. It doesn't play as expected so is designed to reveal this Bumblebee isn't the one you're used to.

[The Huff]

But he should have been the shy, small weak robot who idolised the bigger bot's and wanted to be like them. Finally making him look like proper Bumblebee (and not Movie Bee) and then completely reversing his personality annoyed me.
If you need someone to fill that part, use some one else. Gears or Huffer would have fitted that role perfectly.

I'm all for a character changing their moods etc. but this - being before earth etc. should be them at their purest.

[The Doctor]

I was unable to detect any character growth or development of Bumblebee in this show.

-Ralph

[Benn]

He didn't want to be an Autobot, and then he did.

[Toph]

Aug 7, 2020 8:39:25 GMT Benn said:

But can where a character start the story be a spoiler in a whole new universe?

I don't know, I thought spoilers and twists were what happened to them.

I mean, true, it's not the Bumblebee we knew from all the other continuities...

Well, the whole thing is there now, I guess.

Anything is a spoiler to the right person.

[Pinwig]

Aug 7, 2020 9:55:14 GMT The Huff said:

But he should have been the shy, small weak robot who idolised the bigger bot's and wanted to be like them. Finally making him look like proper Bumblebee (and not Movie Bee) and then completely reversing his personality annoyed me.
If you need someone to fill that part, use some one else. Gears or Huffer would have fitted that role perfectly.

I'm all for a character changing their moods etc. but this - being before earth etc. should be them at their purest.

Yes, it didn't sit quite right. It was an interesting choice, but he came across as too much of a tough nut for his size. From his dialogue you could see they were aiming to promote his stealth ability as the reason why he could do what he did, but then scenes like the one with Soundblaster made him look completely out of his depth; punching way above his weight. I'm not sure a minibot properly fills that role. It should have been someone like Doubledealer.

However, in terms of making a list of ten positive things to say about the show, the fact they did something different with bumblebee would have to be one of mine because it isn't easy to get a list that long.

[The Doctor]

I am busy wiping this show from my mind.

-Ralph

[Toph]

Aug 7, 2020 15:04:36 GMT Pinwig said:

Aug 7, 2020 9:55:14 GMT The Huff said:

But he should have been the shy, small weak robot who idolised the bigger bot's and wanted to be like them. Finally making him look like proper Bumblebee (and not Movie Bee) and then completely reversing his personality annoyed me.
If you need someone to fill that part, use some one else. Gears or Huffer would have fitted that role perfectly.

I'm all for a character changing their moods etc. but this - being before earth etc. should be them at their purest.

Yes, it didn't sit quite right. It was an interesting choice, but he came across as too much of a tough nut for his size. From his dialogue you could see they were aiming to promote his stealth ability as the reason why he could do what he did, but then scenes like the one with Soundblaster made him look completely out of his depth; punching way above his weight. I'm not sure a minibot properly fills that role. It should have been someone like Doubledealer.

However, in terms of making a list of ten positive things to say about the show, the fact they did something different with bumblebee would have to be one of mine because it isn't easy to get a list that long.

Maybe they wanted Glyph, but then hasbro yelled "NOOOOOOOO MUST BE BUMBLEBEEEEEEEEEE!"

[Bogatan]

It was definitely closer to Bayverse Bumblebee: Nazi Killer than Sunbow idoliser of bigger bots Bumblebee.

I dont mind that.

I also liked Jetfire and Starscreams relationship as a comparison with Fire in the Sky.

[Benn]

Oh jeez, forgot my list!

1. By the last episode the music was standout, very Daft Punk/Tron. I want to listen more.
2. Starscream is actually a competent threat, something I've needed from G1 since forever.
3. Megatron and his decline into extremism. he didn't drop far, but it was fun to see him move from 'win the war' propaganda to 'annihilate everyone and wipe their minds'
4.Mirage being played up as a posh out of touch twit. Not really something that's been handled before,and was nice to see. That and his bad acting when disguised.
5. Flywheels having a pop at Prime was fun.
6. More than one named speaking active competent woman!
7. Surprising amount of world building and locations, all told.
8. My favorite part was Soundwave's line "Laserbeak, prepare for flight" They homaged something new and the much better way of launching his tapes. That made me so happy.
9. Cog! It was ice to see some new (to the screen) faces.
10. I was interested in the Alpha Trion Protocols. A knowledge and psychic database that gets passed from chosen person to chosen person? As a counterpart to the Matrix, that was interesting. Shame they didn't actually do anything with it, but you can't have everything.

We good?

[The Doctor]

Who is the next victim?

-Ralph

[Benn]

Who else said they liked bits of it?

[Pinwig]

That's a good list, Urzu.

I liked that Soundwave moment too. I was thinking, is he really going to say, "Operation..." and was quite glad when he didn't.