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Post by Pinwig on Mar 21, 2015 18:28:44 GMT
Yes they're coming thick and fast really. I've had it going down on the recorder and just realised there were six episodes on there, so I downed tools and sat and watched them all back to back.
Since settling on the idea of parallel Marvel style dimensions to divide up all the continuities I've been oddly happier in my mind about the different shows going in different directions. With that in mind, I'm really quite enjoying this, 'for what it is'. The premise is an unusually original direction to go in, which by nature has done away with needing things like armies of vehicon cannon fodder to be shot down each week. I like the idea the 'cons are all bigger than the 'bots, so you only need one of them at a time as that's a sufficient challenge in itself for Bee's small team.
I think it works because it isn't trying to tell the whole story of the Transformers, which even Prime was guilty of. This is a story within the overall bigger picture. It's like Prime's private intervention team busy on Earth while the rest of the story is going on elsewhere. Because of that I'm not sure of the longevity - I mean you can't do Decepticon of the week indefinitely - but at the moment I like the relationships between the characters and the beast inspired Cons give it a nice almost Pokemon feel that may bring kids back week after week. And I suppose there are hints at the end of today's episode that the Deception presence won't always be a one a week thing. Steeljaw is great, and Thunderhoof is just brilliant.
I've found I'm most fond of Strongarm's wide eyed naive enthusiasm, but it's a pity in terms of being the female character she's much more '86 Movie Arcee than Prime Arcee, which is arguably putting the token girl in a role subservient to the lead male. But that kind of gets made up for with the fighting with Sideswipe.
So yeah, I wouldn't call this *my* Transformers, but it's a perfectly enjoyable show that takes more from Animated than it does Prime.
What I would like to see though are some animation tests without the drawn effect applied. By which I mean the lack of motion every other frame, not the cell shading. When they're in car mode the animation is very smooth, but it becomes very jerky in robot mode and when the characters go from one mode to the other it really stands out. I can see the cell shading and that style are trying to make the cartoon look drawn, but that is never going to work and I think it would be better all round if the animation was always smooth.
I also guess with this the Prime continuity is now properly divided from the movie one. I have always had it in mind that originally the movies and Prime were both supposed to be in the new aligned continuity, but cracks appeared in that a long time back. So now we have a Decepticon called Grimlock who is totally at odds with the knight from the film. I do think that's a mistake. It'd be confusing for kids, and this Grimlock is not really anything to do with the original. At least the Sideswipe here is similarly vain and a red sports car, it works, but this dino should have been an original character like Strongarm. It really wouldn't have hurt.
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Post by Toph on Mar 21, 2015 19:06:03 GMT
We've had two episodes. And already we're in repeats.
Gods, i hate cartoon network.
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 21, 2015 19:51:19 GMT
I'm surprised. I thought I had a bunch of repeats recorded. I kept starting the next thinking, this'll be a repeat this time, but it does seem we're getting new episodes every Saturday and Sunday. Er, which might mean ep 7 tomorrow thinking about it. That isn't going to last I'm sure. Some time soon they'll start from scratch again.
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 21, 2015 19:53:17 GMT
Incidentally, the end credits of TF Adventures (2:10 onwards) is madness... Madness I tell you! Aaaaaaand this is why Transformers should never be done with mocap. Let us never speak of this again. |
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primenova
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Post by primenova on Mar 21, 2015 21:18:02 GMT
We are getting new episodes every week but they are repeated each day in case you miss it - so far ep 1 was repeated but not ep2 to follow it. Ep1 was shown the first day then repeated on its own the next day followed by ep3. I watched ep6 recording it on my laptop. If you have a usb device I got from amazon & use Mega Cd leads to connect to your sky box you can make your own DVD's.
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 21, 2015 22:00:55 GMT
TV guide shows ep 7 tomorrow, then 8 and 9 next weekend. I'd guess they're going straight to 13.
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Post by Toph on Mar 22, 2015 2:27:15 GMT
Y'all will be on ep 13 by the time we get to ep 3.
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primenova
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Post by primenova on Mar 30, 2015 5:56:28 GMT
Ep8 was awful - if you watched it you'd think Sideswipe was the team leader.
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dyrl
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Post by dyrl on Mar 30, 2015 11:15:45 GMT
I don't understand a single word of this crap! It sucks! Is this how kids talk nowadays!?
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primenova
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Post by primenova on Mar 30, 2015 19:39:43 GMT
Which one is that? Drift hasn't shown up in the first 9
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 30, 2015 19:47:57 GMT
By the look of the title it's episode 12. Not going there until I can watch it in HD glory on me telly.
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Post by Pinwig on Apr 7, 2015 22:00:41 GMT
Liked Jazz this week, and that his abilities included using sound to disorientate, but Sunday's episode was the same plot as last week reused with the 'possession' theme. Bit of a misfire and an interesting Decepticon underused.
Last two episodes next weekend then! That was quick. Haven't seen anything anywhere to suggest we're getting any more in the near future.
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primenova
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Post by primenova on Apr 8, 2015 20:57:02 GMT
Watching the end of TFP series 3 - we have Ratchet left on Earth after Megatron fell back to Earth dead. I expect everything in PR is set on Cybertron only. But one thing - what dates are series 3 & start of RID? It feel like about 15+ years must have passed, seeing 10 years passed during Unicron series.
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Post by Pinwig on Apr 8, 2015 21:15:35 GMT
I don't think it's been specifically stated, it's just given as 'quite a long time really' as opposed to 'soon after'.
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Post by Llama God on Apr 12, 2015 0:06:01 GMT
Finally! A Drift that I actually like. (Well. Apart from MTMTE Drift. But even he carries too much McCarthy baggage...) I think that he might actually be the best thing about RiD so far. Even if "newcomer silent-and-stern-but-honourable warrior" is a Transformers trope that goes as far back as Depthcharge (and was done to death in about every other episode of RiD 2001). I may have to get the Deployer version of Drift. Dammit.
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primenova
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Post by primenova on Apr 12, 2015 6:56:08 GMT
Last one today - expect we'll not get to see ep14 until october. US are on ep 4 so they'll end up getting the whole series weekly so they would get ep 26 12/9/15?
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Post by Pinwig on Apr 12, 2015 18:59:28 GMT
Probably the best version of Drift so far, but the character seemed to be cobbled together from Animated Prowl. His Samurai mode was very similar too. Daft moustache but it doesn't look like it's so pronounced on the toy. Fracture looked facially to me like Prime Starscream, but then I thought there was a hint of Cyclonus about him. I liked that one. The minicons worked better than I thought they would.
Need to see Steeljaw's mob a little more active in the second half of the season. Lose the 'weird Decepticon of the week' vibe the show has. Favourite character for me so far has to be Jazz. He worked well. Followed by Strongarm.
It's a nice show for what it's trying to be. It's never going to be something I really get excited about, but it's self contained and is fun to watch. Initially I thought doing a show without Prime & Megatron was a mistake, but this isn't yet another reboot of the whole canon, it isn't trying to retell the origin story yet again. It's just doing what it does - small detachment of Autobots on earth trying to catch 'cons. It's cool.
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Post by Llama God on Apr 12, 2015 21:22:12 GMT
Oh yeah, I completely agree with that. Even though I'm not enjoying it as much as I did the latter seasons of Prime (yeah, I know, there's something wrong with me - who knew..?), I'm really respecting it for not just doing the same thing again. And given how weak a lot of first seasons can be relative to what they become, I'm hoping (really hoping) that the production team will build on these foundations and produce something great over the next couple of years.
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Post by Pinwig on Apr 12, 2015 22:29:20 GMT
I liked Prime too. Initially the strength of the rendering drew me in, then by the middle of the second season and into the third it was essential viewing. Beast Hunters was top.
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Post by Llama God on Apr 13, 2015 8:56:48 GMT
Oh yeah, Beast Hunters was the pinnacle of the show. Surprising, given that it was based around a new line/gimmick. The high point of the whole series really though for me was that "halloween" episode set mostly on-board the Nemesis. All Decepticons, some fantastic character-based comedy, and what initially looks like a throwaway episode ends up setting up all the dominos for the end of the series. It's like they'd been paying attention to DS9 or something...
Here's hoping that RiD does something similar once they've gotten comfortable with their world.
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primenova
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Post by primenova on Apr 26, 2015 20:46:43 GMT
Ep 1-13 shown then ep 1-4 repeated upto 26/4/15 but now taken off the air, not down for next weekend (sat).
But ep 5 for sunday.
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Post by blueshift on May 4, 2015 2:17:19 GMT
Is this show supposed to be any good? I couldn't stand what I've seen of it, and I've barely seen any buzz / discussion of it anywhere on the net. Which is really odd.
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Post by legios on May 4, 2015 6:00:32 GMT
I think it is fair to say that it's creators intended it to be a good show... (Yeah, I know, different meaning of "supposed to be")
I have to say that my Twitter and Facebook feeds haven't really shown much of a reaction to the show itself, beyond a few comments regarding Strongarm, so I don't know how much it is being watched in fandom. I haven't actually watched a whole episode myself, barring the teaser extract from the first episode that they put up on the web. I thought that looked technically competent in a low budget and uninspired kind of way, and I liked the Fighting Game obsessed Decepticon. But nothing about it made it stand out as worth a second look. Not knowing anyone with kids in the target age range I've no idea how well it is going down with the intended audience though.
Karl
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Post by blueshift on May 4, 2015 7:41:03 GMT
I thought that looked technically competent in a low budget and uninspired kind of way, I didn't even think it looked technically competent. But then I loathe cell-shaded CGI with a passion. I don't like to just dismiss something based on one ep, but given how little people seem to care I don't know how much of a chance 'for old time's sake' I should give it. I had a look on the Allspark episode discussion boards and they are quite dead, which again is odd for a new show. You'd think it would at least be polarising. |
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Post by Pinwig on May 4, 2015 8:09:09 GMT
Maybe it's being seen more as RescueBots+ than a 'new Transformers series' so it's slipping under the radar. I think whether you like it or not will depend on what you are hoping to get out of it. As said a page or so back, I think it's fun and enjoyable for what it is, but it isn't an all encompassing Transformers mythology. It's a crew of Autobots completing a specific task on Earth while the bigger picture plays out elsewhere, aimed squarely at the demographic Hasbro gave for RiD, which is 5-10 years old. From that perspective I think it hits the nail on the head - it takes many queues from other shows, including the use of the Decepticons as mad/funny monsters of the week. Bee is the kid watching the show, Strongarm the girl next door and Sideswipe his cooler older brother. After Prime I don't think we're likely to see Hasbro trying to do a show aimed at all areas of fandom again, us old gits get the comics.
I think above all it's probably not drawing a reaction because it's 'Harmless'. It isn't messing with continuities or re-writing the rule books like Prime did, it's just quietly doing its own thing.
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Post by Pinwig on May 4, 2015 8:18:56 GMT
I was just trying to think of which episodes I'd recommend to watch for what we've had so far. I think 'Trust Exercises' is good because it sets up SteelJaw's character, and similarly 'As the Kospego Commands' is fun because of Thunderhoof. 'Can You Dig It?' is nice because it's the one where Jazz turns up and it reinforces the fact that Bumblebee's crew are basically a bunch of rowdy kids that need someone to keep an eye on them, and 'Hunting Season' introduces the Deployer idea with a pretty good rendition of Drift. Then the most recent one we've had here, 'Sideways' sets up the second half of the season and draws some of the plot threads together.
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Post by blueshift on May 4, 2015 10:31:20 GMT
They should just do something crazy.
Break the formula.
Bring back Gobots.
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primenova
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Post by primenova on May 4, 2015 15:56:01 GMT
I think it's because the US are only on ep5 while we have had 13.
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Post by blueshift on May 4, 2015 17:14:07 GMT
I think it's because the US are only on ep5 while we have had 13. Oh wow, really? |
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Post by Pinwig on May 4, 2015 17:24:42 GMT
Depending on whether you count the pilot as one or two episodes, Episode 6 or 7 was on on Saturday morning in the US. It's had an odd release this series: China first, then Australia, then us at a rate of two episodes a week. When we got to 13 the US was still only on the pilot.
Swings and roundabouts though. It seems we're now waiting for the US to catch up before we get the second half of the season.
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