Just post ideas about tf shows that you think should be made.
Show Ideas!
- Thread starter Megatronus Prime
- Start date
It'd be easy to just go "War for Cybertron, but good." But a genuinely well acted/written show about Cybertron (pre-war, at-war or post-war, I don't care) would be awesome. I loved that arc of Cyberverse and would like more.
On a similar note, an actual "old meets new" g1/beast wars crossover with the original voice actors would be appreciated while the original actors are still able to perform the roles.
On a similar note, an actual "old meets new" g1/beast wars crossover with the original voice actors would be appreciated while the original actors are still able to perform the roles.
"War for Cybertron, but good" is valid. We've never spent so much time on Cybertron before moving to modern Earth, nor had significant adventures in space along the way to Earth. Quintessons that early on? Mercenaries as another faction? Hasbro imagined something interesting.
It didn't work out.
It didn't work out.
Its the show lengh was the problem with just a hand full of eps per a chapter, they couldn't really do a lot, much like the Prime Wars trilogy, there wasn't enough time to flesh out a desent story.
Anyway, for show ideas, I think they should do a modern day setting but instead of the war being fought in secert, have it in the public eye and the groverments cannot cover it up with excuses, so instead of the Decepticon ship crashing into the sea, it crashes in the middle of a major city while the Ark just manages to avoid hitting a major population centre!
I do think if they were using the Headmaster gimmick that it should be the head masters actually changing between their smaller robot forms and the larger bodies, so their base could be what looks like abandoned warehouse or factory yet due to the head masters being closer to human size, they can hide from the cons by simply using a human building as their base of opperations, prehaps Fort Max could be hidden within such a building.
I really think the Head masters are best suited to a covert war and maybe them becoming Predenders as well to blend in with the locals, while the cons taking monster forms is them prehaps having come from other worlds and not bothing to adopt a Earth based form and they have inspired Earth's legendary monsters and gods, similar with the Autobots, say they crashed on Earth when humans were very primative and in their own ways inspired them because they hope for the human tech to reach a point they can use it to call for reinforcements from tthe Stars.
With the war, they could hint that, Earth is just a side battle of a much larger war that being raged across the galaxy, yet humans haven't actually seen it, yet, so prehaps have a season of the covert war fought between the two sides until a signal gets out that alerts both sides to the planet and its rich potential and then the flag ships of both sides arrive in orbit and begin their final battle that leads them to crashing on Earth in a manner that no groverment can deny as both ships having duked it out in space, have done enough damage to cause them to loose orbit and crash upon the planet, bring the war into the open as the Decepticons seek to destory the Autobots regardless of the planet natives
Imagine coming home from a day's work and finding your childhood best friend waiting for you at the door. Your closest companion as a kid, the one you got into the most wondrous mishaps and misadventures with. The one who passed away in your arms all those years ago.
You don't care how he looks like he hasn't aged a day. You don't wonder where he suddenly disappears at odd times and comes back with burn marks and smells of ozone. You're just overjoyed to have him back in your life that you don't question it.
Let the military intel of an alien infiltration or rumors of an ongoing beast war go hang. Your best friend is back. That's all that matters to you.
You don't care how he looks like he hasn't aged a day. You don't wonder where he suddenly disappears at odd times and comes back with burn marks and smells of ozone. You're just overjoyed to have him back in your life that you don't question it.
Let the military intel of an alien infiltration or rumors of an ongoing beast war go hang. Your best friend is back. That's all that matters to you.
I made the crack about the War for Cybertron trilogy because I really wanted something I can just throw on whenever, like used to do with the '86 movie until I finally watched it so many times, I can't even pay attention to it now. I know it by heart. War for Cybertron could have been that. 18 20 minute episodes spread across three seasons? That's basically three two hours movies, which was basically the ideal format for what I'm looking for; it just completely failed on it's own merits.
I think this stems from my own opinion that we still lack a "definitive" take on G1, at least in an animated format.
There's the original toon, which while classic, is also a kids cartoon from the 80's and is error prone, and while it has the '86 movie, which feels like a g1 nexus point, it was already one of multiple continuities even of it's era. It wins the "definitive G1 show" by default, but that just means it's possible for something better to eclipse it.
Beast Wars, ironically, a sequel to G1 winds up being the definitive take on Beast Wars that the G1 toon did not do for G1. Hell, as derided - or maybe because of how it's derided - as Beast Machines was, there really hasn't been a better take on it than itself.
RiD was just a one shot filler show that homaged G1 while doing it's own wild stuff, and by the time of the Unicron Trilogy, G1 was basically a source of inspiration for new takes on the franchise, going through the Bay films, Animated and Prime/RiD15.
When we finally got a new series of shows that are explicitly a new take on the classic G1 stuff it wound up being the worst animated series we've ever gotten: The Prime Wars trilogy. Just a catastrophic misfire on every level. It's only saving grace is how short it all is and Megatron's characterization.
War for Cybertron, as I've mentioned, managed to raise the bar to "mediocre" but haphazard plots, bad animation, terrible editing, an inadequate voice cast and a bad script keep it back from really being that rewatchable. Plus it's way too dour for what is ultimately a silly concept at it's heart, which just feels inauthentic to me.
Cyberverse is probably the closest to a definitive take we've gotten, but it's also kind of doing it's own thing even if it's borrowing heavily from evergreen designs and casts. And now Earthspark is delightfully well off the beaten path of G1 and I wouldn't have it any other way.
So I'm still waiting for that nice, solid digestible take on G1 that I can go back to again and again.
THAT is the show I think should be made.
I think this stems from my own opinion that we still lack a "definitive" take on G1, at least in an animated format.
There's the original toon, which while classic, is also a kids cartoon from the 80's and is error prone, and while it has the '86 movie, which feels like a g1 nexus point, it was already one of multiple continuities even of it's era. It wins the "definitive G1 show" by default, but that just means it's possible for something better to eclipse it.
Beast Wars, ironically, a sequel to G1 winds up being the definitive take on Beast Wars that the G1 toon did not do for G1. Hell, as derided - or maybe because of how it's derided - as Beast Machines was, there really hasn't been a better take on it than itself.
RiD was just a one shot filler show that homaged G1 while doing it's own wild stuff, and by the time of the Unicron Trilogy, G1 was basically a source of inspiration for new takes on the franchise, going through the Bay films, Animated and Prime/RiD15.
When we finally got a new series of shows that are explicitly a new take on the classic G1 stuff it wound up being the worst animated series we've ever gotten: The Prime Wars trilogy. Just a catastrophic misfire on every level. It's only saving grace is how short it all is and Megatron's characterization.
War for Cybertron, as I've mentioned, managed to raise the bar to "mediocre" but haphazard plots, bad animation, terrible editing, an inadequate voice cast and a bad script keep it back from really being that rewatchable. Plus it's way too dour for what is ultimately a silly concept at it's heart, which just feels inauthentic to me.
Cyberverse is probably the closest to a definitive take we've gotten, but it's also kind of doing it's own thing even if it's borrowing heavily from evergreen designs and casts. And now Earthspark is delightfully well off the beaten path of G1 and I wouldn't have it any other way.
So I'm still waiting for that nice, solid digestible take on G1 that I can go back to again and again.
THAT is the show I think should be made.
We should have "Transformers: Generation 3" which consists entirely of any random Transformers episode of any continuity in any order, including poor dubs, badly subtitled Japanese episodes, and Botcon MST3K-ings, except at the beginning of each one, they start out with Kup saying "This reminds me of that time when-" then run the episode, and at the end cut back to Kup saying "Yep, that's how it was back in the day..."
Any errors in continuity, animation, voices, or the like can then be dismissed as Kup not remembering something quite right.
Any errors in continuity, animation, voices, or the like can then be dismissed as Kup not remembering something quite right.
This isn't going to be the most popular idea because people are getting so G1'd out, but I want this too. G1 has been superficially done to death but that mostly comes down to character designs and TFTM quotes. Its story content has not gotten the same attention, and I'm at the point where I'd rather see a retread of that than another retread of the Cybertron relic hunt. There have been so many discoveries made about things that didn't make it into the G1 cartoon and movie, and they're still sitting on the cutting room floor. Even when The Movie got a modern comic adaptation, known unused material stayed unused, even though that would have been the easiest possible format to do something with it. There is room for a new telling of G1 that cuts the fat but works with the ideas it did have, used and unused.
Give Blitzwing the rest of his character arc back.
Since this is basically a series pitch thread, here is my pitch for a remake/reboot of Beast Wars that keeps the core concept of the original show intact but done a bit differently:
From a future Cybertron, a small band of Predacon criminals (led by a wannabe crime boss calling himself "Megatron") have escaped the planet aboard a stolen ship. Out in space, the recently-appointed sergeant Optimus Primal of Maximal law enforcement is on a nearby moon or planetoid training a few cadets new to the force. Their training exercises are interrupted when a call from Maximal Command orders their vessel, the Axalon, to pursue the escaped Predacon convicts, as Primal's ship is the closest vessel to intercept the Preds.
Sergeant Primal and his cadets take off in pursuit and manage to catch up to the Predacon ship. But a brief skirmish in space creates a transwarp accident that sends the two ships back in time to crash-land on an organic planet that would later on be revealed to be Earth, and where they all scan beast modes based on the planet's various animals, insects, and dinosaur remains. No stasis pods in this version, though. They are all on their own.
And this time, while they initially find no humans in the area, as they begin to explore more and more of the surrounding forest that has become the main setting for the battles between these Maximals and Predacons, they gradually begin to discover traces of a remote civilization. Dirt roads cut through the forest, stone bridges and wooden bridges built across rivers and lakes, a village of shops, houses, and other buildings made of wood and stone, and even a great castle with a drawbridge and moat overlooking the village, making this a small kingdom. It is not prehistoric Earth, but medieval Earth, in the age of knights and kingdoms across Europe.
But one question still remains: If this small human kingdom exists, what happened to the humans who built it and lived there? That would remain a mystery, which probably wouldn't be solved until the end of the first season. Were the humans to return by the second season, that would allow us to see how the Maximals and Predacons would interact with humans, since unlike Autobots and Decepticons they are not giant robots, and humans of the Middle Ages would react much differently from modern-day humans to the existence of extraterrestrials who could change into Earth animals/insects/dinosaurs/etc. (especially to those with dinosaur beast modes).
Also, the Autobot/Decepticon legacy has no significant role in this story, so no appearances of Starscream's ghost, the Ark and its stasis-locked occupants, the Nemesis, etc. Just the Maximals and Predacons and whatever else they come across in this medieval time period. Though, being a BW-original concept, a new version of the Vok (or the Skriix, or even a different alien race altogether) could still play a role, possibly being the answer to the humans' mysterious absence in the first season.
While Primal and Megatron would still be the leaders, the remaining casts of Maximals and Predacons would be a bit different. For instance, since I don't think any new take on Dinobot could ever live up to the original, I'd leave him out of this entirely and instead do something new by having Wolfang be the Predacon-turned-Maximal of this story, since his mold ended up having both Maximal and Predacon releases. The Maximals would start off with Optimus, Airazor, and Cheetor from the show, and two more who would be new characters, one male and one female, to make five at the start. The Predacons would have Megatron, Tarantulas, and Waspinator from the show, plus Wolfang (before he switches sides) and two more to make seven (Wolfang's defection would then make an even six on both sides).
The Transmetals would be a very different concept still inspired by the original but done in a new way. By the time of the humans' return to the story and the Maximals finding allies in them (which would actually take a while due to deceptions and machinations caused by Megatron that would prevent any immediate human/Maximal alliances), the two species would work together to build new suits of armor for the Maximals to wear in their beast modes, to essentially make them like knights. Said armor would be specifically designed to resemble the look of the Transmetals of the original series. Though, since this armor would only resemble the Transmetals in beast mode, their armored-up robot modes would look radically different from how the Transmetal robot modes looked.
In a further Transmetal homage, Megatron would have a different design in this series that would be like a cross between his pre-Transmetal and Transmetal designs. Picture his Transmetal robot mode, but in the color scheme of his pre-Transmetal form. His fake T-Rex head torso is also replaced by his pre-transmetal torso. Though, he does not have his VTOL fans since his beast mode is just his normal pre-Transmetal purple T-Rex form, meaning all of his beast mode parts in robot mode (like his lower legs and his shoulder panels) would be scaly purple instead of metallic bronze. And while he would have two normal arms and hands in this design, the T-Rex head of his beast mode would be able to be pulled out from where it is stored on his back and held in his right hand as a laser gun that wraps around his wrist to hide his hand inside it, along with his tail still being held in his left hand as a shield/lance/whatever-kind-of-weapon.
But while I'd be getting rid of Transmetals as total body upgrades, I would still keep Megatron's dragon form upgrade, but only as an end-of-series final form upgrade that would be the main instrument of his endgame, instead of how the original series had him get that form and then decide to use something completely unrelated to it (the Nemesis) as his final trump card. In this version, the dragon form itself would be that trump card, in his bid to become the most powerful Predacon in existence, in an unholy grand ascension.
The Fuzors would also be a bit different in concept. In this version, only the Predacons would become Fuzors because they would be the result of Tarantulas conducting genetic experimentation on his fellow Predacons to upgrade them into new composite beast mode forms. One such Fuzor could be a majestic-looking griffin Fuzor, while another could be something more hideous and gruesome like a bat/scorpion Fuzor, something that the medieval humans would definitely mistake for a demon.
In a loose homage to both the Dinobot clones and the episode "Dark Designs" from the original show, at some later point in the story, Wolfang would be captured by the Preds and forcibly experimented on in a cruel attempt to turn him back to their side, turned into a horrific cyborg that would also pay homage to the Max-B toy, now repurposed as this mutilated cybernetic form of Wolfang. He'd eventually break free of his reprogramming and rejoin the Maximals, but would have to go living with his disfigured new form and the mental scars it would leave him with.
All of this would make a distinction between the Maximals upgrading themselves by forging both armor and alliances with the humans while the Predacons would upgrade themselves through ghoulish experimentation, creating a sort of "Transmetals vs. Fuzors" kind of theme in later parts of the story, with Wolfang's Cyborg Beast form being the closest we'd get to a Transmetal 2 before Megatron would get his dragon form.
Sergeant Primal and his cadets take off in pursuit and manage to catch up to the Predacon ship. But a brief skirmish in space creates a transwarp accident that sends the two ships back in time to crash-land on an organic planet that would later on be revealed to be Earth, and where they all scan beast modes based on the planet's various animals, insects, and dinosaur remains. No stasis pods in this version, though. They are all on their own.
And this time, while they initially find no humans in the area, as they begin to explore more and more of the surrounding forest that has become the main setting for the battles between these Maximals and Predacons, they gradually begin to discover traces of a remote civilization. Dirt roads cut through the forest, stone bridges and wooden bridges built across rivers and lakes, a village of shops, houses, and other buildings made of wood and stone, and even a great castle with a drawbridge and moat overlooking the village, making this a small kingdom. It is not prehistoric Earth, but medieval Earth, in the age of knights and kingdoms across Europe.
But one question still remains: If this small human kingdom exists, what happened to the humans who built it and lived there? That would remain a mystery, which probably wouldn't be solved until the end of the first season. Were the humans to return by the second season, that would allow us to see how the Maximals and Predacons would interact with humans, since unlike Autobots and Decepticons they are not giant robots, and humans of the Middle Ages would react much differently from modern-day humans to the existence of extraterrestrials who could change into Earth animals/insects/dinosaurs/etc. (especially to those with dinosaur beast modes).
Also, the Autobot/Decepticon legacy has no significant role in this story, so no appearances of Starscream's ghost, the Ark and its stasis-locked occupants, the Nemesis, etc. Just the Maximals and Predacons and whatever else they come across in this medieval time period. Though, being a BW-original concept, a new version of the Vok (or the Skriix, or even a different alien race altogether) could still play a role, possibly being the answer to the humans' mysterious absence in the first season.
While Primal and Megatron would still be the leaders, the remaining casts of Maximals and Predacons would be a bit different. For instance, since I don't think any new take on Dinobot could ever live up to the original, I'd leave him out of this entirely and instead do something new by having Wolfang be the Predacon-turned-Maximal of this story, since his mold ended up having both Maximal and Predacon releases. The Maximals would start off with Optimus, Airazor, and Cheetor from the show, and two more who would be new characters, one male and one female, to make five at the start. The Predacons would have Megatron, Tarantulas, and Waspinator from the show, plus Wolfang (before he switches sides) and two more to make seven (Wolfang's defection would then make an even six on both sides).
The Transmetals would be a very different concept still inspired by the original but done in a new way. By the time of the humans' return to the story and the Maximals finding allies in them (which would actually take a while due to deceptions and machinations caused by Megatron that would prevent any immediate human/Maximal alliances), the two species would work together to build new suits of armor for the Maximals to wear in their beast modes, to essentially make them like knights. Said armor would be specifically designed to resemble the look of the Transmetals of the original series. Though, since this armor would only resemble the Transmetals in beast mode, their armored-up robot modes would look radically different from how the Transmetal robot modes looked.
In a further Transmetal homage, Megatron would have a different design in this series that would be like a cross between his pre-Transmetal and Transmetal designs. Picture his Transmetal robot mode, but in the color scheme of his pre-Transmetal form. His fake T-Rex head torso is also replaced by his pre-transmetal torso. Though, he does not have his VTOL fans since his beast mode is just his normal pre-Transmetal purple T-Rex form, meaning all of his beast mode parts in robot mode (like his lower legs and his shoulder panels) would be scaly purple instead of metallic bronze. And while he would have two normal arms and hands in this design, the T-Rex head of his beast mode would be able to be pulled out from where it is stored on his back and held in his right hand as a laser gun that wraps around his wrist to hide his hand inside it, along with his tail still being held in his left hand as a shield/lance/whatever-kind-of-weapon.
But while I'd be getting rid of Transmetals as total body upgrades, I would still keep Megatron's dragon form upgrade, but only as an end-of-series final form upgrade that would be the main instrument of his endgame, instead of how the original series had him get that form and then decide to use something completely unrelated to it (the Nemesis) as his final trump card. In this version, the dragon form itself would be that trump card, in his bid to become the most powerful Predacon in existence, in an unholy grand ascension.
The Fuzors would also be a bit different in concept. In this version, only the Predacons would become Fuzors because they would be the result of Tarantulas conducting genetic experimentation on his fellow Predacons to upgrade them into new composite beast mode forms. One such Fuzor could be a majestic-looking griffin Fuzor, while another could be something more hideous and gruesome like a bat/scorpion Fuzor, something that the medieval humans would definitely mistake for a demon.
In a loose homage to both the Dinobot clones and the episode "Dark Designs" from the original show, at some later point in the story, Wolfang would be captured by the Preds and forcibly experimented on in a cruel attempt to turn him back to their side, turned into a horrific cyborg that would also pay homage to the Max-B toy, now repurposed as this mutilated cybernetic form of Wolfang. He'd eventually break free of his reprogramming and rejoin the Maximals, but would have to go living with his disfigured new form and the mental scars it would leave him with.
All of this would make a distinction between the Maximals upgrading themselves by forging both armor and alliances with the humans while the Predacons would upgrade themselves through ghoulish experimentation, creating a sort of "Transmetals vs. Fuzors" kind of theme in later parts of the story, with Wolfang's Cyborg Beast form being the closest we'd get to a Transmetal 2 before Megatron would get his dragon form.
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Transformers : Action
The Transformers are kept small again but instead of Bot Bots type shenanigans, they can only scan and transform toys and action figures. They can make adaptions to their new alt modes but switch out every episode for variety.
Five miniature Autobots fight against five similarly sized Decepticons as they run around a city, trying to locate a mcguffin power source. They spend each of the 13 10min episodes pitting one drastically altered toyline homage against another.
A race between Autobot Burn Rubber (aka Hot Wheels) vs Decepticon Heat Seekers (aka Ring Raiders)
An accessory filled fight between Autobots Fashion Line Alpha (aka Bar-B) vs Decepticon Gear Up! (aka GI Joe)
A Halloween themed hunt between Autobot MasqueRaiders (aka MASK) vs Decepticon Fright Features (aka subline from Ghostbusters)
A very safe fight between Autobot Plush Pals (aka Care Bears) vs Decepticon Turf or Nuthin' (aka Nerf)
An intense build session between Autobot BeaZts (aka Zoids) vs Decepticon Firearm$#!+ (aka Gundam)
Etc
The Transformers are kept small again but instead of Bot Bots type shenanigans, they can only scan and transform toys and action figures. They can make adaptions to their new alt modes but switch out every episode for variety.
Five miniature Autobots fight against five similarly sized Decepticons as they run around a city, trying to locate a mcguffin power source. They spend each of the 13 10min episodes pitting one drastically altered toyline homage against another.
A race between Autobot Burn Rubber (aka Hot Wheels) vs Decepticon Heat Seekers (aka Ring Raiders)
An accessory filled fight between Autobots Fashion Line Alpha (aka Bar-B) vs Decepticon Gear Up! (aka GI Joe)
A Halloween themed hunt between Autobot MasqueRaiders (aka MASK) vs Decepticon Fright Features (aka subline from Ghostbusters)
A very safe fight between Autobot Plush Pals (aka Care Bears) vs Decepticon Turf or Nuthin' (aka Nerf)
An intense build session between Autobot BeaZts (aka Zoids) vs Decepticon Firearm$#!+ (aka Gundam)
Etc
You know what? Bring back the battle for energy. Both sides need it, the Decepticons (or Predacons) will go to any lengths to get it in any form, no matter how harmful, the Autobots (or Maximals) try to be more ethical about it, but they still need lots of it to survive. It's still a relevant premise today, perhaps a little mundane, but we've had so many series that were battles for MacGuffins, that it would be somewhat refreshing to take a step back and have a series where the factions are just trying to survive.
I don't know why they don't do this. It's a premise that has only gotten more relevant, while the Cybertronian relic hunt has never been great. It's all backwards.
It's all about the AllSpark, nowadays, thanks to Hasbro trying to streamline everything in recent years.
Id like to see a Pre WFC, show bots like Prowl as rookies on the Cybertron Police and his pal Orion Pax. One thing I always loved was Dreamwave (I think) called them the Dynobots. Id love to see them be shown in pre earth dino modes. Give us Sentinel as the current Prime. Bots like Hot Rod coming online. Or even Hot Shot as a throw back to Armada when they talked about him being too young to remember a war. End the series with the war starting and Orion becoming Optimus.
I had the idea of swapping it from an energy problem. (In the comics they had to knock themselves out of orbit in order to have an energy shortage) and make it about material shortages. Energy shortages was definitely still on people's minds back in the 80's, but these days rare "earth" metals are a big topic of worry.
War depletes Cybertron's population as well as the resources to build new Transformers, so they have to go to worlds that have hit the computer revolution and push their technological progress until they are able to produce microchips and other items capable of acting as replacement components. I'd reimagine the Autobots and Decepticons as rival nations in a cold war; the war never touches Cybertron, but it can ravage places like Earth. Bots are trying to do their work while impacting the planet and its people as little as possible, while the Decepticons will push things as hard as they think they can without causing the whole process to collapse.
War depletes Cybertron's population as well as the resources to build new Transformers, so they have to go to worlds that have hit the computer revolution and push their technological progress until they are able to produce microchips and other items capable of acting as replacement components. I'd reimagine the Autobots and Decepticons as rival nations in a cold war; the war never touches Cybertron, but it can ravage places like Earth. Bots are trying to do their work while impacting the planet and its people as little as possible, while the Decepticons will push things as hard as they think they can without causing the whole process to collapse.
That sounds a lot like Furman's "-ations" era of IDW1.
Definitely was a source of inspiration; though Furman had Cybertron as an uninhabitable wasteland and the Bots/Cons spread throughout the universe. I like the idea that the Bots and Cons have an entire nations worth of people back home clamoring for parts and materials, putting pressure onto the whole enterprise for both sides as well as providing the humans the looming threat of a potential full invasion. Even a few dozen bots and cons can have a devastating effect on Earth; the idea that there's a planet with MILLIONS of Cybertronians, all of them, be they Decepticon or Autobot, are eyeballing your planet as the solution to their planet-wide emergency, is a potent one.
Does the Allspark have to be a part of all Transformers fiction?
Its the reason why the war comes to Earth