Transformers: Cyberworld, Mecha Anime Bulls for Days
- Thread starter LordGigaIce
- Start date
A lot of younger Transformers fans are also into Minecraft, so this wouldn't be the worst idea.
Also I can see that Mark constantly saying "Transformers bots" during the AotP announcement video was no accident. Seems to be the new corporately mandated term.
What does the Marketing department do again?
It had no right to get as good as it did with the start that it had.
And even then, the start wasn't even all that bad... just kind of a lousy way to promote the whole series by.
Cyberverse may hold the position of being the "Most Improved" Transformers cartoon of all time. I honestly cannot think of any other that went from being so unappealing at the beginning to becoming so awesome by the end of its run.
It's probably the closest thing to a spiritual successor to the goofy 80's style bad guys/good guys setup that G1 had. Maybe with a dash more of self awareness.
It's a shame the episodes were so short. Though you can nicely combine them based on plot arcs into about six animated length movies (Well, 4 animated length movies and 2 full-length ones)
Season 1, Episodes 1-9 (90m)
Season 1, Episodes 10-18 (90m)
Season 2, Episodes 1-13 (2h10m)
Season 2, Episodes 14-18, Season 3, Episodes 1-4 (90m)
Season 3, Episodes 5-17 (2h10m)
Season 3: Episodes 18-26 (90m)
And then the two 40-minute specials at the end that you can kind of roll together even though they are very much separate plots.
It's a shame the episodes were so short. Though you can nicely combine them based on plot arcs into about six animated length movies (Well, 4 animated length movies and 2 full-length ones)
Season 1, Episodes 1-9 (90m)
Season 1, Episodes 10-18 (90m)
Season 2, Episodes 1-13 (2h10m)
Season 2, Episodes 14-18, Season 3, Episodes 1-4 (90m)
Season 3, Episodes 5-17 (2h10m)
Season 3: Episodes 18-26 (90m)
And then the two 40-minute specials at the end that you can kind of roll together even though they are very much separate plots.
Come to think of it, I do recall watching a handful of season 2 and a few from season 3 (a few years back) and finding it decent to interesting light entertainment. And I do remember the first or so of the parade episodes and finding the device clever. But I'm apprehensive of (what summaries point to) episode after episode of that device.
One recent thing I started on was season 3, with the extended shootout on Cybertron I think. For all the firing and such it felt like it dragged. Maybe I'll try watching some of it on a slightly higher speed.
I enjoy the lore they eventually got around to playing with, and the new dynamics between and takes on characters (jetfire/skybyte, slipstream/Windblade, shadow striker/bee). Just increasingly not a fan of the character models (which have the inverse effect on me of the live action ones, looking better in stills and toys than in animation) and some of the voice acting (the flat Cullen impression takes me right out of it).
But what everyone says is so far on track, in that picking one of the better starting points and going forward is definitely the better experience.
One recent thing I started on was season 3, with the extended shootout on Cybertron I think. For all the firing and such it felt like it dragged. Maybe I'll try watching some of it on a slightly higher speed.
I enjoy the lore they eventually got around to playing with, and the new dynamics between and takes on characters (jetfire/skybyte, slipstream/Windblade, shadow striker/bee). Just increasingly not a fan of the character models (which have the inverse effect on me of the live action ones, looking better in stills and toys than in animation) and some of the voice acting (the flat Cullen impression takes me right out of it).
But what everyone says is so far on track, in that picking one of the better starting points and going forward is definitely the better experience.
I never got past the preview clip. Bumblebee's face was just the stuff of nightmares.
Also, best version of Volcanicus by a wide margin.
Such a damn shame we never got a toy of him.
Yep, no toy at all... such a shame, indeed.
Such a damn shame we never got a toy of him.
Yep, no toy at all... such a shame, indeed.
*Looks up from playing with his Cyberverse Dinobots Unite Ultimate Class Volcanicus toy*
"Eh? What's that, now? Speak up, Sonny, ma hearin's not what it usedta be."
I think it would be nice for Hasbro to just get back on the same page as their media efforts. I think the last toy line that was actually in sync with its media was RiD15.
Not months/years late, not having characters regularly appearing in the show not get toys months/years after the fact. Y’know, a properly coordinated product with associated media.
Not months/years late, not having characters regularly appearing in the show not get toys months/years after the fact. Y’know, a properly coordinated product with associated media.
Even RiD15 was only kinda in sync. This has been a mess for a long time.
I don't disagree that this is essentially what RID2015 did (I had to think about "regularly appearing characters not getting toys", but you're not wrong there). But the toyline was still pretty unsatisfying even given that.
I think RID2015 was the first sign of that change in toyline styles, resulting in a lackluster toyline; so much about that toyline diverged from the older cartoon-supported-mainline practice. A cheaper-deluxe price point, with releases that definitely showed that reduced budget. A MUCH smaller set of molds and on-shelf cast of characters, the smallness of which was amplified by how big and interesting the SHOW cast was. Repeated reissues of various molds throughout the line's run, for I think every subline imprint, rather than a wider variety that would make the toyline feel alive and not perenially on life support.
But anyway yeah, this type of toyline has been going downhill from there.
RID2015 was basically a Transformers toyline managed like Power Rangers. Maybe an experiment on Hasbro’s end.
In terms of synchronicity alone, the last cartoon line to be fully in sync with its show was Cybertron. Let's not forget that both Prime and Animated had toylines that were very late arrivals compared to when both of their shows first began airing. Animated's toyline didn't release until midway through the broadcast of the cartoon's second season, while Prime had its First Edition line badly distributed before its main line finally released during its own second season broadcast, which also forced the Skyquake toy to be released as Dreadwing first to better coincide with the latter's more contemporaneous appearance in the show since the former had been killed off early on long before the toy mold would see release (the mold was first announced as Skyquake in its uncolored test shot form), which then forced the original Skyquake version of the mold to be pushed back as a hard-to-find tail-end release.
I feel a LOT of the issues we’ve brought up in the last few posts stem from a couple of issues:
1. Around 2013, Hasbro (and most companies followed suit) decided to “split” the action figure market. Kids and collector products were fully divested and you got things like the lackluster ”kids stuff” where Hasbro seemed FAR more willing to cut corners to lower the cost and an emphasis on gimmick driven products and a smaller cast of characters. Meanwhile, “collector stuff” moved to being just as complex with more deco (and, since Siege-ish, more robot mode articulation) with Hasbro more willing to add a “collector premium” to the pricing. Up until the tail end of Prime Beast Hunters and, especially, the Last Knight; whether you were 5 or 55, both markets were pushed to the same product. Now? Kids and Fans are (largely) buying into different segments, lowering the number of sales being made by both.
2. Since the success of the first Transformers live action film, Transformers has become a “licensed line” to itself. Up until Cybertron, the shows were always made based on the direction of the toy line. The Toys came first. Since then? The shows or movies are coming first with the toys coming later. Because of that, the toy people are often left either perennially “behind” the media, or using inaccurate references, or simply having to compromise because the media people don’t have to take into consideration the design constraints the toy people do (the neon highlights we’ve had since Prime being a key example).
And in cases like the “Fan Series”, THOSE end up being developed after the fact and end up not even promoting the very toys they’re supposed to!
My HOPE is that Cyberworld is a step to address some of those issues, especially the second. The fact they cite “mecha anime” makes me think we’re likely going to see a shift away from the over-designed, stylized, nature of the current cartoon series into something a bit more “traditional” like the 2000s series or G1. Something easier to translate that also “jives” with general design language of Generations. The package art we’ve seen seems to point in that direction.
That said, given how weird modern mecha design has become? I’d also not be adverse to stepping back into the weird, ”living machine”, aesthetic that defined Beast Wars and Machines
1. Around 2013, Hasbro (and most companies followed suit) decided to “split” the action figure market. Kids and collector products were fully divested and you got things like the lackluster ”kids stuff” where Hasbro seemed FAR more willing to cut corners to lower the cost and an emphasis on gimmick driven products and a smaller cast of characters. Meanwhile, “collector stuff” moved to being just as complex with more deco (and, since Siege-ish, more robot mode articulation) with Hasbro more willing to add a “collector premium” to the pricing. Up until the tail end of Prime Beast Hunters and, especially, the Last Knight; whether you were 5 or 55, both markets were pushed to the same product. Now? Kids and Fans are (largely) buying into different segments, lowering the number of sales being made by both.
2. Since the success of the first Transformers live action film, Transformers has become a “licensed line” to itself. Up until Cybertron, the shows were always made based on the direction of the toy line. The Toys came first. Since then? The shows or movies are coming first with the toys coming later. Because of that, the toy people are often left either perennially “behind” the media, or using inaccurate references, or simply having to compromise because the media people don’t have to take into consideration the design constraints the toy people do (the neon highlights we’ve had since Prime being a key example).
And in cases like the “Fan Series”, THOSE end up being developed after the fact and end up not even promoting the very toys they’re supposed to!
My HOPE is that Cyberworld is a step to address some of those issues, especially the second. The fact they cite “mecha anime” makes me think we’re likely going to see a shift away from the over-designed, stylized, nature of the current cartoon series into something a bit more “traditional” like the 2000s series or G1. Something easier to translate that also “jives” with general design language of Generations. The package art we’ve seen seems to point in that direction.
That said, given how weird modern mecha design has become? I’d also not be adverse to stepping back into the weird, ”living machine”, aesthetic that defined Beast Wars and Machines
I don't know. "Mecha anime" feels somewhat hollow as a term to throw in there, and I can't attach anything to it that I'd expect them to give sufficient weight to.
Aside from the buzzwordyness of it, it just feels like it fits right in with the downward spiral the kid toylines have been on since tailend Prime/BH (with those sad upsized Legions)/RID2015. Here's a thing with an aesthetic, but the focus will probably be on this other thing.
(I've had RID2015 eps on in the background of late too -- enjoying it a bit more than Cyberverse, for which I'm the wiki synopses more -- rekindling the immense sense of frustration at how that line was handled. Always been very fond of that show for numerous reasons, and it's gotten such short shrift toywise it's maddening.)
Aside from the buzzwordyness of it, it just feels like it fits right in with the downward spiral the kid toylines have been on since tailend Prime/BH (with those sad upsized Legions)/RID2015. Here's a thing with an aesthetic, but the focus will probably be on this other thing.
(I've had RID2015 eps on in the background of late too -- enjoying it a bit more than Cyberverse, for which I'm the wiki synopses more -- rekindling the immense sense of frustration at how that line was handled. Always been very fond of that show for numerous reasons, and it's gotten such short shrift toywise it's maddening.)
These are not the Evergreen designs, and Megatron turns into a bull.
I don't know what this is going to be, but it's different.
I don't know what this is going to be, but it's different.
And we’re getting Skybyte and Galvatron early on! The simple fact Megatron and Galvatron may be portrayed as separate characters at the same time is novel is this sort of medium