Definitely in agreement here. Personally, I think they're trying to incorporate too many ideas and elements at once. I remember how in Beast Wars the whole Vok was built up slowly, over time, and given time to develop properly. And in Animated, how they nicely built up Megatron's resurrection at the end of Season 1. Here, a lot of elements just come out of nowhere. Unicron just pops up and threatens to blow up Earth with no buildup, and no one mentions him afterwards.
Also, as far as tone is concerned, the show is way too liberal about its application of Deathis Dramatic, with intriguing Worthy Opponent Breakdown getting unceremoniously killed off by a character he's had little to no interaction with, completely undoing the development he was just starting to show and his relationship with Bulkhead. Whenever Beast Wars killed off a character, it felt appropriate, like Dinobot's last stand and even Tigerhawk facing down the Nemesis. Yes, some characters had bridges dropped on them, but they were largely one-dimensional henchmen. It just doesn't feel like Transformers Prime has enough respect for its characters.
All in all, I agree very strongly with the above review.
Brevity is Wit
Me too. I find that there are so many moments when a little joke — even a silly one — would be all that's needed to complete a scene. And it doesn't come. Instead, when there's a funny scene, it often comes off as being as forced as all those epic and dark moments.
Actually, it's not just the gags. To me, a lot of moments feel as if the writers simply forced them to happen, instead of letting scenes play out naturally. And that's what kicks me out of the experience.
That's funny; I felt quite similar about Animated. I literally fell asleep in the middle of the 5-episode pilot.
Granted, Animated's art style didn't exactly have me jumping for joy to begin with, but I never really connected with the show. I gave up on it after the pilot. Whereas TF:Prime had me from moment one.
I massively disagree with this review.
I found Animated to be significantly worse than Prime.
Firstly, the pacing was terrible. They made their finales too heavy-loaded and brief and all the previous episodes too light.
Take the first arc with Megatron's revival. He spent loads of episodes plotting and scheming only to be beaten in 2.
Prime on the other hand was very consistent throughout, and the villains didn't just come out of the wood works for the finales.
Secondly, the action was vastly lacking compared to Prime. You cannot in all honesty say the fights between Optimus and Megatron in Animated were better than in Prime. The Autobots had actual weapons in Prime and not just stupid stasis cuffs.
Thirdly, the score, just the score. Transformers Prime has epic music whereas Animated is just bloated horn sounds.
Fourthly, better VA's. Prime had Peter freaking Mensa! Tony Todd, Michael Ironside! These guys have huge onscreen present and cool voices. Animated has what, SpongeBob? Transformers Prime has the OG's! Frank Welker and Peter Cullen. Giving the fans what they want.
Fifth point, better story. So in Animated Blackarachnia got sent back in time! The space-time continuum should have been seriously messed up! Was that addressed? No. Contrast to Prime where Airachnid did get stranded on Cybertron's moon, but she was trapped there and couldn't mess everything up.
Look at the awards! Prime won Emmys! It's got the awards to back up it's status.
I'm sorry but anyone arguing Animated is better is imo, got a serious uphill battle to say the least. Prime just crushes Animated like a Junkion compresses scrap.
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Not quite as good as Animated
To Transformers Prime's credit, it eliminates several moments that made the Bay movies so annoying. Actually focusing on Transformers in a show named Transformers? Good. More distinct character designs? Good. Far better writing (not that it takes much)? Also good.
Still, to me, Prime is merely decent, as opposed to Animated, which I would rate as "superb". It's a combination of factors. More annoying human sidekicks (IMHO), gathered from cliches over every American teenage show ever. The persistent need to feel "epic" to the detriment of story and characterization, manifesting, among other things, in bringing out Unicron and in Optimus' overly pompous speeches.
But its greatest flaw, I think, is that it takes itself too seriously. Lighthearted humor, to me, has always been one of the main selling points of Transformers, and Animated delivered on that front, oh, it did. And let's face it, the concept of Transformers, those Ridiculously Human Robots that disguise themselves as cars and planes, is kind of silly to begin with. Trying to play it serious only emphasizes its inherent silliness even more.
Having grown up on G1 in childhood, I was sold on Animated, which combined the iconic elements of G1 with better writing by reinterpreting them in a new, creative way. This show... It's sort of watchable, but I find myself getting bored through it. And that's not a good sign. That said, most people seem to like it, so I guess it's just not my cup of tea.