Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom
Wednesday, July 28th, 2021 10:42AM CDT
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War for Fall of Cybertron
A Review of Transformers: War for Cybertron, "Chapter Three: Kingdom"
Spoiler Free-ish
A Review of Transformers: War for Cybertron, "Chapter Three: Kingdom"
Spoiler Free-ish
Almost a year after Siege and another half of one departed from Earthrise, the final chapter of that Transformers Netflix series we thought we always wanted has arrived. Multi-channel brand synergy dictates that this chapter must make the worlds of War for Cybertron and Beast Wars collide, and for more on that here's the official synopsis provided by Netflix:
Does this chapter redeem the trilogy after the lukewarm Earthrise? Read on to find out, or tune in anytime after July 29th at 3 AM Eastern Daylight Time to make up your own mind.Having crash-landed on Earth, the Autobots and Decepticons are confronted by two rival Cybertronian factions from a future that their conflict has inadvertently created, as the heroes and villains of the classic BEAST WARS: TRANSFORMERS series make their WAR FOR CYBERTRON debut. Now the Autobots must team up with the Maximals to confront the Decepticons, who have joined forces with the Predacons, in the race to find the missing AllSpark. However, the Predacons are in control of the Golden Disk, a mysterious artifact which has a personal connection to Megatron and gives him an untold advantage over his enemy, Optimus Prime. Which faction will triumph in the final battle that will decide the fate of Cybertron’s future?
Siege III: With a Vengeance
Beast Wars fans are in for their first, or maybe second, foray into a world of ambivalence where you have to forget the characters you knew before and be ready to start fresh with new iterations while also keeping in mind the general archetype of the character you knew before because the new version will lean on that. If that sounds confusing, just ask a G1 fan about what this is like, as that's been happening for ages with constant new iterations of G1 characters that are close to their original portrayals but still just off enough that it's easier to compartmentalize them as a new thing entirely. When things pick up with the Maximals and Predacons on Earth, it's similar to what you remember from Beast Wars but indeed completely different under the surface, so be prepared for this. The provided setup works within the context of the story being told and through the course of the series' six episodes both the Maximals and Predacons feel like welcome, fitting additions - or at least they do through five episodes, but more on that later.
I spent a lot of time in the first episode reflecting on the voice portrayals of the beast characters, and much will rightfully be made about a very questionable casting choice with Marqus Bobesich performing the role of Beast Wars Megatron. New voice actors in established roles is not only fine, it's an inevitability, so while I personally would have loved to hear David Kaye again the reality of the series' apparently low budget for voice talent (or maybe it's some typical corporate anti-union thing, who knows) dictates that some new voices are going to get used instead. The issue is, as it has been since Siege, voice over director Philip Bache. Bobesich sounds downright uncomfortable in the role, there's a strain at times which makes Beast Megatron feel more like a moody teenager than a Predacon Commander. The performance isn't necessarily bad, but it does make me feel sorry for the actor having to do something clearly outside of their practiced range. Bache's questionable handiwork is found many other times, with Beau Marie's Tigatron waxing and waning between "oh my god what is this?" and "this is just fine, actually", Justin Pierce's mostly well done performance of Optimus Primal having a notable spot or two of missed enunciation and a brief monologue with his back to the camera that has the speaking beats of a high schooler reading lines from a script for the first time, and of course Frank Marnocha's Siege Megatron and Jake Foushee's Siege Optimus can't go the whole series without a weird start-and-stop exchange that will put you to sleep, though they do find time to creep these iterations closer to their much, much better performances of these characters in Cyberverse.
A full-blown review of just the voice acting could occur, but since no one wants to read that much, know that it isn't all bad and is in fact mostly in that previously mentioned category of "this is just fine, actually." Jeanne Carr's Blackarachnia nails the character's tone, Krizz Kaliko sounds like he genuinely gets Dinobot, Erin Ebers provides great emotional range for Airazor and Andy Barnett might just make you love Rhinox all over again. Rattrap is picked up by Frank Todaro, who also voices Starscream, and it's this recurring role that steals the show as far as the voice-talent goes. As the story progresses, Starscream is given what I found to be one hell of a character arc, and Todaro is superb every step of the way in his portrayal of the legendary Decepticon Air Commander. A+ voicework can be achieved with D- direction after all.
What'd you say about my shoulders?
The wider story carried through Kingdom is best left unrevealed here. It's nothing complicated, but if I get into detail implicit spoilers will immediately follow. Instead, let's talk about the writing on this chapter, because there are times when it feels like two different shows got pieced together. Mae Catt (whose name is not a Scottish pun about a cat writing television), who fans may recognize from Transformers: Cyberverse, handles the odd numbered episodes 1, 3 and 5 while Tim Sheridan, who wrote episodes on Siege and Earthrise, handles the even numbered ones. The odd numbered episodes, though mostly episodes 3 and 5 since they don't have so much expository work, do something very pleasantly surprising which was absent for most characters in Siege and Earthrise. These episodes build characters through dialogue and interactions where entertaining things are said that are still relevant to the plot and its supporting actions. Soundwave gets snappy and snobby with Megatron, Rattrap calls Optimus Prime "the truck", Wheeljack doesn't want to give something a literal Whirl - they're all moments that are small but end up being large in your memory. The even-numbered episodes aren't totally devoid of such moments, for instance, Hound's confusion over Optimus Primal's first utterance of "Maximize!" is great stuff. The issue in these comes down to a couple notable things, for one, how they suddenly insist upon the Autobots and Maximals being argumentative well after it's established that they're going to get along fine now. There are also some banal exchanges that threaten to stop any momentum dead, while in others, characters say things that either make no sense or are unconvincing, only for other characters to somehow totally follow them or be totally convinced into something. Either the characters in episodes 2, 4 and 6 are the stupid ones or I am; no offense taken if you choose to believe the latter.
Apart from some of the dialogue the greatest single improvement in Kingdom as compared to Siege and Earthrise, at least writing-wise, is the pacing. There wasn't a stretch of chore-like episodes in this one, which was a very welcome change that made this brief binge-watch much more fun.
The production itself is going to be very unsurprising to those who have already watched Kingdom's predecessors. Fantastic texture work and some downright amazing key frames continue, and perhaps the greater achievement here by Polygon is how they've managed to make the Maximals and Predacons look right at home beside the Autobots and Decepticons, even in beast mode. There are moments where the color work will amaze as well, but maybe I'm only noticing this now that I can watch Netflix in 4K HDR - thanks, Playstation 5. The only visual frustration this time around came in the overuse of bokeh on the edges of the screen. This show is almost literally too dark at times to watch during the day on an LCD or LED television, which is what most fans are probably going to have. The Maximals weren't the only ones despairing when the sun set in episode 2.
The score by Alexander Bornstein must be mentioned, because suffice it to say that I was extremely critical of it in my previous War for Cybertron reviews. Outside of some recycling/call-backs to previous scoring, Kingdom opts for a more traditional sound in its score, and the improvement is downright exponential. Having a score that finally feels, mostly, like it's trying to be its own thing is extremely welcome and appreciated.
Verdict
Mederi vibes in this one, at least sort of
Mederi vibes in this one, at least sort of
There's a segment of Transformers fans that is quick to apply hyperbolic praise to this series for being serious and edgy and dark, but the world sucks enough and while I personally want Transformers fiction to treat me like an adult some of the time I also want it to actually be fun to watch. With Siege and Earthrise I have a hard time saying they were fun experiences in retrospect. Kingdom was, mostly, a fun experience while retaining a slightly chunibyo quality, for better or worse. The final episode is a bit by the numbers and quick to wrap up a great deal of plot, but two episodes would likely have been too dragged out, so I'm not sure what the best answer here was. Things did feel like they got in a hurry to wrap up the trilogy and it left the impact of the beast characters in the dust for the most part, but at least they weren't totally forgotten like the Mercenaries from Earthrise who never appear or are even mentioned once in Kingdom.
Transformers television usually finds its stride somewhere in the middle of or late into a second season, and for the War for Cybertron trilogy this definitely applies. The last couple episodes of Earthrise spill into Kingdom and finally get on with telling a story that you want to watch. While there are enough things that still aren't as great as they could be holding it back, Kingdom is the most fun chapter of the trilogy by a wide margin.
Final Score - Kingdom
.
out of
.
out of
The ending is satisfying but does manage to tease at least a possibility that more stories in the War for Cybertron universe could occur. I don't think we need that and to be more specific, the creative reins should be handed to either the Cyberverse team or totally new talent, but this trilogy was a good step in the right direction and a remarkable improvement over the Prime Wars trilogy which I still can't bring myself to even finish watching. It's no all-time great, but take another step up or two from here and Transformers' original streaming series pedigree might start to really attract more long-term attention.
Final Score - War for Cybertron Trilogy
.
out of
.
out of
Seibertron.com was provided with complimentary advance screening access to Transformers Chapter Three: Kingdom by Netflix for the purpose of this review. "Thank you" to Netflix and Hasbro for this access!
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Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111430)
Posted by Brutal brawl on July 28th, 2021 @ 10:50am CDT
Posted by Brutal brawl on July 28th, 2021 @ 10:50am CDT
Very hype to watch this tomorrow
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111432)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on July 28th, 2021 @ 11:46am CDT
Posted by Rodimus Prime on July 28th, 2021 @ 11:46am CDT
I'm going to watch this to finish the series, but honestly I lost hope for this trilogy 2 episodes into Earthrise. Anyway, this review makes me think it won't be a complete slog like Earthrise was, even if the voice work is still the same subpar level. Say whatever you want about budgets and unions, but even with talentless voice direction the original performers for the characters would have made this a much better experience.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111484)
Posted by The_Cryptid_Person on July 29th, 2021 @ 5:15am CDT
Posted by The_Cryptid_Person on July 29th, 2021 @ 5:15am CDT
Just finished Kingdom, some thoughts...
The voice acting is really painful at times. It was COMPLETELY DIFFERENT to the original voices (and not in a good way) for Beast Megatron, Optimus Primal, Ironhide, Tigatron, and Dinobot. Despite the unrecognizable and often dull voice choices, Beast Megatron and Dinobot were obviously written to try to evoke the originals as much as possible, which only made the new voices stick out more. The other problem was how mumbly everyone was! A lot of this was down to sound mixing, as the voices were too quiet and the sound effects way too loud, at least over my TV. I had to put on subtitles after a few minutes to understand what was going on. Between beloved characters being oddly/poorly interpreted, needing subtitles anyway, and line deliveries being constantly ruined by all... the... pauses, I really thought about switching the audio to a foreign language just to check it out. In hindsight, I probably should have done that.
The score is still hilariously over-reliant on cymbals to change tracks(?), but it was less frequent in these episodes than in Earthrise. I still cringed every time dramatic reveal cymbals played over, say, Primal swinging from a tree branch.
Audio issues aside, I think the actual story was way more interesting than the previous episodes.
I'm frustrated there was an attempt to set up a cliffhanger for future shows when, if Hasbro has any sense at all, this studio shouldn't get another go at Transformers. It feels like a poor excuse to not wrap up plot threads, really. On a smaller level, the show reinterpreted the beast wars in a way I don't mind and works to explain the budget-restricted small cast, to an extent. The army of mute Scorponoks was an understandable budget concession but makes less and less sense the longer I think about it. The main issue I have is that there's no guarantee these characters are at all similar to the originals, with their wildly different backstory and interpretations, but the show still tries to throw surface-level references like "big bot" and "chopper-face" at fan viewers to make it seem like everything's "as you remembered." I was really concerned they were going to make more specific references to a beloved Beast Wars episode, but then they leaned more into how these versions of the maximals and predacons are different from the originals and didn't completely waste their limited cast members. Unicron's involvement was really interesting and I'm frustrated the most compelling thing this series produced is a hook for a sequel that probably won't exist. I hope the twitter mob doesn't start latching onto this show and demanding a sequel simply because Blackarachnia kissed another female.
The voice acting is really painful at times. It was COMPLETELY DIFFERENT to the original voices (and not in a good way) for Beast Megatron, Optimus Primal, Ironhide, Tigatron, and Dinobot. Despite the unrecognizable and often dull voice choices, Beast Megatron and Dinobot were obviously written to try to evoke the originals as much as possible, which only made the new voices stick out more. The other problem was how mumbly everyone was! A lot of this was down to sound mixing, as the voices were too quiet and the sound effects way too loud, at least over my TV. I had to put on subtitles after a few minutes to understand what was going on. Between beloved characters being oddly/poorly interpreted, needing subtitles anyway, and line deliveries being constantly ruined by all... the... pauses, I really thought about switching the audio to a foreign language just to check it out. In hindsight, I probably should have done that.
The score is still hilariously over-reliant on cymbals to change tracks(?), but it was less frequent in these episodes than in Earthrise. I still cringed every time dramatic reveal cymbals played over, say, Primal swinging from a tree branch.
Audio issues aside, I think the actual story was way more interesting than the previous episodes.
I'm frustrated there was an attempt to set up a cliffhanger for future shows when, if Hasbro has any sense at all, this studio shouldn't get another go at Transformers. It feels like a poor excuse to not wrap up plot threads, really. On a smaller level, the show reinterpreted the beast wars in a way I don't mind and works to explain the budget-restricted small cast, to an extent. The army of mute Scorponoks was an understandable budget concession but makes less and less sense the longer I think about it. The main issue I have is that there's no guarantee these characters are at all similar to the originals, with their wildly different backstory and interpretations, but the show still tries to throw surface-level references like "big bot" and "chopper-face" at fan viewers to make it seem like everything's "as you remembered." I was really concerned they were going to make more specific references to a beloved Beast Wars episode, but then they leaned more into how these versions of the maximals and predacons are different from the originals and didn't completely waste their limited cast members. Unicron's involvement was really interesting and I'm frustrated the most compelling thing this series produced is a hook for a sequel that probably won't exist. I hope the twitter mob doesn't start latching onto this show and demanding a sequel simply because Blackarachnia kissed another female.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111487)
Posted by Burn on July 29th, 2021 @ 5:48am CDT
Posted by Burn on July 29th, 2021 @ 5:48am CDT
Uncle Burn's Five Minute (or less) Review of Kingdom!
Guaranteed to be more interesting than some of the opinionated drivel that has been posted as "news" lately
The mere notion of the third chapter being an improvement over the previous two chapters to me, was as mythical as drop bears*, hoop snakes**, and a well planned Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in Australia***.
Suffice to say, it actually was an improvement. Don't get me wrong, it's not enough to redeem the entire series, because it's full of flaws. Voice actors that just don't work (or maybe that's my, and to an extent, the greater fandom's sheep mentality and expecting something of old), the writing far from great, in fact, it could be a lot worse. It could be written by current Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall, and directed by Uwe Boll.
But unlike previous chapters, the pacing of the story was a massive improvement.
You could say there's even character development from Starscream's decent into madness, to Optimus Prime becoming an angsty douchebag with a guilty hero complex.
The introduction of the Beasts and their reason for being there is ... well, let's just say it works ... just.
Across all six episodes the writers have thrown in a few little easter eggs, throwbacks to older storylines involving certain characters, and even scenes that harken back to older media.
The big indicator that this was an improvement was I didn't feel the urge to neck myself after finishing it. I agree with Latebrus-K above in his dislike for the final hook of the episode. Knowing that there more than likely won't be a continuation made that particular scene pointless.
As someone who has disliked the first two chapters, and not given a shit about the toys, I didn't mind this third chapter. If you hate yourself enough to have put yourself through the first two chapters, take a crack at this third chapter, it's less painful, you may even enjoy it.
*Totally exist
**Also totally exist
***100% mythical
Guaranteed to be more interesting than some of the opinionated drivel that has been posted as "news" lately
The mere notion of the third chapter being an improvement over the previous two chapters to me, was as mythical as drop bears*, hoop snakes**, and a well planned Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in Australia***.
Suffice to say, it actually was an improvement. Don't get me wrong, it's not enough to redeem the entire series, because it's full of flaws. Voice actors that just don't work (or maybe that's my, and to an extent, the greater fandom's sheep mentality and expecting something of old), the writing far from great, in fact, it could be a lot worse. It could be written by current Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall, and directed by Uwe Boll.
But unlike previous chapters, the pacing of the story was a massive improvement.
You could say there's even character development from Starscream's decent into madness, to Optimus Prime becoming an angsty douchebag with a guilty hero complex.
The introduction of the Beasts and their reason for being there is ... well, let's just say it works ... just.
Across all six episodes the writers have thrown in a few little easter eggs, throwbacks to older storylines involving certain characters, and even scenes that harken back to older media.
The big indicator that this was an improvement was I didn't feel the urge to neck myself after finishing it. I agree with Latebrus-K above in his dislike for the final hook of the episode. Knowing that there more than likely won't be a continuation made that particular scene pointless.
As someone who has disliked the first two chapters, and not given a shit about the toys, I didn't mind this third chapter. If you hate yourself enough to have put yourself through the first two chapters, take a crack at this third chapter, it's less painful, you may even enjoy it.
*Totally exist
**Also totally exist
***100% mythical
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111505)
Posted by TOO MUCH ENERGON! on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:10pm CDT
Posted by TOO MUCH ENERGON! on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:10pm CDT
Two episodes in thus far and this show is hype. Other than Beast Megatron and Tigatron, the voices are fine. Stoked to watch more.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111506)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:19pm CDT
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:19pm CDT
I was going to wait til finishing all of it before commenting but I can't help myself
I'm halfway done and not bad. The storytelling is nowhere near as lazy as earthrise. The voice acting is still subpar
Prime goes Shatner x1000000 the whole time
Starscream is probably the best
Airazor, Blackarachnia, and Megatron are good enough
Primal and Cheetor are alright
Beast Megatron though, yeesh.
And I seriously can't help but think, why didn't they switch the voice actors for Dinobot and Tigatron? Tigatron sounds like he's imitating Dinobot. And Dinobots smooth tone matches more with Tigatron.
And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it
I'm halfway done and not bad. The storytelling is nowhere near as lazy as earthrise. The voice acting is still subpar
Prime goes Shatner x1000000 the whole time
Starscream is probably the best
Airazor, Blackarachnia, and Megatron are good enough
Primal and Cheetor are alright
Beast Megatron though, yeesh.
And I seriously can't help but think, why didn't they switch the voice actors for Dinobot and Tigatron? Tigatron sounds like he's imitating Dinobot. And Dinobots smooth tone matches more with Tigatron.
And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111507)
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:20pm CDT
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:20pm CDT
I'm really tempted to take time during my lunch break and at least watch the first episode. Not because this show is "so great", but because, after last week, I was hoping to come home from vacation all hyped to watch the New MOTU series. Now going in, I knew there was controversy, and it probably wasn't going to be what it was advertised but man.... that all blew up to The Last Jedi Level hate overnight, and really killed my enthusiasm.
One thing I'll give WFC show creators credit for. They never said this would be an "honest to goodness" continuation of the Marvel/Sunbow show. They let it stand on it's own, for good or ill, an alternate version/universe, something we've become accustomed to. They also for the most part kept their mouths shut, except to promote the show as normal, none of the BS nonsense Kevin Smith has pulled.
Oddly enough, for once, the relative quiet and "normal" promotion of this show will probably make it seem far more satisfying today, then if it had come out a month ago.
One thing I'll give WFC show creators credit for. They never said this would be an "honest to goodness" continuation of the Marvel/Sunbow show. They let it stand on it's own, for good or ill, an alternate version/universe, something we've become accustomed to. They also for the most part kept their mouths shut, except to promote the show as normal, none of the BS nonsense Kevin Smith has pulled.
Oddly enough, for once, the relative quiet and "normal" promotion of this show will probably make it seem far more satisfying today, then if it had come out a month ago.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111508)
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:22pm CDT
He's still part of the actors union though...
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:22pm CDT
Razorbeast88 wrote:And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it
He's still part of the actors union though...
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111510)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:27pm CDT
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:27pm CDT
Now I will attempt to use the spoiler block thing for the first time, forgive me if I do it wrong
Dude they made beast Megatron SUCH a little bitch holy crap. The voice acting I can get over but his character is atrocious. He's a baby back bitch there's no other way to say it.
Rattrap ALMOST sounds like rattrap sometimes. It's so close just not quite there. But I appreciate that it got as close as it did I guess
Dinobot, they did alright with him. Not too shabby. Nowhere near the greatness of the original, as expected, but nowhere near as bad as he could've been *cough Optimus prime and beast megs* he doesn't sound like dinobot but the script is decent enough. They threw in a line from code of hero and that was somewhat cool, almost awesome
And MAN I was so excited that he was about to face off with Soundwave! My two favorites going toe to toe! And it started off so cool! But then the build up to the fight turned out to be the entire fight lol. Could've been better but I at least felt hype for a moment
Dude they made beast Megatron SUCH a little bitch holy crap. The voice acting I can get over but his character is atrocious. He's a baby back bitch there's no other way to say it.
Rattrap ALMOST sounds like rattrap sometimes. It's so close just not quite there. But I appreciate that it got as close as it did I guess
Dinobot, they did alright with him. Not too shabby. Nowhere near the greatness of the original, as expected, but nowhere near as bad as he could've been *cough Optimus prime and beast megs* he doesn't sound like dinobot but the script is decent enough. They threw in a line from code of hero and that was somewhat cool, almost awesome
And MAN I was so excited that he was about to face off with Soundwave! My two favorites going toe to toe! And it started off so cool! But then the build up to the fight turned out to be the entire fight lol. Could've been better but I at least felt hype for a moment
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111511)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:27pm CDT
Yeah, just wishful thinking
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:27pm CDT
o.supreme wrote:Razorbeast88 wrote:And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it
He's still part of the actors union though...
Yeah, just wishful thinking
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111513)
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:33pm CDT
If you want to see him "Dee Bradley Baker " a show though...Check out Bucky O'Hare and the Toad wars. It also has Garry Chalk, but supposedly McNeil was doing up to 12 different characters on that show.(according to him...could be false memory though)
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:33pm CDT
Razorbeast88 wrote:o.supreme wrote:Razorbeast88 wrote:And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it
He's still part of the actors union though...
Yeah, just wishful thinking
If you want to see him "Dee Bradley Baker " a show though...Check out Bucky O'Hare and the Toad wars. It also has Garry Chalk, but supposedly McNeil was doing up to 12 different characters on that show.(according to him...could be false memory though)
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111514)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:35pm CDT
Awesome!
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:35pm CDT
o.supreme wrote:Razorbeast88 wrote:o.supreme wrote:Razorbeast88 wrote:And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it
He's still part of the actors union though...
Yeah, just wishful thinking
If you want to see him "Dee Bradley Baker " a show though...Check out Bucky O'Hare and the Toad wars. It also has Garry Chalk, but supposedly McNeil was doing up to 12 different characters on that show.(according to him...could be false memory though)
Awesome!
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111515)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:38pm CDT
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 12:38pm CDT
also, the Maximals storming in on the autobots was cool and all, but I just finished rewatching the beast wars last night and Primal isn't the type to attack first. Not from what I noticed. And Optimus Prime wouldn't have been like "sorry, Allspark first" prime is more of a "we don't trade lives" kinda guy. But he helped either way so whatever
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111527)
Posted by Sabrblade on July 29th, 2021 @ 1:54pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 29th, 2021 @ 1:54pm CDT
It's bad enough when modern TF fiction uses TFTM quote so casually, as if the larger fandom isn't sick and tired of overquoting TFTM... but this show, this show had the gall, the audacity, to quote one of the most poignant lines from "Code of Hero", in a completely different context inferior to the original. The minute this version of Dinobot spoke that line, I yelled at my TV "How DARE you!"
^ This so much!Razorbeast88 wrote:And I seriously can't help but think, why didn't they switch the voice actors for Dinobot and Tigatron? Tigatron sounds like he's imitating Dinobot. And Dinobots smooth tone matches more with Tigatron.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111529)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 2:30pm CDT
It definitely didn't hit the same. They could've done WAY better job with his dialogue and picking what quotes to use but I appreciated the effort. I saw it as a nod to fans, though poorly executed.
I'm glad you agree about the voice actors haha it seems like such a waste. Such an easy fix that it just glares at you anytime either of them speak
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 2:30pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:It's bad enough when modern TF fiction uses TFTM quote so casually, as if the larger fandom isn't sick and tired of overquoting TFTM... but this show, this show had the gall, the audacity, to quote one of the most poignant lines from "Code of Hero", in a completely different context inferior to the original. The minute this version of Dinobot spoke that line, I yelled at my TV "How DARE you!"^ This so much!Razorbeast88 wrote:And I seriously can't help but think, why didn't they switch the voice actors for Dinobot and Tigatron? Tigatron sounds like he's imitating Dinobot. And Dinobots smooth tone matches more with Tigatron.
It definitely didn't hit the same. They could've done WAY better job with his dialogue and picking what quotes to use but I appreciated the effort. I saw it as a nod to fans, though poorly executed.
I'm glad you agree about the voice actors haha it seems like such a waste. Such an easy fix that it just glares at you anytime either of them speak
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111538)
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 5:02pm CDT
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 5:02pm CDT
That line about Two Megatrons... I couldn't help but think of this:
Cottontail Smith wrote:Rabbits. I hate rabbits. If there's one thing I hate more than a rabbit, is two rabbits.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111542)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 5:46pm CDT
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 5:46pm CDT
Beast Megs sounds like a dollar store Forest Whitaker or something idk
also the last episode was pretty cool. I enjoyed it more than anything else
also the last episode was pretty cool. I enjoyed it more than anything else
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111549)
Posted by Sabrblade on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:21pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:21pm CDT
That line was the culmination of Dinobot's entire character journey in the original show. For this show to just use it so casually, without any regard for why it was significant in the first place, is as disgraceful as when DOTM had Sentinel Prime quote Spock's dying words to use them as justification for genocide.Razorbeast88 wrote:It definitely didn't hit the same. They could've done WAY better job with his dialogue and picking what quotes to use but I appreciated the effort. I saw it as a nod to fans, though poorly executed.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111550)
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:22pm CDT
Posted by o.supreme on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:22pm CDT
Well it's done. Just saying the last episode is pretty cool,I don't think warrants a spoiler tag.
I know someone could go full meta and say basically that the resolution to every piece of fiction is borne from a problem of its own divising, but in this series I think it's a little more blatant.
I know someone could go full meta and say basically that the resolution to every piece of fiction is borne from a problem of its own divising, but in this series I think it's a little more blatant.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111551)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:35pm CDT
I see how you feel a little more now
To be fair I don't think anything in the future is going to match the magnificence of BW Dinobot, especially not in Code of Hero. I don't think I'll ever tire of watching it
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:35pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:That line was the culmination of Dinobot's entire character journey in the original show. For this show to just use it so casually, without any regard for why it was significant in the first place, is as disgraceful as when DOTM had Sentinel Prime quote Spock's dying words to use them as justification for genocide.Razorbeast88 wrote:It definitely didn't hit the same. They could've done WAY better job with his dialogue and picking what quotes to use but I appreciated the effort. I saw it as a nod to fans, though poorly executed.
I see how you feel a little more now
To be fair I don't think anything in the future is going to match the magnificence of BW Dinobot, especially not in Code of Hero. I don't think I'll ever tire of watching it
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111554)
Posted by Sabrblade on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:42pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:42pm CDT
I can guarantee that nobody was asking for "Code of Hero, but worse".Razorbeast88 wrote:Sabrblade wrote:That line was the culmination of Dinobot's entire character journey in the original show. For this show to just use it so casually, without any regard for why it was significant in the first place, is as disgraceful as when DOTM had Sentinel Prime quote Spock's dying words to use them as justification for genocide.Razorbeast88 wrote:It definitely didn't hit the same. They could've done WAY better job with his dialogue and picking what quotes to use but I appreciated the effort. I saw it as a nod to fans, though poorly executed.
I see how you feel a little more now
To be fair I don't think anything in the future is going to match the magnificence of BW Dinobot, especially not in Code of Hero. I don't think I'll ever tire of watching it
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111555)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:47pm CDT
Can't argue with that one haha
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 29th, 2021 @ 7:47pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:I can guarantee that nobody was asking for "Code of Hero, but worse".Razorbeast88 wrote:Sabrblade wrote:That line was the culmination of Dinobot's entire character journey in the original show. For this show to just use it so casually, without any regard for why it was significant in the first place, is as disgraceful as when DOTM had Sentinel Prime quote Spock's dying words to use them as justification for genocide.Razorbeast88 wrote:It definitely didn't hit the same. They could've done WAY better job with his dialogue and picking what quotes to use but I appreciated the effort. I saw it as a nod to fans, though poorly executed.
I see how you feel a little more now
To be fair I don't think anything in the future is going to match the magnificence of BW Dinobot, especially not in Code of Hero. I don't think I'll ever tire of watching it
Can't argue with that one haha
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111611)
Posted by ScottyP on July 30th, 2021 @ 12:30pm CDT
Posted by ScottyP on July 30th, 2021 @ 12:30pm CDT
There are times when folks writing Transformers need to stop trying to be cool. Both of these are examples of those times.Sabrblade wrote:That line was the culmination of Dinobot's entire character journey in the original show. For this show to just use it so casually, without any regard for why it was significant in the first place, is as disgraceful as when DOTM had Sentinel Prime quote Spock's dying words to use them as justification for genocide.Razorbeast88 wrote:It definitely didn't hit the same. They could've done WAY better job with his dialogue and picking what quotes to use but I appreciated the effort. I saw it as a nod to fans, though poorly executed.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111614)
Posted by Evil Eye on July 30th, 2021 @ 12:42pm CDT
I actually thought the inversion of the Spock quote was somewhat clever, and struck me as at least relatively self aware of the seeming wrongness of taking the quote and completely reversing its original meaning. Whereas from what I understand this is pure "I clapped! I got the reference!" bait, and not even particularly well done.
Posted by Evil Eye on July 30th, 2021 @ 12:42pm CDT
ScottyP wrote:There are times when folks writing Transformers need to stop trying to be cool. Both of these are examples of those times.Sabrblade wrote:That line was the culmination of Dinobot's entire character journey in the original show. For this show to just use it so casually, without any regard for why it was significant in the first place, is as disgraceful as when DOTM had Sentinel Prime quote Spock's dying words to use them as justification for genocide.Razorbeast88 wrote:It definitely didn't hit the same. They could've done WAY better job with his dialogue and picking what quotes to use but I appreciated the effort. I saw it as a nod to fans, though poorly executed.
I actually thought the inversion of the Spock quote was somewhat clever, and struck me as at least relatively self aware of the seeming wrongness of taking the quote and completely reversing its original meaning. Whereas from what I understand this is pure "I clapped! I got the reference!" bait, and not even particularly well done.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111638)
Posted by Whifflefire on July 30th, 2021 @ 4:30pm CDT
Posted by Whifflefire on July 30th, 2021 @ 4:30pm CDT
Watched it first thing last night after I came home. I have to say, I wasn't disappointed.
Spoiler bar just in case.
The way the wove the basic plot of Beast Wars with the main storyline was well executed, and enough time was given to the Maximals and Predacons where they had plenty of focus of their own without overshadowing the Autobots and Decepticons. The Predacons especially were treated with respect to their original incarnations while creatively incorporating their arcs into the show's plot. I also liked how, as with Earthrise, the lower-tier characters (Hound, Prowl, Astrotrain, etc.) still got a couple of character moments and action scenes of their own. Really only Sideswipe was neglected, but at least his hallucination of Sunstreaker was a subtle but touching hint of backstory, and it was pretty funny when Airrazor couldn't name-check him.
Speaking of humour, This series' jokes were much improved, creating moments of levity without disrupting the tone or flow of the situation. There were even a few good visual comedy moments, like Rattrap's scurrying through the Nemesis. As one of the common criticisms of Siege was that it was too melodramatic, that Earthrise and Kingdom gradually improved on the balance between seriousness and humour makes up for it a bit.
The voice acting was also greatly improved, although still the series' most detracting quality. Most of the beast characters sounded great, especially Blackarachnia, Rattrap, Airrazor, and Dinobot, although hearing Dinobot and Tigatron, one must wonder why they did not switch voice actors. Beast Megatron's voice may irritate some, but at least it was distinct and not another generic growly baritone. Beast Megs is supposed to be theatrical, so this incarnation's haughty delivery doesn't bother me.
Primal's voice didn't bother me either, but his obnoxious attitude was too blatant to forgive sometimes.
I don't think the show ever expected to match Code of Hero, but I think it handled Dinobot very well. His defection subplot featured some of the best dialogue in the series, and having Airrazor be the catalyst for his turn was a nice way to make this version unique while also being a clever meta-reference to the fact that those two never interacted at all in Beast Wars. Dinobot's final battle was also enjoyable, although I wish his fight with Soundwave lasted longer, that one scene could have justified the entire series had it not been cut so short. But Dinobot besting both Megatrons and saving the Matrix? C'mon, you loved it. His death scene was also surprisingly touching, referencing CoH without undeservedly copying it, and securing the Autobots the advantage they needed. His spirit returning to help Primal was weird, but it was a sweet moment when he recognizes Dinobot's spark ascending. The only thing that really bothered me about his death scene was Primal's responding to Dinobot's question about acceptance with "Yes. But you would have made a terrible Maximal". Especially being the last thing he heard? Ouch! It seemed like there should have been another part to that sentence, that reassured Dinobot that his joining their team would not mean he would have had to abandon his Predacon heritage (as was true in BW), but it sounded more like Pimal was telling him "I would have let you in, but I wouldn't have liked you." Other than that, I was sold on Dinobot's role in the show.
My biggest disappointment with Kingdom is the confirmation that the Cybertron-based cast were all killed, thus rendering half of Earthrise kind of pointless. I had a theory that with the introduction of time-travel, the Autobots might have found a way to return to their time just before the apparent deaths of Elita and Co. and rescue them, since their plot ended on a cliffhanger. With their fates kind of ambiguous, it would have been a brilliant way to resolve that ending and the trilogy with all of the characters reuniting. The series had been really good at not wasting its cast, that it chose 'total annihilation' as the end of this part of the story is an underwhelming and unfortunate conclusion.
Ultimately, I enjoyed the WFC Trilogy. It had great ideas and brought together many different parts of the franchise's lore in interesting ways, even if it was let down a bit by the voice acting and structure. But overall a solid entry into Transformers history in support of one of the greatest toylines we've ever had. 'B' for the trilogy at whole and B+ for Kingdom itself.
Spoiler bar just in case.
The way the wove the basic plot of Beast Wars with the main storyline was well executed, and enough time was given to the Maximals and Predacons where they had plenty of focus of their own without overshadowing the Autobots and Decepticons. The Predacons especially were treated with respect to their original incarnations while creatively incorporating their arcs into the show's plot. I also liked how, as with Earthrise, the lower-tier characters (Hound, Prowl, Astrotrain, etc.) still got a couple of character moments and action scenes of their own. Really only Sideswipe was neglected, but at least his hallucination of Sunstreaker was a subtle but touching hint of backstory, and it was pretty funny when Airrazor couldn't name-check him.
Speaking of humour, This series' jokes were much improved, creating moments of levity without disrupting the tone or flow of the situation. There were even a few good visual comedy moments, like Rattrap's scurrying through the Nemesis. As one of the common criticisms of Siege was that it was too melodramatic, that Earthrise and Kingdom gradually improved on the balance between seriousness and humour makes up for it a bit.
The voice acting was also greatly improved, although still the series' most detracting quality. Most of the beast characters sounded great, especially Blackarachnia, Rattrap, Airrazor, and Dinobot, although hearing Dinobot and Tigatron, one must wonder why they did not switch voice actors. Beast Megatron's voice may irritate some, but at least it was distinct and not another generic growly baritone. Beast Megs is supposed to be theatrical, so this incarnation's haughty delivery doesn't bother me.
Primal's voice didn't bother me either, but his obnoxious attitude was too blatant to forgive sometimes.
I don't think the show ever expected to match Code of Hero, but I think it handled Dinobot very well. His defection subplot featured some of the best dialogue in the series, and having Airrazor be the catalyst for his turn was a nice way to make this version unique while also being a clever meta-reference to the fact that those two never interacted at all in Beast Wars. Dinobot's final battle was also enjoyable, although I wish his fight with Soundwave lasted longer, that one scene could have justified the entire series had it not been cut so short. But Dinobot besting both Megatrons and saving the Matrix? C'mon, you loved it. His death scene was also surprisingly touching, referencing CoH without undeservedly copying it, and securing the Autobots the advantage they needed. His spirit returning to help Primal was weird, but it was a sweet moment when he recognizes Dinobot's spark ascending. The only thing that really bothered me about his death scene was Primal's responding to Dinobot's question about acceptance with "Yes. But you would have made a terrible Maximal". Especially being the last thing he heard? Ouch! It seemed like there should have been another part to that sentence, that reassured Dinobot that his joining their team would not mean he would have had to abandon his Predacon heritage (as was true in BW), but it sounded more like Pimal was telling him "I would have let you in, but I wouldn't have liked you." Other than that, I was sold on Dinobot's role in the show.
My biggest disappointment with Kingdom is the confirmation that the Cybertron-based cast were all killed, thus rendering half of Earthrise kind of pointless. I had a theory that with the introduction of time-travel, the Autobots might have found a way to return to their time just before the apparent deaths of Elita and Co. and rescue them, since their plot ended on a cliffhanger. With their fates kind of ambiguous, it would have been a brilliant way to resolve that ending and the trilogy with all of the characters reuniting. The series had been really good at not wasting its cast, that it chose 'total annihilation' as the end of this part of the story is an underwhelming and unfortunate conclusion.
Ultimately, I enjoyed the WFC Trilogy. It had great ideas and brought together many different parts of the franchise's lore in interesting ways, even if it was let down a bit by the voice acting and structure. But overall a solid entry into Transformers history in support of one of the greatest toylines we've ever had. 'B' for the trilogy at whole and B+ for Kingdom itself.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111642)
Posted by o.supreme on July 30th, 2021 @ 4:38pm CDT
Probably just a selfish question that will never be answered..What Happened to Omega Supreme? I mean I was half expecting the bots that froze to death to come back once the Allspark was powered up. But since Omega was not part of that group, I guess we will never know. Also what about Shockwave and those who stayed behind with him? That explosion at the end of ER I guess was supposed to be one of those "Kill 'em all, and let Hasbro sort it out" moments Larry Ditillio used to talk about
Lastly, I had to pause it a couple times, but at the end the 1000 foot tall statues of Cog & Refracktor...did they basically just choose the "rando" from each faction to represent everyone who was lost in the conflict? "A Fitting Tribute"... I guess? At first I immediately thought back to Cog's sacrifice at the end of ER, and thought it was a little odd them giving him a statue like that. Basically, whatever it's meaning was, wasn't entirely clear.
Speaking of slightly improved humor, I may have just been in an overly tired state, but Wheeljack's "Well Pop my trunk!" line got a chuckle from me.
Posted by o.supreme on July 30th, 2021 @ 4:38pm CDT
Whifflefire wrote:My biggest disappointment with Kingdom is the confirmation that the Cybertron-based cast were all killed, thus rendering half of Earthrise kind of pointless. I had a theory that with the introduction of time-travel, the Autobots might have found a way to return to their time just before the apparent deaths of Elita and Co. and rescue them, since their plot ended on a cliffhanger. With their fates kind of ambiguous, it would have been a brilliant way to resolve that ending and the trilogy with all of the characters reuniting. The series had been really good at not wasting its cast, that it chose 'total annihilation' as the end of this part of the story is an underwhelming and unfortunate conclusion.
Probably just a selfish question that will never be answered..What Happened to Omega Supreme? I mean I was half expecting the bots that froze to death to come back once the Allspark was powered up. But since Omega was not part of that group, I guess we will never know. Also what about Shockwave and those who stayed behind with him? That explosion at the end of ER I guess was supposed to be one of those "Kill 'em all, and let Hasbro sort it out" moments Larry Ditillio used to talk about
Lastly, I had to pause it a couple times, but at the end the 1000 foot tall statues of Cog & Refracktor...did they basically just choose the "rando" from each faction to represent everyone who was lost in the conflict? "A Fitting Tribute"... I guess? At first I immediately thought back to Cog's sacrifice at the end of ER, and thought it was a little odd them giving him a statue like that. Basically, whatever it's meaning was, wasn't entirely clear.
Speaking of slightly improved humor, I may have just been in an overly tired state, but Wheeljack's "Well Pop my trunk!" line got a chuckle from me.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111644)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 30th, 2021 @ 4:48pm CDT
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 30th, 2021 @ 4:48pm CDT
I liked the little joke about how he wouldve made a terrible Maximal, if only because it seems like the humor that Dinobot enjoys
Thats how he interacted with rattrap in the beast wars series, even up to his death in code of hero
Thats how he interacted with rattrap in the beast wars series, even up to his death in code of hero
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111649)
Posted by Sabrblade on July 30th, 2021 @ 5:24pm CDT
This show expects its viewers to already be familiar with the original BW series and how all of its characters behaved and interacted with each other, as if that somehow excuses this show from writing its new versions of the BW cast as their own characters without the audience needing to do additional homework in order to get everything that's onscreen in this show, never taking into consideration any new viewers who aren't already familiar with Beast Wars.
That's one of the same flaws as found in the live action remake of Aladdin, which similarly expected its own audience to already be familiar with the original animated movie and thus didn't explain everything that the original movie did feel the need to explain.
Posted by Sabrblade on July 30th, 2021 @ 5:24pm CDT
The thing is, we're never given any reason to believe that Dinobot and Primal in this series ever had the kind of relationship that would have warranted such nuanced banter between the two, making the humor behind that line feel unearned.Razorbeast88 wrote:I liked the little joke about how he wouldve made a terrible Maximal, if only because it seems like the humor that Dinobot enjoys
Thats how he interacted with rattrap in the beast wars series, even up to his death in code of hero
This show expects its viewers to already be familiar with the original BW series and how all of its characters behaved and interacted with each other, as if that somehow excuses this show from writing its new versions of the BW cast as their own characters without the audience needing to do additional homework in order to get everything that's onscreen in this show, never taking into consideration any new viewers who aren't already familiar with Beast Wars.
That's one of the same flaws as found in the live action remake of Aladdin, which similarly expected its own audience to already be familiar with the original animated movie and thus didn't explain everything that the original movie did feel the need to explain.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111655)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 30th, 2021 @ 5:34pm CDT
Ah, good point
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 30th, 2021 @ 5:34pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:The thing is, we're never given any reason to believe that Dinobot and Primal in this series ever had the kind of relationship that would have warranted such nuanced banter between the two, making the humor behind that line feel unearned.Razorbeast88 wrote:I liked the little joke about how he wouldve made a terrible Maximal, if only because it seems like the humor that Dinobot enjoys
Thats how he interacted with rattrap in the beast wars series, even up to his death in code of hero
This show expects its viewers to already be familiar with the original BW series and how all of its characters behaved and interacted with each other, as if that somehow excuses this show from writing its new versions of the BW cast as their own characters without the audience needing to do additional homework in order to get everything that's onscreen in this show, never taking into consideration any new viewers who aren't already familiar with Beast Wars.
That's one of the same flaws as found in the live action remake of Aladdin, which similarly expected its own audience to already be familiar with the original animated movie and thus didn't explain everything that the original movie did feel the need to explain.
Ah, good point
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111656)
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 30th, 2021 @ 5:36pm CDT
Posted by Razorbeast88 on July 30th, 2021 @ 5:36pm CDT
Though I'm not sure they would've been able to include the proper explanations considering they were limited to the 6 episodes with each episode being 20ish minutes. Plus incorporating all the different characters and the plot.
But as you've been saying they could've done their own thing instead of bringing back the old without explanations
But as you've been saying they could've done their own thing instead of bringing back the old without explanations
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111665)
Posted by Whifflefire on July 30th, 2021 @ 9:07pm CDT
That's why I prefer to think of these as movies. The episodes don't do much to make it episodic, it is a continuous story throughout, so it is structurally more like a film. You're not going to have the same amount of build-up of a full television series as everything needs to be brought from point A to point B in about two hours, so the plot needs to focus on a single main goal, with a few minor detours. Each entry in the WFC Trilogy does pretty much that. Cyberverse was the opposite, where there each episode only had enough time to be a sideplot. When shows are properly episodic, featuring stand-alone main plots with world-building subplots, you get good small scale stories while gradually building up to epic ideas. This trilogy had no chance to accomplish the same feats as an actual television show, but adequately condensed the major beats of many familiar stories and wove them together to create something new, even if not so original. Things like Dinobot's arc played out here as best as they could had there been a Beast Wars movie remake.
Posted by Whifflefire on July 30th, 2021 @ 9:07pm CDT
Razorbeast88 wrote:Though I'm not sure they would've been able to include the proper explanations considering they were limited to the 6 episodes with each episode being 20ish minutes. Plus incorporating all the different characters and the plot.
That's why I prefer to think of these as movies. The episodes don't do much to make it episodic, it is a continuous story throughout, so it is structurally more like a film. You're not going to have the same amount of build-up of a full television series as everything needs to be brought from point A to point B in about two hours, so the plot needs to focus on a single main goal, with a few minor detours. Each entry in the WFC Trilogy does pretty much that. Cyberverse was the opposite, where there each episode only had enough time to be a sideplot. When shows are properly episodic, featuring stand-alone main plots with world-building subplots, you get good small scale stories while gradually building up to epic ideas. This trilogy had no chance to accomplish the same feats as an actual television show, but adequately condensed the major beats of many familiar stories and wove them together to create something new, even if not so original. Things like Dinobot's arc played out here as best as they could had there been a Beast Wars movie remake.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111689)
Posted by First-Aid on July 31st, 2021 @ 12:53pm CDT
Posted by First-Aid on July 31st, 2021 @ 12:53pm CDT
Not a big one on throwing in thoughts on these series as I take them for what they are: entertainment. That said, the show series could have been half the length it was if not for the director's idea that ALLLLLLLL DDDDDIIIIIAAAAALLLLOOOOOOGGGGGUUUUUEEEEE SSSHHHHOOOUUULLLLDDDDD BEEEEEEEE................................................................................................................................................................................DDDRRRRAAAAAWWWWWWNNNNNN OOOOOUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT.
I skimmed the comments and someone said that Prime went "full Shatner". Heh. Pretty accurate, but the difference is that ALLLL the characters went full Shatner, so it wasn't the character, it was the directing. A nice, normal pace of speaking would have been appreciated, and they still could have gotten the drama across. That said, if they'd done that, I'm pretty sure the 6 episodes would have lasted a total of 10 minutes.
Overall, I found myself enjoying the story. The Dead Multiverse comment was interesting, meaning that there IS a multiverse and the other accepted versions of Transformers are probably out there in it. It would be an interesting twist to see a situation where, in order to defeat Unicron once and for all, ALL the versions of Optimus Prime had to assemble in one place. It would give HasTak a chance to refine and/or reintroduce other versions of Prime (RID, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, G1, G2, Beast Wars, Japanese Beast Wars, Neo, etc). Optimus Prime, despite the popularity of Bumblebee currently, is STILL the most popular Transformers character and a series joining ALL the Optimuses (Optimi? Optima? Stupid Latin interpretations...)- not the Primes, but just the Ops with updated toy technology would be interesting. It's like those posters that Dreamwave did back in the day with all the Ops and all the Megatrons. That could be entertaining...and a legitimately viable way to destroy Unicron once and for all. (If you want involvement of Primus, the end of this series has the possibility of Unicron crashing THIS particular Cybertron's dimension but Primus would still be recovering, thus needing the assemblage of Ops).
Just some side thoughts...overall, like I said, I enjoyed the watch. Blackarachnia's voice was almost spot on. Like others have said, BW Megs was horrible but only in that it was so different from what we are used to; it fit how they developed this character.
It was a good climax.
I skimmed the comments and someone said that Prime went "full Shatner". Heh. Pretty accurate, but the difference is that ALLLL the characters went full Shatner, so it wasn't the character, it was the directing. A nice, normal pace of speaking would have been appreciated, and they still could have gotten the drama across. That said, if they'd done that, I'm pretty sure the 6 episodes would have lasted a total of 10 minutes.
Overall, I found myself enjoying the story. The Dead Multiverse comment was interesting, meaning that there IS a multiverse and the other accepted versions of Transformers are probably out there in it. It would be an interesting twist to see a situation where, in order to defeat Unicron once and for all, ALL the versions of Optimus Prime had to assemble in one place. It would give HasTak a chance to refine and/or reintroduce other versions of Prime (RID, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, G1, G2, Beast Wars, Japanese Beast Wars, Neo, etc). Optimus Prime, despite the popularity of Bumblebee currently, is STILL the most popular Transformers character and a series joining ALL the Optimuses (Optimi? Optima? Stupid Latin interpretations...)- not the Primes, but just the Ops with updated toy technology would be interesting. It's like those posters that Dreamwave did back in the day with all the Ops and all the Megatrons. That could be entertaining...and a legitimately viable way to destroy Unicron once and for all. (If you want involvement of Primus, the end of this series has the possibility of Unicron crashing THIS particular Cybertron's dimension but Primus would still be recovering, thus needing the assemblage of Ops).
Just some side thoughts...overall, like I said, I enjoyed the watch. Blackarachnia's voice was almost spot on. Like others have said, BW Megs was horrible but only in that it was so different from what we are used to; it fit how they developed this character.
It was a good climax.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111705)
Posted by primalxconvoy on July 31st, 2021 @ 6:30pm CDT
Posted by primalxconvoy on July 31st, 2021 @ 6:30pm CDT
IMO...
Positives:
- Lovely colour palette and animation (when used), and it looked fine in 1080p on my old HD telly.
- The intro was short, but featured "wireframe", 80's styled CG. All of which ticked my TF/sci-fi boxes.
- Black Arachnia liked "the fembots" (which I was happy to see, for a more inclusive attitude towards our general population and, I'm ashamed to admit, because as a neanderthal male, I thought it was "hot", sorry...).
- Some good voice acting (at least in approximation to the original characters) for Ratrap, Black Arachnia, etc.
- Interesting use of both Nemesis and Galvatron as Unicron's heralds (something, I and many others, have, I'm sure, imagined for a long time).
- Musical score seemed functional and didn't detract from the show.
- Lots of fan-service (G1 and BW animals fighting each other, BW references, such as "Air Commander Starscream", etc).
Negatives:
- Awful voice acting for Optimus, etc (I...must...speak...wiiithhh...long...pausessssssss....").
- Muddy, indistinct sound mixing, such as indistinct voices (Soundwave, Nemesis computer, The Ark, etc), the music, sound effects and dialogue all being different volumes (currently requiring me to change the volume) and actors often mumbling their lines (requiring subtitles for me to understand what was said, at times).
- What the DICKENS were all of the Scorponok clones about?
- The BW bot modes didn't look like their recent toys. If Hasblo wanted the show to shoe-horn the Ark and many other toys into this show, why did they allow these "new" botmodes (however nice they may/may not look) to be used, when they don't look like the toys they're meant to promote?
- A confusing, convoluted "plot" with faaaaar too many mcguffins (I didn't understand how Rhinox magically fixed the Ark, why the dead universe helped everyone survive, etc).
- No point of using the Ark in bot mode (as the budget could have been used for other, more important things in the show).
- Far too many "faction switches" (just like the previous shows, characters seem to change allegiances at the drop off a hat and end up chatting amicably with an enemy that was trying to kill them brutally mere seconds previously).
- Hardly anyone actually transformed on-camera, which, arguably, is the (ahem) "money shot" of any given TF show.
Although this was the "best" of the trilogy's offerings, it could have been far better. Using the original/better voice actors, better sound mixing and voice recording (Soundwave, etc), a more streamlined plot, less mcguffins and better writing could have made this a contender. As it is, I enjoyed the recent "MOTU - Revelation" cartoon on Netflix more than this.
But then again, this IS a Hasblo production we're talking about here, so I'm not really surprised.
Positives:
- Lovely colour palette and animation (when used), and it looked fine in 1080p on my old HD telly.
- The intro was short, but featured "wireframe", 80's styled CG. All of which ticked my TF/sci-fi boxes.
- Black Arachnia liked "the fembots" (which I was happy to see, for a more inclusive attitude towards our general population and, I'm ashamed to admit, because as a neanderthal male, I thought it was "hot", sorry...).
- Some good voice acting (at least in approximation to the original characters) for Ratrap, Black Arachnia, etc.
- Interesting use of both Nemesis and Galvatron as Unicron's heralds (something, I and many others, have, I'm sure, imagined for a long time).
- Musical score seemed functional and didn't detract from the show.
- Lots of fan-service (G1 and BW animals fighting each other, BW references, such as "Air Commander Starscream", etc).
Negatives:
- Awful voice acting for Optimus, etc (I...must...speak...wiiithhh...long...pausessssssss....").
- Muddy, indistinct sound mixing, such as indistinct voices (Soundwave, Nemesis computer, The Ark, etc), the music, sound effects and dialogue all being different volumes (currently requiring me to change the volume) and actors often mumbling their lines (requiring subtitles for me to understand what was said, at times).
- What the DICKENS were all of the Scorponok clones about?
- The BW bot modes didn't look like their recent toys. If Hasblo wanted the show to shoe-horn the Ark and many other toys into this show, why did they allow these "new" botmodes (however nice they may/may not look) to be used, when they don't look like the toys they're meant to promote?
- A confusing, convoluted "plot" with faaaaar too many mcguffins (I didn't understand how Rhinox magically fixed the Ark, why the dead universe helped everyone survive, etc).
- No point of using the Ark in bot mode (as the budget could have been used for other, more important things in the show).
- Far too many "faction switches" (just like the previous shows, characters seem to change allegiances at the drop off a hat and end up chatting amicably with an enemy that was trying to kill them brutally mere seconds previously).
- Hardly anyone actually transformed on-camera, which, arguably, is the (ahem) "money shot" of any given TF show.
Although this was the "best" of the trilogy's offerings, it could have been far better. Using the original/better voice actors, better sound mixing and voice recording (Soundwave, etc), a more streamlined plot, less mcguffins and better writing could have made this a contender. As it is, I enjoyed the recent "MOTU - Revelation" cartoon on Netflix more than this.
But then again, this IS a Hasblo production we're talking about here, so I'm not really surprised.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111713)
Posted by Sabrblade on July 31st, 2021 @ 8:42pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 31st, 2021 @ 8:42pm CDT
"Air Commander" is a G1 reference, it was Starscream's function in his original 1984 toy bio. The BW episode mentioning it was thanks to Ben Yee providing Starscream's toy bio to the episode's writer.primalxconvoy wrote:- Lots of fan-service (G1 and BW animals fighting each other, BW references, such as "Air Commander Starscream", etc).
Generic cannon fodder foot soldiers, just like all the Cog duplicates, all the Refraktor duplicates, all the extra Seekers, and more from the previous two seasons.primalxconvoy wrote:- What the DICKENS were all of the Scorponok clones about?
It was to provide the Autobots with a quick victory against the Nemesis, wrapping up that battle fast so that all the Decepticons and Predacons could be rounded up and locked up aboard the Ark.primalxconvoy wrote:- No point of using the Ark in bot mode (as the budget could have been used for other, more important things in the show).
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111716)
Posted by primalxconvoy on July 31st, 2021 @ 8:53pm CDT
There could have easily been other ways for this to happen. The only reason it was included was to promote the toy. Fair enough, but like I said, why weren't the BW character models closer to the recently released toys, due to similar, promotional reasons?
Posted by primalxconvoy on July 31st, 2021 @ 8:53pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:"Air Commander" is a G1 reference, it was Starscream's function in his original 1984 toy bio. The BW episode mentioning it was thanks to Ben Yee providing Starscream's toy bio to the episode's writer.primalxconvoy wrote:- Lots of fan-service (G1 and BW animals fighting each other, BW references, such as "Air Commander Starscream", etc).
Yes, like I said, it was BW fan service.Generic cannon fodder foot soldiers, just like all the Cog duplicates, all the Refraktor duplicates, all the extra Seekers, and more from the previous two seasons.primalxconvoy wrote:- What the DICKENS were all of the Scorponok clones about?
Not really. Scorponok was never cloned cannon-fodder. In the previous Seige cartoons, the clones were usually recoloured. In this show, he wasn't.
It was to provide the Autobots with a quick victory against the Nemesis, wrapping up that battle fast so that all the Decepticons and Predacons could be rounded up and locked up aboard the Ark.primalxconvoy wrote:- No point of using the Ark in bot mode (as the budget could have been used for other, more important things in the show).
There could have easily been other ways for this to happen. The only reason it was included was to promote the toy. Fair enough, but like I said, why weren't the BW character models closer to the recently released toys, due to similar, promotional reasons?
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111717)
Posted by Sabrblade on July 31st, 2021 @ 9:15pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 31st, 2021 @ 9:15pm CDT
Doesn't matter what color they were. They were cannon fodder meant to boost the Predacons' ranks in the same way all of the other duplicate generics were. No one said anything about cloning.primalxconvoy wrote:Not really. Scorponok was never cloned cannon-fodder. In the previous Seige cartoons, the clones were usually recoloured. In this show, he wasn't.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111720)
Posted by primalxconvoy on July 31st, 2021 @ 10:46pm CDT
Except that they are clones, or copies of each other, regardless of whether they are, in the show's universe, clones of an actual individual called "Scorponok". As such, this was another weakness off this show, as they used identical copies of an established character with no explanation and/or different colours to explain why they were all identical.
Posted by primalxconvoy on July 31st, 2021 @ 10:46pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Doesn't matter what color they were. They were cannon fodder meant to boost the Predacons' ranks in the same way all of the other duplicate generics were. No one said anything about cloning.primalxconvoy wrote:Not really. Scorponok was never cloned cannon-fodder. In the previous Seige cartoons, the clones were usually recoloured. In this show, he wasn't.
Except that they are clones, or copies of each other, regardless of whether they are, in the show's universe, clones of an actual individual called "Scorponok". As such, this was another weakness off this show, as they used identical copies of an established character with no explanation and/or different colours to explain why they were all identical.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111722)
Posted by Sabrblade on July 31st, 2021 @ 10:53pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 31st, 2021 @ 10:53pm CDT
They're still generics no matter what color they are. We've had same-color generics a zillion times before in this entire brand. This is nothing new.primalxconvoy wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Doesn't matter what color they were. They were cannon fodder meant to boost the Predacons' ranks in the same way all of the other duplicate generics were. No one said anything about cloning.primalxconvoy wrote:Not really. Scorponok was never cloned cannon-fodder. In the previous Seige cartoons, the clones were usually recoloured. In this show, he wasn't.
Except that they are clones, or copies of each other, regardless of whether they are, in the show's universe, clones of an actual individual called "Scorponok". As such, this was another weakness off this show, as they used identical copies of an established character with no explanation and/or different colours to explain why they were all identical.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111725)
Posted by primalxconvoy on August 1st, 2021 @ 12:54am CDT
Posted by primalxconvoy on August 1st, 2021 @ 12:54am CDT
I disagree. With Seekers and the Weaponisers, some level of "genericness" (sic) had been easily inferred. Even in the original BW, or Energon trilogy cartoons, reused character models were usually accepted, and moreso as their original character models were given some screentime as the "intended" character.
Not so with Scorponok in this cartoon.
Not so with Scorponok in this cartoon.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111728)
Posted by Sabrblade on August 1st, 2021 @ 8:43am CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on August 1st, 2021 @ 8:43am CDT
Oh for crying out loud. It is literally no different than the Sweeps, the Vehicon drones, the Energon Terrorcons, the Prime Vehicons, the Prime Insecticons, or any other mass produced nobodies who all look the same that we've gotten over the past 30+ years. They just chose to take the Scorponok toy and use it as generic troop fodder, instead of as a single character, for this show.primalxconvoy wrote:I disagree. With Seekers and the Weaponisers, some level of "genericness" (sic) had been easily inferred. Even in the original BW, or Energon trilogy cartoons, reused character models were usually accepted, and moreso as their original character models were given some screentime as the "intended" character.
Not so with Scorponok in this cartoon.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111729)
Posted by primalxconvoy on August 1st, 2021 @ 8:45am CDT
Yes, and I believe that detracted from the show because it is NOT the same as the examples you've given.
Posted by primalxconvoy on August 1st, 2021 @ 8:45am CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Oh for crying out loud. It is literally no different than the Sweeps, the Vehicon drones, the Energon Terrorcons, the Prime Vehicons, the Prime Insecticons, or any other mass produced nobodies who all look the same that we've gotten over the past 30+ years. They just chose to take the Scorponok toy and use it as generic troop fodder, instead of as a single character, for this show.primalxconvoy wrote:I disagree. With Seekers and the Weaponisers, some level of "genericness" (sic) had been easily inferred. Even in the original BW, or Energon trilogy cartoons, reused character models were usually accepted, and moreso as their original character models were given some screentime as the "intended" character.
Not so with Scorponok in this cartoon.
Yes, and I believe that detracted from the show because it is NOT the same as the examples you've given.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111755)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on August 1st, 2021 @ 5:53pm CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on August 1st, 2021 @ 5:53pm CDT
So I watched Kingdom, and surprisingly, I enjoyed it. I'm going to share some non-spoilers thoughts below:
-Starscream became the star of the show. He and Dinobot to me put in the best performances and both played to their strengths. Well done on both of them
-You can definitely feel Mae Catt's influence in her episodes. And specifically, the way Airazor, Blackarachnia, and Starscream are written.
-the episode 6 twist and reveals didn't really land with me. 1 in particular was a very bad choice, and ruined a lot of storylines
-Scotty__P said it best regarding episode 6: too much for 1 episode, not enough for 2. Goes towards the empty feeling from the conclusion.
-also, there felt like a lack of consequences for 1 particular character? He was pure terrible with a fake face, but didn't suffer for it
-i liked the Beasts and the way they slipped in. I enjoyed them.
-voices were all over the board, but some were tightened up for this series. Just give Megatron more to do, he has great range! And let Prime edge closer to Cyberverse, it's his strength.
Overall, Kingdom was enjoyed. I didn't expect to enjoy it, but I did. It's worth watching.
I'd give it a 6 or 7 out of 10 personally. It was around the level of Cyberverse season 1 for me
-Starscream became the star of the show. He and Dinobot to me put in the best performances and both played to their strengths. Well done on both of them
-You can definitely feel Mae Catt's influence in her episodes. And specifically, the way Airazor, Blackarachnia, and Starscream are written.
-the episode 6 twist and reveals didn't really land with me. 1 in particular was a very bad choice, and ruined a lot of storylines
-Scotty__P said it best regarding episode 6: too much for 1 episode, not enough for 2. Goes towards the empty feeling from the conclusion.
-also, there felt like a lack of consequences for 1 particular character? He was pure terrible with a fake face, but didn't suffer for it
-i liked the Beasts and the way they slipped in. I enjoyed them.
-voices were all over the board, but some were tightened up for this series. Just give Megatron more to do, he has great range! And let Prime edge closer to Cyberverse, it's his strength.
Overall, Kingdom was enjoyed. I didn't expect to enjoy it, but I did. It's worth watching.
I'd give it a 6 or 7 out of 10 personally. It was around the level of Cyberverse season 1 for me
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2111765)
Posted by Interocitron on August 1st, 2021 @ 6:15pm CDT
Posted by Interocitron on August 1st, 2021 @ 6:15pm CDT
Maybe I'm just getting jaded, but there was almost nothing about this trilogy I cared for. Just bad vibes all around, man.
So, see you all in a year or so for the next three Netflix chapters? :D
So, see you all in a year or so for the next three Netflix chapters? :D
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2112002)
Posted by Sabrblade on August 3rd, 2021 @ 11:26pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on August 3rd, 2021 @ 11:26pm CDT
The next Netflix cartoon is for BotBots.Interocitron wrote:Maybe I'm just getting jaded, but there was almost nothing about this trilogy I cared for. Just bad vibes all around, man.
So, see you all in a year or so for the next three Netflix chapters?
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2112263)
Posted by TulioDude on August 7th, 2021 @ 10:22pm CDT
Posted by TulioDude on August 7th, 2021 @ 10:22pm CDT
Overall thoughts on the series:
-It was good!
-I really like how the series places the Autobots and Maximals in equal moral grounds.The narrative doesn't place one above the other.
-I like the dichotomy between the first meeting of the crews.The Decepticons have a conversation with the Predacons,while the Autobots and Maximals have a small tussle.
-Starscream best moments in this trilogy are in Kingdom
-The voices for the Beast Wars characters are good.After getting used with David Kaye's smooth Megatron voice for a long time,the new voice for Beast Megatron jumped out at me,but the new voice is fine.
You can tell that with him and Dinobot they were trying to mimic the manneirisms of the original characters.For the most part, it worked.Shoutout for Rhinox,for me his voice sounded nearly identical to the original.
-I think they did the best they could with Dinobot.They did want to recreate his arc from Beast Wars while having a six episode restraint,they did have to focus a lot to get him here in time,but it worked.His fight against Decepticons and Predacons was awesome.The quiet moment with the Matrix was a nice touch and he did get a nice sendoff with Primal watching.
-I kinda expected that Beast Megatron was plotting something behind the Decepticons back,but it was a surprise to see that his respect and admiration is genuine.The original Beast Wars series left room for this interpretation of the character.
-I'm suprised that Deseeus didn't appear.We never learn what were their intentions.
-Nemesis Prime was mostly saved for the ending,but hearing the other characters talking about him,building up to his appearance,helped to give a big presence.
-Having Megatron defy Galvatron was an interesting touch.He was trying to a help collective cause,while also fighting for his own motivations.
-Cybertron being saved,but having a few surviors,with a peace between factions that,while Unicron has plans of his own,would be a cool setting for a new story.
I have been wondering about this too,if at some point it was an idea they considered during the planning stages.
It could been a more wholesome ending if they did this,but in the end,I didn't hate the the execution.The absence of these characters gives greater weight to state of Cybertron.
Yeah Dinobot was a standout.
I watched this series with my family and my sister has never seen Beast Wars,so I asked if she thought the series made a good job with introducing the Maximals and Predacons and she said yes.I though this too.They made a good job connecting the different casts.
Dinobot was her favorite.
-It was good!
-I really like how the series places the Autobots and Maximals in equal moral grounds.The narrative doesn't place one above the other.
-I like the dichotomy between the first meeting of the crews.The Decepticons have a conversation with the Predacons,while the Autobots and Maximals have a small tussle.
-Starscream best moments in this trilogy are in Kingdom
-The voices for the Beast Wars characters are good.After getting used with David Kaye's smooth Megatron voice for a long time,the new voice for Beast Megatron jumped out at me,but the new voice is fine.
You can tell that with him and Dinobot they were trying to mimic the manneirisms of the original characters.For the most part, it worked.Shoutout for Rhinox,for me his voice sounded nearly identical to the original.
-I think they did the best they could with Dinobot.They did want to recreate his arc from Beast Wars while having a six episode restraint,they did have to focus a lot to get him here in time,but it worked.His fight against Decepticons and Predacons was awesome.The quiet moment with the Matrix was a nice touch and he did get a nice sendoff with Primal watching.
-I kinda expected that Beast Megatron was plotting something behind the Decepticons back,but it was a surprise to see that his respect and admiration is genuine.The original Beast Wars series left room for this interpretation of the character.
-I'm suprised that Deseeus didn't appear.We never learn what were their intentions.
-Nemesis Prime was mostly saved for the ending,but hearing the other characters talking about him,building up to his appearance,helped to give a big presence.
-Having Megatron defy Galvatron was an interesting touch.He was trying to a help collective cause,while also fighting for his own motivations.
-Cybertron being saved,but having a few surviors,with a peace between factions that,while Unicron has plans of his own,would be a cool setting for a new story.
Whifflefire wrote:My biggest disappointment with Kingdom is the confirmation that the Cybertron-based cast were all killed, thus rendering half of Earthrise kind of pointless. I had a theory that with the introduction of time-travel, the Autobots might have found a way to return to their time just before the apparent deaths of Elita and Co. and rescue them, since their plot ended on a cliffhanger. With their fates kind of ambiguous, it would have been a brilliant way to resolve that ending and the trilogy with all of the characters reuniting. The series had been really good at not wasting its cast, that it chose 'total annihilation' as the end of this part of the story is an underwhelming and unfortunate conclusion.
Ultimately, I enjoyed the WFC Trilogy. It had great ideas and brought together many different parts of the franchise's lore in interesting ways, even if it was let down a bit by the voice acting and structure. But overall a solid entry into Transformers history in support of one of the greatest toylines we've ever had. 'B' for the trilogy at whole and B+ for Kingdom itself.
I have been wondering about this too,if at some point it was an idea they considered during the planning stages.
It could been a more wholesome ending if they did this,but in the end,I didn't hate the the execution.The absence of these characters gives greater weight to state of Cybertron.
Razorbeast88 wrote:I liked the little joke about how he wouldve made a terrible Maximal, if only because it seems like the humor that Dinobot enjoys
Thats how he interacted with rattrap in the beast wars series, even up to his death in code of hero
Yeah Dinobot was a standout.
I watched this series with my family and my sister has never seen Beast Wars,so I asked if she thought the series made a good job with introducing the Maximals and Predacons and she said yes.I though this too.They made a good job connecting the different casts.
Dinobot was her favorite.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2112739)
Posted by Rogue-Primal on August 12th, 2021 @ 3:41pm CDT
Posted by Rogue-Primal on August 12th, 2021 @ 3:41pm CDT
So far from what i've seen in Kingdom... these are my issues with it, haven't seen episode 6.
Squeaky-voiced BW Megatron. Without David Kaye the BW Megatron doesn't feel right.
Same goes for no Garry Chalk for Optimus Primal.
Most of the fights feel short and unsatisfying.
They missed out on referencing Rattrap's original claim that Arcee was his Great Aunt according to the history books.
Dinobot "died" in this continuity instead of surviving after saving the Matrix of Leadership.
The Allspark has a boobytrap consisting of hallucinations and a forcefield.
Squeaky-voiced BW Megatron. Without David Kaye the BW Megatron doesn't feel right.
Same goes for no Garry Chalk for Optimus Primal.
Most of the fights feel short and unsatisfying.
They missed out on referencing Rattrap's original claim that Arcee was his Great Aunt according to the history books.
Dinobot "died" in this continuity instead of surviving after saving the Matrix of Leadership.
The Allspark has a boobytrap consisting of hallucinations and a forcefield.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2114639)
Posted by #1 Signal Lancer fan on August 30th, 2021 @ 4:18pm CDT
Posted by #1 Signal Lancer fan on August 30th, 2021 @ 4:18pm CDT
Just got all caught up on the trilogy.
The series has a lot of problems, but in that regard I'm sure everything that I have to say has already been said.
What I will say is I loved the Nemesis Prime/Galvatron team and the premise behind their timeline. I would really love to see more of that.
Given that ending, is there supposed to be a follow-up series? Has there been any word of that yet?
The series has a lot of problems, but in that regard I'm sure everything that I have to say has already been said.
What I will say is I loved the Nemesis Prime/Galvatron team and the premise behind their timeline. I would really love to see more of that.
Given that ending, is there supposed to be a follow-up series? Has there been any word of that yet?
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2114640)
Posted by o.supreme on August 30th, 2021 @ 4:23pm CDT
Posted by o.supreme on August 30th, 2021 @ 4:23pm CDT
I doubt there will be a follow up. It's something the production team often does at the end to just leave the door open "in case". CW had a similar type ending. Even the original Transformers ended in such a way.
Basically FJ Desanto is going with the Idea that Unicron is a multiuniversal singularity and can appear anywhere, at anytime. So even if the next Transformers series that tries to homage the original doesn't involve anyone who worked on WFC, the never ending cycle can continue .
Basically FJ Desanto is going with the Idea that Unicron is a multiuniversal singularity and can appear anywhere, at anytime. So even if the next Transformers series that tries to homage the original doesn't involve anyone who worked on WFC, the never ending cycle can continue
.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2115037)
Posted by Rogue-Primal on September 4th, 2021 @ 4:34pm CDT
Posted by Rogue-Primal on September 4th, 2021 @ 4:34pm CDT
This series has a new problem. We won't get a WFC season 4 with the matrix back on cybertron.
Re: Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom (2115039)
Posted by Sabrblade on September 4th, 2021 @ 4:38pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on September 4th, 2021 @ 4:38pm CDT
What? Optimus got the Matrix back. He took it with him back to Cybertron.Rogue-Primal wrote:This series has a new problem. We won't get a WFC season 4 with the matrix back on cybertron.
