Am I the only one that finds G1 a little overrated?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Transformers
LadyMiraculous — 12 years ago(January 07, 2014 04:45 PM)
I'm not trying to troll or anything, I think this is a very entertaining show. Though in my opinion, there's no way G1 could be any better than
Beast Wars
or
Transformers: Animated
.
Let me tell you what I mean:- Megatron in this show is a wimp, as well as his alter-ego Galvatron (except in the 1986 movie, which really astounds me).
- Spike and his friends are incredibly bland, and were given very little to do in the show; with Chip being a slight exception.
- Having Megatron transform into a gun is pointless, because he already has a blaster attached to one of his arms.
Also, not many of the Transformers in G1 have any real personalities, except for: Optimus, Starscream, Rumble, Frenzy, Ironhide, Powerglide, Jazz, Wheeljack, Perceptor, and The Dinobots.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy G1 a lot, but I don't think it's "perfect" as it's fans claim it to be. Does that make sense?
I WAS FROZEN TODAY!!!
[Formerly CosmosX9]
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DarklordRB — 12 years ago(January 08, 2014 05:18 PM)
Well everyone has their opinions, but there are a few things from your OP that I take with a grain of salt. For one thing, I find Transformers Animated to be much more overrated than G1. People may complain about the animation errors of G1, but when they embrace the lanky osentatious designs of Transformers Animated, then it becomes a bit of a double standard.
As for people complaining about Megatron's gun form, well I like him as a gun because it gives more exhibition to him, I'm sure some people will see it as redundant, but I think it complements the idea of his firepower. That's one of the things that made me prefer Transformers from the Gobots because of those exhibitional transformations. I also don't understand your subjective about him being a wimp, you didn't really clarify that in detail enough. -
Vihktor-24 — 12 years ago(January 08, 2014 06:34 PM)
people may complain about the animation errors of G1 but when they embrace the lanky osentatious designs of Transformers Animated, then it becomes a bit of a double standard.
TFA
's art-style was an intentional stylistic choice, it's mostly down to personal taste whether one likes it or not, whereas animation errors are genuine, objective faults in the production. Absolutely no double standard there, and the G1 show
is
pretty notorious for spotty quality control (though some later series like
Armada
and
Energon
sure give it a run for its money in this respect).
But yeah, the complaints about Megatron being a gun, well the original Japanese toy came first, before there was even a Transformers brand, so the cartoon's creators had no say in what he should turn into. They had to work with what Hasbro gave them, and they decided that the figure that transformed into a gun would be the main villain. So it's indeed an unfair complaint, at least with regards to the cartoon. -
LadyMiraculous — 12 years ago(January 08, 2014 06:49 PM)
But yeah, the complaints about Megatron being a gun, well the original Japanese toy came first, before there was even a Transformers brand, so the cartoon's creators had no say in what he should turn into. They had to work with what Hasbro gave them, and they decided that the figure that transformed into a gun would be the main villain.
Really? I didn't know that. Thanks for clearing that up, Vihktor.
I WAS FROZEN TODAY!!!
[Formerly CosmosX9] -
DarklordRB — 12 years ago(January 08, 2014 08:33 PM)
TFA's art-style was an intentional stylistic choice, it's mostly down to personal taste whether one likes it or not, whereas animation errors are genuine, objective faults in the production. Absolutely no double standard there, and the G1 show is pretty notorious for spotty quality control (though some later series like Armada and Energon sure give it a run for its money in this respect).
What intertwines is feeling and impact. The feeling you have when you see G1 are the errors in which you can't tolerate, well the feeling I have for TFA is it's esthetics in which I can't tolerate. It's not an obligatory sense that I'm looking at this from. -
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LadyMiraculous — 12 years ago(January 10, 2014 06:37 AM)
Alright, I guess I was being a little too harsh with G1's animation. After all, a lot of cartoons in the 80's had a cheaper look to them. Maybe back then, television cartoons were made on a lower budget. So, I probably shouldn't fault G1 for that.
Now, the designs in
Animated
I don't mind as much, because I always felt that
Animated
had better writing and much better character development than G1, but that's just me.
I WAS FROZEN TODAY!!!
[Formerly CosmosX9] -
Vihktor-24 — 12 years ago(January 10, 2014 08:49 AM)
That's right and fine, but still, G1's often shaky production values are objective faults that everyone can agree on (not just one group), whereas the badness or greatness of
Animated
's art style is subjective. Just saying it's not a reasonable comparison. -
DaveHasNoTimeForAnyOfThisBull — 12 years ago(February 05, 2014 06:22 PM)
So what you're really saying is that the real let down with transformers G1 is that they were great toys, but you would have wanted 3-5 episodes focusing on each character, minimum. Not just 'Changing Gears' to be his episode.
If I say something you don't like just tell me and I'll shut up, otherwise, don't rant and rave!!!! -
rtlloyd98 — 12 years ago(February 15, 2014 02:29 PM)
The colour mistakes were some of the best things about the show. I loved seeing Starscream, then Skywarp, then Starscream again.
I understand what you say about Megatron. It was always plan, fail, run away. And he never punished his troops.
As for personalities, they are all very different, each has a mind of their own.
My favourite animation is Armada, I thought the Japanese, Anime style was awesome! I hate the 3D-animation (especially in Energon and Cyberton). It made all the scenes a bit slower, and the fighting wasn't as clean.
Never seen Animation, but from pictures it looks basic, but tidy. I'm sure it's a pretty cool program. -
Enigmatic-Ocean — 12 years ago(February 18, 2014 12:22 AM)
I haven't enjoyed a Transformers series since Beast Wars. I hated the Unicron trilogy as I felt that the kids and the child-like personalities and voices of many of the Transformers was off putting. I also didn't like the animation style of any of those shows. I also hated how the CGI animation was changed so much going from Beast Wars to Beast Machines. In addition to that I felt that the overall plot was a dreadful and I strongly disagreed with what I felt were terrible changes that were forced onto all of the personalities on the show.
Animation errors aside I prefer the style of artwork that was used in the original Transformers cartoon. I also preferred Spike and his friends and family over the annoying characters that were present in Transformers Prime and in the Unicron Trilogy. Their annoying voices and their childish mannerisms made it hard from me to watch any of the later shows. AS for Transformers Animated I hate the artwork- I HATE IT! So, even though I have heard great things about the series (mostly about the writing)I can not bring myself to watch more than a few minutes of it due to what is (in my mind) unacceptable artwork.
Something that should be taken into account (which almost NEVER is when it comes to newer viewers of the original series) is that it was THE FIRST Transformers show EVER! The parties involved in making the show had no idea if it was going to be a hit or not. So, when the artwork turned up with errors (I am assuming) they didn't feel the need to spend more money to go back and fix them. Unfortunately, this led to a poor quality control over the animated aspect of the series throughout its run. As for the writing (and I have said this on numerous occasions) that for the most part almost all of season one was great. There was continuity within all of the episodes. That continuity was lost during season two. As a result(in my opinion) only around half of the episodes are worth watching. After season two we come to season three and then (once again in my opinion) only around 25% of the episodes are worth watching. The less that is said about season four the better. Perhaps if there were more episodes and we were able to learn more about all of the new characters that were introduced then we would be able to care about them, but we never really got to know those characters.
As for Megatron being a wimp I need only to point you to the episode (and it was a bad episode) "Hoist goes Hollywood" so you can see that Megatron did punish his troops when they failed. Yes, he did say "Decepticons retreat!" more than any other phrase, but at the time The Transformers franchise was entirely devoted towards children. There were (to my knowledge) no adults watching the show. My parents didn't get it and none of my friends parents got it. So, he was written as evil as he could have been written for a daytime kids show that was being aired after school in the 80s. As for his gun mode being stupid- I know a whole bunch of Transformers who turn into guns who may have an issue with you- they were called Targetmasters
When reviewing a show the time period that it was made during should always be taken into account. Sadly, these days it almost never is.
Want proof that we are doomed -
TwoThousandOneMark — 12 years ago(March 15, 2014 11:38 AM)
The key to G1 for me was it offered by far the most gravitas of any cartoon &/or toy line available for its time.
Transformers was instantly credible & accessible without being too convoluted.
1984 I was 6yrs old, so there's that also. What can I say, you love what impressed you the most as a child.
That was a full year before Nintendo, you can imagine how impressionable the tv show was. -
Optimus_Prime_is_OP — 11 years ago(June 15, 2014 11:16 AM)
No, I'm pretty sure your not the only one.
G1 fans get a bad reputation with younger Transformers fans, who claim they are doing nothing but 'Clinging on to their childhood'
I for one love G1 above most other Transformers series, but to be fair, I haven't seen them all yet (still need to see Armada)
Freedom is the right of all sentient Beings, unless they're on the Internet -
ForTheNonce — 11 years ago(July 09, 2014 01:28 PM)
Having Megatron transform into a gun is pointless, because he already has a blaster attached to one of his arms.
This is like saying, "It's pointless for the Decepticons to be mostly planes, because they can already fly!" If they fly better in plane mode, it can be assumed Megatron is more powerful in his gun form - or why would he ever transform? -
home0006 — 11 years ago(December 10, 2014 09:42 AM)
I was about 2 or 3 years old when G1 first aired, and I loved it, and still love it. However I do agree if not for childhood nostalgia I'd probably feel significantly different about the series.
There are things about it where if Michael Bay were to introduce them in his movies he'd be crucified for not taking Transformers seriously enough. Kremzeek, Insecticon insecticide, the horrible stereotypical accent with Cosmos, Trax, Seaspray's voice in general, Carbombya, turning Autobots into humans, that weird game show world, Warpath saying "Boom" "POW!" after every line of dialogue are just a few of the things that looking back drive me crazy about the show looking back on it as an adult.
One of your complaints about the series though is the humans, and I think that of all the series they did the human element the best. The current human characters in the most recent series almost ruin the shows watchability. Miko in Prime was unbearable with her obnoxious attitude. In G1 they were the most realistic portrayals of how real people act which could be a result of the characters themselves being of older age than what you see now. I just find it unbelievable that Optimus would risk having 8 or 9 year old's lives be in danger with 20 foot tall transformers blasting each other, especially when Miko is repeatedly creating situations that are endangering her own life let alone the lives of the other autobots with what she gets into. -
d_myerss — 11 years ago(December 11, 2014 02:44 AM)
Well said, and I completely agree.
I love Bay's first and fourth TF films and I hated the second and third, but I can't take people seriously when they say they disliked them because its not as well done as G1. Really? Seaspray becoming a Merman? People forget that G1 had things like this in it and I think a lot of us remember G1 as though it had the same maturity as the 1986 movie. As fun as it was (and is, thanks to nostalgia and some gem episodes) it really wasn't.
But for kids, I imagine it's more fun than many cartoons of today, regardless of how much more sophisticated and mature the cartoons are.
You just don't see many children that are fans of cartoons like they used to be. But I imagine that's probably more to do with today's technology and what today's kids have at their desposal more so than the quality of the shows.
