by joequick » Wed Aug 01, 2007 5:38 pm
It seems telling to me that the negative response to the animated line seems limited to exclaiming it poop, a few people complain about the proportions, but that’s about as thought out as any reaction gets. Not that the reaction of the fandom is ever anything else.
I enjoyed Teen Titans, I know that the team behind it can put together a good cartoon that’s equally enjoyable for children and adults, and enjoyable for almost the exact same reasons, an enjoyment based on basic quality, duel address and not double address. Adolescents or adolescently minded people are the only individuals who can look at such a production and think it’s lame, childlike, for babies. They’re the same people who mistake sex and violence for maturity, who thought that Luke Cage ****ing Jessica Jones in the ass (and getting her pregnant?) was a ground breaking moment for comic books.
Detractors say that the toys look like Fisher Price, like Go-bots, I fear this is inaccurate. The aesthetic of the line is most closely reminiscent of designer toys, a style of work that has been displayed in contemporary museums of art. The mat colors are akin not only to the new Batman figures, but also to those seen on Kid Robot. This new line of Transformers brings to mind urban vinyl. I doubt this is a coincidence. It’s refreshing that the designers bring in such diverse influences. I enjoy the classics line. But you can only regurgitate so much before moving forward. One of the joys of the earlier series, Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers through Zone and even to a lesser extent Generation 2, was the constant creation of new characters, leadership changed hands many times, different kinds of transformers were introduced. Since the western Beast Wars series, RID/Car Robots, and the Unicron Trilogy, we’ve mainly been plagued with the same characters getting new bodies every year. I’d almost like to see a series without a single recognizable face or name. I’ll settle instead for a line that understands that transformation is the gimmick, and that other traits that constrain design are unbecoming.
I might have better loved something utterly knew, but given the constraints of the show, as the follow up to a movie, I appreciate the love and knowledge of the line so clearly demonstrated by the Animated crew. Some of this has already been touched on. Galaxy Convoy’s design was informed by Star Convoy, we see Star Convoy’s window design again in primes latest incarnation. We have a vehicle mode with similar lines as Classics Optimus Prime and Grand Convoy. Helmeted Black Arachnia resembles both her original cgi model and Transmetal II forms. Slag is clearly a perfected Knockdown, Starscream most closely resembles his Armada incarnation, only stylized, and with the color scheme of the Masterpiece model. Bulkhead has Hounds detailing, but a physique like Crumplezone, sharing both his Trap Jaw design and that of the minicon Grindor and Energon Demolisher. Though I question that same under bite being granted to Grimlock, forsaking his established noggin, while at the same time I can appreciate the continuity between his alt form and robot self. Soundwave is the only figure that has me worried from a traditionalist standpoint. I don’t mind his alt mode as a Scion, it's a great update, the vehicle is designed for audiophiles, but I have trouble picturing him maintaining his defining stoicism and monotony with a guitar. Though the writers might surprise me and keep his personality low key, a quiet rocker.
The Tanks name is Devestator in the movie; it says so right on the screen, this is no mistake in so much as anything was a mistake in the film. You're kidding yourself to think that Bay or the writers cared about what that name represents. Hasbro called the toy Brawl to appease the collectors.Bay had no such concerns, we’re lucky he didn’t call Blackout, with his minion, Soundwave. Not that the villains were anything but interchangeable with their utter lack of personality. From where I stand the only favor the film did was to reinvigorating the franchise and make this new animated line possible, this line that has nothing but respect for what came before it. Something the movie utterly lacked.
Oh, I know, it’s a shame to see something as mature as the movie, where Transformers pee on people, threaten small animals, and a grotesque, obnoxious, and obviously black transformer dies first, be followed up by something as juvenile as this, where the writers value the source material instead of suffering the cliché Hollywood mindset that dictates they can do it better with as little respect for the original as possible.
Last edited by
joequick on Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
