Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

The designs too look like toys is a huge mistake IMO it has always been the other way around. It just looks like a super serious Toy Story movie with the budget and engineering limitations in the toy design translated to the screen is very visually off putting. WFC, Siege and ER have been some of my favorite TF releases of all time but I can pass on these toons easily.

I'm still looking forward to it. While I wont be waking up early before work this time. I'll enjoy binging on Wednesday evening. I was reading a review on another website and something has me a bit concerned.

The reviewer states "Scorponok! Not classic toon size…" (I take this as he is not a giant City Bot, although I could be wrong). This would defeat the whole purpose of being a Titan Class toy in the ER line, and would go against all other portrayals of his Classic personna in Animation (I know the comics are different), but while this is a whole new continuity, I think most viewers tend to skew it closer to the original animated series than any comic book continuity. A non-city bot Scorponok would definitely be disappointing.

o.supreme wrote:I'm still looking forward to it. While I wont be waking up early before work this time. I'll enjoy binging on Wednesday evening. I was reading a review on another website and something has me a bit concerned.

The reviewer states "Scorponok! Not classic toon size…" (I take this as he is not a giant City Bot, although I could be wrong). This would defeat the whole purpose of being a Titan Class toy in the ER line, and would go against all other portrayals of his Classic personna in Animation (I know the comics are different), but while this is a whole new continuity, I think most viewers tend to skew it closer to the original animated series than any comic book continuity. A non-city bot Scorponok would definitely be disappointing.

Maybe he could still be big but not city-sized big. Like, Combiner-sized big.

Sabrblade wrote:

Maybe he could still be big but not city-sized big. Like, Combiner-sized big.[/quote]

To me, That would still not really make sense. I mean when you look at the amazing artwork on his Titan Sized toy box, and how they portrayed Omega Supreme in Siege...Scorp should be about the same size. The only size/scale anomaly I noticed in Siege was Astrotrain (taking notes from Cyberverse for who knows why). Especially if FJ DeSanto is the fan of Headmasters Anime he claims to be, I would think Scorponok is one character he would not mess up. Of course all this worry will be dismissed, and I apologize in advance if it is revealed that he in fact accurate to the size he should be.

Sabrblade wrote:

o.supreme wrote:I'm still looking forward to it. While I wont be waking up early before work this time. I'll enjoy binging on Wednesday evening. I was reading a review on another website and something has me a bit concerned.

The reviewer states "Scorponok! Not classic toon size…" (I take this as he is not a giant City Bot, although I could be wrong). This would defeat the whole purpose of being a Titan Class toy in the ER line, and would go against all other portrayals of his Classic personna in Animation (I know the comics are different), but while this is a whole new continuity, I think most viewers tend to skew it closer to the original animated series than any comic book continuity. A non-city bot Scorponok would definitely be disappointing.

Maybe he could still be big but not city-sized big. Like, Combiner-sized big.

Mild spoiler but I'll tag it anyway: it's more or less toy scale used when Scorponok's in bot mode. He may be a little smaller than toy scale in scorpion mode, there's a scene I'm thinking of involving Optimus where I feel like OP's toy would be too small if recreated. Particulars aside, he's very big but not huge/city-bot sized. For what they do with him, it really doesn't matter, tbh.

o.supreme wrote:I'm still looking forward to it. While I wont be waking up early before work this time. I'll enjoy binging on Wednesday evening. I was reading a review on another website and something has me a bit concerned.

The reviewer states "Scorponok! Not classic toon size…" (I take this as he is not a giant City Bot, although I could be wrong). This would defeat the whole purpose of being a Titan Class toy in the ER line, and would go against all other portrayals of his Classic personna in Animation (I know the comics are different), but while this is a whole new continuity, I think most viewers tend to skew it closer to the original animated series than any comic book continuity. A non-city bot Scorponok would definitely be disappointing.

I understand why you would say that. Most fans prefer the version you also do, but I am partial to the other version, since that one was a big part of my favorite TF continuity. So I'm looking forward to seeing my favorite version in animated form.

As for the new installment, I was really hoping the creators would listen to the criticisms on Siege and make adjustments to ER accordingly. But I guess they think they know what they're doing. I'll still watch ER, just for the sake of following the story, but as it's been advised, I'll have very low expectations.

As for a 6-minute convo between Prime and Megatron being a downer, I wouldn't consider it that as long as their interaction gives exposition and furthers the story along in an interesting way.

Rodimus Prime wrote:As for a 6-minute convo between Prime and Megatron being a downer, I wouldn't consider it that as long as their interaction gives exposition and furthers the story along in an interesting way.

It does further the story, ymmv on it being interesting. My biggest issue with it is that it could have been done four times faster and gotten the same job done.

Thank you RP To be fair though...I'm not sure which version is preferred overall. It seems like fans of Animation vs Comics are pretty split. I'm just voicing my concerns based on the tone created for this series thus far. If from the outset this series was heavily inspired by Marvel Comics or IDW, while it wouldn't exactly be my cup-of-tea, I would fully expect Scorponok to be the slightly-taller-than average bot consistent with how he was shown in those comics, and not have a city mode.

Also, thanks Scotty for your clarification, much appreciated.

Without getting spoilery, how well do you who previewed it early think the ER toyline was represented? I mean obviously from the outset, they are not 100% beholden to what toys are in what series (BB and Elita was planned as Mainline and became Netflix exclusives, then you have Selects like Bugbite showing up, you also have at least ONE Kingdom Character showing up in ER etc...)

For Sige, I thought the line was represented well. While no Battlemasters or Micromasters appeared (aside from a couple cassette minions of Soundwave & Soundblaster). Pretty much everyone from the Mainline appeared except: Sixgun, Brunt, Crosshairs, Springer, & Apeface.

However due to budgetary constraints, I know only a fraction of the characters from Siege will be appearing in ER, but still, it feels like a LOT of ER characters are going to be left out, unless the previews we've seen have done a really good job of holding back.

Sabrblade wrote:

o.supreme wrote:I'm still looking forward to it. While I wont be waking up early before work this time. I'll enjoy binging on Wednesday evening. I was reading a review on another website and something has me a bit concerned.

The reviewer states "Scorponok! Not classic toon size…" (I take this as he is not a giant City Bot, although I could be wrong). This would defeat the whole purpose of being a Titan Class toy in the ER line, and would go against all other portrayals of his Classic personna in Animation (I know the comics are different), but while this is a whole new continuity, I think most viewers tend to skew it closer to the original animated series than any comic book continuity. A non-city bot Scorponok would definitely be disappointing.

Maybe he could still be big but not city-sized big. Like, Combiner-sized big.

He's still big. Combiner-sized big is a good comparison. When Optimus Prime was attacking Scorponok in scorpion mode, it seemed very much in scale with the physical Earthrise toys to me. I'm fairly certain he was comparable in size to Omega Supreme, but Mirage's hologram of Omega Supreme that attacked Scorponok might be throwing me off on that.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I understand why you would say that. Most fans prefer the version you also do, but I am partial to the other version, since that one was a big part of my favorite TF continuity. So I'm looking forward to seeing my favorite version in animated form.

I'd really like to see Leader Class versions of Scorponok and Fortress Maximus at some point in the future. They really need both versions! It'd be a great way to keep two main Transformers on shelves and give us a new way to have those characters in our collections.

While the size of Scorpy would be one understandable complaint, I'd be more concerned if Earthrise actually improves on Siege or not given how I hated Siege.

I wouldnt mind some of the city bots as leader class or commander class

Seibertron wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I understand why you would say that. Most fans prefer the version you also do, but I am partial to the other version, since that one was a big part of my favorite TF continuity. So I'm looking forward to seeing my favorite version in animated form.

I'd really like to see Leader Class versions of Scorponok and Fortress Maximus at some point in the future. They really need both versions! It'd be a great way to keep two main Transformers on shelves and give us a new way to have those characters in our collections.

In the comics both of them were about a head taller than Powermaster Prime IIRC, so maybe Commander Class might be more suitable, if we're going for accurate scale. Good thing is in the comics they didn't have a city mode, so their alt modes and transformations don't have to be compromised. I wonder, would we get a smaller version of TR Maximus or the original '87 version?

Rodimus Prime wrote:In the comics both of them were about a head taller than Powermaster Prime IIRC, so maybe Commander Class might be more suitable, if we're going for accurate scale. Good thing is in the comics they didn't have a city mode, so their alt modes and transformations don't have to be compromised. I wonder, would we get a smaller version of TR Maximus or the original '87 version?

For a "head taller", I'd be fine with Leader Class. Commander Class would be too big. I just want to see them at the standard Leader Class size along the lines of Double Dealer or Overlord. No need to be that specific with scale. Head-to-head with Super Ginrai / Powermaster Optimus Prime is fine with me.

Though, after looking at some of the old school Marvel Comics, I'm not sure that Fortress Maximus and Scorponok were taller than Powermaster Optimus Prime. You might have mis-remembered this, as it seems in one example below, it's the other way around. In the others, Scorponok is shown as the same height as Optimus. Either way, I wouldn't take this scale that serious. Just a Leader Class toy comparable in size to Powermaster Optimus Prime would be sufficient.

Seibertron wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:In the comics both of them were about a head taller than Powermaster Prime IIRC, so maybe Commander Class might be more suitable, if we're going for accurate scale. Good thing is in the comics they didn't have a city mode, so their alt modes and transformations don't have to be compromised. I wonder, would we get a smaller version of TR Maximus or the original '87 version?

For a "head taller", I'd be fine with Leader Class. Commander Class would be too big. I just want to see them at the standard Leader Class size along the lines of Double Dealer or Overlord. No need to be that specific with scale. Head-to-head with Super Ginrai / Powermaster Optimus Prime is fine with me.

I agree. Leader would be fun for Scorponok and Fort Max. And instead of making them toy accurate, their designs would take cues from the comics (G1 comics for Scoponok and IDW Comics for Fort Max).

Yeah I guess I did get it wrong, it's been a while since I read the comics. I just remembered them being bigger than most other bots. Willy-J, as for Maximus, I would like to see the original version. IDW Max looks good, but if we only get 1, it should be the OG.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Yeah I guess I did get it wrong, it's been a while since I read the comics. I just remembered them being bigger than most other bots. Willy-J, as for Maximus, I would like to see the original version. IDW Max looks good, but if we only get 1, it should be the OG.

Yah, I'd want to see the same style on both. Either a hybrid look or a G1 miniature look. I'd also be good with a simplified Titan Class bodies as Leader Class. Only requirement I have is that they look like Fortress Maximus and Scorponok and that they retain Spike and Lord Zarak headmasters with Titans Return compatibility.

Netflix sent us a whole slew of stills from the first two episodes of Transformers War for Cybertron Trilogy Earthrise. You can click here to be sent to the full gallery or on any image below. We also have a review of the series.

The gallery features screen captures from the first two episodes of Earthrise. Some of the primary characters featured in the stills are newcomers Mercenary Doubledealer, a Quintesson named Deeseeus, and previous Siege characters Optimus Prime, Megatron, Elita-1, Jetfire and others.

The series comes out tomorrow, December 30th, 2020. Be sure to let us know what you think on our forums.

All I gotta say is: they better not have wasted my boy Doubledealer. He might be the only reason I end up watching this

Apparently the Quintesson's name is spelled "Deeseeus", according to the credits. I was expecting it to be spelled "Decius" or "Deecius" or something different.

morganprime wrote:The designs too look like toys is a huge mistake IMO it has always been the other way around. It just looks like a super serious Toy Story movie with the budget and engineering limitations in the toy design translated to the screen is very visually off putting. WFC, Siege and ER have been some of my favorite TF releases of all time but I can pass on these toons easily.

Since this is the latest post on the subject I just want to chime in and say I don't get this opinion, especially as a criticism of Siege.

For years there were criticisms about toys not looking like their cartoon counterparts, now it's "they look too much like toys".

Literally the only problem that exists on the show models is any 5-mm holes or other gaps which I get could be a bit distracting but honestly if just a few of those were filled up no one would be complaining.

Like take Shockwave's shoulder holes for instance here, if these weren't known as 5 mm holes on the toy people would think it just be detailing if noticed at all.



My opinion on TF shows is that the main toyline should be designed first with the show models taking image after them with a couple changes to streamline them such as filling up gaps/holes and articulating the hands/faces.

I agree with Deadput. The fact that the toys have translated so well on screen speaks volumes about the quality of toys that we're getting these days. My biggest complaints about the WFC cartoon characters is the lack of "eye" emotion, exaggerated lips on some (in particular Megatron and Bumblebee), Megatron's eyes being too close together, Bumblebee's head design, and that the face shields don't move when characters like Optimus Prime talk.

I never really had an issue with characters not looking like the toys or toys not looking like the characters. What matters is the execution. While not as bad as Energon and Cybertron, WFC Netflix could have really benefitted from making sleeker models rather than copying-pasting the CAD files. Especially considering this was the same studio that did TFP, which kind of hurts that a TV show made 10 years ago looks better than the one we have today (even if you set aside budget differences and episode counts)

Quantum Surge wrote:I never really had an issue with characters not looking like the toys or toys not looking like the characters. What matters is the execution. While not as bad as Energon and Cybertron, WFC Netflix could have really benefitted from making sleeker models rather than copying-pasting the CAD files. Especially considering this was the same studio that did TFP, which kind of hurts that a TV show made 10 years ago looks better than the one we have today (even if you set aside budget differences and episode counts)

You can't just "set aside" the budget, you can only create something as good as budget allows.

Siege is a webseries not a proper tv show it's not even fair to compare the show to Prime. (although Prime at the same time was a show so restricted and brought down by it's budget that Earth looks lifeless and deserted the majority of the time, call me crazy but I think the environments shown in this series looks at least a tad more interesting even if it takes place in a Warzone that should be devoid of life.)

In my opinion besides some execution on the frame rate I think this show actually looks better then Rid-2015 and the Cyberverse cartoon, and I don't mean this as in the "designs" look better or anything, I'm talking about the lighting amongst other effects, with the smaller episode count the show looks pretty good in still images for example.