Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes

Sunday, May 6th, 2018 3:00AM CDT

Categories: Cartoon News, People News, Interviews
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A new interview over on ESPN gives us a little insight into one of the characters showing up in the third chapter of the Transformers Prime Wars trilogy series on Machinima - the Predacon combiner Predaking - and its voice actor Samoa Joe, a professional wrestler from TNA, Ring of Honor, NXT and WWE. He talks about his approach to the role and interest in the Transformers franchise, and his excitement for the gig. Take a read below, see the whole piece here, and join the discussion in the comments!

Even though Joe was out of commission for a few months at the start of 2018, he remained busy with another major step forward in his life and career with his biggest voice-acting role to date.

After lending his voice to the Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series and Dota 2, Samoa Joe took on the role of Predaking in Transformers: Power of the Primes. Joining a cast of heavy hitters that includes Mark Hamill, Ron Perlman, Jaime King, Wil Wheaton and Judd Nelson, among many others, Samoa Joe slipped naturally into a role that he was seemingly destined to play.

"I grew up watching Transformers," he said. "I think it was one of the first cartoons that I started watching as a kid. It was awesome. I would set my clock every morning before I went to school. It was a big part of my childhood.

"It was easy to throw myself in the character, it was fun," Joe continued. "As a child, I think everybody imitates their favorite cartoon character in some form or another when they're playing. To find themselves as a grown adult -- getting that chance and having it actually become part of that cartoon is a real cool thing."

Transformers: Power of the Primes, which debuted on Tuesday on go90 and tumblr, allowed Joe to channel the most villainous elements of his character while embracing passions from his past. He'll have a similar opportunity after Sunday once he settles into his new home on SmackDown Live, with familiar faces and new opponents alike.

[...]

"I play Predaking -- what happens when all the Predacons, which are these vicious animal robots that combine together," said Joe. "Predaking's basically this character who -- without giving away any spoilers -- he's on a hunt and he's looking to find his prey by any means necessary. He's a very violent individual, he's a very vicious individual, and when the producers were kind of looking around and wondering who to cast that role, I think my name was on of the forefront."

Credit(s): ESPN

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Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1957868)
Posted by steve2275 on May 6th, 2018 @ 3:02am CDT

samoa joe is one of the best heels in wwe
and worthy of his predaking role

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1957877)
Posted by Carnivius_Prime on May 6th, 2018 @ 6:07am CDT

Used to watch Samoa Joe in TNA for years being awesome at his job. Good times.

This cast seems better than what this animation deserves.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958206)
Posted by Sabrblade on May 8th, 2018 @ 7:18am CDT

Episode 2:
Go90 - https://www.go90.com/videos/4f1bd9jYEB5
Tumblr - https://transformersprimewars.tumblr.com/post/173693337028/transformers-prime-wars-trilogy-s3e2-volcanicus

And for those who can't view either the Go90 or Tumblr versions:

VK - https://vk.com/video-56732771_456239763

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958209)
Posted by Sabrblade on May 8th, 2018 @ 7:37am CDT

The Matrix of Chaos in this show looks nothing like its toy, instead using the old BotCon 2000 design of the Matrix of Conquest.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958268)
Posted by o.supreme on May 8th, 2018 @ 11:51am CDT

ok, so it could be that I am in just a foul mood as it is, but that 2nd episode was one of the worst things I've ever seen period. I don't even want to waste summarizing all the wrongness from it. It's like someone took many of the characters I like and did the exact opposite of what should be done... :BOOM:

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958271)
Posted by Skritz on May 8th, 2018 @ 11:56am CDT

Sabrblade wrote:The Matrix of Chaos in this show looks nothing like its toy, instead using the old BotCon 2000 design of the Matrix of Conquest.

You know what? That's....actually pretty cool. Certainly more unique than just a recolored Matrix.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958285)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 8th, 2018 @ 12:48pm CDT

o.supreme wrote:ok, so it could be that I am in just a foul mood as it is, but that 2nd episode was one of the worst things I've ever seen period. I don't even want to waste summarizing all the wrongness from it. It's like someone took many of the characters I like and did the exact opposite of what should be done...

Haven't you described the majority of this trilogy? ;-)

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958293)
Posted by Bronzewolf on May 8th, 2018 @ 1:34pm CDT

What a boatload to unpack. Ugh. Review coming at the normal time, around 2 Pacific. Stay Tuned!

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958294)
Posted by o.supreme on May 8th, 2018 @ 1:39pm CDT

ZeroWolf wrote:
o.supreme wrote:ok, so it could be that I am in just a foul mood as it is, but that 2nd episode was one of the worst things I've ever seen period. I don't even want to waste summarizing all the wrongness from it. It's like someone took many of the characters I like and did the exact opposite of what should be done...

Haven't you described the majority of this trilogy?

yeah, but even in the dumpster fire that these series have been. There were a few embers that made me think *huh...that's kind of cool*...very, very few, but still they were there. This was just...like Bronzewolf said....ugh.... I wanted to say Volcanicus roaring was cool...but I cant even bring myself to do that.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958298)
Posted by Bronzewolf on May 8th, 2018 @ 2:31pm CDT

Skritz wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:The Matrix of Chaos in this show looks nothing like its toy, instead using the old BotCon 2000 design of the Matrix of Conquest.

You know what? That's....actually pretty cool. Certainly more unique than just a recolored Matrix.

It's cool until you realise it's the first image result that comes up when you google "Matrix of Chaos". Knowing this show and this production team, I'd wager it wasn't intentional.
https://www.google.com/search?q=matrix+ ... e&ie=UTF-8

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958305)
Posted by Burn on May 8th, 2018 @ 3:11pm CDT

o.supreme wrote:ok, so it could be that I am in just a foul mood as it is, but that 2nd episode was one of the worst things I've ever seen period.

It's not your mood (unless I'm in a foul mood as well which I don't think I am). The dialogue in that episode was a fucking joke. It felt like it was written by an amateur.

Victorion was an utter joke every time she spoke.
Volcanicus "searching" involved stomping around in a circle.
Victorions plan to distract Volcanicus with something shiny seemed to work better on Megatron.
Predaking sounded less like Samoa Joe and more like Matt "Broken" Hardy.
Megatronus' head ... ughhhh I can't take him seriously every time I see him because of that head.

First part was okay, but any tone it set has been rapidly undone by this second part.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958307)
Posted by WreckerJack on May 8th, 2018 @ 3:33pm CDT

The second episode of Machinima's Transformers Power of the Primes is now ready for watching. You can find it here on Go90.com. If you are not in the US or Go90 doesn't work for you you can watch on Machinima's official Tumblr page. You can thank Sabrblade for pointing this out to us. Again we will leave you with just the episode description to avoid spoiling anything for you. If you missed the first episode, we have the information here. Enjoy!

Megatron awakens miles away to find a mysterious structure. Curious, he makes his way there, leaving his team to fend for themselves. Vulnerable without him, the team is on the brink of defeat at the hands of Volcanicus when another threat arrives hoping to destroy them.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958310)
Posted by Decepticon Stryker on May 8th, 2018 @ 3:51pm CDT

My biggest disappointment with this series is how slow the action can get. It's like everyone is moving normally one minute, then the next they're swimming in syrup.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958311)
Posted by WreckerJack on May 8th, 2018 @ 4:00pm CDT

I have been trying to watch it but I get the spinning circle of doom. I'll leave my thoughts once my router cooperates.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958313)
Posted by Bronzewolf on May 8th, 2018 @ 4:02pm CDT

Another Tuesday brings another episode of Machinima's Power of the Primes cartoon. Last week we discussed episode one, and it was not great, to say the least. Will episode two do any better? Will it fare any worse? Let's find out, as we dive into Volcanicus!

(I also suppose I should warn you that the following review does contain spoilers for the POTP Cartoon, just in case. You can read my review of episode one here.)

We jump in where the first episode left off, in the "Primal Forest", with Victorion, Windblade, and Perceptor fighting the newly formed dinobot combiner, Volcanicus.

Uh, roll credits, I guess?

Similar to the last episode, this scene is riddled with bizarre continuity errors that just make no sense, and could have been resolved with simple editing. We're introduced to our first one here: Our heroes are trying to come up with a plan to take down Volcanicus, as they recognize they should be searching for the Requiem Blaster before it falls into Megatronus' hands. Windblade blames Victorion for making the Dinobots so angry they had to combine, saying they had them "Under control" (Suuuure), when Volcanicus tries to step on them. They appear surprised, as if they couldn't see him coming from a mile away. They decide to try to find Megatron, but Victorion says she doesn't need his help.

How does one get snuck up on BY A GIANT ROBOT DINOSAUR COMBINER?!

Speaking of old Megs, we catch back up with him, as well. After being thrown miles away (a distance described in the official episode summary) into the swamp by Grimlock in the last episode, he wakes up...ten feet from where Volcanicus and the main cast are?

?!?!?

Nearby, he sees a convenient odd glint of light in the forest. He decides to go investigate, leaving the rest of the crew to fend for themselves.

The scene changes and we finally see Devastator, Computron, and Menasor again, currently being questioned by Overlord and..."Rodimus Cron" Menasor swears he doesn't know anything about where Megatron and the others have gone, and Rodimus responds by shooting Computron through the chest, apparently dead now.

Devastator also gets shot through the chest, but survives. Overlord compliments Rodimus on his firepower, and has a flashback to him pulling the "Matrix of Chaos" out of Unicron's decapitated head. Megatronus (through hologram) congratulates Overlord for finding it. Something to notice here is the the Matrix of Chaos uses the Botcon 2000 design for the Matrix of Conquest. An interesting trivia bit pointed out by Seibertronian Sabrblade. Anyway, Devastator and Menasor decide to take them on, but they aren't strong enough, and Devastator gets shot through the chest again, launched through the air, and still survives.

What is physics?

Menasor gets his fist crushed by Overlord, and then gets kicked around for his trouble. Again to the show's credit, between DashieXP's vocal performance and an actually expressive face animation for once, this scene is quite painful and desperate. Even though Menasor only gets his hand crushed, it feels violent and dramatic. I just wish some of that drama and weight would carry over to other parts of the series. Character's deaths in particular.

Back in the swamps, Windblade and crew are still dealing with Volcanicus. The grand plan that Victorion came up with is to have Perceptor distract Volcanicus while the other two attack. Perceptor decides to do this by pretending to be a researcher who wants to ask Volcanicus a few questions, even though not only did Vocanicus just see him two seconds ago, but Grimlock identified him by name last episode.
However bad of a plan it is, it works for long enough to let Victorion take a swing at the Dinos, showing that she's nearly the same size, compared to earlier in the episode where she was dwarfed by Volcanicus.

What is scale?

Just when it looks like all hope is lost and Vocanicus has them beat, Predaking emerges from the swamp, taking out the Dinobots. He demands to know where the Enigma of Combination is. We cut away just as he decides to blast Victorion. We'll have to wait till episode three to see how that turns out.
Samoa Joe, a new actor to the Trilogy, actually puts on a great performance as Predaking from what we've seen so far of him. He's not really the traditional voice for the character, but it works well in my opinion.

Back at Metroplex City, the two remaining combiners are getting torn to shreds. Overlord Demands answers out of Menasor, and orders Rodimus to continue shooting Devastator until he gets them. Devastator gets an arm and a leg blown off before Menasor talks. He tells Overlord that Megatron headed to the Primal Swamp. Overlord orders Devastator killed anyway, and then kills Menasor by...(checks notecards) gently pushing on the back of his neck.

Devastator dies by a dozen shots straight through the spark from an agent of Unicron, and Menasor dies from an aggressive backrub. Got it.

Overlord and Rodimus then start their journey to the swamp, and the episode ends.

Episode two was arguably an improvement over the season opener, though I'm not sure if that's a complement, nor if it's good enough. It certainly doesn't instill faith into the rest of the series. It feels like it's just spinning it's wheels, getting nowhere, even though it's already introduced the majority of the main cast now, and they are all on separate missions. Episode two felt too much like filler with no point or purpose, and there's no tone to speak of. While bits and pieces work, the majority doesn't, especially with an angering amount of random continuity problems plaguing both episode one and two which, and correct me if I'm wrong, weren't as prevalent in either of the two previous shows. We'll see where it goes from here.

Thanks for reading my review of Machinima's Power of the Primes episode 2! If you want to watch it for yourself, you can find it on the Go90 platform and the Transformers Tumblr account. Make sure to share your thoughts on the episode and my review in the comments below, and then tune in next Tuesday when we'll take a look at episode three!

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958328)
Posted by Qwan on May 8th, 2018 @ 6:22pm CDT

To be honest, the coolest moment (or I guess, the only cool moment?) to me was seeing Volcanicus open his mouth to roar. I guess I never thought about his mouth working that way, but it gives me pleasant thoughts of Unit-01 (or any of the other Evas too, I guess). That aside... yeah, not much to praise here.

In particular, how come Devastator can get a hole blown through his chest and be basically fine, but when the same happened to Optimus he was dead before he hit the ground? Consistency is not this show's strong suit, obviously, but like... of course the moment they decide to show characters actually getting physically damaged, it raises even more continuity questions. This show just can't catch a break.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958331)
Posted by Bronzewolf on May 8th, 2018 @ 7:02pm CDT

Qwan wrote:To be honest, the coolest moment (or I guess, the only cool moment?) to me was seeing Volcanicus open his mouth to roar. I guess I never thought about his mouth working that way, but it gives me pleasant thoughts of Unit-01 (or any of the other Evas too, I guess). That aside... yeah, not much to praise here.

In particular, how come Devastator can get a hole blown through his chest and be basically fine, but when the same happened to Optimus he was dead before he hit the ground? Consistency is not this show's strong suit, obviously, but like... of course the moment they decide to show characters actually getting physically damaged, it raises even more continuity questions. This show just can't catch a break.

Yeah, I thought about touching on that, the whole "never showing damage" thing. Speaking of, volcanicus got frickin' blasted by Predaking without a scratch.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958336)
Posted by WreckerJack on May 8th, 2018 @ 8:21pm CDT

I think it could have been better. Some of the action was really good but I wish they would take out some of the awkward anime grunts and close ups.

I wonder if Victorion will get her arm back at some point. I don't even remember how she lost it at this point.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958340)
Posted by Ultra Markus on May 8th, 2018 @ 9:08pm CDT

WreckerJack wrote:I think it could have been better. Some of the action was really good but I wish they would take out some of the awkward anime grunts and close ups.

I wonder if Victorion will get her arm back at some point. I don't even remember how she lost it at this point.

i doubt it, they will kill her off too, they will probably all die before megatron decides to throw his weight around killing overlord then he becomes unricons new minion GALVATRON! :lol:

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958350)
Posted by william-james88 on May 8th, 2018 @ 9:59pm CDT

How tall is this fucking grass!!!?!?!???!!

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958351)
Posted by Bronzewolf on May 8th, 2018 @ 10:09pm CDT

william-james88 wrote:How tall is this **** grass!!!?!?!???!!

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958354)
Posted by william-james88 on May 8th, 2018 @ 10:14pm CDT

Bronzewolf wrote:
william-james88 wrote:How tall is this **** grass!!!?!?!???!!

Haha, this grass is at least what, like 100 times that tall.

Which is nonsense and is the worst setting they could have for giant robots. Its dumb, plain and simple. Also, its lazy. They could have had trees or detailed vegetation but they couldnt afford that, so long strands of tall grass it is.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958359)
Posted by Flashwave on May 8th, 2018 @ 11:39pm CDT

Qwan wrote:
In particular, how come Devastator can get a hole blown through his chest and be basically fine, but when the same happened to Optimus he was dead before he hit the ground? Consistency is not this show's strong suit, obviously, but like... of course the moment they decide to show characters actually getting physically damaged, it raises even more continuity questions. This show just can't catch a break.

Not to defend this show or anything, cause it’s... not good, but You’re talking about a Combiner vs. a singular bot. Optimus Prime catches a blast through his chest and its fatal, because for lack of a better word, he only has one chest. Devastator’s “chest” is made up of 2 separate bots, and there are 6 sparks with six “brains” in there as well. Even if someone were to greviously wound Long Haul himself, there’s still a bunch of Constructicons in there, plenty of processing power for the whole, so long as Long Haul isn’t bleeding like a sieve or the damage is so great it hampers leg movement. Does that make sense?

Admittedly, a single shot killedCOmputron as well, and that makes Devy’s surviving less obvious, although one *might* argue that because of the way they combine, Computron’s one bot torso vs. Devy’s 2 bot torso there’s fewer redundancies.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958360)
Posted by Ultra Markus on May 9th, 2018 @ 12:04am CDT

Flashwave wrote:
Qwan wrote:
In particular, how come Devastator can get a hole blown through his chest and be basically fine, but when the same happened to Optimus he was dead before he hit the ground? Consistency is not this show's strong suit, obviously, but like... of course the moment they decide to show characters actually getting physically damaged, it raises even more continuity questions. This show just can't catch a break.

Not to defend this show or anything, cause it’s... not good, but You’re talking about a Combiner vs. a singular bot. Optimus Prime catches a blast through his chest and its fatal, because for lack of a better word, he only has one chest. Devastator’s “chest” is made up of 2 separate bots, and there are 6 sparks with six “brains” in there as well. Even if someone were to greviously wound Long Haul himself, there’s still a bunch of Constructicons in there, plenty of processing power for the whole, so long as Long Haul isn’t bleeding like a sieve or the damage is so great it hampers leg movement. Does that make sense?

Admittedly, a single shot killedCOmputron as well, and that makes Devy’s surviving less obvious, although one *might* argue that because of the way they combine, Computron’s one bot torso vs. Devy’s 2 bot torso there’s fewer redundancies.

what i find odd is that devastator could have separated and fled but acted as though they were stuck combined and in the titan wars we clearly see longhaul seperate from the rest
it kind of bothers me that we have combiners that dont do their combining
:BANG_HEAD:

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958399)
Posted by Sabrblade on May 9th, 2018 @ 6:45am CDT

william-james88 wrote:
Bronzewolf wrote:
william-james88 wrote:How tall is this **** grass!!!?!?!???!!

Haha, this grass is at least what, like 100 times that tall.

Which is nonsense and is the worst setting they could have for giant robots. Its dumb, plain and simple. Also, its lazy. They could have had trees or detailed vegetation but they couldnt afford that, so long strands of tall grass it is.

Not to defend this show for its choices, but why should alien/Cybertronian flora look exactly like Earthen flora? Why couldn't Cybertron's equivalent of trees look to our Earthen eyes instead like giant tubes of grass? These are alien plants, after all. There are no rules saying that all plant life in the universe has to have the same biological characteristics that make Earth's plants look the way they look.

Besides, the tall grass-like swamp flora of these episodes reminds me of when I used to play with my toys in the unmowed grass outside in the front yard, pretending that they were having adventures in a jungle.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958415)
Posted by o.supreme on May 9th, 2018 @ 9:22am CDT

I'd pay real money if someone dubbed this Audio over Volcanicus *searching* for the Autobots

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958426)
Posted by Rodimus Knight on May 9th, 2018 @ 9:47am CDT

o.supreme wrote:I'd pay real money if someone dubbed this Audio over Volcanicus *searching* for the Autobots

That would be a kind of awesome...

So the original scale shown for Volcanicus in this, again bring back all the disappointment at the Dinobot Combiner being done at Deluxe Sizes. HE would have been so much more Badass does in Voyager class.

As someone else noted, I don't understand why the Combiners stay together like they do. Separating and attacked en mass from different angles would have made so much more sense. Then there is the combining with each other as a limb or torso gets destroyed.

And where those ball of light supposed to be the Combiner's spark? IF so it seems to go back to the idea that the combiner is the true robot and the separate parts are just drones. Of course thew you get to the Dinobot combiner, who have been shown not to be drones, but then their combiner mode is dumber then the writers of this series.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958454)
Posted by DarkEnergon on May 9th, 2018 @ 11:57am CDT

So frustrating - so much activity that adds up to nothing.

I love the art and designs, but the animation and fights seem so slow and silly. I even like some of the humor and characterizations, but I mean nothing adds up. Some guys have really strong lasers, some don't? If I'm a combiner and I'm being pinned by the head, I'd be inclined to uncombine...

And I need to back in this thread, because I still don't even grasp what is going on with Megatronus and Starscream and Overlord and Solus Prime.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958509)
Posted by Galactic Prime on May 9th, 2018 @ 4:21pm CDT

This show is as F'ing terrible as the last two were. It's almost as if Hasbro's right hand said to these giant a$$clowns, here take G1 characters, and make a show, the fans have been crying for one for the last 2 decades, but make it really F'ing crappy so they learn never to ask for one again.

But then Hasbro's left hand goes and gives us all these kick a$$ G1 update toys.

F'ing morons.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958529)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:20pm CDT

I can live with them not acting like the g1 versions as that would be boring but this...this doesn't work but I get the feeling that hasbro probably already signed off on what's to follow and so, has lost any sense of concern that this series does well. I mean will they really contract these people to do a war for cybertron series for next year? I know hasbro is more pumped for the cyberverse show as that's geared towards the traditional market but I think there's space for three TF shows if done right. Or they could do what DC have been doing for years and do direct to DVD features based around different stories pulled from across the different universes. They could call it Transformers Multiverse and have stories based on classic g1 strips, updates of classic g1 episodes with much better animation and scripting. These scope there but alas, I think money issues would sink it...hence why we've got these in the first place

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958530)
Posted by Galactic Prime on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:24pm CDT

ZeroWolf wrote:I can live with them not acting like the g1 versions as that would be boring but this...this doesn't work but I get the feeling that hasbro probably already signed off on what's to follow and so, has lost any sense of concern that this series does well. I mean will they really contract these people to do a war for cybertron series for next year? I know hasbro is more pumped for the cyberverse show as that's geared towards the traditional market but I think there's space for three TF shows if done right. Or they could do what DC have been doing for years and do direct to DVD features based around different stories pulled from across the different universes. They could call it Transformers Multiverse and have stories based on classic g1 strips, updates of classic g1 episodes with much better animation and scripting. These scope there but alas, I think money issues would sink it...hence why we've got these in the first place

I never said anything about them acting like the G1 characters, although that would be a HUGE improvement.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958535)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:36pm CDT

Nah, the only place they should act like their g1 selves is in the g1 toon, that's all. I mean they had a good thing going in Titan Returns with Megatron being a good sarcastic shade of grey, but here they wasted it. How many eps is this supposed to be again?

Right now I'm betting that Primal will show up, merge his spark that of Optimus Prime (achieving a nod to the beast wars show) to achieve hos optimal Optimus form before laying waste to the bad guys with a macguffin of some sort.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958553)
Posted by Ultra Markus on May 9th, 2018 @ 8:36pm CDT

ZeroWolf wrote:Nah, the only place they should act like their g1 selves is in the g1 toon, that's all. I mean they had a good thing going in Titan Returns with Megatron being a good sarcastic shade of grey, but here they wasted it. How many eps is this supposed to be again?

Right now I'm betting that Primal will show up, merge his spark that of Optimus Prime (achieving a nod to the beast wars show) to achieve hos optimal Optimus form before laying waste to the bad guys with a macguffin of some sort.

i kind of would rather have them do a continuation from rebirth and have it lead into where they are now but then that would mean no megatron

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958701)
Posted by o.supreme on May 10th, 2018 @ 10:13am CDT

ZeroWolf wrote:I can live with them not acting like the g1 versions as that would be boring

You might think it would be boring, and that's all well and good, but trust me. Tons of fans of the original animated series, including myself, wish for the day the original animated series continuity will be returned to in some form. It would be no doubt, the most popular animated entry since TF Prime, and BW before that.

ZeroWolf wrote:Or they could do what DC have been doing for years and do direct to DVD features based around different stories pulled from across the different universes.

Now this I agree with, and have been asking for it for years. DC has done more than 30 animated films in the past 10 years. Some are great, some mediocre, and some downright awful, but I'm still glad they exist. Prior to recent events, naysayers would always tell me it was "too expensive" to produce direct to home media films from Hasbro, but after the recent acquisition of Saban, and what they paid, they literally could have made at least 15 animated films with that amount of money. Getting just 2 films per year that focus on different continuities in the TF Multiverse would be amazing, I'd be all for it.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958758)
Posted by Galactic Prime on May 10th, 2018 @ 3:56pm CDT

Transformers hasn't been truly great on TV since Prime and Animated and before that G1. Everything else is pretty much filth. Although Rescue Bots is a cute show for little kids

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958860)
Posted by Skritz on May 11th, 2018 @ 8:29am CDT

I'm sure there are complicated and messy marketing-related reasons as to why Hasbro, in spite of living off pandering to all the MUH GEEWUN fanboys has never tried to produce anything which is set within the G1 continuity. One of which, I suspect, is fairly simple: the G1 universe quote-unquote everyone remember is a thirty plus years old mess of godawful animation and incoherent storytelling which is propped up as the pinnacle of the franchise purely on the basis of grumpy nostalgia.

So what about a reboot which use G1 design and focus primarily on a cast of G1 characters? Well, this is what the Prime Wars trilogy has done...in theory. It's also what Dreamwave and IDW Transformers comics started off as so one could argue its entirely doable. However one could argue that this still, very technically speaking, is not truly Generation 1: merely a reboot which keep to the spirit and art style of it much closer than other reboots such as RiD 2001, the Unicron Trilogy or any other new universe we've seen the last decades. In truth, the Prime Wars cartoon nor IDW are truly 'Generation 1'. The closest thing I can say is a true to form G1 revival would be Regeneration One which continued and finish the old Marvel comic continuity.

Okay so maybe this is all semantics and when Geewunners whine they want G1 back, really, all they want are the designs, personality and cast of the original '84 and '85 crew. Fair enough, I suppose. Perhaps, really, what you guys want is a take on the story which take the least 'creative liberties' and return to presenting these characters with a style more fitting of either G1 toon, comics and/or the old toy bio. That's fine. The question is, after YEARS AND YEARS of 'nostalgic toyline' and pandering...why doesn't Hasbro do it?

My guess is, well, to be honest I got no goddamn clue why. Perhaps, simply, the execs and suits at Hasbro think that the brand still using names like 'Optimus Prime' and 'Megatron' count as nostalgic enough that, to them, there isn't much of a need to give the fandom their precious GEEWUN. Perhaps they prefer the nostalgic stuff to be more confined to side products such as comics and auxillary toylines like Generations. Or perhaps they fear that, by marketing a show as 'G1' they worry the little kiddies will look at it and go 'ew, Old Transformers, lame!'. Perhaps they worry it would not be very approachable to newcomers.

Who knows for sure. For all we know, the Prime Wars web series and Transformers Devastation were the testing ground for a more 'proper' Generation 1 revival and one which simply ended up flopping like a dying fish due to mishandling.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958865)
Posted by Sabrblade on May 11th, 2018 @ 9:01am CDT

I mean, it's not like the G1 cartoon didn't already get ninety-doggone-eight episodes to begin with.

Plus a full bonus season of "best of" episodes.

Plus THREE additional full-length sequel series from Japan.

Man, some G1 cartoon fans really have no idea how spoiled they've been by the stuff that's already been made for them.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958866)
Posted by Skritz on May 11th, 2018 @ 9:05am CDT

Sabrblade wrote:I mean, it's not like the G1 cartoon didn't already get ninety-doggone-eight episodes to begin with.

Plus a full bonus season of "best of" episodes.

Plus THREE additional full-length sequel series from Japan.

Man, some G1 cartoon fans really have no idea how spoiled they've been by the stuff that's already been made for them.

Don't you know? Transformers has been ruined forever and dead ever since it went off the air.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958880)
Posted by o.supreme on May 11th, 2018 @ 9:56am CDT

Sabrblade wrote:I mean, it's not like the G1 cartoon didn't already get ninety-doggone-eight episodes to begin with.

But as you so famously point out, Rescue Bots got 104

Sabrblade wrote:Plus a full bonus season of "best of" episodes.

All re-runs, so those don't count, you might as well throw in G2 if that's the point you are trying to make

Sabrblade wrote:Plus THREE additional full-length sequel series from Japan.

You know of anyone here, how much I really enjoy the Japanese shows. For *ME*, I truly do see them as seasons 5-7 of the original show, especially since I've known about them all along, it wasn't something I just discovered much later (Thanks to a Japanese exchange student in my class in 1988). But most fans don't see it that way, they simply see them as this quirky little *other* thing that mostly gets ignored.

Sabrblade wrote:Man, some G1 cartoon fans really have no idea how spoiled they've been by the stuff that's already been made for them.

I'll go back and make the same comparison I've made Ad nauseam. In japan the Mobile Suit Gundam Frnchise had a tight singular continuity spanning several series and movies until 1994. Mobile Fighter G Gundam was the first departure from this, and established a multi-universal Gundam continuity. From this point on, several new continuities were established, but the original "UC" (Universal Century) timeline is still returned to every so often, and those series/films are highly acclaimed.

With Transformers its a bit different, but if you include BW & BM (and BWII/Neo in Japan), which were later folded to be in each countries respective original continuity, things all existed in the same universe until 2000. Car Robots (RiD), was the first departure from this, and established, in TF animation, a multi-universal Transformers continuity. Now since then, many other continuities have been established, but not ONCE has an attempt been made to return to the original series timeline, which was left open ended (Like the UC Gundam timeline). Most other TF continuities have had full resolution, which is why the desire to return to the original burns so strong in me. Not IDW, nor Machinima's cut-rate series even come close. The closest things we've had was the Devastation Video game (which was brilliant). I'm not saying we need to return to it always and forever, but just something, anything. It works well in Japan. Kids who weren't even alive 30-40 years ago don't lament when a new chapter in the UC series is added. Nor should anyone frown on a return to the original TF continuity. There will always be plenty of new adventures (The Movie Franchise, comics, Cyberverse etc...) to captivate and reel in new interest. All I'm saying is, throw us life-long fans an appreciative (in the form of animation specifically, not talking toys or comics) bone somewhere.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958890)
Posted by o.supreme on May 11th, 2018 @ 10:14am CDT

Now the actual reason why I came here this morning :lol:

. I tortured myself yesterday and went back and watched the last episode of TR to make sure I wasn't missing something. So....Where's Fort Max? He was alive and well, and we all know how much machinima wants to get full use out of it's characters. Heck I'm surprised they didn't resurrect Metroplex & Trypticon for no good reason at the end of TR. IRL I know Michael Dorn is not attached to this project, so Fort Max will most likely not be in it (unless his voice was recast?), but...you would think an active Titan could be pretty useful against any threat that's not a Prime.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958904)
Posted by Sigma Magnus on May 11th, 2018 @ 11:07am CDT

o.supreme wrote:I'll go back and make the same comparison I've made Ad nauseam. In japan the Mobile Suit Gundam Frnchise had a tight singular continuity spanning several series and movies until 1994. Mobile Fighter G Gundam was the first departure from this, and established a multi-universal Gundam continuity. From this point on, several new continuities were established, but the original "UC" (Universal Century) timeline is still returned to every so often, and those series/films are highly acclaimed.

This is a pretty good point, but I feel that there's one important difference between Transformers and Gundam that could throw a wrench in things.

Almost all Transformers series have the same basic core cast and premise. Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Starscream, etc; and a civil war between Autobots and Decepticons on Earth after Cybertron was abandoned. There is some variance between shows, but most more or less share this core aspect. Gundam, however, does things differently. Gundam shows often have a lot of differences from one another, in both their premise and their characters. Almost every Gundam series features different protagonists with different mobile suits, different reasons and motivations for conflict, and so on. Even within just the Universal Century timeline, the various series rarely tread the same ground. Transformers, however, treads the same ground almost by default. Something like the progression of G1, to Headmasters, to Masterforce, to Victory, and so on is the exception rather than the rule.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958906)
Posted by Bronzewolf on May 11th, 2018 @ 11:26am CDT

Tapping this thread slightly back on topic. I get everyone's point (I also get how it relates to this show) but we can't have massive multi-paragraph comments that for the most part aren't on topic. I appreciate the discourse, though.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958908)
Posted by Ultra Markus on May 11th, 2018 @ 11:30am CDT

o.supreme wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:I mean, it's not like the G1 cartoon didn't already get ninety-doggone-eight episodes to begin with.

But as you so famously point out, Rescue Bots got 104

Sabrblade wrote:Plus a full bonus season of "best of" episodes.

All re-runs, so those don't count, you might as well throw in G2 if that's the point you are trying to make

Sabrblade wrote:Plus THREE additional full-length sequel series from Japan.

You know of anyone here, how much I really enjoy the Japanese shows. For *ME*, I truly do see them as seasons 5-7 of the original show, especially since I've known about them all along, it wasn't something I just discovered much later (Thanks to a Japanese exchange student in my class in 1988). But most fans don't see it that way, they simply see them as this quirky little *other* thing that mostly gets ignored.

Sabrblade wrote:Man, some G1 cartoon fans really have no idea how spoiled they've been by the stuff that's already been made for them.

I'll go back and make the same comparison I've made Ad nauseam. In japan the Mobile Suit Gundam Frnchise had a tight singular continuity spanning several series and movies until 1994. Mobile Fighter G Gundam was the first departure from this, and established a multi-universal Gundam continuity. From this point on, several new continuities were established, but the original "UC" (Universal Century) timeline is still returned to every so often, and those series/films are highly acclaimed.

With Transformers its a bit different, but if you include BW & BM (and BWII/Neo in Japan), which were later folded to be in each countries respective original continuity, things all existed in the same universe until 2000. Car Robots (RiD), was the first departure from this, and established, in TF animation, a multi-universal Transformers continuity. Now since then, many other continuities have been established, but not ONCE has an attempt been made to return to the original series timeline, which was left open ended (Like the UC Gundam timeline). Most other TF continuities have had full resolution, which is why the desire to return to the original burns so strong in me. Not IDW, nor Machinima's cut-rate series even come close. The closest things we've had was the Devastation Video game (which was brilliant). I'm not saying we need to return to it always and forever, but just something, anything. It works well in Japan. Kids who weren't even alive 30-40 years ago don't lament when a new chapter in the UC series is added. Nor should anyone frown on a return to the original TF continuity. There will always be plenty of new adventures (The Movie Franchise, comics, Cyberverse etc...) to captivate and reel in new interest. All I'm saying is, throw us life-long fans an appreciative (in the form of animation specifically, not talking toys or comics) bone somewhere.

I totally get you there to me its like the g1 series was left open and unfinished all I would like to see is some closure with some high quality animation and story telling yeah the 3 Japanese series were fun and cool but it deviated from the American side of the story like an alternate earth like how SG is from another alternate earth
I would just like the original g1 to be complete and finished

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958910)
Posted by Sabrblade on May 11th, 2018 @ 11:40am CDT

o.supreme wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:I mean, it's not like the G1 cartoon didn't already get ninety-doggone-eight episodes to begin with.

But as you so famously point out, Rescue Bots got 104

A big impressive number is still a big impressive number.

And seeing as how it took nearly thirty years for another TF show to even match, let alone top, that number...

o.supreme wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:Plus a full bonus season of "best of" episodes.

All re-runs, so those don't count, you might as well throw in G2 if that's the point you are trying to make

Except that, unlike G2's reruns, the "Season 5" reruns included brand new narrative content (however little it was) at the beginning and end of each episode that carried on after the fourth season.

o.supreme wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:Plus THREE additional full-length sequel series from Japan.

You know of anyone here, how much I really enjoy the Japanese shows. For *ME*, I truly do see them as seasons 5-7 of the original show, especially since I've known about them all along, it wasn't something I just discovered much later (Thanks to a Japanese exchange student in my class in 1988). But most fans don't see it that way, they simply see them as this quirky little *other* thing that mostly gets ignored.

And that's their fault.

o.supreme wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:Man, some G1 cartoon fans really have no idea how spoiled they've been by the stuff that's already been made for them.

I'll go back and make the same comparison I've made Ad nauseam. In japan the Mobile Suit Gundam Frnchise had a tight singular continuity spanning several series and movies until 1994. Mobile Fighter G Gundam was the first departure from this, and established a multi-universal Gundam continuity. From this point on, several new continuities were established, but the original "UC" (Universal Century) timeline is still returned to every so often, and those series/films are highly acclaimed.

Gundam has simply been treated with more seriousness and respect over in Japan than Transformers has been, in Japan or elsewhere. Only with the first live action movie did mainstream audiences anywhere finally begin to look at Transformers on a more serious level, but then the sequels had to go and muck up any respect that the first movie had garnered for the brand. Gundam, in Japan at least, didn't have that problem.

o.supreme wrote:With Transformers its a bit different, but if you include BW & BM (and BWII/Neo in Japan), which were later folded to be in each countries respective original continuity, things all existed in the same universe until 2000. Car Robots (RiD), was the first departure from this, and established, in TF animation, a multi-universal Transformers continuity.

RiD did that, not Car Robots. Car Robots alluded to stuff from both JG1 and JBW. Armada/Micron Densetsu was Japan's first openly new continuity restart.

o.supreme wrote:Now since then, many other continuities have been established, but not ONCE has an attempt been made to return to the original series timeline, which was left open ended (Like the UC Gundam timeline).

Fun Pub did (in a way that they were allowed to) with the Wings Universe material. The BotCon 2010 story Generation 2: Redux even began with a recapping of events that transpired shortly after The Rebirth leading up to the story's present day events.

o.supreme wrote:Most other TF continuities have had full resolution, which is why the desire to return to the original burns so strong in me. Not IDW, nor Machinima's cut-rate series even come close. The closest things we've had was the Devastation Video game (which was brilliant). I'm not saying we need to return to it always and forever, but just something, anything. It works well in Japan. Kids who weren't even alive 30-40 years ago don't lament when a new chapter in the UC series is added. Nor should anyone frown on a return to the original TF continuity. There will always be plenty of new adventures (The Movie Franchise, comics, Cyberverse etc...) to captivate and reel in new interest. All I'm saying is, throw us life-long fans an appreciative (in the form of animation specifically, not talking toys or comics) bone somewhere.

Honestly, the way The Rebirth ended as is was pretty standard for how most 80s cartoons that got legit finales ended. The bad guys pull off one final grand scheme to end it all for good, the good guys overcome the impossible odds before them to stop this doomsday, a great celebratory victory is had for the good guys with a new age of peace coming about, and all the bad guys who were beaten are sent into retreat to never be heard from again even if they spout their usual rhetoric of swearing revenge.

We even got the bonus continuity callback to "War Dawn" in the new Golden Age, which also bookended the show with how drained in resources the planet was back in the very first episode, by its resources finally being restored after countless millennia of warfare.

In many ways, it's also very much like how Challenge of the GoBots's intended series finale "Mission: GoBotron" (which aired way out of order) played out: The series-long reconstruction of the planet is finally at hand, the Renegades do everything in their power to stop the reconstruction efforts, much harm is caused by these acts of sabotage, seeds of dissension and disillusionment are sown among the Guardians' ranks (not a parallel to The Rebirth, just pointing out to further illustrate the stakes in this ep), one final all-out assault is launched as the two factions have their last decisive stand-off for control of the planet, and in the end, the Guardians overcome the Renegades and the reconstruct is at last fully underway, with tattered remains of the enemy fleet sent to retreat into space, never to be heard from again despite Cy-Kill vowing to return (though, the Battle of the Rock Lords movie then comes along and ruins this finality, but it's self-contained enough that it doesn't demand a further continuation).

o.supreme wrote:Now the actual reason why I came here this morning . I tortured myself yesterday and went back and watched the last episode of TR to make sure I wasn't missing something. So....Where's Fort Max? He was alive and well, and we all know how much machinima wants to get full use out of it's characters. Heck I'm surprised they didn't resurrect Metroplex & Trypticon for no good reason at the end of TR. IRL I know Michael Dorn is not attached to this project, so Fort Max will most likely not be in it (unless his voice was recast?), but...you would think an active Titan could be pretty useful against any threat that's not a Prime.

Heh, with as much ease as they killed three combiners, maybe Overlord and Rodimus Cron killed him too offscreen.

Ultra Markus wrote:yeah the 3 Japanese series were fun and cool but it deviated from the American side of the story like an alternate earth like how SG is from another alternate earth

You do know that Japan released The Headmasters before America released The Rebirth, right? Japan's show came first.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958932)
Posted by Bronzewolf on May 11th, 2018 @ 1:49pm CDT

Um, hello? What am I, chopped energon? :???:

Back on topic, please, as I asked.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958936)
Posted by Sabrblade on May 11th, 2018 @ 2:05pm CDT

Sorry, your post wasn't yet visible when I was first typing mine (which also coincided with when the site was malfunctioning for a bit), so I missed it completely. :oops:

To veer back on topic, I'll pull out the following response I gave to o.surpreme:

o.supreme wrote:Now the actual reason why I came here this morning . I tortured myself yesterday and went back and watched the last episode of TR to make sure I wasn't missing something. So....Where's Fort Max? He was alive and well, and we all know how much machinima wants to get full use out of it's characters. Heck I'm surprised they didn't resurrect Metroplex & Trypticon for no good reason at the end of TR. IRL I know Michael Dorn is not attached to this project, so Fort Max will most likely not be in it (unless his voice was recast?), but...you would think an active Titan could be pretty useful against any threat that's not a Prime.

Heh, with as much ease as they killed three combiners, maybe Overlord and Rodimus Cron killed him too offscreen.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958941)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 11th, 2018 @ 2:55pm CDT

Actually I may have missed it but have they said if this follows on straight after Titan Returns or is there some time? I mean have they left Prime's body there for someone else to clean up?

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958942)
Posted by Sabrblade on May 11th, 2018 @ 3:05pm CDT

ZeroWolf wrote:Actually I may have missed it but have they said if this follows on straight after Titan Returns or is there some time? I mean have they left Prime's body there for someone else to clean up?

It sure feels like it's not too long after.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958944)
Posted by Galactic Prime on May 11th, 2018 @ 3:15pm CDT

I fail to see how anyone cannot grasp the Fact that G1 had some of the best episodes of Transformers ever made.

Re: Samoa Joe on Voicing Predaking in Machinima Transformers Power of the Primes (1958946)
Posted by o.supreme on May 11th, 2018 @ 3:25pm CDT

ZeroWolf wrote:Actually I may have missed it but have they said if this follows on straight after Titan Returns or is there some time? I mean have they left Prime's body there for someone else to clean up?

In the first episode Victorion mentioned something about preparing for Optimus Prime's Funeral. Maybe that's what Fort Max is up to...

*Fort Max in City Mode*, -With chairs set up for the event, and the open casket- 'UHm...I wonder if anybody is coming..."

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