No.230
>>104Based, didn't expect to see a transformers thread here
anyone got any thoughts on soundstar? I remember suddenly getting into it a while ago
No.742
I hope the new comics will revitalize the fandom and do some cool shit. I am mainly a comic fan for TF, since the comics seem to target an audience who is a bit older (or at least not young kids in particular) and allow much more freedom than a super expensive CGI show does.
Hope that we will see some secondary villains and autobot forces like Straxus, Nova or Impactor/the wreckers at some point.
Saw some leaked photos of Optimus beating Starscream in a basketball match which is lowkey hilarious. Would post it but you know.
No.791
>>790Earthspark seems to have received a middling reception apart from the Soundwave design. Something about the designs in Earthspark makesbmy skin crawl, which is strange because Roche's art isn't bad. I don't really care for Mae Catt's writing and the dumbass abuse plotline just reminded me I have to rewatch TFP.
The comic was ok, I could never really get into IDW but it seems passable so far. They didn't hesitate killing characters though
No.793
>>791Yeah I don't like the designs either. Megs and Bee are fine, I could even get used to Optimus but I can't get into any of the terrans and don't care about any of them. I wish it was just Dorothy, her husband and the legacy characters. Cartoon OCs almost never work for me. Wouldn't call it bad though, just gratingly unspectacular and not because it's aimed at a younger audience than IDW even. Cyberverse did that too and I enjoyed the later two season quite a lot.
>the dumbass abuse plotline just reminded me I have to rewatch TFP. Kek I never finished TFP either. People hyped it up as dark but I failed to see it, to me it was another kids cartoon about nerdy teens becoming special by finding the magical mcguffin. Sadly Earthspark has the same premise and I am tired of it.
The abuse part was dumb and it stopped mattering like 20 minutes later and everybody became friends. I am not a fan of that trope anyway because beside IDW it usually ignores that Starscream is, at best, a war criminal and upper echelon of a dictatorship in favor of making him a poor uwu. Nothing against villains btw., my favorite bots are from IDW/Dreamwave and like half of the cast are mentally ill mass murderers there. But it's annoying when this gets ignored to appease a specific group of Starscream fans that project their issues into him. Technically there should be way more Autobots and defectors that are traumatized by Megatron's crimes anyway.
Speaking about it I really dislike how the show keeps ignoring the past to clarify what war they were even fighting. They adapted the flowers of the dead from IDW but then never bother with the lore. IDW's Megatron was a psychopath and even when he eventually turned better he was broken by grief. I have a hard time imagining that a generic nice dudes like ES Megs and Starscream have ever killed millions, because that's what the flowers stand for.
No.794
>>793Sorry anon I'm one of those people who started with TFP, I just want to do a rewatch because it's been years. People say that it's too self-important or boring and I do agree sometimes, but I really liked the designs and a bunch of the Decepticons. On the earthspark thing, I just don't think trying to transplant TFP plotlines into Earthspark worked with how lukewarm every character is, apart from Shockwave and Soundwave being emotional exes. It's not like every Transformers series is going to have TFP levels of Megatron being a coked up nutcase to Starscream, so it just seems silly. It's the same with how they tried to transplant Autobot Megatron but they forgot to actually flesh out what he did before, so he's just… there.
I'd kill for Knock Out to show up again because he's so entertaining and mean but maybe not in any of these recent series because nothing has resonated with me in a while
No.795
>>794>It's the same with how they tried to transplant Autobot Megatron but they forgot to actually flesh out what he did before, so he's just… there. Good points and explains what annoys me about it. Seems like they transplanted TFP content in the same manner. They oddly enough did this with WfC (Netflix) as well. E.g. they mentioned that Megs was an oppressed miner, but don't even explain who oppressed him or how. Later Impactor is said to be an ex-miner and former friend of Megs (like in IDW1), but again, it's mentioned and forgotten. They never talk, we never learn about their past etc.
ES had the flowers from IDW and the many names on the Memorial, so there must have been thousands of victims. But Megs is just the nice guy everybody loves, nobody but the OC villain holds any grudges, how does that work? In IDW Megs' presence caused a schism within the crew since many couldn't forgive him and refused to work with an Autobot that befriended him. And in the end Megs was executed for his crimes after all.
Here laws just do not exist within the robot culture. On top of that the series only and always explicitly refers to that day 15 years ago when they talk about war and death. So was there no war on Cybertron? Or did thousands die there too and the characters don't care because the show is about Earth? Again it just doesn't work without context.
Maybe even the war itself was only a nod to fans of the older TF series and not actual part of the ES plot, making it unclear what the setting of this series even is. It seems like instead of a war it was just a single terror act or fight that lasted a short while. Cutting such transplanted plot points out of their context renders them meaningless and makes the plot inconsistent. Anyway, the action is good and some characters are quite likeable, but unless s2 set things right I will primarily remember ES half-assed attempt at story telling.
No.971
>>968This genuinely made laugh when I found it. It's a pretty good summary about this franchise.
Speaking about it what are everybody's opinions on the current comic run? Do you like it less or more than earlier comics? What are your hopes and fears?
I enjoy it surprisingly well so far, despite being a DW/IDW fan first and foremost (though not all series from them). The action is its strong point since it's top tier and reading an issue feels like a minute. Other than that Optimus is pretty good. He is one of the rare OPs that balances cuteness well with badass behavior.
Have some problems with it though. Issue 6 had a bunch of developments/scenes that felt badly written to me, the bots aren't as pretty or cute as in earlier manga or comics and my biggest fear is that it won't ever develop past a pure non-stop action series without any meaningful character developments (other than people getting more badass for the sake of action) or in-depth character stories.
After issue 7 I am also slightly annoyed by the kills tbh. Though it MIGHT mean that secondary characters end up being more important later thanks to big names dying, but I won't hold my breath. Would be frustrating if I finally saw Marvel UK favorites appear only to see them getting nuked four panels later. But I will wait till I form a proper opinion.
No.979
>>971Skybound was hype at first, especially the stuff with Soundwave in the new issue but the speed at which characters are dropping is making me feel a little tired, and their Starscream got annoying when he started killing his own soldiers for no reason. One of my favorite parts of transformers is the way characters interact with each other, especially on that drawn out Cybertronian timescale, but one thing I've noticed in a lot of newer shows and series is that the character relationships are a little anemic.
>>978I'm hoping it's just the trailer jamming together all the crappy jokes, because the rest of the movie has so much that people has asked for over the last 15+(?) years. Cyberfauna, pre-war Cybertron, no humans, a backstory more in line with the Aligned origins. Hemsworth is even doing a passable job as Orion, and there's an insane amount of characters and bits of worldbuilding in the trailer, but I don't like the dialogue and I don't exactly like that they have to gain the tcogs. Making Orion a miner also feels like they don't want to accidentally make baby's first class war: the movie, but I'll try to be optimistic about it: the bay movies turned me off the series, but without their profits my favorite show wouldn't exist so I'll take it as it comes.
However, he librarian and gladiator backstory will always hold a place in my heart because it feels like a fairy tale and that contrast is so fun against the horror and drudgery of the war.
No.981
>>979You and me nonna
Feel the same about the comics. Action is top tier, but characterwise only Optimus is written well so far. The humans could be cool as well, at least for human standards. But the rest is lacking. Soundwave kicking ass was nice, but my fear is that most of the Decepticons will be flat and evil and most of the Autobots mere yes-men and that the series will focus too much on cool action to ever write proper characters or dynamics.
>One of my favorite parts of transformers is the way characters interact with each otherYes, this. Even Earthspark that focuses more on characters just gives us results like Megs and Optimus being friends, without caring to show their wartime conflicts or tell how they eventually got closer. Without that the relationship lacks the spice. And the rest of the legacy characters have nothing at all. The OCs are friends with everybody but I honestly don't like them (neither the Terrans nor their relationship dynamics), so Bee/Breakdown is the only interesting part for me.
>I'm hoping it's just the trailer jamming together all the crappy jokesThis is what I said on /co/ few hours ago. The jokes are awful and I would legit feel down if they finally used that fantastic premise only to turn it into another wacky nerd adventure for little kids that doesn't take anything seriously and refuses to thematize anything darker and depicts a "safe" war.
>Making Orion a miner also feels like they don't want to accidentally make baby's first class warThis and the attempt of making them "brothers", which I am honestly not a big fan of. I hope the impression is wrong and they deliberately try to attract the mass with shitty jokes since that's what they think the mass enjoys.
We know that Sentinel is part of the movie but the trailer doesn't show him, so maybe it's hiding the serious parts on purpose. Worst case would be that it's total shit but 1. making money (= more TF content in the future), 2. attracting tons of new fans that will later read/watch the other series and make fanart for them and 3. finally make people realize that fully animated TF movies without humans are profitable. This is the reason for why I will most likely pay for the cinema, even if the movie isn't very good.
No.985
>>984Damn, I didn't even know they are drawing nsfw. Have some real life shit killing my cool this month but might pay for the patreon in the future to see what they have, 5 dollars aren't much. I will tell you in case I should do it (and not forget, I am retarded so I have issues dealing with so many websites lol).
But this reminds me that I swore to myself to draw nsfw for TF as well. Wish I had the chill to finish some WIPs now.
There is a serious lack of TF porn in recent times IMO. Especially if you are like me and prefer G1 and the comics over Prime and Earthspark.
No.1008
>>990I like too many. Especially with the comics I tend to find new ones thanks to the sheer amount of side characters they have that I kind of overlooked or forgot about during my first read. Or I find a good artist or writer that gets me to obsess over them as much as they do.
Have a bunch of favs among the favs though, primarily every ship involving Tarn lol
Also love Meg/Op and Mega/Star in general, Sentinel/Proteus and IDW Prowl/any of his exes.
No.1096
>>1095What is the fanon lore for why robots can blush? I don't go here
No.1099
>>1098I don't really want to see the movie because the designs aren't really my thing but fuuuck, that sounds like a really interesting megastar dynamic…
No.1100
>>1099I had my reservations but the scene they share together comes off as super gay, it feels like someone who is into Megatron/Starscream as a concept had a hand in it lmao
No.1101
>>1098Man I really went from disliking it based on the first trailer to being so eager for it thanks to the fanart flood and all the things I have heard about it so far.
It sounds like a slightly more harmless and more comedic version of Megatron's origin in IDW, Functionism and Sentinel and this is my absolute favorite part of Transformers as a whole. Movie is STILL not out in my fucking country though.
No.1165
>>1164G1 is probably my favorite of the cartoons, it’s really stupid but that’s why it’s so entertaining.
Starscream is just like OG tsundere.
No.1179
>>1164Yep. G1 is kinda silly in many ways and a lot of the side characters are one-note heroes/villains but even back then Megatron and Starscream were already shining and both, these two as well as MegOP were already shippable back then.
Also, G1 and the Marvel comic have a great sandbox feeling. They established so much cool as fuck lore that even if you disliked them you would have to admit that they are god given gift because all later creators can take their ideas from this and develop them.
I recently downloaded all of the comic and finally read it. I am massive fan of the Cybertron-only parts and everything related to Megatron. Think the new comic could do a lot of cool shit if they keep taking from G1 but making it more up-to-date/serious.
I already said this in the old thread before FC was nuked, but reading the comics made me get into Xaaron/Impactor lol. Xaaron is such an interesting character thanks to his leader role, the connection to Impactor, his inability to transform and him becoming the vessel of Primus himself.
No.1215
Can anyone direct me to any writers or artists who make valveplug minus the valve?
If it's not a pussy exclusive Prime it's endless Starscream being drawn as a girl. Please. I filter to m/m and all I read is piv.
>>1181I'm open to a lot of ships but gravitate around Megatron for anyone as he's a central figure who works with everyone in multiple continuities. I prefer Prime design wise because I love his spiky armor that gives him a nice form overall.
Though my closest definitive pair is Opbee. And I'm having the exact problem.
I've been reading so many works where it's just cuntboy central. Not a single tag for it at times. They just assume you like and want everyone to have a pussy and it's getting on my nerves.
It feels like an author insert especially.
I only ask that it be tagged but I get pussy flashed like there's no other choice of anatomy. And don't get me fucking started on mechpreg.
No.1221
My favorite ship is actually Zeta/Orion but it's ultra rare because almost nobody has even read the part where the early war time was shown when he and Orion were still working together. I love Zeta for how much of a comical despot he is and how he turned from manipulative but funny dude to a broken extremist as time progressed. It has so much potential and hinted lore I could fill a novel with it.
I love how even his design went from "nice looking normal dude", over "masked cherubim" to "evil Templar knight". It helps that I am a massive sucker for villain/sidekick dynamics.
>>1215Headcanoning them as hermaphrodites weirdly became the standard around 2016 so the best you can do is looking for fics and porn art older than this or NSFW that doesn't show the genitals lol
There is a lot of dick sucking and creative stuff like cable porn and cable pulling but don't ask me for the writers and artists since most are doing both and I have like 30000 TF artworks saved, so I have no idea who was drawing what. I also think that Japanese fics are less likely to do it but you need to be able to read and find them or translate them.
It inspires me to finish my many own nsfw WIPs actually, for I draw it gay. Though I mostly like the less popular comic characters. I recently read another cable porn fic I've liked too, but it Sentinel/Proteus and it was old too I think.
No.1222
>>1221>2016Fuck's sake yaoi truly is dead. (at least in western popular media.)
I like older fandoms because sometimes the pre-2013 work is just as good as modern, even if it's got dated references. But the lack of lore updates makes it impossible to ignore.
A real shame because there are so many good ideas out there now, but the valveplug fanlore is too strong. It's like everyone has settled on bog standard girl/boy pairings.
I guess my only recourse is go full SFW or yuri because no one is putting female mech spikes in yuri.
No.1223
Imo the worst part is that giving robots vaginas became popular for ALL robots, not just Transformers. It really ruined fandom.
No.1224
>>1223>china draws pussy by default>japan doesn't tag shitHow mad would westerners be if they confirmed male robot anatomy to be circuitry and completely non-human? IDW indulged in fan shipping but I would love to see a confirmed interfacing explanation that's just wires, cables and being still for a minute.
TF writers aren't your general fan hating creators who go out of their way to disprove fanlore out of spite (like Ken Penders did) but it's the one subject I don't think has ever been addressed.
No.1225
>>1224I mean you can't blame them for not thematizing sexual organs on their official accounts. That aside the canon stance should be obvious as they shouldn't have sexual organs to begin with and everybody knows this. But it never stopped people from headcanoning everybody having a dick regardless. I fear it would be hard telling people that TFs had no sexual organs but that dick was still more canon than them being herms, you can either deny both or be silent on the topic.
I like dicks so I usually image the sex to involve them, opposed to be cable only. To be honest most herm fics I read described the hole so vaguely that I just imagine the gay hole when the text says "valve".
No.1226
>>1225unfortunately, not on my end.
I've been a fan of the Prime characters and valve is absolutely a vagina. A lot of artists will draw the clit, labia, every single fold as though it were a human vagina, and often there isn't spike stimulation. So it's just the top (male) and bottom (Starscream, Soundwave, Knock Out) with a graphic pussy. It would be different if the valve was like an actual valve but no. I have yet to find or read versions of the characters I could believe are two males.
No.1243
>>1242I only drew Starscream three times so far but it was so fun and he has so much untapped potential IMO.
I would love to make a whole comic about his early life as senator and the uprising or more pics about his realisation about him and Megatron drifting apart in IDW1. There is so much but I have a bunch of unpopular characters to draw that I like to shill and most stuff I find when I browse SS art nowadays feels ooc to me as well.
The advantage IDW or cartoon OCs have is that they're way more in-character since fans only have this one series to rely on. Pharma or Tarn fanart for example is mostly awesome be it from Asia or the west. But for SS Asia is stuck with G1 forever and the west has those ooc fluff or genderbent versions or the continuity soup you talked about, from people that seem like they never watched or read any of the series.
About Skybound SS, he is (IMO) one of the so far rather few engaging characters there and I enjoy his scenes a lot. I love him but I have a pet peeve and that's the brainwashing. I wish his current state was a sole, natural radicalisation of his opposed to Megatron corrupting him in the course of a few minutes. But maybe it will end up being interesting if it leads to eventual mental conflicts.
No.1244
>>1243I'm trying to teach myself how to draw on my phone starting with Hot Shot because I love him so much. He's super cute in Armada and RB and I want more art of him. The downside is, I don't have many tools to get started and I've been working on helms first, and trying to get a sense of his body. Do you have any advice?
I've never been a fanartist beyond the kid stuff I drew in class ages… 5-9.
Looks like shit, currently. But I got no intention of giving up.
But back to the brainwashing, I agree. As a Megastar fan, I like the idea that he brain raped him to submission. But as a Scream fan- I'd have liked to have seen him at maximum SS. I don't think he has it in him to be "good" outside of being a different character. As seen in Armada, who's entire cast is nothing like the American side. How characters are drawn all depend on which country is drawing them, and America and China are the leading force of OOC. Not always a bad thing, because some of their art is mind blowing. But as incredible as it is to see, I would happily look at a shitass quality picture of him turning a town into a hellscape
No.1245
>>1244I could never draw on phones I think, if you have a PC you should try it there, I swear it's easier. Or if you have spare money you can buy a Surface Pro one day. They are as good as ipad pro but cost less and you can draw onto the tablet like a canvas. I think you can get the Surface Pro 6 for a few hundreds by now. I use a desktop PC and/or Surface Pro 7 though so I don't know how good 6 is but it shouldn't be very different.
ANYWAY, I don't have many tips. For me it helped that I always drew anime-styled stuff and that the IDW characters look like fancy mecha.
But in general what new artists should do way more often is: tracing for training.
Tracing is looked down on because people associate it with artists faking their proficiency. But tracing as training can help, I did it all the time when I was a little kid and it made me get a gist of how proper lines and proportions are drawn. You need to get a feeling for the bodies you want to draw, especially if they're huge like the ones Transformers have.
Also when you start drawing your own poses don't despair if the first sketch looks wrong or even if you notice 50% in that the pose looks off. I think it's normal to repose and redraw parts all the damn time especially with complex characters like TFs. Don't do outlines and details right away, I always make one VERY vague sketch first (basically just the dynamic it should have or the "shape"). Then a sketchy shape of the body like pic related. Then detailed lines which is where I do most of the changes by selecting and transforming bodyparts with the lasso tool and only after that do I start with the actual outlines kek
But maybe other TF fans have other methods. It also depends on the series too. Some series have twinkier designs so you can basically draw anime body types and add armor.
No.1246
>>1245Drawing with a phone is really, really hard. Because the screen's so small even with my stylus.
Not impossible, just hard.
But while I can do 'art' (painting) I abhor working with pencil and paper. Digital screens are awesome and I wish I invested in one when I had student discounts. I'm not aiming for Chinese digital art quality, I honestly just want to do cute sketches like yours. Just getting a single helmet right would make my week. Which is what I've been practicing. So many of the cast have Roman armor shaped heads at their base which has helped me understand what they're going for with some designs. But an actual tablet seems to be the way.
No.1354
>>1353The Skybound comics frustrate me because they have some bit of golds for shippers like Starscream being essentially groomed by Megatron into being a psycho or Soundwave kneeling and taking Megatron's hand while being praised, but the whole of it is so, so bad. Like you said, nothing ever happens and no one develops, bots just show up and die and we're supposed to care.
No.1355
>>1354Yeah this. Some ideas are great on paper and I would like to see this getting explored, but the presentation is so.. bland? I am not sure, I see things I should like but they don't make me feel anything. I believe it's not just the writing but the art as well. The art is great for action scenes but fails to convey emotions and subtle personality traits and most characters have the same voice on top of that. I know Milne might be overhyped, but his style is a good counter example. Sometimes a character didn't get more than 3-4 panels of screentime and left an impression regardless. You saw them appear once and could already guess some quirk or standpoint they might have. Even Ramondelli works for me, albeit in a different way. His series are also dark and full of suffering, similar to Skybound's series. But he at least manages to convey an intense atmosphere.
For some reason the events in Skybound feel very distanced to me and the characters detached and samey (save for Starscream, Soundwave, Megs and OP). I genuinely wonder if they try to keep this running for 100 issues with nothing but non-stop fighting. Feels a bit as if a boy made a comic of his toy battles. I hope it will eventually slow down and focus on character development and interactions, but I wouldn't wonder if it would trigger the audience they're aiming for. I never read a DWJ series before so no idea what type of stuff he usually creates.
No.1356
Discord: tallfinalfantasy for a valve free TF server. Fair warning, filth and deep fetishes are allowed (in their own channel) and . All 18+ though. But unlike most discords irl bullshit is strongly discouraged.
Another fair warning, it's not fujochan minted.
>>1353Implied that issue 26 is when things calm down. Based on the preview.
I am not bored so much as, I hate cliffhanger endings so I chose to not read until I know I can stop. There is nowhere near enough to be satisfying for a monthly series compared Japanese work.
No.1491
>>1356>Discord: tallfinalfantasy for a valve free TF serverIs this still active and inviting?
No.1493
>>1492oof lot of begendered girlies in there
No.1504
In general, I vastly like plug and play or tactile over sticky. I think its more interesting and you never get flashbanged with a vagina.
No.1512
>>1511man they need to stop hiring fans who can't separate headcanon and shipping from what makes a good story. Roberts slipped into this in the later issues of his comic run and imo its why it finished so weakly
Hasbro needs to do background checks and just not hire people when they find a tumblr account
No.1515
>>1512Mae Catt has some good ideas, but they need to be steamrolled by a professional writer who isn't doing a fanfic.
WFC being a speedrun of the story as we know it with twists here and there could have worked so well if each season doubled in episodes, had competent voice work, and was managed by someone who understood what fans like.
Bright colors, big action and OP and Meg beating each other's helmets in. People shit on Bay, but looking at 07, it had all of those things. It understood what got people excited. There is nothing exciting about WFC because she likely wanted an IDW comic made animated. But the problem with IDW, one of various issues, is that sometimes it's just dull. The emotional moments, the shipping, it's all so dull and got in the way of what people cared about. Animated was written by fans who understood the franchise and I think Mae Catt just understands showing boys kissing to 7 year olds. It's fucking weird.
Cyberverse is at least getting everything right again as is Skybound. And wow, no Mae Catt.
No.1516
>>1515>cyberversecyberworld
This is like saying shockwave and soundwave as a new fan
No.1518
>>1516>cyberworldIs it any good? It seemed sort of wacky and aimed at kids who like Mr. Beast. All I know about is that Grimlock has a face and them made him ugly.
No.1519
>>1518It's bright, it's high energy, and while younger audience based- it's written by fans who want to make a good show. The humor is millennial but I think the clips that get highlighted the most make it come off as painful to watch. It's not. There's a Metal Gear episode. I like that. It does its job of making a cartoon about a toy, while also squeezing in story into 5min episodes
If you don't like the first episode combo (1-2) then you wont like it any more from then
No.1540
>>1519Color me shocked! I actually really enjoyed it! It was cute and fun, and I was impressed by the voice acting. I'm not super into MegOp, but there were some very long, meaningful stares that I appreciated.
No.1541
>>1540glad to hear that nonna
Now that tiktok's fucking dead, not sure what anyone can do to promote it except excessive fanart or paid influencers. Because how do you get new viewers of a show that looks very low budget at a glance. Especially coming from those badly voiced TF One stop motion videos.
No.1546
>>1544I hate idw cyclonus with a passion specifically because of Cygate. I normally don't see characters in continuities as the same character.
But Cyclonus, Knock Out and Breakdown got completely shattered by IDW in the fandom spaces because it was written for tumblr girls and not as a TF series. I may not like everything about ES but I do appreciate it leaning into BreakBee so people can shut up about knock out.
No.1548
>>1545Not a lot of people have seen season 3 compared to the previous ones for various reasons, which is a shame because they have great interactions, especially in the episode The Killing Jar where they finish each other's phrases.
>>1546I haven't read the comics yet and I'm not sure I will but I'm a bit tired of the chokehold it has on the fandom. Also I don't think classic Cyclonus (as well as Galvatron and Scourge) will appear in media again, except Skybound maybe.
No.1549
>>1547This is my problem with Dratchet, Cygate and Chromedome as a whole. They are the 'canon gay'entities with designated partners and in fandom spaces you have people flooding the comments like WHERES HIS CONJUNX. Especially Breakdown who had on screen chemistry with Bulkhead in Prime, and a crush he admits on screen for Black Arachnia. Dude's bi, planned initially to be an Autobot, and that means his personality could have opened pairings with most of Team Prime.
But no. It's just KOBD forever and ever because of IDW.
I like their stories. I like Deadlock turning to Ratchet because patients falling in love with their doctors is interesting. I just hate that it actually happened. I like the idea of a menacing, terrifying bot like Cyclonus has a soft spot for what's essentially, an anime girl in a seifuku via Tailgate. I especially hate that it happens. Mostly because I wanted enemies to lovers Whirl.
It's an absolute void of creativity and freedom of expression simply ceases. Compared to pairings that will never happen but people get inventive because they will not happen
No.1551
>>1546Is Earthspark worth watching? I admit I'm trepidatious about Scottish Autobot Megatron. Does it get better than what we see in the first couple of episodes, or is it Bluey tier family bonding stuff the entire time?
No.1552
>>1551Worse.
It's Bluey without the parental appeal. And Seasons 2-3 are absolute garbage levels of mindless baby show for toddlers which is a real shame because the actual toddler show has smart writing.
Season One is the most talked about because it had budget, dynamic storytelling and fresh takes. Like Mid-life crisis Bee.
The downside is that the show is written like a fanfiction with Continuity Soup and never tells you which. They say G1 is the basis, but you've got IDW terms thrown in, IDW personalities, pretty sure there are Prime elements and if you didn't watch and read everything beforehand, oh well you will not get an explanation for anything tossed at you. The focus is primarily on the human family and pulls far away from anything outside of that the more the show goes along
No.1553
>>1552ayrt, Marathoned through the episodes that seemed worth watching. Holy shit, what a wasted opportunity. I loved mid-life crisis Bee, and was shocked at how little I disliked Megatron—mostly because he still seemed, like, pretty evil. The idea of them being forced into an uncomfortable alliance with humans because they've essentially turned themselves into castaways had a lot of potential (and if the entire series were like that first fight scene with Skywarp and Nova Storm, it'd be one of the best Transformers shows out there, imo). Starscream and his weird PTSD relationship with Megatron had some potential. Basically any of the legacy characters were excellent.
But the main plot… It's a crowning achievement when the character named *Hashtag*, of all people, is the least irritating of the new characters being introduced. If I had to hear 'Nightshade, pronouns: they/them' one more time was going to pitch my PC across the room. And he's not even the worst one! Apparently Prowl shows up at some point, but I can't tough it out even for him. Alas.
At least Cyberworld is entertaining.
No.1554
>>1553You can watch this series in a playlist that's nothing but the best episodes and it still falls flat.
Prowl is his IDW version down to the cast shitting on him the way the fandom does when all he does is state something obvious. It upset me.
I don't like this show.
I need Hasbro to stop making decisions based on investor buzzwords and actually hire the way they did in 2006-2015.
RID isn't the best show, but I will take a mentally retarded teenage crew, useless human characters, and bad itallian mobster voice #68 over ES's best episode.
No.1555
>>1554With really heavy edits, it might be salvageable, but yeah, I don't think we're getting back the glory days of Animated and Prime any time soon.
No.1559
>>1558>jpyou mean everyone?
Noboby tags nsfw in this fandom for some fucking reason. I don't want to see it because it's all PIV projecting or futanari
The worst part is humanformers gets the same treatment
No.1563
>>1561I'd place it… post 2010, after the fall of Livejournal. I feel like the first herma-sticky I saw was around then. Prior to that, it was dicks and asses and considered kinda cringe by the fandom at large, like Mary Sue tier 'the femme seeker has long flowing blonde hair' stuff.
IDW and its extremely human-like charcterization probably didn't help.
##holy shit that attachment is amazing##
No.1566
>>1565The 400:1 male to female ratio makes good het ships hard to come by in this series, although I am fond of Arcee/Springer.
Plug 'n play is the way to go nonna. Behold: the very pinnacle of eroticism.
maybe I'm prudish, but the story is always going to take precedent over the sex for me, so I don't mind when authors do weird and outlandish things instead of having penis and vagina analogues No.1567
>>1566I admit I am more partial to sex because of how outragously hot it is to see the official artists draw them making out, but if I had to pick a non-organic based interface it'd be tactile.
I honestly really don't like it when people put nodes in random places like tongues or where it wouldn't make sense. I think as robots that have been fighting for so long every part of them has been blown off and put back on, it should be something they have to manually turn on. And I'm happy canon has never stated exactly how they fuck with Hot Motor Oil being basically a meme because nothing going on in those is penetrative or remotely sticky adjacent
No.1572
>>1571It's not good.
The first and second half of the show are bizarrely conflicting as neither know what it wants to be.
Its based on both G1, IDW, and continuities splaced and stitched together in the most nonsense setting out of any show. If you liked G1, IDW, and shipping, you will enjoy it a lot. Because the series really, really wants you to like Soundrod. I say this because one of the writers, Mae Catt, who also did Earthspark, has explicitly stated that they want gay couples in the series.
The voice acting is beyond terrible in a way that surpasses Energon. There are only maybe 4-6 stand out roles but it's like the creators made a series for 30 year old fans but gave it the tone of a baby series. The best episode is the last episode. The other episodes range from Harold and Kumar, Grown Ups. Moonfall, Back to the Future and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Never expect consistency besides how random it is. A trait it took from G1 but doesn't implement very well because G1 had smart writing even when every episode was a parody of a movie or a completely isolated indecent. Imagine the gambling episode but instead of a sci-fi story about gambling addiction, it's just Smokescreen and Bluestreak quipping at each other with stiff dialogue and a bot dies.
Because the kill count is high, for some reason. It's weird. I don't think you should go in expecting a good show, but go in expecting something that is indeed transformers
No.1577
>>1576>tfw optimus' funeralfuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you FUCK YOU WRITER
Having Windblade of all people insult him while no one speaks up about him, Jazz isn't even there iirc, and everyone he loved also being dead made me so, SO angry. All because when they designed him, they made him a cop
Because Jazz got to shoot a cop, and was subsequently demonized by the world for the remainder of the run. MTMTE is the worst of the worst for being influenced by tumblr but the worst of it has to be JG1 characters being made into pieces of shit the way The Boys' comic did standard heroes. Because everyone from Japan was a weirdo lame character. As seen by the racist shit that used to be on the wiki before it was edited away
No.1580
>>1577>JG1 characters being made into pieces of shitIt's weird after watching Headmasters, where Chromedome is a brash hero and Brainstorm is a cautious sentimentalist, to go to IDW, where Chromedome is like… a huge loser and kind of desperate wrt romance and Brainstorm is an obnoxious stalker. I know they were Marvel first, but the fact that both characters got hit with the 'weird and pathetic in love' beam is odd.
No.1581
>>1580IDW took an active stance based on social media at the time for how they depicted everyone and that's why I absolutely hate it.
There are incredible ideas, but the whole ruins those moments.
It sucks knowing the reason kobd is canon, is because the writers wanted to appeal to Prime fanfics instead of his character. A paranoid, insecure failure trying his best. Knock Out IDW is a fanfiction reflection of his Prime self made canon and I hate him. And the fact that people treat them as interchangeable makes me hate him even more. I hope that any skybound writers do what they want and don't give in to what some danger hair on twitter's demands. I sound like a 4chan /v/ermin saying all of that but I'm just so tired. Tired mostly of seeing characters I like being turned into sanitized tumblr mouth pieces instead of being who they are at their core. Or worse, made into ship bait with nothing going outside of that. See Earthspark Optimus who, for some reason, is okay with child soldiers because they have a super power when he's always been thoroughly against putting children in danger regardless of said superpower.
He gave the key to his memories to Jack in Prime with the express intention of being made whole again. And Kicker is an outlier as for some reason the Energon writers wanted him front and center even though he couldn't do anything but be in the way. Once you strip out the fight scenes, ES Optimus really only seems to exist to be a positive affirmation bot. That isn't why I like these characters. I like them because the canon looks like pic related and the audience is free to fill in the blanks. They are toys first. That is the point. Bog down canon with who they love and waste time on it, and you get Chromedome and Rewind.
No.1582
>>1581>They are toys first. That is the point. Bog down canon with who they love and waste time on itI think the only canon ship that really works is Blackarachnia/Silverbolt (maybe Tigatron/Airrazor before they got alien'd). It's a bit of a coughing baby vs nuclear bomb to compare anything to Beast Wars and its brilliant writing. the showrunners knew how to balance the darker, mature elements of the story with goofy cartoon humor perfectly, ie, the atomic fart episode is followed by an exploration of the morality and feasibility of pacifism, and somehow it all works.
I do still get sad about Dark Glass being cancelled, though.
Transformers in general isn't great at romance though. It works well in some fanfic, but not in the series itself.
No.1583
>>1582I agree about beast wars. The series dedicated itself to a very, very tight cast all stranded and that made it a perfect setting for romance. I liked how rivalry and hate blended so well with being the only ones of their kind stuck on a planet none of them could really live on. Rattrap loving Dinobot as a friend or something more, I liked it.
But for something like the comics, where there's only so many pages to fit 4 long running stories in the same issue, I don't like it. Cyberworld somehow shoved Oplita and Wheelita in the 1.6 second time gap of their 5 minute episodes and that's impressive. But nothing's said. And I'd rather it stay that way. IDW sat the audience down to show a genuinely pointless conflict just so Cyclous could carry his baby husband around and I wanted to bang my head on my phone. I wouldn't have hated them so much if I was allowed to make them kiss on my own terms. It isn't like a romance series where you go in expecting it. It's romance shoved in for the sake of loud minority fans. People come up with these pairings because the series is good and they want to ship them. I don't want to ship Dratchet because the series told me they were married. I want to ship them because I liked Ratchcee in animated and Ratchet going from doctor to lover is cool
Also Ratchet Lockdown should be a thing too
No.1585
>>1584Wheeljack drooling over Mirage's powers/mods was great. Cyberworld continues to serve delicious delicious ship bait. They just need to bring Megatron back for the S1 finale so he and Optimus can go back to staring longingly into each other's eyes.
No.1586
>>1585Please anon, Starscream's hitting yandere territory with how he stalks OP.
Starop has the highest potential with Galvop coming in hot. I like how the creator has been throwing every ship at the audience with no limit. I would have never considered some of these combinations and I'm hoping we get Soundwave or Shockwave to pair off with anyone that is not wavewave. Shockwave and Wheeljack had a thing in Cyberverse, now they can go for a round 2 with who's the most weird obsessive.
No.1589
>>1588>Be a Season 3 G1 fan>be the only S3 G1 fan>every time I want to talk about S3 they tell me they didn't watch it because it didn't have [insert popular character.]Shit sucks. I hate wanting to talk about Rodimus and the default is IDW. I wish Skybound released TF, Joe, Void Rivals weekly or on a biweekly rotation just so people would at least talk about Hot Rod and potential G1 Season 3 plot points but everyone is reading TF and not VR.
We got Ultra Magnus and Arcee, now we just need Hot Rod, Kup and Springer to get back into focus. Megatron went batshit early which is perfect for Galvatron and eventually, Scourge and Cyclonus being unshakably loyal to him
No.1590
>>1589G1 S3 is soooo good. Yeah, no Ratchet or Thundercracker, sure, but its so much fun besides. They don't even know that Cyclonus et al dumped Galvatron into therapy because he was too crazy. They don't know that Grimlock got smart or that Arcee, Magnus, Springer and Rodimus got turned into humans. Zombie Optimus, that terrible episode where they go to the opera planet. None of it.
S3 is so perfect and wacky and no one appreciates it. I love Rodimus 'burdens of leadership' Prime. He's great. TF tried for a young inexperienced leader again with Optimus in Animated and people ate it up.
No.1591
>>1590Grimlock saving the universe AND making Computron are insanely kino. The writers were leaning deeper into Marvel Comics and making an expanded universe where planets had continuous relations with the main cast and the no rules, anything goes characterizations were slowly being phased out for continuous development. I love G1 Arcee and heroic action dude Springer. The cast was so well rounded and balanced each other without going to complete extremes. I like how the cons were making Earth their home as best they could too. Something that generally gets glossed over with just 1-2 characters. RID2015 being an exception with Steeljaw wanting to make Earth his kingdom. And honestly, if the plot did not demand he be a dense bully, he could have done it some place where he would not bother anybody. Earth feels bigger than Cybertron because they don't seem to like showing any place outside Kaon, Iacon and Polyhex.
A single city seems like more than plenty of room to just be 'con city' the same way the autobots made their own
No.1592
>>1591> Earth feels bigger than Cybertron because they don't seem to like showing any place outside Kaon, Iacon and Polyhex.I would love for a series to go in depth on Cybertron. Maybe some sort of gritty pre-war neo-noir with Nightbeat or something, and really lean into the worldbuilding.
The Marvel comics do a bit of it, but I don't think much has been done in terms of worldbuilding Cybertron since maybe the Dreamwave comics and Armada? Cyberverse did a shit job and does not count.
No.1593
>>1592Almost all continuities with direct inspiration from IDW are so homogeneous in world features they might as well just be the same continuity. Power of the Primes/Youtube Machinima is the only other "canon" (I don't consider it canon personally) that actually bothered to show more than a single spec of the planet. But it is IDW slop at the same time. One had by far, the best depiction with the abandoned facilities, the high guard village, and evil cave they found the primes in. But no more One so that's out.
Earth is generally more valuable in terms of potential resources and outside of JG1 and JP canons overall, it gets almost no play in favor of 'robots in disguise.' Masterforce and Victory just have everyone living fine on Earth. Kiss Players, for its coom based faults, also has them focused more on building a home vs not using Earth to its potential. My point being, NA needs to get over its Japan bad and actually copy their ideas because they can't seem to figure out what to do with the massive, very important planet besides keep destroying it for plot.
No.1594
>>1589>>1590Season 3 has a lot of faults, but so do the first two seasons and I had a lot of fun watching it, Galvatron is hilarious (one of the few good things in Headmasters as well). I think people would give it a shot if most of the episodes weren't animated by Akom.
No.1595
>>1594I've got a soft spot for Headmasters and its awful dub. I quite like the main four and Fortress. And the space adventures can be fun.
No.1596
>>1595>chromedone getting a sad gay lover bot in both IDW and HeadmastersHeadmasters is a series for insane people and I'm one of them. Everything is bizarely dark to completely out of place comedic. Galvatron getting destroyed like a deviantart inflation furry followed by Sixshot the best character in the show followed by whatever the fuck was going on with other planets and actual genocide. It's a mess and I don't know if it's the translation or if the Japanese writers kept forgetting it was supposed to be for kids.
No.1597
>>1596Drunken karaoke shenanigans followed closely by the Headmasters stumbling onto the scene of a massacre. Best show.
No.1598
>>1595I love old shitty english dubs from the 80s/90s à la Big Green, it was actually the main selling point of Headmasters for me. I just hated how Scourge and Cyclonus were turned into bumbling retards and Ultra Magnus was killed off with no dignity.
>>1596>the Japanese writers kept forgetting it was supposed to be for kidsI think Japan has different standards about what counts as a show for kids compared to America, especially in the 80s, the genocides didn't "count" as real ones because it only happened to robots and weird aliens, and the carnages were mostly bloodless. Blowing up Cybertron just like that was kinda funny though.
No.1599
>>1598>the genocides didn't "count" as real ones because it only happened to robots and weird aliensMasterforce starts with the mass murder of a ship of people. They all die horrifically.
JP G1 is actually just insane.
No.1601
>>1598>>1599They've got different standards for what level of violence is acceptable for kids. I'm sure the American G1 writers would have killed off characters if the censors let them—think about how many characters died in the '86 movie. The only thing stopping the writers from doing that every week were the censorship guidelines.
Blood, death, panty jokes ala Dragonball? Sure, no problem. Smoking? Worse than murder.
And of course, look at Beast Wars, where they aren't shy to kill characters very violently once the censorship dropped off a bit. …They were also not shy to make a ton of innuendo, courtesy of Rattrap.
No.1607
>>1606Not conventionally attractive, doesn't have a bombastic personality and isn't even ugly-cute like Dobby.
Doomed to be a main character that goes wholly ignored in the same way Seaspray, Hoist, Brawn and Powerglide got.
I think if Scourge has any fandom presence it's generally RotB Scourge. Still doesn't have a bombastic personality but his moan when fighting OP are more than enough. That being said, I've been hit with intense fandom fatigue for the most popular characters. I can't read megop anymore. Really don't care much for Starscream or Thundercracker. Would really like to see dom Beachcomber and any art of the lesser seen cons.
No.1608
>>1607> I can't read megop anymore.I only care about hyperspecific G1 megop. Prime and TF:One have ruined the pairing for me. The second they call Optimus an archivist or mention Sentinel, I'm out. I simply do not care about broken friendships anymore. Give me the comedic megalomaniac and Robodad. I want warring rivals, not sad exes.
No.1610
>>1607He doesn't have the best design (hairy robots will always look silly to me) but he is still an iconic G1 character with a decent amount of focus, and I kinda like the weird gayccent he got in Headmasters lol. His absence in Cyclonus centered fics is particularly egregious since these two are always hanging out together.
>rotbIs he supposed to be the same character or is his name just a wink wink nod nod like Armada's Cyclonus or Bumblebee's Blitzwing?
At least Seaspray and Powerglide got their focus episodes with their human girlfriends, there's a ton of autobots I had no idea existed because they did nothing in the original cartoon, like Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker or Windcharger, even Prowl was mostly relegated to the background.
No.1611
>>1610Sunstreaker is major popular thanks to IDW. He also hits conventional attractive appeal with Sideswipe for wincest.
And no. Movie Scourge is a different character but he has the same origin. He's a life form from Unicron. He's a terrorcon by technicality but they don't say so. If I didn't hear him say Nightbird's name I wouldn't have ever thought she was meant to be a G1 reference.
Very cute however, how they have presence in JP comics as complete failures at their job. I can't find the tweet, but she and Scourge both share an ability to have endless clones and they're as effective as sentai goons.
No.1612
>>1610A lot of the G1 backgroundish guys got a lot attention because of their fanon appeal (and because they were in Dreamwwave). IE, Prowl is a rule-following hardnose, Sunstreaker is a vain sociopath (and canon gay in Dreamwave, the first, I think), Trailbreaker is a peaceful friend to the animals, Breakdown is a paranoiac, etc. Older fanfic is better about featuring some of the more obscure characters.
Plus, a lot of them have their fandom designated boyfriends. There is no Prowl without Jazz, and no Sunstreaker without Sideswipe (romantic or otherwise).
No.1614
>>1613ayrt, them's the breaks. Nothing worse than being a rarepair shipper of a character with a fandom-desiginated-boyfriend. I've got a rareish Perceptor ship, and before me all I see is a bleak wasteland of Drift.
I feel bad for the nonas who ship Skyfire with anyone other than Starscream, or Knock Out with anyone other than Breakdown.
No.1615
>>1614thanks for the food
and let me guess, Ratchceptor? Hell it could even be Rodiceptor for how Drift only seems to exist with Ratchet, Rodimus, and Wing if they feel generous.
I like KOSS too, so, you can imagine the suffering continues and moral shall never improve. koss does have some content here and there. There's a tumblr of someone so insane for them she has a treasure of content. But idw KO and Prime KO are not the same character. Despite people who apparently did not watch Prime thinking so.
No.1616
>>1615G1, actually! But tagging on Ao3 for transformers is so bad that IDW and G1 Perceptor get muddled together. I don't even dislike Brainstorm in Headmasters but I have to filter him out to get a semblance of peace.
I was ambivalent on Prime when I watched it, but unfortunately that has trended towards dislike, mostly because of the annoying tendency of TF fans to fandom soup everything. Stop leaking Prime into my G1! Stop leaking IDW into my Beast Wars!
KOBB has potential though.
No.1617
>>1616I don't think some of my favorite pairs are rare, just overshadowed a lot of the time.
Like Chromedome and Prowl.
I am an avid hater of shockblurr though because it has ruined both Blurr and Shockwave's tags. As did Senator Shockwave and Empurata. But I blame shockblurr more because I genuinely love Animated Shockwave and pair him with anyone who isn't Blurr.
No.1618
>>1617>I am an avid hater of shockblurr though because it has ruined both Blurr and Shockwave's tagsI know people started tagging Transformers as Maccadams to differentiate it from the Bayverse movies. I need a new tag that is wholly devoid of IDW. Or IDW people can just tag their shit correctly and then I can block it. I hate to be geewunner about it, but man has IDW become a scourge on the rest of the fandom. I do not need to hear about the ~uwu canon transbians~
Animated Shockwave and Bumblebee… I like BlitzBee in Animated, but you're giving me ideas, nona.