Then we saw the actual series, and it was an unmitigated disaster. This alone was enough to get most people excited, but after Toonami aired a now-legendary promo for the show, expectations reached a fever pitch.
TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED DECEPTICON SERIES
While Beast Wars had largely won over the fandom (for reasons we’ll get into later), Beast Machines deeply polarized Transformers fans (for reasons we’ll also get into later), and it was perceived as underperforming, leading Hasbro to rethink not only their approach regarding their Transformers animated series, but also to the entire franchise.Īfter two series of notable experimentation with the franchise, Armada was pitched as a traditionalist, back to basics premise: the heroic Autobots defending Earth from the evil Decepticons. It’s difficult to properly articulate the excitement level among Transformers fans in the lead up to the premiere of Transformers: Armada. The only reason this isn’t in the bottom slot is that it’s mercifully short. The series was met with swift and immediate revulsion, which somehow has not stopped Hasbro from ordering two sequel series. The character work seems almost intentionally hostile Windblade, a famously pacifist Autobot in most other fiction, is presented as a psychotic murderer. The voice acting is embarrassingly amateurish. The animation quality is barely better than Energon, which aired more than a decade earlier. The first five-minute episode’s opening act consists of two Transformers falling through space, haphazardly punching each other. To say the show was a disappointment would be a hilarious understatement. After seemingly endless production delays (the Combiner Wars toy line had been off shelves for months by the time the series debuted), Combiner Wars began streaming online in August 2016. It was touted as the Games of Thrones of Transformers, which frankly seemed like testing fate before we even saw a second of the show.Īnd boy, did it take awhile. Announced as an adult-targeted animated series to tie in with the collector friendly Combiner Wars toy line, production studio Machinima promised mature storytelling and sophisticated animation, a show specifically for people who wished Transformers had grown up along with them. 14 Combiner WarsĬombiner Wars promised so much. It’s not difficult to imagine your average eight year old smashing his Optimus Prime and Megatron toys together crafting a more interesting, nuanced story than what Energon serves up. Character motivations change for no real reason other than the writers decided it. The cel-shaded animation is somehow cruder than Beast Wars and Beast Machines, shows that aired several years earlier. Energon can’t really blame its problems on a bad dub though - it’s terrible in any language.Įnergon’s plot about the Autobots stopping the Decepticons from awakening Unicron ends up resolved about halfway through the 52 episode series, only for the show to undo the plot progress and repeat itself… and at that point there were still 13 nonsensical episodes left. Like the other entries in the Unicron Trilogy, the series was primarily produced in Japan and dubbed for American audiences. The second entry in what is referred to as the Unicron Trilogy, Transformers: Energon is downright impressive in the scope of its ineptitude. Here we present Every Transformers Animated Series, Ranked Worst To Best. The franchise’s cartoons don’t always manage to clear that creative hurdle (indeed, quite a few of them don’t even come close), but the ones that do are timeless entertainment that transcend the ostensible purpose of selling toys.
TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED DECEPTICON MOVIE
While it has existed in several mediums (you may have heard about a movie or two) Transformers feels most at home as an animated series, where the world of the Autobots and Decepticons is given room to breathe while still offering dynamic action and innovative storytelling.
Originally imported from Japan by toy manufacturing behemoth Hasbro in 1984, Marvel was commissioned with creating a back story for the shape-shifting toys that would be used both in that company’s Transformers comic book, as well as in Sunbow’s beloved animated series. One of the longest running toy-centric franchises in the world, Transformers has enjoyed no shortage of innovation and evolution on the small screen.
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