Transformers: Animated Talkback

[SAMAS]

If you haven't been paying attention, the series (so far, at least) ended this morning, with the airing of "Endgame: Part II".

For those who missed it:
Spoiler

Megatron returned to the Moon with Arcee and Omega Supreme and used a number of Protoforms to create three clones of Omega, imprinting them with Lugnut's mentality. His first target, the Autobots in Detroit. All the Autobots have is Jazz, Ultra Magnus' Hammer, and a new jetpack for Prime.

Prime, using the Hammer, manages to disable one clone and ground the other two before Megatron peronally attacks him. Bulkhead and Bumblebee fight Shockwave, while Ratchet and Sari fix Arcee, then Omega, who promptly ejects Lugnut.

Meanwhile, Prowl and Jazz are trying to stop the clones, when Starscream puts himself back together and activates a failsafe built into them, a pair of bombs that will wipe out everything in a 100-mile radius. Unable to stop the bombs themselves, Prowl and Jazz use Processor Over Matter to gather as many of the remaining Allspark fragments as they can, including the one in Starscream's head, which kills him(turned gray and everything). Omega arrives and takes out one of the clones, disabling the bomb, but the last one is about to go off. Prowl sacrifices his own Spark to activate the Allspark, trapping the last clone (and a still-fighting Optimus and Megatron) in a forcefield. Prowl's ghost appears and pulls Prime out of the barrier just as the bomb goes off.

Megatron survives the explosion and attacks again, but is put down by the Magnus Hammer. The Autobots triumphantly return to Cybertron with Lugnut, Shockwave, and Megatron in chains, the remaining Protoforms, Omega Supreme, and Prime wearing the Allspark around his neck.

Overall, it was a good ending to a great series, but left a number of plot threads dangling, possibly in case they get picked up for a new season.

[Bounty]

Wait, that series was still going? I thought they never picked up after the Spacebridge accident...

Damn, I have some catching up to do. That series was fun.

[DarkSilver]

it was a good series, which surprised me a great deal.

Good character development, nice lil "wink-wink" moments to the fan (Tigatron Stadium for one..).

This Starscream and Megatron were actually some of the best Megatron and Starscream out of all the series I find, both were evil, powerful and devious. I feel saddened by Starscream's demise. And Prowl's. Hope they find a way to bring him back if they continue.

[Swindle1984]

I haven't had access to a television for the last five months, so I missed out on this series. I was excited to see they had a Swindle toy to add to my collection though.

Vehicle mode looked nice enough. Robot mode...

Yeeeeaaaah. Looks too fucking cartoonish. And he has a gatling gun for a dick, apparently.

[Bounty]

Looks too fucking cartoonish

Cartoon toy looks cartoonish? What an outrage.

[Swindle1984]

None of my G1 toys look cartoonish. Ditto for Beast Wars. I understand that Transformers Animated went with an exaggerated, cartoonish art style. That's cool. I just think it looks stupid on action figures because it makes them look like McDonald's toys. Feel free to possess a differing opinion.

[Bounty]

Man, I missed a *lot*. When did Sari grow up? And why can she transform from annoying kid to robotic death machine thing?

[Vehrec]

Spoiler

Sari grew up because as it turns out she's got more in common with the cybertronians than us meatbags. It turns out that her metal bones are a direct result of her origins as a protoform-she's functionally a transformer with a human alt-mode. After discovering this, she powered herself up using that dang key, and in doing so consumed all the power of her McGuffin. From what we saw of her protoform however, she was not a standard model even to begin with. The Sari protoform was feotal in both appearance and positioning and much smaller than the other protoforms we've seen on this show. Oddly, or perhaps not so much, she makes a different sound when she transforms herself-fully or partially.

The upshot is that she aged up about six to eight years, can now commune with machines in order to learn how to fix them, and can even put holes in Soundwave with her inbuilt weapons. Said weapons include palm projectors that launch energy balls, the extending armblades, and a big hammer, making her quite well armed. In a fight, she's still something of a liability given her lightness and inability to take damage.

The series ended with more than a few mysteries about Sari still unsolved. How did she get to Earth in the first place? What exactly is her relation with the All-spark? Why did she start out an infant and then age naturally to approximately eight years old instead of becoming a fully formed adult? And why the hell did scanning Issac Sumdac produce a fem?

[Bounty]

The male-female thing wasn't a direct correlation in Beast Wars either IIRC. Plus, you know, alien magic tech.

I've been reading the synopsis and watching a few random eps. It's too bad the show appears to be dead because for a cartoon designed to sell toys it was really a labour of love.

[LadyTevar]

3 good seasons out of a cartoon is a good run, and they had several great episodes with a lot of character and story development throughout.

I would like to see a Season 4, and they did leave several threads open that could be spun into a new season; Arachnia and Waspinator, the Dinobots, Soundwave, the Constructicons, etc.

[Bounty]

I really liked how the writers stuffed every episode with little nods and in-jokes to whatever the hell they came up with that week, other Transformers shows, the fandom, movies, art. It's not a show I ever watched religiously - I did miss the whole last season - but I still enjoyed every episode I did see.

Plus the voice cast was stellar.

[Trogdor]

Loved the show from the moment in the first episode when Starscream slapped a bomb on Megatron's back. I could really have done without all the human villians, but I realize that they needed villians for the rookie Autobots to cut their teeth on, and the human villians mostly much stopped showing up after that was accomplished.

I think I might have enjoyed the Decepticons more than the Autobots in this show. Starscream was suitably devious and power hungry, and Megatron was capable of keeping him in check through more than simple force. Blitzwing was hilarious, Shockwave was just badass (he killed Blurr!), and we really should have seen more of Soundwave.

Sari, though occasionally infuriating (HOW many times did she learn that using that key too much was bad idea, only to forget this lesson a few eps later?), was far more interesting than most human characters in the various Transformers series, if only because they "cheated" and made her part machine.

Also, as has already been mentioned, the voice talent was great. Sulu as Yokitron was a particular highlight. And I honestly got chills almost every time the biggest bot opened his mouth and announced himself ("I am OMEGA SUPREME!")

All in all, I really wish there had been just one more season, because of all the plot threads left unresolved. I particularly wanted to see more of Waspinator, and the addition of Dirt Boss to the ranks of the Constructicons made me think that Devestator might be upcoming.

[Steve]

Just like with Teen Titans, this series is an abject lesson to me that just because the animation style might look a little wonky and not as "good" as other shows I like doesn't mean the series itself isn't awesome. And TF Animated was, in fact, made of Awesome.