Final Thoughts on Animated
ahsan.sa...@gmail.com
line. I just couldn't wait for the DVD to come out, and figured, "Oh
well, what the hell." My recent upgrade of my 'net package to
unlimited downloading probably had something to do with it too.
Wow, what a ride. I just saw the entirety of the run over the weekend,
and boy are my... wings... tired...? Okay, so the joke doesn't work,
but y'know what? Whatever. It was great!
Needless to say, everything below is SPOILERS
Besides a few complaints (which I'll get to), I really, really liked
Animated. The character models are kiddish, but the stories aren't all
that bad. It has its share of immature characters (Bumblebee, Sari,
and sometimes Bulkhead, Lugnut and Blitzwing), but they never seemed
to chafe. I think it helps that the Autobots are shown as being the
washouts of their various Autobot academies, and you can accept why
they're where they are.
But the real star of the show is Megatron. Corey Burton did an amazing
job, and Animated Megatron has definitely displaced G1 Megatron as my
favourite version of the character. This Megatron is menacing, mean,
has a great "roll out" line ("Decepticons... transform and /rise
up!/"), is manipulative, and doesn't lose his cool until the very end
of the series. And while he did have his Secret Weapon of the Week
thing in the first season, there was a reason for it, wasn't there,
him not having a head, and acting covertly to not tip off Sumdac. And
he knew just what to do with an invincible Starscream; kill him over
(Megatron Rising) and over (Mission Accomplished) and over (A Fistful
of Energon) and over (A Bridge Too Close) and over (Endgame) again.
Dude, I am a fan all over again.
Sari, in hindsight, is a walking deus ex machina, which is a shame
because I really want to like her as a character, not just as a cure-
all for everything. It's an aspect of her I don't like. Still,
episodes like "Transwarped" and "Human Error" do show that at least
she isn't all-powerful. Still annoying, especially in the last few
episodes.
Sumdac and Fanzone though, are much better human characters. Sumdac
because he /is/ a mad scientist, and thus tends to get things wrong,
is completely full of himself, and y'know, is kinda cool. Fanzone is
just awesome for his entire "This is why I hate machines" schtick, and
I'm so glad they had an entire episode around that.
I didn't like "Endgame" though. I mean, sure, satisfying in some ways,
but the ending felt too rushed. Prowl's death was well done (though
seemed a bit... I don't know, it just wasn't justified enough),
y'know, with that sad little smile he gives at the end. A big old
fight between Prime and Megs,very nice. Bumblebee and Bulkhead finally
beat up Shockwave. But there were too many threads were left dangling,
with Screamer's clones, the Dinobots, the Constructicons, the
Predacons... it felt as though they were in such a rush to end the
series, they just tacked on an Acme Happy Ending and called it a day.
But y'know, Animated has a lot of Beast Wars in it. There's the same
"washout Autobots in over their heads" feel to the main cast, which
makes them so likeable. But while Beast Wars couldn't afford lengthy
flashbacks to Cybertron to explain the characters' origins, Animated
could, and I can't help but wonder if that's the sort of thing the
writers had been planning for Beast Wars in the first place. The more
you look at it, the more parallels you find, what with Prowl going the
same "Honour" road as Dinobot, choosing to sacrifice himself just
after his moment of self-enlightenment, Rhinox / Bulkhead as the big
guy / genius characters, but most of all, Optimus Prime and Optimus
Primal, as these young, untried, idealistic leaders, who seem to do
the best they can with the crew of misfits they're stuck with.
But after seeing Season 3, I don't think Animated is for kids. Blurr's
execution, Sentinel Prime's political manoeuvring, Arcee's head-
patching-things, Prowl's death... yeah. Don't be fooled by the art-
style.
Gustavo Wombat
She's a walking deus ex machina that has a fairly complicated
character arc, and shows some pretty significant growth through the
series. I suspect that before long, if the series continued, she would
have outgrown Bumblebee, and started hanging out with the more mature
bots.
> Sumdac and Fanzone though, are much better human characters. Sumdac
> because he /is/ a mad scientist, and thus tends to get things wrong,
> is completely full of himself, and y'know, is kinda cool. Fanzone is
> just awesome for his entire "This is why I hate machines" schtick, and
> I'm so glad they had an entire episode around that.
>
> I didn't like "Endgame" though. I mean, sure, satisfying in some ways,
> but the ending felt too rushed. Prowl's death was well done (though
> seemed a bit... I don't know, it just wasn't justified enough),
> y'know, with that sad little smile he gives at the end. A big old
> fight between Prime and Megs,very nice. Bumblebee and Bulkhead finally
> beat up Shockwave. But there were too many threads were left dangling,
> with Screamer's clones, the Dinobots, the Constructicons, the
> Predacons... it felt as though they were in such a rush to end the
> series, they just tacked on an Acme Happy Ending and called it a day.
The Starscream clones are dead -- they got their allspark chips pulled
out by Prowl.
The Dinobots are happy on their little island -- so long as no one
bothers them, they have their happy ending.
The Constructicons were never that big of an issue, and without the
Decepticons around, they'll probably turn out all right.
Black Arachnia and Waspinator had to remain unresolved. One of the
main themes of Animated was how the different Autobots deal with
regret -- Prowl/Sensei, Ratchet/Arcee, Bumblebee/Wasp, Optimus/Black
Arachnia.
Prowl eventually becomes everything that his Sensei was teaching him
to be, and brings down Lockdown.
Ratchet restores Arcee. Again, everything works out.
Bumblebee ignores his responsibility and regret, and never really
reaches out to Wasp to try to fix the damage he caused. This is
because Bumblebee is a bad person.
Optimus tries at every opportunity to help Black Arachnia, but
sometimes you can't help someone if they don't want to be helped.
It's very real, and -- dare I say -- very adult to have these
different outcomes. Resolving the Predacons would have made everything
too pat and contrived.
> But y'know, Animated has a lot of Beast Wars in it. There's the same
> "washout Autobots in over their heads" feel to the main cast, which
> makes them so likeable. But while Beast Wars couldn't afford lengthy
> flashbacks to Cybertron to explain the characters' origins, Animated
> could, and I can't help but wonder if that's the sort of thing the
> writers had been planning for Beast Wars in the first place. The more
> you look at it, the more parallels you find, what with Prowl going the
> same "Honour" road as Dinobot, choosing to sacrifice himself just
> after his moment of self-enlightenment, Rhinox / Bulkhead as the big
> guy / genius characters, but most of all, Optimus Prime and Optimus
> Primal, as these young, untried, idealistic leaders, who seem to do
> the best they can with the crew of misfits they're stuck with.
>
> But after seeing Season 3, I don't think Animated is for kids. Blurr's
> execution, Sentinel Prime's political manoeuvring, Arcee's head-
> patching-things, Prowl's death... yeah. Don't be fooled by the art-
> style.
It is for kids, but it's a really, really well done show for kids.
It's a show for kids that introduces them to very adult concepts.
Gustavo!
SteveD
>And
>he knew just what to do with an invincible Starscream; kill him over
>(Megatron Rising) and over (Mission Accomplished) and over (A Fistful
>of Energon) and over (A Bridge Too Close) and over (Endgame) again.
Finally, a use for immortality: to show how badass a _different_ character
is.
-SteveD
ahsan.sa...@gmail.com
> On Mon, 8 Feb 2010 02:18:09 -0800 (PST), "ahsan.salahud...@gmail.com"
>
> <ahsan.salahud...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >And
> >he knew just what to do with an invincible Starscream; kill him over
> >(Megatron Rising) and over (Mission Accomplished) and over (A Fistful
> >of Energon) and over (A Bridge Too Close) and over (Endgame) again.
>
> Finally, a use for immortality: to show how badass a _different_ character
> is.
Too right. At least no one can write any shipping slashfics trying to
explain why Animated Megatron kept Starscream around.
SteveD
>At least no one can write any shipping slashfics trying to
>explain why Animated Megatron kept Starscream around.
BDSMfic in three, two, one...
ahsan.sa...@gmail.com
> On Mon, 8 Feb 2010 20:37:24 -0800 (PST), "ahsan.salahud...@gmail.com"
>
> <ahsan.salahud...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >At least no one can write any shipping slashfics trying to
> >explain why Animated Megatron kept Starscream around.
>
> BDSMfic in three, two, one...
Nooooo!
Don't do it, please don't do it.
Gustavo Wombat
Hmm. It would explain why Starscream kept coming back. And Megatron
could just be an unwilling participant, dragged into Starscream's sick
and twisted sexual fantasies.
That has a lot of potential.
Gustavo!
ahsan.sa...@gmail.com
> > Nooooo!
>
> > Don't do it, please don't do it.
>
> Hmm. It would explain why Starscream kept coming back. And Megatron
> could just be an unwilling participant, dragged into Starscream's sick
> and twisted sexual fantasies.
>
> That has a lot of potential.
I hate you all.