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Transformers: War on Cybertron Netflix Show (Spoilers)

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Binge watched it yesterday. 6 episodes at around 20 minutes each, so you can plow through it in roughly 2 - 2.5 hours.

For me, all I know about Transformers is what I remember as a kid from those 80s cartoons. So any recent movies or re-written stories about Transformers the past 20 years I have no idea.

This show is Act 1 of 3 acts. Who knows when the other acts come out.

As a whole, MEH, not great. Season 1 of Castlevania was much better.

5/10

Non-spoiler info

- Nice CGI visuals. Much better than the traditional anime. Although it still looks weird. You got CGI metallic textures for everything, but for any robot with a mouth (not a mask or face plate) all of these mouths/lips are soft, curvy and human like???
- Audio was shit. Sound effects were fine and loud. But the dialogue was awful. Probably the worst I've ever heard. It was unusually a little low in volume and the voice actors were reading off a page. Virtually zero emotion in the whole season. So many of the Autobots sounded so similar. There's a scene Optimus Prime is speaking to a Guardian and I swear it was the same voice actor talking to himself
- Adding to the audio, Soundwave sounds shit
- The Decepticons are much cooler than the Autobots, although the Decepticon planes don't look like normal jet fighters anymore. More like space fighters. Most of the Autobots seem really generic and interchangeable. And a few I didn't recognize (they must have come after the 80s cartoon)
- The show is dark and moody. Not too many jokes or comedic bits

Spoilers
- What a drab story. I get it that Act 1 is getting off Cybertron, but it seemed really boring
- The plot is Cybertron is dying and Prime wants to get this 20-sided dice thing called All Spark off Cybertron so they could start fresh. Supposedly the All Spark taken off Cybertron will kill the planet, but when they do it through this Space Portal thing, the planet still seems ok
- As usual, Bumblebee is annoying and is a focal point of the plot
- There's some deaths in the show. I think Sky Warp gets killed
- Funny part was SoundBlaster being a shady rogue robot doing his own thing
- Never knew Jet Fire actually started as a bad guy (unless that was a new story arc in the series)
- Really annoying female sidekick robot to Prime. While Prime is annoying as fuck too as this philosophical lecturer (was he like this in the cartoon? I don't remember), this pink female Autobot is just as annoying reminding Prime he's too much like a professor while she's the macho "let's go do it soldier". That classic and repetitive banter between two personalities you get in every cop buddy show
- It's just like the old cartoon. Tons of laser shots, hardly any hits
- Megatron easily the best character..... looks, plot, voice acting
 
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I found it "ok" but I went in with really low expectations. The prior two shows were so bad that this just being watchable enough to finish felt like a victory. =P

There wasn't really much i can think to comment on... One thing though, Optimus came off really wimpy in this one. Like as if his character was already mentally defeated or something.

Also they kept the designs too close to the current toys. Like they still had the pegs and accessory ports...


The Decepticons are much cooler than the Autobots, although the Decepticon planes don't look like normal jet fighters anymore. More like space fighters. Most of the Autobots seem really generic and interchangeable. And a few I didn't recognize (they must have come after the 80s cartoon)

Starscream and co have the "tetra jet" designs they had in the very first episode of the original 80s series. Once they do the Earthrise season they'll be back to the G1 fighter jet designs. And yeah mostly the entire cast was from the 80s cartoon and their designs adhere rather closely the originals too.

Really annoying female sidekick robot to Prime. While Prime is annoying as fuck too as this philosophical lecturer (was he like this in the cartoon? I don't remember), this pink female Autobot is just as annoying reminding Prime he's too much like a professor while she's the macho "let's go do it soldier". That classic and repetitive banter between two personalities you get in every cop buddy show
Yeah Elita was kinda a bitch in this. She seemed to exist only to second guess or question everything Optimus said. It became a "right on cue" thing. And no, Prime wasn't really like that in the old show.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Starscream and co have the "tetra jet" designs they had in the very first episode of the original 80s series. Once they do the Earthrise season they'll be back to the G1 fighter jet designs. And yeah mostly the entire cast was from the 80s cartoon and their designs adhere rather closely the originals too.
Ah. Didn't know that!
 

Malakhov

Banned
Binged it with my son last week. Easily became our favorite animated transformers show. It was pretty damn good
 
I couldn't get into Transformers: War On Cybertron like I did with Transformers Prime. I haven't finished the show yet, but yeah it is kind of boring.
 

Malakhov

Banned
I couldn't get into Transformers: War On Cybertron like I did with Transformers Prime. I haven't finished the show yet, but yeah it is kind of boring.
The problem with prime is it got cancelled at its peak. The first season was horrible but it got extremely good after that hence why I prefer WFC, it was good from the beggining to the end imo
 
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Not enough action, too repetitive with the chatter and a generally weird sort of character design and animation TBH. I really wanted this premise of Cybertron and the gen 1 designs/characters but they haven't executed it terribly well. I watched the first episode, fast forwarded the second and feel like I don't want to watch anymore. I'll probably finish it eventually but I'm not hooked by it.
 
No Peter Cullen, no watch.
The original voice actors in cartoons will always be the best but we can't expect them to be the voice forever.

The problem with prime is it got cancelled at its peak. The first season was horrible but it got extremely good after that hence why I prefer WFC, it was good from the beggining to the end imo
I'm going to finish War On Cybertron. Hopefully it picks up a little more in the layer episodes.
 

sol_bad

Member
The budget also really shows because you see multiple Cog's, Impactors, Sideswipes and Seekers in various colours. Bit of a shame.
Still fully on board for season 2, can't wait.
 

Malakhov

Banned
The budget also really shows because you see multiple Cog's, Impactors, Sideswipes and Seekers in various colours. Bit of a shame.
Still fully on board for season 2, can't wait.
Yeah they used a lot of the same models and here I thought g1 toys or current day repaints were a bit too much, heh
 

Neolombax

Member
I liked it. Less action than I expected. The action scenes that were there were okay I guess, was not that exciting. From what I remember from reading the IDW Transformers comics, the show was quite true to the lore, at least the IDW version anyway. Megatron was definitely the best character in the series, a way superior leader than Optimus Prime. Excited for the next chapter, I quite liked how each robot was characterized and I'm invested in their arcs.
 
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Can’t say I love the art direction, I don’t dislike it however I would of liked it to have looked more like the Netflix Castlevania series
 

Bombolone

Gold Member
Saw it on Netflix, checked out the first episode. Something was off for me, the voices. I grew up with the O.Gs so hearing Prime & Mega lite really threw things off for me.
I mean Prime kind of sounds the part? But breaks when throwing out any emotion.

If you are going to get voice actors who sound similar, why don't you just digitally alter the voices? Throw a few filters on to beef it up. They are robots for christs sake.
 

fatty

Member
I just finished both seasons (Siege and Earthfire). I enjoyed them, really hit that nostalgia feel for me.

What made me check them out was that I saw Megatron and Soundblaster toys on slickdeals.net on clearance at Walmart. Picked those up and ended up purchasing most of the other main characters, I couldn’t help it. Haven’t had any since I was a kid in elementary school.

The third season of the Netflix series is supposed to introduce us to the Beast Wars era, an era I had no interest in back then and never gave it a shot. It will be interesting to see what I missed out on and if they are actually any good.

After buying the toys, then after watching the Netflix War for Cybertron series, I gave the Transformers Prime cartoon a shot. I just could not get into the anime inspired designs, and the mouth movement was really off putting. Watched the first episode but not much else.

While waiting for Season 3 of War for Cybertron, I might check out the War for Cybertron or Fall of Cybertron 360/PS3 games...I hear those are the best ones?
 
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wondermega

Member
I just finished both seasons (Siege and Earthfire). I enjoyed them, really hit that nostalgia feel for me.

What made me check them out was that I saw Megatron and Soundblaster toys on slickdeals.net on clearance at Walmart. Picked those up and ended up purchasing most of the other main characters, I couldn’t help it. Haven’t had any since I was a kid in elementary school.

The third season of the Netflix series is supposed to introduce us to the Beast Wars era, an era I had no interest in back then and never gave it a shot. It will be interesting to see what I missed out on and if they are actually any good.

After buying the toys, then after watching the Netflix War for Cybertron series, I gave the Transformers Prime cartoon a shot. I just could not get into the anime inspired designs, and the mouth movement was really off putting. Watched the first episode but not much else.

While waiting for Season 3 of War for Cybertron, I might check out the War for Cybertron or Fall of Cybertron 360/PS3 games...I hear those are the best ones?
Those games look great and I've been meaning to pick them up forever as well - thanks for reminding me!
 

RavageX

Member
I didn't like the movies because there was too much action/explosions/etc.

I didn't like this because it managed to make Transformers boring.

I ended up loving Transformers Prime though, and I expected to hate it. Was pleasantly surprised.
 
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