Episode 04, Darkness Rising, pt 4 Options

[Zek]

BWAH! My DVR didnt record it for some reason!

[RYNO]

Definitely the most enjoyable ep to date. Animation was better this ep too. The first two eps had horrible lighting, and this ep was much better! Still not thrill with some aspects if the show, but I actually impressed with the human's characterastion, and depth.

[Nyarlathotep]

Man, that was brilliant. It feels like I'm watching Beast Wars again.

[Powered Convoy]

"Sorry, Fowler. We don't have the budget to animate a hospital, so you can just sleep it off here."

Seriously? Of all the things to pick at? That's too picky.

[MrBlud]

This was a perfect storm of stuff I don't like so far about the series.

Combs can do better then this. He sounds like he's reading off a script and the delivery is coming off as overly mechanical. Maybe that's what he's going for but I don't like it.

Cullen continues to have epicness ALL THE TIME. It's distracting and kinda aggravating at this point.

Agent Fowler is all over the board in terms of presence. Much too silly for what was going on this episode.

Jerky Animation plus I'm almost positive they even recycled Bulkhead's heroic charge the second time.

Violence in place of story progression. It sure was cool Optimus and Ratchet spent ten minutes slicing apart zombies and shoving swords through their faces. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-primal.gif)

As for the good stuff. Megatron is wonderfully crazy. The kids, oddly enough, continue to be the most tolerable part of the series. I also loved Bulkhead actually used Miko to draw the drones attention. And the fact a Decepticon Warship didn't have a flashdrive, no ID4 here. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

The show isn't terrible, it's just not very good.

I hope all this stuff improves once the series proper starts.

[Fenix Twilight]

I was imagining the RAGE if Raf managed to take down the Nemesis.

And then "There's nothing that looks like a USB port.". Thank Primus.

This post has been edited by Fenix Twilight: Dec 2 2010, 11:50 PM

[Kil]

Agent Fowler is all over the board in terms of presence. Much too silly for what was going on this episode.

This was the worst thing in this episode, the random attempt to interject some lighthearted-ness by having the torture victim start spouting silly nonsense. It felt completely out of place.

[M Sipher]

As for Dark Energon... note that the undead zombie army, which fell as individuals with moderate ease, had a single fist-sized shard of Dark Energon to fuel dozens and dozens of warriors. The spider-thing from last episode merely had a drop and was definitely put down.

Cliff got a fist-sized shard of those all to himself. Certainly explains his increased... semi-vitality.

Overall, I liked it. The muted sequence seen from the humans' level was definitely a strong moment. If we can jsut get Cullen out of Big Important Speech Mode...


M "Poor Bulkhead..." Sipher

[Waspinator]

I too am really glad that the Decepticon warship didn't have USB. That would just be too contrived.

[Starfield]

There were a lot of things that were good. I like the character interaction and the mood and stuff like that.

But, they built up some big threats in the last few episodes. The Optimus Prime and Ratchet were in a bad way. In addition to zombie hoards, Dark Energon exposure was sapping their strength. Bulkhead and the kids getting caught out in the open next to the Decepticon warship. Then to resolve all that, the Autobots just... fought their way through with brute force. There was no clever solution or anything. Optimus Prime got his second wind and beat up all the zombies. The other Autobots just stormed the warship and beat up troopers. I guess Decepticon warships don't have automated defense systems.

Watching it through, it somehow wasn't ever boring or anything. It was neat seeing it from the kids' point of view. But afterwards, thinking about the last episodes and how much the threats were built up, it just seems like the Autobots got off kind of cheap.

P.S. Hey, nobody has guns or blaster rifles or anything. Everyone has movieverse Bumblebee-style integrated transforming arm cannons and whatnot. Not a huge deal, but another example of how there's just not much to set the characters apart from each other in the Prime aesthetic.

This post has been edited by Starfield: Dec 3 2010, 01:54 AM

[Razorsaw]

Eh? They're all visually distinct. The arm cannons are just a standardized element. In fact, each one's guns all look different despite being the same general weapon.

[M Sipher]

They're certainly different designs. Arcee's guns are sleek and thin, Bee's are more short blaster barrels that pop out from his gauntlet armor (fists are still there), while Bulkhead has the monster cannon. And Prime has the movie-ish long-rifle.


M "So... Yeah. Really Don't Know Where You Get That" Sipher

[Cabooceratops]

They're certainly different designs. Arcee's guns are sleek and thin, Bee's are more short blaster barrels that pop out from his gauntlet armor (fists are still there), while Bulkhead has the monster cannon. And Prime has the movie-ish long-rifle.


M "So... Yeah. Really Don't Know Where You Get That" Sipher

I think it's more like they seem to have the same effect, none of the guns were any more or less effective or had any special effects to them. They were just... Guns.

I thought it was pretty cool that Ratcher had blades instead of guns. Then Prime got blades and I was all like "well damn."

That is not to say I am not loving this show now, it's really hooked me these past two eps.

[Razorsaw]

well, there's only so much you can do with an arm cannon. But it's not like everyone has the same abilities in general, so the cast is still distinct.

also. Bumblebee has an arm cannon AND the two guns over both fists.

[Starfield]

Eh? They're all visually distinct. The arm cannons are just a standardized element. In fact, each one's guns all look different despite being the same general weapon.

Just like the character models. They all manage to look visually distinct despite being generally the same. Not a lot of alternate mode character shining through on these guys. Robots with random points on their armor, painted on headlights, and wheels tucked in somewhere.

[Cabooceratops]

well, there's only so much you can do with an arm cannon. But it's not like everyone has the same abilities in general, so the cast is still distinct.

also. Bumblebee has an arm cannon AND the two guns over both fists.

There should be enough effects for them to get a few unique blasts going.

[Razorsaw]

Eh? They're all visually distinct. The arm cannons are just a standardized element. In fact, each one's guns all look different despite being the same general weapon.

Just like the character models. They all manage to look visually distinct despite being generally the same. Not a lot of alternate mode character shining through on these guys. Robots with random points on their armor, painted on headlights, and wheels tucked in somewhere.

If you're being sarcastic, I get a completely different feel for each character based on their designs. so. while they don't show as much alt mode kibble they certainly don't look homogenous.

as for the guns, look at it like this. Optimus and Megatron's rifle and fusion cannon are basically the same weapon in execution. But no one mixes them up with each other and have their own distinct look. That's how it is here.

[abates]

Do camera phones in the US have flashes, or was that a convention so we know Miko took a picture?

[M Sipher]

Some do have flashes, yes.

I gotta say, I dug Prime impaling one zombie with a sword, then shifting to cannon to blast another zombie with the same arm. Nice move there.


M "More Wicked Fight Stuff Like That, Please" Sipher

[David Thomsen]

My interest in Prime is waning quite rapidly. I'm only still watching it because I'm going to give the series a chance next year, and I want to be up to date when that happens.

The weird fog in the torture chamber still looks to me like they couldn't be bothered designing any walls. It just looks really cheap. Why the heck is there fog in an alien spaceship anyway?

Everything involving Ratchet and Optimus was dull and overblown and underwritten and not really worth mentioning.

The quiet-bit-with-disorienting-action thing seems like a gimmick they have to throw into every Transformers franchise now, and suffers from the law of diminishing returns.

I was impressed that they included a torture scene, until I realised that in this universe, torture just makes you act kind of silly. Way to diminish the impact there.

I like that the ship didn't have a USB socket at human height, and that Bulkhead did that thing where he slid the girl across the floor, which was kind of creative. But that's all I liked; the overall impession is slightly above that of a video game cut-scene.