Transformers Animated

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This article was copied (instead of imported) from the now-deleted Best Shows & Episodes Wiki from the Wayback Machine.
♥ This article is dedicated to Derrick J. Wyatt (August 10, 1972 – December 16, 2021), the same guy who designed the art style for Teen Titans, may he rest in peace.
Transformers Animated
An amazing Transformers show before Prime.
Genre: Action
Adventure
Science fiction
Comedy
Superhero
Mecha
Running Time: 22-23 minutes
Country: United States
Release Date: December 26, 2007 – May 23, 2009
Network(s): Cartoon Network
Created by: Sam Register
Matt Youngberg
Derrick J. Wyatt
Distributed by: Hasbro
Starring: David Kaye
Jeff Bennett
Corey Burton
Bill Fagerbakke
Bumper Robinson
Tom Kenny
Tara Strong
Seasons: 3
Episodes: 42
Previous show: Transformers: Cybertron
Next show: Transformers: Prime


Transformers Animated is an animated television series based on the Transformers toyline. It was produced by Cartoon Network Studios and animated by The Answer Studio, MOOK DLE., and Studio 4°C. The series debuted on Cartoon Network on December 26, 2007, and ended on May 23, 2009.

Plot

The series began with a three-part pilot called "Transform and Roll Out!". Stellar-cycles (years) after the Autobots won the great war for Cybertron against the Decepticons, an Autobot maintenance crew led by Optimus Prime and consisting of Ratchet, Bulkhead, Prowl and Bumblebee discover the legendary Allspark buried in an asteroid. The Autobots take the Allspark back to their ship, but are soon confronted by a crew of Decepticons led by the notorious warlord Megatron and consisting of Blitzwing, Lugnut, Blackarachnia and Starscream. Megatron attacks the Autobot ship and tries to retrieve the Allspark, but when an explosive planted on Megatron by the treacherous Starscream detonates, the ship crashes on Earth. The Autobots go into stasis to survive the crash, while the scattered remains of Megatron are discovered by a human scientist named Isaac Sumdac. Fifty years later, Professor. Isaac Sumdac is the CEO of a robotics company known as Sumdac Systems, which is based in a futuristic version of Detroit. Optimus Prime and the Autobots awaken from stasis and defend the people of Detroit from a monster, resulting in them becoming local celebrities. They befriend Professor Sumdac's young daughter Sari, who teaches them about Earth customs, and whose security card is transformed into a supercharged key which possesses a fraction of the AllSpark's vast power. At the end of the pilot episode, Starscream arrives on Earth and tries to take the all-powerful AllSpark for himself, but the Autobots successfully stop him and save the Earth once again.

Why It Transforms And Rolls Out

  1. The animation looks amazing and very detailed.
  2. Nice retelling of stories from G1, but with different and fresh ideas.
  3. Excellent choices of voice actors, such as David Kaye as Optimus Prime (who also voiced Megatron in Beast Wars: Transformers and the Unicron Trilogy, despite the Unicron Trilogy (mostly Energon) not being well-received), Tara Strong as Sari Sumdac (Ben Tennyson in Ben 10, Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls (1998), etc.), Jeff Bennett as Prowl, Ultra Magnus and Soundwave (Johnny Bravo), Cree Summer as Elita-1/Blackarachnia (Numbuh 5 in Codename: Kids Next Door and Foxy Love in Drawn Together), Weird Al as Wreck-Gar (Cheese Sandwich in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic), Phil LaMarr as Jazz (Samurai Jack), as well as SpongeBob voice actors, Tom Kenny (SpongeBob) as Starscream and Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick) as Bulkhead.
  4. Some G1 Transformers voice actors return to reprise their respective roles, such as Susan Blu as Arcee, Corey Burton as Shockwave (who also voices Ratchet, Megatron and Ironhide in this show), as well as minor roles for Brawn and Spike Witwicky, John Moschitta as Blurr and Judd Nelson as Rodimus Prime.
  5. Not only does this show do homages to other Transformers shows, such as G1 and Beast Wars, but also homages to the 2007 Transformers film, such as, for example, in the third season premiere, "Transwarped", Blackout, who's famous for appearing at the beginning of the film, appears in this show and his appearance resembles his Michael Bay counterpart, due to the fact that this show was also created to cash in on the success of the first film.
  6. Many hilarious moments from Ratchet, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Starscream, Blitzwing, Lugnut, etc.
  7. Megatron is portrayed as very intimidating and power-hungry, thus making him more threatening than his G1 counterpart.
  8. Very respectful to the source material (or G1), such as Starscream taking a huge dislike to Megatron and wanting to dethrone him and take over as leader of the Decepticons.
  9. Sari Sumdac is a well-developed human character who really shines in her interactions with Bumblebee, which makes sense why fans ship them (pair them up as a couple). Her also being an Autobot as revealed in Transwarped (the season 3 premiere) only helped to sell her completely to those that hated her until then. The same goes for Elita-1/Blackarachnia as in G1, she was originally Optimus Prime's love interest, and that also makes sense for fans to pair them up.
  10. Catchy theme song which is a great update of the classic G1 theme.
    • The Japanese theme, TRANSFORMERS EVO by JAM PROJECT (consisting of many longtime anime songmakers, such as Hironobu Kageyama of Dragonball fame, Hiroshi Kitadani of One Piece fame and Rica Matsumoto of Pokémon fame to name a few), a band notorious for providing intros to many a mecha anime and games (the 2009 reboot of Mazinger Z, the most recent Getter Robo anime, the Super Robot Wars crossover game series since Alpha 2 in 2003) is fantastic, consisting of 90 seconds of hard rocking THAT SIMPLY GETS YOUR BLOOD BOILING WITH AWESOMENESS! Never has Transformers sounded this good.
  11. Pretty good character development, such as Prowl learning to work alongside his fellow Autobots.
  12. The human villains are interesting in concept and on occasion are hilarious and entertaining.

Bad Qualities

  1. Some of the character's designs and personalities may bother some hardcore G1 fans, especially Optimus.
  2. Sentinel Prime is portrayed as a huge jeckass. (Though this is justified, considering that in Transformers: Prime, he created the Caste-System, the reason for the War in the first place, in mostly every continuity Sentinel is always the mean guy)
    • Bumblebee's brash, adrenaline junkie, and very immature personality can get grating, though it can be forgiven as he's young by Cybertronian standards.
  3. The initial villains are not Decepticons, but the above-mentioned human villains who feel silly and gimmicky, more suited to another show.
    • Professor Princess and Headmaster/Henry Masterson stand out, being very obnoxious in personality.
    • The only ones who don't qualify, the mad scientist Prometheus Black and his genetic creations, don't appear in enough episodes before being killed off.
    • Legitimately interesting villains, like a ninja crime leader named Lazarus Undershaft, a steampunk eco-terrorist group STEAM, and a monster called The Living Virus and were scrapped.
  4. Headmaster himself feels very insulting to fans of the Headmasters line whom he's based off.
  5. Blackarchnia's appearance and design may seem and look a bit frightening for younger audiences.
    • Also, when Elita-1 becomes Blackarachnia, she becomes a villain in this series, unlike the original Transformers show, similar to how Pumyra became a villain in ThunderCats (2011).
  6. Lockdown is incredibly threatening and unnerving, which he is frightening for younger audiences, similar to Blackarachnia, his design is also frightening for younger audiences, so as his 70's American muscle car-based vehicle mode.
  7. Unicron does not appear in the show nor mentioned, along with some of the Constructicons do not combine into Devastator in the show, and some Combaticons (Onslaught, Brawl, Vortex & Blast Off, aside from Swindle; nor they can combine into Bruticus), Astrotrain (a triple-changer) didn't appear as well, and Megatron becoming Galvatron.
  8. This show was originally supposed to have a fourth season which would end the show perfectly, but because Cartoon Network's new CEO outright hated the series (and because the 2007 film's sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was nearing release and Hasbro wanted the shelf-space for that movie's toyline), the fourth season was canceled. Many new changes had been planned, including:
    • Megatron becoming a Triple-Changer and going insane like Blitzwing, minus the split personality.
    • Optimus gaining Powermaster armor, which would homage his Super Mode from Transformers Cybertron.
    • Sentinel Prime being revealed to have been evil all along, much like how he was portrayed in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
    • Soundwave and Blurr's resurrections.
    • Jazz and Ironhide join Optimus' team in the aftermath of Prowl's death.
    • Ironhide getting an Earth vehicle mode.
    • Blackarachnia getting yellow and black Predacon colors as a homage to her Beast Wars counterpart.
    • Slipstream using another AllSpark fragment to resurrect Starscream (for reasons unknown, given that she utterly loathed him).
    • Arguably the most notable would be the definite reveal of Sari's true origin and her finally mastering her Transformer weapons and joining the main team as an active fighter.
    • The Constructions (and excluding Bulkhead who is becoming the torso) combine themselves into Devastator, as it gives a homage to its G1 rendition.
      • Fortunately, fanfiction writers have written up their own versions of what the fourth season could've been like. In 2017, a group of fans started a YouTube channel that showed off their own storyboarded version of Season 4.
    • The episodes for Season 4 would have been among the most unique, including a visit to the "Shattered Glass" universe (a universe that originates from convention fiction where the Decepticons are good and the Autobots are bad much like the Mirror Universe from Star Trek), the Constructicons coming back, a hunt for Energon left behind by the AllSpark fragments, to end in a spectacular three parter in which Optimus would finally (after much consideration and with deep remorse) kill Megatron, ending the Decepticons once and for all.
  9. There are occasional animation errors.
  10. The are some bad or mediocre episodes like Three's a Crowd.
  11. As it's still great and catchy the theme song goes, sadly seasons 2 & 3 didn't get the same treatment for any updates of the classic G1 seasons 2 & 3 theme respectively, that would be even amazing.

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