Transformers Energon

Since the fantastic Beast Wars, and the decent Beast Machines, Transformers fans have not been very lucky. We've gotten Robots in Disguise, which I never really got into, due to lack of interest. Then, came along, Armada. The action was sparse, the jokes were horrible and I couldn't stand the kids they partnered the "Minicons" with. They had Pokemon'D Transformers.

Now, here comes the light at the end of the tunnel. I was skeptical about Energon, since it was a direct sequel to Armada, but when I started watching I was quite relieved. The fighting and explosions are quite fun to watch, and this time its in a new 3D cell shading form, which at times, can feel awkward, but still is a great addition to the show. Plus, while Armada tired me out with its boring storyline, Energon had me hooked.

And finally, my favorite enhancement, the characters. It seems like they really upped personalities in Energon. A perfect example would be Cyclonus, not so much of an interesting character in the predecessor, but here, he's a Quickstrike-like madman.

While this series isn't the best, its still a nice little candy for us Transformers fans, who have suffered for so, so long.

8/10. Recommended.

I Know Transformers: Energon/Superlink Is A Mess Because Of Crude CGI, Messy English Dub, Calling Characters Names Wrong, Autobots Downshift And Cliffjumper Switching Their Names Around, Stiff Facial Expressions, Error Laying Dialog, Animation Errors, Music Playing At Inappropriate Moments And Many More. But It's Not All That Bad. I Only Watched The Show For The Action And Humor. Transitioning Transformers From 2D Animation To CGI Is Actually A Good Idea. If You Hate The Show That's Fine. Everyone Has Their Opinions. Is This Show Worth Watching? To Me, Yes. Others No.

I have enjoyed this cartoon a lot and I think that it's basically the same cartoon only it's dubbed into english. It's not a bad little cartoon actually. I think all of you nitpickers need to lighten up. Energon or Super Link, or whatever the hell you want to call it, is just a new degree of Transformers. They have a rough and tumble female character instead of a female character who relies solely on her male counterparts to get her out of whatever jam she's in. Transformers:Energon is a welcomed change from all of the other series of Transformers shows from Japan that I've seen so far. More than marginal thumbs up from me.

When I heard about this show, I was rather skeptical. I was sorely disappointed with "Transformers: Armada" (or "Micron Densetsu," depending upon your language preference) and I really had very little hope for the following series. Called "Transformers: Energon" in the English-language version, "Superlink" had been airing for four weeks in Japan before the first Energon episode aired in the States. That being said, there are four episodes by which to judge this series, and I think that's a fair sampling for a preliminary evaluation.

Thus far, Superlink/Energon is superior to Micron Densetsu/Armada in every conceivable way. The animation is just that -- animated. Armada had a very distinct lack of motion that really detracted from it. Armada was more or less a comic book on television with mouths that occasionally opened and closed. Superlink is just the opposite. It looks like an actual cartoon (what a concept!). On top of that, the cel-shaded CGI technique makes it all look quite incredible.

Of course, it would be easy to disregard the inadequate animation of Armada if the writing was worth talking about. I suppose it goes without saying that it was not. Now, however, Superlink seems to have given us Transformers fans something to actually look forward to. Whereas the dialogue and plot of Armada was incredibly stale and not at all engaging, Superlink is very in your face and quick.

The biggest improvement, however, would be the voice acting. Although I have yet to see or hear the English version of this show (Energon), the Japanese version is much better than its predecessor Micron Densetsu and I can only assume that since this major problem has been cleared up at the source, it will be like that when it gets here. The dialogue isn't flat and there aren't awkward silences for no reason. The actors actually sound like they're -- gasp -- acting. Overall, this is a very worthy successor to the holy trilogy of Transformers series (the original, Beast Wars, Beast Machines). Great stuff all around and I can't wait to see what else develops.

As said already, Energon is a little better than Armada, which was a mess. However it could have been much better, nowhere near as good as the original show or Beast Wars. Some of the battles/action(more than Armada and much better quality-wise) are epic status- the highlights of the show by some distance-, the rise of Megatron was a good idea and is the best idea the show had, Megatron is still a cool villain and the voice acting from Garry Chalk, David Kaye and Scott McNeill is decent(though all three were better in Beast Wars, where all give some of their best ever voice acting. The animation is not as bad it is in Armada, but it is rather flat and scrappily put together with some overly-saturated CGI. The character designs take some getting used to, never really dug them personally. The music lacks urgency and atmosphere and the theme tune is at best forgettable. The writing is rather stilted and isn't that involving, not giving the voice actors much to do. Pretty much the same with the stories, which are both juvenile and dull, the best ideas they have read of too much of drawn-out-retreads and that is including the rise of Megatron. Not much characterisation to write home about either, the human characters are over-used and annoying, the lead human character is every bit as obnoxious as any of Armada's human characters combined, while with the exception of Megatron the robots lack personality. The voice acting on the whole- Kaye, Challk and McNeill excepted- is not great, as dry, emotionless and stilted as the writing, they also sound like they're recorded in a helium balloon. All in all, a marginal improvement but could have been so much better. 4/10 Bethany Cox