It was extremely confusing. And then there was another, much less confusing show- I got the basic plot of that one at least, but also- what the fuck is going on?
It was 2-3 eps of armada and then a few eps of RID 2015, much easier to understand. still. definitely challenge mode for initial transformers experience
Armada tries so hard, but it can't get very far because no budget and the dub is bad. we've seen some good drama with megs and Starscream, but it's pretty spotty.
Wellllllll I'm less familiar with Armada than some of the other continuities, because I'm still catching up on the good and marginally good ones and I have a low pain tolerance threshold for badness (i went to a panel last katsucon about the three japanese transformers series and why they are Awful). But the general premise is that you've got this alien race of transforming robots, called cybertronians. They've been locked in a war where most (all?) of the characters we see have been factionalized into autobots (Good Guys) and decepticons (Bad Guys). Moral greyness is... not a thing in the earlier shows. In the early shows, the idea is that a group of autobots and a group of decepticons have crashed on earth and are fighting here. As robots in disguise! Disguise amounts vary by canon. G1 just Did Not Give A Fuck, but I think Armada was a little subtler. They fight over energy resources and random macguffins, and usually collect a few stray humans who are never as interesting as the robots. Inter-faction tension is sometimes a thing, but the faction vs faction dynamic is pretty strong. Armada revolves around fighting over... minicons, I think? I'm pretty sure they count as a macguffin, I'm just not sure what they do :P
Armada is actually tolerable once you start wading into the trainwreck of Energon, tbh. it's pretty much The Worst
I have definitely heard this is true. I keep telling myself that I'm going to read the old comics and ease myself into the old cartoons, but... I fear....... I especially fear whatever series it is where some rando just buys Optimus Prime's corpse at a truck stop and then... leads the autobots??? I don't even know, I just know I hate it.
Ok, so @spockandawe what are some good fics to start with, that are at least vaugely understandable? For any version of this franchise, whichever is easiest to understand.
HM. Shorter stories give you less space to figure out which way is up, but I've been bad about making the time to sit down and consume longer stories. I think most of the ones I've read are technically sequel fics for the various cartoon series. These Games We Play is one that enough of us read and flailed about that we got gently moved to a separate fan town thread. It's Jazz/Soundwave set post 80s g1 cartoon (but g1 is confusing enough that the plot of the cartoon... really has no bearing, and the characters aren't hard to follow), where the premise is that the decepticons won, killed a lot of autobots, enslaved the rest, and now megatron is running cybertron. Warning for slavery and using the slaves as sex slaves, but it isn't a i-have-brainwashed-you-into-enjoying-slavery story. It's DELICIOUS and overflowing with emotions and well-planned writing. The Brave Shall Heed The Call is a big one. That's Megatron/Optimus Prime for the 2007 TFA series. I know coldstars read and enjoyed it even prior to watching the cartoon. But TFA gets more experimental with the setting than most continuities do (an upside is that in this series optimus comes up to like... megatron's chest). The animated series goes down pretty easy if you do want to check it out. It's definitely got the feel of a kids show and the first few episodes are a bit clunky, but there's a lot of REALLY dark, interesting worldbuilding lurking at the edges of everything. (also strika is love, strika is life) The Quality Of Life is by the same author, and I'm only partway through, but I do love it. It's Megatron/Optimus again, but for the 2011 TFP series. TFP has one of the most solid, basic transformers plots (autobots vs decepticons in disguise on earth) with a manageably sized cast (unlike g1), all executed well. This splits from TFP sometime in season 2. It's dark, and definitely mind the tags, but I adore this author's longfic, it goes down real easy. Annnd that's about what I've got. I am very behind on a lot of things XD (@applechime help me ;u;) But MTMTE as the best fanfic isn't too far from being accurate. The writer grew up as a transformers fan, has a fanfic past (he wrote a novel-length fic called eugenesis, which is Weird and Dark and I really need to read it). MTMTE is basically a sequel story to the basic transformers plot. The war happened, the fighting on earth happened, etc. This series starts with the war having just finished, when everyone is trying to pick up the pieces. A gaggle of characters head out on a spaceship on an adventure, annnnnnnnnnd shenanigans ensue. It's goooood good stuff. That was the first transformers media I ever consumed, I didn't slow down to try to get any background or learn who people were, and I loved it.
HELLO ARE WE DOING FIC RECS?? @Briar hi it's me, kinstrudel user applechime, and i Got The Goods BEFORE I MAKE MY SALES PITCH gimme some details, whatcha lookin for, longfic, one shots, sexy stuff, sexless stuff, genfic, angst, sprawling epics, slice of life, WHAT'S YER POISON also they come in Flavours, we got your TFP, your IDW, your TFA, your Bayverse, your G1, your continuity-blender..... each comes with small(/LARGE) variations on characterization, setting, history, and fandom tropes ask and ye shall receive friendo..... ALTHOUGH I REALLY MUST RECOMMEND READING MTMTE FIRST, like i've never watched tfp, tfa, bayverse movies, or g1 (except for a few episodes of all the shows here and there) but i can read fanfic of them and understand what's going on without a problem, but that Will Not Work for IDW. also mtmte is just. the best transformers title ever published. it's so fucking good. get on that
@applechime I like longfics and epics, with preferally skippable sex. (I don't mind if there is sex, as long as it's not 70% of the fic.) Uhhhhh I have no idea about which canon is which but Bumblebee seems cool?
If you like bumblebee as a young punk you'll probably enjoy Transformers Animated/TFA (he can talk) and Transformers Prime/TFP (he can't talk (in a way the viewer understands) but he *can* communicate and is fairly emotive.) He isn't in the comic More Than Meets The Eye, but he is in the parrallel running series Robots in Disguise/The Transformers (commonly referred to as ex-RiD to differentiate from Cartoon RiD) which is sadly a lot less funny and delightfully roadtrip-y and has a lot more political drama.
