Transformers: Combiner Wars (cartoon)
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Transformers: Combiner Wars is an animated web series. Co-produced by Machinima and Hasbro Studios with animation done by Tatsunoko Production, it is targeted at older audiences, and ties into the concurrent Combiner Wars imprint. [1] The series is run by Eric S. Calderon, George Krstic, and F.J. DeSanto.
Four prelude videos were released weekly beginning June 28 2016, followed by the premiere of the series proper on August 2, on the go90 platform in the US, and on Machinima's YouTube channel elsewhere.
| “ | [...] so as we go through the story we’ll have very sophisticated story ideas and sophisticated visuals. | ” |
—Eric Calderon, exaggerating wildly[2] | ||
Overview
Forty years after the conclusion of the Great War on Earth, the Autobots and Decepticons are no more and Optimus Prime and Megatron are relics of the past. Cybertron is at last at peace, ruled by the triumvirate of Starscream, Rodimus Prime, and the Mistress of Flame. However, the Enigma of Combination, an ancient artifact of Primus, has triggered new conflict through the creation of huge, dangerous Combiners, and now Cybertron's fragile peace is in danger of collapse.
Cast
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Others |
|---|---|---|
|
Combiners |
Combiners |
Episodes
Preludes
Main episodes
Criticisms
While Combiner Wars was advertised as a series intended for mature fans, the series was roundly criticized by the fandom for a variety of reasons. Eerily, many of said criticisms also apply to the infamous Energon cartoon.
Storytelling flaws
Combiner Wars is split into eight five-minute episodes. As a result, the miniseries runs for forty minutes overall, which wouldn't be so bad if not for the obvious padding that permeates most episodes. The Council, for instance, spends a minute depicting Starscream flying over an empty Cybertron before leading into the action.
For a series named Combiner Wars ,the series puts very little focus on the characters that it was ostensibly created to advertise, treating them as interchangeable background extras. While Devastator receives some dialogue and characterization, Victorion appears out of nowhere seconds before she's assimilated by Starscream - even though she was the only combiner to receive a prelude video that hyped her up as a key player in the series. The closest we get to any kind of "combiner war" is the brief scuffle between Menasor and Computron in The Fall, which lasts for all of a minute. While the Council describes this combiner threat as a massive, out-of-control problem, the threat they pose in the actual show feels very empty - Menasor, for instance, dies to one slice of Windblade's sword.
Like in Energon, the combiners are never actually seen combining, and only the Constructicons are seen in individual forms. Even when their limbs are severed, the show doesn't even acknowledge the fact that the limbs can ostensibly become individuals. Characters talk about "creating" more combiners with the Enigma of Combination, as though the Enigma just creates them out of thin air rather than actually joining together any individual Transformers. Even in the climax of the series, you'd expect Starscream would at least become a super-combiner with the other combiners forming his limbs. Instead, he becomes a giant screaming head. No, really.
Basically, if you want a series that portrays combining characters well, go watch Steven Universe.
Characterization
While Optimus Prime and Megatron are based on their iconic Generation 1 appearances, other characters received wildly different interpretations. Windblade, usually depicted as a kind and heroic diplomat, was re-imagined as a vengeful psychopath aiming to kill anyone and everyone associated with combiners. Her motivations bounce around from episode to episode; after trying to assassinate Starscream (and professing a desire to kill everyone else) in The Duel, she then says that she wasn't trying to kill Starscream in the very next episode.
Starscream's prelude video depicted him as an individual who was genuinely seeking redemption for his prior deeds, a heroic take on the character that actually feels refreshing. He sticks rigidly to this new role for most of the series until the eleventh hour; in A War of Giants, he immediately regresses to his old backstabbing ways for no real reason, other than to provide an antagonistic role to our heroes.
Production flaws
Timing
Combiner Wars ended up being rather infamous for having very poor timing. While the Combiner Wars toyline debuted in mid-2015, the scripts for the first seven episodes of this series were only finalized in January 2016. As a result, the lead time required for animation led to the series debuting in August 2016... at which point Combiner Wars had ended in favor of the Titans Return line.
Animation
Despite the fact that the series is animated by the legendary Tatsunoko Production, the series suffers from below-Cybertron-quality CGI, with cel-shading distressingly similar to Energon. The problems are compounded by the irritatingly choppy framerate. Also, the characters have very basic mouth flaps; to the animator's credit, they can at least pull off facial expressions a little bit better than the animators behind Energon, but it's still very unexpressive. It's possible that it's using a lower framerate to emulate hand-drawn animation, much like the concurrently running Robots in Disguise series. However, while Robots in Disguise manages to pull it off thanks to Polygon Pictures being one of the few animation studios in Japan that's actually good at making CGI animation, this series... does not.
Alright, let's just be honest here: this series makes Energon look like a masterpiece.
