Customer Reviews

Transformers Energon - The Battle for Energon

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Transformers Energon is a great cartoon show! This is one of few Transformers cartoon series that is animated from Japan. Transformers Energon is a great series because it is first series to combine CGI and Japanese anime together in a Transformers cartoon. Optimus Prime, Hot Shot, IronHide, Jetfire, Skyblast, and Kicker, are some of the great Autobot characters in this series! The Decepticon Terrorcons, Scorpinok and Alpha Quintesson are some really bad-ass villians for the Autobots. This particular episodes hinted that Energon Megatron will be introduced to the series. Transformers: Battle for Energon DVD has Transformers Energon episodes 1-4 of the series. The episodes are Cyberton City, Energon Stars, Scorpinok, and Megatron's Sword. I highly recommened this DVD! A+

Like the early episodes of Armada Transformers Energon has potential to behold quality. The idea is that it is now 20 years since the destruction of Unicron and the Autobots and Decepticons (Minus Megatron) have formed an alliance and are living peacefully. They have teamed up with Omnicons who search for Energon. However they soon become attacked by a new threat of Terrorcons who seek out energon to revive Unicron. The leader of the Terrorcons is a quinteson by then name of Alpha Q and his pawn Scorpanoc (Origionally introduced in the final Season of the Origional Transformers).

Meanwhile so it's not all about Robots and so the Transformers have some Human help there is now a kid named Kicker who has a form of ESP that allows him to sense Energon and other strange Energies. The series also tries to revive Classic Favorite Ironhide as young rookie who becomes somewhat reluctant friends with Kicker.

There are complaints about this however. The Early episodes suffer from weak villanous characters and the Terrorcons are just robotic Hawks and Wolves. Scorponac is an annoying villian who is no Megatron, or even Starscream for that matter.

However with a little fine tuning this series could last a few seasons and hold a special place in fans hearts (as I recall similar gripes were made about Beast Wars and now it is recalled fondly by many). Overall and I am saying this as a Transfan, give this series some time, the current style in animation for all series trying to reach a large audience is Anime style and for most it has become the norm. Armada hit gold with the final set of Episodes and this one will hopefully this one will have a nice succesful run for this young Generation (which is the Target Audience)

This is the first DVD of this crappily made "series". They should have released them as a set with all episodes but at least they're better than nothing. It takes place on earth in various cities that are mining energon with the help of the omnicons. It takes place after Armada and the autobots and decepticons are united for a period of time. It's the adventures of the autobots and later the battles between them and the decepticons. I love this series, by far my favourite. I like the animation, the story and the voice acting to be better than all other transformers series'. Over priced and incomplete but still well worth having 4 episodes to play at your leisure in my opinion.

...to have episodes 1-4 on one dvd and 6-9 on the other dvd,what happened to episode #5? sorry like the armada series
I'm going to wait for a box set of this before even thinking about getting this series,the dvds for energon and armada makes no sense,I will say that energon is slightly better than armada but not much better,at least the animation is better...

Transformers Energon on DVD shows the first nine episodes (minus episode 5) of this the newest Transformer series. I see that some argue that it is not like the original Transformer series of the 1980s. The new Energon Transformers uses cool computer animation along side of Japanese animation (Anime) and the result really works well for the robots (it looks a lot like the Zoids cartoon of a couple of years ago. For Transformers this is a great mix and a new twist - just like the Beast Wars Transformers computer generated shows were). The Transformers in the show look like the figures in the toy stores (unlike most of the original Transformer figures). The first episodes introduce some main characters and the voice acting is very good. Voice talents from Beast Wars and Gundam Wing are on board for the series and are way above average. The resurrection of Megatron episode (DVD number 2) and his battle with Scorponok are great. If you (or your children) try out the Energon DVDs and like these first episodes then most likely you will be hooked for the series (which is continuing on Cartoon Network this year). I like it because it is like seeing updated characters from Transformers The Movie (Megatron, Optimus Prime, Unicron, Rodimus and more). The new Megatron in my opinion is the best Megatron ever - no matter which series (if you liked Transformers the Movie I bet you will like this character a lot). Scorponok and Unicron are awesome. Optimus is still large and in charge and cool. Well done even compared to the original series. This is something new and fresh. Not the original and not bad either. Remember this series will be the first generation of Transformers to new fans today. Not a bad legacy. With the announcement that Steven Spielberg will do a live action Transformer moive in 2006 I think Transformers titles will only become more popular. I think this is one of the better ones now. Hope this is helpful.

I am fairly new to the Transformers but my 5 year old son likes the toys. So I cautiously bought "Shockblast Unleashed" and it was really, really good. I especially like the fact that the toys look just like what's in the cartoon! I overlooked the fact that some characters call each other "Looser!" This is not what your target audience (5+ year old toy buyers) should be hearing. Regardless, I next bought "The Battle for Energon" and the previous reviewers were right on. The character, "Kicker", is so undescribably obnoxious, he makes you want to shut off the DVD player (I had to!). This DVD went in the trash. It IS THAT BAD. The actual transformers in this DVD are really well done and the action is superb as well. All that said, Kicker still makes the DVD too painful to own. What kind of idiots write this show?

The Transformers franchise has officially been reduced to entertaining anime fans who think every dubbed anime imported from Japan rules.

Ever since the Armada series replaced the Autobots' screentime with three annoying kids, transformed the series into a lame Pokemon rip-off and then brought in Unicron because the ratings and writing were both coming under SEVERE scrutiny, it was a last desperate attempt to bring in viewers, it worked, and we got quality Armada episodes and character developments as a result.

But then came the next season, and quickly, we all realised that we had fallen into the trap, with "Armada" managing to somehow be regarded as a series that was'nt as bad as it's earlier episodes, "Energon" premiered with far worse episodes than the first three episodes of it's predeccesopr, combined with attrocious use of...yes, you guessed it, ANOTHER child hero (Kicker) who has the ability to turn Super-Sajyn whenever Energon is around and is the ideal Energon detector for the Autobots.

The cel-shading animation is UGLY, and completly takes the viewer off of watching any battles that occur during the episodes, Kicker gets way too much screen time, and the Autobots themselves are portrayed as complete idiots, stating the obvious every two minutes.

Energon has sadly proven to me that Generation One AND Beast Wars WERE the two greatest Transformers ever produced, Bob Skir ruined American Transformers cartoons with Beast Machines, and after several quality Takara seasons, Japan have finally shown that they now absolutley SUCK when it comes to Trasnformers anime.

Newsflash to all dubbed Anime fans: Anime is KILLING the american animation indusrty, it's time you realised your precious genre has it's ups and downs, and THIS is one of them.

As an avid Generation 1 Transformers fan I must say that I am extremely disappointed with Armada and its successor Energon and must fully concur with all of the reviewers who have written prior to this entry.

Armada and Energon's plot are terrible at best. This is the first time since I watched Generation 1 and Beast Wars that I hoped that the Decepticons would obliterate the Autobots and their human sidekicks.

The humans in Armada and Energon are annoying and hold no special purpose. In comparison, Spike, Sparkplug and Chip from Generation 1 were not put in every episode in an attempt to try to help the Autobots. In many episodes in Generation 1, we did not see any human counterparts that played a pivotal part in deciding the victor of the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons. However, in Armada and Energon the Autobots cannot win without their human companions.

I disagree somewhat with the voice casting in Armada and Energon. In Generation 1 we had great voice actors for the Autobots and Decepticons. For example, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Chris Latta, Neil Ross, Michael Bell, Scatman Caruthers, Casey Kasem and other greats portrayed my heros that I have watched growing up. In Armada, I am pleased with the voice casting of Megatron (David Kayle), Optimus Prime (Gary Chalk), Hot Shot, Starscream, and Demolisher. Mr. Kayle has done an extremely wonderful job since he started with Megatron back in Beast Wars and the same complement is extended to Mr. Chalk, but the other voices are sub par at best. For example, Ironhide in Energon sounds like Carlos...ridiculous.

Real Transformers should be ashamed of the latest incarnations of the Transformers story line. I have not seen a suitable Transformers story since Beast Wars and Beast Machines and odds are that I never will again.

Now to the DVD review, first off I would like to congratulate Rhino for releasing box sets of Transformers Generation 1, Jem, and G.I. Joe. Compared to the Armada releases the Energon DVD's are in sequential order, however the plot of the show is horrible. The human named Kicker, reminds me of Gohan in Dragonball Z because of Kicker's ability to turn his hair golden when he is near Energon. This is stupid to say the least. In addition, is Optimus Prime now Voltron? The way Optimus combines with those other four parts it appears Energon has also ripped off the idea of Voltron. I would not be surprised if we later see Energon rip ideas from Jem and the Holograms or the Care Bears.

In conclusion, the best thing about the Energon release is the cheap price. This DVD is selling for a cheap price because the Armada and Energon television show is a cheap product.

To the executives at Rhino STOP releasing Armada and Energon DVD's and release Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light also done by our friends at Sunbow and contains the same voice actors and writers who appeared in Generation 1 Transformers, Inhumanoids, Jem and G.I. Joe. Rhino please complete the Sunbow dynasty.