I just purchased and watched through Season 1 of ANIMATED, and I
noticed something that I really did not notice as much the first time
I saw these episodes.
The individual Decepticons are significantly more powerful than the
individual Autobots, and this seems to hearken back to the good old
days of the G1 pilot episodes. When Megatron finally goes into action
in episode 16, he can practically take out the entire Autobot team on
his own. Bumblebee uses his stingers on Starscream at one point who
brushes the attack off as an annoyance. When Blitzwing and Lugnut
take on the Autobot team, the Autobots are clearly outmatched power-
wise.
I also like that the Decepticons all have flying vehicles
("Decepticons, transform and rise up!") as their alt modes while the
Autobots are all ground-based. I hope that this arrangement will
continue as more and more characters are introduced (i.e., no Jetfire
or Aerialbots) because it always puts the Autobots at a tactical
disadvantage which requires them to win battles through skill or
teamwork. I am also glad that the Dinobots are not this group of last-
resort powerhouses that save the Autobots in every battle; you could
almost consider them as a third faction altogether if it was not for
the Autobot symbols they bear.
Anyone else want to post their thoughts on the power balance between
factions in ANIMATED? Love it? Hate it?
On a related note, if ANIMATED proves to be a very popular show with
solid sales, do you think Hasbro might just keep trying to get it
renewed for more and more seasons rather than killing it for something
entirely new? I mean, I could see this thing running four or five
seasons with all the pre-existing characters and potential conflicts
they have on which to draw. For example, you could have an entire
season's worth of new material by just changing the setting to a
Cybertron beseiged by Decepticons.
- Chad
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