With half the first episode of Transformers Animated being previewed at Nordic Mini-Con Transformers convention, the reviews and feedback have commenced and it’s generally very positive. Here are the comments from Groundsplitter of The Nordic TransFans Association:

It was a very interesting preview though, and I can tell you that even though I were very sceptical when I saw the first posters for the series a while ago, I think the cartoon may turn out to be quite entertaining. What struck me the most is that it seems all the characters will be portrayed with distinct personalities – a very welcome change compared to the three latest series, were most of the characters were blank slates.
There were also quite a few nods to the old fans – I haven’t seen the clips on YouTube so I don’t know what has been shown before, but the show actually starts with Optimus Prime looking at some archive clips from the war that ended a few hundred years ago – clips that are taken straight from the original G1 cartoon! And Ratchet is said to have taken part of that war, which poses the question if this is the original Ratchet, or just someone who shares the name.

Some other notes:

Animated takes place in the 22nd century (or was it 23rd?). Some notes (I don’t know what is already known so bear with me):

Blitzwing has three faces, although the third wasn’t very clear (the entire Decepticon scene is in the dark). First is the strict monocled guy, the second is a very clichéd Arnie “stupid” German accent and the third was just crazy and singing. Not too sure about this guy, but he might make a cool toy.

Allspark looks vaguely Matrix-shaped with handles, but it’s much bigger. So far the only Allspark-carrier has been… Ratchet

Blackarachnia is exactly her BW self (her alt mode is considered organic, btw) and Starscream is exactly his G1 self, personality-wise.

Ratchet has a mix of Ironhide/Kup with the “old-timer” personality thing going on. As mentioned, not clear whether he is actually THE Ratchet.

Sentinel (Prime) is an officer in the Autobot army and Ultra Magnus is the Supreme Commander who bosses Optimus around.

Optimus trained at the Autobot academy and is going about doing heroic stuff from the very beginning, but there must be a reason why he’s stuck on a crappy repair mission…

Optimus’ axe has quite a few features except the energon blade. It has a rocket thruster on it, and the handle can extend Dragonball style for him to do polevaults. Somehow Optimus can also fire nets.