Watched the series over two days with my brother (and the toys). I was pretty satisfied.
There were a few things I disliked, such as:
-
Everyone...talked...so...slowly.. Jetfire at one point even needlessly breaks up
a single word. ("Under...stood.") It must have been the voice direction, not the actors themselves, because every character was in on it (except Wheeljack). Some voices, as others have pointed out, were kind of generic, or ill-fitting. Ironhide and Hound should have switched voices. (And roles, for that matter.) Generally, however, I could tell who was speaking, and didn't experience any audio issues. We watched through the T.V., not a computer, so maybe that had an effect?
-The pacing was like a freight train the first two episodes, but it picked up afterwords so I'll forgive it.
-The only problem I have with Bumblebee's role is that it is not a role for someone like Bumblebee. Cliffjumper or Smokescreen I could see, and really any other Autobot not super popular could have been given that role and there'd be little problem. It's just weird seeing Bumblebee, the mascot Autobot ideal of friendliness, being the cynical, conniving, self-serving loner.
-Characters would appear out of nowhere and immediately be treated as main characters. Mirage, Prowl, Chromia, and Arcee were all just suddenly in the plot. I they had been seen in the background or in crowd shots early on it would have seemed less jarring. There was a missed opportunity to establish them when Bee was brought in for the first time. Omega Supreme is only barely introduced right before the climax. Proper introductions for the characters would have allowed for greater investment in their actions. (Moonracer gets a pass here because she was a red shirt and no one expected her anyway.)
Now for things I enjoyed:
-Everything about Wheeljack. His personality and performance were on point, really capturing his character. When many others are given lackluster or altered characterizations, to see a genuine reincarnation of an original depiction is appreciated. This is the type of G1 nostalgia that I think is what most people want, but is absent from modern attempts.
-For the most part, the deaths were handled very well. Ultra Magnus's murder triggers the A3 Protocols which allows the Autobots to actually accomplish there goals, and it motivates Jetfire to reconider his allegiance. Impactor rather endearingly sacrifices himself to save Ratchet. And everyone else...survives! I was actually expecting a higher casualty rate, so I'm glad the characters get to live to see more development, and the ones that didn't impacted the plot, instead of just being useless canon fodder like everyone in Prime Wars. I thought Spinister and Skytread were going to go this way, but then they show up again in the last episode, so maybe they did survive? The only ball dropped was Skywarp. He takes a single shot, survives long enough to make it back to base (where presumably they are equipped to repair him), before apparently dying off screen. He may have been bleeding out the whole way, but it was kind of an ignoble death for a character that should be an A-lister.
It should have been Hotlink! -Character-based side plots were pretty enjoyable, though somewhat rushed. I feel this would have been improved if there were better introductions to the characters, but for the most part I have no problems with them. It was nice seeing the Autobots snark and banter a little.
-The Decepticons were handled very well. They felt like a genuine, motivated threat. They were also very faithful to their G1 selves while still being new takes. Only Soundwave seemed unfortunately underutilized, and his voice really misses the mark (far too high-pitched). And Barricade actually got to be involved quite heavily, I had him pegged as a hi-and-die. Good for you, Barry.
-Soundblaster's surprise appearance, complete with actual introduction, and brilliant take as separate, but still related character from Soundwave.
-When the ark finally launched, I got very excited. The last two episodes were pretty epic.
While perhaps not too original, Siege's story is a necessary starting point for a series with plenty of potential for creativity. All in all, I give the series a solid B+, and am looking forward to Earthrise.