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On a side note, really like how they handled one particular Shockwave experiment

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:OMFG, I now understand what the spoiler was for that Magnus toy. The grey is not battle damage, it's him losing colour. Because he was murdered. That's the spoiler.

Yeah, I knew that day 1 when the toy came out . I'm more interested in the 2nd spoiler box since Siege is over, not much can be spoiled I would think....Also the black play doh served no purpose

Lastly sorry about the confusion a few pages ago, at work, sometimes content is filtered out, I couldn't even see the video I was quoting you on until looked at my phone

No worries. And I forget, had you posted a theory about that figure being Magnus losing his colour back when we first saw that deco?

Deadput wrote:

Lore Keeper wrote:When I first read the spoiler inside the box, I thought it had to be a red herring. I thought there was no way they'd kill off Ultra Magnus so early into the story because that would be stupid! Boy, do I wish I had been right...

Because big name characters should never die because their big name characters.

There isn't a reason Ultra Magnus should of lived for longer besides "I wanted him to"

It wasn't a stupid random death with no purpose like Moonracer (that was an actual terrible death), it was a death scene with a purpose and it had consequences, this wasn't a random "shock factor" death just for the sake of it.

If there is only a few things the show got right this was one of them, same with Impactor's death.

It's not the fact that he's a big name character, its that characters like UM, Impactor, and Skywarp had big parts to play in the original continuity. I knew this wasn't going to be an actual prequel to Sunbow or Marvel G1, but it was toted as being a G1 prequel in general. That comes with a certain expectation that we'll see major characters present during their modern day struggle on Earth. Hell, the Wreckers don't even seem to exist yet,, but their most famous leader is already dead.. I am not a G1 purest by any stretch, my favorite TF shows are Beast Wars, Animated, and Prime. But when something gets billed as G1 and starts veering off in a new direction so quickly, it feel very disjointed. If they want to make a TF Prime-like reboot of the story, that's fine. Just don't be misleading about it.

Lore Keeper wrote:It's not the fact that he's a big name character, its that characters like UM, Impactor, and Skywarp had big parts to play in the original continuity. I knew this wasn't going to be an actual prequel to Sunbow G1, but it was toted as being a G1 prequel in general. That comes with a certain expectation that we'll see major characters present during their modern day struggle on Earth. Hell, the Wreckers don't even seem to exist yet,, but their most famous leader is already dead.. I am not a G1 purest by any stretch, my favorite TF shows are Beast Wars, Animated, and Prime. But when something gets billed as G1 and starts veering off in a new direction so quickly, it feel very disjointed. If they want to make a TF Prime-like reboot of the story, that's fine. Just don't be misleading about it.

With things like Jetfire being around and motivations for the Decepticons being more comic inspired, etc it does seem like the show was never meant to be a 1/1 retelling of existing stories, I don't think it ever said in interviews to be so either, not that it matters what an interview says since the ones being interviewed can misunderstand or say something that isn't true unintentionally.

What truly is a G1 prequel? What's the terminology there? Even from the trailers it was apparent it wasn't a prequel to any show, book or game that came before, it's no different to the Cybertron games before they were shoehorned into the aligned continuity despite the intentions behind the first game.

If it's predictable or exactly the same as before then why bother?

Overall this is a "G1 prequel" in a general sense like any other take on the story that's been done across different books, shows, etc it's just a different telling of these events which also had different character having different roles across, most characters never play the same role twice for better or worse.


Impactor had a big part to play? He died in backstory for the original G1 comic with his only other big contribution being that he started the Wreckers, he's a Decepticon in this continuity as well so his role is already pretty different, there isn't anything that says that Impactor's death in the show couldn't inspire some Autobots to form the Wreckers in his name.

Skywarp? When has Skywarp ever been more then a common thug in the ranks? Maybe some IDW comics made him a tad important but he's always been the least important of the 3 main seekers (and for Thundercracker it depends on if he's the "reluctant type" in a continuity or not because otherwise he will take the role of an unimportant grunt), it does suck that he didn't get that much time to shine but he's pretty expendable all things considered, his death was the most off screen though so they could just say he survived and have him with Starscream and Thundercracker if needed.

Ultra Magnus plays a big part in post 1986 type stuff (cartoon and comics alike) so his importance doesn't even tend to exist prior to Earth stuff most of the time, although he is the most important character out of these 3 overall but he was a big part of this show and is implied to have been important to the war and being trusted along with Optimus by Alpha Trion, all things considered he got it pretty good here.

sol magnus wrote:but they also killed Skywarp.

I was thinking it was Hotlink that was killed, not Skywarp. Now I have a reason to go back and watch the episodes again!

Deadput wrote:Ultra Magnus plays a big part in post 1986 type stuff (cartoon and comics alike) so his importance doesn't even tend to exist prior to Earth stuff most of the time, although he is the most important character out of these 3 overall but he was a big part of this show and is implied to have been important to the war and being trusted along with Optimus by Alpha Trion, all things considered he got it pretty good here.

I agree. Obviously, I'd like it better if he didn't die, but they did him justice with the death he got.

sol magnus wrote:

Deadput wrote:Ultra Magnus plays a big part in post 1986 type stuff (cartoon and comics alike) so his importance doesn't even tend to exist prior to Earth stuff most of the time, although he is the most important character out of these 3 overall but he was a big part of this show and is implied to have been important to the war and being trusted along with Optimus by Alpha Trion, all things considered he got it pretty good here.

I agree. Obviously, I'd like it better if he didn't die, but they did him justice with the death he got.

And without Magnus dying Bumblebee would never have joined the Autobots.

I'm glad we got a Bumblebee who could talk and wasn't sucking up to Prime. Although I did find it strange that he sold Energon for coins(?), like, what else does a bot need to purchase other than Energon...


Edit: added spoiler tag

Deadput wrote:

Lore Keeper wrote:It's not the fact that he's a big name character, its that characters like UM, Impactor, and Skywarp had big parts to play in the original continuity. I knew this wasn't going to be an actual prequel to Sunbow G1, but it was toted as being a G1 prequel in general. That comes with a certain expectation that we'll see major characters present during their modern day struggle on Earth. Hell, the Wreckers don't even seem to exist yet,, but their most famous leader is already dead.. I am not a G1 purest by any stretch, my favorite TF shows are Beast Wars, Animated, and Prime. But when something gets billed as G1 and starts veering off in a new direction so quickly, it feel very disjointed. If they want to make a TF Prime-like reboot of the story, that's fine. Just don't be misleading about it.

With things like Jetfire being around and motivations for the Decepticons being more comic inspired, etc it does seem like the show was never meant to be a 1/1 retelling of existing stories, I don't think it ever said in interviews to be so either, not that it matters what an interview says since the ones being interviewed can misunderstand or say something that isn't true unintentionally.

What truly is a G1 prequel? What's the terminology there? Even from the trailers it was apparent it wasn't a prequel to any show, book or game that came before, it's no different to the Cybertron games before they were shoehorned into the aligned continuity despite the intentions behind the first game.

If it's predictable or exactly the same as before then why bother?

Overall this is a "G1 prequel" in a general sense like any other take on the story that's been done across different books, shows, etc it's just a different telling of these events which also had different character having different roles across, most characters never play the same role twice for better or worse.


Impactor had a big part to play? He died in backstory for the original G1 comic with his only other big contribution being that he started the Wreckers, he's a Decepticon in this continuity as well so his role is already pretty different, there isn't anything that says that Impactor's death in the show couldn't inspire some Autobots to form the Wreckers in his name.

Skywarp? When has Skywarp ever been more then a common thug in the ranks? Maybe some IDW comics made him a tad important but he's always been the least important of the 3 main seekers (and for Thundercracker it depends on if he's the "reluctant type" in a continuity or not because otherwise he will take the role of an unimportant grunt), it does suck that he didn't get that much time to shine but he's pretty expendable all things considered, his death was the most off screen though so they could just say he survived and have him with Starscream and Thundercracker if needed.

Ultra Magnus plays a big part in post 1986 type stuff (cartoon and comics alike) so his importance doesn't even tend to exist prior to Earth stuff most of the time, although he is the most important character out of these 3 overall but he was a big part of this show and is implied to have been important to the war and being trusted along with Optimus by Alpha Trion, all things considered he got it pretty good here.

Don't get me wrong, I thought Ultra Magnus had a very good story arc in this show, but it could have been done with a different character.

I do have to disagree about your characterization of Impactor. He spearheaded a major story in the UK comics that led to his death. Even after, he was brought up repeatedly by surviving records and was so popular, he got brought back as a zombie to heroically sacrifice himself again.

You're right that Skywarp didn't have much to do in G1, but he was always there. Always in the thick of things. His presence meant something as part of the iconic seekers.

Nothing about the color scheme itself. Just that the translated Cybertronain on the packaging- 1st set stated Ultra Magnus had surrendered, and 2nd set stated That he was dead, so I figured those two events would happen in the series at some point, which they did.

*redacted*

that Magnus connection is pretty weak at best to me. That's just more extensive battle damage, not entirely gray.

Rung is the closest we got to some spoilers, but I think they did better with the Legends Magnus with Minimum ambus as Alpha Trion than we did here.

Hopefully the next is actually a little more believable

I can't watch the show because my Netflix account got hacked a few months ago. But so far I hate everything I've heard about it.

Messing up the origin story again so soon after the Bumblebee movie & the 2007 movie screwed it up. I don't want to ever see the origin story again, I saw G1 in 84 & that's the origin I'm sticking with. I was there in 84, it was awesome! They can't go back in time & change that so I don't understand why they keep trying. What's the point? If it ain't broke don't fix it.

And characters getting killed early on? If they want to kill characters just make up a new one that nobody cares about, like Maxima. I hated how they killed Cliffjumper in Prime & Bumblebee. What if some of us actually want to see that character in action for a while?

And Skywarp is one of my favorites. And he was my very first Transformer. My friend told me Skywarp got killed & my interest in the show immediately dropped to 0.

But at least I got some cool new toys out of it. And that's all that matters. From the sound of it, I'm pretty sure I'll hate the show.

So I watched the show the full way through thursday, and had time to think about it.

SHORT STORY: Series was very "meh". It did not suck, but it had no life. Voices were overall pretty lackluster, visuals were good but not great, and story was very dry, safe, and did a poor job of advertising the toyline/actually having a cast.

Basically: not really high on the recommended list, and it has no rewatch value

Cyberverse: Battle for Cybertron (Part 1-4 of Season 3) did much more in a third of the time, and Season 3 of Cyberverse was leagues better than anything shown to me here.

LONG STORY:

OK, so this show was very lackluster. Did not like it too much.

Let's just throw out the things I did like first:

-Wheeljack calling bumblebee a Pain in his Ass. That is the only thing that actually stuck with me and entertained me the entire 2 hours and 15 minutes I watched.
-The visuals were mostly good, I like the scenes of Magnus at the Alpha Trion Memorial, I liked that.
-Elita, Wheeljack, and Starscream had good voices.
-Megatron also had a mostly good voice.
-Impactor's story was pretty decent, along with the Mirage and Ratchet aspect to a degree.
-Soundblaster being his own guy, finally.


And now for the things that needed improvement, were more lackluster, or outright sucked.

-The very small number of named characters and models was disappointing. Like, where was 2/3 of the siege toyline?
-on that note, the random showing up of Astrotrain felt like half-assed
-and the whole Omega thing felt very hamfisted too. Like, there was a setup scene, but it was still pretty lame? He was so not used properly.
-Transformations: where were they? There were some, but it's pretty sad that like 80% of the transformations were seekers.
-Voice acting: very few of them sounded very good, and the cast overall sounded just alike. Subtitles were the only reason i knew Ironhide spoke, and the only reason I know more than 2 guys were talking during most group scenes. Garry Chalk posted some thoughts on it too, in line with this, and I cannot say i disagree at all.
-Megatron was pretty good, I think they've found their Megatron voice to succeed Welker, but he really needed more to do. He was so 1-note the whole time. most of his lines were the same things over and over again.
-No background. like literally, what are we fighting for? what are we talking about? The only thing i know is that the bots are the resistance and the cons are the main force, yet I have no idea why the bots are resisting. The only thing to give away the cons are the bad guys are the torture techniques.
-soundwave voice very bad
-almost everything dealing with Magnus was disappointing. Big waste there. He had some good potential there
-Jetfire was a KO Dinobot. It was OK, but it needed refining, it did not feel right.
-Hi and bye Moonracer, as a cheap remodel. Could have used a different head or something ya know.
-Prime did not feel like a good character. Like honestly, I could not find myself rooting for him or his motivations. I had again no context for it, like other than name why am i rooting for him? He really kinda sucked, worse than IDW (either one) Prime really. They just needed to do him different, he was not good.

I'll say it again: Cyberverse: Battle for Cybertron (Part 1-4 of Season 3) did much more in a third of the time, and Season 3 of Cyberverse was leagues better than anything shown to me here.

Overall, I give it:



PS: I find that Cullen clip super sad. Netflix went cheap, and thus chopped them out, but he really shouldn't diss new talent like that. And the people cheering make it worse. He is a great Prime, but he is not the only one. Garry Chalk, David Kaye, and others have done very well. I feel really bad for Jon, he does not deserve that from his hero, especially one who is being pretty petty over this all honestly.

Aimless Misfire wrote:Messing up the origin story again so soon after the Bumblebee movie & the 2007 movie screwed it up. I don't want to ever see the origin story again, I saw G1 in 84 & that's the origin I'm sticking with. I was there in 84, it was awesome! They can't go back in time & change that so I don't understand why they keep trying. What's the point? If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Because it's 2020 not 1984, the show is for a new generation of people it isn't about just the people from 84 and never was, it's about selling a product.

This is literally the exact same thing as when people retell folk tales and stuff like that, the way the story is told always changes.

Everybody has a version that they like which makes every version just as valid as the original.

And yeah the "origin story" has already been told and it's never going to happen the "exact same way" ever again, these retellings aren't "screwing" anything up their just telling their own version.

It's just not for you that's fine, but there is millions of people on the planet, that's the point that's why it exists, that's why Transformers is still going for 35+ years they will stop retelling the story once it stops making money.

I'm the complete opposite on Wheeljack's comment. When I first heard it I did a double take and rewound the show to hear it again to make sure. There literally is no point for him to say that. Transformers don't have asses. There was no logical reason for that phrase to even be a part of their dialogue.

Anyway, I agree with most of the other points D-Max made, and I would like to add 1 more thing regarding Ultra Magnus. He never even transformed. They skimped on transformations for a lot of the characters (kinda belying the name of the show), but Magnus was touted not only as a main player but his toy was the 1st leader released and then rereleased in the spoiler box, so couldn't we have seen his truck mode at least once? When Megatron ordered Shockwave to proceed with his methods of interrogation, I was actually expecting him to strip away the armor to we can see the white Prime underneath, but of course that didn't happen either.

Overall, this show is mostly wasted potential, with the main detriments being the voice acting and the story itself. The toy designs coming to life were really good, but it seemed they blew most of their creative wad on that. I guess in that sense they stayed true to the original, the series is nothing more than 1 long toy commercial, much like the original series was in its 1st 2 seasons.

Thinking about the transformations, or lack thereof, the scarcity must be because the models are based directly off the toys. I assume this means alt-modes must necessarily be based on the toys as well. This excludes a handful of characters whose toys do not have Cybertronian modes (Bee, Wheeljack, Elita/Arcee, etc). Because they were on screen more often, it's more noticeable that the show is eschewing the use of their alt modes. Other times, the 'bots are inside, conversing, transforming would be unnecessary and impractical. The only instances where lack of transformations is really inexcusable is Magnus apparently walking all the way to Decepticon HQ, and the fight scenes in episode 3 and 4, which missed an opportunity to show off some more alt mode usage (I may be misremembering now but I'm pretty sure there were a few in the final fight). Out of the characters that never transformed, only Magnus Impactor, Ratchet, Mirage, Soundwave, Skytread an Spinister were ever in positions to transform and didn't. Red Alert and Ironhide never left the Ark, nor Shockwave from the Con base, and Soundblaster had minions to follow the Bee team. Everyone else was in vehicle mode or transformed onscreen at least once or twice. Perhaps there could have been more, but it wouldn't have really contributed to the story as it is.

The Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron Siege series is being well recieved by many fans and critics but you may be curious as to what some of the most prominant Optimus Prime voice actors had to say about it.

Firstly we have Garry Chalk, who was the voice of Optimus Primal in Beast wars and the voice of Optimus Prime in the Unicron Trilogy. Here is what he stated on Facebook:

"Ok I watched the first episode of the new Transformers on Netflix .....um...
Everyone tries to sound like a tough guy and as a result they all have the same pace and delivery. Visually it's pretty good but I am sorry the coives were kind of low energy."





And then we have Peter Cullen who was asked how he felt about other people doing Optimus Prime back in March (when conventions were still a thing that happened). He specifically mentions the Netflix series when mentioning that it hurts that he isn't the one doing Optimus Prime and that it is wrong for the production to be using non union talent in order to cut costs. You can tell he cares deeply for the character he voices and his legacy. Now, while it may seem like he is speaking ill of other voice actors or of the idea of others being Prime, his emotional responses are really towards the producers who are using cost cutting tactics that may hurt actors' wellfare in general. Frank Welker, the voice of G1 Megatron, also shares how wrong he feels it is for others to be hired when the known voice actors are available and willing to work.

I didn't know the reason the NETFLIX show didn't use Peter Cullen and Frank Welker was due to essentially cost-cutting and not using Union talent. That kind of sucks. They don't even make it seem like it would have cost them a whole lot more.

I'm sorry if what I'm going to write upsets anyone, but I can't take much more bad Transformers fiction whether it's comics or cartoons.

In defense of Rescue Bots, I haven't seen much outside of season 1 (and possibly season 2). It was good, it just wasn't for me.

Cyberverse wasn't for me either, but I respect the opinions of some people that have liked it, so I'll just chalk it up to it not being my thing. Though I'd argue that the terrible Bumblebee radio voice at the beginning at the attention-deficit appealing 11-minute episode format was very off-putting to me as well as some other aspects, but again, not everything Transformers related has to be for me.

However, the NETFLIX Transformers Wars for Cybertron series is intended for people like me. It's supposed to be a dark show that tells the origin of the Transformers. It has, without a doubt, some of the worst directed acting I've ever heard in Transformers. The acting and pacing of their lines is so agonizingly slow that it's extremely challenging to even watch the show, despite some amazing animation. Somehow, it's even worse than the Prime Wars Trilogy voice direction. I'm not blaming the actors, some of whom I personally know, all of whom are excellent with their craft (and I was really impressed with Jason Marnocha's Megatron in the Prime Wars Trilogy so how that awesomeness got lost between series is beyond me, though Frank Todaro's Starscream remains an enjoyable homage to Chris Latta's and is one of the few voices that don't seem to suffer t h e e x t r e m e l y s l o w p a c i n g w h i c h r e m i n d s m e o f t h e s l o t h f r o m Z o o t o p i a.



It seems to be a problem with the directing, which is really unfortunate. I don't know as much about the animation business as I would like, but Transformers cartoons should be the pinnacle of Transformers fiction (and maybe one could argue the comics because at different times I have looked to either of them as the flagship fiction). I don't mind the story line, it's just the torturous slow pace of the Transformers talking that takes away from the experience for me. Watching a Transformers cartoon that is aimed at an older audience shouldn't be a chore to watch.

One last thing ... Transformers don't need to ever say the word "ass". I was really disappointed to see that word slip through. Afterburner, tail pipe, rear fender ... are all much more clever word choices for Transformers to say.

The animation is pretty good. I have a few gripes, but they're fairly minor. I'm not a fan of the "fluid" torsos that make the robot parts look like they are "stretching" like human skin as the torso moves. It looks weird and isn't how Transformers should move. Most of the robots look great. It looks like our toys walked right off the screen in many instances. While I'm not a fan of the pronounced lips on some of the characters, at least it's an artistic choice that some characters have but others don't. And the ones that do have it have different lips (i.e. Bumblebee and Megatron). For some reason, I don't mind it on Megatron's face, but Bumblebee's look really weird (though so does his entire head design for some reason). And why aren't Jetfire's eyes red when he's a Decepticon? Seems like an oversight ...

After having looked forward to this for the past year, I am very disappointed and disheartened by the show so far. The disappointing trailers showed everything we unfortunately needed to know.

Can't believe that I even have to write any of the above 3 episodes in to a series that is supposed to last another year or so until the War for Cybertron Trilogy is completed.

Spend some money on some good voice directors! If there's not enough dialogue to fill the length of the episodes, than write some more. Please!!!

Hopefully, the upcoming NETFLIX Masters of the Universe show with it's amazing voice cast is a much more enjoyable show to watch and has a good set of directors working on it.

Transformers Prime remains the last Transformers cartoon that I really enjoyed. Preceded by Transformers Animated and Beast Wars before that (again, because of the acting mostly, though Cullen's Optimus Prime was way overdone in Transformers Prime).

Sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings. Just really bummed.

EDIT: Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ces/45076/ (though Garry Chalk isn't one to talk after the poor voice acting, again mostly due to directing or writing issues, in the Unicron Trilogy cartoons)

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:You should never meet your heroes
As the old saying goes.

As far as negativity goes, it is a completely average show with some bad bits (mostly audio related). I've read comments elsewhere of people proclaiming the show as "awesome" which is equally mind blowing. Obviously different strokes for different folks. But there is nothing I saw in this show that is worthy of that high a logical assessment. Shows of the past have had truly awesome moments, even Sunbow. But what was there in this show that was that exciting and/or captivating?

I think unrealistic, blinkered praise can be just as damaging as vocal negativity. That's the kind of thing that gives popularity to the mediocre. Because those behind it don't think there is anything to change or improve.

You didn't like it. I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you.

I thought it was pretty good. As good as Sunbow? Heck no. There were story choices made I didn't like. The voice acting is definitely problematic in spaces, but I put that down to voice direction. I could think of plenty of things I didn't like, yet none of them overshadow the overall experience of the show, which to me was positive. This was NOT Prime Wars Trilogy. I categorically oppose the idea it's somehow 'worse' than that. It's a retelling that delves fairly effectively into the war that started it all (again). Now that I've seen the comments Cullen and Welker have made, and having seen them, I have a far more negative opinion of the show in a meta way than I did just on watching the show itself.

I suppose it comes down to what the "bar" is supposed to be. The expectations that I have are probably lower than what many people who are fans of the fiction are expecting. Probably something along the lines of Transformers: Prime, but I think Prime had a far higher budget than this feature.

I'm hoping the next chapters are better directed. We'll see. I'm going to watch it either way.

I don't call that "blinkered praise" at all. Do you?

So... Disowned Adaptation trope confirmed?

Aimless Misfire wrote:And characters getting killed early on? If they want to kill characters just make up a new one that nobody cares about, like Maxima. I hated how they killed Cliffjumper in Prime & Bumblebee. What if some of us actually want to see that character in action for a while?

Though I don't agree with you about the origin retelling. It's actually the first time G1 has been retold as a proper G1 retelling, despite the many revamps over the years. I'm excited about it as well as seeing some of the back story before we get to Earth. It's the slow pace of the acting that's makes it a chore to watch.

Many of your points are spot-on Ryan thank you so much. Although I probably did enjoy the series a bit more than you it seems. The voice acting was off, but to me it seemed like it was actually an improvement over Prime Wars just me I guess. A lot of loud whispering I call it, for some reason. However a lot of things seem to improve over Prime Wars and I hope that it gets better with Earthrise.

o.supreme wrote:Many of your points are spot-on Ryan thank you so much. Although I probably did enjoy the series a bit more than you it seems. The voice acting was off, but to me it seemed like it was actually an improvement over Prime Wars just me I guess. A lot of loud whispering I call it, for some reason. However a lot of things seem to improve over Prime Wars and I hope that it gets better with Earthrise.

I don't think I'd call it an improvement. The acting seems about on par with the exception of a few who are worse off like Megatron. The animation is night and day better, but the voice acting leaves much to be desired (again, presumably because of the voice directors or writers or whoever is to blame other than the talented voice actors who are just doing the job they're told to do).

I just finished the last episode, here's my thoughts on it:

Ok, first off, when they scan Bee, Arcee, and Cog for weapons they don't find anything and let them through.

COG.

The dude literally made out of weapons with several barrels sticking prominently out of his arms was not found with any weapons on him.

Anyway, onto the actual thoughts. It's more of a bulleted list than a review, but here they are:

- I was basically expecting something on par with the Prime Wars trilogy, and well. . . it was better than that. Not great, but it was entertaining. The last 3 episodes, particularly episode 4, were the better of the bunch IMO

- The voices were kinda all over the place and most of the lines were just really slow, the short pauses in between words were really jarring. Megatron's low voice kinda worked with that, though.

- The stuff with Ratchet and Impactor was good, and honestly they were the only characters with anything interesting going on. I get that it's supposed to be war and gritty but that doesn't mean that your characters can't have personality, just look at the much better War for Cybertron/ Fall of Cybertron, which still has a fairly dark tone but with likable characters, fun dialogue, and personality.

- Bumblebee's bit with the Alpha Trion protocols was actually really cool, but then Shockwave wipes them. What was all that for then? I get it was to find the allspark, but what about all that stuff about how important the protocols were and how Bumblebee was chosen? That all just kinda goes away, which really bugged me since the setup was one of my favorite things in the show.

- I did like Starscream earning his position as Seeker commander. It's basically just to replace Jetfire, but it was kinda neat to see something different than the usual Megs/Scream relationship.

- The show didn't handle fight scenes very well - it was mostly just shooting at a distance and all of Prime and Megatron's confrontations were one punching the other, they lay on the ground for a minute, and then get up and punch the other. Repeat cycle.

- It definitely didn't end the way I thought it would. I figured with all the earth modes in ER we'd spend most of our time there, but we get more setup for what happens on Cybertron after Siege than we do for the Ark crew. With the Decepticons still on Cybertron, I can't imagine much of the ER show actually takes place on Earth. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I expected.

Overall I'd probably go with 2.5/5 - It had some cool stuff and it was entertaining overall but it just wasn't great.