MightyMagnus78 wrote:True, but I still don't like the way it looks, that's just my own personal preference.
And there's nothing wrong with that. It's only if such a single aspect clouds the entirety of one's better judgement of the overall scheme of things that it becomes an issue.
Noideaforaname wrote:Least Favorite
Beast Machines - a bit unfair to call this a "bad" show, as most of it's problems were caused by it directly continuing --awkwardly-- from BW.
The character designs bugged me, especially their faces. Now, I love the Movie Decepticons and Quintessons, and they have some ugly mugs, but they are supposed to be ugly. Beast Machines faces look like an attempt to humanize TFs gone terribly, terribly wrong.
Oh, yes. BM is by no means a bad show. It had a lot of effort and competance put into it, which shows. But, I can definitely see how it fails in the eyes of many.
The continuity errors with past series are abundant, yes. This was due to them wanting to create it as self-contained series without having to rely too much on the specific details that had been established by previous fiction. The problem with that is that it simply doesn't work like that in this franchise. On its own, the continuity of BM is pretty solid. But coupled with its predecessors and problems arise. Had the makers been more open-minded to the history of what they were dealing with, then maybe things could have worked out for the better. But in this case, the discrepencies of canon tend to come off as forced retcons that needed to be mended by external media (i.e. - the 3H and Fun Pub Beast Era fiction).
As for the character designs, yes, they were
very different and some of the most original designs seen in the whole franchise up to that point of history. However, some of them were just... weird. Rattrap especially (no legs and just wheels for feet, not to mention his unfamiliar face
). These freakish designs could easily be major turn-offs for any fan, but I think that's part of schitck of BM. It was trying to be so different that it would be like nothing ever seen before, for better or for worse.
Though, I honestly don't really mind some of these designs. Optimus had this "body builder" look that gave off a sense of power and might. Cheetor had this lanky, yet swift-looking physique that reflected his advanced agility and almost athletic manuevers. Blackarachnia had a leen, feminine, and creepy-looking form, which fit her "ex-con" nature and mysterious atmosphere.
And the Vehicons all looked kinda cool in their own right. They definitely had that "alien vehicle" feel to them, especially with their vehicle altmodes having heads where the cockpits on Earth versions of their altmodes would be. One thing that never really made sense to me was how Cybertronian vehicle altmodes always had cockpits/windwhields/driver's seats on them when they barely have anyone ride in them or pilot them (transport characters notwithstanding). All those ever seemed to serve were the purpose of vision. With the Vehicons they deviate from this conformity and actually have full heads as or in place of their altmode cockpits. It may look odd, but it works just the same and surprisingly makes sense in a way.
Then there's also the case of the awkwardly directed character development. But's that's a whole can of worms that need not be opened.
G1 
BM 
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