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Dominus Prime wrote:My main issue with this series is the voice acting and how most of them sound the same. It's just blah. Hasbro makes enough money to have afforded Cullen, Welker, and the BWs voices. JS

Hasbro, sure, but not whatever studio is making this show.

william-james88 wrote:

Dominus Prime wrote:My main issue with this series is the voice acting and how most of them sound the same. It's just blah. Hasbro makes enough money to have afforded Cullen, Welker, and the BWs voices. JS

Hasbro, sure, but not whatever studio is making this show.

Rooster Teeth

aronjlove wrote:I never understood the desire to have the same voice actors over and over again for stuff that isn't related. TFWiki shows there is a multiverse, so why would movie Prime sound like G1 cartoon Prime when they are not the same universe? Same with this WFC Trilogy, this is neither the G1 nor the Beast Wars universe, so why would they sound the same. Besides, these are timeless characters. Is anyone upset Bond is played by different people for almost 60 years of movies? Sure, voice-acting isn't as strenuous. But these people are going to straight-up die soon. What is everyone gonna do then???

Agreed. The fixation on the old voices, especially with Cullen and Welker, is getting weirder and weirder as time goes on. Peter Cullen is 80 this year. Frank Welker is 75. Sunbow is long gone. If they are going to keep pumping out 'Prime' and 'Megatron' with every TF iteration, the voices will need to change.

Is there any confirmation on the number of episodes?
Logic says it should be the same number,but personally I want Kingdom to last longer.

aronjlove wrote:I never understood the desire to have the same voice actors over and over again for stuff that isn't related. TFWiki shows there is a multiverse, so why would movie Prime sound like G1 cartoon Prime when they are not the same universe? Same with this WFC Trilogy, this is neither the G1 nor the Beast Wars universe, so why would they sound the same. Besides, these are timeless characters. Is anyone upset Bond is played by different people for almost 60 years of movies? Sure, voice-acting isn't as strenuous. But these people are going to straight-up die soon. What is everyone gonna do then???

Holy ****, thank you.

aronjlove wrote:I never understood the desire to have the same voice actors over and over again for stuff that isn't related. TFWiki shows there is a multiverse, so why would movie Prime sound like G1 cartoon Prime when they are not the same universe? Same with this WFC Trilogy, this is neither the G1 nor the Beast Wars universe, so why would they sound the same. Besides, these are timeless characters. Is anyone upset Bond is played by different people for almost 60 years of movies? Sure, voice-acting isn't as strenuous. But these people are going to straight-up die soon. What is everyone gonna do then???

What's wrong with having the same voice actors for the same characters in different continuities as long as possible? Once they refuse/unable to perform, yeah get someone new. But as long as they're available, why not use them?

Rodimus Prime wrote:

aronjlove wrote:I never understood the desire to have the same voice actors over and over again for stuff that isn't related. TFWiki shows there is a multiverse, so why would movie Prime sound like G1 cartoon Prime when they are not the same universe? Same with this WFC Trilogy, this is neither the G1 nor the Beast Wars universe, so why would they sound the same. Besides, these are timeless characters. Is anyone upset Bond is played by different people for almost 60 years of movies? Sure, voice-acting isn't as strenuous. But these people are going to straight-up die soon. What is everyone gonna do then???

What's wrong with having the same voice actors for the same characters in different continuities as long as possible? Once they refuse/unable to perform, yeah get someone new. But as long as they're available, why not use them?

Probably because it creates problems like these when for, some reason, they don't perform the role. I think they should recast for every continuity, it allows a break out role for people who deserve the chance to shine. Plus, if Hasbro ever goes mad and creates multiple continuity media, a Enter the Spider-verse for Transformers say, it allows all the characters and their voices to interact with each other instead of sounding like one guy talking to him self.

ZeroWolf wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

aronjlove wrote:I never understood the desire to have the same voice actors over and over again for stuff that isn't related. TFWiki shows there is a multiverse, so why would movie Prime sound like G1 cartoon Prime when they are not the same universe? Same with this WFC Trilogy, this is neither the G1 nor the Beast Wars universe, so why would they sound the same. Besides, these are timeless characters. Is anyone upset Bond is played by different people for almost 60 years of movies? Sure, voice-acting isn't as strenuous. But these people are going to straight-up die soon. What is everyone gonna do then???

What's wrong with having the same voice actors for the same characters in different continuities as long as possible? Once they refuse/unable to perform, yeah get someone new. But as long as they're available, why not use them?

Probably because it creates problems like these when for, some reason, they don't perform the role. I think they should recast for every continuity, it allows a break out role for people who deserve the chance to shine. Plus, if Hasbro ever goes mad and creates multiple continuity media, a Enter the Spider-verse for Transformers say, it allows all the characters and their voices to interact with each other instead of sounding like one guy talking to him self.

Yes, there is nothing wrong with them performing the role but there is something wrong when a particular segment of fans demandthem to play the role, or the movie will be **** without them.

Sabrblade wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Fun fact: Gary Chalk did Dinobots belch in the episode Double Dinobot.

And spewed soda (I think it was Coke) all over the mic in the process.

Yep. I was there in person when that story was told. Classic.

ZeroWolf wrote:Probably because it creates problems like these when for, some reason, they don't perform the role. I think they should recast for every continuity, it allows a break out role for people who deserve the chance to shine. Plus, if Hasbro ever goes mad and creates multiple continuity media, a Enter the Spider-verse for Transformers say, it allows all the characters and their voices to interact with each other instead of sounding like one guy talking to him self.

Dee Bradley Baker voices dozens of Clones for the Star Wars Clone Wars shows, and its various sequels and spinoffs. He gives amazing performances and makes each clone sound different enough to be believable.

Cullen and Welker will always be my Prime and Megatron. They are, as Brett Heart would say, "The Best there is, best there was , and the best there ever will be". However...no I do not demand they voice these characters in every iteration of Transformers. I will unapologetically say however, their voices magnified my enjoyment of Transformers Prime many fold as it was an unexpected surprise when the news came out. Sadly I also know there will come a time when that wont be possible anymore (but let's not push them in the grave just yet). There are plenty of talented actors out there to fill the role. While I'm not impressed at all with Jake Foushee, I do enjoy the performances of Neil Kaplan and Jon Bailey, so I am not too concerned about the future. There is always new talent being discovered. Not all of them will be great, but there will be someone worthy to take the mantle when the time comes, I am sure.

I would have no problem with new voice actors as long as they are actually good. The problem with these shows is the voice acting is beyond awful,
People want Cullen, Welker, etc for the same reason we always want James Earl Jones as Vader or Mark Hamill as the Joker. It's because they're ICONIC. No one has done it better than these guys. And in a Transformers show/line of toys that draws heavy influence from G1, it's natural people want the characters to sound that iconic way. Looks like Prime in this show, doesn't sound like Prime.
Same with the BW characters. Chalk IS Primal. Kaye IS Megatron. Why would anyone want it any other way?

Starseeker wrote:The problem with these shows is the voice acting is beyond awful,

All the fault of the voice direction, to be fair. The actors in this show have given better performances in other shows. Had they gotten Cullen, Welker, Chalk, and Kaye, they too would have been directed to give just as bad performances as the rest of the cast.

TulioDude wrote:Is there any confirmation on the number of episodes?
Logic says it should be the same number,but personally I want Kingdom to last longer.

Just finished watching the site's screener and it's six episodes, just like the last two.

Review up tomorrow sometime! (I don't think anyone was waiting or wondering, but hey, now y'all know just in case?)

Almost a year after Siege and another half of one departed from Earthrise, the final chapter of that Transformers Netflix series we thought we always wanted has arrived. Multi-channel brand synergy dictates that this chapter must make the worlds of War for Cybertron and Beast Wars collide, and for more on that here's the official synopsis provided by Netflix:

Having crash-landed on Earth, the Autobots and Decepticons are confronted by two rival Cybertronian factions from a future that their conflict has inadvertently created, as the heroes and villains of the classic BEAST WARS: TRANSFORMERS series make their WAR FOR CYBERTRON debut. Now the Autobots must team up with the Maximals to confront the Decepticons, who have joined forces with the Predacons, in the race to find the missing AllSpark. However, the Predacons are in control of the Golden Disk, a mysterious artifact which has a personal connection to Megatron and gives him an untold advantage over his enemy, Optimus Prime. Which faction will triumph in the final battle that will decide the fate of Cybertron’s future?

Does this chapter redeem the trilogy after the lukewarm Earthrise? Read on to find out, or tune in anytime after July 29th at 3 AM Eastern Daylight Time to make up your own mind.


Beast Wars fans are in for their first, or maybe second, foray into a world of ambivalence where you have to forget the characters you knew before and be ready to start fresh with new iterations while also keeping in mind the general archetype of the character you knew before because the new version will lean on that. If that sounds confusing, just ask a G1 fan about what this is like, as that's been happening for ages with constant new iterations of G1 characters that are close to their original portrayals but still just off enough that it's easier to compartmentalize them as a new thing entirely. When things pick up with the Maximals and Predacons on Earth, it's similar to what you remember from Beast Wars but indeed completely different under the surface, so be prepared for this. The provided setup works within the context of the story being told and through the course of the series' six episodes both the Maximals and Predacons feel like welcome, fitting additions - or at least they do through five episodes, but more on that later.


I spent a lot of time in the first episode reflecting on the voice portrayals of the beast characters, and much will rightfully be made about a very questionable casting choice with Marqus Bobesich performing the role of Beast Wars Megatron. New voice actors in established roles is not only fine, it's an inevitability, so while I personally would have loved to hear David Kaye again the reality of the series' apparently low budget for voice talent (or maybe it's some typical corporate anti-union thing, who knows) dictates that some new voices are going to get used instead. The issue is, as it has been since Siege, voice over director Philip Bache. Bobesich sounds downright uncomfortable in the role, there's a strain at times which makes Beast Megatron feel more like a moody teenager than a Predacon Commander. The performance isn't necessarily bad, but it does make me feel sorry for the actor having to do something clearly outside of their practiced range. Bache's questionable handiwork is found many other times, with Beau Marie's Tigatron waxing and waning between "oh my god what is this?" and "this is just fine, actually", Justin Pierce's mostly well done performance of Optimus Primal having a notable spot or two of missed enunciation and a brief monologue with his back to the camera that has the speaking beats of a high schooler reading lines from a script for the first time, and of course Frank Marnocha's Siege Megatron and Jake Foushee's Siege Optimus can't go the whole series without a weird start-and-stop exchange that will put you to sleep, though they do find time to creep these iterations closer to their much, much better performances of these characters in Cyberverse.

A full-blown review of just the voice acting could occur, but since no one wants to read that much, know that it isn't all bad and is in fact mostly in that previously mentioned category of "this is just fine, actually." Jeanne Carr's Blackarachnia nails the character's tone, Krizz Kaliko sounds like he genuinely gets Dinobot, Erin Ebers provides great emotional range for Airazor and Andy Barnett might just make you love Rhinox all over again. Rattrap is picked up by Frank Todaro, who also voices Starscream, and it's this recurring role that steals the show as far as the voice-talent goes. As the story progresses, Starscream is given what I found to be one hell of a character arc, and Todaro is superb every step of the way in his portrayal of the legendary Decepticon Air Commander. A+ voicework can be achieved with D- direction after all.


The wider story carried through Kingdom is best left unrevealed here. It's nothing complicated, but if I get into detail implicit spoilers will immediately follow. Instead, let's talk about the writing on this chapter, because there are times when it feels like two different shows got pieced together. Mae Catt (whose name is not a Scottish pun about a cat writing television), who fans may recognize from Transformers: Cyberverse, handles the odd numbered episodes 1, 3 and 5 while Tim Sheridan, who wrote episodes on Siege and Earthrise, handles the even numbered ones. The odd numbered episodes, though mostly episodes 3 and 5 since they don't have so much expository work, do something very pleasantly surprising which was absent for most characters in Siege and Earthrise. These episodes build characters through dialogue and interactions where entertaining things are said that are still relevant to the plot and its supporting actions. Soundwave gets snappy and snobby with Megatron, Rattrap calls Optimus Prime "the truck", Wheeljack doesn't want to give something a literal Whirl - they're all moments that are small but end up being large in your memory. The even-numbered episodes aren't totally devoid of such moments, for instance, Hound's confusion over Optimus Primal's first utterance of "Maximize!" is great stuff. The issue in these comes down to a couple notable things, for one, how they suddenly insist upon the Autobots and Maximals being argumentative well after it's established that they're going to get along fine now. There are also some banal exchanges that threaten to stop any momentum dead, while in others, characters say things that either make no sense or are unconvincing, only for other characters to somehow totally follow them or be totally convinced into something. Either the characters in episodes 2, 4 and 6 are the stupid ones or I am; no offense taken if you choose to believe the latter.

Apart from some of the dialogue the greatest single improvement in Kingdom as compared to Siege and Earthrise, at least writing-wise, is the pacing. There wasn't a stretch of chore-like episodes in this one, which was a very welcome change that made this brief binge-watch much more fun.


The production itself is going to be very unsurprising to those who have already watched Kingdom's predecessors. Fantastic texture work and some downright amazing key frames continue, and perhaps the greater achievement here by Polygon is how they've managed to make the Maximals and Predacons look right at home beside the Autobots and Decepticons, even in beast mode. There are moments where the color work will amaze as well, but maybe I'm only noticing this now that I can watch Netflix in 4K HDR - thanks, Playstation 5. The only visual frustration this time around came in the overuse of bokeh on the edges of the screen. This show is almost literally too dark at times to watch during the day on an LCD or LED television, which is what most fans are probably going to have. The Maximals weren't the only ones despairing when the sun set in episode 2.

The score by Alexander Bornstein must be mentioned, because suffice it to say that I was extremely critical of it in my previous War for Cybertron reviews. Outside of some recycling/call-backs to previous scoring, Kingdom opts for a more traditional sound in its score, and the improvement is downright exponential. Having a score that finally feels, mostly, like it's trying to be its own thing is extremely welcome and appreciated.


There's a segment of Transformers fans that is quick to apply hyperbolic praise to this series for being serious and edgy and dark, but the world sucks enough and while I personally want Transformers fiction to treat me like an adult some of the time I also want it to actually be fun to watch. With Siege and Earthrise I have a hard time saying they were fun experiences in retrospect. Kingdom was, mostly, a fun experience while retaining a slightly chunibyo quality, for better or worse. The final episode is a bit by the numbers and quick to wrap up a great deal of plot, but two episodes would likely have been too dragged out, so I'm not sure what the best answer here was. Things did feel like they got in a hurry to wrap up the trilogy and it left the impact of the beast characters in the dust for the most part, but at least they weren't totally forgotten like the Mercenaries from Earthrise who never appear or are even mentioned once in Kingdom.

Transformers television usually finds its stride somewhere in the middle of or late into a second season, and for the War for Cybertron trilogy this definitely applies. The last couple episodes of Earthrise spill into Kingdom and finally get on with telling a story that you want to watch. While there are enough things that still aren't as great as they could be holding it back, Kingdom is the most fun chapter of the trilogy by a wide margin.



The ending is satisfying but does manage to tease at least a possibility that more stories in the War for Cybertron universe could occur. I don't think we need that and to be more specific, the creative reins should be handed to either the Cyberverse team or totally new talent, but this trilogy was a good step in the right direction and a remarkable improvement over the Prime Wars trilogy which I still can't bring myself to even finish watching. It's no all-time great, but take another step up or two from here and Transformers' original streaming series pedigree might start to really attract more long-term attention.



Seibertron.com was provided with complimentary advance screening access to Transformers Chapter Three: Kingdom by Netflix for the purpose of this review. "Thank you" to Netflix and Hasbro for this access!

Very hype to watch this tomorrow

I'm going to watch this to finish the series, but honestly I lost hope for this trilogy 2 episodes into Earthrise. Anyway, this review makes me think it won't be a complete slog like Earthrise was, even if the voice work is still the same subpar level. Say whatever you want about budgets and unions, but even with talentless voice direction the original performers for the characters would have made this a much better experience.

Just finished Kingdom, some thoughts...

The voice acting is really painful at times. It was COMPLETELY DIFFERENT to the original voices (and not in a good way) for Beast Megatron, Optimus Primal, Ironhide, Tigatron, and Dinobot. Despite the unrecognizable and often dull voice choices, Beast Megatron and Dinobot were obviously written to try to evoke the originals as much as possible, which only made the new voices stick out more. The other problem was how mumbly everyone was! A lot of this was down to sound mixing, as the voices were too quiet and the sound effects way too loud, at least over my TV. I had to put on subtitles after a few minutes to understand what was going on. Between beloved characters being oddly/poorly interpreted, needing subtitles anyway, and line deliveries being constantly ruined by all... the... pauses, I really thought about switching the audio to a foreign language just to check it out. In hindsight, I probably should have done that.

The score is still hilariously over-reliant on cymbals to change tracks(?), but it was less frequent in these episodes than in Earthrise. I still cringed every time dramatic reveal cymbals played over, say, Primal swinging from a tree branch.

Audio issues aside, I think the actual story was way more interesting than the previous episodes.
I'm frustrated there was an attempt to set up a cliffhanger for future shows when, if Hasbro has any sense at all, this studio shouldn't get another go at Transformers. It feels like a poor excuse to not wrap up plot threads, really. On a smaller level, the show reinterpreted the beast wars in a way I don't mind and works to explain the budget-restricted small cast, to an extent. The army of mute Scorponoks was an understandable budget concession but makes less and less sense the longer I think about it. The main issue I have is that there's no guarantee these characters are at all similar to the originals, with their wildly different backstory and interpretations, but the show still tries to throw surface-level references like "big bot" and "chopper-face" at fan viewers to make it seem like everything's "as you remembered." I was really concerned they were going to make more specific references to a beloved Beast Wars episode, but then they leaned more into how these versions of the maximals and predacons are different from the originals and didn't completely waste their limited cast members. Unicron's involvement was really interesting and I'm frustrated the most compelling thing this series produced is a hook for a sequel that probably won't exist. I hope the twitter mob doesn't start latching onto this show and demanding a sequel simply because Blackarachnia kissed another female.

Uncle Burn's Five Minute (or less) Review of Kingdom!
Guaranteed to be more interesting than some of the opinionated drivel that has been posted as "news" lately

The mere notion of the third chapter being an improvement over the previous two chapters to me, was as mythical as drop bears*, hoop snakes**, and a well planned Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in Australia***.

Suffice to say, it actually was an improvement. Don't get me wrong, it's not enough to redeem the entire series, because it's full of flaws. Voice actors that just don't work (or maybe that's my, and to an extent, the greater fandom's sheep mentality and expecting something of old), the writing far from great, in fact, it could be a lot worse. It could be written by current Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall, and directed by Uwe Boll.

But unlike previous chapters, the pacing of the story was a massive improvement.

You could say there's even character development from Starscream's decent into madness, to Optimus Prime becoming an angsty douchebag with a guilty hero complex.

The introduction of the Beasts and their reason for being there is ... well, let's just say it works ... just.

Across all six episodes the writers have thrown in a few little easter eggs, throwbacks to older storylines involving certain characters, and even scenes that harken back to older media.

The big indicator that this was an improvement was I didn't feel the urge to neck myself after finishing it. I agree with Latebrus-K above in his dislike for the final hook of the episode. Knowing that there more than likely won't be a continuation made that particular scene pointless.

As someone who has disliked the first two chapters, and not given a **** about the toys, I didn't mind this third chapter. If you hate yourself enough to have put yourself through the first two chapters, take a crack at this third chapter, it's less painful, you may even enjoy it.

*Totally exist
**Also totally exist
***100% mythical

Two episodes in thus far and this show is hype. Other than Beast Megatron and Tigatron, the voices are fine. Stoked to watch more.

I was going to wait til finishing all of it before commenting but I can't help myself

I'm halfway done and not bad. The storytelling is nowhere near as lazy as earthrise. The voice acting is still subpar

Prime goes Shatner x1000000 the whole time
Starscream is probably the best
Airazor, Blackarachnia, and Megatron are good enough
Primal and Cheetor are alright

Beast Megatron though, yeesh.

And I seriously can't help but think, why didn't they switch the voice actors for Dinobot and Tigatron? Tigatron sounds like he's imitating Dinobot. And Dinobots smooth tone matches more with Tigatron.

And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it

I'm really tempted to take time during my lunch break and at least watch the first episode. Not because this show is "so great", but because, after last week, I was hoping to come home from vacation all hyped to watch the New MOTU series. Now going in, I knew there was controversy, and it probably wasn't going to be what it was advertised but man.... that all blew up to The Last Jedi Level hate overnight, and really killed my enthusiasm.

One thing I'll give WFC show creators credit for. They never said this would be an "honest to goodness" continuation of the Marvel/Sunbow show. They let it stand on it's own, for good or ill, an alternate version/universe, something we've become accustomed to. They also for the most part kept their mouths shut, except to promote the show as normal, none of the BS nonsense Kevin Smith has pulled.

Oddly enough, for once, the relative quiet and "normal" promotion of this show will probably make it seem far more satisfying today, then if it had come out a month ago.

Razorbeast88 wrote:And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it

He's still part of the actors union though...

Now I will attempt to use the spoiler block thing for the first time, forgive me if I do it wrong

Dude they made beast Megatron SUCH a little bitch holy crap. The voice acting I can get over but his character is atrocious. He's a baby back bitch there's no other way to say it.

Rattrap ALMOST sounds like rattrap sometimes. It's so close just not quite there. But I appreciate that it got as close as it did I guess

Dinobot, they did alright with him. Not too shabby. Nowhere near the greatness of the original, as expected, but nowhere near as bad as he could've been *cough Optimus prime and beast megs* he doesn't sound like dinobot but the script is decent enough. They threw in a line from code of hero and that was somewhat cool, almost awesome

And MAN I was so excited that he was about to face off with Soundwave! My two favorites going toe to toe! And it started off so cool! But then the build up to the fight turned out to be the entire fight lol. Could've been better but I at least felt hype for a moment

o.supreme wrote:

Razorbeast88 wrote:And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it

He's still part of the actors union though...

Yeah, just wishful thinking

Razorbeast88 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:

Razorbeast88 wrote:And also, if the budget on this thing was so limited why not hire Scott McNeil? He could've done like half the voices and still made it great. Hell, he probably could've Dee Bradley Baker'd it

He's still part of the actors union though...

Yeah, just wishful thinking

If you want to see him "Dee Bradley Baker " a show though...Check out Bucky O'Hare and the Toad wars. It also has Garry Chalk, but supposedly McNeil was doing up to 12 different characters on that show.(according to him...could be false memory though)