The Energon Pub

So the show is now concluded minus the movie to come this fall. What was your reaction, impressions, disappointments from the third season of TF:Prime

I have to say I personally was let down. I will list my reasons why:

1. Most of the episodes seemed useless and filler, to include the title for the 3rd season. Beast Hunters... We got to see 1 Predacon the entire show. Yet we have how many variants in the toy line already. I know not every one can be represented in the toy line to show ratio but 1 character. Such a let down in my opinion.

2. Only 1 character got boosted to be a Beast Hunter deco.. Optimus. Would like to have seen some of the Autobots get there get ups as well as the Decepticons. I just feel like the toy line and the little books that come with them lead you to believe one thing is happening while they went a totally different direction with the show. They should be in sync in my opinion.

The season had its high points as well especially the finale. But overall there were not to many episodes I can recall that had me wanting more right then and there.

I am only one voice and fan. I am sure there are those that loved it, and probably those that hated it as well. Just thought we could discuss this now that the show is a wrap!

Worst. Toy commercial. EVER!

Really, what was the point of "Beast Hunters"? The mainline, Kre-O, and Bot Shots got inundated with dragons, dragons, and more dragons, but the result is just Predaking and an updated Optimus. BB and Smokescreen got new colors for some inexplicable reason, but no toys to match! Well, Cyberverse, but from last year or in a vehicle set.


The show itself I think went downhill in Season 2 ---- well, I got tired of saying "it could get better" then, more accurately. Far, far, far, FAR too much wasted potential and status quo reversion. Season 3 really wasn't much better.

MenaceRX wrote:1. Most of the episodes seemed useless and filler,

Wat?

There was literally no filler in any of this season. Each episode was an relevant component to a specific story arc and the overall plot of the series.

53-56 were a four-episode arc revolving around Darkmount and the aftermath of season 2's finale.
57-61 were a five-episode arc revolving around Project: Predacon and Predaking's evolution to sentience.
62-65 were a four-episode arc revolving around Cyber-Matter and the restoration of the Omega Lock, containing both the calm before and storm of the series finale itself.

The only episode that seemed the closest to filler was "Thirst", but even though it was a standalone episode, it was still vital in that it both wrapped up loose ends and shifted the status quo further in anticipation of future events.

To me season 3 went like this... we killed the Autobots... oh wait we didn't. Then its lets build a Predacon.... oh yeah what were we doing.. I forgot so lets drop that and just make a new Cybertron/restore it. Hunting all those Predacon relics for what exactly oh wait the just didnt do anything with that.

I feel like it could have been so much more but they either got cheap or lazy or both perhaps and just tried to do to much in a small window with very few episodes. The season should have been about double the length they went with or made the episodes an hour long with roughly 45 minutes of content. Instead we got 30 min episodes with 15 minutes of content.

I hated Beast Suckers

Episode 1 - very boring, terrible storytelling.
Episode 2 - things picked up, but still kind of dull.
Episode 3 - the Predacon was the only redeeming factor. The Autobots regrouped far too quickly for my taste.
Episode 4 - status quo reset key POWERRRRR!
Episode 5 - the first episode this season I actually liked, but only for its action. The storytelling still pales in comparison to S1 and S2
Episode 6 - easily forgettable
Episode 7 - UUUUUUUGHHHHH. Nothing special. Dammit, Prime! You can do better.
Episode 8 - BEASSST EPISODE! I loved it to bits! Starscream and Knock Out we're hilarious, Silas received closure, and Airachnid's back!!!
Episode 9 - Not dull, but not exciting either. Let's give Ultra Magnus a hand.
Episode 10 - Soundwave yes speakey. The only good part, sadly.
Episode 11- might be the worst episode in the ser-

WHAT THE HELL....

Episode 12 - this was god awful. Predaking vs Megatron was the only interesting part, and even I have complaints about that. I hate this episode with a passion. Now that the show's over I can geniunely say: this was the worst episode of all 65 episodes! I could only pray they do better with the finale.

This is it...

Episode 13 - well, I did like it. Developed some characters nicely and added some closure.

Unfortunately, three episodes I like can't save this season. It really did suck. It had terrible writing in comparison to the first two seasons. The pacing was so rushed you forgot what the primary goal was anymore. Beast Suckers was a piece of burning crap on the grill. I love Prime, which is why I'm angry with this season. The writers really could have done better.

IMO Beast Hunters was doomed the second TF4 was announced.

The writers did the best they could with what little screen time was available to them, whilst under the premise of establishing/promoting a whole new toy line.

IMO Beast Hunters effectively became a 'filler' simply to sell more product between now and the release of the new movie. Just enough to keep the kids interested but soon forgotten when TF4 merchandise hits the shelves.

Man, all this hate. This was my favorite season of Prime by a huge margin. The movie should be an excellent cap on things, and will at least have a couple more Predacons.

I enjoyed the shorter season, as I felt S1 especially, and S2 in the relic hunts, dragged on for far too long. This did have some filler, but it was kept to a minimum.

To those wanting more - where would they have fit in additional plot threads and characters without muddying the waters of what they ended up doing? I think they did a great job given the constraints on the number of episodes.

Lol, this thread seems to be a home for Prime haters....

I liked this season, a lot. I watched Prime since season 1, i didn't like most episodes and i was like "When will we get some actual story!?" but i started to like Prime since One Shall Rise, when i started to feel that there is an actual story going on. When the first half of season 2 ended i felt that Prime has picked itself up and we have actual plot going on. Beast Hunters was the best season, some will call it the worst toy commercial ever, but actually it is the best toy commercial ever (i watched many other cartoons who's sole purpose is selling toys, and it doesn't do anymore then that. Prime has plot twits, plot threads, an actual story and more! if you still think prime is just a 30m toy advertisement then you haven't seen anything yet)

As for the whole "Did the last episode provide enough closure?" i won't answer that. Till the movie comes out. And...to those who are disappointed about the lack of predacons (and seemingly don't read the news), be happy, the movie is going to bring us more predacons, and i am excited to see them in action.

Rex Prime wrote:Lol, this thread seems to be a home for Prime haters....

Don't think hatred of a season = hatred of the whole show. You sound very unreasonable with that statement.

Also, noideaforaname was calling Beast Hunters a terrible toy commercial, not all of Prime like you had claimed.

Sorry about that

It's great the Predacons got their own movie to star in, but it feels a bit too little too late. The stores will have already gone thru most of the Pred toys, I'd imagine, apart from Target's exclusives and the oversized Legions. So if, say, Laserback or Ripclaw is in it and I end up liking them enough to buy a toy of them, I'm out of luck; they're "last season's toys". It's backwards. As nice as it is that TF fiction is moving away from purely just advertising whatever's on the shelf, I'd still like to be able to watch an episode then go and buy a character's toy from a store soon after.
And it's a bit of a shame that the toyline will come up with some really, really cool things (Thundertron, Abominus, Dead End, etc.) yet the show doesn't seem to care.

Noideaforaname wrote:It's great the Predacons got their own movie to star in, but it feels a bit too little too late. The stores will have already gone thru most of the Pred toys, I'd imagine,

You underestimate the power of shelfwarming, my friend.

Noideaforaname wrote:apart from Target's exclusives and the oversized Legions.

Those aren't coming out until next year.

Noideaforaname wrote:So if, say, Laserback or Ripclaw is in it and I end up liking them enough to buy a toy of them, I'm out of luck; they're "last season's toys". It's backwards. As nice as it is that TF fiction is moving away from purely just advertising whatever's on the shelf, I'd still like to be able to watch an episode then go and buy a character's toy from a store soon after.

Don't worry, Darksteel and Skylynx are the two, yes two, new Predacons we'll be getting in the movie.

Noideaforaname wrote:And it's a bit of a shame that the toyline will come up with some really, really cool things (Thundertron, Abominus, Dead End, etc.) yet the show doesn't seem to care.

Different minds operating behind each.

Plus, the same could be said for the toyline not caring for some things that the show puts out (Breakdown, Jet Vehicon, Unicron, etc... all Japanese-only).

Sabrblade wrote:Darksteel and Skylynx are the two, yes two, new Predacons we'll be getting in the movie.

Is this confirmed or just rumor?

viruscarnage wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Darksteel and Skylynx are the two, yes two, new Predacons we'll be getting in the movie.

Is this confirmed or just rumor?

Confirmed from SDCC and the official publicly announced mini-summary description of the movie.

viruscarnage wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Darksteel and Skylynx are the two, yes two, new Predacons we'll be getting in the movie.

Is this confirmed or just rumor?

Yes; it's confirmed

PrymeStriker wrote:

viruscarnage wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Darksteel and Skylynx are the two, yes two, new Predacons we'll be getting in the movie.

Is this confirmed or just rumor?

Yes; it's confirmed

Thanks bro!

I'm withholding judgment for the season as a whole until after the epilogue, but for now I'd say it's the most flawed of the three seasons. It's a bit too drawn out and ponderous during the bone searching and then a bit too rushed at the end, especially in the finale. This is not to say it's bad, far from it. It's simply a bit lacking, because it's shorter than the prior two seasons. My biggest disappointment was the lack of new characters, especially Predacons, who had so much storyline potential. It's been said before, but this series of Beast Hunters didn't have much beast hunting. Or beasts.

"Rebellion", "Project Predacon", "Thirst", "Evolution", and "Deadlock" join my list of personal favorite episodes, but the overarching plot of the season was a bit poorly timed, and I really felt like the rebuilt Omega Lock came out of nowhere. This season had some of the best fight scenes of all, with my personal favorites being Soundwave and Shockwave vs Optimus, Smokescreen, and Bee and Predaking vs Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack. This season had plenty of awesome individual moments, both in terms of action and character development, but they were attached to a lot of other crap I don't particularly care for. Again, not bad, just less good than I expected.

And I said I was withholding judgment... Oh, well.

I get the feeling people might not be picking on this season so much if the "Beast Hunters" subtitle was never added to the title, since the creators already had a clear vision of how the series was going to end long before it was decided to add in the beast theme.

Like, if it was just "Transformers: Prime season 3" instead of "Transformers: Prime Beast Hunters season 3". If you take that out, people might see that the whole Project: Predacon subplot was exactly that: A subplot. Never meant to be the main focus, simply a means to an end (in this case, the end, as in, a prelude to the Cyber-Matter finale arc).

Sabrblade wrote:I get the feeling people might not be picking on this season so much if the "Beast Hunters" subtitle was never added to the title, since the creators already had a clear vision of how the series was going to end long before it was decided to add in the beast theme.

Like, if it was just "Transformers: Prime season 3" instead of "Transformers: Prime Beast Hunters season 3". If you take that out, people might see that the whole Project: Predacon subplot was exactly that: A subplot. Never meant to be the main focus, simply a means to an end (in this case, the end, as in, a prelude to the Cyber-Matter finale arc).

I'm starting to feel like that as well, but then people would bitch and complain about how Hasbro released a new line for a portion of the show that doesn't exist, assuming they still would've had the Beast Hunters line. But in terms I the show itself I feel it would have helped the show tremendously if it was just "Transformers: Prime Season 3" and not have the name change if you will. I can't remember the actual term they use for this.

viruscarnage wrote:I'm starting to feel like that as well, but then people would bitch and complain about how Hasbro released a new line for a portion of the show that doesn't exist, assuming they still would've had the Beast Hunters line. But in terms I the show itself I feel it would have helped the show tremendously if it was just "Transformers: Prime Season 3" and not have the name change if you will. I can't remember the actual term they use for this.

Subline imprint.

But, as far as people complaining about Hasbro releasing a line for a nonexistent part of the show, I wouldn't quite go that far. After all, the cartoons of Energon and Cybertron, and all three movies, didn't bear the names "The Powerlinx Battles", "Primus Unleashed", "AllSpark Power", "Premium Series" or "N.E.S.T. Global Alliance" in their titles, yet still featured some of what each of those subline imprints contained.

After all, Beast Machines and Armada are the only series to have actually integrated the subtitle ("Battle for the Spark", "The Unicron Battles") into the series title. I figure that if Prime didn't use its "Beast Hunters" title, but still kept Predaking and the bone hunt, and maybe also kept the redesigned beastly opening sequence (or not, for this one), then it might not have been as accused of raising people's expectations too high.

Perhaps, perhaps not. I really didn't like yet another series of relic hunts which built up to something that got undone within one episode, regardless of what the season was called.

I wasn't "in" the fandom for the other series, so I can't comment on their subline imprints, and the Movies don't work the same way as a cartoon and can't really adopt one. Plus, weren't most of those primarily repaints? A few new molds here and there, but not a whole faction's worth. I don't mind Beast Hunters' Autobot/Decepticon retools not being used, but it feels like not using the Predacons to full effect was a waste.

I would have hated S3 either way. I thought the majority of it was poorly written and dull, and I only liked Project Predacon, Thirst, and Deadlock.

I felt that the whole 'Let's breed a pile of Predacons'-scenario could have been a lot less anti-climatic, the Darkmount-arc could have been better and letting Airachnid have a bigger part could have been a lot better.

I just see a lot of 'could have been'-stuff.

RhA wrote:and letting Airachnid have a bigger part could have been a lot better.

My opinion about Airanchid role in this seazon is exactly opposite. One of the greatest mistakes of writes in this seazon was to aloud Airanchid survive the blast without nor good explenation nor without purpose was stupid. Frankly, for me it's kinda like they dont have balls to kill female character. Especially when we consider how much Autobots have to deal with Autobot Rising. Enough is enough.

While Beast Hunters still is great peace of art for me, I agree that it could be done much better.

Yeah, after season 1, Airachnid went from being one of my favorite Decepticons to being so stupidly overpowered to the point of ridiculousness.

I'm glad she go shelved for most of the series, and later taken out in a way that was both dignified yet deserving to her character and reasonably believable.