My favorite thing about this series was the characterization of Elita, she felt more like a strong leader when she decides to stay behind on Cyberstron, rather than be some love interest. And her end only makes it more tragic because we see how she kept on fighting, even when she believed that Optimus was gone.
I thought Elita was a strong leader back in G1 as well. When Optimus leaves, she isnt just uselessly love struck the whole time, she takes charge of her own little contingent of Autobots and holds out for millions of years while Shockwave would go on to dominate Cybertron ostensibly. G1 Elita was a solid character
It had potential, the VAs were passionate but the writing held it back. It's great you made this video, highlighting everything that we missed because of lackluster execution!
The only issue I had is they all spoke slowly, I don't mean they need to run their voice but it feels like old seniors trying to talk to one another cuz they are partially deaf. Too many pauses and even the not profound chit chat has pauses, very annoying
@@l_rob420 that's a perfect summary yeah, it wasted way too much time on pointless stuff and characters only to rush the hell out of the important ones (seriously what was the point of spending so much time with Elita, Jetfire and Shockwave if you are just gonna kill them off OFF SCREEN)
Transformers has expanded for so long and in to too many medias and genres that the argument of "Transformers shouldn't be dark" is dumb because Transformers should be what the authors intend with that generation.
@@hiro_cuhh5672 Transformers Prime literally was edgy with little substance, inconsistent, pretended to have stakes that it never had, one of the least tactically intelligent and wasteful portrayals of Megatron in the franchise amongst other problems. I'd rather a show be honest with what it was even if it was a lighter-toned straight up show for kids than one that pretended to be something it never was, TFP was a disappointment when compared to shows like Beast Wars or Animated which nailed the darker moments there better than TFP ever did, that was a show who knew how to use dark elements at the right time and place without overstaying it's welcome.
@@hiro_cuhh5672 I love TFP, even though I have a few issues with it like Bumblebee's characterisation, the sometimes stilted animation, the Decepticon designs, and some other stuff. I wish we got something like that tonally in this show. Its what IDW did and that works wonders for Transformers. To be dark, but also funny and silly sometimes.
Yea the series deserved better, like I wish each season had more episodes to flesh out the characters more and for goodness sake PUT IN MORE FLASHBACKS!
You know one of the things I actually like about the series is, the expansion on Primes and Elita’s relationship like we got more out of their relationship in this series than any other series thus far.
8:42 What's funny is this exact plot line was shown TWICE before in 2 different series, Energon and Animated. Specifically Energon, despite being regarded as the worst Transformers show of them all, showed how evil and painful the process is. Megatron referred to it as branding and whenever we see him do the procedure, it is always frightening as you really feel that Megatron is corrupting any Transformer to his side by taking away their free will. Autobot Inferno had to actually commit suicide to free himself from the branding effect while the Terrorcon Scorponok completely lost his free will to be a slave to the end.
Jake Foushee is in Smite as Optimus Prime and for some reason he just is objectively better there. Jason Marnocha as Megatron is also great in Smite. Both are just fantastic and all of their lines feel natural even in the call-outs
@@crimsoncelestial That genuinely surprised me I never even put it together. I thought OP in Cyberverse was pretty excellent. It doesn't surprise me that "Netflix" RT was a trainwreck here
I noticed that there are many assets from transformers prime here. That detonator Prowl holds when talking to Jetfire is precisely like that tracker bulkhead used in TFP, or how the interior of Megatrons gladiator pit/liar or whatever looks precisely like the interior of the nemesis from TFP. I think prime wheeljacks grenade appears at some point too
I know Prime was never a warrior before war, but he still feels too weak at first despite of how long the war has been around and how Optimus should have taken 1 or 2 lessons to become both a warrior and a leader. It's like they wanted us to see Optimus' Progression from zero to hero, but they put the wrong time setting. It would be no problem if the story started at the beginning of the war so Optimus' lack of experience would be much more tolerable.
Superbly done, and I highly agree. Watching the show a second and third time really helped me understand the what they were trying to do with the series and I highly appreciate the attempt eventhough they may not have fully succeeded. Still it's one of my favourite shows, and I would so love a season 4, especially for the character development of Starscream.
I'm glad to see some appreciation for Netflix's WFC! It really had some poor execution, but I like a lot of the ideas it thrown out that I'm hope we're able to see in more copetent hands one day. This Elita-1 is my favorite of Canon Elita's to date. And I unironically like the visual of the series
Any chance you could do a video like this for Cyberverse? I noticed it uses a lot of similar ideas as the Netflix shows but executed far better imo, especially for a "kids" show vs an "adult" show.
Like the Decepticons interacting with humans in a less typical way, like with the streaming in season 2, but they could've done a lot more with that in this season 1.5, Decepticon PR is something we never see. That and so many potential plot points we didn't get that they glossed over. It feels like they're missing a season, y'know?
Someone just turned me on to this video and I really appreciate the depth you went into this to understand a lot of what we were going for. No show is perfect but we are proud of this and always enjoy when someone gets it. Thanks
Another video I'm really glad you made: This series gets a lot of flak for things completely out of it's control, and having attended panels with it's writers and VAs, I have a better appreciation for what did come across that I really liked. Really love your editing btw.
The three things in this show I really wanted work on was Shockwave, Skywarp and Scorponok. I’ll go over each: 1) Scorponok: I actually loved how they got his size (mostly) correct. So many versions of Transformer media either depict him as the same size (or smaller) than his fellow Decepticons, but they forget that he’s meant to be a Titan, so it was nice to see that change. The one thing this version forgot, however, is that Scorponok is meant to be smart. Not only that, he’s meant to be a Decepticon Leader! If they had taken aspects like that from the Marvel or IDW comics, maybe even making him out as the last survivor of a Decepticon splinter group that he led, now using the abandoned space bridge/battle cruiser as a place of isolation while trying to hatch a plan that could include the space bridge, probably use it as a means to invade a lesser-developed planet and conquer it, using its resources for himself. 2) Skywarp: Come on, he’s the ONE seeker with a special ability, teleportation, and you decide to kill him off? The whole trio of Seekers should have been together. (Doesn’t help that he’s my favorite one, so I’m a little biased, but still) 3) Shockwave: For the most part, they did him right. Cold, logical, uncaring, and a downright monster. He did not care when he tortured Ultra Magnus and used his body as a weapon against Prime, and he did not care when he drained the sparks of millions of his own Decepticon brothers to build the Nemesis. He just did. Not. Care. And that is perfect for Shockwave. So what’s my issue? Well, I wish we saw that more. More so than that, I wish we saw Shockwave being more powerful. In the lore, he is usually depicted as being second only to Megatron in terms of power, and has held his own agains Scorponok and Grimlock. He’s *EXTREMELY* powerful, and we should have seen more of that. Also, I don’t think he ever once used his hand gun as, well, a *gun.* Other than those (honestly, minor) issues with those characters, I think this show was alright
Fantastic video! I've always liked this show and have argued that it's nowhere near as bad as some people say. Is the show perfect? No, but it's got a ton of great ideas. Some ideas I didn't even pick up on until watching this video. Pretty much every point you made I agree with, especially with the voice acting. Yeah Optimus shouting "WE'RE NOT THE DECEPTICONS" is funny but the voice acting just gets progressively better with each episode. Hell, Frank Todaro as Starscream in particular I thought was great! Honestly my two biggest issues with this show were that they really needed to calm down with the whole "Optimus was wrong!" thing. They hammer that in a bit too much. And there's the fact that so many characters just don't really do anything. Granted, I haven't seen the show since Kingdom aired but from my memory only Optimus, Jetfire, Bumblebee, Elita, Ratchet, Arcee (kinda), Ultra Magnus Cog and Wheeljack get anything to do in the show while Ironhide, Hound, Mirage, Prowl, Sideswipe, Red Alert, Chromia and Moonracer just didn't really do anything. Hell, Cliffjumper just has an extremely brief cameo where he dies. As for the argument "Can Transformers be dark?" Honestly I've always found this to be a silly argument. Transformers like Marvel, DC, Star Wars, and pretty much every other major multi media franchise can have a variety of tones and themes. Especially in franchises that have a ton of continuities like Transformers, Marvel, DC, etc. If Transformers were to stick to just being super goofy G1 stuff, we would've never gotten the Unicron Trilogy, Earthspark, Bayformers, War/Fall of Cybertron, Prime, Cyberverse, both IDW runs, Dreamwave comics, Shattered Glass, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Animated, etc. Sure, maybe some of those things aren't for you and that's fine. But if these projects weren't around, a lot of Transformers fans wouldn't be fans. They'd never get into the franchise. The goofy stuff just isn't for them or maybe the super dark stuff isn't for them. And that's okay, there's plenty of different pieces of media with varying tones and themes. There's a Transformers story for everyone. If you didn't like the most recent show because it was too goofy or too serious. Don't worry, there's bound to be a new show set in a new continuity in like two years lmao. tldr; Transformers is a great franchise.
This show is pretty unpopular with a lot of fans, and I'll admit even I had a hard time getting into it; but once I did it became one of my favorite TF stories ever told. The subjective nature of good and evil, Megatron legitimately being a hero to the Decepticons, and the autobots having to face their hypocrisy. It's one of the most thought provoking and layered stories Transformers has told. It's not perfect, especially in its execution; but when you take a step back it's really an amazing story.
In Mega Man X, X loses his first boss fight against Vile. It takes the entire game gathering experience and powerups before X can defeat Vile later in the story. While it's unusual for Optimus Prime to have a similar arc, it's not a bad arc.
One of my biggest problems with kingdom is Optimus primal taking on the name that doomed Cybertron. Maybe he took the name and try to turn it positive but that would be like taking the name of the person who who doom a country
@@eraser2592 yeah but on the Ark he yelled at Optimus saying it was his fault for dooming cybertron. That's why it's weird, it'll be like naming yourself after Ezra miller
The worst thing this show did among all of the things this show did wrong… Was that the show was too criminally short for all three seasons…each season should’ve been at least double their length at the very least, especially when the advertising called it an “anime”…
I'd argue it was the pacing that was more the problem than the length. Using Siege as an example, only episodes 1, 5, and 6 actually move the plot forward in any significant way. That leaves half of the season spent on story beats that go nowhere. The worst example of this has to be the fake Allspark trap that serves no purpose other than to add another fight scene.
"The series is not good for newcomers" As someone who started watching Transformers fairly recently and only had watched the Live Action Movies (except ROTB as it was not out yet) beforehand, I would half-agree half-disagree The WfC Trilogy was very confusing during some parts, but it shows how much potential depth the Transformers universe has and how many ideas it includes. It shows that Transformers is more than meets the eye (hah, totaly not an overdone joke) and that, even without human characters, there's a big world to explore. If anything, it increased my interest in the franchise! Now that I've seen Prime + movie, Animated, Armada, the 80s show + movie, the Prime Wars trilogy and am currently reading the 80s Marvel Comic it really makes me wanna rewatch the WfC Trilogy just to see how much more I understand today than I did a few months ago. WfC had a lot of potential, but I feel it was held back by its duration and pacing. Sometimes it felt like nothing was happening, other times it felt like you're getting overwhelmed with content. It's a similar Problem as the Prime Wars Trilogy had, which felt like a glorified Highlight Reel at times.
This series had potential to honestly be one of the best transformers shows ever but failed in so many ways while yeah it did have nice animation I’m guessing they wanted to make it look more anime like because there have been more and more cgi anime shows like beastars, Godzilla singular point and trigun reloaded but the writing was mediocre and well what else can I say about the voice acting that hasn’t been said already apparently I have heard a rumour that all of the voice acting was done way before the seasons were even released and if that’s true then that would explain a lot honestly and one thing I have seen alot in this series is that many things just come and go like omega supreme shows up In the first season and then he’s gone, scorponok shows up in the second season and then he’s gone and we see the ark transform into its robot mode for the first time and again it’s gone as soon as it shows up (it doesn’t even show up in the final battle) it just seems like all these ideas were just wasted and were out there more as an after thought and while it maybe unlikely i really hope it doesn’t get a sequel series with legacy (again it’s probably unlikely because at the moment hasbro seems to be keeping their eyes on earthspark and the botbots series when it comes to transformers shows) so yeah this series could have been great but it failed in so many ways
19:30 I agree the show should have made the choice between no allspark and genocide clearer. It wasn't clear if the Decepticons would even attempt to use the Allspark in such a way, and after the Ambush, it seems pretty clear from a military perspective that the decepticons were using the Allspark reformat ploy to put the final nail in the autobot coffin. The decepticons didn't even need the allspark for a reformat. After the allspark was retrieved an all out attack was launched against the Autobot base due to it's location going public. The decepticons seemed pretty close to winning(until Omega supreme showed up to bring justice to Ultra Magnus, but the decepticons didn't know that part). Without this being clear it seems much more like Optimus made a mistake that was obvious from the getgo.
this series got me into transformers because it was the only one that was easily accessible, it really helped me get into it and i want more of it to be honest, it had a lot of potential and i feel that an ongoing series like this could really work
I think what I hate most about this trilogy is the fact that there are absolutely no lighter moments in the entire trilogy. I understand why they did this, they wanted the show to have a darker, more serious tone, but the execution here was just meh. Even war movies like All Quiet on the Western Front, one of the darkest war movies I've ever seen, have some light moments to help ease the tension. Without light, there can be no darkness, and that's exactly the problem here. This trilogy is so obsessed with being broody and dark that it comes off as someone comedic. If you want a darker Transformers series, just play the High Moon games. You'll get both a fun game and a great story out of it.
I think it's due to how short it is - they do have some moments of levity, particularly with Wheeljack, but the plot has to move so there's not much time for downtime. If it was longer, it could have breathed easier but it's very compact.
Finally someone who isn't like "That horrible show, oh how bad it was". The show wasn't perfect, obviously not, but I found it interesting with some themes it explored (for example, how the autobots weren't always the good guys and sometimes did some pretty nasty stuff because it's war, like how they eventually killed the decepticon who helped them escape in Earthrise) and with so many classic elements they blended together into something relatively cohesive, I did enjoy it, it wasn't the best thing ever, but I would watch it again with pleasure, something I won't say about every Transformers media out there Some arguments for saying it's a horrible show often feel ridiculous, stretched to justify their view on the show and why they dislike it Just thank you for giving an honest and reasonable review on the show
@@rickyrackey7930 Well, see, I don't agree with that thought. Just because something is made to sell toys doesn't mean it has the right to be subpar and that people don't have the right to be mad at it. Beside, even if it is still made to sell toys indeed, Transformers have outgrown that by a lot, people have grown up with it and got attached to its universe that became a lot more complex and involved, people are passionate about it in the same way people are passionate about Star Wars or Marvel and just because it was born for the purpose of selling toys doesn't make it less worthy of that passion, and where there is passion there is of course heated debate. My point wasn't that there shouldn't be any hate about it, but that there should be a difference between a reasonable and understandable complain about the writing of the story and not overblow that complain, and a complete meltdown over the fact that Soundwave's visor is yellow instead of red and using that to argument that the show was bad
Series was too short, Hasbro just used it as an excuse to push the Generations line with the toyline which continued to Legacy and Buzzworthy Bumblebee. The writing was very limited and had many other issues going on.
The biggest fault of this series imo is trying to speedrun the entire Transformers saga up to Unicron while mixing in Beasts War during it. There is not enough time dedicated to each segment (Cybertron, Quintesson, Dead Universe, pre-historic Earth) so some part feel really abrubt or disjointed. I wouldn't say they tried to make Starscteam to go the Armada route. That Starcream was an honorable warrior who gradually learned and befriended others, eventually throwing away his pride and goal of beating Megatron for the greater good. This Starcream however was the usual scheeming weesel who literally got a vision of Unicron and get scared shitless. He didn't learned any lesson or better himself, he just realized how fucked he is if the war is dragged on. He also stopped pursuing Megatron's leadership role because of that, since it would put him directly in Unicron's radar. TL;DR: The dude saw the Devil and decided to be a good Christian boy to avoid going to Hell. As for the worst character to me, it have to be Beasts War Megatron. I understand they wanted to do something different, but this drastic a change while other characters (like Dinobot) remained the same just irk me. Like they just singled him out and character assassinated him. There is simply no comparison with the OG Beast Wars Megatron in term of both VA and personality.
The WFC is mediocre in every sense of the word, not amazing but not horrible, it had a lot of good ideas, it had it’s good characters and bad characters, Megatron was written pretty well but I hated Optimus’s character, simultaneously the writing was too harsh on him yet not harsh enough, you can tell the writers favored Megs, there’s also a lack of some background details that makes it hard to be invested in the war or why they fight or any relationship the characters had and there were a lot of characters but they weren’t utilized much, also they killed Ultra Magnus way too soon, that friggin sucked then again maybe that was the point he was too good for the world, but I liked Elita and Jetfire, and then they died too, and they have a very talented Voice cast but with no good direction, all and all I wouldnt recommend not watching it to a new fan but they should watch all the other shows first, in the end being edgy doesn’t always make it good, besides Idw has enough edge to last us a lifetime, good video highlighting the bad and good
Optimus and some of the characters keep blaming him for the faults he had no control of. Not to mention if he didn't throw away the AllSpark, Cybertron is still doomed to lost the freedom of all sentient bots.
It was looking back on this series and meeting several of the voice actors at TFCon LA 2023 that causes me to realize that it’s actually not *that* awful. Sure, it’s pretty meh tier and I most likely wouldn’t rewatch it again. However, at least that it tried. It deserves a star for trying to do something new and you can tell that the crew did try with what they got.
While the voice acting is very robotic that’s not their fault it was bad voice direction because off script they’re all very funny, i hope they get to be in a better project some day
This show was honestly the thing that had got me back into Transformers after keeping it to the side for so long, and I'll have to say that this was a really good show to get someone into the world of Transformers. Never really had many issues with it
The only issue I had is they all spoke slowly, I don't mean they need to run their voice but it feels like old seniors trying to talk to one another cuz they are partially deaf. Too many pauses and even the not profound chit chat has pauses, very annoying
i like that they can be stronger with emotions when megatron is surrounded by his troops he has pride and beats optimus easily when galvatron basically insults dino megatron he looses all fear and rushes at galvatron
I just finished Siege, and i loved it as a new transformers fan. I think the messave it was trying to show was that there's little difference between Optimus and Megatron, both are stubborn leaders who refuse to trust anyone besides their factions and refuse to compromise. We see other Autobots and Deceptions wilming to work, fight, snd even die for eachother (Impactor & Ratchet) while their leaders tell them all are the enemy.
This is an error at 21:00 they did not erase Galvation and Nemesis prime. So what happen was Galvatron and Nemesis Prime were from a different timeline where Megatron killed Optimus and would eventually get enslaved to Unicron. Optimus would become Nemesis Prime and Megatron becoming Galvatron. They used the dead universe to travel and when they were about to be erased by the all-spark (Primus??? Maybe??) Unicron saved Galvatron and Nemesis prime then Unicron would erase them.
I watched this show as it came out and it was my first transformers show since I watched animated as a kid(I barely grasped the story at the time). I was on the edge of my seat after every episode until the scene where Megatron is disabled and Prime is trying to reason with him. The show definitely felt like it was just berating Prime unnecessarily from then on. Im re-watching Animated right now and I have to admit that it Blows WFC out of the water. Theyre both still good, but I tried and failed to re-watch WFC a few months ago. I dont think it has lasting appeal for me b/c I know whats coming with Prime.
Yeah your take on Optimus is factually wrong. In almost every Transformers media piece before this save for Animated Prime has always been Megatron's combat equal. Read the Aligned novels Prime actually trained with Megatron. Also its ridiculous that Megatron is the one guy Prime can't beat despite Prime having faced foes far worse than him
Basically if we want a more serious even an artsy Transformers film i feel like the trilogy pave the way to it but then again its also more fun if we have a more cartoony kids show writing for transformed media as well i just think that the trilogy proved that theres potential or its possible to make one
this was my introduction to transformers, the first piece of tf media i ever consumed perfect gateway to understanding the autobot and decepticon war, what the planet and its forces were, and who the characters are i thoroughly enjoyed it from someone who had no prior knowledge about what these characters were like, it felt like a wacky romp through space with giant robots while also making me intrigued how theyd fix their desecrated planet
Really well done essay. Rewatching the series and watching this helped me understand and appreciate the series a bit more. And seeing in a new light? It's not as bad as I felt it was. It's far from perfect and still pretty janky in its execution, but I feel I appreciate what it was trying to do.
I was hoping for a 4th set of episodes . Unicron insinuated he himself was gonna go back in time to get what he wanted and didn't really need galvatron.
I felt the VAs spoke too slow or smth idk it felt off sometimes. And I wish stories on cybertron would start earlier because it’s almost always set near when they leave I think also it would be better if they didn’t try to sound like Peter Cullen or welker. Personally I liked the other Optimus in shows who did their own thing that was distinct and felt more natural but that’s my opinion so I am there with you on the VA part about the context
The Voice Acting portion of this series is a mix of bad voice direction and bad writing-- but also the fact that earthspark is the first tf cartoon to use union VAs since I think RiD 2015. Cyberverse suffered a lot of the same issues. I'm not implying that the non-union VAs are bad, but that the lack of union protections might have led to circumstances where the VAs couldn't give us their best performances for whatever reason.
I really wished this show was either longer or got another "season" I feel like most of the major issues stem from the team having to cram all these ideas in like 6 episodes a season. I personally really enjoyed this show, was it perfect? Absolutely not, not even close but I can tell at least some of the creators were very passionate about this project otherwise they wouldn't have included characters like sound blaster and Alpha trion. For a show that was made to promote a toyline, I think it did a pretty good job all things considered, even if I would've changed a few things
I loved this series for how it focused on the war and how Optimus struggles with the the role he’s been thrust into and didn’t want and how every death and decision weighs heavily on Optimus and how they have positive and negative consequences. We’re used to seeing a calm and wise Optimus but even though the Autobots look up to this version of Optimus but he’s just as scared as they are always questioning his decisions and feeling guilt every time someone dies. It’s strange to see.
but its not a g1 story, just that optimus and megatron are their g1 designs. Optimus is his armada self, a million years later. megatron is a prequel to his prime self, as far as characterization. G1 is bad, in that its really a cartoon telling childrens playground struggles, which it excels at, so its bad in an absolute and uncontextualized sense. you want a terrible transformers series, that would have to be Energon.
No it's because people watch something once and without really understanding things before giving it a real chance. We all know the G1 cartoon is bad but this isn't the G1 show. It just uses their designs.
I personally liked optimus the most because of how he was portrayed, maybe he didn't know everything and he's answers/decisions might have been poor, but that's what was beautiful. Him believing something that gets so complexed even he doesn't know what to do. He's allies even start disbelieving him. But no matter what he always stays to the belief of freedom of all life forms. I also started to agree a lot more with megatron than prime, but one thing about him is that he will never back down!
The seasons feel like they fluctuate in quality a lot, Siege I thought was pretty good. Earthrise I think was just kinda meh even though it does have the best episode in the series. Kingdom I think was decent, probably could have been better but still relatively enjoyed.
I really don’t care what anyone says. This version of optimas prime not only is the definition of the character but it’s not that he can’t beat megatron it’s that he doesn’t want to kill, he could have let him die but didn’t. This show was super short but i really enjoyed it. I dont think optimas was weak Megatron is just a strong foe. In G1 show Megatron was a pushover. Idk I could go on and on I just had a really fun time with this show.
Hasbro could choose to expand on any of the concepts that you have talked about at a later date from the war for Cybertron trilogy in other media forms like comics or make additional Netflix series.
B4 watching this video take: My only problem with this show is Prime, from the other comments i've learned that some depictions of Optimus put him below Megatron but personally I prefer when Optimus is more even if not a greater force than Megatron.
Ya gotta agree with you. I like how we can relate to prime. Hes not perfect , but trying to be , under the pressure , stress. And we got to see megatron slowly transition from winning the war honourably to by any means at the start of the trilogy. Also nice to have jetfire introduced as the leader of the seeker and being replaced by starscream , starscream being discontent afterwards and slowly wanting to take over as the leader of the deception. Feels different yet nice. (From G1) Optimus with his emotions. Jetfire Transitions Starscream rise to being disloyal Megatron nrint more n morencorrupted
I’m a big transformers fan, but I just found this series boring. I get what they were trying to do, but the execution just didn’t hit the right notes. I personally would have had the autobots be on a more even footing with the decepticons, it better explains the devastation of their planet and lack of energon.
I feel like Foushee could be decent as Prime, but I got the impression that someone who clearly wasn't Peter Cullen was trying their best Peter Cullen impression. Marnocha wasn't attempting to be Welker, and it worked for the better. If he'd tried to give his own take, like Kaye and Chalk, I feel it would've come across better. It's also good to note the influence of voice direction, since the one is this show was so mismatched and lackluster. Perlman was Prime in the Prime Wars Trilogy and sounded stiff and stilted, yet here comes ROTB where he's a defined and wary veteran leader who's clearly distinguishable from Gary Chalk
@@tommy2longview speak for yourself I don’t know why anyone would want a entire show about every character shitting on Optimus when Megs is right there
@@tommy2longview considering a lot of people got turned off by the show because of the OP blame game (and the show writing his character poorly in general that is a major complaint) I’m not sure what others in your ‘we’ you are speaking of.
@@2bdaqueen268 the we I speak of are not as loud or in numbers...it's not that serious but you are welcome to want more...I don't see an issue with ragging on him for his part in the fictional story...you can relax now knowing someone heard your personal complaint
I went into this series with an open mind, but I found myself disliking more about it than I liked. First off, everyone…talks…slowly… These are really talented voice actors, but even their casual conversations sound so bland. On that note, Jake Foushee as Optimus wasn’t cutting it for me. It’s not because he wasn’t Peter Cullen, but because he was trying so hard to be. Garry Chalk, David Kaye, and Alan Tudyk aren’t trying to do a Peter Cullen impression, so their Optimus voices sound so much better. If they just let him try his own voice, it might be an improvement. And I feel like Optimus should be able to hold his own against Megatron. The name Optimus Prime practically means “best of the best,” so why is Megatron the only opponent to give him a hard time? The series constantly beats you over the head with how the war is Optimus’ fault, and sure, Bumblebee talks about how it doesn’t matter whose fault it is, but does Optimus change any? He also blamed himself for the war, but did we get a scene where Optimus himself goes “it doesn’t matter if I started the war, I still have my principles”? That would have made it so much better, because it actually would have had a resolution, and not just the writer’s bias against Optimus showing. Also, where do the transformers come from? The series has the Allspark, typically the source of transformer life, but they also present the Quintessons, with Deseeus (apparently) giving the transformers free will. Did the Quintessons create the transformers, were the transformers a pre-existing race that got subjugated by the Quintessons? Just one of many questions the series never answers. Why is Impactor a Decepticon? I get that he was friends with Megatron, but he never joined the Decepticons either. If it’s because they wanted to do a Decepticon defector story, Jetfire is also going through one, and his arc doesn’t feel rushed because he doesn’t turn to the Autobots immediately after he’s introduced. Rack n’ Ruin had a better comic-TV transition than Impactor did. On that note, they seem to be the only Decepticons to get any character depth beyond “kill all the Autobots and win the war.” Scrapface is the only other one I can think of, but that’s only because the Autobots saved him. The Alpha Trion Protocols were an interesting concept, a sort of yin to the Matrix of Leadership’s yang. It would have been interesting to see those explored, and watch Optimus help Bumblebee deal with having this responsibility thrust onto him-like he needed help dealing with the Matrix. Instead they’re a plot device to bring Bumblebee to the Autobots and then they’re wiped out only one episode later. It’s really obvious which characters use the CAD files of the toys and which ones were created specially for the show, and it makes characters like Bumblebee, Elita-1, Arcee, and Galvatron stick out like sore thumbs. It’s not that bad most of the time, but when Optimus says “transform and roll out” and Bumblebee and Arcee have done neither it’s really egregious. You talk about how great it is that older characters were included, but that isn’t automatically good. As I said earlier, Impactor was rewritten into a Decepticon grunt. Cog was kinda there. Moonracer made her first TV appearance in over thirty years and she got brutally killed off. Sky Lynx becomes a generic mentor figure and dies the very episode he was introduced in. The Quintessons actually came back a few months before Earthrise dropped on Netflix in Cyberverse, with a much more interesting concept attached to them. Yeah, it wasn’t given that much focus, but they do more with the different faces having different personalities than Deseeus did. Cyberverse also had Cheetor, and also did more with him than WFC did. So, without the Allspark, Cybertron is a dead world, with no life whatsoever. So where do the Maximals and Predacons come from? What’s great about this one is that the show itself even brings this up, and then never answers it. The show doesn’t seem to care, so maybe I shouldn’t either. Like another comment said, Starscream didn’t have an Armada type arc. In Armada, Starscream was a noble warrior who believed the Autobots and Decepticons should ally themselves to stop a greater threat. WFC Starscream is a manipulative schemer who realized that there was a greater threat and thought teaming up with the Autobots was the best way to save his own skin. Now, onto the two dinos. I hate hate *hate* what they did to BW Megatron. They took a calculating villain who only wants more power for himself, and they turned him into a simp. He tries to do David Kaye’s “yessss,” but it does not work at all. It’s especially odd because Dinobot got the same characterization. Kinda. They tried speedrunning Dinobot’s character arc. What made Code of Hero stand out is that it had thirty five episodes of buildup, while Kingdom only gives him three. And then they try recreating his emotional death scene, but it just falls flat. He and Rattrap call each other vermin and chopper face like they’re close with each other, when this is the first time we see them interact. And then Optimus Primal gently takes his hand as Dinobot talks about how he thought of defecting so many times but, again, this is the first time they interact. It was clearly meant to be a sad moment, and I felt nothing. One of my biggest complaints about Siege was that it spent too long dragging its feet before the story could really get underway. I had the opposite issue with Kingdom, which tried to get everything done as much as possible and thus had very little breathing room. The series in general tried to fit the entire Transformers story into just eighteen episodes, and while more episodes wouldn’t have helped Siege, it would have done wonders for the others. As for dark Transformers stories, this one feels like it was written by and for adults who feel insecure about liking something for kids, so they throw in a bunch of swears and violence to make it “mature.” Also, dark stories need moments of levity, otherwise it gets so bleak you stop caring, which this series did. All in all, my only complaint about Netflix refusing a Legacy show is that we’ll never figure out why they chose the characters they did. Besides that, I’m not gonna sleep about what could have been, because what we already have underwhelms me.
My favorite thing about this series was the characterization of Elita, she felt more like a strong leader when she decides to stay behind on Cyberstron, rather than be some love interest. And her end only makes it more tragic because we see how she kept on fighting, even when she believed that Optimus was gone.
SURGGEE THE TENREC PFP ‼‼‼‼
I thought Elita was a strong leader back in G1 as well. When Optimus leaves, she isnt just uselessly love struck the whole time, she takes charge of her own little contingent of Autobots and holds out for millions of years while Shockwave would go on to dominate Cybertron ostensibly. G1 Elita was a solid character
It had potential, the VAs were passionate but the writing held it back. It's great you made this video, highlighting everything that we missed because of lackluster execution!
That's Rooster Teeth for you.
@@boeloevanboeloefontein I didnt know rooster teeth made them
@@detroitmade6 I heard that they produced the Netflix show, which explains so damn much.
The only issue I had is they all spoke slowly, I don't mean they need to run their voice but it feels like old seniors trying to talk to one another cuz they are partially deaf. Too many pauses and even the not profound chit chat has pauses, very annoying
@@MaxRamos8 I still think its hilarious how slow the Autobts and Decepticons are at talking and then the Maximals and Predacons talk normally
The show was way too short. I enjoyed it but making the show longer would've helped the story SO much.
I thought it was too long with lots of pointless filler
it was somehow both too long and too short
@@l_rob420 that's a perfect summary yeah, it wasted way too much time on pointless stuff and characters only to rush the hell out of the important ones (seriously what was the point of spending so much time with Elita, Jetfire and Shockwave if you are just gonna kill them off OFF SCREEN)
That's Rooster Teeth for you.
Siege was way yoo short, kingdom was way too short earthrise was WAY TOO LONG
Transformers has expanded for so long and in to too many medias and genres that the argument of "Transformers shouldn't be dark" is dumb because Transformers should be what the authors intend with that generation.
Transformers always worked best when it was dark but no edgy. TFP was a perfect example
@@hiro_cuhh5672 Transformers Prime literally was edgy with little substance, inconsistent, pretended to have stakes that it never had, one of the least tactically intelligent and wasteful portrayals of Megatron in the franchise amongst other problems.
I'd rather a show be honest with what it was even if it was a lighter-toned straight up show for kids than one that pretended to be something it never was, TFP was a disappointment when compared to shows like Beast Wars or Animated which nailed the darker moments there better than TFP ever did, that was a show who knew how to use dark elements at the right time and place without overstaying it's welcome.
@@hiro_cuhh5672 I love TFP, even though I have a few issues with it like Bumblebee's characterisation, the sometimes stilted animation, the Decepticon designs, and some other stuff. I wish we got something like that tonally in this show. Its what IDW did and that works wonders for Transformers. To be dark, but also funny and silly sometimes.
Transformers has ALWAYS been Dark in some shape or form.
@@Deadput That award would go to animated Megatron, who lost every single advantage he spent eons making and lost every fight he took
Yea the series deserved better, like I wish each season had more episodes to flesh out the characters more and for goodness sake PUT IN MORE FLASHBACKS!
You know one of the things I actually like about the series is, the expansion on Primes and Elita’s relationship like we got more out of their relationship in this series than any other series thus far.
Bro somehow made the first 10 minutes of a video feel like a 3 hour experience
Yea
on par with the actual wfc show ngl
I think the writing and the directing for the voice acting was the thing that hurt this series
“It actually takes a lot more to take a punch, then to throw one”
-RoadRustle
(That one is going in my quote notes)
8:42 What's funny is this exact plot line was shown TWICE before in 2 different series, Energon and Animated. Specifically Energon, despite being regarded as the worst Transformers show of them all, showed how evil and painful the process is. Megatron referred to it as branding and whenever we see him do the procedure, it is always frightening as you really feel that Megatron is corrupting any Transformer to his side by taking away their free will. Autobot Inferno had to actually commit suicide to free himself from the branding effect while the Terrorcon Scorponok completely lost his free will to be a slave to the end.
Jake Foushee is in Smite as Optimus Prime and for some reason he just is objectively better there.
Jason Marnocha as Megatron is also great in Smite.
Both are just fantastic and all of their lines feel natural even in the call-outs
Jake Foushee was also in Cyberverse and was a lot better there. They sort of butchered him here.
@@crimsoncelestial That genuinely surprised me I never even put it together. I thought OP in Cyberverse was pretty excellent. It doesn't surprise me that "Netflix" RT was a trainwreck here
@@JackieKog it a shame though. Foushee has good talent, i feel like it’s just the script that was holding him back
Jason Marnocha in Combiner Wars was pretty great too imo, just the sassiest binch
Just looked it up.
Damn he's great there.
I noticed that there are many assets from transformers prime here.
That detonator Prowl holds when talking to Jetfire is precisely like that tracker bulkhead used in TFP, or how the interior of Megatrons gladiator pit/liar or whatever looks precisely like the interior of the nemesis from TFP. I think prime wheeljacks grenade appears at some point too
@@RoadRustle ahhhh. that explains it
I know Prime was never a warrior before war, but he still feels too weak at first despite of how long the war has been around and how Optimus should have taken 1 or 2 lessons to become both a warrior and a leader. It's like they wanted us to see Optimus' Progression from zero to hero, but they put the wrong time setting. It would be no problem if the story started at the beginning of the war so Optimus' lack of experience would be much more tolerable.
Superbly done, and I highly agree. Watching the show a second and third time really helped me understand the what they were trying to do with the series and I highly appreciate the attempt eventhough they may not have fully succeeded. Still it's one of my favourite shows, and I would so love a season 4, especially for the character development of Starscream.
I'm glad to see some appreciation for Netflix's WFC! It really had some poor execution, but I like a lot of the ideas it thrown out that I'm hope we're able to see in more copetent hands one day. This Elita-1 is my favorite of Canon Elita's to date. And I unironically like the visual of the series
Any chance you could do a video like this for Cyberverse? I noticed it uses a lot of similar ideas as the Netflix shows but executed far better imo, especially for a "kids" show vs an "adult" show.
My main gripe about Cyberverse is that there is an entire show they could've had between Seasons 1 and 2
Like the Decepticons interacting with humans in a less typical way, like with the streaming in season 2, but they could've done a lot more with that in this season 1.5, Decepticon PR is something we never see. That and so many potential plot points we didn't get that they glossed over. It feels like they're missing a season, y'know?
Someone just turned me on to this video and I really appreciate the depth you went into this to understand a lot of what we were going for. No show is perfect but we are proud of this and always enjoy when someone gets it. Thanks
I like this Optimus. I believe it is supposed to be a younger version of him and that is why he has those little outbursts of anger.
I love how the disc was the Golden Record, it's just so comical to me.
Another video I'm really glad you made: This series gets a lot of flak for things completely out of it's control, and having attended panels with it's writers and VAs, I have a better appreciation for what did come across that I really liked. Really love your editing btw.
Kind of like the prequel trilogy, great story held back by the execution.
Elita 1 in Siege: Blah blah blah!!!
Optimus: Send help
Skyfire: Blah Blah Blah!!!
Elita 1 in Earthrise: send help
Elita 1 had far too much screen time. And MEGATOROONUH
Fun fact : if you speed up the voices by 1.25, they suddenly are a lot less irritating
I dont know why everyone talked so slow in this
The three things in this show I really wanted work on was Shockwave, Skywarp and Scorponok. I’ll go over each:
1) Scorponok: I actually loved how they got his size (mostly) correct. So many versions of Transformer media either depict him as the same size (or smaller) than his fellow Decepticons, but they forget that he’s meant to be a Titan, so it was nice to see that change. The one thing this version forgot, however, is that Scorponok is meant to be smart. Not only that, he’s meant to be a Decepticon Leader! If they had taken aspects like that from the Marvel or IDW comics, maybe even making him out as the last survivor of a Decepticon splinter group that he led, now using the abandoned space bridge/battle cruiser as a place of isolation while trying to hatch a plan that could include the space bridge, probably use it as a means to invade a lesser-developed planet and conquer it, using its resources for himself.
2) Skywarp: Come on, he’s the ONE seeker with a special ability, teleportation, and you decide to kill him off? The whole trio of Seekers should have been together. (Doesn’t help that he’s my favorite one, so I’m a little biased, but still)
3) Shockwave: For the most part, they did him right. Cold, logical, uncaring, and a downright monster. He did not care when he tortured Ultra Magnus and used his body as a weapon against Prime, and he did not care when he drained the sparks of millions of his own Decepticon brothers to build the Nemesis. He just did. Not. Care. And that is perfect for Shockwave. So what’s my issue? Well, I wish we saw that more. More so than that, I wish we saw Shockwave being more powerful. In the lore, he is usually depicted as being second only to Megatron in terms of power, and has held his own agains Scorponok and Grimlock. He’s *EXTREMELY* powerful, and we should have seen more of that. Also, I don’t think he ever once used his hand gun as, well, a *gun.*
Other than those (honestly, minor) issues with those characters, I think this show was alright
skywarp teleported from life
@@RoadRustle lol you didn’t have to do him like that XD
Fantastic video! I've always liked this show and have argued that it's nowhere near as bad as some people say. Is the show perfect? No, but it's got a ton of great ideas. Some ideas I didn't even pick up on until watching this video. Pretty much every point you made I agree with, especially with the voice acting. Yeah Optimus shouting "WE'RE NOT THE DECEPTICONS" is funny but the voice acting just gets progressively better with each episode. Hell, Frank Todaro as Starscream in particular I thought was great! Honestly my two biggest issues with this show were that they really needed to calm down with the whole "Optimus was wrong!" thing. They hammer that in a bit too much. And there's the fact that so many characters just don't really do anything. Granted, I haven't seen the show since Kingdom aired but from my memory only Optimus, Jetfire, Bumblebee, Elita, Ratchet, Arcee (kinda), Ultra Magnus Cog and Wheeljack get anything to do in the show while Ironhide, Hound, Mirage, Prowl, Sideswipe, Red Alert, Chromia and Moonracer just didn't really do anything. Hell, Cliffjumper just has an extremely brief cameo where he dies.
As for the argument "Can Transformers be dark?" Honestly I've always found this to be a silly argument. Transformers like Marvel, DC, Star Wars, and pretty much every other major multi media franchise can have a variety of tones and themes. Especially in franchises that have a ton of continuities like Transformers, Marvel, DC, etc. If Transformers were to stick to just being super goofy G1 stuff, we would've never gotten the Unicron Trilogy, Earthspark, Bayformers, War/Fall of Cybertron, Prime, Cyberverse, both IDW runs, Dreamwave comics, Shattered Glass, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Animated, etc. Sure, maybe some of those things aren't for you and that's fine. But if these projects weren't around, a lot of Transformers fans wouldn't be fans. They'd never get into the franchise. The goofy stuff just isn't for them or maybe the super dark stuff isn't for them. And that's okay, there's plenty of different pieces of media with varying tones and themes. There's a Transformers story for everyone. If you didn't like the most recent show because it was too goofy or too serious. Don't worry, there's bound to be a new show set in a new continuity in like two years lmao.
tldr; Transformers is a great franchise.
Finally, someone talking about this show and it’s not with pure hatred.
That Optimus and Megatron fighting as brothers scene felt more epic than any of the Transformers Live Action movies I have seen.
This show is pretty unpopular with a lot of fans, and I'll admit even I had a hard time getting into it; but once I did it became one of my favorite TF stories ever told. The subjective nature of good and evil, Megatron legitimately being a hero to the Decepticons, and the autobots having to face their hypocrisy. It's one of the most thought provoking and layered stories Transformers has told. It's not perfect, especially in its execution; but when you take a step back it's really an amazing story.
In Mega Man X, X loses his first boss fight against Vile. It takes the entire game gathering experience and powerups before X can defeat Vile later in the story.
While it's unusual for Optimus Prime to have a similar arc, it's not a bad arc.
One of my biggest problems with kingdom is Optimus primal taking on the name that doomed Cybertron. Maybe he took the name and try to turn it positive but that would be like taking the name of the person who who doom a country
Maybe in primal’s timeline, Optimus prime died during the war and primal took the name as a method to carry his legacy
@@eraser2592 yeah but on the Ark he yelled at Optimus saying it was his fault for dooming cybertron. That's why it's weird, it'll be like naming yourself after Ezra miller
It was a good binge. Amazing to see how they fit different parts of transformers lore all into one series.
The worst thing this show did among all of the things this show did wrong…
Was that the show was too criminally short for all three seasons…each season should’ve been at least double their length at the very least, especially when the advertising called it an “anime”…
I'd argue it was the pacing that was more the problem than the length. Using Siege as an example, only episodes 1, 5, and 6 actually move the plot forward in any significant way. That leaves half of the season spent on story beats that go nowhere. The worst example of this has to be the fake Allspark trap that serves no purpose other than to add another fight scene.
The animation and looks was top tier. The voice actors had passion. It’s just the pace and writing that makes it not worth it
It should have been longer
"The series is not good for newcomers"
As someone who started watching Transformers fairly recently and only had watched the Live Action Movies (except ROTB as it was not out yet) beforehand, I would half-agree half-disagree
The WfC Trilogy was very confusing during some parts, but it shows how much potential depth the Transformers universe has and how many ideas it includes.
It shows that Transformers is more than meets the eye (hah, totaly not an overdone joke) and that, even without human characters, there's a big world to explore.
If anything, it increased my interest in the franchise!
Now that I've seen Prime + movie, Animated, Armada, the 80s show + movie, the Prime Wars trilogy and am currently reading the 80s Marvel Comic it really makes me wanna rewatch the WfC Trilogy just to see how much more I understand today than I did a few months ago.
WfC had a lot of potential, but I feel it was held back by its duration and pacing. Sometimes it felt like nothing was happening, other times it felt like you're getting overwhelmed with content. It's a similar Problem as the Prime Wars Trilogy had, which felt like a glorified Highlight Reel at times.
Hope you do something like this for IDW or some obscure piece of the franchise like beast wars uprising or something
War Within and Marvel are on the docket.
Awesome dreamwave deserves some more love
This series had potential to honestly be one of the best transformers shows ever but failed in so many ways while yeah it did have nice animation I’m guessing they wanted to make it look more anime like because there have been more and more cgi anime shows like beastars, Godzilla singular point and trigun reloaded but the writing was mediocre and well what else can I say about the voice acting that hasn’t been said already apparently I have heard a rumour that all of the voice acting was done way before the seasons were even released and if that’s true then that would explain a lot honestly and one thing I have seen alot in this series is that many things just come and go like omega supreme shows up In the first season and then he’s gone, scorponok shows up in the second season and then he’s gone and we see the ark transform into its robot mode for the first time and again it’s gone as soon as it shows up (it doesn’t even show up in the final battle) it just seems like all these ideas were just wasted and were out there more as an after thought and while it maybe unlikely i really hope it doesn’t get a sequel series with legacy (again it’s probably unlikely because at the moment hasbro seems to be keeping their eyes on earthspark and the botbots series when it comes to transformers shows) so yeah this series could have been great but it failed in so many ways
Loved the show. Great breakdown of it in my opinion.
19:30 I agree the show should have made the choice between no allspark and genocide clearer. It wasn't clear if the Decepticons would even attempt to use the Allspark in such a way, and after the Ambush, it seems pretty clear from a military perspective that the decepticons were using the Allspark reformat ploy to put the final nail in the autobot coffin. The decepticons didn't even need the allspark for a reformat. After the allspark was retrieved an all out attack was launched against the Autobot base due to it's location going public. The decepticons seemed pretty close to winning(until Omega supreme showed up to bring justice to Ultra Magnus, but the decepticons didn't know that part). Without this being clear it seems much more like Optimus made a mistake that was obvious from the getgo.
this series got me into transformers because it was the only one that was easily accessible, it really helped me get into it and i want more of it to be honest, it had a lot of potential and i feel that an ongoing series like this could really work
This show looks like what I was imagining while playing with transformers when I was a kid
I think what I hate most about this trilogy is the fact that there are absolutely no lighter moments in the entire trilogy. I understand why they did this, they wanted the show to have a darker, more serious tone, but the execution here was just meh. Even war movies like All Quiet on the Western Front, one of the darkest war movies I've ever seen, have some light moments to help ease the tension. Without light, there can be no darkness, and that's exactly the problem here. This trilogy is so obsessed with being broody and dark that it comes off as someone comedic. If you want a darker Transformers series, just play the High Moon games. You'll get both a fun game and a great story out of it.
I think it's due to how short it is - they do have some moments of levity, particularly with Wheeljack, but the plot has to move so there's not much time for downtime. If it was longer, it could have breathed easier but it's very compact.
@@RoadRustle I see that. I guess the series just needed better pacing.
Finally someone who isn't like "That horrible show, oh how bad it was". The show wasn't perfect, obviously not, but I found it interesting with some themes it explored (for example, how the autobots weren't always the good guys and sometimes did some pretty nasty stuff because it's war, like how they eventually killed the decepticon who helped them escape in Earthrise) and with so many classic elements they blended together into something relatively cohesive, I did enjoy it, it wasn't the best thing ever, but I would watch it again with pleasure, something I won't say about every Transformers media out there
Some arguments for saying it's a horrible show often feel ridiculous, stretched to justify their view on the show and why they dislike it
Just thank you for giving an honest and reasonable review on the show
The fact that people hate a show that’s meant to sell plastic toys with a burning passion is hilarious to me.
@@rickyrackey7930 Well, see, I don't agree with that thought. Just because something is made to sell toys doesn't mean it has the right to be subpar and that people don't have the right to be mad at it. Beside, even if it is still made to sell toys indeed, Transformers have outgrown that by a lot, people have grown up with it and got attached to its universe that became a lot more complex and involved, people are passionate about it in the same way people are passionate about Star Wars or Marvel and just because it was born for the purpose of selling toys doesn't make it less worthy of that passion, and where there is passion there is of course heated debate.
My point wasn't that there shouldn't be any hate about it, but that there should be a difference between a reasonable and understandable complain about the writing of the story and not overblow that complain, and a complete meltdown over the fact that Soundwave's visor is yellow instead of red and using that to argument that the show was bad
@@ignika1407 Absolutely Agree. If there’s one thing we can agree on, the toys where great.
@@rickyrackey7930 On that indeed we agree
STARSCREAM?! LOYAL?!, thanks, i need a good laugh
That show us that this transformers show me a real, real leader when they first time start to lead their path and the character man i like this
Series was too short, Hasbro just used it as an excuse to push the Generations line with the toyline which continued to Legacy and Buzzworthy Bumblebee. The writing was very limited and had many other issues going on.
The biggest fault of this series imo is trying to speedrun the entire Transformers saga up to Unicron while mixing in Beasts War during it. There is not enough time dedicated to each segment (Cybertron, Quintesson, Dead Universe, pre-historic Earth) so some part feel really abrubt or disjointed.
I wouldn't say they tried to make Starscteam to go the Armada route. That Starcream was an honorable warrior who gradually learned and befriended others, eventually throwing away his pride and goal of beating Megatron for the greater good. This Starcream however was the usual scheeming weesel who literally got a vision of Unicron and get scared shitless. He didn't learned any lesson or better himself, he just realized how fucked he is if the war is dragged on. He also stopped pursuing Megatron's leadership role because of that, since it would put him directly in Unicron's radar. TL;DR: The dude saw the Devil and decided to be a good Christian boy to avoid going to Hell.
As for the worst character to me, it have to be Beasts War Megatron. I understand they wanted to do something different, but this drastic a change while other characters (like Dinobot) remained the same just irk me. Like they just singled him out and character assassinated him. There is simply no comparison with the OG Beast Wars Megatron in term of both VA and personality.
I’m so glad someone sees this show as the gem in the raw it was
The WFC is mediocre in every sense of the word, not amazing but not horrible, it had a lot of good ideas, it had it’s good characters and bad characters, Megatron was written pretty well but I hated Optimus’s character, simultaneously the writing was too harsh on him yet not harsh enough, you can tell the writers favored Megs, there’s also a lack of some background details that makes it hard to be invested in the war or why they fight or any relationship the characters had and there were a lot of characters but they weren’t utilized much, also they killed Ultra Magnus way too soon, that friggin sucked then again maybe that was the point he was too good for the world, but I liked Elita and Jetfire, and then they died too, and they have a very talented Voice cast but with no good direction, all and all I wouldnt recommend not watching it to a new fan but they should watch all the other shows first, in the end being edgy doesn’t always make it good, besides Idw has enough edge to last us a lifetime, good video highlighting the bad and good
I think there are definitely things that could've been ironed out, but I do think it's underrated.
Optimus and some of the characters keep blaming him for the faults he had no control of. Not to mention if he didn't throw away the AllSpark, Cybertron is still doomed to lost the freedom of all sentient bots.
It was looking back on this series and meeting several of the voice actors at TFCon LA 2023 that causes me to realize that it’s actually not *that* awful.
Sure, it’s pretty meh tier and I most likely wouldn’t rewatch it again. However, at least that it tried. It deserves a star for trying to do something new and you can tell that the crew did try with what they got.
While the voice acting is very robotic that’s not their fault it was bad voice direction because off script they’re all very funny, i hope they get to be in a better project some day
Ditto.
This show was honestly the thing that had got me back into Transformers after keeping it to the side for so long, and I'll have to say that this was a really good show to get someone into the world of Transformers. Never really had many issues with it
I think Roger Craig Smith would be a great Optimus.
He's also the voice actor of Young Batman in Batman Arkham Origins game.
Smith is known for voicing strong stoic characters. (Also Sonic)
Completely agreed!
The only issue I had is they all spoke slowly, I don't mean they need to run their voice but it feels like old seniors trying to talk to one another cuz they are partially deaf. Too many pauses and even the not profound chit chat has pauses, very annoying
i like that they can be stronger with emotions when megatron is surrounded by his troops he has pride and beats optimus easily when galvatron basically insults dino megatron he looses all fear and rushes at galvatron
I just finished Siege, and i loved it as a new transformers fan. I think the messave it was trying to show was that there's little difference between Optimus and Megatron, both are stubborn leaders who refuse to trust anyone besides their factions and refuse to compromise.
We see other Autobots and Deceptions wilming to work, fight, snd even die for eachother (Impactor & Ratchet) while their leaders tell them all are the enemy.
I recently watched "Transformers: One", and Chris Hemsworth did an absolutely great job as Optimus.
I watch the trilogy regularly
I thought it was ok 👍
This show made me realize why most have human sidekicks
This is an error at 21:00 they did not erase Galvation and Nemesis prime. So what happen was Galvatron and Nemesis Prime were from a different timeline where Megatron killed Optimus and would eventually get enslaved to Unicron. Optimus would become Nemesis Prime and Megatron becoming Galvatron. They used the dead universe to travel and when they were about to be erased by the all-spark (Primus??? Maybe??) Unicron saved Galvatron and Nemesis prime then Unicron would erase them.
I watched this show as it came out and it was my first transformers show since I watched animated as a kid(I barely grasped the story at the time). I was on the edge of my seat after every episode until the scene where Megatron is disabled and Prime is trying to reason with him. The show definitely felt like it was just berating Prime unnecessarily from then on.
Im re-watching Animated right now and I have to admit that it Blows WFC out of the water. Theyre both still good, but I tried and failed to re-watch WFC a few months ago. I dont think it has lasting appeal for me b/c I know whats coming with Prime.
Yeah I think it gets a bit much and overbearing with how they try to pin in on Prime so much.
Yeah your take on Optimus is factually wrong. In almost every Transformers media piece before this save for Animated Prime has always been Megatron's combat equal.
Read the Aligned novels Prime actually trained with Megatron.
Also its ridiculous that Megatron is the one guy Prime can't beat despite Prime having faced foes far worse than him
Basically if we want a more serious even an artsy Transformers film
i feel like the trilogy pave the way to it
but then again its also more fun if we have a more cartoony kids show writing for transformed media as well
i just think that the trilogy proved that theres potential or its possible to make one
this was my introduction to transformers, the first piece of tf media i ever consumed
perfect gateway to understanding the autobot and decepticon war, what the planet and its forces were, and who the characters are
i thoroughly enjoyed it from someone who had no prior knowledge about what these characters were like, it felt like a wacky romp through space with giant robots while also making me intrigued how theyd fix their desecrated planet
Really well done essay. Rewatching the series and watching this helped me understand and appreciate the series a bit more. And seeing in a new light? It's not as bad as I felt it was. It's far from perfect and still pretty janky in its execution, but I feel I appreciate what it was trying to do.
I was hoping for a 4th set of episodes . Unicron insinuated he himself was gonna go back in time to get what he wanted and didn't really need galvatron.
I liked this transformers series ever and make a lot of sense with the g1 cartoon series. Great job on this video
I felt the VAs spoke too slow or smth idk it felt off sometimes. And I wish stories on cybertron would start earlier because it’s almost always set near when they leave
I think also it would be better if they didn’t try to sound like Peter Cullen or welker. Personally I liked the other Optimus in shows who did their own thing that was distinct and felt more natural but that’s my opinion so I am there with you on the VA part about the context
The Voice Acting portion of this series is a mix of bad voice direction and bad writing-- but also the fact that earthspark is the first tf cartoon to use union VAs since I think RiD 2015. Cyberverse suffered a lot of the same issues. I'm not implying that the non-union VAs are bad, but that the lack of union protections might have led to circumstances where the VAs couldn't give us their best performances for whatever reason.
I really wished this show was either longer or got another "season" I feel like most of the major issues stem from the team having to cram all these ideas in like 6 episodes a season. I personally really enjoyed this show, was it perfect? Absolutely not, not even close but I can tell at least some of the creators were very passionate about this project otherwise they wouldn't have included characters like sound blaster and Alpha trion. For a show that was made to promote a toyline, I think it did a pretty good job all things considered, even if I would've changed a few things
I loved this series for how it focused on the war and how Optimus struggles with the the role he’s been thrust into and didn’t want and how every death and decision weighs heavily on Optimus and how they have positive and negative consequences. We’re used to seeing a calm and wise Optimus but even though the Autobots look up to this version of Optimus but he’s just as scared as they are always questioning his decisions and feeling guilt every time someone dies. It’s strange to see.
Transformers war for cybertron trilogy is a perfect balance to decide the fate of Transformers past present and future.
I feel this is extra sad because a lot of people are always gonna use this as a “g1 is bad” argument
but its not a g1 story, just that optimus and megatron are their g1 designs. Optimus is his armada self, a million years later. megatron is a prequel to his prime self, as far as characterization.
G1 is bad, in that its really a cartoon telling childrens playground struggles, which it excels at, so its bad in an absolute and uncontextualized sense.
you want a terrible transformers series, that would have to be Energon.
No it's because people watch something once and without really understanding things before giving it a real chance.
We all know the G1 cartoon is bad but this isn't the G1 show. It just uses their designs.
G1 can't be beaten
Appreciate the thoughtful point-of-view. Not sure I want to watch WFC again though ;)
Completely agree 100%. Thanks for making this
This show was overhated when it first came out, and I wish we would have gotten the Legacy sequel. Still sad that it didn't happen.
I love the sfx It’s pretty good. And I love this animation.
Excellent video as always.
Honestly, watching WFC in 1.25x speed is PERFECT. Fo'real.
I loved how Scorponok sounded just like Val Venus from WWF. In other words, it sounded awful.
It's been a while since i watched the trilogy but i definitely remember it being pretty awesome. One question I had was how was Cog's death funny? 💀
They should’ve made a war for cybertron adaptation instead like the game that would be awesome and also War for cybertron is one of the games ever
I liked the IDW inspiration used in this series. Like Megatrons back story and both him and Optimus being a little more morally grey.
everyone just talked ssooooo slloooowwwllyyyy. that's my biggest complaint.
I appreciate this. You are spot on
I personally liked optimus the most because of how he was portrayed, maybe he didn't know everything and he's answers/decisions might have been poor, but that's what was beautiful. Him believing something that gets so complexed even he doesn't know what to do. He's allies even start disbelieving him. But no matter what he always stays to the belief of freedom of all life forms. I also started to agree a lot more with megatron than prime, but one thing about him is that he will never back down!
The seasons feel like they fluctuate in quality a lot, Siege I thought was pretty good. Earthrise I think was just kinda meh even though it does have the best episode in the series. Kingdom I think was decent, probably could have been better but still relatively enjoyed.
I really don’t care what anyone says. This version of optimas prime not only is the definition of the character but it’s not that he can’t beat megatron it’s that he doesn’t want to kill, he could have let him die but didn’t. This show was super short but i really enjoyed it. I dont think optimas was weak Megatron is just a strong foe. In G1 show Megatron was a pushover. Idk I could go on and on I just had a really fun time with this show.
Hasbro could choose to expand on any of the concepts that you have talked about at a later date from the war for Cybertron trilogy in other media forms like comics or make additional Netflix series.
B4 watching this video take: My only problem with this show is Prime, from the other comments i've learned that some depictions of Optimus put him below Megatron but personally I prefer when Optimus is more even if not a greater force than Megatron.
Ya gotta agree with you.
I like how we can relate to prime.
Hes not perfect , but trying to be , under the pressure , stress.
And we got to see megatron slowly transition from winning the war honourably to by any means at the start of the trilogy.
Also nice to have jetfire introduced as the leader of the seeker and being replaced by starscream , starscream being discontent afterwards and slowly wanting to take over as the leader of the deception.
Feels different yet nice.
(From G1)
Optimus with his emotions.
Jetfire
Transitions
Starscream rise to being disloyal
Megatron nrint more n morencorrupted
Great review
I’m a big transformers fan, but I just found this series boring. I get what they were trying to do, but the execution just didn’t hit the right notes. I personally would have had the autobots be on a more even footing with the decepticons, it better explains the devastation of their planet and lack of energon.
My biggest problem with War For Cybertron, they were barely on Cybertron. Didn't even feel like a war.
I never even knew Optimus was in SMITE, nor did Jake do a fantastic job. The voice direction really hurt this show.
Lol i like the toy line but don't care for the trilogy. Feels kinda thrown together. Especially towards the end.
I feel like Foushee could be decent as Prime, but I got the impression that someone who clearly wasn't Peter Cullen was trying their best Peter Cullen impression. Marnocha wasn't attempting to be Welker, and it worked for the better. If he'd tried to give his own take, like Kaye and Chalk, I feel it would've come across better. It's also good to note the influence of voice direction, since the one is this show was so mismatched and lackluster. Perlman was Prime in the Prime Wars Trilogy and sounded stiff and stilted, yet here comes ROTB where he's a defined and wary veteran leader who's clearly distinguishable from Gary Chalk
Its about Autobots and Decepticon blaming Optimus Prime for almost the entire arc😂
And that's what we always knew and wanted.. so happy it was not totally nerded up for the sake of being taken seriously.
@@tommy2longview speak for yourself I don’t know why anyone would want a entire show about every character shitting on Optimus when Megs is right there
@@2bdaqueen268 and did speak for myself and others. This was not for you...noted
@@tommy2longview considering a lot of people got turned off by the show because of the OP blame game (and the show writing his character poorly in general that is a major complaint) I’m not sure what others in your ‘we’ you are speaking of.
@@2bdaqueen268 the we I speak of are not as loud or in numbers...it's not that serious but you are welcome to want more...I don't see an issue with ragging on him for his part in the fictional story...you can relax now knowing someone heard your personal complaint
It's the second coming of Christ.
Thank you for coming to my Nemesis Prime love talk
Loved it, good video.
I went into this series with an open mind, but I found myself disliking more about it than I liked.
First off, everyone…talks…slowly… These are really talented voice actors, but even their casual conversations sound so bland.
On that note, Jake Foushee as Optimus wasn’t cutting it for me. It’s not because he wasn’t Peter Cullen, but because he was trying so hard to be. Garry Chalk, David Kaye, and Alan Tudyk aren’t trying to do a Peter Cullen impression, so their Optimus voices sound so much better. If they just let him try his own voice, it might be an improvement.
And I feel like Optimus should be able to hold his own against Megatron. The name Optimus Prime practically means “best of the best,” so why is Megatron the only opponent to give him a hard time?
The series constantly beats you over the head with how the war is Optimus’ fault, and sure, Bumblebee talks about how it doesn’t matter whose fault it is, but does Optimus change any? He also blamed himself for the war, but did we get a scene where Optimus himself goes “it doesn’t matter if I started the war, I still have my principles”? That would have made it so much better, because it actually would have had a resolution, and not just the writer’s bias against Optimus showing.
Also, where do the transformers come from? The series has the Allspark, typically the source of transformer life, but they also present the Quintessons, with Deseeus (apparently) giving the transformers free will. Did the Quintessons create the transformers, were the transformers a pre-existing race that got subjugated by the Quintessons? Just one of many questions the series never answers.
Why is Impactor a Decepticon? I get that he was friends with Megatron, but he never joined the Decepticons either. If it’s because they wanted to do a Decepticon defector story, Jetfire is also going through one, and his arc doesn’t feel rushed because he doesn’t turn to the Autobots immediately after he’s introduced. Rack n’ Ruin had a better comic-TV transition than Impactor did.
On that note, they seem to be the only Decepticons to get any character depth beyond “kill all the Autobots and win the war.” Scrapface is the only other one I can think of, but that’s only because the Autobots saved him.
The Alpha Trion Protocols were an interesting concept, a sort of yin to the Matrix of Leadership’s yang. It would have been interesting to see those explored, and watch Optimus help Bumblebee deal with having this responsibility thrust onto him-like he needed help dealing with the Matrix. Instead they’re a plot device to bring Bumblebee to the Autobots and then they’re wiped out only one episode later.
It’s really obvious which characters use the CAD files of the toys and which ones were created specially for the show, and it makes characters like Bumblebee, Elita-1, Arcee, and Galvatron stick out like sore thumbs. It’s not that bad most of the time, but when Optimus says “transform and roll out” and Bumblebee and Arcee have done neither it’s really egregious.
You talk about how great it is that older characters were included, but that isn’t automatically good. As I said earlier, Impactor was rewritten into a Decepticon grunt. Cog was kinda there. Moonracer made her first TV appearance in over thirty years and she got brutally killed off. Sky Lynx becomes a generic mentor figure and dies the very episode he was introduced in.
The Quintessons actually came back a few months before Earthrise dropped on Netflix in Cyberverse, with a much more interesting concept attached to them. Yeah, it wasn’t given that much focus, but they do more with the different faces having different personalities than Deseeus did. Cyberverse also had Cheetor, and also did more with him than WFC did.
So, without the Allspark, Cybertron is a dead world, with no life whatsoever. So where do the Maximals and Predacons come from? What’s great about this one is that the show itself even brings this up, and then never answers it. The show doesn’t seem to care, so maybe I shouldn’t either.
Like another comment said, Starscream didn’t have an Armada type arc. In Armada, Starscream was a noble warrior who believed the Autobots and Decepticons should ally themselves to stop a greater threat. WFC Starscream is a manipulative schemer who realized that there was a greater threat and thought teaming up with the Autobots was the best way to save his own skin.
Now, onto the two dinos. I hate hate *hate* what they did to BW Megatron. They took a calculating villain who only wants more power for himself, and they turned him into a simp. He tries to do David Kaye’s “yessss,” but it does not work at all. It’s especially odd because Dinobot got the same characterization. Kinda.
They tried speedrunning Dinobot’s character arc. What made Code of Hero stand out is that it had thirty five episodes of buildup, while Kingdom only gives him three. And then they try recreating his emotional death scene, but it just falls flat. He and Rattrap call each other vermin and chopper face like they’re close with each other, when this is the first time we see them interact. And then Optimus Primal gently takes his hand as Dinobot talks about how he thought of defecting so many times but, again, this is the first time they interact. It was clearly meant to be a sad moment, and I felt nothing.
One of my biggest complaints about Siege was that it spent too long dragging its feet before the story could really get underway. I had the opposite issue with Kingdom, which tried to get everything done as much as possible and thus had very little breathing room. The series in general tried to fit the entire Transformers story into just eighteen episodes, and while more episodes wouldn’t have helped Siege, it would have done wonders for the others.
As for dark Transformers stories, this one feels like it was written by and for adults who feel insecure about liking something for kids, so they throw in a bunch of swears and violence to make it “mature.” Also, dark stories need moments of levity, otherwise it gets so bleak you stop caring, which this series did.
All in all, my only complaint about Netflix refusing a Legacy show is that we’ll never figure out why they chose the characters they did. Besides that, I’m not gonna sleep about what could have been, because what we already have underwhelms me.