Ok, can someone drop some knowledge my way? Is there a particular reason why this show is ending after 3 seasons? Was the show not getting the ratings? Was it too expensive to produce?

 

3 is the magic number my friend... Moment of Silence for TFP...

 

One possible explanation is that the third season is being shortened in preparation for the fourth live action movie. Which is sad, because instead of great Prime design characters, we'll have shelves full of the first wave of new movie toys for months...oh joy...

Inb4 Bay is labeled "PrimeKiller".

 

Season 3 being the end is not surprising to me, but 16 episodes is. I thought they said they were doing 20+ episodes a season to get their money's worth?

Yet, they have said a lot of things so far.

 

Apparently MLP is also going to have a ~16 episode 3rd season as well.

There's a possibility it's just Hasbro cost-cutting.

 

Sixteen is an ODD number for a cartoon, since they are typically produced in increments of 13 (standard, 1 episode per week, season). To me, that gives credence to this upcoming season being the last, maybe they were given an extra few episodes to "wrap everything up" the best they could.

Bear in mind this would give the show a total run of 68 episodes (65 was the classic number needed for weekly syndication back in the 80s), which is still more than double a majority of cartoons get these days that aren't anime.
68 is more than enough to support the series for a good while, so I'm sure the toyline will probably run into 2014.

As to why it might be ending? Well, for one, 68 is an impressive run.
Two, with the live action film coming, and the history of messing with Hasbro's TF television plans in the past, they might have felt it less hassle to wrap up the series before trying to deal with it in 2014.
Three, I think that some at Hasbro feel the current iteration of Transformers (the brand has predominantly followed the same themes, characters, and elements since 2007) has gotten stale and is in need of refresh (the talk of new robot designs and new characters in TF4 seem to support that, IMO)

And from my evil, snarky side, maybe Hasbro realized how dull Prime has been as a series and is using the film as an excuse to cut it short and rework a new Aligned cartoon to follow the next movie  

 

MLP gets 13 episodes next season, not 16.

 

I don't want to believe it's the end already.   This series has been so good to me since the beginning. Until there's proper confirmation, this is treated as a rumor to me.  

 

I think this is going to affect my "commitments" to future Transformers series.

 

Well that's rather short for a tf cartoon. :c

 

Not really. How many TF cartoons have 68 or more episodes? How many have lasted 3 or more seasons?

 

Well...Can they at least change the season 3 opening before ending with a bang, please?

 

My theory is that with the recent announcement of tf4 having a completly new cast finally being official they will probably introduce new characters through another show. The TF Prime toyline probably hasnt been selling well enough to warrant a 4th season , however I really thought prime would fill in the gap between tf3 and tf4. I guess hasbro just isnt on board with it or perhaps they want to end it on a high note given the record of bad tf shows.

 

its has filled the gap but if this is how there going to treat transformers shows as a break between movies im going to be pissed.

though no transformer series have made it past season 3, it would of been nice to have 1 stable transformers brand for many years.

another thought is that there going to end prime just so they can start another seires like prime with the movie characters in it.

 

Agreed. I really like Prime.


I can watch G1 in short bursts mostly for the nostalgia (I was five when it came out).

Prime, i've rewatched season one on Netflix about eight times. I REALLY like this show AND I collect the toys.

 

What was Comb's actually wording? For all I know, it could be that he only recorded 16 eps because Ratchet dies in S3E16.

 

He said "This iteration of Transformers is coming to an end".

 

68 episodes is more than reasonable. I don't understand why people are freaking out. It's not like the series is going to last forever. Though being 45ish episodes in, I'm disappointed with how little has happened with the overall plot.

 

Because there are still so many loose ends. And if they wrap them up (IF), it's going to feel very rushed and it will show in the characterizations.

 

They can always continue them in Beast Hunters.