I loved Beast Wars AND Beast Machines. BM had its issues but it was quite a brave and ambitious project and by far the most mature Transformers series we've seen or are ever likely to see, plus it looked fantastic.

 

Beast Machines took the same risk Beast Wars did. Taking the brand and characters in entirely new directions. It sought to deconstruct the concept and personalities in a more critical, almost psycho-analytic way. Like Joalro said, the characters were put in the worst possible case scenario for each of them, then forced not only to survive, but strive in it. Almost like each being put in their own personal hell. Obviously that's not going to appeal to everyone, but it was a really interesting attempt and Transformers has never taken a risk that big since. They basically tried to make the most un-Transformers Transformers series that was still deeply engrained in TF lore and concepts. It's a great show, and has a really great tone, but it's not hard to see where it pisses people off.

 

I loved Beast Machines. We got a very mature series set entirely on Cybertron with absolutely no humans. One of my favorite things about it was how it took every character in the show and destroyed their strengths and then had them deal with that part of themselves missing. Getting to see the good guys at a constant disadvantage. The bad guy won and how do we deal with that.

Oh and David Kayes voice in Best Machines is so badass. No Megatron has ever sounded as cool as he does in BM. Just listen to that buttery smooth evil.

 

I love this synopsis. I really enjoyed Beast Machines (when it aired), but unlike Beast Wars I haven't revisited the show since. Your enthusiasm make me want to!

 

I'm fine with the delay. Frees up that money in Jan for anything else. Plus I will have my tax return by the time it actually shows up

 

They just emailed me... Oh well, some breathing room

Funny though, my total for two from ami was 53000... So an mp 44 pretty much, takara really out did themselves

 

Yeah just got the email as well...guess I’ll have to find a different birthday present.

 

When I met David Kaye and presenting him with my Beast Machines DVD boxset to sign he say "ooooh the bad thing". By most accounts the voice cast didn't have the best time recording it.

 

So uh, I wasn't ready for that delay notice from BBTS. He's dropping in April, along with Prime 3.0? Our wallets be like

 

Optimus V.3 is August, isn’t it? And that’s according to the currently scheduled release date, with a delay always likely.

 

Yeh I used to watch them when they first aired as G1 disappeared off tv without any explanation. I brought primal as a kid because his head looked like OP.
Just not my type of thing man.. totally away from the concepts that got me into transformers.

I like cell shaded animation, the idea of robots being robotic non hybrid things.
The factions Autobot and Decepticon.
Combiners... the toys !!

BW just reminded me of a lot of those other shows at the time like Reboot and that War planets show. Wasn’t really ever keen on that early CGI vibe and really disliked a lot of the character designs as they seem far removed from the grim dark evil blocky space robots I loved so much. I always thought Megatron and Cheetor looked kinda cool though.

I watched a few recently and it just wasn’t for me in the way perhaps a metal fan wouldn’t like being in an Opera.
I think I most disliked how empty their world and spaces they are in felt.. the slow speed the characters move and engage at also.
This Megatron is easily in the top 3-5 MP’s made thus far tho! If I was a rich man I’d probably buy it for the curiosity

 

Hey man, Imma just gonna say this: No one likes the first few episodes of Beast Wars. It took a while for the show to get it's legs. If you were able to buckle down, push yourself a little bit for the writing to improve (it starts getting better around halfway through season 1), I would genuinely be interested in your thoughts. Season 2 of Beast Wars is a MASSIVE upgrade from season 1, writing-wise, story-wise, and graphics wise. If you could finish season 2 of the show (I know, that's asking a lot), I honestly think you'll be fairly surprised. I consider it to be one of the greatest sci-fi stories, ever. I know that's silly to hear, but season 2 really has a really compelling and strong story-line with a twist in the finale that surpasses most shows in general, much less kids shows or transformer shows.

 

BM wasn’t bad, IMO. I would have enjoyed it more had they not changed the characters of Primal, Rattrap, and Megatron so drastically.

 

Honestly, I didn't mind that so much as it tied into what I was talking about earlier regarding trauma. They (except megatron) went through a character change because they were facing situations that they never faced before, they had lost everything.

If I were going to make one critique (and I have a few), it would be the design. The show, in my opinion, was a sore to look at. The character designs were uncomfortable, the fighting sequences were awkward and clunky. It felt weird and unnatural. Beast modes weren't too bad (though I wasn't a fan of rattraps new rat mode), but robot modes did not look good. If the show were re-skinned, I think it would have been sooo much better received from just that change alone.

 

Which, imho, if you're a G1 fan, will very likely love. Season 2 of Beast Wars managed to give the G1 characters an aura of epicness that ironically the original series was unable to achieve....this is why I think that even as a G1 only guy, you would potentially be able to enjoy it.
But yeah, no pressure, do it only if you're interested in giving it a shot, I totally understand that it may be seen as a chore if you don't want to watch it.

 

"Likely" doesn't do TT's delay reputation justice

 

Lies, I do. Of course it's a bit sketchy and yet to find it's feet but I like the begining of season 1 just fine. However I do agree it gets better as it goes on.

 

I've now seen three more people report their orders were canceled by Amazon.jp when they tried to change their address. Anyone here ever experience that?

 

That would be a true April fool.