It was ok. I don’t hate it, nor do I love it. I’ll give them credit for upending the status quo regardless of the reasoning for doing so.

But I think season 3 ended with more hits than misses. And I think I’m more glad that we got that than a 3rd season of Optimus & the gang doing the same ol’ same ol’.

 

Personally I quite like Season 3. The space opera setting allowed the show to go full gonzo science fantasy and we got absolute gems of episodes like Webworld, Dweller in the Depths and Call of the Primitives. Plus it features Sky Lynx, my favorite ridiculous space shuttle bird cat monster thing.

 

I liked every season of G1 as a kid and always wondered why it didn’t continue after Rebirth. That being said, everything post-movie felt like it had a cloud hanging over it…not because I felt it was objectively bad…but because it just didn’t feel like the same show that introduced me to TFs in the first place.

 

I was really young for G1. I don't remember how much of the series I actually saw, but season 2 episodes seemed to stick with me the most (probably the heavy presence of the Dinobots and Prime, my favorites) but 5 faces of Darkness always stuck with me as one I really liked.

Going back and watching everything when I was older I'd say, on average, season 3 episodes are probably better, minus animation quality on most. The new Autobot cast is mostly a wash, but the new Decepticon cast is a big improvement imo.

 

I like some of it,not all of it. But the same can be said for the other 2 seasons.

 

Hearing it phrased like this, makes me really glad S3 was what it was due to the movie. If S3 was just more S2 with a few new toys to promote, both G1 and future shows that sought to mimic the feel of G1 would probably end up feeling stagnant. At least later shows that tried to be "G1, but different," have a chance of having a sense of progression by trying to "reach the checkpoint" of introducing the later characters and events that follow like Unicron and the Quintessons.

 

I agree with this but there is a different tone to series 3 in general. The movie raised the stakes massively by actually killing characters and I think that really affects viewer's perception of that season even though there is no further death.
Even the soundtrack feels more ominous.

 

Personally I actually have my doubts about that and I would really like to try to start a serious conversation about that

I’ve been on a lot of these types of fan sites for years, and there’s one thing I’ve noticed through different debates and poles and conversations I’ve seen ,read and Participated in

and that it seems that a large segment of the fandom in the 80s didn’t see the film was in theaters, they didn’t see the deaths....they might have head about it from the few friends they had the saw they film but they didn’t experience the “different tone” of the film for themselves

 

That's a good point but those kids still had the knowledge that some of their favourite characters were dead and could see that the show (even the setting) had changed dramatically. And watching season 3 live at the time, they couldn't have known for sure that there wouldn't be further deaths.

 

Maybe but I don’t think many kids would’ve thought that deep into it

I think they might’ve just seen the new characters and new surroundings and just been turned off by all the change......Kids aren’t very fond of a lot of change when presented to them so abruptly

 

That's the thing though, there's a feeling to that series that is different as well. Maybe like you say it was all the changes which contributed to that. I agree that this would have been unsettling.

I do think that Cyclonus (for example) is often a scarier character than anyone in the previous seasons. The whole sequence when he's chasing down Octane and you see him intimidating the Sweeps, then the scene in the Decepticon crypt. He's menacing in a way that Skywarp etc simply weren't.

 

Well the storytelling did mature a bit for that season

That could’ve also not sat well with sone fans of the time

 

I think my issue with Season 3 is that too much of it took place away from earth. The robots didnt really need to disguise themselves and without humans around the size of them was kind of lost.

 

I wouldn't say I hate season 3, but it is my least favorite season of the G1 run. When I think of 1986 characters I think of Transformers the Movie and even Headmasters before Season 3.

 

Season 3 has a great story to it. We had Just watched Hotrod complete his heros journey.
We got to see the new cast in a different direction than a 2 dimensional Good vs Evil. Money isn't everything, the Journal (very informative for young children), web world and call of the primitives were fun yet Abit over a 13 year olds head. Looking back at these stories now I can honestly say We need for of this today. The animation was Not the best but as an adult no now see why(budgets)
I still to this day enjoy watching it. If I had to tear down one thing about it I'd choose Galvatron. Going from Megatron on steroids to crazy psychopath because he landed in a lava bath light years away let's be realistic Rodimus prime was strong but throwing Galvatron that far I could see him getting knocked out going through the wall and drifting in the space but realistically if it ever got remastered and re-edited I would leave that part out and explain his condition as post-traumatic stress syndrome honestly we talk about CIA type real life starting Wars 9/11 style to wrestling being fake and the big brodcast (TV is brainwashing Us) it would not be too over the top to deal with post-traumatic stress syndrome in season 3. That would even open up the door for a Galvatron redemption story like they wanted to do with Transformers Prime. Which I think are really nice idea for a season 4 season 5 plot twist would be to have characters like thunder Wing or overlord or even scorponok taking over the decepticons or he even having their own team of decepticons and making Galvatron in his crew more neutral trying to redeem themselves but yet getting sucked back in at every turn.

Sorry that was kind of long for a simple yes I liked it and yes I still think it holds up and very relevant today

 

The autobots rarely disguised themselves in the show anyway, they were pretty much well known in season 2

 

When I was a kid, I liked S1 and S2 better, but I didn't hate S3. I was in 3rd grade when it aired