I don't think these criticisms about characters are fair. If there are too few characters, the world feels empty. If there are too many getting attention and development, then everyone is spread too thin. I think Ruckley's approach was right for the story he was telling. There are a handful of essential characters across the run who are mostly the ones you'd expect: Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee, Shockwave. There are also characters who serve specific important story beats but have limited purpose outside of those areas: this is where I would put Elita-1, Prowl, Swindle, Wheeljack. There are team players who are in a lot of issues but rarely drive the story, though they may have plot moments: Smokescreen, Strika, Team Stream. Then there are characters that are just there. I think the level of attention and characterization for each class match what was appropriate. In general, those random deep cuts are always in that last group, occasionally they have plot moments, but they're not taking important time away from other characters. In the same way, it doesn't matter that they don't have dramatic resolution, because the number of pages they're on doesn't relate to their narrative importance.

I would go further and say that I think this was the right approach, especially for a pre- and early-war Cybertron. Different types of stories have had different approaches. Dreamwave was (almost?) exclusively the G1 pre-2005 cast, but it was a nostalgic throwback with very few Transformer character beats. The Lost Light stories had a broad but finite cast with strong personalities, fitting for an episodic ensemble character-driven series. Ruckley's run had a big plot, exploring the political and social systems of a complex world, so it needs a very large cast in service to the needs of the story. It can be argued that was the wrong narrative approach--and many people on these boards have--but it's purposeful and appropriate. Even if it didn't always work, I really appreciated the effort.

As for breakouts, trash goblin superstar Flamewar is more than just a Harley Quinn, though she's certainly in that archetype. There are a range of factional philosophies in the Ascenticon / Decepticon camp, and her role in that group is important. Nautica's personality was completely overhauled, as Ruckley undid everything that made her my favorite character in the last continuity, then rebuilt her from the ground up as a serious figure concerned with parts of the galaxy that TF books traditionally ignored, making her my favorite character in any continuity. Skywarp may have been a little one-note, but he became interesting for the first time in forty years. They may have been fewer and farther between due to the story structure, but those character moments were still present and exciting.

 

Made it about ten issues but was super bored. I really liked the setting and timeline though.

 

I read the first 24 issues (and 12 issues of whatever the other series with the Constructicons and Ultra Magnus issues was), but was deeply deeply bored. I dont put the blame solely on the creative team, the pacing was all over the shop.

It may have got better but 24 issues I felt was more than enough for me to stick with it to try and get invested in some of the characters or the story.

 

I do, their influence on toys and mythos has been positive on the whole. Last Bot, SG, are current examples.

But Lost Light / MTME, and Transformers 84 will be treasured forever. I doubt those will ever be eclipsed.

 

Honestly I think their biggest mistake was kicking off the war so soon and killing off rubble. Rubble was such a good POV to see the beauty of cybertron and easy way to establish this new version of cybertron. I was really interested in seeing how the decepticons formed starting as a political movement. Starting the war just made too similar to every other transformers story ever