(I'm only doing this because I'm bored.) Transformers Prime is an okay series. It is neither bad nor good. I do enjoy the characters, the fights, and the animation. There are however, plenty of problems with it. The most important problem is its episodic writing style. The show really has no overall plot besides the Autobot and Decepticon War. It makes the show unpredictable, which can be good in some cases. However, for me it means I have no guess at things to come and therefore have nothing to actually look forward to other than the description of the next episode. Rarely does the show acknowledge past plots and when it does, it doesn't do it enough. Another problem with the episodic writing is that they get rid of so much potential just to make the moment interesting. For example, Breakdown's death. Breakdown had great potential as a character with his rivalry with Bulkhead and his interactions with other Decepticons but they killed him off in the blink of an eye just to make Airachnid look scary for the moment. Another problem is the tone of the show. I can't help but feel that the show is getting too dark for its own good. I like a dark story, but I feel that the type of episodic writing the creators use works best with a "medium" tone. By that I mean, they can keep it serious but it doesn't hurt to throw in some comedic moments. The recent episodes have been fairly dark and, as stated above, makes me feel as if the writers are just making it dark for the sake of making it dark if you know what I mean. I don't hate Prime, but it is far from being one of my favorite shows. I like to watch it. It provides plenty of entertainment but it fails to leave much of an impression.
The OP has very good points and I agree with many of them. Prime does have some very excellent things going for it, but the element that would make it rival Beast Wars is missing. Prime needs to have an overarching plot just as the OP said and it ally doesn't. Things are something connected from episode to episode, but only barely. If everything were more coherent the show would be so much better. You post on a forum about kids toys... Just saying...
Inb4 somebody irrationally attacks the Op merely for disliking the sho- And you make sure to respond to each and every one.