So that's it: Transformers Animated as we know it done and dusted. Most of us have accepted that it's going for good, and I think that even the optimistic hope-against-hope minority would still admit that "Endgame Part II" at the very least represents a significant conclusion point in this story. With that in mind, then, what do you regret about the series as it now exists as a whole? What left you feeling unfulfilled? What might have been done better if they'd have had more time? Was there anything you felt that they outright messed up? Because as great a series as it was, nothing's perfect, and I'd like to hear from you other fans exactly what left you with a feeling of "what might have been..." Here's my breakdown: Sari: This is the main one. This series was structured around viewers placing a major investment in Sari, and at the end of the day, we just didn't get a suitable return on it. Huge amounts of time were spent in the first two seasons establishing her character, the Season 3 opening gave us some answers, introduced new plot aspects and set the character arc up for its home stretch...and then dropped it like a rock. Sari became a peripheral character upon whom no narrative emphasis was placed, and with only meagre lipservice paid to her incomplete character arc. They posed so many questions that were later just abandoned: where did she come from? What is she? Why was she there? Why did the AllSpark "choose" her, and for what? I don't know why they were forced to write Sari out as a main narrative driver in that way, but it really upsets the structure of the whole show terribly. Bumblebee's character arc: He didn't have one. He never had one. Prime had his journey to leadership. Prowl finally achieved enlightenment. Ratchet made peace with his past. Bulkhead, even though his arc petered out at the start of S3, found his true creative calling. Bumblebee basically goofed around for two seasons and then got written out with Sari, with even the Wasp plotline wasted as an opportunity for the character to grow; disappointing for such a prominent character. The Dinobots: I'm not the biggest Dinobot fan, but even I can see how badly they were wasted by TFA. We got a great intro episode for them in "Blast From the Past" that established them as dangerous wildcards, and then nothing: no personalities, no action scenes, no meaningful contribution to the plot in a positive or a negative way. If the writers never had any intention of using them for anything, why not kill them off after their debut, instead of leaving them hanging uselessly like a vestigial limb? The Constructicons: This is a slightly different issue, because we all know where they were going with this; they just weren't given the opportunity to get there. The fact that they never did does have the unfortunate effect of making their episodes seem kind of like wastes, though... Sentinel's character loop: By and large, Sentinel Prime was one of the most successful innovations of TFA, but his cycle of character growth and regression went round a couple of times too many to be forgiveable. Sure, have him be a jerk, but don't constantly fake us out with false moments of development that are completely erased by the next episode. Optimus and Sentinel's reconciliation at the end of "Predacons Rising" was excellently written, and should have been the end of his character arc; the fact that the writers hit the reset button on him again just made me lose patience. Endgame Shockwave: For me, Shockwave turning purple represented the end of the much more interesting character he was before then. Seeing Shockwave one of the 'Con crew is fun, but this guy had practically become the series's main antagonist for the entire third season; turning him into an inconsequential run-of-the-mill henchman for the finale kind of robbed us of the much more satisfying payoff for that we could have got for a character that good. Earth or Cybertron?: As much as I liked seeing more of Cybertron and its characters in S3, I do have to say that it kind of ended up compromising a lot of the show's focus. Having been a very Earth-oriented show for two seasons, S3 felt like it kind of lost interest in our planet, phasing out almost all of the human characters and Detroit-centric plot ideas and moving most of the story emphasis to Cybertron. Only problem: all of the main characters were still on Earth. So what we got for much of the final season was an odd situation where neither the characters nor the viewers had any real reason to be interested in the show's actual original setting and premise; to say that ended up leading to a slight loss of focus/coherence would be an understatement. Anywho, that's all I can think of for now, so I'll hand over to you guys. And remember: I'm not hating at all here, nor am I encouraging anybody else to. Just that with all the praise going around right now, I'd be interested to hear what constructive criticism you might have to offer as well.
One gripe I kinda had was how under-used Blitzwing was in season 3 =( And where (or when?) did Blackarachnia and Waspinator go??
Sari - I wouldn't say I have any regrets where she's concerned. I grew to like her a whole hell of a lot more than I've liked any of the humans since Spike and Sparkplug. That puts her squarely in the win column for me. Bumblebee - Let's face it, in a show meant for kids, Bumblebee was written with them in mind. The target audience doesn't really care for story arcs, they just want to see fun adventures with a fun character and that's what they got. The Dinobots - I was disappointed that they didn't play a role in Endgame, much less the entire third season. I would have liked to see them join the Autobots full time, but that never happened. Snarl and Swoop definitely got the short end of the stick, but Grimlock got his fair share of the spotlight and since he's really the face of the Dinobots, that's going to have to be good enough. The Constructicons - I severely disliked them from the first moment they appeared on screen and they only got worse when that little guy showed up in season three. Good riddance. Sentinel Prime - I agree with you that he was a huge success for the series, as was the assertion that there's more than one Prime and they all fall in line after the Magnus. The only regret I have with his character is that he never got what was coming to him. He never got demoted, never got reprimanded, he didn't even get knocked down a peg by Optimus. Personally, I would have liked to have seen him become so jealous of Optimus that he left the Autobots and ultimately become Nemesis Prime. Shockwave - Shockwave turning purple really was the culmination of his storyline, as we finally saw his true colors, no pun intended. It just really worked for me. Earth or Cybertron - I never really had a problem with the switches in locations. To me it helped give the story some scope.
The most disappointing thing for me is how they never even mention Ultra Magnus. I am also extremely annoyed that Skywarp, Thundercracker and Femmescream never show up again.
Sari, Blitzwing, most of the Screamer clones, and Megs were all underused in the end. Sari's origins must have been told somehow.
My regrets: Arcee: Never fought back. She really should have had the chance. Sari: Her whole origin/explanation was touching a protoform on the moon? Clones: All the clones were left unnamed? Blackarachnia and Wasp: Never healed. Her story arc was stuck on a loop and his seemed to end with his transformation? Ultra Magnus: Is he going to recover? Or is we going to be put in storage like Arcee? Team Charr: Why not more? They seemed so tough but they just disappeared? Weck-gar, Constructicons, Dinobots: All could have used some guidance and never got it. The autobots came to earth to help but they left these newborn-bots to rot on earth? They should have had the chance to go to Cybertron.
Here is something that grinded my gears. Animated Megs kept on talking about takig back Cybertron yet he used his latest plan to just stomp on the main five's residence of Detroit.
Didn't Megatron said that sending the three Lugnut Supreme was a test? When all three of them crashed on Dinoboy Island, Meagtron said something about the test being a failure and to return on the moon. He also wanted revenge on his former ''prison'' while he is here.
Well, why didn't he just send one to Earth and the other two to Cybertron? I'd say his Space bridge plan from last season was better than this.
I regret the Dinobots were under ultilized, would have been awesome to see them take down a lugnut supreme all by themeselves, and they left Ultra magnus and Blurr hanging inthe wind so to speak
Because that doesn't make sense? If you have three experimental WMD's, you don't split them up in your grand plan without a test drive. Splitting your forces is a fool's move when you're so undermanned anyway. Do you honestly expect Megatron to take not only Earth, but Cybertron, the Elite Guard stronghold Fortress Maximus, and the rest of the Autobot race in a single swoop by cutting his already-semi-******ed Omega Sentinels forces in half? If Supreme himself wouldn't have stood up to Fortress Maximus alone, I doubt one more knock-off would have made a difference.
Not really a regret (and I don't want to repeat what has already been posted, though I agree with 99% of it), but I would have loved to see Ultra Magnus and Megatron acknowledge each other more. I know S3 kind of killed this, but I was looking forward to seeing Megs and Magnus take each other on.
I didn't really think twice about Bumblebee's story arc till now reading it here. I definitely wish he gained some character development, even matured, very similar to Cheetor and Hot Shot. Instead he ends the show the same character he began the show as, while everyone else has grown up more. I also felt they created to many plots in the third season that got left unresolved. The constructions The Dinobots Wreck-Gar Blackarachnia Waspinator The remaining Clones But worst of all, Sari's origins are still in the air. We'll never find out how she got to earth, and why her protoform was different to all the rest and why the matrix picked her.
I liked the series. It is by no means my favorite, but I really enjoyed it. However, I have to agree that A LOT of of moments and development were wasted during this show's three-season run. Maybe that had to do with its sudden demise, but it never felt like the show was going anywhere. Even though Beast Wars wasn't planned from the start, and its success on a story level may have been accidental, at least characters changed, developed, grew, were gained and were lost, and the stakes continuously changed. Beast Wars was able to do more in three seasons than Animated did in three seasons and a pilot movie.
He already took control of one and he was willing to transwarp back to Cybertron with it. Remember? Still, season 2's plan was way better and it felt that more stakes were on the line.
Underutilized/weak Dinobots. Dissatisfying outcome for Blackarachnia and Waspinator. No additional Constructicons/Devastator. Not enough Blitzwing in Season Three. No character development for Sentinel Prime and Bumblebee. Megatron's incredible blunder in 'Endgame'. No proper closure for Blurr, Ultra Magnus and the uncaptured Starscream Clones. Team Charr and Team Rodimus being one-shot characters. Sari's origins still largely proving a mystery.
All these except the one I highlighted. I think we saw enough of Bumblebee in season one and two. Also, I think it might kill the feel of maturity of season 3 if we had him (Mr.Kid-Appeal) anymore.
