This show certainly isn't an abortion but it isn't amazing.

So far I'd give it a C+/B-.

Pros:

• The animation is something I personally enjoy, but if you object to the toyeticism or the shading, the clunkiness of those choices, that's your taste.
• This Megatron continues to impress. I love his voice and I love every major scene with him. The Galvatron voice was also a pleasant surprise for me as well.
• This is the way to write a sympathetic Megatron that follows the miner/gladiator/revolutionary schema without muddying the waters of morality or failing to demonstrate that he's a ruthless villain beyond redemption many times over. Continuing to slip further and further into darkness, committing atrocity after atrocity....
• Starscream, Jetfire, Shockwave, Soundwave, Elita One, Wheeljack, and Ratchet have all entertained and surprised me at least once in the time they've had on screen.
• The transformations that do exist are really well animated.
• Optimus gets some good moments and some of the best action of the show, but he's a penis.
• Quintessons, Marvel Accurate Nebulos (for a moment), Alpha Trion, Time Traveling Galvatron (also Marvel), exclusively Transformers focused + all the lore callbacks are really fun but I'm a hardcore fan. These probably don't matter to a more casual viewer.
• IMPACTOR.
• Beast Wars is coming which, unless it's the worst it can possibly be, is bound to please me in some ways.

Cons:

• Lack of transformations. Really no excuse.
• Some of the budget voice actors are really good and some are not so good.
• Even just adding Peter to the current cast and the current script, changing nothing else but the voice of Dickhead Prime, would elevate this production to a new height. That's the same magic he brought to Murder Prime, and Pontificus Prime.
• A lot of these legacy characters get lost in the mix, so to speak. I see a little bit of Sideswipe's youth, Ratchet is very in tune, Wheeljack is perfect, Mirage gets a newish but good personality and a few moments to himself, Chromia is silently badass, Soundwave has several cool moments, his cassettes appear at least 3 times, but they don't all POP and this could have been fixed with a little more flavor.
• Wheeljack is a perfect amount of flavor that makes his more minor role more memorable than the likes Soundwave or Sideswipe, Barricade, or the rest of them.
• I love Seekers but the model reuse ad nauseam is an objective distraction. I don't mind it. Heck. I find it charming in the way it was in the 80s toon. But it certainly NOTICE it. Nobody isn't gonna notice it.
• I do actually really like the plot but the pacing is so bizarre. It feels simulatnaeously to slow and too fast. Once again, this would have been an easy fix with one more pass-over and a little shifting of the narrative priorities.

Anyway, still on board for Kingdom. I don't like the fact that it seems like they're gonna have the Beast Leaders. We still need to finally reach a conclusion between the G1 Leaders in this one, especially Optimus Prime, and having ANOTHER Optimus and Megatron around at all is gonna make that muddy. Unless by some miracle Kingdom has the privilege of more than 6 episodes I don't see how it won't be a rushed ending.

Surprise me, Netflix Team.

 

I do love this Megatron's voice, but he stops being sympathetic when he starts basically slobbering over Elita/Ariel and bemoaning the loss of their own relationship while offering her special treatment with an unspoken insinuation that personal favours are expected due to their past relationship.

That kind of thing isn't a slippery slope due to the exigencies and demands of war leading to slowly worsening moral choices, that kind of thing is an irredeemable character flaw.

He does something similar to Optimus/Orion in TFP, but because they're terrified of making the leads look gay, it's less explicitly quid pro quo sexual harassment and you can at least pretend that he misses the friendship and not just the clanging.

 

Wow. I definitely didn't see things that way, but now I can't un-see it. That's creepy.

 

That...has absolutely nothing to do with what I was trying to say. But it wasn't a boring read, that's for sure. Thank you for your input.

 

I feel like I should apologise to you now, but I can't unsee it either?

Let me explain the connection.

You said "This is the way to write a sympathetic Megatron".

I pointed out that the WFC Megatron was creeping on a captive who is at his mercy.

The connection is:

I believe the statement "this is the way to write a sympathetic anything whatsoever" should exclude portrayals in which the anything whatsoever engages in sexually harassing and sexually threatening behaviour toward individuals that the anything whatsoever has captured and has at their mercy.

 

Primal's head and voice sucks.

 

Also Prime pulling his best Batman voice.

"I am not... your enemeeyyy"

 

Cautiously optimistic.

Also uncertain why Sailor Moon Crystal isn't considered anime, as the only reason I've been a TF fan longer than I've been an SM fan is that TF started in 1984 and SM started in 1992, and I don't ever recall Sailor Moon not being anime and Transformers being anime until Netflix.

 

That's WFC Trilogy for you.

 

Not a fan of how Primal's voice makes him feel like he's from Brooklyn which isn't suited for someone like him. That's Rattrap type of voice.

 

Guess we might expect Kingdom trailer tonight.

 

Primal: Has guns in his arms.
Also Primal:

 

Hey guys Ultra Magnus got the dirt off of him!

 

Hmmm, not quite as luscious as Megatron's lips I'm afraid.

 

I A M N O T Y O U R

E N E MY

 

Fire Convoy: I am not your enemy.
God Magnus: You are my Nemesis.

 

Well, it's consistent, in its awfulness.

Hopefully after kingdom we get a series by people that actually know what they're doing.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, behold our new Optimus Meltdown Outburst!

 

Don't want to spend your evidently very limited budget on transformations.

Guess Hasbro wanted to give G1 fans a new G1 in both production and budget as well.