Post by Optimal Megatron on Jul 29, 2021 21:35:45 GMT -5
So, went through this and it actually wasn't terrible. I'd call it middling, at best, but generally it was an okay 6 episode romp.
Seeing both generations together was pretty cool, even if the Bargain basement voice direction didn't quite work, and a lot of the lines might have had more gravitas delivered by the original VAs.
The overall arc here took one of the cooler bits of Earthrise and capitalized on it, and that kept a fairly firm pacing that helped the show not linger awkwardly like some of the previous two installments. Galvatron trying to change the future by altering the past is a classic arc, and tying that into the Maximals and Predacons as they both come from the same timeline, with Megatron's motivations being to bring back the Decepticon leader and thus avert Galvatron's existence, while Primal is initially suspicious of Optimus due to his future incarnation as Nemesis Prime.
While this is an overall interesting plot arc, it does unfortunately do Beast Megatron a bit of a disservice in that he's Megatron's endlessly loyal lackey. A powerful fighter (he mauls a Decepticon in a single bite to get them to follow his orders, and is singlehandedly responsible for the damage that eventually kills Dinobot), but there's none of the charisma and intelligence of the Beast Wars incarnation.
The rest of the Beast Wars cast are pretty spot on. Airrazor gets a bit more focus here than she did back in Beast Wars, with her compassion for Dinobot being a major contribution to his turnabout. An offhand comment by Rattrap makes it clear she and Tigatron are an item and that the remaining crew are deadset on reuniting them. Rhinox is capable of standing on his own intellectually with Ratchet and Wheeljack, and surpassing them in some areas. Cheetor is... just kinda there. His personality's intact, but he doesn't get to DO much of anything. Scorponok, unfortunately, is a voiceless mass production type similar to the Cogs and Refraktors, but he wasn't the brightest even back in Beast Wars, so. Dinobot is on brand, even if it's a much truncated character arc (and amusingly based around the concept that Dinobot was genuinely loyal to his Predacon teammates and believes he's betraying Megatron to prevent a greater catastrophe that his Megatron is too enamored of his namesake to see coming)
The banter is pretty good here and there, and seeing *Starscream* have a character arc that resembles his Armada self, but with his G1 self as the origin point, is actually really impressive. Leading to a point in the finale where he throws his cowardice aside while Megatron is throttling him, and manages to get a legitimately badass moment in the climax.
The biggest problem is that the climax in Episode 6 feels like it could have used another episode to actually...show a decent fight. After all the hyping them up, Galvatron and Nemesis barely do very much (to the point that Megatron claiming there's only two of them and yet the dozen plus army of Autobots/Maximals/Decepticons/Predacons is still outnumbered feels a little awkward since no one actually takes serious hits) before the Allspark is reactivated and resolves the plot. Which, incidentally, involves the ghosts of anyone that was left behind on Cybertron during Earthrise. They all froze to death, apparently. Very sad.
There's a sequel hook that while having potential doesn't seem like something that I'd WANT explored because the crew for this production is so uneven, which is a pity because in his scant few appearances in Kingdom, Unicron is legitimately menacing in a way we haven't seen in a while. It's a very solid reinterpretation of the G1 Unicron as a malevolent, nearly godlike force. It's helped by the fact that he never transforms, and so Unicron's voice is always coming out of his ominous, gaping maw that dwarfs anything sharing a scene with it. And particularly the part where Starscream is watching a recording of Megatron's conversion into Galvatron on the Golden Disk.... only for Unicron to being speaking to him *through* the recording, either by already knowing that Starscream would see the recording or simply being aware of being observed no matter how. It's a chilling point, and single-handedly changes Starscream from scheming backstabber to terrified prophet trying to get both sides to work together because he knows the entire war was Unicron setting both sides against each other to weaken the one thing that could threaten him.
So, overall, there's some odd points, some bad points, and some decent things, but I think overall this came out better than the prior chapters. Even if Prime can't. Talk. Fast. Ever.
6/10 from me. Worth a binge, but probably not a rewatch.
Seeing both generations together was pretty cool, even if the Bargain basement voice direction didn't quite work, and a lot of the lines might have had more gravitas delivered by the original VAs.
The overall arc here took one of the cooler bits of Earthrise and capitalized on it, and that kept a fairly firm pacing that helped the show not linger awkwardly like some of the previous two installments. Galvatron trying to change the future by altering the past is a classic arc, and tying that into the Maximals and Predacons as they both come from the same timeline, with Megatron's motivations being to bring back the Decepticon leader and thus avert Galvatron's existence, while Primal is initially suspicious of Optimus due to his future incarnation as Nemesis Prime.
While this is an overall interesting plot arc, it does unfortunately do Beast Megatron a bit of a disservice in that he's Megatron's endlessly loyal lackey. A powerful fighter (he mauls a Decepticon in a single bite to get them to follow his orders, and is singlehandedly responsible for the damage that eventually kills Dinobot), but there's none of the charisma and intelligence of the Beast Wars incarnation.
The rest of the Beast Wars cast are pretty spot on. Airrazor gets a bit more focus here than she did back in Beast Wars, with her compassion for Dinobot being a major contribution to his turnabout. An offhand comment by Rattrap makes it clear she and Tigatron are an item and that the remaining crew are deadset on reuniting them. Rhinox is capable of standing on his own intellectually with Ratchet and Wheeljack, and surpassing them in some areas. Cheetor is... just kinda there. His personality's intact, but he doesn't get to DO much of anything. Scorponok, unfortunately, is a voiceless mass production type similar to the Cogs and Refraktors, but he wasn't the brightest even back in Beast Wars, so. Dinobot is on brand, even if it's a much truncated character arc (and amusingly based around the concept that Dinobot was genuinely loyal to his Predacon teammates and believes he's betraying Megatron to prevent a greater catastrophe that his Megatron is too enamored of his namesake to see coming)
The banter is pretty good here and there, and seeing *Starscream* have a character arc that resembles his Armada self, but with his G1 self as the origin point, is actually really impressive. Leading to a point in the finale where he throws his cowardice aside while Megatron is throttling him, and manages to get a legitimately badass moment in the climax.
The biggest problem is that the climax in Episode 6 feels like it could have used another episode to actually...show a decent fight. After all the hyping them up, Galvatron and Nemesis barely do very much (to the point that Megatron claiming there's only two of them and yet the dozen plus army of Autobots/Maximals/Decepticons/Predacons is still outnumbered feels a little awkward since no one actually takes serious hits) before the Allspark is reactivated and resolves the plot. Which, incidentally, involves the ghosts of anyone that was left behind on Cybertron during Earthrise. They all froze to death, apparently. Very sad.
There's a sequel hook that while having potential doesn't seem like something that I'd WANT explored because the crew for this production is so uneven, which is a pity because in his scant few appearances in Kingdom, Unicron is legitimately menacing in a way we haven't seen in a while. It's a very solid reinterpretation of the G1 Unicron as a malevolent, nearly godlike force. It's helped by the fact that he never transforms, and so Unicron's voice is always coming out of his ominous, gaping maw that dwarfs anything sharing a scene with it. And particularly the part where Starscream is watching a recording of Megatron's conversion into Galvatron on the Golden Disk.... only for Unicron to being speaking to him *through* the recording, either by already knowing that Starscream would see the recording or simply being aware of being observed no matter how. It's a chilling point, and single-handedly changes Starscream from scheming backstabber to terrified prophet trying to get both sides to work together because he knows the entire war was Unicron setting both sides against each other to weaken the one thing that could threaten him.
So, overall, there's some odd points, some bad points, and some decent things, but I think overall this came out better than the prior chapters. Even if Prime can't. Talk. Fast. Ever.
6/10 from me. Worth a binge, but probably not a rewatch.