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Yeah I meant airing/premiering on Netflix or a different streaming service should Hasbro prefer. Shows like Star Trek Discovery and the Mandalorian show that you can do streaming shows but on a weekly schedule.

All I recall, from the first airing of Beast Wars on UK TV. I saw part 2 of the pilot, episodes five (Chain of Command) til 12 (Victory). Then Aftermath, Season 2's premiere was the next episode. For some time that is all I saw of Season One.

So as long as it isn't some obscure self-serving streaming service that only two countries have access to. I'm all in favour of future shows being in a designated place.

Access for everyone should definitely be a priority. I used a vpn before to access beast wars on the US Netflix because it wasn't on the UK service. Now I think they're on a completely different site altogether.

I should point out I know why access rights are haphazard like in the example, with broadcasting rights tied up in different companies. Hence why Macross has no shows streaming in the west..
Thanks a bunch Harmony Gold you smeg heads.

As an aside, I was hoping Harmony Gold wouldn't retain the rights to Macross, a little while back.

It is why I'm glad that Hasbro has all of Transformers (even tidying up most of their early rights issues) and unlike HG actually wants to release their series to the mass-market.

There's so many good ideas and such in this show that just don't have the proper execution.

Like...I did enjoy both seasons but like only the same type of enjoyment as watching a popcorn flick, pass the time and all for an evening or two, yeah yeah "consume product" I guess.


I think the show is visually fine and even the action is alright, the biggest things I see bringing down the show is voice acting direction, overuse of nostalgia references over original story material (I don't mean that as in using characters or terms from G1, I mean reusing straight up quotes from prior things like G1 movie quotes, the original concepts this show does have could of worked really well.), and the lack of episodes making the shoe's pacing be rushed which ends up making certain things lack punch.


Short example from Earthrise: Cog's death which I expected to happen in Earthrise before I watched it since he wasn't a 1984 character or in the Earthrise line, while he was fairly present in Siege, in Earthrise he shows up literally one episode prior to his death and then his role in the final episode feels like it's missing context, could of been a great death especially if Wheeljack ended up killing the guy himself instead of Cog dying from his wounds that way there could of been some tragedy to it.

I partially blame that last one on Hasbro themselves by making the War for Cybertron trilogy just another "Transformers G1 war" trilogy by shoe horning Cybertron-designs, Earth stuff, 1986 and Beast Wars into one trilogy which ends up making a theoretical story rushed and ends up excluding characters people want to see in those lines.

I think the limited cast of Beast Wars could have helped this show. Especially with building on characterisation. However, I think what I can assume was the mandate to incorporate the majority of the toyline in, do or die (Hello Astrotrain: The Cameo Bot) hurt it a lot. It makes the action more dynamic, at the expense of personality.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I think the limited cast of Beast Wars could have helped this show. Especially with building on characterisation. However, I think what I can assume was the mandate to incorporate the majority of the toyline in, do or die (Hello Astrotrain: The Cameo Bot) hurt it a lot. It makes the action more dynamic, at the expense of personality.

A bigger cast can work in theory since not everybody needs to be a main character, secondary and minor characters have always been a thing and has worked in other stories.

But it didn't work well here especially with as little episodes as there are here.

The main thing that bugged me in Siege was when characters walked into an episode out of nowhere and you're to believe they have always been there. That is pure fan service and worked to the detriment of the show. That isn't how you properly build a large cast.

Yeah the series would have definitely benefited from a smaller cast. But the toyline had to be promoted, so everyone had to have at least a cameo spot. It was weird to give Cog as much as they did, considering he was part of the Siege line.

One thing I wish would happen is even though the show is on Netflix, the should be released on DVD in a movie format. There are 6 episodes at around 24 minutes each, if the intros and credits get cut off from episodes 2-5, it would shorten it a bit and make the flow smoother and turn it into a 2-hour movie. I was hoping this would happen but it didn't happen with Siege so I'm not expecting it.

And doesn't Fox still own the original RiD series, which is why it never made to DVD or any streaming services?

Rodimus Prime wrote:Yeah the series would have definitely benefited from a smaller cast. But the toyline had to be promoted, so everyone had to have at least a cameo spot. It was weird to give Cog as much as they did, considering he was part of the Siege line.

One thing I wish would happen is even though the show is on Netflix, the should be released on DVD in a movie format. There are 6 episodes at around 24 minutes each, if the intros and credits get cut off from episodes 2-5, it would shorten it a bit and make the flow smoother and turn it into a 2-hour movie. I was hoping this would happen but it didn't happen with Siege so I'm not expecting it.

And doesn't Fox still own the original RiD series, which is why it never made to DVD or any streaming services?

Disney owns RID

Naturally, as Disney owns Fox.

But who own Car Robots? As that would trump a mere dubbed release.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Naturally, as Disney owns Fox.

But who own Car Robots? As that would trump a mere dubbed release.

No no, they owned it before. They bought it from Saban back when they bought power rangers and never sold it back

Yeah, Disney still has RiD and probably doesn't even know they do. And Hasbro's simply never pursued reacquiring it from Disney.

Disney & Hasbro, eh? Gradually buying up all the competition until it is just the two of them left standing. As an ouroboros, eating each other..

And, frankly, it's probably the series Hasbro* cares the least about, since it was just a filler series in Hasbro's market.

* - or at least, the Hasbro team who was in charge at the time when all of the past cartoons were being put out on DVD by Rhino, Paramount, and Shout! Factory.

Sabrblade wrote:And, frankly, it's probably the series Hasbro* cares the least about, since it was just a filler series in Hasbro's market.

* - or at least, the Hasbro team who was in charge at the time when all of the past cartoons were being put out on DVD by Rhino, Paramount, and Shout! Factory.

I was going to add that. Considering at multiple times, last year and I think the year before, I made mention how it was the 20th anniversary of Car Robots, and Hasbro/Takara did next to nothing to acknowledge it.

To get back on track, I'm going to vent for just a second.

It is frustrating how every time we get an "adult-aimed" Transformers cartoon it's something made by people who are convinced that adults only want to watch something miserable and depressing, devoid of any and all joy, charm, or charisma.

Like, adults like to feel happy, too. Especially us nerds, here. We're all big kids at heart. That's why we've stuck with this children's toy brand for all these years.

I mean, I get that it's war, and "war is hell" and all that. But Transformers is also escapist fantasy. Not every piece of war media needs to feel like the opening of Saving Private Ryan. The first Wonder Woman movie and Captain America: The First Avenger are both good examples of war movies that have a sense of hopeful optimism, excitement, and wonderment. They deal with war in a fun way that's also mostly respectful to how those real-world conflicts were (Ares CG battle aside), and both were rather well-received as a result.

Also, I for one am sick and tired of "sad Optimus". We've been stuck with that depiction of him for a while and this just really hits home on how grating it is.

In my view, Transformers is at it's most escapist when it it allowed to be real sci-fi, out in space. Not stuck in any one place. New worlds, new races, new possibilities. How IDWverse was initially, is a great example.

The "War" is only ever covered in broad strokes. A byword excuse for the fights and factions. Since no show ever shows how embittered and grim a four million year Civil War would actually be. With no clear "good" guys and "bad" guys. Each as bad as the other. Beast Wars bios often implied entrenched and violent guerrilla warfare. The show never did that. Nor should it.

When the two forces collide en masse. Then yes, let it play out like The '86 Movie and or something real life, like The Somme. That is when the war should be depicted with brutal honesty.
Otherwise, I don't see why the tone does need to be needlessly bleak. As you say, Prime is completely unappealing as a character in this series. In Siege, he seemed like just the de facto leader, because he is Optimus Prime. Not one with leadership ability.

This is where if you are given well rounded and developed characters, regardless of the show. They don't need to be one note, broody archetypes.

Dinobot was a willing traitor to his own people. With a sense of morality that no other character ever identified with. Yet those characteristics didn't encompass all he was. Those aspects didn't inform his portrayal.

Also Prime's voice in this becomes truly terrible when he is shouting something. Jake (the voice actor) is only able to keep the right imitation in stoic monologues.

Oh and Todero's Starscream is really good. It's like the 80s again. And he's the only one that doesn't seem to be in slow motion.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:100% Bait, nothing genuine about it at all. A troll/inciting remark from a likely fake account IE "Wonderful program" is such an alien line, it reeks of someone using a fake voice in a crank call. I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone here pulling double duty. As a key worker, fresh from leave after being near burnt out over December, to me clearly some people have too much time on their hands in a Global Pandemic.

Call another forum member a troll again and you get a warning.

My favorite joke by far was when someone told red alert to stay alert and he said he always is lolol

If these are what passes for a jokes then this is bad comedy

I read that in Leonard Nimoys voice

It is always a fine line in Transformers. You can have witty/one liner humour (Rattrap) dark humour (BW Rampage) or, unfortunately all too often, comic relief. Your Silverbolt/Waspinator types.

I'd use Siege examples over Beast Wars. Except I watched it through twice and struggle to remember any comedic moments or characters.