The Media Man Reviews: Transformers: Prime

How is this show already old enough to be considered nostalgic? It doesn't feel like 15 years have passed since it came out...

Back in 2010, Transformers was in the midst of its aligned continuity, a grand plan Hasbro had that was to be the future of the franchise. One of the things that helped bring that vision to life was the subject of today's review: the highly acclaimed and highly beloved Transformers: Prime.

Running for three seasons with a total of 65 episodes, Transformers: Prime is arguably the most beloved Transformers cartoon ever made outside of the original G1 cartoon. It got high praise for its multi-layered storytelling, darker tone, complex characters and visuals that look impressive especially by TV standards. It even won several Emmy awards during its time in the spotlight. At the same time, the show has also gotten a lot of criticism for that is perceived as weak character development, anticlimactic solutions to its stories and wasted potential. Most of these faults was down to behind-the-scenes shenanigans (because of course it was). As acclaimed as the show was, it was also a very expensive show to produce and so a lot of sacrifices had to be made to accommodate that. The fact the HUB channel that it often aired on was unsuccessful didn't really help either. After the show ended, the Aligned continuity as a whole kind of imploded and thus it was brought to an unceremonious end with a mediocre sequel series that paled in comparison to its predecessor.

I myself watched this show back when it was new and I stuck with it all the way to the end. To this day, this is my all-time favourite Transformers cartoon and one of my favourite cartoons PERIOD. You should remember this since I put it on my favourite animated series list earlier this year. Earlier this year, I re-watched it in full for the first time since it ended, so now the question remains: does it still hold up? Or have I been looking at this series with rose-tinted glasses the whole time?

Transform and roll out media fans, and we'll find out...

Section 1: The Story

The series follows the story of a ragtag team of Autobots who have called Earth their home and live in secret among the human population. However, the Decepticons have come to Earth and are after its Energon supplies, and to also destroy the Autobots. Three human children named Jack, Miko and Raf also get tangled up in this conflict and thus humans and Autobots must band together to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons.

On paper, this sounds like very standard faire for a Transformers cartoon. In fact, Beast Wars was one of the very few to avoid the whole "human companions" thing. But in execution, this show ended up being one of the best examples of how to make a good story for a Transformers cartoon. Unlike some of the shows that came before this one, Transformers: Prime has a darker, more serious tone and is executed like it's a proper action series and not a glorified toy commercial. What I mean by that is that for the most part, very few things in the story feel like they happen just to sell merchandise and the characters are given proper characterizations and depth to make them feel like actual characters and not just toys for the kids to buy. The Unicron trilogy was especially infamous for being a little too blatant about how the shows were essentially glorified toy commercials, so to see Transformers: Prime take itself more seriously and prioritize story and character over toy sales makes it feel like a more nuanced and mature show as a result.

The writing is also surprisingly complex for a Transformers cartoon. Most TF shows are straight forward and have very simple plots. This show on the other hand has a multi-layered plot in where nearly every episode flows neatly into the next, there are very few filler episodes and nearly every episode is important to the story in some way. To put into perspective, this episode made a CLIP SHOW of all things impactful to the story and feel important to watch. No, I'm serious! This is one of those shows where you have to keep track of what goes on in it for just about every episode leaves an impact going forward and will have some kind of payoff later down the line. One example is Episode 15, "Shadowzone". What seemed like a throwaway filler episode at the time actually ends up paying off in the climax when Raf is cleverly able to defeat Soundwave by getting him stuck in the Shadowzone. And then there's the fact Episode 6's "Masters and Students" seemed like a standalone episode with no real consequences, only for the fallout of Skyquake's death to lead to the events of Shadowzone and then lead to Dreadwing's later appearance in Season 2 and his betrayal that lead to him helping the Autobots so they could battle the Decepticons for Cybertron's revival in the climax. You see what I mean by how solid the writing is? It's a proper domino effect in this show, nearly everything that happens leads to something else, and it's amazing how well thought-out and cleverly constructed the storytelling is here. It's not perfect of course, but it's impressive how much work was put into the writing here.

I also love the worldbuilding of Transformers: Prime. When it came to the shows I grew up watching at the time such as Robots in Disguise 2001 and the Unicron trilogy, I got a surface level understanding of the world of Transformers at large, but this show taught me so much more about the franchise than I thought I knew. This is a show that digs deep into TF lore with a lot of little Easter Eggs that only die-hard fans would find and we get backstories about Cybertron, the cast that are presented to us and we're even given (at the time) new lore that we didn't get in previous media before the Aligned continuity. For example, I believe this was the first show to introduce the 13 Primes concept after the Aligned continuity made it a thing. I also find it interesting how it's established Team Prime have a history on Earth for they allude to having been around for quite a while, Agent Fowler is familiar with them and when the show begins, Megatron has been away and only just returns at the end of Episode 1. It further shows that this is a world with some history behind it as we're not at the beginning of it or seeing things for the first time. The show is also part of the Aligned continuity, so maybe that was also intentional to show that all TF media at that time was connected.

And of course, what Transformers show would be complete without action scenes? Due to the show's insanely high budget by TV standards, the show could pull off some truly impressive action scenes and upon a rewatch, they still look impressive even now! The show tends to be at its most exciting and intense during those moments and given how the darker tone makes it clear that nobody is safe in this show, the viewer can genuinely get worried for the characters here as in these battles, it can feel like anyone's time is up. All this helps in making the show engaging to watch and griping from episode to episode.

As for the tone, while it is darker than other TF media (and I do mean this show can get pretty damn scary and brutal at times!), it's not excessively dark to the point nobody can enjoy it. The show still feels fun and it is able to break up the darker moments with some light-hearted scenes and bits of comedy here and there. I'm still surprised at how funny this show can be at times, especially whenever Ratchet would yell "I NEEDED THAT!". That never fails to crack me up. XD But yeah, with a lot of funny reactions, funny expressions, some witty quips here and there and some quirks to give the cast a fun side, it really does feel like the writers had a fun time writing their stories and wanted us viewers to have fun too. And yet with all that, the tone of the show still feels well-balanced overall. It never feels too dark to the point of being edgy and it never feels like it's trying too hard to be funny either. Both tones are well-handled and the show benefits greatly as a result. If only those stupid live-action films could get it right like this show did. Ironic considering the executive producers were the writers of the first two live-action films Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman...

So yeah, it's easy to see why the story is given so much praise. Simultaneously, it's easy to see why it's so heavily criticized as a result. I especially noticed that in recent years, Prime's flaws have been noticed more and more by fans and we've gotten more video essays lately dissecting the show's writing issues. I'm sorry to say that I too can contribute to this as the show DOES have a lot of problems, although most of them wasn't the writer's fault.

First of all, the pacing of the show is all over the place. You got Season 1 which felt the best paced of the bunch, then you get Season 2 in where certain plot points have to be hastily wrapped up because of budget issues (hence why Breakdown and Dreadwing were so abruptly killed and Airachnid was written out of the show for a while) and then you got Season 3 which felt incredibly rushed and just had no time whatsoever to properly carry out its story. Seasons 1 and 2 had 26 episodes each while Season 3 had a measly 13. Again, none of this is the fault of the writers. As mentioned earlier, the show started getting really expensive to produce, so they had to kill off certain characters and drop them from the show to make up for that, and by Season 3 they obviously didn't have enough budget to give it the length it deserved. As is, from a story-telling perspective, these issues still hold the show back from its true potential.

The show also suffers a lot from missed opportunities because of the aforementioned budget issues. Breakdown was set up for a potential redemption arc or at least an episode where he'd have to pay Starscream back for saving him in "Operation: Breakdown" and as we know, it just doesn't happen because he's promptly killed off. Skyquake, Makeshift and Dreadwing are all similarly wasted with the first two getting killed off in the same episode they're introduced in and the last one being promptly killed off too. But the biggest wasted opportunity for me was the Orion Pax three-parter. At the end of Season 1, Optimus Prime loses his memories and reverts back to his Orion Pax self. The show talked about delving into "What it means to be a Prime" and yet it never really takes advantage of this. The Orion Pax three parter would've done this by having Optimus need to learn all over again what it means to be a Prime and what truly makes him who he is. But instead, he just gets his memory back at the end and doesn't really learn anything from the experience. They had a golden opportunity for an intriguing plot to carry throughout Season 2 and they just...didn't take it! What's that all about?

And as many have pointed out, the show isn't the best at character development. By the time the show is over, it feels like only Arcee, Smokescreen and (maybe?) Bumblebee have changed by the end. Everyone else is more or less the same character as when they started out. Even Miko after her character arc in Season 2 still feels like she hasn't really changed or developed despite what she's been through. It's such a shame, because this show has proven capable of developing its cast and showing many sides to them, but so many of them remain pretty static overall. Optimus especially is the worst example of this, and it could've been avoided if it wasn't for that wasted potential I mentioned earlier.

So yeah, the writing has its problems, and some pretty major ones at that, but that doesn't stop the show from being as enjoyable as it is. I actually find it really impressive how the writers made the show as good as it was even with the behind-the-scenes stuff hindering their work. It goes to show that you can still do great stuff even when things get in your way...

Section 2: The Characters

This series has given fans the definitive depiction of many Transformers characters, and it's easy to see why. I'll cover the characters faction-by-faction, starting with the Autobots.

First up is the Autobot leader himself, Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen). This is honestly the most bland, cookie-cutter version of the character you'll ever find in TF: Media. He's overly stoic to the point that he's boring and it even makes Peter's performance a little dull to listen to sometimes. He's just the typical heroic leader Optimus usually is but without anything else to make him interesting. Even the backstory with him and Megatron, we're only told about it and yeah, it does add more layers to their relationship with each other, but it rarely even comes up between the two. I'll even give G1 credit by saying at least that series gave him a personality. Still, I'll take boring Optimus Prime over the murderous Optimus Prime we got in the Michael Bay films. As mentioned above, the Orion Pax three-parter had the potential to fix his character by making him more interesting and having him need to learn all over again how to be a leader and how to be a Prime, but they didn't take that opportunity and it only held Optimus back in the end. It's so weird how the writers put so much effort into the rest of the cast and did the bare minimum with Optimus, THE face of the franchise himself!

His team are more interesting to talk about, starting with the show's absolute best character, Arcee (voiced by Sumalee Montano). Arcee is tough, sassy and always quick with a sarcastic quip. She gets a lot of the funniest lines and remarks and every time she's on the battlefield, she kicks ass. Her backstory is also sympathetic and very tragic, which makes it easy to see why she has such a chip on her shoulder and as mentioned above, she's one of the very few characters who actually feels like a different character when the show is over. Her time on Earth has helped her open up and heal from her past wounds, especially thanks to Jack, and by Season 3, she's more mature, less reckless and is even more mellow when interacting with others. Sadly, she does decline in relevancy as the series goes on, but she's still the best example of a well-developed character in this series.

We also have the grumpy medic Ratchet (voiced by Jeffery Combs), the big-hearted bruiser Bulkhead (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) and the young scout Bumblebee (voiced in the finale by Will Friedle). Ratchet is a hoot every time he's onscreen due to his grumpy nature and I'd dare say I even relate to him sometimes since I too can be grumpy whenever people bother me. Like Arcee, Ratchet feels like one of the few characters who grows over time, learning to appreciate humanity more and he even becomes more of a friend to Raf. His loyalty to Optimus and the fact he has a soft side also makes him easy to like too.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee on the other hand are in the same camp as Optimus Prime in that they're rather static characters and don't really change by the time the show's over. Bulkhead has a lot of great moments with Miko, Wheeljack and even Arcee while Bumblebee feels like an afterthought most of the time. He's rarely ever the focus of an episode and even when he IS the focus, he's always the least interesting thing about the episode. You'd think with how popular the movies made him, they'd have put more effort into developing him, but no. He's barely got any presence for most of the show and then the Season 3 finale just randomly decides he's important enough to receive closure with Megatron despite the two not being enemies and that he should be the main character of the Predacons Rising movie. Easily the least interesting version of Bumblebee in the history of the franchise.

We get some additional Autobots throughout the show such as Wheeljack (voiced by James Horan), Smokescreen (voiced by Nolan North) and Ultra Magnus (voiced by Michael Ironside). Wheeljack is your typical lone wolf who plays by his own rules and I honestly didn't like him much, especially in Season 3 where he felt like too much of a jerk to be likeable. I would've been happy if he got scrapped in the end. Ultra Magnus is just as boring as Optimus is and honestly could've just not appeared at all and the story wouldn't have changed. Smokescreen on the other hand, he had a fantastic arc in where he came to Earth thinking he was destined for greatness and all, but then when he was presented with the chance to become a Prime, he accepted he wasn't ready for that and passed it up, learning to be content with his position and what he had. Smokescreen was great here and I think all future incarnations of Smokescreen should follow his example.

Now for the best part (for me), the Decepticons!

Of course, we have their tyrannical leader, Megatron (voiced by Frank Welker). I stand firm in my beliefs that this is THE best incarnation of Megatron ever depicted in media, although Transformers: One's version of Megatron does provide some stiff competition. This Megatron is cool, charismatic, threatening and anytime he was onscreen, it felt like things just got real and our heroes have to watch their backs. Unlike Optimus, Megatron was anything BUT boring in this show. He was given a lot of personality, Frank's performance was pitch perfect and he had a lot of standout moments to show just what a force to be reckoned with he was. His brilliant solution to the Autobots getting the Star Sabre is one such example of his intelligence. Megatron was a true show-stealer and this version of him will be the example I'll hold all future versions of the character towards.

Next is the treacherous Starscream (voiced by Steve Blum). I have no idea what the writers wanted to do with this guy. He's presented as a genuine threat, even getting to kill off Cliffjumper to show how dangerous he is, and yet throughout the rest of the show, he's pretty much the universe's chew toy. He's constantly getting humiliated and made a fool of and it honestly just got pathetic after a while. If his constant suffering was meant to be funny, then it didn't work. Either he's meant to be a threat or he's meant to be useless, you can't do both! At least Steve Blum's performance was a treat for the ears, he was clearly having a ball voicing this guy.

Other Decepticons include Soundwave (voiced in only one episode by Frank Welker as he's mute the rest of the time), Knockout (voiced by Daran Norris), Breakdown (voiced by Adam Baldwin), Airachnid (voiced by Gina Torres), Dreadwing (voiced by Tony Todd) and Shockwave (voiced by David Sobolov). Soundwave was a show-stealer as well, owning the screen anytime he appeared with his threatening design, creepy appearance and silent demeanour. Anytime he was here, he came off as unnerving and the fact he's Megatron's most competent soldier also made him extra threatening. This to me is the definitive Soundwave and all other TF media should follow his example on how to characterize and depict Soundwave.

Knockout is the medic of the team and is just really vain. That's all there is to him. I still don't understand why he's so popular. His best friend, Breakdown, was pretty awesome thanks to his bulky design and how he packed a mean punch, but sadly he got abruptly killed off for the reasons I mentioned above. Dreadwing also had the some problem in where he was a pretty three-dimensional character and had a lot of potential, but he had to be abruptly killed off as well. Airachnid was a worthy new addition to the franchise, being a creepy and sadistic killer who likes to take trophies and takes pleasure in making her prey suffer. Her dynamic with Arcee was great and very personal, which played a part in the latter's development and anytime the two fem-bots clashed, you always got the impression that someday, one of them won't make it out alive. And finally, Shockwave is the overly logical mad scientist who is just as creepy as Soundwave thanks to his emotionless personality and how he has no qualms on experimenting as he sees fit if it achieves his goals. I do wish he didn't just randomly disappear during the Predacons Rising movie though, that was annoying...

Before we get to the humans, there's two last Cybertronians to cover, and that's the Predaking (voiced by Peter Mensah). I love the contrast with this guy in how he's this beastly looking creature and is seen as a dumb animal, yet in his robot form he's actually smarter than he looks and pretty well-mannered too. Predaking is a very sympathetic character as he's basically a science experiment abused by the Decepticons for their own needs and he starts to question his own place in the world. Then his chance of having more of his kind return is taken away and he's manipulated by the cons into thinking the Autobots did it. Eventually, he learns the truth and while he doesn't get revenge in the end, it is nice how Predacons Rising somewhat gave him a happy ending by letting him see there are two new Predacons to join him and he and his kind live to see Cybertron begin anew (until Robots in Disguise 2015 ruined it by having it turn out Sky Lynx and Darksteel were killed offscreen. Thanks for that!).

And for the last Cybertronian, there's Unicron (voiced by John Noble). Unicron is pretty much a Generic Doomsday Villain, but done with a creative twist that adds a new level of threat to the Chaos bringer. You see, unlike other incarnations, Unicron is LITERALLY the Earth itself, which is so creative and creepy as it means we all die if he transforms. That's such a cool way to make Unicron threatening and a new spin on the end of the world type of plot that could only be done in Transformers. He wields great power and he's portrayed as the world-ending threat as he should be. Easily one of the best incarnations of Unicron to date.

Now we get to the humans. The human companions consist of Jack Darby (voiced by Josh Keaton), Raf Esquivel (voiced by Andy Pessoa) and Miko Nakadai (voiced by Tania Gunadi). These three are Prime (pun intended) examples of why TF cartoons should stop having human companions, they are ALWAYS the least interesting part of them! Jack and Raf are boring and Miko's annoying. Upon a rewatch, I'll admit Miko was less annoying than I remembered, but I still don't like her. The fact she never really learns her lesson in the end and the show keeps rewarding her in some way just made her especially detestable. The fact she can somehow use the Apex Armour was the worst. Like come on, really? That was dumb and everyone knows it! These three should've been dropped entirely if you ask me.

On that note, if there are any other humans who should've been dropped, it was MECH. Led by Silas (voiced by Clancy Brown), they're the human villains of this show and are such a waste of space that I question why they're even here at all. They barely appear, they have very vague motivations that stem from even vaguer reasons for said motivation and their story is brought to such an abrupt halt that they may as well have not even existed. Maybe this show would've had less budget problems if MECH just didn't exist, hmm? =P Also, why do we need human villains in Transformers media? We don't, we have the Decepticons. Human villains just pale by comparison. If this had been my show, MECH wouldn't have been created at all and the time wasted on them would've been better spent on the bots and cons instead.

The only human who doesn't suck in this show is Agent Fowler (voiced by Ernie Hudson). He sets up a bad first impression when we meet him, but over time he proves to be a pretty lovable guy (especially when he's delirious) and he's clearly a good guy overall. He's also pretty badass, as expected from a special agent, and can be pretty funny at times too. If we left the kids out and had him as the sole human companion, this show would've improved so much.

The characters are simultaneously the best and worst parts of this show. When they're great, they're great but when they're not, they're not. As is, it's still easy to see why these incarnations of the Transformers are as beloved as they are and are still getting homages and new toys made of them to this day...

Section 3: The Animation

This is a show in where sometimes, it's amazing what you can pull off with a small budget.

Back when the show first aired, it got a lot of praise for its visuals, and upon a rewatch, I still think the show looks surprisingly good for being a CGI series made on a low budget. It goes without saying that the show's an upgrade from Beast Wars, but let's not go there, that feels a bit mean a comparison to make.

Transformers: Prime boasts visuals that can border on cinematic sometimes, and a lot of that is down to multiple factors. First of all, the character designs are visually striking and give the Transformers a good look. The art-style is a mix of Animated and the live-action movies, and it's easy to see with a lot of the design aesthetics here from Starscream's lanky appearance and big chin, Megatron's bulky frame and spiky shoulders, Bulkhead essentially looking like his animated counterpart only less cartoonish and much more. Despite these two art-styles being polar opposites to each other, they work surprisingly well together and give us Transformers that look great whenever they're onscreen. I'd even say these are some of the best designs that some of these characters have ever received with Megatron, Soundwave, Shockwave, Breakdown, Skyquake & Dreadwing, Arcee, Smokescreen and Airachnid being my favourites of the bunch. Each Transformer is visually distinctive and easily recognizable, both in vehicle and robot form, and they look so cool whenever we see them. Their metal textures are convincingly rendered and make them look like actual metal beings and the character animation portrays them as powerful and carrying a lot of weight as they move. When they take a step, it genuinely sounds and feels heavy and whenever they thrown a punch of a kick at each other, it always feels like a heavy blow has been dealt. This show truly makes us feel like we're truly watching giant metal titans duking it out together. The character animation also allows for the characters to be very expressive and show a lot of emotions too. It helps the cast were all given expressive eyes and eyebrows so their facial features are easy to read, but their body language also carries a lot of character as well. Need I bring up how in one episode, we can see Knockout checking out his nails in the background?

As much praise as I can give the Transformer designs, I can't say the same about the humans. They look...fine for the most part, but otherwise are the least visually interesting or striking thing on the screen. They kind of look like animated dolls a lot of the time, not helped by how sometimes they're animated with a slight dead looking stare at times. But they don't look too bad at least and are also animated with as much character and expression as the robots are. It was said that the animators loved animating Miko especially, and I can see why given how she's often given the most energetic and lively movements compared to the other humans. As is, these characters are another example of designs that look better on paper than on a computer. If this had been a 2-D animated series, the humans would've looked so much better. The robots? Maybe not as much, but still.

While Transformers looked good whenever it was 2-D animated, 3-D animation suits this franchise even better if you ask me. Not only does it avoid the character designs going off-model like what we'd see in G-1 or the Unicron trilogy, but it can also pull off things that weren't possible in 2-D animation. One such example of course is the action scenes. Action in most TF cartoons would tend to be stiff or barely animated so the action would at times feel lacklustre. In this show, they take full advantage of what can be done with computer animation and give us action scenes that wouldn't look out of place in any of the movies. Every blow that's landed feels weighty and impact be it from fists, feet or weapons, the animators give us cool camera angles to make the action more dynamic and they also get creative with the choreography. The best action scenes for me include Optimus vs. Megatron in "One Shall Fall", Optimus vs. Megatron in "Alpha, Omega", Bulkhead vs. Dreadwing in "Hard Knocks" and Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus vs. Predaking in "Revolution". Those scenes are the highlights of the show and what amazing action they can pull off with it.

The show is also really good at being creepy and unnerving with its visuals too. "Predatory" for example gives us Arcee's backstory and its told via flashbacks that have a grainy filter and a desaturated colour palette, making everything look dull and grey which only adds to how unsettling these memories are. The whole thing's kind of executed like we're watching a horror movie with the creepy visuals, the grey colours and how Airachnid isn't even seen in the first few flashbacks. And then there's "Thirst" in where the episode is played out like a typical zombie horror flick and the CYLAS has this weird mouth thing with a clawed tongue that he uses to drain Energon from his victims. The animators really know how to animate horror as well as action in this show.

The effects are also great in this show too. For the budget it has, it's surprisingly able to convincingly animate rain, fire, explosions and more and it's also able to make the times of day look convincing too. The show especially manages to make scenes during sunsets or sunrises look pretty. The animation on the transformations is also great too, executed in a way that looks convincing and doesn't just look like we're watching the toys transform. That too further helps in selling the illusion that these are real robots and not just giant toys we're watching on our screens.

As is, this is a show made for television, so of course it still has some issues that are to be expected. First of all, the show clearly hasn't got the budget for multiple character models, so the humans are always wearing the same outfits regardless of the situation, which leads to Jack's mother June always being in her nurse uniform no matter what. The Transformers are depicted with vehicle kibble all over them even if they haven't yet acquired a vehicle mode which leads to awkward moments like Optimus saying Skyquake hasn't acquired a vehicle mode despite him obviously being covered in jet parts. It makes the flashbacks look weird too as the Transformers look the same both in the past and the present even though they should have Cybertronian forms rather than Earth-based vehicle forms and thus they should look a little different. Its sequel series actually corrected this issue. You also get reused models, which feels like a blatant example of cost saving. Need I bring up the endless army of Vehicons and Insecticons (Hardshell especially is just an Inseciton with stripes painted on) or how Skyquake and Dreadwing literally have the same body just painted in different colours? They could've at least given Dreadwing a new head design to make him more distinct.

And also, given this show doesn't have a super high budget, the textures don't always look that convincing with some textures at times looking like renders from a video-game (ironic since this show did get a video-game adaptation) and as I mentioned already, the humans look a little off because of what could be achieved only on the budget they had. You also get little animation errors from time-to-time, though thankfully they're not always noticeable. Starscream's handcuffs disappearing in a certain shot or a shot of Fowler talking being reused are just some of those examples.

As is, the animation is one of the best things about this series and it still impresses me how much they managed to achieve with the budget they had. And this wasn't a cheap show to make, apparently costing $1.6 million per episode, and I think I can believe it! Given what they achieved here, the animators deserve most of the praise with this series and I'll always enjoy watching this show again for the visuals alone.

Overall

Transformers: Prime is very easy to criticize and nit-pick as it's a show with a lot of problems. Does that stop it from being enjoyable? Not in the slightest.

The story may have a lot of flaws and not all the characters are great, but the show also has a lot of great things about it that makes it one of the best incarnations of the franchise put to screen to date. I adore the show for its multi-layered story-telling, strong continuity, appealing character designs, awesome action scenes, funny humour and for giving us great renditions of these iconic characters. I highly recommend this show, even if you're not a Transformers fan, it's just that good. Pity no TF show will ever reach this level of quality again...

And that's it for this review. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to share your thoughts down below. Do you like Transformers: Prime? Do you not like it? Do let me know.

Next week, I'll be covering the career of Eruption. See you then media fans!

Dedicated to Roberto Orci

1973 - 2025

Your work on this show alongside Alex Kurtzman will forever be remembered

Till all are one...