SPOILERS I guess. I don’t know what episodes should still be protected.
Cyberverse is the newest reboot in the Transformers franchise.
And I am here to talk about it.
Oh, again: spoilers. I’ll blurr all of my review for the ones who don’t want to get spoiled.
Now, at first I didn’t really knew what to think about it. Like, the thing that was drawing me the most out of the show was the animation. Like, the first episodes were just unwatchable. My eyes were getting tired two minutes into the episode. I don’t know if I gradually got used to it or the animation got better, but in the end I forgot about this past con. Especially in season 2. While I still don’t like this semi-2d-but-3d animation style, Cyberverse’s pulled it off, for me at least.
Now, seeing that the entire show is meant to be more character based than story based (and it shows, there are a lot of things that don’t make any sense in this show, and the 11 minutes mark really doesn’t help), I will give my two cents on all of the characters.
Bumblebee was extremely generic. He was just an average blend of every single stereotype that we came to learn from him, maybe except the beep-boops of Prime. We saw him in every single continuity ever, and so his presence didn’t really speak much to me. But nevertheless, I quite enjoyed him like I enjoy every single versions of him (so far, at least. I’ve only watched Cyberverse, G1, Prime and RiD '16).
I initially found Windblade’s presence into the show a little odd, maybe because you don’t introduce a character with such an appearance in the first episode and never explain why she actually looks japanese while nobody else does, but I got used to it. I haven’t read IDW, nor I have got to watch her appearances in RiD, but I used to like her, or at least this version of her. It’s nice to see more females, and to see Bumblebee in any other relation other than a bromance.
Optimus Prime… ehhhh. He was extremely generic and extremely weak compared to all of the other Primes. They kinda sorta tried to pull a “oh, I am still a rookie leader” stunt that they pulled out with Animated Prime, but I haven’t even watched Animated, and I can say that that Prime pulled it off, while this Prime did not. It doesn’t really help that there are entire episodes in which this character developing technique is completely forgotten, especially in season 1, where it’s completely apsent except for 1 episode, which raises some question marks. It also doesn’t help that his voice actor sounds like if he is trying to do a bad Peter Cullen voice, but I got used to it too.
I really liked Grimlock. There was something about this character that I really liked. Don’t ask why. At first I thought his personality was not fit for a Grimlock character, and I would have been more OK with it if it was given to another character that never sees action, like maybe Trailbraker, but at last, I got used to it too. Also, am I the only one who realised that his dino friends were all of the other Dinobots, plus Skorn and Slash? I have a theory that Grimlock, maybe with the help of Wheeljack, will try to revive them all as Transformers and if they do, I’ll but them all. I need a complete Dinobot team, no matter the continuity.
It was great to see Cheetor back. Like, fantastic. I loved him in both Beast Wars and Beast Machines. When I first heard that he was getting added I was like eeeehhhh whhhyyyy? but I instantly loved him. It was awesome to finally see him together with Bumblebee on the silver screen, and I liked that he played the “third guy” role in the bromance between Bee and Hot Rod. Tho, tbh, as much as I like Cheetor, I think it would have been better if his role would have been played by a different character, again: by one that never sees action. Take for example arguably the most useless G1 Autobo ever: Windcharger. Wouldn’t it have been better if instead of Cheetor, a character that already had an iconic presence in transformers media, we got Windcharger, the emptiest Autobot ever? Like, tell me something about Windcharger. Come on, go ahead. And you are not allowed to say that he died in TF the movie. Yes. he was that useless.
Hot Rod was, just like Bee, pretty average, tho worse than his G1 self, which I really enjoyed. But I liked his chemistry with Bee, I just hoped that he would be closer to Prime, to tease his inevitable turn into Rodimus Prime.
Ratchet was basically his G1 self with his Animated mustache, I liked him but I think I would have wanted him to be a little closer to his Prime self, or at least I want him in the future to turn to his Prime self.
Ratchet was his Prime self but less grumpy.
We didn’t see enough of Prowl to form an opinion, tho him almost dying out of fulishness and being rescued by Prime isn’t really all that Prowl-ey to me. I think it would have been better if there was a rookie in danger and he was the one saving him. Like maybe Huffer.
I really liked to see Rack’n’Ruin on television, tho I think it would have been better if the show would have used it as the but of the background jokes more often. Also, just as Windblade, you can’t introduce a character that specific and never explain him.
Why. do. I. like. Cyberverse. Arcee. so. much? Like, really. Since she showed up in the intro of season 2, I kept waiting and waiting for her spotlight episode, and when it came out I absolutely loved her. She has such a good chemistry with Grim! I really need to see more of her.
I also want to see more of Chromia. She seems to be that one female character that everybody uses in the background but she never gets a spotlight episode. C’mon, Cyberverse! Do something with her!
Jetfire showed up in like, what? Two episodes? I really wanted to see more of him. What if this, G1?
Drift was just a background character, tho we really need a spotlight episdoe to present his passing from Autobot to Decepticon.
And Perceptor… Did he even had any lines?
Oh, and Blurr. I liked Blurr, tho just as Cheetor, I think his role would have been more fitting for another character, like maybe Hot Shot. It would have been a message for all of those fans that consider him as just a combination of Bumblebee and Hot Rod, don’t you think? I also am waiting for that Armada renaissance.
Now for the Decepticons.
Megatron, just like Prime, was pretty meh. Didn’t had anything against him, but I also don’t really like him. They tried to pull a symapthetic villain card on him, but they completely forgot about it halfway through the first season.
Starscream was cool. His death scene was unexplicably captivating to watch. I like that they tried to pull a “oh, I am your saviour, therefore I must rule you” card, but I don’t like that they completely forgot about it halfway throught the second season. And his defeat is laughable. The Matrix is too often used as a deus ex machina. Also, it’s obvious that he will come back and that he will tease the Titans. Come on now. Starscream is never gone.
Shockwave was nice, tho I didn’t like that the show used him multiple times as a generic background character. Like, obviously Shockwave would be there at a football game and would hive five with Bee, right?
Shadow Striker was a nice adition to the show, as in a completely obscure character finally gets a semnificative appearance (unlike other characters ahem Windcharger ahem). Her rivarly with Bee is nice, although like any other character relation in this show it is never fully explored. And her “revival” wasn’t all that good. Like, it doesn’t help that she had a modded eye before she modded her entire body.
Spundwave, just as Shockwave, was used too much as a background character in moments that would be extremely out of place for his actual character. Tho his design was awesome, and I really liked the rivarly that he had with Shockwave for the position of Megatron’s most trusted general.
And now the Seekers. At first I didn’t liked Slipstream. I didn’t really know what to think about her. But as time passed on, I grew to like her. I actually believe that she is one of the best characters in the entire show, due to her personality and her arc.
Thundercracker was also cool. This was the first time we actually got a Thundercracker that had a personality, excluding Animated and Armada. He was a good background goon.
Nova Storm was OK, tho I would have liked more if she was called Ion Storm, and we would have gotten an actual Nova Storm. Like, for real now, we see yellow Seekers multiple times in the show. Why couldn’t we have a proper Rainmaker trio?
Acid Storm… Meh. I didn’t liked the explanation that they used for her (I am going to call Acid Storm a her, because she is a woman in 85% of all of her appearances) model errors. Not to mention that it doesn’t actually explain anything about why she constantly switched bodies and voices in her first two episodes.
Why isn’t Thrust a conehead? On TFWiki it says that some writer said that it might be revealed later in the story, but he (Along with all of the other Seekers) were killed by Starscream. Does this mean that they will all come back? Or that only Thrust will come back?
I initially didn’t like Lockdown and Clobber, but then I got used to them, and I actually started liking them. Tho they still don’t compare with their past incarnations. When I think of Lockdown, I think at AoE Lockdown. And also, why did they both genderswapped and renamed Lugnut? Like, it’s obvious that Clobber was meant to be Lugnut. If you change both his gender and his name, why don’t you go full into it, and also change his appearance, turning him into a new character.
My opinion on Sky-Byte is the same as on Jetfire. I haven’t even watched the original RiD, but I really anted to see more of Sky-Byte. Tbh, it didn’t like up to the hype.
Same for Bludgeon. I really like him in his first appearances, but then they completely forgot that he exists. This really reminds me of G1, in which new characters were introduced in the background only so that Hasbro would have more reasons to sell new toys.
And Ramjet’s and Dirge’s coneheads are way to small.
That is literally all I have to say about them.
Also it was nice to finally see a Maccadam character, and oh my god Hasbro make toys for Teletraan-X and Shockwave’s drones or I swear.
Oh, and the Sharkticons were cool, they finally used Gnaw for something.
Season 1 was bad. It was just plain boring. I could barely make my way throught it, but season 2 was awesome. I really liked it. It was really good, and I am looking forward for a possible third season.
And… that’s all that I have on my mind now about Cyberverse.
In conclusion, I like it. It’s not the best, imo its worse that Beast Machines, but it’s still good. Definetely watch it if you are a tf fan.
