With it being 10 years since G2’s second year starting, I kinda feel inspired to ask fellow fans how their impressions have evolved over the years 
Back in 2016 we certainly received new interesting lego moulds and new interpretations of the Toa Mata/Nuva, as well as a Netflix TV series.
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Honestly? Unchanged. My views on it have been frozen in time as there hasn’t been any reason for me to revisit it.
Now when I say that, outside of the games and movies, I also haven’t revisited G1 or Hero Factory outside of their original release. At least in direct media, like rereading the books, comics, etc. I live more off memory and wikis, but even in thinking about it, G2 is thought of less than the former two. I probably think more about Galidor and Chima.
And I say that having late last year acquired the entire set year of 2016 for less the original retail price. I had most of the first wave when it came out (missing Tahu, Gali, and Lewa) and none of the second wave. So finally experiencing them in-hand, the beasts weren’t as awful as they appeared. But I still don’t like them as much as the skeletons, which I already wasn’t a big fan of to begin with.
The Lord of Skull Spiders is still my favorite villain set. I still don’t like Umarak the Hunter, his legs are too dumb looking. The Protectors and Creatures are my favorite part. And the story is still tasteless and too afraid to give world details when there are obvious walls around the sandbox. Ninjago and its consequences on destroying what little storytelling abilities Lego has.
Oh man, you were super lucky! Do you realize how expensive the 2016 summer wave is now on the aftermarket? On Bricklink, just the beasts alone go for like 60$ used at the minimum, which is more than triple their original retail price! And Ekimu is by far the most sought after set, the cheapest you can get him for now is around 80$ at the minimum!
Consider yourself lucky! I myself am so glad that I managed to get the entire 2016 wave minus Ekimu back when they came back. In retrospect, the increased value of those sets honestly gives them a more “premium” and “rare” vibe which wasn’t there originally. So even if the Beasts aren’t great sets by themselves, the fact that they have gotten so expensive now makes them a lot more desirable and appealing now than they were back when they released.
Oh I know the after market prices very well. That’s why I took a bet on that lot. I knew it at least had all of the first wave, Ekimu, and looked like a partial Umarak the Destroyer. I just hoped that all the masks were there and was very surprised that it had everything…And then I scrapped them all for parts because I don’t have a space to display them at the moment and I’m more interested in, finally, having their parts to build something.
I agree a lot with your views the sets and the story. It’s also calming to know that there are others that don’t view the beasts as useless. 
Nice that you managed to collect them all, have you tried building the Makuta combiner?
Even if G2 lacked in some aspects, it kinda felt like the ones working on G2 were genuine but it felt like more freedom was needed.
I’m not up to speeds with storytelling in current LEGO themes, so I can’t say much more 
Did those ever release in stores stateside? I don’t think I ever saw the beasts in any store in my town.
I don’t imagine many people think those who worked on G2 were disingenuous. It was definitely restrictions from how the LEGO Group was operating themes at the time. Which has definitely changed since then, given the larger focus on existing IPs as safety nets for sales.
Haven’t tried building that combiner. I don’t see myself building it, since I wasn’t a fan of that version of Makuta. Build-wise at least.
But not far from now, I do plan on running a G2-focused contest to celebrate the anniversary. Even if I’m not the most positive about G2, there’s still enough there worth remembering.