Beast Machines was horrible.
Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 1:02 am
I know there have probably been a million different topics about this in the past, but I have just finished watching the entire thing (after years of refusing to do so) and I wanted to rant for a little while. The only reason I even was able to get through the series was because the overall story arc wasn't too bad. In fact, the story was pretty good and it kept me watching. It was however, not something I would have ever understood as a kid, and one of few things the series did right. The others were voice acting and music. Oh, and also shadows.
As a kid, I was a huge fan of Beast Wars and considered the character designs in BM an atrocity when compared to their original forms (especially rattraps, ewww). Now that I have had the chance to watch the full thing.... i'm still sticking to that opinion. The character artwork is the worst in the entirety of the transformers franchise by far and even the characters created especially for it looked terrible. Their beast modes were the only thing tolerable. Almost every single Maximal's robot form was horrendous. To name a few especially ugly ones: Rattrap's entire look made a mockery of his original design. In Beast Wars he always had an edgy look to make his personality 'fit' his character. In Beast Machines... he looked like a nerd who drank too many redbulls which made his voice awkward to listen to when he spoke. Silverbolt just looked rediculous and Botanica looked like a bald headed monk. With that said however, most of the Vehicons looked pretty good, especially Thrust and Jetstorm.
Now, that part is tolerable. I can deal with some ugly looking art. But what really ruined the entire show for me was the fact that almost every maximal became a superhero. Instead of having weapons like guns or swords... they used abilities? Blackarachnia touched the ground and made some sort of fissure, optimus had a dragonball wave thing, cheetor had superspeed and the bat thing (forgot his name already) emitted sound waves from his face that somehow made steel blow up. Furthermore, they all could take on an entire battalion of tanks, cars and planes effortlessly and seemingly without tiring or getting damaged. The rare times they actually managed get hit by something, they shrugged it off as if it was nothing pretty quickly. I don't remember seeing any episode where they actually received damage beyond some sparks flying out of them. I ended up skipping through a few battle sequences because I just couldn't watch it. I felt like I was watching the justice league or something.
From what I had read, the major issue with the series was people not liking the character development that was done. For me, I didn't really have a problem with much of it. Blackarachnia was a little bit overly nice though, even as a Maximal in beast wars she was still not trustworthy and scheming. Other than her, I can understand the hate for what they did to Rhinox although that to me seemed rather natural. He was always susceptible to predicon programming, as evidence by one of the earlier BW episodes. The other characters seemed to have a pretty similar personality. The only other thing to note was that Jetsorm was awesome. Its a shame he turned into such a worthless character halfway through the series. I really can't think of anything Silverbolt did to help the Maximals besides killing some drones.
So ya. I just realized how much I just ranted so I think i'll stop now. In conclusion, the storyline of the show was very good but other essential elements such as art and combat styles were just terrible. The only thing i'd say what was done better in this than in Beast Wars was shadows (because they actually existed!). Even the modeling, textures and animations were worse (and explosions were drawn in, what the hell is with that?). I know others may have liked the series, but I for one, did not. Although it could be my massive bias towards Beast Wars talking. xD
As a kid, I was a huge fan of Beast Wars and considered the character designs in BM an atrocity when compared to their original forms (especially rattraps, ewww). Now that I have had the chance to watch the full thing.... i'm still sticking to that opinion. The character artwork is the worst in the entirety of the transformers franchise by far and even the characters created especially for it looked terrible. Their beast modes were the only thing tolerable. Almost every single Maximal's robot form was horrendous. To name a few especially ugly ones: Rattrap's entire look made a mockery of his original design. In Beast Wars he always had an edgy look to make his personality 'fit' his character. In Beast Machines... he looked like a nerd who drank too many redbulls which made his voice awkward to listen to when he spoke. Silverbolt just looked rediculous and Botanica looked like a bald headed monk. With that said however, most of the Vehicons looked pretty good, especially Thrust and Jetstorm.
Now, that part is tolerable. I can deal with some ugly looking art. But what really ruined the entire show for me was the fact that almost every maximal became a superhero. Instead of having weapons like guns or swords... they used abilities? Blackarachnia touched the ground and made some sort of fissure, optimus had a dragonball wave thing, cheetor had superspeed and the bat thing (forgot his name already) emitted sound waves from his face that somehow made steel blow up. Furthermore, they all could take on an entire battalion of tanks, cars and planes effortlessly and seemingly without tiring or getting damaged. The rare times they actually managed get hit by something, they shrugged it off as if it was nothing pretty quickly. I don't remember seeing any episode where they actually received damage beyond some sparks flying out of them. I ended up skipping through a few battle sequences because I just couldn't watch it. I felt like I was watching the justice league or something.
From what I had read, the major issue with the series was people not liking the character development that was done. For me, I didn't really have a problem with much of it. Blackarachnia was a little bit overly nice though, even as a Maximal in beast wars she was still not trustworthy and scheming. Other than her, I can understand the hate for what they did to Rhinox although that to me seemed rather natural. He was always susceptible to predicon programming, as evidence by one of the earlier BW episodes. The other characters seemed to have a pretty similar personality. The only other thing to note was that Jetsorm was awesome. Its a shame he turned into such a worthless character halfway through the series. I really can't think of anything Silverbolt did to help the Maximals besides killing some drones.
So ya. I just realized how much I just ranted so I think i'll stop now. In conclusion, the storyline of the show was very good but other essential elements such as art and combat styles were just terrible. The only thing i'd say what was done better in this than in Beast Wars was shadows (because they actually existed!). Even the modeling, textures and animations were worse (and explosions were drawn in, what the hell is with that?). I know others may have liked the series, but I for one, did not. Although it could be my massive bias towards Beast Wars talking. xD