A Review of Beast Machines
(Spoilers for Beast Machines)
Beast Wars ends with the Maximals defeating Megatron and winning the Beast Wars.
So of course Beast Machines starts with Megatron having won the Beast Wars anyway.
Not only did the status quo get reset but also their personalities. Cheetor had a character arc in Beast Wars as the young, impulsive upstart who needs to grow up that matures into a capable warrior. Beast Machines essentially repeats that same arc. Cheetor is a young upstart who needs to grow up. Silverbolt calling him "kid" and Cheetor snapping back feels like a Beast Wars season 1 moment, not something that belongs in season 2 of the sequel series.
I have made my feelings on Megatron known. He creates self-sabotaging issues like starting with free-willed Predacons, switching to mindless Vehicon drones that lack adaptability, then giving sparks back to generals for free will again. The Diagnostic Drone is programmed to affirm his ideas and validate his worst impulses.
His obsession with purging the organic feels arbitrary and contradicts the acceptance of beast modes he showed throughout Beast Wars, even embracing his Transmetal dragon form.
On the positive side, the series does have strengths. The plot is much more streamlined and serialized. Megatron's goal of purging all organic life is clichéd villainy, but it suits his personality perfectly and provides clear direction. Unlike Beast Wars' more episodic structure (where episodes can blur together), every episode feels like it naturally builds toward the next, and it's easy to follow what each character wants.
I liked the themes of technology vs organic. The false dichotomy between technology and organic life, the idea that the Matrix never wanted a war between the two, but instead wants harmony in a technorganic balance. The ending with both Optimus Primal and Megatron joining the Matrix is great.
I liked the lore about sparks and reformatting and joining the Matrix.
The Diagnostic Drone is a fun little minion and Tankor's plot of controlling it was great, I loved it, and it had a great pay-off.
Critiques
Designs
All the characters got a major design downgrade.
Now Beast Wars took getting used to visually and definitely had some hit-or-miss designs (looking at you Optimus Primal) but Beast Machines goes full stylistically ugly for most of the returning cast.
Rattrap's moldy sewer-green color, wheels-for-legs, and fleshy-looking ribs give him an unappealing, almost grotesque look.
Cheetor's design is garish with purple spots, a green chinstrap, an elongated xenomorph-like head with no ears, and disjointed limbs.
Blackarachnia is at least ugly in an alien way that makes her unique. I'm not sure what they were even going for with Silverbolt.
Nightscream has a weird ugly haircut.
Honestly it seems all the effort went into the new characters. Which, I like the new characters.
Thrust and Jetstorm are fun with entertaining personalities and great interactions. Not as entertaining as Inferno, Waspinator, and Quickstrike. But they only have significance early on.
The new characters have fun gimmicks. Botanica (plant-growth), Nightscream (Sonic Scream), and Noble/Savage (beast-to-beast mode).
Noble/Savage (woof on the name) really looks distractingly like Warwick from League of Legends.
And then there's Strika — Strika is great. No notes. She's just an excellent character design and presence.