Canadian Transformers News and Discussion Forum

[Decepticon Army]

Okay, here is my review of Earthrise. Those who read my review for the last series know I thought it was just okay. A 6/10 in my opinion. Here are my thoughts on the latest series.

LIKES:

- I liked Megatron’s opening soliloquy. However, I would have preferred it if he kept Magnus’ head covered by his ‘surrender cape’ whenever he’s not conversing with it.

- I liked how both Elita and Megatron were initially portrayed. Both leaders are clearly rundown, exhausted, and looking for a solution. They have good conversations with one another and are even willing to extend an olive branch to the other. I like that dynamic.

- I love the Steeljaw reveal. Typical Starscream.

- It was neat seeing everyone in the Ark in emergency stasis. I miss seeing that imagery.

- The reveal of the Quintesson ship made me smile, as did Deseeus’ face-flip laugh. Nostalgia!

- It was interesting to see some Decepticons growing tired of the cause.

- I really liked the Spacebridge failsafe idea, where it can’t be turned off while a ship is passing through.

- LOVE it when Soundwave running over and opening the blast doors, leaving Wheeljack and Prime baffled.

- I got a big laugh when Megatron blasts Starscream away then mutters, “He’ll be back.”

- I laughed the same way Galvatron did when they remade his reformatting scene from the 86 movie. Jason Marnocha’s Galvatron voice is wonderfully creepy.

- Huh, the Golden Disk. That’s pretty awesome!

DISLIKES:

- My biggest gripe of the series is the overuse of Decepticon generics. I know they’re nothing new and go all the way back to G1, but for this series they really needs some colour pallet variants to tell them all apart.

In the first episode alone, I initially thought the Reflectors that escaped the arena were the same ones Megatron met in 12, and could very well have been one of the Reflectors we see in his kill-o-matic machine. When the freed Reflector came back I was surprised to see him still alive.

It was the same when Jetfire attacks the seekers in episode one, I thought he was fighting Starscream, Thundercracker, and a generic (because Skywarp was killed off in the last series). But nope, all three of them were generics.

It makes it harder to enjoy the action because you can’t tell who’s who or if you should be invested. Even back in G1 you could usually tell if it was supposed to be a generic, even if they had the same colours as the seeker trio or even had Reflector’s animation model.

- Why are there Decepticon gladiator matches? Given his own history as a gladiator, I would think Megatron wouldn’t want his soldiers to be subjected to the same brutality he had been. Autobots absolutely. Decepticons no.
Is he even aware of their existence? If he is, it’s a waste of materials. He could use potential victims as fuel by subjecting them to his kill-o-matic machine. I’m glad Jetfire questioned it, because I sure as hell did.

- I sure would have loved to hear what Red Alert and Chromia thought about freeing Decepticons prisoners.
I immediately thought of the Beast Wars two parter Other Visits. In part 1 we see the Maximals discussing how they should deal with both the Predacons and the Vok. In part 2 Tarantulas offers the Maximals his help and they discuss whether or not he’s trustworthy.

In both of these examples, most of the Maximals got to voice their opinions and those who didn’t were given reactions that clearly reflected their opinions. The only reaction Red Alert and Chromia gave was the good ol’ dull surprise.

- I still don’t like the lack of variety amongst the voice cast and the pause-acting is only getting worse. I couldn’t even understand what Scorponok was yammering about, and I really disliked Prime’s BIG HULKING ANGRY BATTLE VOICE!!! RAAAAWWWRRRR!!! I AM OPTIMUS PRIME!!! FORGIVE ME MEGATRON BEFORE I KILL YOU MEGATRON!!! GHHHAAAAA!!! I so miss Peter Cullen and Garry Chalk’s calm but firm voices. And if they did go over the top, it wasn’t psychopath levels ... at least until the live action movies.

- Additionally, I’m used to old characters getting new voices, especially if the original voice actor is dead. I get it. But man, oh man, Sky Lynx new voice is jarring.

- Oh, come on! You can show Elita activate her blade, and you can show Reflector’s arm fall off, but you can’t show the actual slice?! Waspinator pity’s you and your censorship.

- The humour in this series falls very flat.
“I’m always alert.”
... ha ... ha ... ha ... cringe.
“Do we have a deal?”
Doubling down on the name puns, aren’t ya?

- Episode one - Dear Megatron, Stop! Blaming! Prime! My God, blame him once then have him and Elita and chat like they did in Episode two’s opening. That conversation was perfect.

- Why is series called Earthrise if they’re going to Chaar, Nebulon, and the Dead Universe before reaching only Earth’s orbit? It should have just been called Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy: Pitstop.

- What was up with Wheeljack’s ear flash attack? How the hell did that free them from their stasis cuffs?

- Not enough Energon to fill a mug at MacAddams. Gee, maybe Bumblebee should have grabbed more than two Energon cubes from Soundblaster last time!

- Jetfire calls the seeker he took down a she? Wow! Sure could have fooled me! Nothing about her signalled she was a female.

- The Energon squirting out of Megatron’s puncture wound looked too much like melted bubblegum. It should have been darker in colour and slowly seeping out of the wound.

- Dull surprise in life followed by dull surprise in death, eh, Chromia? I felt less than nothing during her death fake out.

MISC:

- The opening title card made me raise an eyebrow. Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy: Earthrise Original Anime. Anime? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

- Megatron calls Jetfire a traitor unworthy of his acknowledgment ... so, why did Megatron initially acknowledge him?

- I’m glad Prime repeated the title ‘Breaker of Shackles’, because I rewound it twice when Deseeus said it, and I could have sworn he called himself something else of Shackles.

- Wow, an Ark that makes more than one flight? I’m legit surprised.

- Arcee, Wheeljack, and Red Cog fighting against Scorponok. Well, at least they made the Redshirt red this time.

- Are you kidding me?! Episode six reveals the Decepticons have Astrotrain in their ranks? Would have loved to see him in some scenes instead of more generic seekers or Reflectors!!!

- Shockwave’s twitching and stabbing Elita’s chair with his knife when he’s interrupted ... always the way, eh, Shocky?

- Okay, it isn’t going to make me buy the Kingdom line, it isn’t Mainframe Entertainment animation, and he’s probably not going to be voiced by Scott McNeil, but man, it was cool to see Dinobot at the end.

Overall, I view the series like this: it’s visually nice to look at, and the detailing on the character models is nice (scratches, scuffs, etc). But if you don’t have a good story or quality voice actors to compliment that imagery it just doesn’t work for me. If you liked the series that’s cool, it’s just not one I’ll be revisiting once the trilogy is completed. 5/10.