Transformers Prime

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Transformers Prime: Season 2

primes23Time to return to another installment of the Transformer franchise. The first season of Transformers Prime was one of the best televisions series ever to bear the Tranformers’ name. Did the second season keep up the strength of storytelling and action?

After the events of the first season, Optimus Prime believes he is his younger self, Orion Pax and he is still friends with Megatron. His comrades will have to venture to their fallen home world of Cybertron to find a way to restore Optimus to his original self. Will they succeed or will Optimus continue to wear a Decepticon symbol on his shoulder?

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The quality of storytelling of the previous season stays constant. From the beginning of the season while Optimus believing he is a Decepticon to the quest for the Cyber Keys the drama keeps the audience in their seats episode to episode. The call back to previous Transformers series with items such as the Star Saber and the Omega Lock are excellent ways of using the franchise`s rich cannon to tell a fantastic story. Also, all of the different Cybertronian technology they have recovered over the course the series comes to a head as all seem to play a part in the season finale.

The introduction of new characters help to make the story interesting as well. The Decepticons get Dreadwing, brother of the fallen Skyquake who turns out to be very noble despite being a deadly warrior. The Autobots get introduced to Smokescreen, a young brash solider who has been sent by Alpha Trion, Optimius Prime`s mentor to help with the war. Both of these characters are welcomed additions to the show and really help to flush out the story telling.

primes21This season isn’t without its problems. First up it does contain a clip show (A big problem as this blog is always against clip shows). Second, the show continues with the fetch quests from the previous season. It keeps up the discovery of Cybertron relics before moving to the Cyber Keys. It is a small complaints but still worth mentioning.

This series continues to be one of the best installments of the Tranformers’ franchise. All that is needed is to look at the final season and the movie that followed it. Stay tuned crew. These reviews will be coming down the line but I have another Transformers series I need to focus on this year as it is celebrating an anniversary.

RATING: A-

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Transformers Prime Season 1

season2OrionPax_1327426487Seems like the more I get done on this blog, the more I still need to do. There are many shows and movies that are now staples of Mecha and Kaiju that I haven’t gotten around to tackle yet. Really wish I had the time to make this my day job. Because I don’t I have no choice but to keep on going. Time to look in on one of my all time favorite franchises with Transformers Prime.

Unknown to the world at large a war is going on between a race of robots from the planet Cybertron. One one side of the fight is the heroic Autobots and on the other is the traitorous Decepticons. A trio of kids named Raleigh, Miko, and Jack discover this war and join the Autobots. Together with Ratchet, Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Optimus Prime, the three kids will work to protect he world from Megatron, leader of the Decepticons.

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This series is dark, edgy, and taking the franchise in the way it needed to go with a lot of new twists on  different aspects of the Transformer mythology. Story lines like Dark Energon which causes transformers to become zombies and the new approach to what Unicron is are very intriguing takes on aspects of the history that we have already seen. In the initial five part premiere we watch as fan favorite cliff jumper is killed, Megatron creates a race of zombie robots, and is blown up and presumed dead trying to bring his new army to earth. If that doesn’t entice you nothing will.

One of the aspects I enjoy in this series is how they decided to treat the characters like they were robots. Introduced in the show Beast Wars, the writers and creators of the show actually decided to portray the characters as robots that can actually sustain damage and be repaired afterward. This allows for highly graphic violence to be displayed on a regular basis which makes the tension and stakes feel much more real.

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We are also introduced to a few new Decepitcons each with their own unique skills and personality. Knockout the Decepticon scientist/medic who is extremely vain and cunning easily became a fan favorite. We also get actor Steve Blum as Starscream who keeps the character faithful to his Generation One counterpart but adds his own bit of a deceptive nature with the slyness overflowing his voice. People are split on the idea of the now silent Soundwave, who repeats what people say back to them much like the Predator but personally I liked him. He was more mysterious and he unsettling that way. Adding to the fact that his job was to monitor communication frequencies to spy on people and the creepiness of him goes up a bit more.

If this review isn’t clear enough, let me spell it out for you. GO WATCH THIS SHOW. At least the first season which I feel is spot on. How will the seasons that follow fair? You’ll just have to come back for those reviews another time.

RATING: A