Transformers Prime
Tags: good versus evil

Plot synopsis:
Set in the timeframe after the novels and video games preceding the television series (also known as the Aligned Continuity), Prime began with a five-part mini-series titled "Darkness Rising", which served to introduce the main characters and provide a back story on the Transformers and their war.
=== Season 1 ===
The series began with a five-part story called "Darkness Rising". In Jasper, Nevada, two Autobots called Cliffjumper and Arcee are scavenging for Energon and they run into Decepticons who capture Cliffjumper - despite the fact that he put up a fight - and take him to Starscream, second-in-command of the Decepticons. After a brief conversation, Starscream skewers Cliffjumper with his own fingers. Meanwhile, three young humans - Jack Darby, Miko Nakadai, and Rafael Esquivel - are accidentally caught in the crossfire in a fight between enormous robots that transform into vehicles. They are taken to the base of the Autobots, where their leader Optimus Prime explains he and his team (consisting of Ratchet, Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee) are autonomous alien robots from the planet Cybertron. The Autobots once had a devastating war against the tyrannical Megatron and his army, the Decepticons, and the war made Cybertron uninhabitable. Megatron returns from a three-year-long exile in deep space with a sample of Dark Energon, a substance also known as "the blood of Unicron" which can revive dead Transformers as mindless zombies called "Terrorcons", and he sets out to conquer Earth with a Terrorcon army brought over from Cybertron through a Space Bridge. The Autobots foil his plan by destroying the Decepticon's Space Bridge, and as Megatron is caught in the explosion he is presumed dead. Following Megatron's supposed death, Starscream assumes leadership of the Decepticons, even though Megatron's most loyal ally Soundwave doesn't approve. However, Megatron is found barely alive, sustained by a shard of Dark Energon, in the wreckage of the Space Bridge, and returns to power after a long period in stasis. Over the season, Starscream finds his life falling apart almost entirely due to his treachery with Megatron, and eventually deserts the Decepticons. The Autobots adjust to living with their new human allies, and Arcee deals with demons from her past regarding her fallen comrades. At the end of the season, the Autobots form an uneasy alliance with Megatron when Earth is threatened by the ancient and destructive being Unicron, who resides at the center of the Earth. Optimus Prime uses the power stored within the Matrix of Leadership to send Unicron back into hibernation, but the process erases Optimus's memory, which reverts to his original pre-war identity Orion Pax.
=== Season 2 ===
Megatron recruits Orion Pax, who has no memory of the Autobot-Decepticon war, into the Decepticons and manipulates him into believing that the Autobots are evil. Jack and Arcee travel to Cybertron to find the legendary super-computer Vector Sigma, and the Autobots successfully restore Optimus's memories with the information stored inside it. With the departure of Airachnid, who murders Breakdown, the Decepticons suffer a prolonged period of infighting as Megatron struggles to keep his troops in line; though he promotes Dreadwing to second-in-command. Having been convinced by the events of the first-season finale that Megatron is beyond hope of redemption, Optimus has resolved to kill Megatron at any cost, a choice he still struggles with in the season. The main theme for the majority of the second season is the discovery of ancient relics and weaponry from Cybertron buried on Earth, with the Transformers fighting over each new discovery. An Autobot named Smokescreen arrives on Earth and he is recruited to Team Prime. Among the relics hidden on Earth are the four Omega Keys, which activate the Omega Lock, an ancient machine capable of making Cybertron habitable again. The Decepticons acquire all four keys when Starscream returns to Megatron's command, and plan to terraform Earth into a mechanical planet like Cybertron, which would kill all life on Earth. Optimus Prime destroys the Omega Lock to save Earth, but before its destruction the Lock creates a massive fortress in the Nevada desert, and the Decepticons destroy the Autobot base with Optimus still inside.
=== Season 3: Beast Hunters ===
Following the destruction of their base at the hands of Megatron, Team Prime is scattered across the United States, and Optimus is mortally wounded from the base's destruction. The long lost Decepticon scientist named Shockwave arrives on Earth with Predaking, a beast he created from fossils. Optimus believes himself to be dying and declares that Smokescreen will be the next Prime, but before the Matrix of Leadership can be passed, Smokescreen repairs him with the Forge of Solus Prime. A reformatted, much more powerful Optimus joins the battle to destroy the Decepticons' citadel with Ultra Magnus, who has reunited the team. Darkmount falls and the Autobots acquire a new base from Agent Fowler. The Autobots suffer a series of losses when the Decepticons successfully acquire a large number of Predacon fossils, intending to clone an army to conquer humanity. However, after a devastating experiment gone wrong costs the Decepticons a majority of their forces, Megatron manipulates the Autobots to wipe out the project, leaving Predaking as the sole surviving Predacon. The Decepticons refocus their efforts to rebuild the Omega Lock aboard the Nemesis with the reluctant aid of a captive Ratchet and his Synthetic Energon. However, Ratchet secretly warns the Autobots about this and they prepare their last stand. Before this though, Ratchet survived a fight caused by Predaking, who almost killed him. But Predaking spared him after learning from Ratchet that Megatron ordered the termination of his kind. Because of this, Predaking betrays Megatron and, after searching around the warship, they have a brief brawl which Preadking almost wins, but Starscream's distraction allows Megatron to defeat Predaking and eject him out of the warship. This is when the Autobots arrive at the warship and rescue Ratchet, leading to a final confrontation between the Autobots and Deceptions as Megatron breaks down "This will be our last stand!". In the final battle, the Autobots capture the warship and scatter the surviving Decepticon forces. During the battle, Optimus engages Megatron in a fist fight, leaving the rest of the Autobots to handle Starcream and Shockwave while the humans successfully overcome Soundwave. When the Star Saber is in open ground, Bumblebee takes it first and attempts to throw it to Optimus when overpowering Megatron, but is killed when Megatron shoots him multiple times. Angry, Optimus brutally beats Megatron, who turns the tables when striking at Optimus with the Dark Star Saber. Megatron is about to finish Optimus for good when Bumblebee, revealing to be alive, surprises and stabs Megatron with the star saber. Everyone is shocked towards Bumblebee because not only did he kill Megatron, but he also got his voice back in the process. Megatron then dies and falls to his final resting place below Earth. After sadly witnessing this, Optimus is helped up Bumblebee and announces Megatron's death to the rest of the team just as Bumblebee embraces Autobots and speaks to Raf for the first time in 65 episodes. At the same time, the Decepticons flee from the warship while Starscream and Shockwave are forced to share a ride in the last escape pod, leaving Knockout to be beaten and captured. Preadaking is shown to be alive and is seen flying towards Cybertron as everyone watches on. In the aftermath, the Autobots use the Omega Lock to revive Cybertron before appearing one last time on Earth, bidding farewell to their human friends as they leave to rebuild their home. Although Ratchet offers to remain on Earth and shakes hands with Optimus, who is the last Autobot to depart Earth.
=== Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising ===
The series ended with the TV movie Predacons Rising, which aired on October 4, 2013. The Autobots return to Cybertron, having successfully made it habitable with the rebuilt Omega Lock. Optimus Prime and Wheeljack travel into deep space to find the AllSpark, the legendary source of all life on Cybertron, which is needed to allow the creation of new Cybertronian life. The mind of Unicron is re-awakened by Cybertron's restoration, and taking control of Megatron's corpse he flies to Cybertron, planning to destroy it once and for all. Elsewhere, Shockwave and Starscream continue to clone the fossilized remains of Predacons, creating new Predacons Darksteel and Skylynx. When Unicron returns to Cybertron and raises an army of Terrorcons from Predacon remains, the Autobots, Decepticons, and Predacons must join forces to defeat him and save their home world. Optimus is able to seal away Unicron, but at the cost of his own life as he is forced to merge himself with Primus. Freed from Unicron's oppression, Megatron disbands the Decepticons and leaves Cybertron.

Review: Transformers returns to the CGI world with TRANSFORMERS: PRIME, the first completely computer animated series since Beast Machines.
But free from Michael Bay's creative control, the pair turn in what is easily one of the darker and more coherent story lines in Transformers animation history.How dark is dark?
While out to avenge their comrade, The Autobot team consisting of Optimus Prime, Arcee, Ratchet, Bulkhead and Bumblebee discover a clandestine Decepticon plot involving the mysterious "Dark energon" and the return of the dreaded Decepticon leader, Megatron.With a smaller cast, we get a more focused character driven narrative and more room for development.
It is a nice balance that few animated series seem to appreciate; shows that the characters are just as important as the story, and not just an excuse to sell toys.
Incidentally, the Decepticons come across as more interesting than the Autobots thanks to the hidden agendas of not just the compulsive backstabber Starscream, but every other decepticon from Soundwave to Airachnid have their own little moments of depth.Giving life to these well written characters is an all star voice cast featuring popular voice actors like Steve Blum (Starscream), Jeffery Combs (Rachet) and Daran Norris (Knock out) along with returning fan favorites like Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, who reprise their famous roles of Optimus and Megatron.
Of particular note is the inclusion of Hollywood stars like Kevin Michael Richardson (Bulkhead), Gina Torres (Airachnid), Adam Baldwin (Breakdown), Clancy Brown (Silas) and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (Cliffjumper)!Of course, like all transformers shows, we have the mandatory human kids caught in the crossfire: Miko Nakadai, Rafael Esquivel and Jack Darby, .
But the writing never allows the humans to "steal the screen" from the Transformers themselves (something the live action movies are notorious for).Taking a leaf out of its predecessor "Transformers Animated", the humans in TRANSFORMERS: PRIME become naturally integral to the plot rather than a hindrance or a distraction.The TRANSFORMERS themselves remain the stars of the show.
Design wise, they may take some getting used to at first, but the unique look of these Transformers combine the mechanical realism of the live action movies with the almost human yet inhuman "anatomy" of previous animated series.It is a look that works.
As for the backgrounds, they are inconsistently rendered with the quality varying from episode to episode.With dynamic action sequences, complete with breath taking camera angles and even slow motion, TRANSFORMERS: PRIME definitely has all the markings of a high budget production, almost movie-like at times.
A shame that the little slip ups in quality mar what could have been the most beautifully animated CGI series of the past decade.What we have here in TRANSFORMERS PRIME is a franchise that finally learns from its past missteps and combines the best elements of all previous Transformers show.
The superb voice acting and characterisation from Generation 1, The intense action of the animated movie, Focused character driven narratives of Beast Wars, Darker tone and sense of peril from Beast Machines Galactic scale conflicts of the Unicorn trilogy And likable human characters of Transformers: animated.
Some debate on the fact that Prime isn't a kids show, but I believe with the world today, it suits well for children to realise consequence and death, and it's a bonus for us older fans.Visually, I think this series has it all.
The character development is well portrayed, and, of course, they link back to their original 80's personalities.Overall, I think it's by far the best series up to date, aside from G1--but that's because it's the ultimate classic..
Bumblebee does have a rather bland personality this time round, Mikko is annoying(the only character in the show who is) and there is some occasional clunkiness in the dialogue for the human characters(though not as goofy in nature as the worst of the live action trilogy films).
I loved this show, it had a perfect balance, ever since i took on this show, i went ahead to see the old transformers shows and i was interested in Optimus, there was more depth to him, than i had seen in some of the other shows, but i nave really studied the others in time yet.This show was different from pretty much any other show i have ever seen in my life and if i could i would pitch a crossover with this show with my own charatcers from my novel, thats how amazed i am by it.
It has a dark feel to it which seems to be a missing ingredient of all previous Transformers series.The picture quality is amazing.
The CGI is good, the story so far is good (although not great) and the voice actors are pretty good(and I must say the kids that are watching this series are honored to have the 'original' Optimus Prime and Megatron, Peter Cullen and Frank Welker respectively) In general I think it's the best series after G1 cartoon, it may not be perfect but it is way better than the rest of the TF series (BW and BM excluded since I don't think them as TF series but as TF-based series)..
As a die hard fan of Transformers, I've been waiting for a well written series based off of my favorite toys.In the first season of TF: Prime, it becomes apparent to the viewer that the characters are characters.
In the second season things do get a bit more jaded, with interlocking stories and more complex characters with more hints to the good 'ol days of G1.
from what I can tell so far, Transformers Prime is a fantastic show with dark stories, fantastic animation, and promise beyond expectations.
It's actually something to look forward to after a tiring day at work, school etc.I love how they've made the transformations all complex like the live action movie trilogy.
Firstly I grew up with the Transformers series (namely Armada, Cydertron, BeastMachines (I didn't manage to see Beast Wars),a little of the G1 series and Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001)) and the movies more or less broke my heart .Granted when I was 14, I though that were good, but when did a teenage had a fully formed sense of taste and as a adult,I think of then a a disgrace to the Mythology of the Robots in Disguise!And then I hit by accident more or less this series and I am "for real?" ,then I watch it and my next take was "Why didn't the films have the quality of this series?".
The series had great animation, nice voice cast (Megatron and Optimus amazing) ,the story arc of each character either Cybertronian or Human is handle in a pretty mature way of a kids television series.
I have to admit this one is if not the best Transformers series ,then it is easily in the top 3.This quality at the same time fills me with joy and anger for years before, the feature films could be so good, they had bigger budget and the best technology at the time, but no Micheal Bay and Paramount made them in to the abomination they are today :(.
Despite I manage to remind myself that it isn't the technology, the budget or the names in the project that made it great , it is something smaller and yet so significant attention the the characters, a good story and understanding what you can do with both of that.Over all if you also feel betrayed from the movies or you have kids or both then watch with them these Transformer, 100% certain that you will enjoy it..
Beast Wars and Beast Machines were both great in terms of story, animation, and characters.
"Transformers: Prime" is a well-balanced, intelligent, insightful, and awe-inspiring series that effectively captures the essence of life and humanity.
With genuine and efficient dialogue that never seems canned or unnatural, along with passionate animation that draws you in with its careful attention to the individuality and singularity of each scene, this show seems more real than most live-action shows.Everything that all other "Transformers" series and movies tried to accomplish were triumphed and brought to their utmost ideal in "Transformers: Prime".
Transformers have always achieved deeper meaning with their "sense of humanity" mixed in with their robotic structures, and this series, with its soul-penetrating musical score, astoundingly continuous epic nature, and masterful story telling epitomizes this essence of the franchise.
I have always respected "Transformers"'s ability to be more than just autonomous robots and their human friends, and I have always wished that one day a series or movie would truly manifest its full potential to dig deep into the soul.
Better than the movies though, and definitely worth watching if you're a big Transformers Fan..
So actually it's pretty fairly rated on that metric alone.Let's start off with the good: the show is paced well, the action is very fluid, the animation is fantastic and the voice acting is excellent.
Not only do you have the return of series regulars Peter Cullen and Frank Welker reprising their roles as Optimus and Megatron respectively, but many of the new comers prove to be great additions to the cast.
To best sum up the show it's a bit like a love child of Beast Wars (animation and close knit cast) and Generation One tropes, and the children are somewhat akin to what we got in Armada.
Every episode sort of trots out some G1 inspired thing and goes "hey remember this?" This could be contrasted with Beast Wars, which we knew was set in a far flung G1 future, but then pulled a genius twist that fully cemented in Transformers lore beyond what was expected.The show is paced similarly to Beast Wars which started off very slowly, with a plodding first season mostly devoted to introducing new characters, then ramps up the stakes in the second season.
At times I feel like I'm watching the first season of the original Transformers, but with characters I care less about.
It's rather funny to me that after all this time the two best Transformers cartoons are still Transformers The Movie and the Agenda in Beast Wars - both of which are decades old.
I am Less enthusiastic about the rendered 3D world and their rendered characters, but the story line that lives throughout all the episodes makes it worth to watch it.
The story is never finished and that makes you want to see the next episode.I was first skeptical when watching the first episode, about the human children who co-work with the Transformers, but when the story continues (episode later) they have their own role and they fall more into the background and are become less prominent in the series, but appearing more convincing (nicely done).The 2nd season is better, stronger and more convincing.Absolute worth watching animation..
I've seen all 3 seasons of transformers prime and the beast hunters movie at least 5 times.
In fact, that's a major advantage over the Michael Bay movies; here, the transformers are the main characters and not the humans..
I've abhorred other renditions of Transformers and was super surprised to discover PRIME.They take a lot of chances with new characters and story arcs and it works.
Not hearing good things about the sequel series Robots in Disguise.It has redeemed the live action movies.
The story is great and deep--you can really get involved in the epic struggle between Autobots and Decepticons, unlike the boring action spectacles that the movies are.
The characters are entertaining and interesting, and the show makes the Transformers the main characters, not the humans--another thing that's better than the films.
A couple years later, I've almost forgotten about Transformers, until one day I found the G1 series on The Hub. It didn't really give me that same "intrigued" feel I had with "Animated", but it was WAY less frustrating to sit through than the Michael Bay sequels.Finally, I saw a commercial for "Transformers Prime".
First time I started watching it, all I got were flat characters, a sloppy story, and a boring soundtrack.Optimus is now a deadpan, stick in the mud with no emotion whatsoever; Ratchet, who really loves shouting out most of his dialog; Bumblebee who (like Bay's version) is a mute puppy dog; Arcee, who's basically Prowl with boobs; and finally Bulkhead.
The fight scenes aren't really that exciting either, because they look like they were taken straight out of the Michael Bay trilogy.The only merits I can point out are: Soundwave's design, the animation, Knockout (the only character that's close to being funny), and of course, Peter Cullen.
The best "Transformers" animated series since "Beast Machines".
I loved the original and the movie (The one from 1986, not the horrible live-action trilogy) and I liked the two CGI animated series "Beast Wars" and "Beast Machines" (Both excellent and underrated entries in the Transformers franchise)Sadly, the animated series that appeared after "Beast Machines" weren't good: "Transformers: Robots in Disguise", "Transformers Armada", and "Transformers: Energon" were awful series that didn't add anything good to the franchise, with bad animation and boring story lines.
Oh yeah, there was also the 2007 animated series, but sadly that cartoon was just slightly better than the anime series, being way too childish and forgettable for my personal taste.Fortunately, "Transformers: Prime", without being as good as the original series or "Beast Wars" was much better than I was expecting, with interesting story lines, which, despite being darker than most of the previous "Transformers" cartoons, still have all the fun from the original "Transformer" series.
And even when the animation isn't incredible, it still works very well.The new human characters are good too (Though I found Miko to be somewhat annoying) Anyway, this is a very good addition to the "Transformers" franchise.
When I first heard that Peter Cullen and Frank Welker will return as the voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron it was excellent news for a old school fan such as myself.
Transformers has always been a part of me and I am still proud to be a fan of Transformers.Transformers Prime I agree with few fans is not yet as good as Generation 1 or Beast Wars but it does have a chance to be a great series.This is the third Transformers Animated Series to be fully CGI personally I like Hand Drawn Animated but still I have respect for all types of Animated.The Story line is following the same as The live action Movies however the story takes place three years after the last battle with the Decepticons.However Starscream and Soundwave have been waiting for the return of Megatron who returns with a new powerful Energon, Dark Energon which could be use to bring back the dead.Optimus Prime and his Autobots Ratchet, Bumblebee,Bulkhead and Acree are on a mission to stop the Decepticons.
The Autobots have few human allies such as Jack, Miko, and Raf who are young children who have their own ways to help the Autobots Agent Fowler is the Autobots so called Allie but he has his mistrust with them The Voice acting is very good and seeing Mr.Cullen and Mr.Welker return to voicing the two main Transformers Legends is just priceless.Peter Cullen is always the right voice for Optimus Prime, Frank Welker's new voice for Megatron is a mix he would use the G1 voice when Megatron yells and his voice would be more demanded.Steve Blum does the voice of Starscream and his voice for the character is really chilling and make Starscream the villain he is.Jeffery Combs does the voice of Ratchet.
Starscream's jet mode is very cool.The background are cool that really give you a feel of watching the Autobots and Decepticons battle it out.Since the five part mini series is like a piece of the cake to what we may see with Transformers Prime we just have to wait and see what will take place next in the classic war between The Autobots and The Decepticons.Transformers Prime is brand new and let see how they take the series from here..
I have been following the transformers series since i was a kid and i can say transformers prime in terms of animation puts beast wars to shame but that isn't very difficult to do in this day and age of advanced computers.
personally i liked the g1 and transformers animated versions better.
As far as human companions in transformers series go, Sari was the most well developed least annoying and oh yeah she was half robot.
transformers G1 series-classic couldn't beat the pair of frank welker and peter cullen Transformers animated-pointless not worth my time War for cybertron-best tformers game EVER Films-more adult than kid movies but not bad at all Transformers Prime-Decent this show looked better than animated but not really by much i thought the character of bulkhead was unnecessary and the fact soundwave doesn't really speak was underrated even frank welker returning as megatron is a little disappointing due to his new "voice" but idk something about this show is very "unique" in its own way i mean don't get me wrong Nothing will ever beat the original show but for the new generation of tf fans this show is worth seeing.
After watching a couple of episodes I noticed that this show had the classic feel of a Transformers series.
Peter Cullen does an absolutely great job in defining the thoughts and character of the Badass Autobot leader-- Optimus Prime.
But when this show came out I actually settled down with Transformers and I ended up enjoying especially since this had great CGI animation, story, voice acting and everything a transformers fan would want.I am glad I got into this show because I got to listen to the original voice actors of Optimus Prime (Peter Cullens) and Megatron (Frank Welker).However, there were flaws in it like Arcee because she was very annoying and overprotective in most episodes to the point where I wished they should have killed her off instead of Clifjumper or Tailgate in that dark episode of season 1.