Beast Machines: Transformers - Series Review
3/16/2025
Warning: Unmarked spoilers for the Beast Machines: Transformers cartoon are ahead, that's for the entire series! Avert your eyes, if you wish to stay surprised by these robots in disguise!
Beast Machines is the direct sequel series to Beast Wars, though with the premise, tone, and overall style changing significantly. This show is crazy. It's darker, kind of spiritual, and even more continuity focused than Beast Wars. This show feels like it should have been cancelled in pre-production, leaving fans pining for what could have been. But this actually came out, and it kicks ass. Machines is sometimes clunky and awkward, even unappealing at times, but they shot for the stars here and weren't afraid of the new direction.
It takes some time to get there, though, and the show puts a lot of faith in itself and the audience to accept this radical, almost post-apocalyptic setting. Megatron has taken over Cybertron. Like, completely, and has captured the sparks of every Cybertronian except for the Maximals (and some of them aren't accounted for!), who find themselves amnesiac and initially unable to transform. How could this have happened when the Maximals were practically keelhauling Megatron back to Cybertron at the end of Beast Wars? You may or may not be satisfied with the answers, something Machines will play with for most of its run. It's a jarring and janky first episode, but once the onboarding is done, the show can really start strutting.
There is an elephant in the room, though, and it's that Beast Machine's character designs can be somewhat unorthodox. The worst victim is poor Rattrap, whose robot mode sports wheels, an elongated abdomen, and what I can only describe as a 1920's newsboy cap on his head. New character Nightscream sports bulging round eyes and a very y2k haircut. You can go on and on like this with the Maximals. They also don't really transform with parts shifting around in space, they sort of spiritually tween into their robot modes. Like the morph feature in a video editor. The new Vehicons, however, feature a return to robotic vehicle modes and all look great.
That clashing between organic and technological is at the heart of Beast Machines, as the Maximals evolve into technorganic beings, while Megatron seeks a purely technological Cybertron under his rule. I think it's worth noting that the Japanese original anime series Beast Wars II also featured good guy animals versus bad guy machines just barely a year prior. As far as I've watched Beast Wars II, it does not feature the same philosophizing as Machines. I cannot stress this aspect of the series enough. There are scenes where Optimus Primal and Megatron debate their viewpoints about what's best for Cybertron.
I'm getting ahead of myself.
Deep breath.
Optimus Primal and team are on a mission from something called the Oracle (later revealed to be an evolved form of Vector Sigma from the G1 series) to restore Cybertron's once organic nature. Initially, Primal sees this as a war between organic and technological, but later on this becomes more about a balance. Cheetor, noticeably more mature in this series, even calls out Primal for starting to become fanatical in the same vein as Megatron. That happens more than once!
The other major quest in the show involves the Sparks. A few of the Maximals are gone (initially presumed dead) when everyone reawakens on Cybertron. When it's discovered that Megatron used Maximal sparks to create his Vehicon generals, everyone (Blackarachnia, especially, who is seeking Silverbolt) set out to see if their original personalities and memories can be restored. Identity is a major theme of Beast Machines, and it's used to compelling effect. It's some of the best stuff in the entire show. Let's talk about the initial Vehicon generals before I cover my favorite scene in the series.
- Tankor
- Jetstorm
- Thrust
Tankor is a brute, but there may be more to him than meets the eye. Commanding an army of tank drones, he's certainly a deadly opponent for the Maximals. This character gets a complete reversal after the reveal, so that's all we can say for now.
CERTAINLY my favorite character in the series, Jetstorm adds some much-needed levity to the series by being hilarious. Performed by the quite famous Bryan Drummond, you can start to hear just a little bit of Ocean Dub Vegeta when Jetstorm is pissed off. I think there's a reason there's a compilation of practically every scene featuring him. I absolutely love this character, and I kind of got obsessed with him. I'm hoping he'll get a new toy or something soon.
A too-cool-for-school biker type, Thrust lacks both the explosive charisma of Jetstorm (who he does seem to have a funny rapport with) and the compelling plotline that will drive Tankor. This makes him difficult to be really interested in, but the reveal of whose spark resides inside him might justify his existence by itself. Thrust's loner style comes to haunt him when, for a while, he's the last surviving Vehicon. Those with creative minds might be able to read more into Thrust than I have, but I do have to say he's my least favorite of the Vehicons.
Tankor is really...our old buddy Rhinox!
Words that seem to resonate with those who have seen the Beast shows, I feel that this twist, this scene, is perfectly emblematic of what Machines can be at it's best. Machines does not consider Wars so sacred that it isn't willing to turn an old fan-favorite into an active villain, and is in fact, quite happy to get the full drama out of it. I had a huge grin watching Rhinox spit that heat to Primal's face, telling him that he and the Maximals are the real problem. It's heartbreaking, it's engaging, and it's twisted. It was at this point that I was not simply curious about what Beast Machines was. I was dying to see what could happen next. If they're being this bold in season one, well, what the hell?
"Tankor is Rhinox" shows us the interest in continuity, revealing both how exactly the transition between the worlds of the two shows went down. Recall also that Megatron has tried to turn Rhinox before, and it was very similar to this! It puts the identity themes front and center. As the Maximals untangle this, it even comes up if it's morally right to keep changing and reformatting Transformers. Take note of how Primal and Rhinox commune in a spiritual way, within each other's sparks, in a natural, somewhat Earth like environment. This is all in my Transformers show on Fox Kids?!
I consider the Rhinox story a huge success. It gets much flakier later when Silverbolt is revealed to be a part of Jetstorm. Silverbolt is a pretty popular character, but unlike Rhinox, he actually does come back to rejoin the Maximals, and never seems to really regain his footing. This still has a lot of positive aspects to it. Silverbolt broods and laments that a part of him actually enjoyed being Jetstorm. Some insightful YouTube comments (you don't see those too often!) have made some interesting comments on Jetstorm's nature as influenced by Silverbolt's spark, if it is. Most damningly, Jetstorm makes occasional flirtatious comments at Blackarachnia, though whether this is a clue to the larger plot or relatively stock writing for taunting a female character is ambiguous to me. Jetstorm's cruel showboating and more violent personality feel like a dark reflection of Silverbolt's "Superman" style heroics. You can definitely understand why cutting loose would feel good for someone with a strict moral code like Silverbolt. This is a great idea, but...
First off, this all has the side effect of removing Jetstorm from the show. It's not worth it. With Tankor, he seemed to be a dull brute, so there's no sense that we had lost an interesting or fun character. The reveal that Tankor is Rhinox IS Tankor. Jetstorm added a lot to the show, so losing him really sucks. Secondly, we briefly saw Silverbolt's personality return, and he seemed pretty much like himself. I think this sets up an expectation that the return of Silverbolt would go more smoothly when he rejoins the Maximals, and I felt kind of deflated when he became a brooding loner. I'll give it credit for subverting that expectation (I can imagine some fans must have this reaction to Rhinox), but it just never resolves in a completely satisfying way. It's not unaddressed, mind you, far from it. Blackarachnia and Silverbolt do reconcile and make up, but the show is almost over at that point.
Megatron's plan has one fatal flaw...Megatron.
Megatron is another character that I feel is worthy of individual analysis. The Wars Megatron is dangerous and deadly, he had a comedic side too. Broadly speaking, he was generally being beaten by the Maximals at whatever story's end. Machines Megatron is deathly serious, already ruling over Cybertron and an army of mindless drones. He's cleaning up house, and convinced the Maximal's actions are merely delaying his assured victory. Voice actor David Kaye returns, playing Megatron with a much darker voice. All that, combined with the new imagery of Megatron hooked up to endless wires and other machines, leaves a lasting impression.
At the outset, Megatron is grappling with his beastial side, often seen transforming in rage into a metal patchwork version of his Transmetal 2 dragon alt-mode. I enjoy this aspect a lot, Optimus Primal seems to suggest that Megatron won't be able to purge the beast inside. This is supported by Tankor's assessment of Megatron. It seems like Megatron could not simply build himself a new body to fix this, though that's sort of what ends up happening by the end. After season one, Megatron will switch bodies and forms quite a few times, and remains fairly consistent in personality. One could read into which parts of Megatron are more bestial or machine-like, and if he ever managed to get rid of the beast within. We have to speculate a bit, because the show doesn't completely close this thread.
When Megatron seemingly dies in the season one (and a creepy, lifeless effigy of his head appears in the sky!), the Maximals move on and meet an organic, transforming wolf named Noble. Noble was created as the organic side of Megatron when he was destroyed, but his spark resides within the organic body of Noble. Noble transforms into an out of control, red, fireball spitting dragon. Hmm. This is the most fun clue that he's connected to Megatron. It's not too long before Megatron's spark takes over the creepy flying thing, and Noble is left as just a transforming animal. There's a lot going on in here that's fun, Primal's genuine shock that an organic body can even house a spark as it starts floating out of a natural animal creature is riveting.
I still wish more had been done with Noble, but I'll concede a point that having him be an actual animal in mind runs very nicely with the Maximal's overall mission of balance and coexistence. Still, this character was seemingly spawned from Megatron. What if Noble was sort of like Megatron's good, purified side after purging his body of beast material? I thought that's where they were going with it, but Noble's existence is only lightly speculated upon, and doesn't seem to have much individual personality outside of being doglike with Nightscream.
In the series finale, Megatron will build himself a new machine body...often nicknamed Optimal Megatron by fans. I was shocked to see this hideous thing again, but I suppose Megatron wouldn't have been too happy as a surfboarding ape. I question his need to have some irony in his defeat of Primal, I felt that he had moved past that kind of thing by now. It works great visually and thematically, though, so I suppose it was worth it. Here's Primal, the last Maximal standing, facing off against his greatest foe in his old body, as if he must overcome the past itself to achieve that balance. "The seeds of the future lie in the past", a phrase often repeated in the show, has a bit of literal interpretation in this one aspect, and I like it. There are so many lines of dialogue between Primal and Megatron that are worth analyzing, but I'll leave exploring every detail to you.
The best show?
I had received a few comments early on in my Beast Machines viewing that it might be the best Transformers series. Part of me is very tempted to agree, in my admittedly incomplete viewing of the franchise's shows. The show is only occasionally clunky through some unusual character design and its own huge ambition. It presents multiple interesting ideas, puts its characters through some tough stuff, and presents some radical new ideas to Transformers fiction. It has to be seen to be believed.
I'm lamenting the end of the Beast Era and Mainframe's writing sensibilities. I choose Tramsformers: Galaxy Force as my next Transformers series, and going back has been hard. I love the Brave series of anime, very closely related to Transformers, but that's old hat for me. Beast Machines gave me things I had no idea I wanted, and left me glued to my TV, choosing to watch just one more episode before bed, time and time again.
It's also harder to recommend Beast Machines as a show you should start watching right away, as the original Beast Wars is required viewing beforehand. That's part of what makes it so good, of course, taking these existing characters and doing something very different with them. It's bold, it's unafraid, and I couldn't keep my eyes off of it.
I am transformed...
- Vehicon General Janestorm