Beast Wars: Transformers - Season Three Review
2/12/2025
Warning: Unmarked spoilers for the Beast Wars: 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 Wars' third and final season is more rough than the previous two. It's got all the same challenges that season two had, but now we've got to wrap up the series as well. It's not an enviable position, and thankfully, the show still manages to come out strong. It's just a little more awkward in pacing and balance.
Things start off displeasing me as Primal gets yet another ridiculous body. This time, he's enormous, towering over everyone in a way that makes it look silly. I think this is to advertise his big toy, but yowza! He also starts quoting Optimus Prime in a way that feels hollow, even if there is technically a story reason. This aspect thankfully doesn't stay; it just leaves an uneasy feeling with me. There are new characters and elements to introduce, including the amusingly named "Transmetal 2", so let's do our list again.
- Depth Charge
- Dinobot II
- Tigerhawk
Certainly the best and most impactful character of the new season, Depth Charge is a Maximal with a mission and some edge. And I mean that in a good way; watching him talk shit to Primal to his face had my jaw on the floor a few times. He's a bit strange looking in his alt modes, but as a character, he's a home run. Seeking to take revenge on Rampage by sending him offline once and for all, Depth Charge and Rampage have a sort of "Aquaman/Black Manta" style on-sight rivalry, something I enjoy 99% of the time.
Erhm...yeah, so, Megatron misses Dinobot just as much as well all do, and makes a sort of loyal clone of him as a Transmetal 2 (I think?). He's pretty cool looking, but as a character he is literally a soulless Dinobot, so it's hard to be invested in him outside of the fact he is A Dinobot. He's a big part of the finale though, which involves the original Dinobot's...uh, memories(?) awakening with him. This means I don't have a whole lot to say about Dinobot II, except that Scott McNiel still manages to give him some good zingers.
I'll confess, I was greatly looking forward to Tigerhawk's appearance...and was sorely disappointed. You don't meet this character until the final three episodes, and then they die. Tigerhawk is a fusion of the sparks of Tigatron and Airazor, but this was devised by the Vok, so it doesn't quite have that satisfaction of seeing either one return, nor the sense that they were able to stay together. Secondly, even after Tigerhawk is freed from being the alien emissary, he still doesn't really seem to have any Airazor in his personality, or even that much of a personality at all. But how would you know? There's just no time to explore this at all. Were it up to me (and I could magically reshuffle the needs of Hasbro, Mainframe, and the story), I would have tried to introduce him a lot sooner. Maybe Cheetor's Transmetal 2 body story didn't need to be a two-parter?
The real star of this season is Blackarachnia, who falls more in league with the Maximals and Silverbolt, and even is briefly the subject of attention for Cheetor. Many, many scenes and B plots focus on her personal development, still a Predacon but warming up to the Maximal sensibilities in ways that don't always necessarily involve the romance with Silverbolt. Blackarachnia gets a disturbing looking new body right at the end, but otherwise she gets a gold star from me.
Another standout pair of the season, at least to me, are the weird little protohuman kids. They are so ugly that I think it makes me love them more. Less on the ironic side, it is sweet to watch the Maximals uplift and hang out with them (how does that not mess up the timestream?), and they're part of one of the only lighthearted, season one-esque episodes.
The biggest loser this season is probably Cheetor. The two-parter Feral Scream is just not that interesting. Cheetor stops being more feral and aggressive pretty much right after part two is over. I can't even remember what new powers or abilities he might have gotten. I recall that he can't fly anymore, so, great upgrade! To be fair to the episode, there are other things at play (Dinobot II's creation, Depth Charge's delightful presence), but it's kind of dry as far as just Cheetor is concerned. The romantic interest he briefly has for Blackarachnia is thankfully dropped, but it means he never has anything to shine with outside of his usual shtick.
Something is to be said for the Predacons in general, who all start getting iced as a way to bring the show to a conclusive end. Tarantulas meets his fate at the hands of the Vok, which feels appropriate given how interested he was in destroying them. Quickstrike and Inferno are simply blown up, which is probably how they would have wanted it. Waspinator's fate might be the most perfect ending Beast Wars could possibly have.
I can't quite say the same thing about the rest of the finale, though. It brings me no joy to say this, but the reveal of the Nemesis really feels like a retread of discovering the Ark, but without the same punch or amazing build-up. Dinobot 2's...redemption(?) doesn't have the same impact as the original's proper goodbye. It all feels like reheated season two, and while that's not awful, it's not inspiring either. But at least Beast Wars does have that sense of closure, and ends on a very high note with its final scenes.
Beast Wars having a satisfying ending at all speaks to the strength of the characters they created. The need to sell toys can cause even the best of Transformers to hit a road bump or two. Even with my own gripes, it's rightfully considered a high point for the franchise. Beast Wars brought a whole new look to TV animation, and didn't miss a beat on funny and lovable characters in that process. Along the way, the series gained a growing interest in Transformers lore, inventing swaths of its own (SPARKS!) while bringing the past cleverly into the picture. An absolutely outstanding voice cast makes even weaker episodes smile-worthy.
I'm happy that it ended up being so easy and fun for me to see Beast Wars to its finale. Now, it's a little too early to call, but I think I'm gonna have to talk about the sequel series, Beast Machines, when I finish watching it. That show is crazy. But for now, I hope you enjoyed a few thoughts on the original Beast Wars.
See you next time! TERRORIZE!!
- Evil Predacon Jane