CloudyTuba
Member
Beast Machines was not good but is not without merit. There are pieces of it that I like. It chases some bigger ideas, tries new things, and isn't afraid to change the status quo. It gets points for those. (And I love Tankor so it gets points for Tankor) However some artists need an occasional leash to stay grounded.
Beast Wars was very much created on Hasbro's leash with mandates and direction being provided every season. The team had to find very creative ways to tell the stories they wanted to tell while still fitting within Hasbro's guidelines. Many of the more exciting aspects of the show, such as character deaths and evolutions, were the result of finding exciting ways to fulfil Hasbro's orders. New toys dictated plot points. A lot of the time that sort of arrangement strangles a show's creativity, but both sides found a good balance and turned a possible weakness into a strength. Larry and Bob really worked it.
The success of Beast Wars convinced Hasbro to let a team operate more independently but in their infinite wisdom, canceled the show early as an excuse to make a fresher toy line under a new banner. The old guard was gone and the new guys were told to ignore what came before. Sometimes when you leave a bunch of artists in a room without direction they get a little airborne, and the new guys didn't have the same chops. Designs got awkward. The plot was now dictating the toys. Unfortunately the story then went off the deep end and the toy line struggled to keep up and remain relevant to the show it was attached to. Without the toyline forcing roster updates the show felt more stagnant than before and sales were reasonably low for depictions that just didnt match up. If your show about transforming robots stops being about robots or transforming, you dun fucked up somewhere between steps 1 and 2.
Transtech, the cancelled follow-up to Beast Machines, was shaping up to be an improvement from lessons learned. The designs looked like they were trying to reel the aesthetic back in and create something that merged Wars/Machines into something less awkward and almost anime inspired. Actual transformations were coming back. Characters from both the G1 era and Beast era were to return to the newly revived post-BM Cybertron. Alas they decided to go a cheaper direction and started working with japan to import instead. The end.
The moral of the story is that if your show ever starts looking like this, it's time to pump the brakes:
Beast Wars was very much created on Hasbro's leash with mandates and direction being provided every season. The team had to find very creative ways to tell the stories they wanted to tell while still fitting within Hasbro's guidelines. Many of the more exciting aspects of the show, such as character deaths and evolutions, were the result of finding exciting ways to fulfil Hasbro's orders. New toys dictated plot points. A lot of the time that sort of arrangement strangles a show's creativity, but both sides found a good balance and turned a possible weakness into a strength. Larry and Bob really worked it.
The success of Beast Wars convinced Hasbro to let a team operate more independently but in their infinite wisdom, canceled the show early as an excuse to make a fresher toy line under a new banner. The old guard was gone and the new guys were told to ignore what came before. Sometimes when you leave a bunch of artists in a room without direction they get a little airborne, and the new guys didn't have the same chops. Designs got awkward. The plot was now dictating the toys. Unfortunately the story then went off the deep end and the toy line struggled to keep up and remain relevant to the show it was attached to. Without the toyline forcing roster updates the show felt more stagnant than before and sales were reasonably low for depictions that just didnt match up. If your show about transforming robots stops being about robots or transforming, you dun fucked up somewhere between steps 1 and 2.
Transtech, the cancelled follow-up to Beast Machines, was shaping up to be an improvement from lessons learned. The designs looked like they were trying to reel the aesthetic back in and create something that merged Wars/Machines into something less awkward and almost anime inspired. Actual transformations were coming back. Characters from both the G1 era and Beast era were to return to the newly revived post-BM Cybertron. Alas they decided to go a cheaper direction and started working with japan to import instead. The end.
The moral of the story is that if your show ever starts looking like this, it's time to pump the brakes:
