Finished binging Earthspark yesterday and have compiled my thoughts on it.

It’s so incredibly charming and sweet, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. The animation was beautiful, the characters were fun and entertaining, and the episodes didn’t feel like they dragged or were struggling for a narrative. The silliness and playfulness of the story didn’t get cringy, and it’s very clear the writing team were having fun. Furthermore, I loved that the narrative structure was light and enjoyable, and wasn’t heavy on exposition or dodging setup/pay off arcs with the excuse “It’s a Kids Show.” For lack of better examples it reminded me heavily of shows like MLP:FiM or Bluey; A sweet little story with a contemporary look at friendship and family structures, the problems, highs and lows they can have, with each episode ending in a lesson learnt. Likewise, Earthspark added elements to engage an older audience with elements of lore, and the relationships and struggles of the adults, that are adult in nature (raising children, trying to connect with said children as they’re growing up, post-war mum, etc.) Earthspark also seems to add both the adult and the youth elements to the stories without suffering from tonal dissonance imo, unlike other TF media (looking at you TFP.) Combined with such wonderful pieces of representation and a good cast of VA’s it’s a great piece of TF media so far. 

This is my first Transformer’s media I get to enjoy upon release being so new to this fandom and it’s been an enjoyable experience thus far. Earthspark clearly has a strong G1 connection, this much was made clear with the trailers, and I was worried it was going to be hard to get into without having watched G1 stuff beyond the movie. There were homages and Easter eggs there for the long time fans as I found out while watching with my friend who got me into Transformers, but it wasn’t so full of these things that it felt alienating. I could easily enjoy the story without having to stop and go to the wiki to figure out wtf they were referring to. The G1 tie in does have me hoping we’ll get to see characters such as Ratchet and Hot Rod (or Rodimus, who knows) but we’ll see what future episodes will bring. I would love to see Rung in this story because he really would work well, but I have a better chance of being hit by lightning.  Everything is spoiler past this point, read at own risk ...

The most compelling narrative line in Earthspark for me was the relationship between Megatron and Dot. It’s evident that she’s the reason he bounced from Decepticon to Autobot, or more dropped the tyrant to be the hero. Their relationship was exciting to see and felt natural, this is a pair with a past and she’s not ashamed of it, nor he. I’m very excited and hopeful to see this explored more as it’s a side to Megatron I don’t think has been used in TF media. Speaking of Megatron, he is to me the most compelling of the original cast and seems to be the most dimensional. He’s clearly caring about Dot (and presumably her children), he doesn’t hesitate to step up to the role of mentor and guardian for the Terrans, and seems to be proud to do so when he does. He cares, he seems to really care, about his own kind and the relationship between Cybertronians and human beings. He also hates GHOST and their agenda, and thoroughly disagrees with Optimus’ choice to align with them, but respects Optimus enough to not only follow him, but have his back. Both he and Optimus conflict, and it becomes a sticking point at times, but not enough to cause a rift anew. Megatron doesn’t want he or other Cybertronians to be feared by humans, which is an interesting change of pace for the former warlord. It’s not quite the reformed MTMTE Megatron (and fair enough, that’s a bit dark for a G/PG show) but I can certainly see that poet-come-activist in this version of Megatron. If Earthspark expands on why the war happened in the first place, I’m keen to learn of Megatron’s origins in it.  I didn’t hate this version of Optimus, and at first I was meh about him, but come the final episode I want to know his backstory too. This version of Optimus is desperate to do right by his people and the people of Earth as to him he and the other Cybertronains are guests to the planet. Much like Megatron, Optimus knows they have to be allies with humans in order to live on the planet as they cannot return to Cybertron. However unlike Megatron, Optimus seems to trust the humans and GHOST in an almost desperate way. He doesn’t fully trust them, keeping the Terran’s and Bumblebee hidden from them, but he’s seems at a loss as to what else to do. Or perhaps feels he owes a debt to them? It hasn’t been made clear yet. He rounds up and imprisons ‘Cons to “keep the peace”, an act that clearly agitates Megatron, and OP isn’t terribly keen on either (as we see when he lets the Cassettecons go and agrees Megatron has a point) but he doesn’t stop doing it either. This is a very beaten and defeated OP from what I can see. The time he truly lights up and becomes that Prime we all know and love is when he’s around the Terrans and sees a future via them and their connection with the Malto kids.

 The Terrans, Twitch and Thrash are fucking adorable, and so are the Malto kids Robby and Mo. They’re believably youthful and have convincing conflicts young people deal with. The Terran’s aren’t exempt from this and are written not as Cybertronians learning to be human, but Cybertronians experiencing what it is to be human. Robby is convincing as a young teen character, Mo is a good tween, and Twitch and Thrash have this wonderful innocence and naïveté that isn’t obnoxious and woks well as a plot device. They’re also distinctively their own characters which is good to see. The addition of the three new Terrans, Hashtag (really?) Jawbreaker and Nightshade at the end is a cool move. Expanding the cast and the family. Again, hopefully this means we’ll see more of the bots and cons added to, but wait and see. 

Alex and Bumblebee are just a goddamn treat. Bee clearly feels he’s above this, and Alex is just happy to be involved with his family. Making him a doctor of history is a good touch as the lore exposition that comes from him seems more natural. Though I am interested to know how he knows about the Thirteen Primes.  Watching Bee be a mentor again is very enjoyable. RiD15 wasn’t terrible with this aspect, in fact imo it was the only redeeming thing about RiD15. TFE Bee has a personality that is more dimensional that some of his predecessors and is a good in between from the more elder and experienced Cybertronians to the new and learning Terrans. He’s not arrogant with age and wisdom making him disconnected from the world he’s now part of, but he feels he’s a little more important than a mere mentor.  Is it really a Soundwave/Megatron divorce arc when it was a decoy all along? Does Starscream hate humans in this story, or just pissy at Megatron for Reasons™, or perhaps it’s something else entirely. (Maybe wanting to keep the bots and Megs stranded on Earth?) Either way that reveal at the end had me screaming and that they brought back Steve Blum to voice the goddamn diva snake is a fucking blessing. I could only hear Knockout in the drama teacher. It’s cruel we get Daran Norris back in a TF show and he’s not Knockout. AND Steve Blum is back as Starscream. Fucking evil move.

Mandroid is a peak Comic Book™ type villain that adds some threat to the cast but not a sense of doom and foreboding. However he did hurt Megs, so maybe he’s something to be concerned about. His connection with Alex is odd, but may have some fun pay off.  I hope that they go with a guest bot or con every other episode so the cast can be diverse and expanded without being overwhelming. I can see this being achieved with the new Terrans, much like Wheeljack meeting Twitch. I can see characters like Prowl and Ratchet showing up to help the young ones, or Hot Rod coming in with Arcee to be an antagoniser. As with everyone there are characters I’d love to see, Drift and Rung would actually work in this story line very well, and Ultra Magnus would be a fun in-between of Megatron and Optimus. But the show can only do so much. 

All in all I really love TFE and have high hopes for it. It has extreme potential as a piece of TF media and I hope the best for it going forward!  Also I am very normal about Megatron, his voice and how he treats these characters and am totally not jealous of Dot, not at all. K Thnx Bye!