Transformers: Earthrise (2020)

 (SPOILER WARNING!!)

I want to pre-empt this review by saying that my thoughts on this show are still relatively raw; I had only just binged the entire series last night, so it's still fresh in my mind as I write this. It's very likely that whatever thoughts I have regarding the characterisation, voice-acting, writing and so forth could change over time.

But as of right now, with the series still fresh in my mind, I can say that "Transformers: Earthrise" is better than "Siege" in some aspects... while also being worse in others. This'll make sense in a moment, trust me.

Plot:

An indeterminate time has past since Optimus tossed the Allspark through the Space Bridge and left Cybertron aboard the Ark with a crew of Autobots. In that time, Elita-One has led the Cybertron bound Autobots, now with help from Jetfire, to continue the fight against the Decepticons, raiding prison camps in order to free any and all Cybertronians trapped there. Megatron, meanwhile, is forced to commit more desperate acts as he has thousands of Cybertronian citizens, including his own legion of Decepticons, siphoned of their Energon to fuel what he claims is Cybertron's Salvation; the Nemesis, a battle cruiser that he intends to use in finding Optimus for dooming the planet.

Speaking of, Optimus and his crew are found by a group of mercenaries, led by Double Dealer, who take Prime and his Autobots to meet the one supposedly responsible for freeing all Cybertronians from slavery; the Quintesson Judge, Deseeus. The Autobots escape and find a Space Bridge, which they believe can lead them to the Allsparks location so that they can come back to Cybertron in order to rectify Optimus' mistake.

Oh, and Scorponok and Sky Lynx are there too. If you think they're footnotes in this review, don't; they're footnotes in the show as well.

Pros:

Once again, I really have to credit the animation team for being able to bring the WfC (War for Cybertron) trilogy designs to life; the character movement is smooth and is astonishingly accurate to how the characters look in the toyline, kibble and all. I'm still not a fan of the whole "gritty battle damage" motif that the designs have, but I can't blame the show seeing as how that was a part of the toyline first. At the very least, the fluent animation allows the action scenes to be more entertaining and not rely too heavily on slow motion in an attempt to hide the limited budget.

"Earthrise" also continues with showcasing Megatron less of a megalomaniacal despot and more of a freedom fighter who was pushed to the breaking point via desperation, which I felt was done effectively well for this series. He still has the traditional character traits you expect out of Megatron, such as the arrogance and tendency for violence; but with how the series presents these traits, it's clear that he is doing so out of hatred and a desperation to survive in the worst case scenario. It's actually a very nuanced take on the old buckethead. His interactions with Elita-One, much like the ones he had with Ultra Magnus in "Siege", tell us a lot about who he is as a character, while also showing the equally valid viewpoint that Elita has regarding how the war has affected the planet.

Cons:

While I praise the series take on Megatron, a lot of the new takes on other characters I felt was a detriment. The main examples I can name are with Scorponok and Sky Lynx, who by pure coincidence are also the biggest figures from the toyline (both in size and price point). Scorponok is rewritten to just be a giant monster who attacks anything that infiltrates his ship, and Sky Lynx goes from a well-meaning narcissist to a power-hungry arsehole who tried to steal the Matrix from Alpha Trion before being banished to the Dead Universe. Given that these two are basically the mascots of the Earthrise portion of this trilogy, one would think they would have a bigger role. Instead, Scorponok shows up for a fight scene that goes on for far too long halfway through the show, and Sky Lynx has his entire personality stripped away and he just exists as another thing for the Autobots to deal with while they're stuck in the Dark Universe.

I also felt that Deseeus was kind of a superfluous addition to the series. Initially, the reveal of the Quintessons being the ones who enslaved the Transformers and Deseeus freeing them from that regime seems like a big deal. And first, it does come across as that. But immediately after, four of the faces are killed off and the remaining one just becomes the default generic bad guy who wants to... actually, what does Deseeus want? What do they gain from telling Optimus that they saved his race from enslavement? Why would the one face that cuts the other ones off want to kill the Cybertronian race? Hell, it seems like the Quintessons enslaving Cybertron is common knowledge as Optimus claims that Megatron's methods are no better than the five-faced robot squids, only for Megatron to deny and continue blaming Prime for Cybertron's slow demise. So, is the existence of Deseeus supposed to be a surprise or not? What does Deseeus add to the overall narrative? At least the sudden appearance of Galvatron in the Dead Universe creates some foreshadowing with the existence of Unicron; Deseeus adds nothing!

And much like with "Siege", the voice acting is really weak in this show. Most of the characters share the exact same gravelly growling voice that makes it hard to distinguish one from the other if you aren't paying attention. But even the ones who have a distinctive voice deliver their lines in such a flat, monotone manner that it makes it hard to believe that the actors are even trying with their line reads. The worst offender in this regard is Jake Foushee as Optimus Prime. Whenever he's just posturing and contemplating the situation at hand, the actor sounds like he's about to fall asleep while reading the lines. And yet, whenever he's trying to be angry, it constantly comes across as him just doing his best not to shit himself in the recording booth. I'm not trying to be harsh to the guy, and I'm sure that he was excited to voice the character. But his delivery of the lines leave a LOT to be desired, instead coming across as a little kid wearing an Optimus Prime voice changer helmet.

Conclusion:

As I said before, there aspects that "Earthrise" improved on in comparison to "Siege"; the dialogue is a bit tighter and less exposition heavy, the action is fun, and Megatron's characterisation continues to be really clever. But some of the other aspects aren't really fixed or improved upon; the voice acting is still wooden, the characterisation of most of the cast is very minimal, and there doesn't fell like there is much of in terms of actual stakes in things. Arriving on Earth? Searching for the Allspark? Creating the Nemesis? Basically just passes by with little impact while superfluous elements take up the runtime. I still won't say that "Earthrise" is an entirely terrible series, but it isn't much of a major improvement over it's predecessor. I'd only recommend to people if they're a Transformers show completionist like me, but not much else. Now there is only Kingdom left to go.

Overall rating: 6/10 (passable).

If you enjoyed reading my review, please be sure to share this on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and leave a comment letting me know what you thought. Also feel free to leave a comment telling me what you thought of "Earthrise". Be sure to also follow me on Twitter; my handle is @MediaHood23. I've recently started rewatching "Beast Wars", so feel free to share the glorious memories with me as I go along.

But until next time; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, signing off!

She-Ra and The Princesses Of Power Season 1 (2019)

 (SPOILER WARNING!!)

With the recent resurgence of 80's franchises still ingrained into current pop cultural ephemera, it should've been no surprise that eventually someone somewhere would get their hands on the "Masters Of The Universe" property. What was surprising, however, was that they decided to forego re-imagining He-Man and instead went for his opposite gender counterpart/twin sister; She-Ra.

One thing I want to get out of the way; I am not all that familiar with the "Masters Of The Universe". I know who He-Man is and I have the general idea of what the stories usually entail. But in regards to larger details such as lore or the large cast of characters, I'm basically a newbie. I might eventually check out the original show, but I still have a lot of other stuff to get through first. At least I can say that the Netflix "anime" (it really isn't) reboot for She-Ra, appropriately named "She-Ra and The Princesses Of Power", got me interested enough to even consider checking it out.

Plot:

The story takes place on Etheria, a planet trapped in the pocket dimension of Despondos. The planet itself is caught in the midst of civil war, waged between the Rebellion lead by Queen Angella of Brightmoon and the Horde, with their leader being the elusive Hordak. One of the Horde's trainees, Adora, finds herself seeing visions of a sword that rests in the middle of the Whispering Woods, thus convinces her best friend Catra to cover for her while she tries to find it. She, however, ends up accosted by Glimmer, the princess of Brightmoon, and her best friend Bow, an archer and self-taught tech master, who tell her that the Horde has caused nothing but chaos and destruction since their arrival. Upon learning of the lies that the Horde has told her regarding their cause, Adora takes the sword and joins with the Rebellion, using the sword to become the legendary warrior known as She-Ra. This, as a consequence, leaves Catra feeling betrayed by her friend, turning the pair into bitter rivals as Catra's feelings of abandonment twists her ideology to make Adora regret ever leaving her behind; especially in the hands of their abusive mentor, Shadow Weaver.

Pros:

I absolutely love this cast of characters. Each of them are distinct and unique from each other, having really funny interactions while still showcasing their own struggles. I came out of this liking Sea Hawk, Mermista and Swift Wind the most; Sea Hawk had that lovable boisterous energy expected from a sea-faring adventurer, Mermista's general "don't give a fuck" attitude was hilarious, and Swift Wind being a narcissistic, smartarse flying horse was a major highlight to off-set Adora's selfless attitude.

But by far my favourite character was easily Entrapta.

This character was such a breath of fresh air, as she is basically a twist on the "mad scientist" archetype. She has an obsession with ANYTHING tech related, but never does any of her experiments out of malice or to hurt anyone; it's simply for the sake of curiosity and scientific discovery. She can be a bit aloof or oblivious at times, but that's primarily because she is written as representation of someone on the autism spectrum. And speaking as someone with autism, I can really appreciate that they don't just simply make her an all-knowing savant of information; she has weird fixations (such as only eating tiny foods and fizzy drinks) and isn't very good at social interactions, both of which are also common with those on the spectrum.

Besides, she's also fucking hilarious!

In this house, we stan Entrapta.

But of course, the heroes are only ever as good as their villains. And thankfully, this show delivers on that as well.

Catra made for a great foil for Adora, primarily because of how the show established their friendship very early on. We see not only her descent into pure anger and the lengths she'll go to in order to beat Adora, but also her cunning and intellect which sells her as a credible threat. The dance between her and Adora in "Princess Prom" highlights the source of their main conflict; Catra showcasing her guile and her bitterness, while Adora shows he resolve and determination to keep fighting. And at the heart of it all, you remember how these two treated each other at the start; as the best of friends who swore to always stand side by side. Thus, it creates a cycle of tragedy when you fully understand why Catra goes to such extremes to prove herself.

Shadow Weaver, formally known as Light Spinner, has to be one of the most detestable bitches I have ever come across in animation. And unlike other shows I dislike where their unintentional unlikability is played for laughs, Shadow Weaver's despicable attitude was recognised as damaging to people. She's manipulative, cruel, callous, selfish, and worst of all, abusive towards her disciples, especially Catra. Thus, during the finale, it is extremely cathartic to see her lose all of her power when Catra kicks her ass and has Shadow Weaver locked away in a cell. If anything, what Catra did to her was too merciful in comparison to what Shadow Weaver had put her through for years.

Scorpia might actually tie with Entrapta as my favourite character, namely because she isn't really a villain like the rest of the Horde. While Catra wants beat Adora and prove she is stronger, and Shadow Weaver is manipulating things so that she stays in a position of power, all Scorpia wants to do is make friends in the Horde. That's it. She just loves making people like Catra happy and stays cheery and optimistic even in the most dire of situations. She kind of reminds me of Kronk from "Emperor's New Groove", in a way; a big, burly doofus with endless charm and charisma. She may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'll be damned if she isn't really funny.

The animation and action scenes are amazing. It's bright, colourful and bursting with a lot of energy. This is helped by how each character has a unique and fun fighting style. Mermista can control water and fuse her legs together to form a mermaid tail; Perfuma can manipulate plant life; Glimmer teleports; Frosta has ice powers; Bow has his trick arrows; Adora uses She-Ra; Entrapta has hair that can move on its own; I just love the wide variety that these characters have, as it gives the action scenes much more appeal. And because time had been spent in getting to know these people, we thus care when something terrible happens; in an episode where the princesses infiltrate the Fright Zone for a rescue mission, Entrapta is believed by the princesses to have been killed. It's shown later that she's fine, but for a moment I actually felt bad that my favourite character was seemingly killed off after a short amount of time.

Cons:

In all honesty, I never really cared about Hordak in this show. And before anyone starts saying anything about how the character changed over the course of the series, let me get this out of the way; I know. I am fully aware of how Hordak's character evolved over the course of the show. But I am not analysing Hordak from the perspective of the entire series; I am looking at his character strictly from how he is portrayed in the first season. And in the first season, Hordak is not the most interesting of villains. For much of it, he spends his time in his inner sanctum performing experiments (eventually recruiting Entrapta to help) while everyone else in the Horde is actually waging the war. Again, this is solely what we see of him in the first season; he does become more active in other seasons, especially in regards to his interactions with Entrapta. But as is, Hordak was one of the weaker elements in this season for me with how he was just kind of generic in his characterisation.

And speaking of weaker elements;

I don't actively dislike Frosta or Perfuma, but I personally felt they had the weakest characterisation out of the princesses. Initially, Frosta seemed to be a more serious character who doesn't tolerate disrespect, which could've made for funny interactions with more energetic characters like Sea Hawk or Bow. But as soon as we see her join the alliance, she's suddenly acting just like a loud kid who loves beating up Horde soldiers. It's kind of implied that she's enjoying her newfound freedom due to being brought up as a stoned faced princess, but this is otherwise kind of brought up out of nowhere to force a sibling dynamic between her and Glimmer. As for Perfuma, she did kind of have a bit of the stereotypical "airhead blonde" persona at first before using her botanokinesis to fight back against the Horde and join the Princess Alliance. She wasn't overly annoying or anything, but I just felt that her characterisation wasn't as well developed as the others. Again, this is simply from the perspective of the first season; they do get better in the rest of the show.

And while I can praise the characterisation for a good chunk of the cast and I really enjoyed the action and music, there wasn't really much in terms of world-building. The Best Friend Squad (meaning Adora, Glimmer, and Bow) visit a bunch of different places like the labyrinthian Crypto Castle in Dryl (Entrapta's home) and the massive ocean kingdom of Salineas (Mermista's home), but we don't really get much in terms of Etherian lore or backstory for the different kingdoms on Etheria. Scorpia is revealed to be a princess who joined the Horde after her kingdom was given to Hordak to create the Fright Zone, but we don't get any real explanation about her backstory or why her Runestone, the Black Garnet, was given to over to the Horde in the first place. I think it was implied that either it was stolen or Scorpia's people just really liked Hordak. But either way, it is very minimal in regards to actually giving organic lore and history to Etheria. The most we really get as concrete details is with Entrapta studying the technology of the First Ones, the first inhabitants to make settlement on Etheria, but that's more of a plot device as opposed to building a major history for the planet. I'm not asking for a three hour history lesson about Etherian politics, but a little bit of backstory for some of these kingdoms would really help give the setting more life and flavour.

Conclusion:

Lack of world-building aside, the few issues I have with this show are little nit-picks. I really enjoyed watching these characters on their adventures and the emotional tension between Adora and Catra is what carried a lot of the season for me, which is executed excellently through the performances from Aimee Carrero as Adora and AJ Michalka as Catra. Bring this together with great music, animation and voice acting from the rest of the cast, and you have an entertaining and solid first season.

Overall rating: 8 out of 10 (excellent).

I would like to thank everyone who took a part in the voting poll for this review. If anyone else reading would like to partake in other polls for what to review next or just to follow me on Twitter, then my handle is @MediaHood23; I post tweets every couple of days or so. Feel free to leave a comment telling me what you thought of "She-Ra and The Princesses Of Power", and be sure to share this on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) to anyone else who may have watched the series. Any form of support would be greatly appreciated.

But until next time; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, signing off!