The Mosley Review: Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy: Siege (Season 1)
As a long time fan of the Transformers franchise, I have waited for the day that the story of the war on Cybertron would be told and given a fresh take. It has been attempted many times in television, film and video games. I hated what Michael Bay had done to the franchise and even though they look good, the last great Transformers film was Bumblebee. The television realm has been more consistent in giving a variety of stories that spawned from the war. The original G1 series and Beast Wars are classics, but Transformers Prime has been the best series since. The 2 outstanding video games War For Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron gave you the chance to be in the war and delivered a more intense and grittier vision. Fast forward to now and there has been a void in the franchise. This new trilogy has finally went deeper into the war and shows a new violent and much darker story that you are wholeheartedly invested in. For the first time, the war between the Autobots and Decepticons has been grounded in a realistic and dramatic tone that is consistently surprising and jaw dropping. Thankfully there are no humans involved, but there is a human element to all our beloved characters. The effort taken to give more thematic depth was absolutely astounding. These are the same Transformers you and I grew up with, but they are way more ravaged by war.
The series features outstanding voice over performances all around, but I'm going to focus on all the major standouts. There have been many iterations of the character Bumblebee and most of them have been consistent. This time around, we get a new origin story for him and Joe Zieja breathes new life into the character. I loved that he has no allegiance and he learns to make decisions that would shape his future. Edward Bosco voices Ultra Magnus and he truly gives an great performance and he shows the heart of the character in more ways than one. His interactions with Optimus Prime and other characters, bring forward the heavier themes of war crimes and diplomacy. I loved Rafael Goldstein as Ratchet. He is the medical bot that we all know and he brings home the heart of the character as he cares for all Cybertronians. Linsay Rousseau was fantastic as Elita-1. Her chemistry with Optimus Prime was great and her constant questioning of his decisions, made you think instead of act. Every decision had a cost and she was the reminder of that. Legendary voice actor Peter Cullen originally voiced Optimus Prime for decades and he gave life to the heroic leader we all know and love. His voice is the blueprint and what we hear when we look at the action figures. It is a massive undertaking to live up to that standard and Jake Foushee has done it. Jake sounds like Peter, but makes the character his own and it was everything I hoped for. Optimus has the same leadership strength, but now you actually feel his pain, grief and the weight of every decision he makes in order to protect the Autobots and Cybertron. He takes massive risks and each one doesn't always lead to success without loss and you feel every bit of it. I loved every second of Jake Foushee performance as Optimus and I can't wait see more.
The Decepticons have always been the villains from the beginning and now we see a new reason why and a new side of their philosophy. Frank Todaro was perfectly ambitious and conniving as Starscream. He's the classic version of the character even though he puts his own stamp on him. Shockwave has always been the mad scientist of the Decepticons and Todd Haberkorn takes him to a new level of creepy. We get to the chance to see how evil he is and how dark this series can get through one of Shockwave's unethical and vile experiments. Brook Chalmers was great as Impactor and his arc explores a common story thread, but it was interesting to see it play out in this story. I truly loved Keith Silverstein's performance as Jetfire. There is consistent questioning of morality in the series and I liked that Jetfire is in the middle of it. Even as a proud Decepticon, he struggles with whats right or wrong for Cybertron. A character that has no problems with morality and will not stop at taking out anyone that doesn't follow his command is Megatron. Frank Welker voiced the original and made him the perfect antagonist for Optimus Prime. Jason Marnocha takes the lead as the iconic villain and gives new depth with an outstanding performance. This portrayal of Megatron was more, dare I say, charismatic in the beginning. He has his beliefs on what is good for Cybertron and he would give his life for the sake of saving the Decepticon race, but his methods are cruel. His conversation with a certain Autobot was a standout moment as they share a past and the same objective to end the war, but you see Megatron's shift into a tyrant during that fantastic scene. This is by far the darkest, intimidating and cruel version of the character I've ever seen. I love to see where he goes next and how the conflict between him and Optimus evolves.
Visually this series is gorgeous and has that classic G1 flare and design. The sound is excellent, but I felt there could've been more umpf behind some of the blasters. The sound of them transforming from vehicle to bot and vice versa, is always a pleasing sound to the ears. The score by Alexander Bornstein was excellent and had a Tron like feel to it while delivering his own epic and emotional themes. I'm always open to a fresh take on the Transformers franchise and this was a welcomed darker and more grounded take. The story was fantastic, engaging, dark and I felt every death and the weight of every decision that is made by the hero and villain. If you're a fan of Transformers, classic G1 or new to the franchise, this is a must watch. It has the love for the original series in every frame, but a breath of fresh air the franchise has needed for a long time. The Netflix Original Series is now streaming and I can't recommend it enough.
