History WesternAnimation / BeastMachines

* [[spoiler:HatePlague]

** Played straight in the very same episode with Jetstorm, [[spoiler: who refers to himself as "the handsome devil with the silver wings."]]
* [[spoiler:HatePlague]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never do find out what happens to [[spoiler: Strika and Obsidian after Cheetor shoots them into orbit.]] Could double as a BolivianArmyEnding, but YMMV.

* LargeHam: Jetstorm could give Inferno ''and'' Megatron a run for their money in the ham department.

** In "Fallout," Rattrap pushes [[spoiler: Rhinox/Tankor]]'s charred remains over. ''Chuckling after he does it.'' Skips WhatTheHellHero and becomes absolutely horrifying when you remember that ''[[spoiler: Rhinox was Rattrap's best friend. Rattrap watched his pal disintegrate with a smile on his face.]]''

** BigBad: Megatron
** TheDragon: Jetstorm, later Thrust and then [[CoDragons Obsidian and Strika]]

** TheDarkChick: Thrust

** In "Fallout," Rattrap pushes [[spoiler: Rhinox/Tankor]]'s charred remains over. ''Smirking while he does it.'' Skips WhatTheHellHero and becomes absolutely horrifying when you remember that ''[[spoiler: Rhinox was Rattrap's best friend. Rattrap watched his pal disintegrate with a smile on his face.]]''
** Hell, Beast Machines is ''made'' of this trope. The kicker? [[spoiler: At the end of season one, Optimus calls upon the energies of Cybertron in a last-ditch attack against Megatron, knowing full well that everything mechanical on Cybertron will be annihilated.]] His response? "If this is the Will of the Allspark, so be it!" [[spoiler: Thankfully, the Allspark calls him out on it and allows him to redeem himself.]]
* XanatosGambit: Inverted near the finale, when the Maximals take over Megatron's base. The base's shield cuts Botanica off from the planet's organic core, causing her to wilt. If they drop the shield, Megatron's drones will overrun them. If they don't drop the shield, Botanica will die. Either way they lose.

* TookALevelInBadass: Cheetor, as part of his promotion from TheChick in ''BeastWars'' to TheLancer in ''BeastMachines.''

* EvilPlan: Megatron's taken over the planet before the first episode. Thus his evil plan is to finish off the heroes.

** TheLancer: Cheetor (promoted from TheChick / TheBumblebee in Beast Wars. Becomes TheHero at the end)

''Beast Machines'' was the followup cartoon and toyline to ''BeastWars''; like its predecessor, it was animated entirely in {{CGI}} by MainframeEntertainment but featured a massive change to the production and writing staff. It begins a new story with the characters of ''Beast Wars'' but in general is not considered a continuous storyline.

* AlwaysNight: Both ''BeastWars'' and this series established Cybertron being in orbit of a star, but this trope was rarely averted. Justified in that the Maximals (now as LaResistance) can't risk being easily spotted.

* ArtEvolution: A step up even from the last few episodes of BeastWars, and [[DullSurprise Energon's CGI]] made it look even better in hindsight.

* PlotTumour: Sparks, an interesting and occasionally important aspect of the ''Transformers'' [[{{Mythology}} mythos]], introduced in ''BeastWars'', ends up being central to the plot of ''Beast Machines''.

''Beast Machines'' tried to tackle such concepts as loyalty, individuality, the merits of freedom vs. chaos, and the challenges of living in an increasingly technological society. This over-ambitious aim, coupled with the ContinuityLockout and the radical departure in tone from its predecessor, as well as some ''massive'' departure from the ''Beast Wars'''s characterizations in some cases, turned this show into one of the most hated ''Transformers'' incarnations of all time when it aired; the sheer backlash over it at the time led to Hasbro [[WhatCouldHaveBeen scrapping]] a planned SequelSeries named ''[[TransformersTransTech Transtech]]'' in favor of dubbing ''TransformersRobotsInDisguise''. However, with the subsequent release of the UnicronTrilogy as well as readier access to Japanese post-[[TransformersGeneration1 G1]] series, coupled with the gap from the Beast Wars continuity and new fans watching it as a work of its own; ''Beast Machines'' is now looked upon somewhat more favourably.

* AndIMustScream: Rhinox says that he was trapped inside Tankor, fully aware of what was going on but unable to reach the surface and communicate. Silverbolt indicates that he was aware of what Jetstorm was doing as well.
--> '''Rhinox''': ''Trapped! Abandoned!''

* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: In ''BeastWars'', Rhinox was ThePhilosopher, a BigGuy NavelGazing GentleGiant. In ''BeastMachines'', he's corrupted and becomes a KnightTemplar villain.

* HowDoIShotWeb: All the Maximals in the sequel series had significant difficulty adapting to being biomechanical. For example, Rattrap can't learn to transform even after Nightscream's addition to the team.

* MatrixRainingCode

The toys were a mixed bag. The Vehicons had a living machine theme, and the toys were generally pretty good, but [[ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy looked nothing like the characters on screen]]. The Maximals aimed for a technological animal feel, but were of mixed quality and exceedingly show-inaccurate. Better quality, show-accurate toys were later released as part of the ''[[TransformersRobotsInDisguise Robots in Disguise]]'' line.