History WesternAnimation / BeastMachines

''Beast Machines'' was the followup cartoon and toyline to ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''; like its predecessor, it was animated entirely in {{CGI}} by Creator/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.

The story opens with Optimus Primal in his original ''Beast Wars'' body, awakening on Cybertron to find the planet deserted and himself being pursued by Vehicons, a strange race of sparkless Transformers under the control of Megatron, who, as it's further revealed, has somehow managed to conquer Cybertron. Unable to transform, Optimus runs, and manages to find some of his fellow surviving Maximals. Deep beneath the surface of Cybertron, they manage to find the Oracle supercomputer, which reformats them into 'technorganic' beings, a perfect blend of biological and technological parts. From then on, they embark on a mission to restore organic life to Cybertron and bring down Megatron.

** Waspinator was last seen living a life of luxury with the neanderthals on prehistoric Earth, "Waspinator happy at last." [[spoiler: Except the pre-humans got sick of him and tossed him out, forcing him to take the slow way back to Cybertron, where he was captured and spark-extracted by Megatron with the rest of the population.]]

%%* ABoyAndHisX: Nightscream and Noble Have this relationship after [[spoiler: Megatron's consciousness exits Noble.]]

* AntiClimax: Subverted. In "Fallout" after his vision at the start of the episode transforms to robot mode to seemingly engage Megatron and Tankor in a big climatic duel, [[spoiler: than sees Megatron and Tankor being atomized by the Plasma Energy Chamber before he can even touch them]]. We then see the ''real'' climax: [[spoiler: Optimus using his powers to save Cybertron and deactivate all the drones]].

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: [[spoiler: [[PowerCouple Blackarachnia and Silverbolt]] of all people fall under this after he's rescued from Megatron's control. Due to his [[TraumaSurvivor hangups]] from being brainwashed their relationship is in a rocky place, but despite arguing they're also shown supporting each other and expressing flashes of their old romantic rhythm.]]

* BittersweetEnding: The ending of the series:[[spoiler:[[TheHeroDies Optimus]] sacrifices his life to stop [[BigBad Megatron]], reformatting Cybertron. After both are destroyed, the other Maximals wake up in a technorganic Cybertron. The freed Transformers, with their sparks once again in their bodies, run over the horizon, ready to assume control of the newly technorganic Cybertron.]]

* [[spoiler: Megatron's [[FamousLastWords final line]] is a BigNo.]]

* ABoyAndHisX: Nightscream and Noble Have this relationship after [[spoiler: Megatron's consciousness exits Noble.]]

The tone and feel of the story were substantially different to ''Beast Wars''. Where ''Wars'' followed small groups of Maximals and Predacons through a sometimes serious, sometimes tongue-in-cheek (and sometimes both) battle on prehistoric Earth, ''Machines'' took a small group of severely outnumbered Maximals who were forced to rely on stealth and guerilla warfare. Noted ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' comic writer SimonFurman has complained that ''Beast Machines'' was '[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids too]] [[DarkerAndEdgier dark]]' [[AnimationAgeGhetto for a children's cartoon]]. And when you see some of Simon Furman's work... too dark for ''him'' is impressive.

** Lest you forget the greatest one of all: [[spoiler: Megatron's [[FamousLastWords Famous Last Word]]. Yes, it's a BigNo]].
--->'''Megatron:'''[[spoiler: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ''(Falls into the core and dies)'']]

* SpeedStripes: Done in an unusual way, using three-dimensional speed lines. In many cases, [[SpecialEffectFailure the background could be glimpsed in gaps between them.]]

* SpeedStripes: The show did this in an unusual way, using three-dimensional speed lines. In many cases, the background could be glimpsed in gaps between them.

* FamousLastWords: Optimus says, "The Great Transformation awaits. Prepare to be reformatted," followed by a BigNo from Megatron as [[spoiler:they fall into the technorganic core, thereby reformatting Cybertron]].

* FamilyFriendlyFirearms: Unlike Beast Wars, actual guns and missiles were banned from Beast Machines, probably at the insistence of Fox Kids. So the Maximals fought with various types of energy projection and swords (in Cheetor's case), while the Vehicons had in-built weapons. Averted in the final episode as Optimal Megatron fires missiles at Optimus Primal several times.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Optimus gets a ''lot'' of practice at this.

* HappyEndingOverride: For WesternAnimation/BeastWars. So the Maximals were heading back to Cybertron with Megatron chained to the roof of their Autobot shuttle, right? Turns out [[spoiler: Megatron broke free during the trip, falling into the time vortex and ending up sometime in Cybertron's past. By the time the Maximals arrive home Megatron has conquered the planet with his Vehicon armies, the Transformers are on the verge of extinction, and the Maximals are quickly shot down and infected with his anti-transformation virus.]]

* HatePlague: The Maximals have some trouble with a mutation of the original in "A Wolf in the Fold."

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: In Part 1 of the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:Rattrap says this word-for-word when Cheetor and Optimus Primal question his actions after Rattrap launches Botanica into an escape pod to save her life]].

** Optimus suffers this in the first season finale. His final scene in "The Catalyst" sees him concerned that "[[spoiler:the Oracle has been tampered with]]." But in "End of the Line," he [[spoiler:trusts what he ''thinks'' is an Oracle vision without question]]. At the very least, Cheetor calls him out on this.

* BittersweetEnding: The ending of the series:[[spoiler:[[TheHeroDies Optimus]] sacrifices his life to stop [[BigBad Megatron]], reformating Cybertron. After both are destroyed, the other Maximals wake up in a technorganic Cybertron. The freed Transformers, with their sparks once again in their bodies, run over the horizon, ready to assume control of the newly technorganic Cybertron.]]

''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 scrapping a planned SequelSeries named ''[[TransformersTransTech Transtech]]'' in favor of dubbing ''Anime/TransformersRobotsInDisguise''. However, with the subsequent release of the (generally lower-quality) Anime/UnicronTrilogy as well as readier access to Japanese post-[[Franchise/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 favorably, though it's hardly universal.

* HatePlague: The Maximals have some trouble with a mutation of the original.

* DeathEqualsRedemption: In "Fallout" [[spoiler:Rhinox's spark ]] expressed regret over his recent actions.