History YMMV / BeastWars

* UncannyValley:

** In his very last words of the entire series, Rattrap muses with a smirk, "And you know what the best part is? We don't have to see Megatron's ugly butt again 'till we get back to Cybertron!" [[WesternAnimation/BeastMachines How right you are, Rattrap.]] [[CrapsackWorld How right you are.]]

---> '''Optimus''': Surrender, Megatron! You're trapped!\\
'''Megatron''': ''(while '''wiggling his butt''')'' No! You shall not defeat me!

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: For some fans, the long-running Vok subplot turned into this after the first season. In the first season, there was always a sense of awe and mystery whenever the aliens and their influence over the planet were involved. Not to mention the Vok story gave Beast Wars some of its most epic moments, from the floating island down to their planet-buster in the season finale. Come season two, the aliens make their presence known again by [[spoiler: kidnapping Tigatron and Airazor]] and unleashing their Metalhunter ship, but beyond that, the Vok still don't show their faces and the audience doesn't really learn anything new about the aliens. In the third season, the Vok finally make themselves known and [[spoiler: send their emissary Tigerhawk to Earth to deal with Megatron and defeat all the Predacons]]. But afterwards, they [[spoiler: both kill and get killed by Tarantulas in an accidental MurderSuicide despite allegedly being cosmic beings strong enough to CurbStomp the entire Predacon team but yet can't [[ForgotAboutHisPowers stand up to Tarantulas' cyber-venom]]]]. So even though the Vok were implied to have created much of what the Maximals and Predacons encountered on earth(Stonehenge, the floating island, etc.), in addition to being the [[OverArchingVillain overarching villains]] of the show, some fans, to this day, consider the Vok subplot to be one story in Beast Wars which started out good but fizzled out towards the end and never lived up to its full potential.

* DryDockedShip: One interpretation towards Megatron and Dinobot's relationship was that they broke up by the start of the series, which could explain some of the latter's behavior towards him (such as him repeatedly cloning Dinobot, which could be seen as him being unable to get over his absence).

** "[[Characters/BeastWarsMegatron Megatron]]" is a self-proclaimed tyrant and would-be GalacticConqueror. A [[BadBoss user and abuser of his followers]], Megatron divides the world into enemies and pawns, killing or enslaving the former, and ruthlessly exploiting the latter. His more notable crimes include extracting half of Rampage's spark, placing it in a vise, and using it to torture Rampage into submission; attempting to order Dinobot to kill Quickstrike, one of Megatron's relatively more loyal soldiers, after Quickstrike lost to Dinobot in a sort of re-entrance exam into the Predacons; an aborted genocide of humanity's common ancestor; attempting to rewrite all of his history by killing the original Optimus Prime; and, finally, sacrificing all his remaining troops in order to gain control of the Nemesis and set out to overrun the galaxy. His defeat doesn't stop him either--when he returns in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' he's gotten worse, picking up a serious [[AGodAmI god complex]] along the way. Seizing control of Cybertron, Megatron [[YourSoulIsMine extracts the sparks]] from everyone on the planet, reducing them to [[SoullessShell mindless drones]]. Acquiring a hatred of all organic life, Megatron tries to [[OmnicidalManiac scrub Cybertron clean of it]], resulting in the near-destruction of all life, robotic and organic, on his home planet when his last mad grasp for power finally fails.

** [[EvilGenius Tarantulas]] is a schemer and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabber]] second-to-none. Planted as TheMole in Megatron's operation by the Predacon Secret Police, Tarantulas is a cackling MadScientist, who enjoys performing gruesome experiments on his victims, and eating anything or anyone he catches in his giant webs, organic or robotic; he admits to enjoying the act itself more than the meal. He brainwashes several Maximal protoforms into becoming Predacons, most notably Blackarachnia and Inferno, and eventually reveals that he hopes to [[TheStarscream usurp control of the team]] from Megatron. Tarantulas later exploits and {{Mind Rape}}s Blackarachnia, leaving her with a paranoid terror of him, and later swears a vendetta against her, promising to hunt the other spider down and kill her for daring to defy him. He tries to destroy the Ark, which would [[TimeCrash create a time paradox]] and lead to the extinction of the Transformers as a species. Ultimately betraying both sides, Tarantulas is revealed to be descended from neither Autobot nor Decepticon, and he attempts to use alien technology to [[OmnicidalManiac wipe out all factions]], swearing that when he's done with his own species, he will return and commit genocide against the aliens themselves. Void of loyalty or conscience, Tarantulas makes even his own nominal allies uneasy, a fact that he is downright proud of.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Waspinator. When the series started, he was a semi-skilled fighter that only stood out because of his unique speech patterns. The writers generally disliked him, but were required to use him, so they purposefully made him the ButtMonkey of the series. This comedic take struck a chord with fans and the writers soon warmed up to the character, as well. Waspinator was to be offed in the second season to make room for new characters, but was spared due to his popularity. He gets the last line in the show [[spoiler: and even makes it to the end of the sequel series ''Beast Machines'']]. To top it off, he was the second ''BW'' cast member to appear in the Transformers Hall of Fame.
** Of the toy-only characters who didn't make it into the show, Razorbeast is quite popular with fans. This is largely due to Simon Furman's usage of him in IDW's ''Beast Wars'' comics, where he's portrayed as a snarky and stern yet kind-hearted GuileHero. (And the fact that [[Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir Will Smith was looking for him since October]].)
** Particularly among female fans, Terrorsaur seems to be oddly popular, considering that he died early on and he rarely got any focus. It likely owes to him being TheStarscream, and his somewhat effeminate character design.
** [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rubber_Ducky Megatron's rubber ducky]]. When his Masterpiece toy come out, many fans were upset it did not include a rubber ducky accessory (nor has ''any'' Megatron toy to date).

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: In the third season, the writers focused on Blackarachnia's redemption arc and while she was meant to be rooted for, there were several factors that worked against her and she didn't quite come off as a fully sympathetic character. For one, Blackarachnia complained how the Maximals didn't trust her but she had spent two seasons attacking the Maximals and unlike Dinobot, she had much more bad blood with them. Plus, she had been the one who had (unintentionally) led Megatron to the Ark in the first place in a quest to get the power of the Ark for herself, allowing Megatron a chance to try to assassinate Optimus Prime and create a timestorm so when she turned against Megatron out of self-preservation, she didn't build a strong foundation of trust with the Maximals to begin with. There was also the fact that she didn't act any differently under the Maximals than she did Megatron, secretly stealing equipment from the ship and the TMII driver Depth Charge had thrown into the lava to work her own agenda in secrecy. And despite some mistrust between her and the Maximals, they did make some attempts to give her a chance because in "Proving Grounds," Rattrap relented and allowed Silverbolt to go retrieve Blackarachnia without snitching on them, despite his dislike for her. At the end of the episode, Optimus tells Blackarachnia that the choice to be reprogrammed into a Maximal was her choice alone.\\
\\
Later on in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'', Blackarachnia would attack Rattrap and call him a traitor when he made a weapons deal with Megatron, despite being a former Predacon herself and having an opportunity to reach out to Rattrap and understand what drove him to such lengths. She also forcibly changes [[spoiler: Jetstorm]] back into Silverbolt despite expecting characters like Silverbolt and Optimus to give her the chance to make her own choices. Given all the things that have happened and will happen in the sequel series, Blackarachnia in the third season of Beast Wars can come off as less of a sympathetic [[AntiHero Anti-Heroine]] trying to find her place in life and more of a whiny, entitled hypocrite who's not willing to extend to others the same chances and opportunities based on free will and individual sovereignty that she expects to receive herself.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** In his very last words of the entire series, Rattrap muses with a smirk, "And you know what the best part is? We don't have to see Megatron's ugly butt again 'till we get back to Cybertron!" [[WesternAnimation/BeastMachines How right you are, Rattrap.]] [[CrapsackWorld How right you are.]]
** Rhinox laughing off his brief stint of being reprogrammed into a Predacon, and the other Maximals laughing it off with him (except former Predacon Dinobot) becomes a lot less funny [[spoiler:after ''Beast Machines'', where both he and Silverbolt are reprogrammed as evil Vehicons, which also makes it harder not to wince at Silverbolt's own NiceGuy personality in this series]].

* HarsherInHindsight: In "Possessed", Starscream falsely claims that his original body was destroyed while defending Galvatron from Unicron. [[spoiler:This would be his fate in the later series, ''Anime/TransformersArmada'']].

** Tarantulas crosses this when [[spoiler: He attempts to blow up the Ark, which would have wiped out all the Autobots, Decepticons and their descendants. It's also implied that he did this so that his master [[GodOfEvil Unicron]] would be able to destroy Cybertron without difficulty]].

** Despite being a fairly charismatic and silver-tongued character, Megatron himself gets very little love in-canon. While it goes without saying that the Maximals despise him, when it comes to his own Predacon troops, Megatron has almost little to no grassroots support. In the pilot, Dinobot made no secret of the fact that he considered Megatron an incompetent leader as soon as they landed on earth and challenged him for leadership of the Predacons. Terrorsaur always tries to overthrow him whenever the opportunity presents itself. Waspinator is always complaining about the menial labor that Megatron gives him. Both Tarantulas and Blackarachnia constantly work to undermine him through more devious and underhanded schemes. Quickstrike can always be persuaded to turn against Megatron through the persuasions of a more charismatic and intelligent 'bot like Tarantulas. Rampage absolutely hates his guts and would kill him brutally in an instant if not for the fact that Megatron held part of his spark as leverage. [[spoiler: Dinobot II, though loyal intailly, turns on Megatron in the finale]]. It can also be argued that Inferno (one of Megatron's loyalest troops) isn't really of sound mind, considering how scrambled his circuits were after scanning an ant beast mode, and Tarantulas tampering with his core programming. Even Predacons in a position of power back on Cybertron such as the Tripredacus Council consider Megatron a rogue and a nuisance who needs to be brought to heel and the agent they sent, Ravage himself, has no respect for Megatron or his pretensions (he ONLY sides with Megatron once Megatron presents him with an offer too good to pass up). Of all the characters on the show, only Scorponok can be considered the only character of (relatively) sound mind who genuinely likes Megatron. Out-of-universe, however, Megatron is beloved by the Transformers fanbase and even after several years of new TF reboots, BW Megatron is still considered THE best incarnation of Megatron by a lot of fans no matter how much he's universally disliked in the show itself.

%%** Rattrap and Dinobot's [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple whole thing]] has inspired many a slashfic.

--> '''Optimus''': Surrender, Megatron! You're trapped!
--> '''Megatron''': ''(while '''wiggling his butt''')'' No! You shall not defeat me!

** Rattrap and Dinobot's [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple whole thing]] has inspired many a slashfic. One example is [[https://youtu.be/o4b-0Mj2U1w?t=80 a scene from "The Low Road"]] where Dinobot bends over and Rattrap flings a bean over to him, directly hitting his ass and sending him flying.

** Rattrap and Dinobot's [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple whole thing]] has inspired many a slashfic.

** In "Call of the Wild", Terrorsaur jokingly states, "Hunting from the air with automatic weapons—now ''that's'' a sport!" Some took note of this later because of a few prominent [[UsefulNotes/SarahPalin Republican]] [[UsefulNotes/RickPerry Governors]] would come to echo this sentiment, though OlderThanTheyThink can also apply.

* TheUntwist: You probably figured out [[spoiler:the planet is Earth]] one full season before the characters did.

** [[Characters/BeastWarsMegatron Megatron]] is a self-proclaimed tyrant and would-be GalacticConqueror. A [[BadBoss user and abuser of his followers]], Megatron divides the world into enemies and pawns, killing or enslaving the former, and ruthlessly exploiting the latter. His more notable crimes include extracting half of Rampage's spark, placing it in a vise, and using it to torture Rampage into submission; attempting to order Dinobot to kill Quickstrike, one of Megatron's relatively more loyal soldiers, after Quickstrike lost to Dinobot in a sort of re-entrance exam into the Predacons; an aborted genocide of humanity's common ancestor; attempting to rewrite all of his history by killing the original Optimus Prime; and, finally, sacrificing all his remaining troops in order to gain control of the Nemesis and set out to overrun the galaxy. His defeat doesn't stop him either--when he returns in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' he's gotten worse, picking up a serious [[AGodAmI god complex]] along the way. Seizing control of Cybertron, Megatron [[YourSoulIsMine extracts the sparks]] from everyone on the planet, reducing them to [[SoullessShell mindless drones]]. Acquiring a hatred of all organic life, Megatron tries to [[OmnicidalManiac scrub Cybertron clean of it]], resulting in the near-destruction of all life, robotic and organic, on his home planet when his last mad grasp for power finally fails.

** [[Characters/BeastWarsMegatron Megatron]] is a self-proclaimed tyrant and would-be GalacticConqueror, who named himself after his world's equivalent of TheAntichrist. A [[BadBoss user and abuser of his followers]], Megatron divides the world into enemies and pawns, killing or enslaving the former, and ruthlessly exploiting the latter. A gloating sadist, Megatron never kills anyone quickly when prolonged torture will do, [[WeHaveReserves considers his own allies expendable]], and hopes to bring Cybertron, and eventually the galaxy, under his heel. His more notable crimes include extracting half of Rampage's spark, placing it in a vise, and using it to torture Rampage into submission; unsuccessfully ordering Dinobot to kill Quickstrike, one of Megatron's relatively more loyal soldiers, after Quickstrike lost to Dinobot in a sort of re-entrance exam into the Predacons; an aborted genocide of humanity's common ancestor; attempting to rewrite all of his history by killing the original Optimus Prime; and finally, sacrificing all his remaining troops in order to gain control of the ''Nemesis'' and set out to overrun the galaxy. His defeat doesn't stop him either--when he returns in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' he's gotten worse, picking up a serious [[AGodAmI god complex]] along the way. Seizing control of Cybertron, Megatron [[YourSoulIsMine extracts the sparks]] from everyone on the planet, reducing them to [[SoullessShell mindless drones]]. Acquiring a [[FantasticRacism hatred of all organic life]], Megatron [[OmnicidalManiac tries to scrub Cybertron clean of it]], resulting in the near destruction of all life, robotic and organic, on his home planet when his last mad grasp for power finally fails.

* MagnificentBastard: "[[Characters/BeastWarsMegatron Megatron]]", a rogue [[Characters/BeastWarsPredacons Predacon]] general who took the name of the Decepticon leader, is a brilliant, charismatic and ruthless foe who repeatedly comes up with new schemes to defeat the [[Characters/BeastWarsMaximals Maximals]] under Optimus Primal. Faking the Predacons' destruction to gain an advantage or using spies and psychological warfare, Megatron even uses cover of a truce to betray Optimus and succeeds in temporarily destroying him. Utilizing his soldiers as expendable resources, Megatron routinely comes [[NearVillainVictory within inches of victory]], even manipulating a former Decepticon into working for him so he can destroy the sleeping Autobots and completely change history. By the sequel, ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'', Megatron turns out to have taken over Cybertron and repeatedly keeps the Maximals on the run.

* UnpopularPopularCharacter: No one likes Waspinator, except the vast majority of the fanbase.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Despite the toyline and therefore the show being ostensibly aimed somewhere around the 10-12-year-old boys slot, the show features clever writing, complex characterizations, a surprising number of {{double entendre}}s, and surprisingly mature takes on themes such as warfare and revenge, with a healthy dose of KilledOffForReal to match.

* MagnificentBastard: Megatron, a rogue Predacon general who took the name of the Decepticon leader, is a brilliant, charismatic and ruthless foe who repeatedly comes up with new schemes to defeat the Maximals under Optimus Primal. Faking the Predacons' destruction to gain an advantage or using spies and psychological warfare, Megatron even uses cover of a truce to betray Optimus and succeeds in temporarily destroying him. Utilizing his soldiers as [[WeHaveReserves expendable resources]], Megatron routinely comes [[NearVillainVictory within inches of victory]], even manipulating a former Decepticon into working for him so he can destroy the sleeping Autobots and completely change history. By the sequel, ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'', Megatron turns out to have taken over Cybertron and repeatedly keeps the Maximals on the run.

** "Transmutate". This episode has its share of fans who feel the story was dark, mature, and well-crafted while showing a different side of Rampage. Others, on the other hand, have felt that it was [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy too anti-climactic, morbid, and depressing]], [[ToughActToFollow especially coming hot of the heels of the universally acclaimed Code of Hero]].

* [[CantUnhearIt Can't Un-Hear It]]: Creator/DavidKaye is considered by fans to be, at the very least, a ''strong'' runner-up to Creator/FrankWelker as the definitive voice of Megatron.

* MoralEventHorizon: Megatron crossed it back when he planned from the beginning [[spoiler:to wipe out an entire ''timeline's'' worth of Transformers and other lifeforms]].