Beast Machine Hunter> The First Season Guide part 2

Last time on Beast Machine Hunters we got a look at the story for season one as they planned. As we’ve seen in previous story bibles not everything matches up all the time but what we’ve seen thus far was actually quite accurate to the Transformers: Beast Machines we got.

In this installment we begin looking at the characters as depicted in the new show with our five Maximals: Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, Blackarachnia (still spelled in the guide as two words but I use the toy spelling which is one word), and Nightscream, aka proof you can’t create a breakout character or know just who the audience at large will relate to. Nightscream was created for this show and while I’m sure he has at least one fan I never met him or her in my time in the Transformers fan community or since so if you’re out there…why?

With that, we’ve got a lot of profile and just from going over Optimus’ I’m not even getting all five Maximals in on this one  installment so let’s get to it. It’s Optimus Primal and Cheetor. In the last show they developed a father/son relationship, right down to the rebellious teenager in season three. Let’s see how the suggested depictions match up with the end product.

OUR HEROES: THE MAXIMALS
OPTIMUS PRIMAL

The stalwart commander of the Maximals since the beginning of the Beast Wars, Optimus Primal began his career as the captain of a peaceful scientific exploration mission, but circumstances soon forced him into the role of warrior entrusted with the apprehension of the renegade Megatron.

Optimus accepted the mantle of leadership somewhat reluctantly, but quickly grew into a first class combatant, strategist and motivator. His charges respect him because they know he would never give an order that he wouldn’t be willing carry out himself.

However, Optimus must face his greatest challenges when he returns to his homeworld Cybertron.

You know, for not being able to reference the previous show as Bob Skir claimed…this is all quite accurate. That’s basically Primal’s history. Much like the Doctor from Doctor Who he didn’t start out as a hero. The Axalon was an exploration vessel charged with seeding worlds with explorers who could take on the form of local biological lifeforms, since that was the purpose of the disguises to begin with. It’s just when the original Optimus Prime and crew woke up they hadn’t had experiences with biological life and so Teletran-1 or Aunty (depending on continuity) chose machines, believing they were mechanical life forms. I never understood the resistance to turning into animals and stuff outside of the toys leaving too many robot bits visible until the engineering caught up with the concept.

Optimus begins our series with a tremendous burden on his shoulders. First, the ORACLE has entrusted him with no less than the future of his entire planet and species. Optimus takes on a new role as sensei and trainer, teaching the other Maximals the lost art of Transformation. The Oracle download implanted in Optimus has also given him the ability to commune telepathically with the Sparks of others. This is a skill that Optimus must gradually hone and improve.

We don’t really see that honing though. He has so few interactions with the lost Sparks that we never really get a chance. We do see him teach the new technorganic method of transformation, less transforming cog and more spiritual in presentation, but that’s it and that doesn’t really matter as much once Rattrap finally unlocks his robotic form.

Optimus soon learns that his nemesis Megatron has not only survived, but has taken control of Cybertron and transformed it into his own warped vision of order. To Optimus, this means only one thing: He failed in his mission to stop Megatron in the Beast Wars. Optimus blames himself for the nightmare that has befallen his homeworld.

The guilt only increases for Optimus when he learns of the existence and loss of teammates Rhinox and Silverbolt (who had been otherwise forgotten due to the virus-induced memory glitch). Stubbornly refusing to be responsible for the loss of yet another Maximal, Optimus nearly sacrifices himself to save Nightscream’s life by using the Oracle download within him to reformat the young Maximal.

That’s open to interpretation, really. Technically the Maximals did win the Beast Wars. They saved Optimus Prime, returned Megatron 1’s Spark (in a deleted scene but Pred Megatron didn’t bring it with him), kept the planet safe and energy resources (plus the Vok technology) out of Predacon hands…but the end goal was always the conquest of Cybertron…and Megatron does. So what qualifies as a win here? Optimus Primal achieved his goal, but so did Megatron.

Recovering in a coma-like healing state, Optimus is taunted by dream-like visions of his comrades being overcome be out-of-control plantlife. Optimus believes these visions to be manifestations of his own guilt, but soon comes to realize that they are a clue to his true purpose: to restore the organic to Cybertron.

Armed with a new sense of purpose, Optimus is driven by his understanding that the Beast Wars were not fought in vain. The Maximals’ stint on Prehistoric Earth is what allowed them to bring back the organic element to their home planet.

Here’s an interpretation: is that why Optimus came off more and more extreme in his push for the organic/technorganic Cybertron, his sense of guilt that Megatron still got what he wanted in the end? Many fans take issue with the idea that they had to bring the organic back to Cybertron, as the original cartoon did show organic parts of the planet and some of the Quintessons’ experiments involving organic beings. Plus Nightscream scanned some kind of bat creature to achieve his mode, which somehow still came off technorganic rather than a full mechanical bat. Besides, if the only thing different about the Axalon‘s mission was dropping off Protoform X in the middle of nowhere then there should already be the organic element on Cybertron from other missions. I know the Japanese Beast Wars II/Neo aren’t US canon to the Beast Era or G1 continuity but missions like that were probably still going on.

In the second season Optimus realizes that a balance must be achieved between nature and technology not only within the Maximals’ own technorganic bodies but within the entire planet as well. With the seeds of technorganic plantlife firmly established, Optimus shifts his focus to finding Cybertron’s missing Sparks and restoring them to all the planet’s Transformer population.

This guide is only going with two seasons, which is what we got (in the US anyway). That’s a bit more reasonable than planning to season four and still not having a conclusion. Some shows are lucky to just have one.

POWERS/ABILITIES:

Beast Mode – Gorilla strength and agility.

Robot Mode –

• Energy Deflector Arms can absorb and deflect energy
• can store energy absorbed by arms and fire out as  Energy Shurikins (which he can shape and guide telekinetically)
• Jump-Jets on back allow for short-range flight — the jet pack has a limited fuel cell, so he is not dependent on it
• superior martial arts combatant.

Both Modes –

• Spark telepathy
• Oracle download gives him limited  insight into past/future (mostly through dreamlike visions)
• limited ability to re-format other Cybertronian life forms
• master of ancient art of Transformation — can see/activate Transformation potential in others.

I don’t know about this whole “master the art of Transformation” bit. Mastering transforming in a technorganic body, maybe. The Vehicons have no problem switching modes. Also, you spelled “shurikens” wrong. I did, too, but I have spell check…which also spelled it wrong so it’s a good think I looked it up to confirm. For those reading along with the download I linked to in part one, yes, I am altering the formatting a bit. This file allows me to copy/paste instead of having to transcribe like the story treatment, so that’s a benefit.

Everything else is accurate to what we saw in the show, so let’s move on to Cheetor. In Beast Wars he was the intended kid appeal character, but you still can’t decide who your breakout character is. The fans, including kids, will connect to who they like whether you called it or not. Bumblebee became Spike’s bestie because he became the breakout character. If you watch the first miniseries from the G1 cartoon, Spike hangs out more with Hound, the bot who loves Earth. Bumblebee just loves swimming, not that media has ever shown that. In this case however, Cheetor did connect with kids, but he’s old now. His story arc of maturity already took place. So what do you do with him now?

CHEETOR

Cheetor began as the hot-headed kid of the group, but on Cybertron he’s growing up fast. As our series begins, he’s still the impetuous teenager, more interested in going out and kicking Vehicon butt than staying down in the catacombs to train. He remains Optimus’ strongest supporter, reassuring his leader that the loss of Cybertron was not his fault.

However, when Optimus is injured, Cheetor assumes the mantle of leadership, and the pressure is on for him to follow in his mentor’s footsteps. Cheetor is finally forced to become his own person, rather than emulate Optimus.

It’s been a while but I don’t recall Cheetor or anyone else being given an opening to reassure Optimus. It’s a good idea but the show never gets to really show us Optimus blaming himself. Also not mentioned: Cheetor really became a jerk during his time as leader.

When Optimus returns to battle, Cheetor feels he’s earned his stripes and takes real offense when his leader continues to treat him like a kid. Toward the end of the season they have a major falling out over Optimus’ continued escalation of the Techno-Organic War. Ultimately, they will reconcile in the second season when Cheetor comes to see the value in Optimus’ quest for a technorganic Cybertron and Optimus learns to treat Cheetor like an equal.

Another concept they really didn’t get across. There is a period in season one when Cheetor assumes command because Optimus is getting to obsessed with his technorganic “mission” but that doesn’t last long. Optimus is also still recovering from Nightscream’s reformatting and is kind of weak but that all gets resolved before season one ends.

NOTE: Cheetor is over his BEAST WARS-era schoolboy crush on Black Arachnia. He’s got bigger issues to deal with these days. Also, the more mature Cheetor’s dialogue will be colored less and less with teen slang — save it for Nightscream.

The whole crush thing was the only thing Marv Wolfman took from season three and while he tried to give Cheetor a bit more of a character journey using it and the uncover operation thing I like this idea better. It shows Cheetor’s growth and frankly he has a lot more to worry about than a teenage crush on the bad girl because she’s the only femmebot around. Cheetor needed a new arc and this works much better than some leftover nonsense from his previous arc.

It also concludes the father/son dynamic, a good idea to continue here, as Cheetor relearns to respect his surrogate father figure and Optimus has to accept that his surrogate son is now a surrogate man. I don’t think the execution worked as well as it could have but this idea is an improvement over Wolfman’s treatment. Again, Wolfman is a great writer but so are Bob Skir and Marty Isenberg if you’ve seen other shows they’ve worked on. Spoilers: The show ends with Cheetor taking Optimus’ place as leader and Oracle disciple for the new technorganic age. Like Moses, Optimus Primal never gets to see the promised land he created but Cheetor takes on the Joshua role and leads the Technorganic Cybertronians into a new era.

POWERS/ABILITIES:

Beast Mode –

• Cheetah-like speed, agility and endurance
• sharp, powerful claws and jaws
• enhanced vision

Robot Mode –

• powerful leaping legs
• frictionless body surface texture allows energy pulses to glide off him (Cheetor has to be hit dead center to be hurt)
• air foil spine becomes twin swords, which can slice through steel and deflect energy pulses, also may be used as glider wings
• speed allows him to run up the side of buildings
• will learn to accelerate particles  around aerodynamic form to create “wind tunnel” effect to knock over opponents.

Did the wind tunnel thing happen? I think we saw the sword gliding once and you can infer the frictionless surface but the other things appear at least once, with the swords being Cheetor’s main weapon, even though the toy gave him one sword that was more rapier like, formed from the tail. In the Battle For The Spark subline you had Night Slash Cheetor who had twin flip-out swords in his shoulders but lost some of the sleekness so you didn’t have to fight to stand him up like the first Beast Machines Cheetor figure (although I didn’t have nearly as much trouble as some other collectors, which is odd given that I’m me).

Interestingly both Optimus Primal and Cheetor will go on to spiritual guidance roles. Optimus, or so I infer, does it in the Netflix shows and Rise Of The Beasts while Cheetor is the guardian of the All-Spark of the Transformers Cyberverse continuity.

Two down, three to go. Curious how I’m going to split this up to not keep these installments too long. We have three character but I was only able to get two in by the decided upon general word count. Next time (or two) we’ll see what Rattrap, Blackarachnia, and Nightscream bring to the group.