Transformers: Robots in Disguise

My kids can't stop watching it. They are 3, 5, and 8 and it's one of the few shows they will watch together. Anytime I would allow them to watch a show, they all asked to put it on. Even my husband enjoyed it. I hope that they have more seasons planned as my kids keep asking for new episodes.

Robots in Disguise should be a shame to the franchise as a whole. It is supposed to be a follow up series to the highly acclaimed Transformers Prime, but it failed miserably. As a stand alone series, it also struggles to justify itself. The plot is extremely silly and repetitive: there is a random animal-looking decepticon that is trying to make a mess in the nearby city, the autobots have to capture him, but one of them has to learn a lesson before doing so (a lesson that is gonna be forgotten in the next episode). This happens over and over again. The characters lack deepness and evolution, the main plot line (that holds viewers on the long run) is practically absent. This series survived from toys, nostalgia and fan-service. It is literally garbage.

I agree with the reviewers who rated this series one star. As a transformers fan, I enjoyed Transformers Prime and was excited to watch this show. But boy, was I wrong. I watched three episodes and stopped. This show is downright awful and the characters made it worst. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are the only ones that carried over from Transformers Prime. The others are terrible. For the Autobots, there's slacker Sideswipe, an uptight femme bot Strongarm (who looks like a male) and an annoying minibot Fixit. On the Decepticons, there's Steeljaw and the others such as Thunderhoof and Springload are just butt ugly. The story line is corny and there's no mention of Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave and Airachnid. Overall, this show is terrible and too cartoony. If you're into Transformers Rescue Bots, this show is for you. Otherwise, avoid this series.

The most telling thing about this series is that, despite the abysmal series rating, nearly EVERY episode has an average rating over 7, with a number of 8+ scores, and just a tiny handful of 5 & 6 averages. Seems like people who actually gave the show a chance and watched the episodes enjoyed them. And it does have a lot going for it. Most significant, the creation of new, interesting characters to round out the roster of familiar Autobots and Decepticons. Steeljaw, alone - one of the most complex and nuanced foes the Autobots have ever faced - made his debut in the third episode of the series. But I suppose anyone determined to hate it had already made up their mind by that point.

As a follow-up to Transformers Prime, I can understand why some people found this show disappointing, however I thought it was still fun and entertaining.

The plot is a pretty standard villain of the week set up, with some overarching elements that fall apart under too much scrutiny and characters that don't really learn from their mistakes (presumably so that the episodes are relatively easy to understand when watched out of order on television) It introduces a lot of interesting concepts (ex. Cybertronian sign language) that unfortunately don't really get expanded on, but they're fun for the episodes they're in!

The animation is pretty average. I appreciate that the robot designs are somewhat simpler so that kids watching it might actually be able to draw their favourite characters.

The music in most episodes is pretty average. The Starscream theme is a banger, but the intro music is possibly the worst intro music I've ever heard and the rest of it is pretty forgettable so all in all it evens out.

Honestly though, a lot of the jokes landed for me, it's set up well for its target audience, and I had fun. If you're looking for a light bit of transformers entertainment and you're prepared to view this as a separate entity to Transformers Prime I don't think you should rule this show out as an option :)