REVIEW: Transformers Prime Season One Blu-Ray (Limited Edition)

16BitMonster | March 19, 2012 | 0 Comments

Let’s get right to it from the start Transformers Prime on Blu-Ray is awesome! Prime is one of the best animated shows on TV and the limited edition Blu Ray release is superb.

A few months back I reviewed Shout Factory’s Transformers Prime: Darkness Rising movie on DVD [Link] and noted the DVD alone looked awesome and hoped for a Blu Ray Release. Well, Shout and Hasbro heard my calling and not only included the Darkness Rising movie with the season one release but they also through in a limited Edition 96 page IDW graphic novel. The Transformers on Prime look amazing on Blu Ray and from what I have seen its easily the best looking animated Blu Ray release I have seen this year and is among the best released ever. Period. During closes ups you can see all the amazing amount of details on the Bots and Cons and after battles even when they are already back in their base the chips and dents remain and look great. I honestly found myself checking out all the battle scars after the fights to see how good they looked.

The show itself centers on five Autobots while really giving a lot of shine to the newer TFer’s. Optimus Prime appears in most episodes but really takes a back seat to the newer bots Bulk head & Arcee. Each episode primarily focuses on Bulk Head, Arcee, and Bumblebee while usually rotating them in pairs for different situations. The team ups workout great in my opinion and mid way through the season Arcee really start to shine and becomes my favorite character to watch. Arcee’s battles with Arachnid were always memorable and very personal for reasons to be revealed in the series. Bulk Head usually goes toe to toe with the Decepticons strong man Knock Out which is like watching two bears fight. Ratchet mainly handles the support end of the missions and usually hangs back at the base. Ratchet still gets more talk time then Optimus Prime but less then the other three TFer’s. I know you guys must be thinking “why doesn’t Optimus get so much talk time?” I began to wonder the same thing as the episodes continued to pass and Optimus was a bit less visible in each episode but it completely works out. Think about it, everyone knows who he is and he is by far the strongest and most skilled transformer so whenever he has to throw down it’s to seriously kick some Decepticon ass and whenever he speaks he’s basically the wise old man. When Optimus gets involved it’s usually not just for a small skirmish between the Cons and the Bots. Llike I said, he usually makes an appearance in almost all the episodes while the only Bot to be featured in every episode is Arcee.

On the Decepticon side Megatron has many more foot soldiers at his disposal which forces the Autobots to have to work even harder to look good for the show. I really disliked how much they tried to make Starscream look like a pushover. He’s suppose to be Megatrons number two guy so I would imagine he would be a force to be reckoned with. Sadly he’s nothing more then pushover which sucks for us Starscream fans. I know it was bad in the G1 series but in Prime its just over done on Starscream (Sorry my Fanboy-ism came out a bit). Soundwave actually impressed me for someone who barely had anything to say during the whole season when he completely owns Decepticon badass Arachnid. You see, Arachnid appears mid way through the season and gives the Bots a run for there money each time they met so to see someone like Soundwave who is so laid back and quiet come out of left field and completely dominate and embarrass her in a fight was beyond funny and an epic moment.

I really think that the TF Prime characters are very well put together. Heck, I will go ahead and say it. The Prime charactersare better developed then the cult classic Beast Wars.

Bottom line, this might be as good as it gets for a Transformers animated series.

[rating: 5/5]