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since 12/14/97. Old Counter: 1903.
An End to All Beasts
What follows is the entirety of a note I posted in the wake of the final episode of Beast Machines at The Unofficial Beast Wars/Machines site:
Skir is NOT in charge of animation, he is in charge of WRITING. Complaining to him about the animation will do no good.
If the fans decided what we saw, I would've left Transfandom a long time ago. The series would be nothing more than a glorified fanfic. Transformers REQUIRES a writer with an emotional detachment from what is written, otherwise only the few would enjoy it. Beast Machines was not designed to cater to us, it was designed for anyone to enjoy.
"No tradition," "no history," you say... you refuse to see them, and that is the fundamental truth. You have no right to judge Robert Skir's abilities as a writer. If you focused on the CLICHE rather than the EXECUTION you missed the entire point of storytelling-- everything has been done at least once in storytelling, but it is the execution is what differentiates one from the rest. If Beast Machines truly had no history then the Beast Wars never happened, the Plasma Energy Chamber, the Key to Vector Sigma (used FOUR times throughout the entire series and in the FINAL episode to boot), Optimus Prime, even.... Beast Machines was built on a very sturdy foundation, all right-- the ONE YOU HOLD DEAR, or so you claim. How COULD you ignore it? How COULD you pretend it didn't happen? HOW could you believe Beast Machines destroys everything the original Transformers ever was?
And you know what Transformers is, in its most basic, fundamental level? Two factions of robots, fighting a neverending war, transforming from robot to an alternate mode, and back. It is the BIGGEST CLICHE Beast Machines can be accussed of using, but it is the execution that sets it apart.
What you are here is to tell us how rotten thing are, and tell us who to blame for it. Then you remind us oldtimers how good things were back in the '80s, when Optimus Prime fought Megatron, Optimus won, and everything was okay. And then you take Robert N. Skir, and insult him from the crowd seats. Robert Skir has done nothing to you; he has created a story in which he was under no obligation to satisfy anyone, not you, not me... but the audience. He took the time to incorporate the Key to Vector Sigma into the ultimate plot when he was under no obligation to do so, and when he could have just discarded it at the start of "Fallout" as everyone expected. Robert Skir is way out of your league. Your fifteen minutes of fame are up. "My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I AM the President."