Last fall I gave this series a 7. Now that the first season is over, I had to lower my score. I still maintain that the series is overall decent, but it has some serious flaws.
The writing is mostly solid, especially with the episodes written by Mae Catt. Though there are some issues with plot repetition. One episode has a Decepticon distract GHOST to protect the heroes from being discovered, and is followed by an episode where the Decepticon sacrifices himself so that Bumblebee can escape GHOST. There's also too much emphasis on talking about feelings to resolve the conflict of the day. That's not inherently a bad way to write a story, but when done too much it just comes off as preachy and lazy.
We could have gone without the second batch of Terrans. There wasn't anything really wrong with them as characters, but it just swelled the cast way too much and we were only ten episodes in. Adding three new characters to the main cast THAT soon was too big a change to the status quo when the status quo was still forming. The dynamic between the Maltos and Twitch & Thrash was still being established and it would have been nice to see how things developed before adding more bots to the mix.
The sound design is fantastic and the mix of 2D effects with the 3D animation during action scenes makes for some pretty neat visuals. The animation and character designs are pretty good for the most part, though some of the human models look like they could have spent more time in the oven.
Voice acting is pretty good, but there are some notable exceptions. Alan Tudyk gives a surprisingly bland performance as Optimus Prime, Danny Pudi is uneven as Bumblebee, and Keith David's Grimlock is appallingly disinterested. That last one really hurt.
On the other hand, Rory McCann is great as Megatron. Zeno Robinson, Kari Wahlgren, Diedrich Bader, Stephanie Lemelin, Marc Evan Jackson, and Steve Blum all give exemplary performances too.
On to the elephant in the room. When it comes to the issue of there being a non-binary character, I really don't think it's a make or break issue. It's only brought up twice and not for very long. Overall, the inclusion of such a character doesn't have any impact on the quality of the series, and I think it's a bit much for people to dismiss the show simply based on one thing.
My biggest issue with the series is that this isn't a transformers show about Autobots and Decepticons. This is a postwar transformers show about the consequences of the conflict where Autobots and Decepticons more or less are regulated to guest star status.
The issue with the Decepticons is they're more or less written as not evil, just misunderstood. It feels as though the writers are ignoring that the Decepticons trashed the planet and one of their most recurring traits is their hatred of organic life. They're more or less treated as though they shouldn't be held accountable for that. Megatron defects, so that makes sense why he gets a pass, but the show treats the Decepticons as the victims of GHOST's persecution even though for the most part they're just being imprisoned when they attack people. We're supposed to view ghost as the bad guys for this when they aren't acting particularly evil for it. Nevertheless, they actually do come across as shady and unethical in other regards, and that evens it out.
Our main antagonist for the first season, Mandroid, is also a pretty good villain. He consistently poses a credible threat and never comes across as something to be taken lightly.
I was a little disappointed with how the season ends. It really feels like a Deus ex Machina.
I don't think that the show is bad. I think it's an imperfect show that has a lot of potential but has just made a few mistakes in an inaugural season but could be redeemed by the next one.
