I've been a Transformers fan since childhood, and since then I myself have transformed (ha ha) into a boring office worker working a 9-5 (send help).
In all those years I've seen everything from comics, games, movies. And yeah...the fanbase is "hard to please" (putting it lightly). I won't pretend that I'm not one of the pickier ones.
But Transformers Earthspark is almost everything I've always wanted as a fan.
To be fair, I'll start with the 'Cons:
It's true that not all the jokes land, not all the characters are equally interesting right now (looking at two of the main characters Robby and Thrash and the villain, Dr. Mandroid). Not all the diversity is gracefully woven into the narrative, and not all the coolest story-telling opportunities are taken (it's only been 10 episodes though so I'll chill out. Still, hire me, Hasbro please PLEASE.)
Also Mo has the jankiest anime eyes I've ever seen.
BUT on the flip side It's taking the Transformers story in an entirely new direction that hooks you along. The fight scenes are awesome (i.e. Think of a shuriken coming at you but that shuriken is a 52 ton Osprey helicopter, yeah that's what's happening in this show), the structure and writing of each episode sans the pilot and some parts of the finale are pretty tight, and it's FUNNY as hell even when it's being weird.
I, a (mostly) grown person, have literally laughed out loud over the dumbest things. The show is just plain fun.
Sure, there are those who dislike the "wokeness" of Earthspark, whatever that's fine, but I gotta say it: 1) it's a new generation. You don't know how much it means to some people. And 2) each episode STILL goes out of its way to teach kids timeless values like "hey, stop being a gamer for a sec and spend time with your family" or "know your roots" and "not all rules are put in place to restrict you just for the sake of restricting you" which I found endearing.
Overall: the show's got heart.
It's got the opposite schtick of Bayverse where everyone hates each other for no reason: here there's an abundance of love. It's got positivity, deep bonds, robots, and I feel like a tiny kid again when I watch it. To me, THAT'S Transformers.
This show is different. It isn't perfect or meant for everyone, but I enjoyed it a LOT!
