Thrown, literally onto a hostile world, Optimus Prime fights for his life while Bumblebee makes a very odd new ‘friend’…

The current state of Transformers animated series is a little… odd. The excellent Earthspark was assumed to be cancelled when this was announced but word is it’ll be back. Whether or not that’s true isn’t quite clear yet, but for now we’ve got these short 10 minute episodes releasing weekly on YouTube. They pack a surprising amount into their runtime too.

Kyle Kaczmarczyk pulls double duty as Prime and Bumblebee and you’d be hard pressed to spot it’s the same actor. His Prime is reminiscent of Alan Tudyk’s work in Earthspark but a lot more informal. If Tudyk played Prime as Superman then Kaczmarczyk plays him as Clark Kent. Permanently hard done by, a little put upon and secretly okay with it. There’s a sense of Prime having fun, even in extremis, and that makes for surprising connective tissue with his take on Bumblebee. There’s the same youthful exuberance the character demands but there’s also a weirdly reassuring decency. The new setting almost renders expectation down to the minimum and allows the characters to stand on their own. And they do. And roll. And shoot. And transform.

Bee’s sparring partner is another pleasant surprise. James Alexander brings a silky voiced menace to the Decepticon leader but ties it to his new form. This Megatron transforms into a bull and there’s the same burly, tense energy to him as there is to his alt form. His clash with Bee is a clash of ethics and style; Megatron brute forcing his way through with effortless and ultimately pointless violence. Bee doing the right thing and, to his surprise, winning.

Verdict: This is a lot for a ten minute episode that’s essentially two and a half fights but it’s all there and it’s all impressively animated and fun to watch. I have no idea what happens next, but I’m looking forward to finding out and my Transformers shelf is pre-emptively braced just in case a Decepticon bull stops by… 8/10

Alasdair Stuart