- Ben Watson
Distinguished Sirs
It's been “a year”.
Along with everything else going on, 2020 also deals the blow that is the apparent* end of the superb Cyberverse. A thoroughly wholesome nugget of the Transformers franchise that provided the most fun I've had watching one of these bloody cartoons in literally a decade along with a bizarre assortment of fan faves lining shelves in its super-marché ready toyline.
While the animated portion of the affair actually wrapped up before we were all donning masks and living in fear, it seems at time of writing, the toyline has now also offered up its last bit of budget bonkers**. When it's given us the likes of Deadlock and 'scuse my french, flippin' Rack 'n Ruin, it's hard to be disappointed in the line's breadth if not its depth. But because I'm a Transformers Fan I'm going to still say it wasn't enough. Because of course I am.
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| Da Bludge |
If you've wrapped your eyes around the delightful work of Boulder Media on your telly screen – or in my case, phone screen – you'll be instantly aware of the unfolding guest list of characters it seems to tell you will be waiting on the other side of the doors of your toy shop of choice. However, if we really have seen all there is to see from Cyberverse, then there's a lot of people on that list you won't actually see at the party. Absentees include Astrotrain, Lockdown and Chromia to name a few. To get properly pedantic about it and save you the hassle, I can tell you there are at least eight notable characters with no toys in the line. And then there's the toys for the ones that did get some...
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| What if we made Silverbolt and Depth Charge the same guy and he was Jetfire |
I'll not rag on the kiddy gimmick chops of the line, there's a lot of fun to be had y'know, playing with these toys but for some characters like Cheetor or Shadow Striker who get the main focus of whole episodes to themselves, the toys simply don't live up to their screentime. Am I really supposed to believe Dead End's prolonged and prominent role in the final season was all to sell me one toy from the smallest price-point in the line that doesn't even transform all the way? I mean, it did but that's not the point. We're clearly beyond having a Transformers cartoon as nothing but a vehicle for selling toys that are ready to roll out. The quality of the writing of Cyberverse alone attests to this, but it's still a bit baffling isn't it? The selection process for which characters get to appear at which price-point and how often is seriously a Zoom meeting I'd like to be in. Who decided animal-only bit-parter Skullcruncher needed a big new toy but memorable protagonist Perceptor didn't? Anyway, I guess all that's moot now if the line really has run its course and what we should be concerned with is what Cyberverse did give us.
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| More like "Comatose Cul-de-sac" |
If I had to choose one word to sum up how Cyberverse felt as it was happening, it would be: unpredictable. No rules seemed to govern its contents. Suddenly we're getting a toy of Drift in the wave after his Decepticon persona and it's a totally different toy. Suddenly Sky-Byte shows up with two different toys. Suddenly there's a Repugnus I can buy off the shelf in Sainsbury's. Coupled with the decreased tendency of Hasbro to afford the line any spotlight in preview events and for the last couple of years you could genuinely throw out a handful of totally wild speculations about future product and probably see a non-negligible number of them come true. All through a photo of someone holding the thing in the middle of Walmart a couple of months later. Cyberverse was full of crazy surprises and in the climate of extensive leaks and telegraphed blows from Generations, that quality was not just refreshing but energising.
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| Socialist Icon |
There is still a critique to be made here, however. While I'm ruminating on the passing of the latest main media focused line as I've done before, lessons to be learned from it present themselves. What the next series will be I cannot say. No announcements of cartoon titles or programming schedules or even production teams have been made as I type this but I want to say what I'd hope to see. If there's something to be learned from Cyberverse it's that deep-cut fan service curveballs are definitely what the doctor ordered. The best part is that doesn't detract at all from what I've seen firsthand become a successful entry point to Transformers for kids. Boom. That's the perfect formula isn't it? Entertain the young'uns and make the rest of us over 20 go “no way Whirl is in a cartoon??” But the product made to bolster that reaction with the spending of pocket money was not quite so sweet-spot hitting.
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| Actually nowhere near as deranged as we all expected |
For what has become quite quickly a quintessential distillation of pretty much the whole of Transformers it made some odd choices that make the metaphorical centre of gravity for the toyline way off. If I was looking to set out its sequel I think I'd want to see a better spread of alt modes. Not so many cars. Let's have a couple more beasts. A construction vehicle, an off road vehicle, a bike, a combiner! Somehow there are a whole host of Transformers staples that Cyberverse just never got around to but still felt like it would eventually. Instead we got way too many toys of Prowl for the three appearances he makes in the show. It would be nice if that didn't happen next time.
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| I can't resist showing you my one eyed purple monster |
Cyberverse really did bring the fun back to Transformers for fans of all ages. It may have taken a year or so before I decided to give it the time of day but thanks to its less well-defined edges I could just dip into it when something took my eye. As a fan who's spent enough time in the wiki to know what “Universal Streams” are, honestly I found it brilliant that Cyberverse not only takes place in no particular established continuity but also has the concept of alternate ones as a core story concept! Its designs and character rosters were enough of what I've seen before, I happily threw all thoughts of classifying its place in the wider brand in the bin and just went “Ah, it's Transformers innit.” And I think that shedding of fandom constructs through this brought me closer to Cyberverse than other toon-centric lines. I didn't have to know how Shockwave was different this time, he was just Shockwave you know? I already knew who he was by looking. Paradoxically that effect made Cyberverse fresh and while I'd jump at the chance of a reimagining on the scale of Beast Wars or Armada, I'd be up for a bit more of it.
*Leaked info seems to say we'll actually be getting a Cyberverse “film” probably a feature-length thing for TV but at the moment it's not official and Season 3 was promoted as “final”.
**It looks like One-Step Changer Megatron X is the line's parting caress. Some leaked listings seemed to suggest we'd be seeing Deluxe Soundwave, Starscream and Prowl, but well look, they haven't turned up.
