Another day, another war for the fate of Cybertron, and things are looking dire in Netflix and Rooster Teeth’s take on the latest version of the Transformers origin story. So dire that even Optimus Prime, scion of hope and occasional truck, is getting a bit defeatist.
Netflix just dropped the latest trailer for Transformers: War for Cybertron: Siege, the first in a planned three-show series (of six episodes each) it’s developed with Hasbro, Rooster Teeth, and Godzilla: Monster Planet’s Polygon Pictures. Inspired by the recent toylines from Hasbro — named Siege and Earthrise, and to be followed up by a third, currently untitled series — the show depicts re-imagined takes on the first generation of Autobots and Decepticons as we knew them in the beloved Transformers animated show, as they fight for the fate of Cybertron in the final hours of their infamous civil war.
It’s a tale told many times over, most recently in the glorious opening sequence of Bumblebee, but this latest iteration being a whole TV show to itself gives us a chance to explore the impact the titular war has on its participants, even if we know it’s really not going to go all that well for the good guys. Especially Optimus Prime, who’s beginning to realise that in this trailer, as he grapples with the idea that his leadership of an Autobot resistance against Megatron — who’s planning to use the source of all Cybertronian life, the Allspark, to forcibly convert the Autobots to his Decepticon ethos — is just prolonging misery through extended periods of murder.
Wow, dude. Why don’t you just call yourself Pessimus Prime with that attitude?
You’ll be able to see for yourself why Optimus is so glum when Transformers: War for Cybertron: Siege drops on Netflix on July 30.