by Erin Hatch, Editor-At-Large
Megatron is dead, Cybertron has been revived, and the Autobots seem to be winning for the first time in ages as they vacate Earth and set about welcoming Cybertronian refugees home. Things are looking up at the end of Transformers Prime’s third and final season, which means that trouble is brewing for the grand finale, Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising.
Predacons Rising picks up right where Beast Hunters left off, and quickly turns around the series’ happy ending. Megatron is resurrected and possessed by Unicron, Optimus Prime must go on a quest to retrieve the Allspark from a desolate corner of space to truly bring Cybertron back to life, and the remaining Autobots discover that taking care of Cybertron in Prime’s absence isn’t as easy as they thought, as Predaking and the scattered Decepticons are still roaming the surface. These elements all come together in the series’ climactic confrontation, solving the conflicts of the show for good.
If all you desire from this movie is more time with the gang Transformers Prime Beast Hunters, then Predacons Rising delivers. Unfortunately the overall story is lackluster compared to earlier parts of the series, missing many of the elements that made the first two seasons of Transformers Prime compelling. The human characters are entirely absent, while series mainstays Arcee and Bulkhead (voiced by Sumalee Montano and Kevin Michael Richardson respectively) take a back seat to Smokescreen (Nolan North) and the newly restored Bumblebee (now voiced by Will Friedle – Thundercats). Several elements of the final episodes of Beast Hunters are reversed, with Megatron coming back to life and Ratchet returning to Cybertron after staying behind on Earth to ostensibly take care of things there. Also, and this is a minor quibble, the Predacons don’t actually rise. There are a few more compared to the series proper, and a few come back to life, but mostly they are being used by Unicron or the Decepticons, not fighting their own battles. They aren’t the main antagonists of the movie, as the title or cover art might imply, just one more faction in the war between Autobots and Decepticons, between Primus and Unicron.
Not that Predacons Rising is an unpleasant experience. It is fun enough, just a little disappointing after everything that came before. The animation is great, there is plenty of action and the final confrontation is a giant, exciting battle, leading to even more closure than the series finale provided. It might not feel necessary, but it is worth seeing if you are a fan of the show.
Predacons Rising is packaged with a single bonus feature: “A Look Behind the Scenes of Predacons Rising” (aka “A Look at Polygon Pictures”), an interview with Jeff Kline (Executive Producer), Therese Trujillo (Animation Producer) and David Hartman (Supervising Director) of Hasbro Studios’ Transformers team about their partnership with Japanese studio Polygon Pictures for the production of both the series and the concluding feature. “A Look at Polygon Pictures” provides an interesting look into the production process of Transformers Prime, including a detailed explanation of why the relationship between Hasbro Studios and Polygon Pictures is rare for an American production studio and a Japanese animation studio, as well as a discussion about the challenges Transformers Prime posed during the animation process. The feature is well worth watching if you’re interested in the show, but don’t watch it until after you’ve seen the main feature, as it shows some significant spoiler footage.
Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising might not live up to the full potential displayed by the earlier seasons of Transformers Prime, but it still has many of the features that made the show worth watching: great animation, outstanding vocal performances, and fun action sequences. Fans of the first few seasons of Transformers Prime (including fans of the show’s human cast and their relationships with the Autobots) might feel like there is something lacking from the conclusion of the series, but even those viewers will be missing out if they choose to skip this movie. Any fan of Transformers Prime should make sure to check out Predacons Rising.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising three and a half out of five zombified predacons.
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