Beast Machines wasn't shown on free to air television here, so I was lucky to have an awesome friend in the US who sent me the series recorded off TV and burnt onto discs at the time. The series is the second-best Transformers show in the thirty years of the franchise. It's deep, dark and the one with the strongest story arc from beginning to end. As a story, it's the closest thing to an anime that Transformers has ever produced and as such, not everything always makes immediate sense, but it's an impressive thought-provoking allegory. The character journeys of Tankor, Thrust and Jetstorm are fantastic, likewise Primal, Megatron and Cheetor get some good development in this series. Over a decade later, Botanica remains the Transformer in most need of a toy (with a Diagnostic Drone pack-in accessory.)