I'd say a lot of that had a lot to do with the end of the beast era and a move back towards realistic alt modes (which is kind of understandable really - I didn't peg it at the time being 7 years old, but after 13 years of realistic alt modes, space ships, and the occasional robotic animal being told 'okay we're making animal transformers for like the next 4 odd years' must have been a big shock).
I meant more in terms of how it's remembered - no one ever really refers to it in discussion of various continuities and the like.