First of all, allow me to get this off my chest: Wow.

I guess I'll start with the characters first then, since I'm presently a bit lost for words. Blackarachnia was one of my favorite characters from the show, being one of only two female characters (and the only to survive the series), and for her femme fatale independence. I think she's portrayed very accurately here and the insight you've given her makes me love her character even more. I was always a little irritated with Cheetor's adolescent attitude in BW but here he's much more mature and in-charge. While I'm not familiar with the happenings of BM I enjoy his character this way a lot more. I also think your rendition of Rattrap is spot on, including the way he talks, his attitude, everything. His humor never ceased to amuse me, both here and in canon. Silverbot, along with Blackarachnia, were my favorite characters from the show as well as my OTP, but having not really watched BM I know I missed out on a good chunk of their relationship development after BW. That's why Silverbot without the trumpet fanare and cheesy words of chivalry surprised me at first, and I had to remind myself I was missing a whole show's worth of development to understand the change. Still, despite my lack of knowledge on BM, I still feel Silverbot is very in character here, particularly his formal way of speech. He might not be a knight vowing courtly love to his lady at every turn, but I like this "dark knight" version of him just as much.

Now about the story, I will say it out right that I can see this as a movie. Not necessarily a Michael Bay movie, but a movie nonetheless. The cinematic quality about it really struck me as I imagined the now human-looking Maximals trying to figure out what they were doing on Earth in their new disguises, and the subsequent action sequences only cemented that thought. I even tried imagining an actor for each of the character roles, but being somewhat pop-culture illiterate I could only come up with Monica Bellucci as Blackarachnia and a young Brad Pitt as Cheetor (and I'm not even sure why I picked the latter, of all actors). I also have to commend you on making this story feel real. The tech jargon in this goes over my head a bit at times, but somehow that makes it seem so real. The layers of details you used in describing the setting also helped to establish a very real place for this story.

In all, hats off to you for creating such an enjoyable story, and I look forward to reading more of the sequel!

hehehe... 'The girl behind the keyboard'... now I get it... LOL clever.

And the beginning of the transforming aspect! Awesome. I'm glad I'm rereading this.


WW

OmG. Human characters? You've taken things to the next level. Great job.

I can't believe that I didn't find this story sooner. I'm not a fan of Transformers being suddenly changed into humans but your plot fits. (I've also seen the pics on Devantart, great concepts) As well as your timelines (and crossovers). I never would've thought to have this. Is Sam gonna be in this too ;)

So... did Tarantulas have the Vok attack Cheetor and the ficility(sp?) where they found the ship? I would very much like to know.

I like the typo thing. Very creative and a good way to explore Cheetor's feelings for BA (unlike those stories where they end up together ::Bleugh::)

Unlike some people who believe that Nightscream is older than your story has placed him, I agree that the age fits. (although I think he's a year younger than you've made it but that's just me) If the writers of Beast Machines made him like this near the end of the series, I think he might have been a little more enjoyable.

So, good luck with your semester and hope things get less chaotic for you soon. I am very interested in reading book 2 (pt 2) of this series.

Update soon.


WW (yes it's me)

Hello,

A long time ago, probably nearly a decade ago, I stumbled upon your story. Back then, I wasn't an author myself but now I am. I was pretty fascinated by the whole concept of Beast Warriors as humans back then and your story was what introduced me to it. I believe I even sent you an email or two asking questions about whether or not Tigatron and Airazor were going to show up and a few other things. But like I said, it's been a long time.

Looking at your original Drifted Sparks series, I can see some of the flaws more clearly. It did turn into an angsty teen drama after a while. But that's excusable since back then, you were most likely much younger(as was I, plus from what I recall I enjoyed the teen drama back then). Later on, I felt the story had a really weird turn where it became a bizarre X-Men crossover with Apocalypse coming in. Apocalypse replacing Megatron as the main villain just didn't feel right now that I look at it(not to mention a Marvel villain showing up in Beast Wars felt really out-of-place). Finally, one of my biggest gripes was how you focused the entire story solely on Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, and Nightscream while characters like Depth Charge and Rhinox barely got to do anything at all.

I just got through your new updated series. Your grammar is impeccable from what I can tell, though there might've been a minor mistake here and there. But overall, the way you write is really good, much better than how I write. Your characterization is pretty sound as well and the character development is a lot more even now, with Rattrap and Cheetor getting some of the spotlight. I hope that when you continue your series, characters like Depth Charge will also receive more development along the way and get the chance to shine as well. I know that you'll be introducing Rampage later on and I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed that you'll make him the nearly indestructible war machine he was always meant to be rather than a watered down Transformer who's only slightly tougher than the average Predacon(like writers did with him later on in the show and some fanfic writers always portray him). As for Nightscream, I know a lot of fans hate the kid. For me, though, he's always been kind of a "meh" character. I don't have a passionate hatred for him but I don't really like him either. But you really know how to write his character and get inside his head to the point where I do sympathize with him and I find he's a lot more tolerable than what a lot of fans expect. When you continue this series, I definitely hope you give character spotlight to everyone and play off their respective strengths.

I also like how you meshed G1's history with Beast Wars and even some TF movie-verse stuff. It really adds an extra layer to the story how agents on earth uncovered the Beast Wars. It makes sense because there's no way the Maximals could've covered ALL their tracks on earth.

I guess if I were to raise one complaint about your updated series, it would be the lack of action. When all is said and done, Beast Wars, and Transformers shows in general, are about robots warring against each other(and selling toys, but that's a different story altogether). Beast Wars, in particular, was a series that wasn't afraid to back away from showing some truly visceral action with robots beating the ** out of each other, blowing each other up, slicing each other, etc. However, I know you'll be continuing this series so I'm confident you'll reserve the action for the continuition.

Anyways, I just want you to know what you've written an outstanding update to a series from long ago that I read. You really know how to convey emotion and description with the words you write. Several times, I could get a perfect sense of what the picture was with the way you wrote the scenes. Strong characterization, drama, and an intriguing story arc make this one of the best Beast Wars fanfic series I've read in a long time. And it's sad because Beast Wars stories nowadays are becoming increasingly rare.

Nice job, and I look forward to reading more from you.

No way! Megatron's here, too?!

It's a little cliffhanger, don't you think? Anyway, I'm gonna wait for the next part... impatiently ;)

"Primus, she didn't know..."

Wait...didn't know what? *missed something*

wow this is your best chapter yet!

You're going like a bullet train with updates lately ;)

I already can't wait for the next chapter. There're so much riddles I'd like to know right on spot. Who did Nightscream see? What Blackarachnia didn't know? etc.

As for the chapter, I liked the last part. It seems obvious that Cheetor would look for an escape from the reality in a mindless run. He's a Golden Rocket after all ;) Anyway, it was beautiful scene, sad, too, but I hope it will have a happy end ;)

Had it just crossed Dinobot's mind that Nightscream's a son of Silverbolt & Blackarachnia? The idea would be nice, it's a pity it won't come true, but to tell the true Silverbolt is more like father/brother to the youngster than enybody else ;)

Depthcharge made it in a nick of time, I have to say. Though it worries me why Voks wanted to eliminate Cheetor? Was it just a trap on the dam then? The cheetah will probably feel betrayed, hope it won't influence his leader capabilities.

I'd like to see Dinobot and Depthcharge's faces when they learn Cheetor is the new leader. They barely listened to Optimus let alone him ;)

- chimeraone

- chimeraone

oh no dinobot dosn't know that blackarachnia goined the maximals or about nightscream so things may get ugly. can't wait for the update

Great story, it's different from other BM fanfictions ^_^

But i do have one question: What happened to Botanica? Is she going to be in this story later?

Hmm... I assume that two sparks Cheetor saw weren't Tigatron & Airrazor? Anyway, there're four new Transformers in the fic ;)

I like how you introduced Dinobot. Blackarachnia is rather in big trouble now, though I don't understand how he'd managed to recognize her in that form?

And there's Depthcharge as well... BTW I have a question: How come they suddenly started appearing on Earth naked? The first five didn't have that problem... or did they? o_O

I'm waiting for the next chapter ;)

- chimeraone

Nicely detailed chapter. But if you're going to do a description for Airzor and Tigatron's human forms, just a suggestion. I always thought of Airazor having short spiky brown hair like the girl's on "Alien" the first movie. P.S. Glad to see your stil lwrting. ^-^

lol i want a animated cheetah avatar!!

great i can;t waite to see more.