It's great how the first ten or so and the last five or so are pretty standard LOOK HOW COOL THIS TOY IS spots, but for about a year's worth of ads, we got hilariously forced rapping and awful puns.
(it's also surprising how much the CGI improved by the end.)
It doesn't surprise me that they backed away from the rapping -- how the hell do you follow up a commercial that refers to the "illin'" gun possessed by a "triple-change villain that's chillin'"?
In '91, when I was working at Marvel as an intern, the editorial office responsible for the Transformers comic held TRANSFORMERS: THE WAKE when the book was cancelled. Somewhere in my parents' house is the gift bag that was handed out at Phoebe's bar after work to all who came to mourn the passing of Shockwave et al.
"Warriors" doesn't rhyme with "lazer-blades," btw.
It makes sense to me. I mean, how threatening is a robot that changes into a handgun when compared to a robot that transforms into a rolling death machine?