Lee drew the first new pictures of G1 (outside of fan-art and convention prints) in years. The timing matched up to a nostalgia push just after the millenium. It was the first non-convention G1 media since ~1992 (the G2 comic).
And, then Lee screwed it up with criminal malfeasance.
It has also been over a decade since Dreamwave collapsed. Does that scab need to be picked?
I recall IDW saying they couldn't finish the DW stories because of legal issues with DW's bankruptcy. Although, that was around the time IDW first got the TF license. I have to wonder if that's still an issue for them.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Dreamwave was also running comics based on the "Unicron Trilogy", which was new (at the time....a long time ago....so long ago).Not to mention, the 2000's saw a lot of 80's revival series. It was a point in time where the franchise really needed to revisit G1.
Dreamwave's G1 drew on the generally agreed premise of G1, while not requiring any OCD-level knowledge of the franchise. It was a clean relaunch that did not spend too much time looking back after it started.
And, there was a plan to start a beast-era comic when the company collapsed...(damn you Pat Lee....)
If nothing else, Dreamwave may have offered more variety than the functionally bi-polar product IDW published for the last ~5 years (generic comics:tumblr fodder, with some Scioli).
McDonough and Patyk were Hasbro guys....and they could write. That was a rare, and promising, combination of traits.