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In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Discuss anything about the Transformers cartoons and comics! You can discuss anything from G1 to Cybertron as well as the comics from Marvel, Dreamwave, IDW and more!

In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Sun May 01, 2011 4:45 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
I've been wanting to do this for a while for this site. I'm an old-school G1 fan, as in 1984 and having my dad buy me Transformer toys and watching the cartoon when it premiered. Ah, memories... :) So, here it is. Episode by episode. DOn't expect deep deep analysis. I'll leave that to others more intelligent than I.

Images are from the TF wiki or my own captures.


More Than Meets the Eye part one

Yeah, saw this when it first aired in 1984. Five years old, going on six. That opening is iconic. Faction symbols sweep by... and he transforms. Optimus Prime. He's running at me! This song is seared into my brain. When I'm old and senile, I'll be humming it.

"Autobots wage their bat-tle to des-troy the e-vil forces of-the Decepticons!

The seekers transform and land-with Thundercracker in the lead! Wheeljack, Mirage and Bumblebee transform to head them off, transformations... remarkably smooth with no stock footage. Take that, Unicron Trilogy! Jazz and Skywarp duke it out, with Jazz showing how to use transforming effectively as a combat tactic. Soundwave ejects these things called 'cassettes'. Megatron uses his gun mode... without anyone holding him! He fires at Prime, Sideswipe, Prowl, Mirage and Wheeljack. And I either own or have on pre-order all five of their Classics-style toys. The two factions fly behind a mountain... for some reason.

And the episode proper starts in deep space, with Victor Caroli expositing. Basically intelligent robots existed on a planet named Cybertron-and that shot of the planet is effin' gorgeous, by the way. Very alien and otherworldy. They were Autobots and Decepticons, locked in war. We see smoke, fire, explosions and torn landscape. And I can't get over how incredible those landscapes are.

"The Autbots, on the verge of extinction, battle valiantly to survive!"

.. Wait, what?! They're the good guys... And for the most part, not warriors. This is... rather realistic, if you think about it. Look at the crew of the Ark. Not many with the 'warrior' function.

We pan down to some grating and see our first two characters, Wheeljack and Bumblebee. Whelljack has no mouth but flashing ears. Bumblebee is small and yellow. They're collecting energy conductors, but they 'won't last a quartex', according to Wheeljack. Bumblebee's glad they found those, at least. "And when these run out?" Long-term and short-term planning, there. With logical pessimism mixed in.

Wheeljack transforms, thankfully into a non-Earth vehicle. Excellent touch there. It fits him, too. They speed off down what looks like the mail delivery system from Omashu, and down a rather deserted road. Cybertron is... empty. And damaged. And lonely. They're heading to Iacon, the Autobot capitol. But all is not well as we now see the antagonists, the Decepticons.

I should note now that, unless it's bad, I'm not commenting on animation errors. I'd be here all day if I did.

We see Starscream-with a deep voice-Thundercracker and Skywarp. Curiously, they remove their arm cannons before firing them. Wheeljack has some sort of shield go up over his upper body and skids to a halt. Very 'alien' sounds again. Bumblebee gets out, shoots at... something to the right and hides. "Prime told me there'd be days like this!"

"And you didn't believe him?"

"I do now!"

A purple seeker shoots a ring of flame around them, and Wheeljack decides to beat repulsor lifts-small Star Wars joke-and Bumblebee transforms into a small car/flying saucer hybrid. Wheeljack pops out little fans and the two blow through the blockade. A Megatron-like voice shouts, "After them!" and we see Skywarp and Thundercracker transform into the most famous Cybertronian mode-the tetrajets. The Autobots pass under this clear tube... thingie-seriously, no idea what it is-and Bumblebee is hit! Wheel gets blown off, but in a legit good driving feat, Wheeljack opens his pod bay door and gets Bumblebee inside.

Wait, the good guy gets hit and damaged? What is this?! So they escape underground. And the seekers report back to Megatron. Insert ominous music, here.

Seriously, Cybertron is empty. It's probably the most effective way to show the damage wrought by the Great War.

Wheeljack approaches Iacon, a domed city. He drives past... a friggin' lamppost. :mad: It's Soundwave, who transforms by... straightening up. Lame! He sends Laserbeak to report, who almost makes up for Lamppostwave there. *Sigh* Creepy monotone and synth voice. :cool: Laserbeak flies up and lands, little sensors extending. Another vehicle speeds by-Jazz, we later see. Who seriously should've seen the Decepticon. Failed a spot check, did we?

Jazz reports to Optimus Prime, Prowl and Trailbreaker. This is one of the only times we see 'defensive strategist' Trailbreaker in position to fulfill his duties. And we learn the entire north side of Cybertron is 'blacker than the inside of a drive shaft'. Holy slag! They've killed their planet! So time to blast off, in search of more energy. "Unless a new supply of energy is found, nobody is going to win this war. So, time to start the search.

Soundwave retrieves Laserbeak and flies off. Interesting how he transforms into a tape about four million years before it's invented. :p And now we see... HIM, the slagmaker, the Emperor of Destruction, the Decepticon leader... Megatron! This is presumably at Kaon, retconned into usually being Megatron's first base in G1.

Soundwave reports that the Autobots are set to launch, and what a wacky coincidence, so are the Decepticons! We also see Starscream and Shockwave. Shockwave has two hands, which some people call a continuity error with how he has a laser cannon in place of his left hand... four million years later. Yeah, no change in four thousand millennia. *Headdesk* Shockwave's put in charge. "Cybertron shall remain as you leave it." Oh, you have no idea...

Oh, and Shockwave's... cranium. Just a flashing optic sensor, hexagonal-shaped. So creepy! "Now it's merely a matter of time until Optimus Prime admits defeat." Hmm, interesting wrinkle there. And now Starscream makes his first onscreen bid for power! Admittedly, some people have hypothesized this was his first. It does explain why Megatron hadn't killed him yet. And there is a hint of surprise in Megatron's voice. "Never... NEVER!"

For the longest time, it looked to me like Megatron was looking at the camera. We cut back to Iacon as the transparent dome retracts, then the upper walls, revealing the Ark! Pan across the bridge, and we see Prime sitting at a console. He presses the button and engines fire! Nice sequence, too. We sweep... possibly a little ways away, hard to judge based on the size, to the Nemesis. And Megatron on a throne. Subtle contrast.

There's a cut back to the bridge, some people thinking there's an FTL jump between the shots. And two asteroids collide. The TF wiki makes a big deal about this being so improbable... but this is a show about giant robots. Big deal! The Ark seems to weather it better than the Nemesis, actually. And we see Ironhide for the first time. "Leakin' lubricants!" Soundwave sounding panicked is rather amusing, too.

Jazz gets knocked out of the pilot's chair and Prime takes control, ordering Ironhide to fire the laser and blast a path through. The Nemesis follows. We get a good line by Prowl. "Viewtrex report-we are being followed." So they weren't completely clueless about the giant Decepticon cruiser on their tail. Starscream says to blow them away, but Megatron wants to know what they're after. It... makes sense. Are the Autobots heading to a specific destination? The Nemesis pulls up and locks two tractor beams onto the Ark. Prime calls to fire the laser... which would do nothing to the Nemesis at the angle the ships are at.

The Decepticons board, and one error here. Prime calls to 'prepare for battle!' and then Megatron shouts, 'attack, attack!' Using the same Prime footage. Whoops... It was supposed to be a shot of Megatron on his throne, though. Just one of the many animation errors the show has. *Sigh*

Soundwave kicks ass, taking out Sideswipe, Prowl and Jazz but Ironhide dropkicks him from behind. We then cut to Soundwave recovered and taking out Ratchet, despite being hit so hard electricity erupts from his chassis! We pan to Prime and Megatron fighting... but the Ark is caught in a planet's gravity well, oh noes! Prime pulls a lever, but it's no good. The Nemesis's tractor beams are torn away as the Ark augers into the side of a mountain at apparent full speed... and is not instantly vaporized!

"Diecast construction... it's a lost art."

FIND THE ART AGAIN!!!!!!!

We have a fade from a desolate landscape to one with vegetation, showing the passage of time. Rather nice, there. :) And the caption 'four million years later'. The volcano-Mount Saint Hillary in most G1 fiction but unnamed here, but It's always been my name for it too-erupts. The gist is supposed to be the volcano uncovered the Ark... but that's not how it is. We apparently missed the giant ship sticking out of the mountain. We pan across the Arks' bridge-with some good scenes of the carnage-as Teletraan-One boots up and launches a satellite. This being before the age of the 'modern' internet, it can't really 'hack' anything for useful info.

The sky spy scans an F-15 and Skywarp is reassembled. He drags Megatron into the... healing beam? Some sort of re-energizer? "Megatron, my leader. We are alive again." There's a rather good shot of Skywarp having to help Megatron to his feet. Subtle, but good. The rest of the Decepticons are revived and they fly out. Why, I have no idea. The Ark is a perfectly usable base. But, oh well. Megatron notes the passage of time. A somewhat sad line. "How do we know Cybertron still exists?" Oh, ouch. Still, optimism! Megatron presses on and first mention of ultimate weapons!

Starscream... fires at the mountain. "I'm just saying goodbye!" Write a postcard, you nitwit! Okay, it's again supposed to be him sealing the Ark up. And there's no way he'd know he'd knock Prime into the healing beam...

The sky spy scans a tractor trailer and, "Thanks!" I love the thumbs-up there. :D The Decepticons walk into an open desert area which looks like the American Southwest, but I could and am probably wrong. They'll set up base, there. Soundwave is tasked to prepare plans for a new space cruiser-like the 'new'-while Starscream has to get the area ready and materials... which makes sense, as we'll see later on. "What about materials?" "Use your imagination."

Soundwave points out what looks like a power station... and now we see what I consider to be the start of the ultimate kicks to the nether regions of the Masquerade and I LOVE IT! I love the LA movies, but this is one area the G1 series did so much better.

Rumble flies off with Starsceam and Soundwave, and we cut back to the Ark. Earth has a lot of resources, and the Decepticons know it too. Thanks, Prime! He's got his arms crossed, which is kinda cute. He sends Hound and Cliffjumper to find them. Back to Starscream as he says how he'll lead the Decepticons. Not in front of Soundwave, yah moron! Rumble uses his piledrivers to 'shake things up a little'.

Back to Hound and Cliffjumper, as Hound begins falling in love with Earth. "We won't be staying that long!" Ah, Cliffjumper. Wanna talk about being two days to retirement and sailing off with your wife too? :p They find the Decepticons and da-yum, they're going quickly! The outer shell is almost complete and there's some conical structure in the middle. How much time has passed, again? Down at the base, we listen in as Megatron does standard evil overlord 101 and we see a rather neat use for Soundwave's chest screen as he shows the space cruiser schematics. He also says they can concentrate their energy into 'energon cubes'. More on those iconic items later.

Back to Hound and Cliffjumper... as Cliff has pulled a gigantic bazooka from nowhere! First subspace dimensional pocket use? He fires, but misses. And the Decepticons realize the Autobots survived. Laserbeak is sent off, now in spiffy condor mode, as the two drive off in retreat.

Kinda cute how they don't recognize Laserbeak. :D They split up, but Laserbeak launches a drone after Cliffjumper. "Eat my dust, birdbrain!" "You couldn't hit an Autobot with a moonbeam!" Trashtalk point goes to Cliffjumper, this round. He fires off his glass gas which takes out the drone, but Hound is blown off the road down into a ditch. Ouch.

After the break we see Cliffjumper, Ratchet and 'Hauler'-Grapple's design-drive up, and a rare appearance of Ratchet's repair bay. Hound has no hard feelings, but Cliffjumper apologizes. Aww. "You shouldn't have missed, you mean." We cut to a cliff and the Reflector trio and Thundercracker. They spot a dust trail and Reflector transforms and combines... into a polaroid camera. That takes actual photographs. Right... "Okay, Reflector. Let's see what you can see." Heh.

And now we have the first contact between humanity and the Trnasformers... and it's them first surveying the destroyed power station, then Ravage attacking them and them barely escaping with their lives. For the record this is one of the weakest Decepticons. We're ****, aren't we.

Back at the Ark, and Hound tells them about 'some kind of cube'. A battle unit is organized and roll call! "Autobots, start your engines! Ready, Prime." Rather calm, there.

Laserbeak flies over the Decepticon base... which looks even more built-up. Nice sense of time-change, there. He's found a source of energy and we fade to an oil rig. And we see... them, two of the best human protagonists in TF history. Spike and Sparkplug Witwicky.

Seriously, they are. a father and son, both with technical skills who can teach the Autobots about humanity and Earth without being too annoying. But before SPike can get the baler, the Decepticons land. "Dive, dive, DIVE!" The humans throw.... wrenches at them. It goes about as well as you'd expect. -_- One thrown pipe and most of them are swept into the ocean. Rumble throws Sparkplug against a wall. Spike tries, bless his heart, but an incredibly casual swipe from Rumble and he's knocked into the ocean! Sparkplug uses a rather clever leverage move on Rumble and dives after his son.

Energon cubes are laid out and the oil is transferred in. How do these things work?! Starscream prematurely celebrates... odd, too. And he also spots the Autobots on approach. :p Flying in. Ah, early kinks in the series, how I love you. ;) Megatron transforms into gun mode... being wielded by Starscream. Who thus far has only said he'd take over. Meh, some posturing but nothing big. Yet.

"Don't interfere, Prime." ... Uh, he was interfering for about five million years before you landed on Earth. I think it's a might beyond a habit by now! They tussle a bit and we see other shots of fighting. Skywarp and a Reflector begin scooping up energon cubes, but Prowl and Jazz shoot at them. Looks like they even get some cubes, too! Laserbeak flies over and interferes, letting Megatron escape. "So long, Prime. Have a nice swim!"

Two fusion cannon shots and the oil rig breaks apart. "Here's something to keep you warm!" And the oil is ignited. Not. good. Ooh, somewaht creepy shot of Megatron and the flames superimposed over him. *Shiver* Spike and Sparkplug call for help, as they're trapped by the wreckage. Prime tries to lift the wreckage... and to be continued!

Thoughts
This... is still rather good, actually. Cybertron so empty and desolate like that is just sad. Good moments for the characters, too. MTMTE is one of the 'highlights' of the franchise, not just G1, and it does show here.
Last edited by RK_Striker_JK_5 on Mon May 02, 2011 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby Sailor Destron » Mon May 02, 2011 12:04 pm

Weapon: Dark Saber Sword
Wow... Really had fun reading that. (How long did it take you to type that anyway?) MTMTE is one of my favorite episodes. It seems to set the stage for about all the Transformer universe stories and backgrounds. I mean Cybertron, the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, searching for energon,coming to earth. These are elements found in all Transformers plot lines. MTMTE is an important episode. Well that is getting a little off subject... Good review/summary. You put alot of work into that. I hope there is a part 2? (Don't forget the part about the Burmese ruby crystals! that's the best part.) :CON:
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Mon May 02, 2011 5:45 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
Sailor Destron wrote:Wow... Really had fun reading that. (How long did it take you to type that anyway?) MTMTE is one of my favorite episodes. It seems to set the stage for about all the Transformer universe stories and backgrounds. I mean Cybertron, the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, searching for energon,coming to earth. These are elements found in all Transformers plot lines. MTMTE is an important episode. Well that is getting a little off subject... Good review/summary. You put alot of work into that. I hope there is a part 2? (Don't forget the part about the Burmese ruby crystals! that's the best part.) :CON:


Thanks! It took not as long as it seems. An hour or so of watching the episode, pausing and writing. Yeah, MTMTE sets the bedrock-the foundation, if you will-for just about all that is to come. And it's cracking good, too!

Part two? Or there's... every episode from G1.

More Than Meets The Eye part two
We're back and we see Huffer has his arm trapped. Brawn swims over and his hand retracts, revealing a torch. Ah, the oil? Right... "There's two things I really hate, Brawn." "What's that?" "Fire... and water!" Hah! Ah, Huffer. The eternal pessimist. He gets loose and they fly off. Technology marches on!

Prime is busy working on the wreckage holding Spike and Sparkplug while he orders Trailbreaker to use his force field on the fire. We see Trailbreaker helping to rescue oil workers. Which will be a big boon to Autobot/human relations, no doubt. Wheeljack helps out. It's rather nice teamwork as the force field holds the flames back and Wheeljack extinguishes it.

I would also be remiss if I didn't point out that Wheeljack actually does have the ability to fly. ;)

Prime rescues the humans and Jazz tows him in with his cable and hook. Seriously, his Generations figure needed that. Little glow when his hand retracts. Subspace switching? Prime introduces himself.

"We're Autobots. We're from Cybertron, a planet far from Earth." Spike is... enthused. As I would be. He's taking the whole assault and near death thing rather well. Prime also exposits about the Decepticons. He stands up and his eyes glow... for some reason. "Can we help?" "We are the only ones who can stop the Decepticons." And we get a reason why Sparkplug and Spike hang around.

"But my son Spike and I know more about Earth than you do."

Oh, thank you! Thank you SO much! A reason! And a good reason, too! No internet-at least not one recognizable to us. Two humans, one adult and the other around 14-15 years old who is relatively mature and responsible for his age and knows how to fix stuff! Spike, Sparkplug, come back! We need you!

*Ahem* Sorry. Back at the Ark, we see Spike writing in a journal. Damn, I wish they kept that. But then we see Soundwave spying on him. He turns into a tape deck-which is a good disguise for him-and Spike... picks him up and brings him in. To be fair, the Decepticon symbol is a bit distorted. And as far as I can recall, this is the only time Spike does this. And Spike wonders who left it here, so it's... I'll be quiet now.

He heads in and we shill some toys meet some of the Autobots. He asks Trailbreaker why they transform. "Simple, disguise! Besides, it sure beats walking." Nice, easy. You get a good feel for Trailbreaker with those few sentences. We cut to a bulding outside the Ark, looks like it was put up recently. Ratchet fixes Huffer's arm-seriously, it's the little things like that-and we see Spike with Trailbreaker, Mirage and Hound.

Hound shows off his holograms, amazing Spike. I don't believe holography was widely known back then. And Mirage confuses the tech spec readers by using a cloaking device. ;) Hound takes him for a drive.. but there's trouble as Soundwave has Ravage hook into Teletraan-One. Hmm, his missile launchers flash before disappearing as he transforms.

How did the Ark get this info, sky spy satellites?

Hound is... sad, kinda. He likes Earth, but this little exchange. "Earth must be a nice place to live. "

"It's okay, but tell me about Cybertron!"

"Before the War with the Decepticons, it was quiet and peaceful."

"Do you miss it?"

"Sometimes. Hold tight!"

Hound's running. He doesn't wanna go back to Cybertron! Hell, I bet a number of the Ark crew wouldn't want to go back! Their world is dead! This world, for all the troubles we had, have and will have, is paradise compared to how it was when he left.

When we get back, Spike sees Soundwave downloading-uploading?-the files. So... no one else noticed? Soundwave transforms and Spike... is scared, but dodges and attempted swipe. And hits the alarm button. Good panic in Soundwave's voice as he calls for Ravage. Ravage slips into the shadows, but more toy shilling Prime calls for Gears to use infrared beams. "Fire the net!" Wait, the net? Prowl and Jazz fire two halves of a net... which seems pretty ineffective, to be honest, and Ravage is captured.

Back at the Decepticon base as Soundwave plays back info on Sherman Dam... although the alternate name was Boulder Dam, which was an early name for Hoover Dam! We learn the dam can generate one million, seven hundred fifty thousand kilowatts. Megatron praises him, but Starscream busts in. "But that's not enough electrical power to make the energon cubes." And we get some alpha-mech posturing between the two. Actually, Megs has a plan. A tidal wave. "We attack the dam at sunrise!"

They land at the dam, and it does look early in the morning. Rumble goes into the water and begins rocking the place. LOL at Soundwave making an actual wave motion with his arm there. Inside the control room, the indicators begin going wild. We even get a grizzled-sounding-yet-young-looking man shouting, "The river's rising! Man your emergency stations!"

Back at the Ark... and they've somehow received a warning about Sherman Dam? Spike can apparently also read either Cybertronix or badly-done English. And the Decepticons bursting into the dam's control room. Megatron blows a hole in the roof... hey. Who's gonna tell him no? Brief shot of the Autobots rolling out and back to Megatron. The workers are worried, though. We even see the top of the dam cracking.

They try warning Megatron, but that's what he wants! Starscream uses his null ray-sort of an ion cannon-to freeze the generators. And energon cubes are filled. The Autobots pull up. "Do you think the Decepticons did this? And a half-second later... BOOM!"

"You're too late, Prime!"

"There's your answer, Prowl. Autobots, to the air!" Spike and Hound go to the heart of the tidal wave and Hound goes down. Hmm, he puts on a mask first. Neat touch, there. He bobs! :D Down below there's some good water fighting. Bumblebee and Ironhide head off the overflow. Again, more good public relations with the humans! Movie-Prime, take some notes here!

"Stop talking, tighten your shock absorbers and get in. We're gonna make a new river!" Ah, Ironhide, how awesome you are. Oh, and the laser inside looks rather like the one from his toy. Nice. They cut channels and save the town. Yay!

"Autobots, to the power plant." They take to the air and storm the place, blasting two Starscreams-it was a bad one, okay? As Megatron prepares to depart, "Stick it in neutral, Megatron! You're not going anywhere!" "Try and stop me, Prime!" We get some good fighting while Sparkplug leads the workers out of there.

One nice scene of Mirage helping to save Cliffjumper. "For someone who doesn't like to fight, you're not bad Mirage." Aww. We fade to Megatron standing on some ledge... for some reason. Prima attacks but is knocked off, hanging by his fingers. Then we get a weird scene of Starscream firing a slingshot at a bank of control... and Megatron is pissed... yeah. I don't get it, either. Prime tackles him outside... and ow the scene, atop Sherman Dam. Prime deploys his energon axe, while Megatron utilizes a mace.

"You destroy everything you touch, Megatron!" "Because everything I touch is food for my hunger-my hunger for POWER!" "No! I'm going to end your hunger once and for all!" They fight, and it's pretty damned good. "You're old, Megatron! Yesterday's model, ready for the scrap heap!" "We'll see who's ready for the scrap heap!" "Junk-that's what you are! Junk!" "SILENCE!" It's back and forth, which is how it should be.

Back to the river as Spike gets worried. As he should be. Rumble emerges and brushes Spike aside... who tackles him, but the Decepticon roughs him up. Again, as it should be for non-military humans. Prime's distracted and gets knocked into the river. The Decepticons fly off, a bunch of energon cubes in hand.

Jazz rescues Prime and Spike jumps in after Hound, rescuing him but needing to get rescued himself. "Easy, Spike. You almost flooded your engine." "Thanks, Hound. You saved my-" "Leave it, okay?" "Okay!"

The Autobots regroup and we get another reminder of how they cared when making the series. Mirage wants go go back to Cybertron, but Prime reminds him about the energy here. While we get this line from Huffer. "But we're not fighters like they are, Prime!"

No, they're not. They're civilians, engineers, merchants who have to fight, but don't want to. You know if the Decepticons willingly and sincerely surrendered, there'd be relief and just... yeah.

Prime understands-he's been in Huffer's shoes. "We must have courage, Huffer. We can't ignore the danger. We must conquer it."

We get a montage of Decepticon energy raids. Here's a topic of discussion-what was the public's reaction to this? This isn't anything that can be covered up, after all. Soundwave reports they need one more run, and according to Soundwave, the ruby crystals of Burma. I don't remember ruby crystals being like that, but then again I'm not a giant robot from outer space. Go fig.

But then we see Starscream using them to blow up a mountain with them. Testing them, according to Starsceam. Which... makes sense, if you ponder it. Now they need two strikes. "What's the difference? There's plenty here for us!" "The difference is time, you fool!" Soundwave pipes up with info on rocket fuel, and we fade to Trailbreaker, Spike and Sparkplug spying on them. Love them drinking coffee like there. They drive off as Starscream and Megatron engage in a lubricating contest. "Time makes all things possible. I can wait." Oh, how prophetic those words are...

They fly off while the Autobot spies drive off. But two seekers track them down. Sparkplug calls in for help. "I may not be fast, but I'm tough!" Sideswipe and Sunstreaker pull into view, doing some nice driving. The seekers are generic violet, btw. They hit Sunstreaker, or lightly scorch him. "Hey, that's a new paint job!" A laser cannon pops out of his trunk and he nails one. "I'm heading in for repairs." And I think... "I'll settle you back." "Thanks for your help, brothers!" Ah, so that's where that came from! "What about my paint?" "Don't worry, nobody will notice. Just make left turns!"

At the crystal mine, the Decepticons are mining while Megatron seems to do a Scrooge McDuck in one of the carts. According to Soundwave, there's enough there to power... the entire planet of Cybertron. I raise an eyebrow at that. Outside, the Autobots plan. Wheeljack has an explosive powerful enough 'to bury 'em forever!' as he turns southern, apparently. But they know they're inside, not where exactly. Sparkplug's worked the mines, and Bumblebee's the smallest. So they drive off. Prime doesn't want them to risk too much, but Sparkplug...

"There won't be any problem, Prime. This one's for Cybertron and Earth!" That's... wow. They drive to the entrance and enter. Bumblebee's in legit awe, but dodge Skywarp and Thundercracker. "You know, Skywarp, I can't wait to get back to Cybertron. Earth's so flat!" "Yeah, I know what you mean Thundercracker." Ah, mooks with personality! They plant the bomb, but the two seekers find them and knock them around a bit. Outside, Ironhide wants to go, but Prime says no. He won't risk his other Autobots. Because dammit, he's Optimus Prime! Inside the mine and Thundercracker and Skywarp finish pantsing Bumblebee. "Let's give Megatron a little present!" "Heh, maybe we ought to wrap it up and put a little bow on it." Ouch...

Prime deploys Roller, part of the R-series from the sound of it. But the bomb blows up and the interior collapses! It also sends Prime tumbling down the cliffside. What will happen next?

Thoughts
Another good, solid episode. Great touches and character moments, even when they didn't need to happen. Interesting that for Megatron, Earth is a means to an end-he's got bigger Sharkticons to fry than this little ball of mud. He's got the galaxy to conquer!
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby Sailor Destron » Tue May 03, 2011 2:33 pm

Weapon: Dark Saber Sword
[quote="RK_Striker_JK_5
According to Soundwave, there's enough there to power... the entire planet of Cybertron. I raise an eyebrow at that. [/quote]

:lol: I love it when Soundwave says that! It always makes me laugh. :lol: :lol: Considering rubies are just alumimun oxide, (AO2) I find that amusing...umm I really like gems and minerals okay? Another great review! I had to read this one too, so thanks for writing. (I'm glad you can type so fast, I have to think about what I'm going to say first... so I'm slow, ha, ha...
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Tue May 03, 2011 8:31 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
Sailor Destron wrote:[quote="RK_Striker_JK_5
According to Soundwave, there's enough there to power... the entire planet of Cybertron. I raise an eyebrow at that.


:lol: I love it when Soundwave says that! It always makes me laugh. :lol: :lol: Considering rubies are just alumimun oxide, (AO2) I find that amusing...umm I really like gems and minerals okay? Another great review! I had to read this one too, so thanks for writing. (I'm glad you can type so fast, I have to think about what I'm going to say first... so I'm slow, ha, ha... [/quote]
It's TF logic. I can forgive it. ;) I'm doing these for another message board, so it's mostly do it there and then copy/paste here. Thanks again.

I just hope someone else responds...


More Than Meets The Eye Part Three

We begin where we left off-Prime rolling down a hill. The Autobots land from flying in-yeah, whatever at this point-and nice bit where he lands and shock absorbers bounce. Prime's first concern? Roller, his soldier. As it should be. Roller comes back out. "Down, but not out." As an aside, some good close-ups of Jazz's and Ratchet's faces.

Prime transforms, a slow process this time. So a blast powerful enough to collapse the interior of a mountain... strips Prime's transformation gears. And again, his first thought is to others. A drill pops up out of Ironhide's arm and they 'start digging!' Eventually Jazz finds them. Spike runs to hug his father. Aww. :) At first they think the Decepticons are finished...

BOOM! The entire top of the mountain blows up. "It worked! W'ere free-we can get out." Ah, Skywarp. Nothing gets past you, eh? "We are indestructible!" And to top it off, the energon cubes are still intact. "Scramble!" Megatron said that a lot during this miniseries.

Ironhide wants to go after them, but, "Save it, Ironhide. They're too fast for us in the air." And the retcon begins... Ironhide's not having any of it, though. "Well, I'm tired of sucking their vapor trails! I'll stop them!" Bluestreak takes off after him, though.

Fun fact-G1 Bluestreak was my first ever Transformers. Good times.

Ironhide has a missile launcher sticking out of his back-well in certain shots-and he hits Skywarp in the tail fin. And now we see why he's named Skywarp in a good little battle. He teleports behind the two Autobots and blasts Ironhide out of the air. "It's like fighting a shadow!"

I should note Skywarp misses the half-dozen or so rockets before he finally nails them-after they begin dodging! Ironhide crashes into the lake and Jazz fishes them out with his grappling hook. And now we get another great character moment. "I can't move."

"At least you can still talk, old buddy."

Ironhide gets loaded into Ratchet in ambulance mode while he and Prime talk. "You gave us all a pretty good scare."

"It's been worse. I remember the time on Cybertron-"

"Save the war stories, hot shot. Just remember there's a thin line between being a hero-and being a memory." Jazz teases him, and Ironhide is grumpy. They roll out and we cut to Spike on the mountain with his journal. "Optimus Prime cares a lot for his fellow robots. And he doesn't want anything to happen to them. I think he'd make a neat president!"

Admit it-you'd vote for him. I know I would. Prowl as vice president, Jazz as secretary of the funk. Elita-One as first lady.

We're back to Hound and Mirage guarding Ravage-remember that? Ah, continuity. How I love thee. Hound's taunting him and he and Mirage wax philosophical about Decepticon conduct. "You know I'm surprised the Decepticons haven't tried to rescue him."

"I'm not. They don't care about anyone, not even their own." Hound then creates a hologram of Megatron to, again, taunt Ravage. "Hound, when we get back to Cybertron will you make me a big house with a four-car garage? Holograms look so real nobody would know the difference!" Hound gets to thinking and goes see Prime about making a hologram... a big one. Something that would lure the 'Cons in for a fight.

Back at the cage, Hound talks about a rocket base 140 kilometers due west of the Autobot base... in front of Ravage. Sounding so sincere. He... 'drops' the key, saying they'll go see Ironhide. Yes, I love this show. Can you tell? Anyway, Ravage eventually gets the key. looking oh so cute using his paw. He jumps and the Autobots give up the chase.

Hound, Mirage, Prowl and Jazz report he escaped, to which Prime says, "perfect." And for some reason they all look shocked... okay, that's a big error there. Only one who has any right to look shocked is Mirage. *Sigh* Back at the Decepticon base, Ravage says his only line in the whole series. It's the last resource they need.

And we get Starscream's first overt attempt on Megatron's life. Starscream's made his first mistake-making his desire known. He then fires on Megatron, but Soundwave warns him and he puts up a shield from his fusion cannon. "It's empty!" One blast, Screamer? Load up before you attempt a coup!

"You failed to dispose of me when you had the chance, Starscream. Mistake number two." Starscream begs but gets shot and kinda... shuffles over on his knees. And the image is just kinda wrong.

The next day Hound creates his hologram and it's huge! Megatron fires off both his fusion cannon and the laser on his back. I love that thing. The Autobots are in lab coats... which shouldn't really disguise them but okay, we'll roll with it. They fight-but the Decepticons come apart faster than the plot for Fate of the Jedi! ;) "Scrap! Springs! Junk." "We've been had."

Yeah, turns out the villains didn't fall for it and are off attacking the real rocket base. This is why I love this show. The only real one is Megatron... who should've been tackled by all the Autobots there, but isn't.

"That's right, Prime. I was onto your little scheme from the start. Did you really think you could fool me by allowing Ravage to escape? Did you?"

At Cape Carlson, the military is basically steamrolled. It's not even funny. Oh, and from the sounds and visuals, no lasers. Actual rifles. One shot and the artillery is blown up. Megatron arrives... even though he didn't have to. Back at their base, the energon is loaded. "Course back to Cybertron charted. Space cruiser fueled and ready for departure. What are your orders Megatron?" They're simple. "Prepare for blastoff!"

Back at the Ark, the Autobots ready for a direct assault. Prime asks for volunteers. "Jazz?" "Volunteers, step forward!" They all do, even Spike and Sparkplug. Good bots, all of them. "Ready, Prime!" Jazz does it a lot more forcefully than last time. They roll out, a rather neat sequence where Prime heads for the camera, covers it and the back of the trailer suddenly pulls back.

At the Decepticon base, they're getting ready but the Autobots pull up and 'encircle the base!' Autobots, transform!" Lovely shot of the Decepticons backing up as the Autobots advance. Megatron transforms and lands in Skywarp's hands. Hmm, not trusting Starscream this time? Soundwave ejects his tapes. "Operation: Warfare!" The final 'eject' is pretty damned forceful. Rumble and Hound tango again. "I owe you one from Sherman Dam, Rumble!" Cute little factoid-they reused some of the earlier footage from Sherman Dam, hence the 'dust clouds' there. Hound just picks him up, chucks him against a rock and pounds him!

Skywarp and Thundercracker transform in this gorgeous sequence and join Laserbeak on a strafing run. Prime's trailer unfolds and fires at Megatron. There's some confusion, but the trailer and Megatron do fire at the same time, blowing up the trailer and knocking off Megatron's gun. "It's just you and me, now, Megatron." "Then you'd better get some help, Prime!" "Oh, no. I've been waiting for this chance!" They grapple. "Only one of us is going back, Megatron!" "It won't be you, Prime!"

Starscream readies his weapon... but Spike knocks it off with a rock. To be fair, it is the same arm Megatron blasted earlier. Love Prowl running it over. Back at the fight, Prime gets the upper hand but Ravage makes the save! And the Decepticons beat feet. An interesting little bit where we see Megatron making sure all his soldiers are aboard! They blast off...

Wait, the bad guys won?

Prime takes Sideswipe's rocket pack and flies off after them. "Sideswipe, give me your rocket pack." "My rocket pack?" "NOW!" Whoa, pissed off Prime is pissed off! He flies off while Megatron gloats. Not for long as Starscream spots Prime. A laser cannon fires, hits Prime dead on and he tumbles back to Earth from what looks like the edge of the atmosphere. "Soundwave, full throttle. We're going home-our home!"

Prime crashes... and is apparently all right. Ho-ly ****. "Im fine, I'm all right." "Let Ratchet check you out." "I said I'm fine!" Sparkplug tries to reassure him, but he's still down on himself. He also notes Mirage's absence. And aboard the cruiser, Starscream tries another coup attempt.

"Beware, Starscream. If you dispose of me, there will always be someone waiting to dispose of you." Decepticon philosophy in in one sentence, folks. Suddenly Mirage appears and shoots a console! Starscream shoots him... and Megatron shoots Starscream. "Extinction to all traitors!" There's a lovely shot of him with his fusion cannon... but seriously, he's a dumbass there. Skywarp tries to put out the fire, but the cruiser loses power and control.

Mirage parachutes out. "I'll say hello to-to Prime for you, Megatron. Happy landing!" Megatron wants him stopped, even as flames billow up around him. The Autobots hop up to a rock to see the cruiser plow into the ocean. Prime declares them finished... ah, remember four million years ago when the Ark hit the side of that mountain? Yeah.

Prowl spots Mirage and he's hailed as the hero he is. "We knew you were anxious to get back to Cybertron, but at least you could've waited for us." "Sorry, Prime. The ship was... full." Ha!

Spike and Sparkplug wanna go to Cybertron with them. The reality might be a bit... different than the fantasy. Back at the Ark, we see some tanker trucks with hoses hooked up to the Ark. Spikes exposits that the governments of the world are giving Prime the energy needed to revitalize Cybertron. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that meeting. Prime tells him it's almost time to go, and Spike writes he's glad Megatron's gone. Go, how? We'll see the Ark's never flying again in later episodes/

...

And we cut to the space cruiser and Megatron escaping out of a hatch, naturally. :D

Thoughts
Oh, this was glorious! A wonderful three-parter woth great action, characters and the like. A shame this only lasted three episodes and thet's-

Wait, what?

What do you mean the G1 series lasted three full seasons, an aborted fourth and the franchise is still going on today after almost twenty-seven years? What do you mean I've got so much more to watch?

Fasten your seatbelts, folks. Time to roll out.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Wed May 04, 2011 4:39 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
Okay... continuing on.



Transport to Oblivion
Okay, time for the meat of the series. Autobots versus Decepticons. Status quo now so...

Wait, no? The Autobots still think the Decepticons are dead from the climax of last week's episode?! Is this... continuity??? Ye Primus, it is!!!!

Prime and Ironhide are looking at the sunset, a sight they either have never seen or haven't seen for eons. Cliffjumper-the panicky one-spots a rock formation and shoots it, thinking it's a Decepticon. Ironhide scoffs. "We sent those over sized tin cans to the bottom of the sea months ago!" Months? I had forgotten that bit! Whoa, that explains so much too! Ironhide tempts fate, but Prime is wary.

We fade out to the Decepticon cruiser, at the bottom of the Atlantic. And in those months they basically built an underwater city. And... back to Cybertron and Shockwave. Remember him? He fires at something offscreen and transforms, now sporting a laser for a left hand. And he is rundown, too. His walking is more like stomping. "Losing power. Must try... to communicate with Megatron." He's been trying to call up the boss for four million years? Talk about loyalty!

He finally gets through. And Megatron is shocked. "It can't be! Shockwave, guardian of Cybertron!" Status is bad. Energy is low, but there's a new teleportation system... that I guess they talked about before leaving?

At some solar power plant-there were a lot of those in G1 Earth-some worker complains about a tape deck being too loud. But it's not anyone's... it's Soundwave! Who glows as he transforms and enlarges. He launches Laserbeak, who just flies around and fires. Megatron, Starscream and Skywarp go in and they begin plundering the place.

In some city-probably in the northwest-Jazz and Spike are tooling around. But they hit a traffic jam. Everyone's leaving the buildings, apparently. Back at the Ark, Prime puts in some computer work because he's that kind of leader. He gets a reading on all local power stations... I guess they're hooked into the grid. A sky spy is launched and his worst fears are confirmed. "Megatron lives!" Great closeup and voice work by Peter Cullen, there. Also, they managed to make him look shocked with his mask. He calls for the Autobots, but, "Over half our force is out on patrol." Patrolling what, though?

He rolls out with Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl, Gears, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee. At the plant, the Autobots blow through a skylight and the Decepticons scatter. Cliffjumper takes on Megatron... and it's kinda funny how the slag maker owns him. "You will take care of me?!"

"I will, Megatron." Three guesses as to who says that line. :D "Ah, a pleasure to see you, Prime." They fight and there's some good action. Outside, Skywarp transforms and the energon cubes go inside of him. Neat. Starscream puts up a good fight outside and gets away. Back inside, Prime's losing. Megatron transforms into gun mode, but Ironhide takes the fusion blast! Megatron and Soundwave leave and... the Decepticons won. Prime has them get Ironhide back to headquarters.

At the Ark, Ratchet and Sparkplug are working on Ironhide. Heh, it's great seeing humans being useful like that. Great shot of Ironhide's guts. Prowl, Jazz, Bumblebee and... Spike are confabbing about the Decepticons' victory. They got the cubes, but how to get them to Cybertron? No ship anymore, after all. Oh, what a legit good line there. Prime sends Bumblebee out to scout and SPike tags along, regrettably sounding almost as bad as the Unicron Trilogy kids. *Sigh*

"Hey, I wanna go along. Can I, Bumblebee?" No, Spike! Stay and use your technical knowledge to help repair stuff! Oh, lord... "Sure, just leave the driving to me." And they speed off. Back at the Decepticon base, there's some exposition about the new 'space bridge' that will connect Earth and Cybertron. Some neat graphics. But it's only operable for eleven minutes. No reason why, though.

We cut to Bumblebee and Spike who... have no clue where they're going. Spike suggests they drive down into a dry riverbed. oh, lord... Spike! But plot contrivance lets them find the Decepticons and their space bridge terminal! It's a car, track and a metal circle. The car goes along the track into the circle, which lights up and rips a hole in time and space, letting the Warp through-sorry, wrong franchise.

We see the vehicle go up-along with a lot of debris. Back at Cybertron, though, no go. Starscream does some posturing, but Megatron thinks all it needs is a pilot and calls for someone unlucky a volunteer. Soundwave suddenly hears Bumblebee transform-which makes sense-but Bumblebee skids down the bank. Starscream wants to kill them, but Megatron has other... plans.

Spike and Bumblebee are loaded onto the next test vehicle. "How're we gonna get out of this?" "By the skin of our teeth!" "I didn't know human teeth had skin." Hah! Ah, you wacky Autobots and your limited knowledge of our anatomy. The space bridge suddenly opens, though! I guess it was a timing issue?

The space bridge can't be opened for three thousand astro-seconds. "Three thousand? This is intolerable!" Makes me wonder how long an astro-second is... barring DW's conversion chart in issue eight of their MTMTE guide. SPike wishes their luck would change... and Bumble transforms and bursts out of the canopy! Spike jumps after him. Bumblebee, slow down so SPike can get in! Ravage gets away. "Don't worry about me, Bumblebee. Wheel out!"

Some nice driving action by the bug and good animation. He goes into a cave, but is trapped. He goes further in and finds a hole in the top, but Skywarp and Starscream get him. Megatron arrives and Starscream gets pissy. "I told you I could deal with this Autobot myself!" A tentacle emerges from behind Megatron's Deceptibrand and he gets to work mindwiping Bumblebee. "He will lead the Autobots to their doom!"

Back at the Ark, Sparkplug is beside himself with worry. Bumblebee pulls up and is immediately off. He tells them about the space bridge and Sparkplug nearly blows a gasket. Prime asks where the bridge is and these weird... black dots show up around Bumblebee's head as he sounds mechanical. He tells him about the cave. Laserbeak is spying on them, and he'd better get used to that job.

He flies off and a rather cool docking tower comes up from the base. I love that thing so much. Man, I guess three thousand astroseconds is a long time if Megatron can go back to base!

At the cave, Prime is suspicious because of no guards. But Bumblebee insists. They move in, but nothing there. "No nothing." Suddenly attack! The cave is sealed up and the Decepticons open fire! Prowl is taken out, and Bumblebee. Starscream fires again... and Jazz uses a hunk of rock to hit the plasma charge back. Huh. "You're out!" Prowl gets taken out-again-but Ratchet uses a net on Laserbeak. Sadly, this isn't Marvel Comics Ratchet. Otherwise he'd be able to solo the entire force! Soundwave goes for Ravage, but Ironhide does the incredibly obvious and holds the tape deck shut! Megatron fires at him, but Prime gets him out of the way. Prowl... goes 0 for 3, basically. No wonder it took only one shot to kill him in the Movie!

Prime's leg gets caught in debris. And Megatron fires off some sort of saw blade that... cuts Prime free and obscures Megatrons' vision. Smooth... But the little blue dot on Megatron's torso flashes. "The space bridge is about to open!" Oh, and Prime is stalking Megatron with laser rifle at the ready. Megatron runs up to Starscream, calling for what is a legit tactical withdrawal. "Starscrem, retreat? NEVER!" *Headdesk* The one time... Starscream blasts the entrance open and the Decepticons exit. So Megatron reseals the entrance. "That's the end of Prime-and the Autobots!" How? They're not dead and they're quasi-immortal robots.

The Autobots take stock of their injured. Ratchet finds Bumblebee with his torso open. He notices the altered memory chips and he remembers! And of course they blow the entrance open and roll out.

This time the space bridge will be open for only four minutes. Spike is in an energy cage and Soundwave approaches. "Well, I guess I served my time and I'm free to go?" Soundwave looks **** creepy as he speaks. "Free to go... to Cybertron!" He's strapped in and does not look happy. He's basically told to focus on the space bridge beam or be lost forever in space. The cart goes off just as the Autobots pull off a big slagging heroes move. "Autobots! Take cover before they-" "Attack!' Smooth, Prime!

Ironhide goes to blow up the cart but Sparkplug points out Spike there. Bumblebee goes for some redemption as Prime blows off the canopy and shoots the harness apart without harming Spike! Megatron goes to get the cubes across into the Earth terminal, but the cubes are shot and he's blown into there. And the bridge activates, sucking him up.

"Return tobase. Megatron is dead I'm the leader now!" And we get our Starscream refrain for the rest of the series. :D The Decepticons fly off and Bumblebee is happy. "He's lost forever!" "I wish I could believe that."

Back at Cybertron... Megatron enters Shockwave's headquarters.

Thoughts
I'd have to call this a draw, actually. No energon was transported to Cybertron-this time. But the space bridge was proven to be a viable technology.

I consider this and the next episode almost to be parts four and five of 'More Than Meets The Eye'. Season one is a semi-serial with fairly strong continuity even by today's standards. They could've just gone into a status quo fight-but didn't.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Thu May 12, 2011 4:21 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
Well, okay. New episode!


Roll For It
We open with Starscream, Soundwave and Thundercracker flying along... for some reason, Starscream declaring himself the new leader of the Decepticons. Because, you know, continuity! He also cuts off Soundwave in midair. Smooth... They go raid a power station. "Those jets sound like they're gonna land in our laps!" "That's becaue they are!" The workers know they're Decepticons... and a there's apparently a line set up specifically for energy raids by them. Heh. Some security guards pull pistols on them... And put themselves up for Darwin Awards. "We've got you covered." Right...

"My transistors are trembling." And yeah, their cover is blown away and they're knocked around. Prime pulls up with some Autobots and get ready for fighting. "Can the chat and start kicking pig iron!" Cliffjumper rushes Thundercracker and gets knocked aside for his troubles, bouncing off Brawn. For the record we need at least a Scout-Class toy of Brawn NOW. Starscream and Prime tumble, with the energon cubes blowing up and Soundwave channeling his allegedly dead leader. "Decepticons, retreat!" Soundwave... stumbles out, gets caught in a net and run down by Bluestreak, getting knocked into the air. Both Starscream and Thundercracker get shot and messed up badly. Bluestreak and Prowl get sent after them.

Back on Cybertron, Megatron contacts Starscream. "You two look like Optimus Prime ran you through a laser-powered trash compacotr." How'd he know it was Prime? He exposits about a laboratory and an antimatter formula and Thundercracker sucks up, with a predictable response by Starscream. "Leadership my sine function!" They go off to get repairs before getting this formula in five billion astroseconds. How long is an astrosecond again? And while Megatron goes to the space bridge terminal, we get Shockwave's only nod to his comic personality. "Have a safe journey, Megatron." With ominous shadowing!

Back on Earth, Laserbeak and Rumble meet up with megatron, the former perching on Megatron's forearm as denoting of his position. ;) And we cut to a lab in the middle of a desert! Bumblebee drives up with Spike and a bespectacled young man named Chip Chase. They drive in and Chip is in a wheelchair. Bumblebee transforms and startles the guard, who does not pull his sidearm. "Well, I never met an Autobot before." As the guard punches in a security code, Reflector records every keystroke. "That was the last bit of info I needed," all three say. Man, Reflector is... weird. He-they fly off.

Turns out Chip is the one behind this antimatter formula. The professor there gives Chip a floppy disk that will let his home PC talk with the lab's computer. And they drive off. That's it? While leaving, Laserbeak attacks. They head for an underground parking lot and Laserbeak... leaves? that's it? He flies off to Megatron, who attacks the lab without waiting for Starscream. Dude, it's a human lab. You would be enough!

Bumblebee drops chip off at his house and goes to warn Doctor Alcazar-the guy at the lab, and Prime's been contacted already. nice, proactive thinking. They contact Bluestreak and Prowl, but they're busy tracking down thundercracker and Starscream. Screamer's wary of Megatron getting the formula because he can't be trusted. And you can?! Thundercracker-colored like Skywarp-comments they don't have Prime and Brawn to pail them out. Funny... Brawn didn't do anything last fight. Ravage is ejected and leaps onto Bluestreak while Prowl is blasted.

Megatron goes for the lab while Chip plays Worold of Warcraft, beta version .000009. He tries contacting the doc, but Megatron... yeah. No resistance as I predicted. The doc presses some buttons and erases the formula. Megatron places his hand on the console and it glows blue. Blackout pre-movie, apparently. And Megatron lets him live. Offscreen, though, we know the Reflectors used him as a human bouncy ball. :p

Back at Chip's house, he gets the antimatter formula. We then cut back to the battle. Prowl shoots off Ravage, but Soundwave guns him down. His battle computer is damaged and there's some good voice work of pain. Bluestreak is left to fend for himself while Prowl extends antennae from his head crest boots up his modem. he contacts Chip, who probably has the only PC capable of interfacing with an Autobot.

Chip... controls Prowl with his PC that makes Penny's computer book look like an abacus. He has Prowl do some fancy flips-no idea how-and jump onto a jet. Bluestreak shocks the hell out of Starscream with one shot while Prowl maneuvers the jet around-don't they have keys or something? He launches missiles and the Decepticons retreat.

Back at the lab, Megatron completes a trace on the computer and directs Starscream to its location in a rather nice segue where they land as he's telling them. Ravage bursts through the front door while Chip, after memorzing the formula, RIPS A FLOPPY DISK IN HALF WITH HIS BARE HANDS!!!!!!! Holy ****! Ravage grabs him and jumps through a window, Chip first. Chip is not sliced into ribbons by the glass. Is he human, I ask only semi-jokingly?! Oh, and Soundwave's voice actor, Frank Welker, is channeling Doctor Claw today.

The Autobots roll for the lab, but the Decepticons are there and holding Chip as a hostage. "If you try anything stupid, your little friend is doomed!" "And even if they don't, you're doomed." The Autobots transform as Prime concocts a plan. inside the lab, Soundwave uses his telepathy to read Chip's mind and get the formula. Outside, Mirage and Hound get ready to fool Rumble. Not... that hard.

inside the lab, antimatter is produced inside a large tube and put into energon cubes. Chip, bless his heart, tries to stop him but Ravage uses him as a chew toy. Thundercracker goes to shoot him, but Mirage and Hound intervene. Bumblebee and Spike rescue Chip, Bumblebee somehow transforming around the pair. He, Mirage and Hound beat wheels outta there, driving down corridors large enough for cars. Rumble's still confuse. :D

Prime blows through the wall, knocking Rumble aside-seriously, this is not his episode and the trailer opens up. There's a neat, "Autobots, roll!" from several Autobots. They go to attack Megatron, but, "It is too late!" as he tosses a cube at them and BOOM!

The Autobots leave, all busted up. There's some pretty bad damage on all of them as they roll for the Ark. Ratchet and Sparkplug have to get into gear while Chip's down on himself. Wheeljack taps him for a little project, hopefully not including catapults. A short scene of Megatron gloating later and we cut back to the Ark and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker doing some arm wrestling with background chatter going on. Teletraan-One spots the Decepticons and prime makes a speech, his eyes flashing to his words. Very... disturbing.

"I don't have to tell you what's ahead of us. They've got to be stopped and we're the only ones who can do it." Sideswipe and Sunstreaker transform and go out to attack, both... flying up to attack Skywarp and Thundercracker, utilizing 'jet judo'. Stacrscream knocks them off and they deploy parachutes similar to the one Mirage utilized in the pilot. Megatron calls Thundercracker over to deliver the antimatter cubes and he pushes them into his chest, not causing his chest to explode or... something. It's cartoon physics, I guess. He flashes and transforms into gun mode, blowing up rock formations and trapping the Autobots. "I am invincible! No one can stand against me!" To be fair, the Evil Overlord list hadn't been compiled when the episode aired.

Prime transforms and rolls for it, getting a boost from Brawn in a trench. Megatron is knocked out of Starscream's hands-who refers to his leader as 'the antimatter gun-but Skywarp recovers. Spike attacks him with a jackhammer... for some reason, and he's quickly captured. Chip rolls over and places Wheeljack's device on his ankle, allowing Teletraan-One to override Skywarp's controls and have him shoot the Decepticons.

Megatron transforms and his antimatter... reaches ignition temperature. It doesn't have one. The Decepticons retreat and Chip is hailed as a hero. Yay!

Thoughts
I like Chip! If I don't, he'll rip me in half. :P No, good episode here. I love them following up with the events of last episode. So awesome. :D Great fight between Prowl, Bluestreak and the 'Cons, too.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby Janus Prime » Thu May 12, 2011 10:05 pm

I love G1. It gets to me nerves when people say the ONLY way to like it is being nostalgic. I´m sure that´s true for many, and there´s nothing wrong with that, but in my case there´re several things I like and that I think are superior no newer shows.

One, for instance, is the introduction of new characters in the first episodes. Got to love Bumblebee and Wheeljack from the start, and one just have to see more of Thundercraker and Skywarp.

Some people have a problem with the Status Quo, the question of "why is Starscream second in command?" always pops up. I like that the answer is very obvious, he´s a genious, a young, impatient, arrogant genious. Who else could be second in command? the rest of the Decepticons aren´t quite the same as him.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Fri May 13, 2011 3:56 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
Janus Prime wrote:I love G1. It gets to me nerves when people say the ONLY way to like it is being nostalgic. I´m sure that´s true for many, and there´s nothing wrong with that, but in my case there´re several things I like and that I think are superior no newer shows.

Thank you. And yes, there are some bad episodes... and some that have yet to be surpassed by any later product. There's a reason it's still thought of so fondly.

One, for instance, is the introduction of new characters in the first episodes. Got to love Bumblebee and Wheeljack from the start, and one just have to see more of Thundercraker and Skywarp.

The intros are.... natural, for lack of a better term. Going with the action.

Some people have a problem with the Status Quo, the question of "why is Starscream second in command?" always pops up. I like that the answer is very obvious, he´s a genious, a young, impatient, arrogant genious. Who else could be second in command? the rest of the Decepticons aren´t quite the same as him.

There are changes, though. We'll get to them later on.



Divide and Conquer
We open with one of the coolest scenes in the entire G1 series-a factory making weapons for the military while Victor Caroli exposits these are for attacking the Decepticons. oh, and there's anti-Decepticon propaganda on the walls.

Image

Masquerade? Screw the masquerade! The Decepticons are dangerous and we're not infants! We have the right to aid in the fight for our survival!

Chip is there to help with efficiency issues. But the Decepticons attack! Soldiers try to fight them off with what appear to be actual rifles. Which goes about as well as you'd expect. "Foolish insects." "Humans run funny, don't they Starscream." They're on an energy raid... but Chip contacts the Autobots.

Back at the Ark, and Prime is scouting out possible locations where the next space bridge might appear... from the riverbed it first showed up at. :D Spike's there, too. They're interrupted by Chip's SOS and roll out, Sparkplug marveling at their transformation. At the plant, Starscream banters with Megatron. It's the tone of their voice that sells their conversation. Prime interrupts by driving right through their pile of energon cubes.

Starscream... blows him through a wall. Where'd the whole 'Decepticons can't shoot straight' thing come from again? Thundercracker and Skywarp take off for alternate attack angles, ganging up on Prime. And Chip displays his awesomeness by noting a missile is heat-seeking by just looking at it.

You gonna mess with him? Thought not.

He deflects it with his wrist, the warhead not detonating. Starscream tackles Prime into a wall and he drops his rifle, the rifle going off and blasting the mainframe of the plant's computer. Prime shields Chip and the foreman from the blast, then all three seekers shoot him at pretty close range. :eek: Ho-ly crap! The Decepticons take off with the energon, leaving Prime... heavily damaged. Whoa.

He grabs at Wheeljack weakly and this is pretty damned scary for a kid, methinks. Prime got trounced by numbers. He transforms and rolls, Ironhide and Ratchet towing him along. Chip and Spike are... downbeat.

At the Decepticon base, Starscream reports Prime's demise. "We saw him fall." Okay, fairly genre savvy there. "Fall, yes. But can you guarantee his spark chamber laser core was extinguished?" Megatron shows more savvy, there. He has Soundwave send Laserbeak for scouting, but fitst he perches on Megatron's forearm. Cute. Laserbeak flies off, transforms into tape mode... and lands on Brawn's shoulder. *Headdesk* Brawn! You're tough, not stupid!

He flies off-Brawn still not noticing-and there's a fairly good non-magic camera angle from him. Prime's in bad shape while Huffer depresses the Pit out of everyone. "I can feel it in my databanks!" "Nuts to that!" Whoa, Spike! Language, there. Laserbeak takes off and fires eye beams into Prime's chest... which blows up.

Yeah, Prime's chest blows up. There's smoke and debris all around. There's a bad energy drain... and possibly a metric ton of internal damage. He needs a cosmotron, which is actually a RL device. Prime's is a lot smaller, natch. Wheeljack has one... back at his lab. On Cybertron. Worse, there's a lock on the door. Huffer complains more but Ironhide covers his mouth. There's one person who could get through the lock-Chip. "I always wanted to visit another planet."

Back at the Decepticon base, Megatron rallies the troops while Starscream asks why they don't attack. Turns out Megatron's waiting for the space bridge, which will open in 72 billion astroseconds. There's an odd symbol when Shockwave transmits.

Back at the Ark, Chip uses Teletraan-One to figure out the space bridge's next location. "Just like Sherlock Holmes with floppy disks!" Actually, having just read the entire Doyle Canon... that's kinda true. At the space bridge, they load cubes into the car... and he tosses a Reflector clone into the car to act as a pilot. "Say hi to the old gang on Cybertron!" And he... makes it up. With the energon. That's kind of a victory for the bad guys, there.

The Autobots find the space bridge. Reflector uses his flash to blind them while rain starts up. Starscream goes to attack them, but Megatron tells him to let them go. Ironhide freezes him... while Bluestreak blasts the Reflectors, who touch each other and merge. Sure, why not? They transform and roll into the bridge, going back home.

On Cybertron, Ironhide conveniently finds a backpack of liquid nitrogen... maybe for firefighting purposes? He uses it to freeze part of the wall and blow through it, then uses adhesive on Shockwave and the Reflector. Back at Earth, Megatron commands the a group of neon-colored seekers who are known in fandom as the rainmakers to use "Acid rain!"

The Autobots find Wheeljack's lab and Chip gets the door open. Huzzah! They find the cosmotron as the rainmakers hit sudden clouds overhead and red rain falls. Sorry, no Peter Gabriel song here. Oh, and Chip's not affected by the rain. Did you expect him to be? Megatron now gets the troops ready for battle. "For once, Starscream, we agree!" Back at the Ark, they've done all they can.

On Cybertron, Chip rallies the Autobots. "Failed, Chip. Acid storm... disabled cir-cuitry." "No one is ever really disabled as long as he has courage!" Trailbreaker tries for a force field while Bluestreak shoots the clouds. They roll for the space bridge and for Prime's life. Shockwave and the Reflector get free just as they roll in... but the Autobots get back to Earth. Now it's a race to get the cosmotron to the Ark.

Back there, it's dire. ""I'm sorry, Spike. Sometimes nothing you do makes any difference." Harsh. Spike looks shell shocked, almost. "Optimus Prime, dead. Just then Teletraan-One picks up Megatron's attack force. "Oh, we're doomed!" Shut up, Huffer! It seems to snap Spike out of his funk as he grabs Jazz's gun and rallies them. "Well, are you with me, or do I fight this battle alone?!"

And the first Autobot to join him... is Huffer. "We get your message, Spike." Finally! They transform and roll out, Wheeljack and Ratchet staying behind to guard Prime. Hound detects them as they swoop in and the fight is on. It's actually fairly brutal. Ravage attacks Spike, still using Jazz's gun. "Ravage, bad kitty!" And Ravage takes him out. Starscream says they're using too much energy, so Megatron starts shooting. Ironhide, Bluestreak and Trailbreaker join the fight as Bumblebee gets the cosmotron to Prime!

Megatron gloats. "Is there anyone in the universe who will challenge the might of Megatron?" And one voice calls out. "There is one, Megatron! I, Optimus Prime, challenge you!"

Starscream... hehe, calls him out on it. "He accepted your challenge, leader. The battle code requires you to engage him in combat-alone." Megatron fires, but Prime falls off and tackles him! And it turns out Megatron used up too much power. Oh, the irony! Starscream calls him out on it. Prime... uses eye beams. "Megatron, do you yield?"

Starscream is just loving this. "Retreat, and take our leader back for repairs." The Autobots celebrate, but Chip, Sparkplug and Spike are... worried. "I guess that takes care of the Decepticons." "Uh, uh. They'll be back. I just know it. Thay'll be back."

Thoughts

This was pretty damned dark. Not as dark as some later episodes, but wow. Prime almost dies. The Decepticons... manage to pull off some minor victories and almost kill all the Autobots.

But the big thing-the HUGE thing is at the beginning. That weapons plant. Obviously the first part of the Autobot/Earth treaty of 1984. Weapons technology for energy. Signatories include Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Yuri Andropov, Pierre Trudeau, Francois Mitterrand, and others. ;)
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Sat May 14, 2011 3:33 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
And now... one of those episodes I point to whenever someone asks, "Why do you like Transformers?"

Fire In The Sky
It's... snowing at the Ark. Rather heavily it looks, too. Spike comes upon a rather large snowman, but it turns out to be Jazz! How'd the hell he get covered like that? There's some bad puns that still make me smile, simply at the sight of the Autobots having fun. It's a big snowball fight. Spike gets hit by a snowball, rolls down a hill... and encases the other Autobots in snow. Oh, it's July in the middle of the desert, too. Prime, thank Vector Sigma, is actually worried.

Teletraan-One reports that temps are 40 degrees below normal and falling. "Entire planet, freezing." Prime postulates the energy from the core is being drained. Gears thinks it's the Decepticons... and we go to the North Pole, and a large green crystal. A Reflector plugs in an energy conduit and they're filling up energon cubes. It's a shaft leading right to the Earth's core. Hmm, must be where Santa plugs in for power.

Rumble is pounding out a tunnel when Skywarp appears and mocks him. Rumble hits is... and causes a cave-in. Rumble sees a metal hook protruding out of a wall, rather well-drawn too. Starscream shows up and sees it... it's a one-second shot but his expression is one of pure shock. He's also rather agreeable with Megatron and... the voice. It's his, but no screech. This is such good work. He melts more ice until we get a clearer look at it. "With its size and probable strength, he will make an excellent Decepticon."

Back at the Ark, they detect energy readings at the Arctic Circle. And the Sky Spy finds the crystal and the Decepticons. They roll out! "Arctic Circle, here we come!" Yes, they drive there. I guess they don't have to stop for gas.

Back with the Decepticons, they have the chassis out. "Whatever it is, being on ice kept it fresh!" "But not perfect. Impulse centers down." They start trying to boot him up... and here it comes. "Starscream, why are you concerned about this creature?" "Because I knew him once, a long time ago on Cybertron."

Soundwave spins his arm... and it turns into a large drum, which he uses to give 'Skyfire' a larger jolt. And again, Starscream's voice... no screech. There's a monitor coming out of Skyfire's forehead that shows what happened to him. "Skyfire and I were both explorers from Cybertron." We see an image of he and Starscream transforming. Sadly, Screamer's an F-15... but no faction symbols on his wings.

"That must have been shortly before our final falling out with the Autobots." Ooh, interesting tidbit! They were exploring Earth when Skyfire got caught up in a polar storm and they were separated. "I circled half the globe searching for him, but he was gone." And now, millions of earth years later, you have found him." And he stirs...

He sees his old friend. "You have... rescued me. But where am I? This is not Cybertron." Starscream fills him in a bit, but Megatron buts in and gives... his version of events. Well, nothing dishonest.

We cut to the Autobots driving up and they see the Aurora Borealis. "Very pleasing to my optic sensors." So... they drove there. And back to Skyfire receiving his brand. He's hesitant at best. "And destruction to all Autobots!" "Destruction..."

He talks to Starscream, who reassures him. It's awkward at best. Skyfire doesn't know what to do! He goes on patrol and encounters the Autobots. "It seems the time has come for me to make the change from science to war."

How many Transformers made that statement during the opening salvos of the Great War?

Prime accidentally IDs them as Autobots and it's on! Skyfire fires and blasts them. Spike and Sparkplug go running... with Spike falling into a crack in the ice. He's not dead from hypothermia?! They're stranded, but no go. They're pinned down. Skyfire... goes to rescue them! "I'll try to communicate with them." He picks them up. "I will not harm you." He says just as we see his Deceptibrand. "Then why are you wearing the Decepticon symbol?" Spike tries to talk to him... but Skyfire takes him to Megatron. Ho, wow. He's just walking off and Prime can't do anything!

Back at the Decepticons, Spike and Sparkplug are imprisoned. Skyfire's confused and doubtful. Megatron and Starscream chastise him-and Starscream shoots him in the hand, calling the flesh creatures useless.

"My function is to further science and learning, not to destroy innocent life forms." Oh, wow. We cut to the Autobots getting ready to strike. They move out, but several of them fall down a collapsing ice floe. They drive along a tunnel while Prime and his group hear Spike's cries for help. Cliffjuimper gets them out while Ironhide finds the Decepticon's operations. Megatron is.. pleasant. "Ah, the work goes well." He also spots Ironhide's group.

Ravage goes on scouting and finds Prime's group. He tackles Cliffjumper while Prime shoots him. Then gets buried by ice. "One Decepticon down and a whole mess to go. On the surface, Starscream and Skyfire are there. Starscream... doesn't get it. He wants Skyfire to kill them, but he won't. "I'm a scientist, not an executioner." Insert McCoy joke here. He won't, so STarscream shoots him. And the screech is back. :( He shoots the Autobots and they blow up!

He walks off, but it was simply Hound's hologram. Then you are functioning, good." Skyfire then passes out. Hound is rather... sympathetic. "Yeah, we're functioning. I sure hope we'll be able to say the same for you." Ratchet fixes him up. Cliffjumper's confused to why Starscream blasted him. Natch. Laserbeak reports and Megatron's chest flashes... which I guess is a signal or something? He throws a cube at Starscream's head. They scramble and attack the Autobots. Ratchet stays by Skyfire's side but is blasted. Prime transforms and deploys his combat deck. It blasts Skywarp... who crashes right into Thundercracker. Slag!

Megatron tries to ambush Prime and we get a rather good fight, including one part where they grapple, Megatron jumps up, his midsection rotates around and he lands, spinning his upper body around to hit Prime from behind. Prime spins his wrist to deflect a jump. Skyfire approaches and Megatron doesn't know what happened. Skyfire rips off his brand and puts on an Autobrand. All right! Starscream attacks and they fight in the air. "Time to even the score, friend." Oh, this is sad. Starscream gets clipped and crashes, but Skyfire also goes down.

He has enough energy for one last shot and buries the crystal before crashing, being buried. Later, the Autobots hold a memorial. It's a series of concentric circles where he crashed.

The energy drain was stopped, the Earth will heat up and the Decepticons were defeated... "But Skyfire is... is gone."

"He won't be forgotten, Spike. He will live forever, so long as freedom exists. We shall remember you, Skyfire."

"We shall remember."

Thoughts
Starsceam and Skyfire, two friends torn by war. This... they didn't have to make this episode. But they did, and I'm glad. Fairly serious, somewhat compressed but...

This is what war does. It tears people apart. It's wrong.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby shamone » Sun May 15, 2011 2:16 pm

loving your work here man.

Really brings back memories, please keep it coming
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Sun May 15, 2011 2:48 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
shamone wrote:loving your work here man.

Really brings back memories, please keep it coming


Thank you. :) I'm glad to be getting some response to this.

Anyway...



Today's episode is basically taking two cool things, combining them and through synergy getting something over 9,000 times up to eleven.

SOS Dinobots
We open on the Ark. There's quakes going on. Ironhide thinks it's Decepticons. Natch, actually. Spike locates where they're strongest-is he related to Chip by chance?- and Ironhide uses an arm-mounted radar dish to find out what's there. "My sonadar sensors will sniff it out." His eyes glow yellow... for some reason and his chest screen shows images of dinosaur bones. Heh, taking a page from Soundwave there.

We cut to Sideswipe demonstrating a tech spec ability with a jackhammer in place of his hand and Brawn helping out, too. They find a cavern with lots of bones. "Fells like stone, but they look like the bones of some giant creature?" We get a bit of a paleontology lesson from Spike. And the Autobots are intrigued. I love them learning about Earth.

We cut to a hydroelectric power plant and Soundwave and Reflector spying. Some dad talks about the falls to his son-I hope-and they fly off to the underwater base. Little setup for later. Move along!

We cut to a natural history museum. Spike's taking Hound on a tour. Think he paid for a ticket? "I've never been to a museum." Well, you predate almost all of human history. He passes some punks checking out some exhibit. "That's what I call heavy metal!"

Hound takes holograms of brontosaurus, triceratops and tyrannosaurus rex. And yes, let me get this out of the way. How they're depicted is not in line with modern paleontology. We know. Back at the Ark, Hound shows some holograms of how the 80's saw dinosaurs. "Not very intelligent because of their tiny brains, but extremely powerful." And Wheeljack wishes he had some working for them. Odd tangent... and Ratchet agrees.

"We could build robot versions of those oversize igaunas. If it was okay with Optimus Prime." Prime authorizes it and Huffer complains. All in character. :D We get an actual montage of the building. It's rather cool seeing their building.

At the Decepticon's base, we learn their plan. "A perpetual power source exists which can provide us with enough energy to vanquish the Autobots and control the universe forever." Megs, you knew one oil rig wasn't enough to power Cybertron. You also know Sherman Dam needed a tidal wave's worth of water to fuel energon cubes... Come on, dude. You're losing it.

Starscream mocks him a bit, but is brushed off as Megatron leads his troops into battle. if this was a simple energy raid, then okay. But... he's talking about as if they were seizing a ZPM from Stargate!

Back at the Ark, coolness is revealed as Wheeljack and Ratchet shows off their latest inventions. Wheeljack shows off his ventriloquism as Ratchet speaks with his voice. "Autobots, meet Dinobots." And we see... them. "Grimlock, Slag and Sludge. Huffer mouths off, as is rather consistent with how he's been. "Dinobots, eh? I thought you were supposed to make dinosaurs!" Oh, Huffer. Yours is the one death I won't mourn.

So they transform. They are now robot dinosaurs. This is beyond cool. Prime wonders what they can do, so they shoot out fire-breath and destroy the rubble around the hole. Rather nice effect, too. Then the trouble starts... and the Dinobots go on a rampage. And lemme tell you, the Autobots get their skid plates handed to them. Grimlock takes out Teletraan-One, even. Ho, boy. Bumblebee gets caught in the explosion-with Spike inside. He's good, though. Bumblebee is tiny in Ratchet's hands, too. He taunts Grimlock to lure him away from the remains of Bumblebee as Ratchet gets to work. Trailbreaker uses his force field... and deflects the flame onto Sunstreaker. Smooth.

Prime finally has enough and goes for the kill, but Wheeljack uses his magnetic inducer to stop them. Wheeljack begs for them not to be destroyed, but no go. They're sealed up in the cavern again. We'll get to them... later.

Back at the power plant, the Decepticons attack. The guards are quickly taken out. "You wanna fight us, you germs?" Skywarp is sinisterly backlit, by the way. The guards flee and the Decepticons take over. A scientist contacts the Ark, but no response. It is SOP to contact Autobots now? Interesting. Soundwave releases Ravage and...

Image
There's some nightmare fuel for yah! He uses eye beams to blow the equipment up. And it's over, like that.

We cut to Hound driving along. He's monitoring for SOS's from Decepticon raids. So it is SOP!. "I enjoy it, Spike. It gives me an excuse to do a little Earth-style sightseeing." He then picks up the Decepticon signals and somehow uses it to produce a holo of them at the power plant. He contacts Prime by pressing a button on his stomach.

Prime has a rather cute mike extending from the side of his helmet and entennae from his... antennae. They'll be there in 8,000 astroseconds. The Autobots roll out-except for Bumblebee, who's on guard duty. Ouch! Wheeljack is also left behind, working on... something.

At the power plant, energon cubes are filled and stacked. Megatron is... still thinking of it as endless energy. Megatron is also thinking ahead to the inevitable Autobot attack. Hound and Spike arrive separate from the main group. Prime doesn't detect any activity.

Bluestreak tries a joke. "Maybe Hound's got glitch mice in his databanks again." Oh, the look on Sideswipe, Trailbreaker, Brawn and Sunstreaker is priceless. Then the Decepticons attack from hidden positions! "Autobots, fight back!"

"You're too slow, rusty pants!" Right, Starscream... Bluestreak misses Rumble by a mile. "Nice shooting, if you were aiming for the sky!" Oh, the Autobots get their butts kicked again. Twice in one episode! Megatron hooks his fusion cannon up to the main generators and fires, and in conjunction with Rumble's piledrivers blows apart the cliff the Autobots were standing on. They fall a long distance to the water below.

Bumblebee shows up-and it's addressed he was supposed to stay behind. They drive for the Ark. Megatron says they'll retrieve the Autobots and prepare them for 'permanent dysfunction."

Bumblebee and Spike reach the Ark. Bumblebee's down, but Spike won't give up! Unfortunetely there's not enough Autobots to rescue the others. But... Wheeljack has new memory enhancers for the Dinobots. He 'hopes' that'll make them easier to control. They put them in. "Cross your transistors... or something." The line's saved by the 'or something' at the end.

The Dinobots awaken. "Go, save Autobots friends." And they speak! Slow, halting caveman speak. Grimlocks' head is oddly round. "We do as told... for now." Ho, boy. If that's not foreshadowing I don't know what is!

Back at the plant, the Autobots are chained up with energon chains. There's some miscoloring... but they can be dismissed by the weird light show. And holy slag, Megatron's getting ready to simply shoot the Autobots! He's a genius!!!

Unfortunately, this bit of genre savvy is stopped when who should fly up but the Dinobots.

"Which ones friends?"
"Ones with face like this... I think."
"That good enough for Slag!"

Starscream mocks Megatron. "What are those?" "Scrap metal-once we finish with them!"

And Wheeljack fires a gyro-inhibiter shell... which cripples Megatron. Seriously, orange smoke's belching from his midsection. And of course, you know what Starscreams' gonna do! "Megatron has fallen! I Starscream am now your leader. Decepticons, follow me!" Dude, he's not dead yet and will get better!

What's even worse is the Decepticons do follow him. They attack the Dinobots and get their butts handed to them. Slag fights Thundercracker's fire with fire. Sludge takes down Rumble at his own game. Skywarp's heat-seekers do nothing and Grimlock takes a bite out of him, flinging him into Soundwave. And Megatron's gun mode... attaches to Starscream. Do we have a headdesk icon?!

Wheeljack finds the Autobot's weapons and uses Sideswipe's flare gun to dry them off and Bluestreak's gun to give them an 'instant recharge'. Megatron calls for a retreat.

Bumblebee admits they disobeyed orders, and Wheeljack is ready to accept any punishment, but Spike points out without the DInobots they'd be dead. Prime... sees wisdom.

"Indeed. Sometimes even the wisest of men and machine can be in error." He declares the Dinobots shall remain among them!

Thoughts

What can I say? They're pretty much the coolest thing to a kid right here-dinosaurs and robots mixed into one glorious fusion of awesometastic, as Linkara would put it.

But... what are the Dinobots? We'll see the Transformers have simple, non-sapient or even sentient machines. This naturally makes sense. Not everything can have a Spark chamber laser core. Were the Dinobots simply Earth-built battle droids? It's compounded by the fact this is pretty much the only continuity the Dinobots are built on Earth-the rest, they're fully sapient Autobots from the past. Very interesting...

Of course, I tend to live on the idealistic side of the sliding scale of idealism and cynicism, so I see this in the best possible light. ;) Mileage varies, natch.

So... little question for discussion. Now that the Autobots and Decepticons are public knowledge, what's humanity's reaction?
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby TulioDude » Sun May 15, 2011 6:49 pm

Motto: "Never doubt the awesomess."
Weapon: Energo-Sword
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:What can I say? They're pretty much the coolest thing to a kid right here-dinosaurs and robots mixed into one glorious fusion of awesometastic, as Linkara would put it.



No,you said it wrong!The say:Image
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One for each year of the Movieverse's decade strong tenure. Here's to a few more explosive years!


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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Mon May 16, 2011 3:25 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
TulioDude wrote:
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:What can I say? They're pretty much the coolest thing to a kid right here-dinosaurs and robots mixed into one glorious fusion of awesometastic, as Linkara would put it.



No,you said it wrong!The say:Image


Meh, same thing. ;-)

Well, here's the episode where they screwed the pooch on Skyfire.

Fire on the Mountain
We open on some factory as the Decepticons fly overhead. Trailbreaker and Brawn, in a stroke of luck, are on the scene. Starscream and Thundercracker transform and land and we get some cryptic words from 'Cracker. "No Earthmade steel is gonna be strong enough." Starscream brushes him off and they go in. Thundercracker bends a steel girder like a toothpick. "Great working with you, STarscream!"

Brawn and Trailbreaker pull in and we get some bad steel puns. Starscream fires some macross missiles from hatches on his chest and they get away with girders. "The steel stealers are long gone." "Ah, hexagonal nuts!"

Back at the Ark, no one has any real idea why they stole Earth steel. Bumblebee has Spike launch a Sky Spy. Interesting chain of command, there. We cut to an Incan temple. Yes, a literal Incan temple. It's apparently on a shaft leading to the core. Wait... Fire on the Mountain. Fire in the Sky? Coincidence? I don't think so!

Megatron blasts a hole through the wall which leads to a large crystal. Almost identical to the one at the North Pole. He pulls it off and a large jet of flame juts forth. On the roof, Megatron mocks Starscream as he gets his weapon ready. It... seems to work.

The Sky Spy flies over Peru and the Andes. Laserbeak spies the Sky Spy and Megatron uses the weapon the destroy the satellite. Villagers... who may or may not be stereotypes see the explosion. One old woman fears the gods, but a younger woman-who is named Luisa in the script and a sticker book-exposits that she knows about the Crystal of Power that sealed away the... power. How?

And while I'm at it, two green crystals linked to Earth's core. This is not coincidence. readers, speculate and roll out!

Back at the temple, the weapon is destroyed. Starscream passes the blame to Thundercracker and Megatron knocks 'Cracker off the temple. Those two remain behind with Skywarp while Megatron raids for steel. "Any who stand in our way... will be demolished!"

Up at the North Pole... they're digging out Skyfire. This is not good. We see Sideswipe with a manual jackhammer rather than his arm-mounted one. And if Skyfire wasn't dead, why act like it? :confused::mad: They get him out and he transforms. "I just about had it with the deep freeze treatment. They need him to go to the Ark-where he's never been to-and then fly to the Andes-again, where he's never been to! Not to mention if they can drive to the North Pole, they can't drive to Peru??!! ARGH!!!!!!!!

We see Skyfire flying around with Brawn and Windcharger. They jump out while SOundwave taunts Skyfire. "The Autobot jet is afraid to fight." it's weird hearing him do that. "Wrong again you dipstick tapedeck." Dipstick? Nothing wrong there... Megatron shoots Brawn into Soundwave and they're chased off. Windcharger contacts Skyfire, who circles back and he's way too enthusiastic about it.

Windcharger jumps the cliff, letting Brawn leap on and into Skyfire's cargo bay. And then... they fly back to the Ark to pick everyone else up. Ow... They transform and roll out while Skyfire goes to the temple. "I'm too darned big to sneak around like this."

At a plant, Megatron is stealing girders when the Autobots roll up. Prime barrels Magetron through a wall before Brawn... steals Megatron's fusion cannon. He fires and is knocked back, providing a rare example of equal and opposite reaction. "Now that... was a kick." Laserbeak gets it back and Megatron is... pissed. "No one does that to me and continues to function!" There's a fight and... Luisa is there? Spike and Bumblebee save her. She tells them they stole the Crystal of Power and she takes the pair there.

Megatron calls Skywarp for help. Starscream is... not pleased. "I am Starscream the Mighty!" Any relation to Joxer? Skywarp needles him. "Have fun playing crystal nurse, Screamer. Bye-e!" As he takes off, Bumblebee, Spike and Luisa drive into the hole Megatron made, but Soundwave sends Ravage after them.

Meanwhile, Skyfire advances. Thundercracker catches him, but he shows one of the few times his 'doubt about the Decepticon cause' from his tech specs.

"I can fry your circuits extra-crispy! Megatron would love it... but that geeky Starscream would take all the credit. On the other hand, if I let you rack our new weapon, Megatorn might blame Starscream, which would make me very happy." Starscream catches him, though, and shoots Thundercracker. He ducks and Skyfire takes the hit. Ooh, yeah. This is prime blackmail material, no pun intended. "From now on, you will do exactly what this 'geeky Decepticon will tell you!"

Skywarp shows up and strafes the Autobots, also taking a load of steel. Megatron shoots a mountain, causing a rockslide right into the village. The Autobots manage to lay down a barrage of fire that pulverizes the rock into pebbles. And there was much rejoicing. yay.

Back at the temple, Luisa leads our intrepid duo down some tunnels while Starscream and Thundercracker drag Skyfire around. Megatron praises them and says to rewire his logic circuits. "He may even become one of us!" he was one of you. Spike and Bumblebee come across him and the temple interior. Above, the new weapon frame works. Bumblebee admires the power flow while we get more from Luisa. "The Ancient Ones knew many things." Like how to build a globe-spanning empire? Is this the work of the Vok?

Spike attempts repairs on Skyfire, but Ravage attacks. Bumblebee... tries to hold him off while Spike continues repairs. At the temple, Megatron readies his weapon and fires. He... misses badly. "Such is the fate of all who oppose me!" The other Decepticons make a better show of it. Inside, Ravage uses Bumblebee as a chew toy as Spike demonstrates why he's one of the best human characters, finishing Skyfire's repairs. Ravage is tossed aside and Skyfire flies out to fight.

Prime and Ironhide charge the temple, but Ironhide is hit! Not dead... yet. And they... tumble down comedically. Seriously, it was a pratfall! Windcharcger and Brawn charge, Windcharger getting hit but Brawn making it. Ironhide gets up and tackles Megatron, but Ironhide's tossed off into Prime's arms. Skyfire does a strafing run, destroying the weapon frame.

Megatron's tossed off the temple and calls for a retreat. Thundercracker gets his best bit of characterization yet. "What's the matter, fearless leader? You and STarscream look real geeky. Maybe the Autobots aren't such wimps after all!" Screamer complains of a headache.

One thing I just noticed-the sky darkens and turns orange as time passes. That's a good touch there.

At night, WHeeljack gets a device ready to seal up the power flow, lest it blow up the mountain. Spike is... doubtful. "With Wheeljack's inventions, you never can tell." Wheeljack and Skyfire put a literal cap on the power, with a nice touch. The Autobots at the base turn on their headlights for a rather nice effect. Wheeljack's glad one of his inventions work. Spike and Luisa-who leanrs quickly-are still doubtful, so Bumblebee drives them back to Luisa's village. "And when we get back home, I want Bumblebee to meet my brother's convertible. We call her Juanita! And I think the two of them will get along just fine." Bumblebee... goes super-deformed for a moment and creeps the everloving hell out of me.

Thoughts
I've seen worse. The main problems here are with Skyfire's complete 180 on his personality and dropping of most of the Fire in the Sky interactions. It just doesn't flow well.

But oh wow, those crystals! That's not a coincidence. It can't be! Who made them? When and how? Vok? Quintesson? Some ancient Transformer colony?!
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Tue May 17, 2011 3:09 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
And next up...


War of the Dinobots
Unless it's Grimlock's size-changing gizmo getting stuck on 'kaiju', I might be disappointed. ;)

We open on an observatory and Chip. He's observing a rather odd meteor heading for Earth. 'Jeff' can't get a reading on it so Chip radios for the Autobots. We cut to Prime leading a detachment and Spike along for the ride.

"It's great not worrying about the Decepticons for a change."

"I always worry about the Decepticons, Spike." Heavy lies the head, there. They transform and according to Chip, it'll hit tonight. Prime grips his fist and... electricity crackles around it. He decides they'll need backup... the Dinobots.

At a Decepticon base, Megatron's watching footage of the DInobots-nothing from their debut-and ranting about how badly he got his kiester kicked by them. "My finest warriors defeated by those primitive peabrained beasts. Revolting!" Starscream points out sheer brute force was on their side, And Megatron wants their weak points found out. Smart, there. Find the chink in their armor. He sends Soundwave after them.

Soundwave flies out to an old town and finds the Autobots and Dinobots. He transforms and sends out a tentacle quite similar to the one Megatron used on Bumblebee in 'Transport to Oblivion'.

Among the Autobots, Chip is there and is glad to have been invited. Spike tries for a joke. "Maybe they'll even name it after you. Meteorini Chiporoni or something." Hound detects the meteor and they take cover. It crashes... destroying a hangar and not much else. Well, kinda big fireball. Ironhide covers Spike and Chip.

Prime stands rather awkwardly next to the meteor as he speaks. "Stay back! This metoerite may contain energies unknown even to Autobot science." he then shoots off a chunk of the unstable hunk of rock. And it... lands in Wheeljack's hands. Good shooting, there. The Dinobots stay to guard. And when Prime transforms, it's day for a second. Whoops. Chip channels the new singing idol Jem. "No matter how many times I see it, it's always outrageous!"

As Prime rolls out, he says he's pleased with the Dinobots and decides to have Wheeljack and Ratchet build two more. And SPike wants to help. The implications of this are... troubling. Back at the Ark, they decide on a stegosaurus and pteranodon. For some need airpower. Which makes sense... even though all the Dinobots can fly, regardless of alt mode. ;) Sparkplug is... confused by the names. "Is there anything you don't know, Chip?"

Back at the crash site, the Dinobots get restless as Soundwave does a brain scan. It's a series of rings around their head. Fortunately not around their tub. Slag wants to fight enemies while Grimlock thinks he's stronger than Prime. Sludge just goes along and obeys strongest leader. Back at their underwater base, Megatron lays out their weaknesses. "Slag is hostile, Grimlock arrogant and Sludge stupid. I will use those weaknesses to turn them against Optimus Prime." Good plan, actually. And the tower extends and they take off.

The next morning-I love the passage of time-they arrive. Sludge mistakes them for planes and Slag can now fight! They shoot... and miss. Then they transform and Megatron asks why they fight. He rushes them and is bathed in their fire-breath. His fusion cannon is knocked off. And he makes a good 'might makes right' case. "Whoever is strongest should lead!" The Dinobots get it in their craniums to rebel. It's easy... but Megatron did appeal to their baser instincts of fighting.

Megatron gloats as the Dinobots prepare to fight. The seekers release tow cables to tow away the meteorite. In a nice bit, Megatron retrieves his cannon and 'kowtows' to the Dinobots, 'suggesting' courses of action. Slick. Back at the Ark, we get a rather neat building montage of the two new Dinobots. Prime's called to Wheeljack's lab, along with Trailbreaker and Chip. The meteorite is rather unstable. "it's liable to explode at any second!" Trailbreaker... spins around in an incredibly goofy fashion to project his force field over the detonating chunk of rock. The rock floats and blows up. Prime decides to... blow up the meteorite before it explodes.

Outside, the new toys new Dinobots emerge. "I am Snarl.." "Call me Swoop." Damn, they sound more intelligent already. They fight Bluestreak, Sideswipe, Ironhide and Prowl. "Stop the Dinobots-if you can!" Sideswipe flies... and gets blasted out of the sky by Snarl. The Autobots get their butts kicked in relatively short order. "In a real fight, we'd have creamed them... maybe."

Prime arrives at the crash site and notes both meteorites and DInobots gone. Slag shoots at him and Prime is confused as the Dinobots rebel. Prime puts up a good fight, but is taken out by numbers and his own reluctance to really cut loose. He tries to reason with them. "This is senseless. We're friends!" "Goodbye, friend." Ouch... They fire once more, taking Prime out. He tumbles into a chasm created by Sludge earlier during the fight.

Prime's arm twitches and Grimlock notes he's still alive. Slag wants to melt him, but Grimlock decides not to. He doesn't know why, though. "Traces of Autobot training... remain in your circuits." Grimlock has Prime's rifle and contacts Megatron. They take off with Prime in tow and arrive at a canyon where the meteorite is being harvested. It's rather... weird. The cube floats in midair. Spundwave shoots the rock and energy flows out. Starscream's worried about the energies... as a scientist would. Megatron taunts him, as he would.

The Dinobots show up with Prime and Megatron's angry. I love it when he shows genre savvy. Grimlock says when the time is right. Starscream warns against Grimlock, and Grimlock shoots him. Prime tries to warn Megatron and the Decepticon leader doesn't believe him. Shocking! Back at the Ark, they've found the meteorite's been moved. They can't get there in time, but the new Dinobots can!

Back at the site, Megatron finally notices the energon cubes are unstable. There's a rather odd sound coming from them. And they blow up. "I knew something like that would happen, Megatron." Starscream's bitching is interrupted by Swoop and Snarl showing up. And now the Dinobots war! It's a rough stalemate, but the new guys are outnumbered so that's a good showing for them. Grimlock bites off a piece of Snarl's back spine!

The meteorite goes critical. The Decepticons beat feet, while Prime saves Grimlock, knocking him out of the way of the exploding rock. The Decepticons are tossed around and there's some good damage. It might've been bigger if the Decepticons hadn't siphoned off so much energy. "The danger has passed." The Dinobots transform to robot mode and Grimlock is pissed. "You Megatron tricked us. Make us fight good leader, Optimus Prime. Prime rick own life to save us. Bad Megatron!"

Megatron is oiling himself. "Decepticons, retreat! Now, quick at once!" They fly out while Grimlock returns Prime's laser rifle. The Autobots roll up, a bit late but at least they got there.

"Optimus Prime, can you forgive? Me Grimlock was jealous of you." That took bearings of chrome steel, right there. And they shake. Prime declares the menace gone. "Let's roll for home!" The final shot is of Grimlock and Prime looking at the sunset, which is kinda cool.

Thoughts
Interesting episode, in a very good way. Nice to see tension amongst the good guy ranks. Grimlock apologizing at the end was great, too. Somewhat standalone, but still with continuity. They got some of the astronomical terms wrong, though.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Wed May 18, 2011 3:49 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
And now... the game-changer. Where for Earth and humanity, nothing is the same again. Here we are wrenched from our cradle and shown the darkness of the universe-and its light. I give you:

The Ultimate Doom Part One

A very appropriate title, too. We open off the Malabar Coast of India-yes an actual location-where we learn a maharajah has turned his palace into a solar collector for his people. Interesting... They should produce 300 units of energy per second, but the numbers suddenly fall. Starscream and the Seekers attack. "I hear the maharajah's holding an open house." They blast through, and we cut to the Autobots activating hydrofoils and I'm guessing driving to the palace. Sunstreaker wishes they were painted to match his base coat.

Inside, Skywarp wants to play catch with the human. He throws him and Prime catches him. We cut to the Decepticon base and Megatron observing the proceedings... with a human there? he's wearing a lab coat, has a metal skull cap over wildly-styled white hair and has a Power Glove-like gauntlet on his right hand. "You promised me a guinea pig, Megatron. I need one for my experiments." His name's Doctor Arkeville and I guessed right. Ah, and this is a diversion. he contacts Soundwave who is standing right outside the Ark. He releases Rumble, who simply runs in. *Headdesk*

inside, Sparkplug is working on Ironhide. Rumble uses his piledrivers to cause tremors while Ravage is also released. Ironhide uses a sensor from his right arm to locate the source. His chest also displays a graphic, like before. Ah, continuity. Even in little forms it;s cool. Bumblebee and Sideswipe find him while Laserbeak is ejected and flies to the top of the volcano. Inside, Ravage attacks Sideswipe but is knocked away. The two humans do a bit of cheering on the Autobots. "Clobber that Decepti-kitty! But Laserbeak swoops down and kidnaps Sparklug!

At the palace, the Decepticons are called back. Jazz realizes they didn't get any energon and Prime's chest flashes... which apparently lets them know the Ark's been attacked. O-kay... Sunstreaker realizes they were set up and they roll for base.

At the Decepticon base, Laserbeak delivers Sparkplug. He's strapped in while SKywarp and Starscream bicker. "I say Megatron's plan was brilliant." "And I say the diversionary attack on the solar plant was a waste of energy." "You waste more energy with your mouth!" Skywarp scores! They come to blows just as they arrive. Sparkplug tries to make a break for it, but Arkeville pulls something out of his gauntlet.

Image
It's so bad.

He places it behind Sparkplug's ear. "You are to be the first of a new breed-a breed of slaves!"

Outside the Ark, Bumblebee comforts Spike. He asks Wheeljack if he's got any inventions that might help. Like what, a transporter? he does, but he needs a plan. Hound is projecting a diagram onto the rock face while Prime and Prowl look on. "I've got the plan, if all of you've got the cast-iron manifolds for it." That was prowl, by the way.

Shockwave contacts Megatron and tells his leader everything's in place. Megatron asks if the space bridge will be large enough for its special... cargo. It will, "But delivering the cargo will use up all our remaining energon cubes." I like the transmission breaks up at points. Megatron says to worry later and spies Arkeville eavesdropping. He asks about the cargo, but is brushed off and told he'll have Earth when Megatron's finished. Yeah, right.

They go to Sparkplug for a demonstration. Arkeville pulls a lever and Sparkplug becomes a slave. Megatron opens a door and an obvious facsimile of Prime appears. Starscream... thinks it's the real one. Wow, that's dumb.

Sparkplug tackles the dummy and knocks it down. He's got a real doozy of a doped-up expression. At the Atlantic coast, the Autobots get ready to rescue Sparkplug. Jazz... rhymes. "Into the ocean, let's be daring. Last one in is a rusty herring!" Still less annoying than Wheelie. He dives in, followed by a lot of the other Autobots. Brawn leads a contingent down a path and into a cave near the shore. He extends a drill from his engine grille and carves a path while Cliffjumper reads depth.

A sensor on the base detects the Autobots, but Prime blasts it. Megatron ambushes him, though. Sunstreaker ambushes him while Cliffjumper reports they're now below the ocean floor. Brawn straightens out. The fight continues underwater. Rather good one, too. Windcharger hops over Cliffjumper and his magnetic powers are activated. Brawn breaks through the rock. "Everybody into the pool!"

Inside the Decepticon base, Starscream and Arkeville argue while Cliffjumper uses his glass gas to open up the floor. Brawn grabs Sparkplug and then punches a hole through the ship hull. Windcharger tells Sparkplug to 'hold his breath'. Ah, the crushing pressure, the intense cold? Transform him first and let him inside!

Back at the Ark, the Autobots are undergoing repairs. Spike's glad Sparkplug's back, but he's a bit... distant. He's also working on the Autobots. Even the ones not needing repairs. Arkeville, with his magic screen, has to tell him to fix only the injured ones. He goes to Prime and does work on him, but he's also fine. Suddenly the Decepticons attack! And the Autobot's weapons suddenly malfunction, shooting out wicked sparks. "What's going on?" "The destruction of your breed, Autobot!"

Spike goes to Teletraan-One and trips on Sparkplug's wrench. Turns out he sabotaged the computer. *Looks back at earlier* like it would've helped? SPike confronts his father. He seems to be breaking free... he tries to tell Spike, but Arkeville cranks up the juice. Sparkplug bats his son away. Harsh.

The Autobots are defeated, but Spike... activates fire retardant foam. And this stops the Decepticons. Bull. ****! So they retreat. Sparkplug wants Spike to join them, but he won't. "Then you will fight against your own father. Boo! :mad: "When next we meet we are enemies!" And SPike looks so forlorn. His expression, body posture... everything!

In another location, energy pylons as they are called are being worked on. Arkeville flies in on Starscream and it turns out these are space bridge devices. And we learn... "The cargo will be nothing less than our home planet of Cybertron!" And now we see madness. Arkeville knows Cybertron's proximity will cause earthquakes, tidal waves and will devastate the planet. It will also create a lot of energy, which will be collected and shipped to Cybertron. Arkeville is... not pleased. "But I will be ruler of a dead world!" Megatron... doesn't care. "A small problem for your amazing genius."

Back at the Ark, the Sky Spy finds the pylons. They get a readout and the space bridge forms a pyramid, "With the apex beyond the galaxy." They roll for it.

On Cybertron, there's a pyramid on the planet. Shockwave contacts Megatron again and tells him he's ready. The Autobots roll up, but human slaves are released from a building. The Autobots can't fire. "You disappoint me, Prime. I never thought you'd let a few worthless fleash creatures stand in the way of attacking me!" The slaves rush the Autobots, picking up sticks and rocks. There's no real damage, but the Autobots can't fight back.

Spike tries to restrain Sparkplug, and again he almost snaps out of it. Arkeville turns up the juice again... :( On Cybertron, Shockwave says if the pylons aren't operational, "Cybertron will be catapulted into oblivion."

Sparkplug activates the first pylon. Rather impressive. Thundercracker activates the next one. Prime tries to stop Megatron, but is kicked away. Megatron goes for it, but Prime continues on. At the top, they grapple.

"That's the last one you're activating, Megatron!"

"Correct! You will activate the last pylon and bring Cybertron here."

"As the earthlings say, fat chance fathead!"

"If you don,t, then you will responsible for Cybertron's destruction!"

"... Destruction?! But there are still many inhabitants-friends on Cybertron!"

"Then make your choice, Optimus Prime!"

There's real anguish on Prime's face-even through the mouthplate-as he pushes the button. The pylons activate and a tear forms in space, unholy and not meant to be. Cybertron appears through it and instantly the atmopshere goes haywire.

We see massive destruction already as the Autobots and Decepticons stop fighting.

Image

Prime looks up in horror. "Have I saved Cybertron... only to destroy the Earth?!" As he says it, lightning from hell crackles from Earth to Cybertron.

Thoughts
I am near 100 percent sure words to the effect of, "At least everyone got to the shelters!" are never uttered during the next two episodes. Therefore, considering the damage we see in the closing seconds and throughout the next two...

The death toll must've been cataclysmic. I mean, seriously. This is some heavy **** here, folks. The Decepticons just went hardcore evil.

This is one of the landmarks of G1. It ramps up the stakes considerably and probably lands humanity firmly in the Autobot's camp. It's also probably the start of the expansion of Delta Six into the Earth Defense Command as it goes international.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Thu May 19, 2011 5:25 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
Next up...



The Ultimate Doom Part Two

We see a sick shot of Cybertron eclipsing the sun.

Image
Yeah, that's some good nightmare fuel for yah! Ironhide is rather melancholic. "I never thought I'd be sad to see Cybertron." Sparkplug tries to get Spike to join them, but no go. "Dad..." "I told you-don't call me that!"

Prime is full of remorse, natch, but Ironhide tells him he did what he had to do. "What any of us would've done." Megatron gloats as the wind picks up, but Spike fiddles with one of the energy pylons and fires it at Megatron. Sparkplug... wanrs him away. Starscream gloats that they're invincible. Okay... don't quite see how that's true. But we'll go with it for a bit! The Decepticons attack, but the weather seriously messes with them. Ravage is electrocuted by falling power lines. Thundercracker's flames are blown back. Jazz and Trailbreaker mock him. Rumble gets knocked into a chasm.

Megatron has Soundwave generate audio disruptor waves, which mess with Autobots, Decepticons and messes with the hyponchips controlling the humans. They flee. Prime transforms-and his trailer appears outlined by a funky energy pattern. The Autobots roll out. Spike sees Sparkplug taking off in Skywarp before taking off with Bumblebee. Back at the Decepticon base-I presume-Arkeville notes he'll simply have to create more slaves.He figures this out by seeing a scene of an empty desert.

Megatron begins giving out orders before Starscrem bitches him out. he responds in the logical manner of knocking 'Screamer on his skidplate and choking him. Starscream brings up the good point that they could've destroyed the Autobots there. In the Decepticons base, we cut to Akreville expounding upon his brilliant hypnochips to Rumble, who's probably more advanced to any piece of Earth equipment. Megatron contacts him and tells him he'll get more 'raw materials' for hypnochips.

We have a rather scary scene of Laserbeak capturing workers and delivering them to the underwater base. Energy ring surrounds them and Rumble drags one THROUGH the rings, shocking him with obvious pain. Damn! "You humans sure can't take it!" Megatron gets a message from Cybertron that power levels are critical, but he's not worried.

We cut to the Autobots driving through the maelstrom. Ironhide's right behind him, but can't see him. Jazz has a magnet locked onto Ironhide's bumper while Prime reverses the polarity on his windshield, repelling the rain. Farther back, Spike is really out of it while Bumblebee runs low on gas. And then his tire blows. He rocks himself to get Spike to help. There's some rather cool bits-the spare tire pops out automatically, he's got a built-in jack and the rim and screws undo themselves. :D

Back at the Decepticon base, Megatron sees his slaves gathering energon with lightning collectors. Back at Bumblebee and Spike, the tire's changed but a sudden chasm opens up. Beumblebee transforms, but falls in. Spike tries to help him but it widens and Laserbeak attacks, capturing Spike! And Bumblebee falls in. Man, this isn't his day! Bluestreak shoots Laserbeak out of the sky and Hound catches Spike, doing a rather impressive jump. They go to rescue Bumblebee with Windcharger. Hound uses some handheld scanner while Windcharger uses his magnetic powers. It's an extension from his wrist. He runs out of energy, but not before pulling the 'Bee up. He rides in Hound's back to the Ark.

Underwater, the first shipment of cubes is ready inside Skywarp. Arkeville asks why he's sending a slave, for some reason grabbing at his shoulder. Megatron introduces the concept of the human shield to young kids-the Autobots won't attack Cybertron with humans there. Diabolical! Arekville protests he can't control the slaves from such a long distance, but it turns out his computer's been duplicated on Cybertron.

"Remember our agreement, Megatron. the Earth is to be mine when you are through with it."

"It will be... what's left of it." Creepy closeup of Megatron!"

Skywarp takes off with the energon and Sparkplug. And then...

A tidal wave, tsunami, killer wave... a town is engulfed. Wiped out. Fissures in the ground, crumbling mountains. People are dying. Back at the Ark, Prime readies the Autobots. We can't stand by and watch the destruction of this beautiful planet!" Ratchet's got no clue what to do, so Wheeljack presses a button and the Dinobots walk out.

Prime tells them they must act. Grimlock is... doubtful. "Me Grimlock not care. Whole planet fall apart! Make no difference to me, Grimlock!"

"With you on it?"

"Hmm... hadn't thought of that." It's rather cute when he rubs his chin in thought. So he leads the Dinobots out.

Back at the Decepticon base, Thundercracker is readied for a shipment to Cybertron. But a rather large wave hits and sends the base rocking. Energon cubes go flying and go BOOM! Starscream snarks. "Your plan was brilliant, Megatron. We collect millions of energon cubes, but they're all worthless because we can't get them to Cybertron!" Skywarp flies back, but a wave rips the docking tower right off, flooding the base.

At the Ark, Spike is sitting forlornly, holding onto Sparkplug's favorite wrench. He asks Prime why humans are helping Megatron. "They're supposed to be on our side!" Oh? Whose side? All humans? Interesting insight, there. Suddenly, Mount Saint Hillary begins erupting! They evacuate, but some of them are tossed up through the top. Skyfire transforms and catches them. "Have no fear. Skyfire's here!" Oh, how I miss Fire in the Sky...

Ironhide drives into the inferno. He shoots some rocks into the magma. This complete contradiction of volcanoes somehow stops the eruption. Wheeljack namedrops the Dinobots and we cut to them doing some landscaping, building a barrier to a rather large tidal wave. It works, but the water keeps pouring in...

Back at the Ark, Prime tells Wheeljack and Ironhide that, "I feel we must not let the boy find out." Spike overhears, asks and Prime immediately spills the beans. Sparkplug's on Cybertron. I wonder how he got the info and who told him. Can't be Elita One-he thinks she's dead. Alpha Trion? Perhaps Ultra Magnus and his cell? Spike asks to take Skyfire there. Prime says no, but Spike says if they can free Sparkplug, they can figure out how Megatron's controlling them.

Prime relents. Fortunately it's a large contingent of Autobots. Skyfire flies up there. Missiles are shot at them. Skyfire tries to outrun the missiles... fired right at him. He dodges and lands. Spike's in utter awe. And we get a rather nice reminder that the Autobots, although similar and loving Earth for the most part, are still alien.

"Wow, it sure is different."

"That's funny. To me it's just home." Skyfire projects a map of the planet and Wheeljack begins making plans. Spike wanders away and activates a pitfall trap. Bumblebee jumps in after them, followed by Brawn. Brawn spots a vent cover and opens it. They go through some rather nice tunnels, eventually finding themselves not only at Decepticon Headquarters but the hypnochip information they need! He contacts Wheeljack and lets him know, but Sparkplug walks in. Spike places his father's favorite wrench down, which was rather neat. He then confronts him. But the hypnochip kicks in and the alarm is sounded. Harsh. :(

Thoughts
Ramped up to eleven here, folks. This is heavy. And my guess is Megatron gets a lot more than just one shipment of energon to Cybertron, considering what we see in future episodes.

So, widespread destruction and death, the Decepticons on the attack and with the advantage. And it's not over yet!
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby Tekka » Thu May 19, 2011 5:27 pm

Motto: "I'm grade-A, 100% prime-cut final boss! I'm going to take over the world any day now!"
Weapon: Multi-Function Sword
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:and probably lands humanity firmly in the Autobot's camp


At least until Megatron's Master Plan anyway. Oh, those adorably forgetful cartoon humans!
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Fri May 20, 2011 3:58 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
Tekka wrote:
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:and probably lands humanity firmly in the Autobot's camp


At least until Megatron's Master Plan anyway. Oh, those adorably forgetful cartoon humans!


Well, it's just one town... with a ridiculous amount of power. ;)

And now the end! Will Earth survive? Will the Autobots prevail?



The Ultimate Doom Part Three
Alarms sound in Decepticon Headquarters as Sparkplug had hit the alarm. Spike is heartbroken. "Forgive me..." Great voice work by Spike's VA, too. The Autobots go to leave, but the Decepticons arrive. Brawn is... cheery. "I don't suppose I could interest any of you in a magazine subscription?!" He takes out some seekers and blasts Soundwave. "Goodbye, tall dark and gruesome!" Sparkplug goes to block Spike and Shockwave shoots at them. "Prepare for termination."

Brawn blocks the shot and a beam falls out of nowhere. He grabs it and rushes Shockwave. "Prepare for a very large headache!" Shockwave... melts it, deflating the badass quotient by .65%. Skyfire blows a hole in the wall and the Autobots make an escape, with Skyfire holding off the Decepticons. Soundwave calls for an alert, pressing one of his... and... oh, see for yourself!

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Shockwave blasts at Skyfire, acidentally blasting the door so Skyfire can fit out. Dumbass! The Autobots blow open a door, taking out a pair of seekers colored like Starscream and Thundercracker. And it seems Shockwave's been using the energon to good use! Defensive turrets, tetrajets are active. Skyfire blows up the tetrajets. "Butt out, Decepti-bum!" Ah, I miss you Fire in the Sky. Wheeljack and the others take a detour, losing their pursuers and making their way to Wheeljack's lab. Ah, continuity! Wheeljack shows them in. "All the comforts of home-if you like living in an auto-robotics factory."

Bumblebee hands over the disk containing the hypnochip info. "A conductor chip with hypnotic properties. Diabolical!"

Back on Earth, we see quite possibly the coolest scene in TF history.

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Words. There are none.

They surf along when a rather large tidal wave approaches. Prime tells them to stay ahead of the wave and use it to ride where they need to go. "Maintain speed and sail on!" We cut to a rather large hydroelectric plant the Decepticons are building. Rumble, for slag and giggles, trips a worker. "Clumsy! No lying down on the job." He points his laser pistol and we cut away immediately before the slave's execution. Seriously, that was the implication.

It's a rather large construct, too. Megatron observes the funnel's not completed. He goes to Starscream and orders him to install the generator. Starscream refuses, so Megs picks the damned thing up and chucks it at him. Arkeville's concerned about his slaves. "My slaves will be caught in the tidal wave!" "I thought humans liked to play in the ocean!" Man, that's harsh. He tells Arkeville to stay away from Starscream, so of course the mad scientist decides to work with Starscream. Of Course!

the wave hits, turning turbines and generating energon. All flowing into a shuttle. The Autobots arrive at the plant, but Megatron's not concerned. The wave carries them right down the pipeline and they wipe out. Some rather good animation here. They're all ready to fight, but Megatron's already taken off with a shuttle full of cubes.

My fanon interpretation, btw, is he dropped them off onto Cybertron first. And the rest of the Decepticons have been doing similar runs. ;)

Jazz notices the surviving slaves and they go to rescue them. Or at least make them comfortable before the expire from such horrific injuries. Yes, I'm feeling dark here with this one. Can you tell?!

Arkeville is hanging onto a bit of wreckage when Starscream emerges, taking him. He transforms, tossing him into the cockpit as he does so. We cut to the shuttle and we learn that Arkeville's of no further use to Megatron.

Back on Cybertron, Wheeljack's waldoes are hard at work. He's got a prototype ready. Spike infiltrates Decepticon Headquarters... which kinda makes sense. Think they got sensors for humans yet? Shockwave catches him in what looks like a force field from his chest. He picks up Spike and Sparkplug shows up. Spike's dropped to the floor and Sparkplug's commanded to kill Spike. The Autobots show up and Sparkplug's freed from the mind control. Yes! :D

"Spike, son." And they hug. Aww... The Autobots hold off the Decepticons while the humans run. Brawn runs up to a hatch. "I'll get the door."And he simply barrels though. I love this guy. A seeker fires... and accidentally seals the hatch shut. Skyfire flies in, blows up a weapons turret and picks up everyone. On board, Sparkplug's happy to be back and grateful. "Thanks, guys, for not giving up on me. Especially you, Spike."

"Dad, it's like you taught me. You never quit on the people you love." Brawn puts it best. "Mushy, but true." Back on Earth, the shuttle's getting loaded up again. "This should be our final shipment to Cybertron." How many has he made? How deep is his hold now?

Cliffjumper wants to attack, but nope. It'd endanger the humans. "We must get Megatron away from his starship before we can attack!" Mirage goes out to try something. Meanwhile, Megatron spies Starscream using Arkeville... as a power source. And thus any hope anyone ever had of him being taken seriously is forevermore destroyed.

Megatron discovers him and prepares to kill him. "The penalty for mutiny is termination!" Unfortunately, he doesn't pull the trigger this time as Skywarp reports the slaves... being caught in an animation loop. It was Mirage. He turns off his cloak. "An Autobot, here?!" And Prime shows up. "Correction, Megatron. Autobots." And they attack. The seekers take off for strafing runs. Prime shoots Thundercracker out of the air with one shot. And it's a big firefight. Ironhide shows some bloodlust. "Save your ammo! The battle's just begun."

Prowl suggests a regrouping, but no go. "If we lose now, Cybertron's next orbit will tear the Earth apart!" They need reinforcements... and Skyfire shows up right then. Wheeljack turns on his device. "It's independence day!" No, nothing more there! The humans run off. Megatron transforms... and fires himself! He hits Skyfire. Rumble tries to knock Bumblebee into another chasm, but he jumps up and does a Tarzan, knocking the punk into the chasm.

Prime goes to confront Megatron, but Megatron points out Cyberton's next orbit will destroy Earth. Prime points out it's his problem too. Then Megatron simply takes off. The seekers notice Megatron abandoning them and the huge tidal wave. Prime is... worried. "That tidal wave will destroy human life across the face of the globe!" I.... think the first major landmass would break it up, but the people there will be wiped out.

Irnohide's rather... nonchalant. "It won't do us any good either." Spike suddenly has the idea to knock Cybertron out of its orbit. And they both suddenly start shooting... at Megatron's shuttle! They track it and there's an awesome explosion.

We see some stock footage from episode one of destruction and Prime looking up... which actually kinda fits. Cybertron moves out of orbit and the tidal wave dissipates.

Later on, Spike talks to Prime. He's pretty upbeat, even mentioning Megatron being finished. "I only wish that were true, Spike." Prime looks up... almost to space as we fade to the wreckage of the shuttle... and Megatron's chassis. His eyes light up. "I will be... avenged!" And he flies off.

Thoughts
If you think about it... the Decepticons won a major strategic victory here. They got massive amounts of energy to Cybertron. Earth is wrecked. It's bad. Cybertron out of Earth's orbit saved the Earth from destruction, but didn't magically siphon away the energy collected.


And now...
And now a special ABC news report!

The ABC logo cuts to a harried woman sitting at a news desk with a monitor behind her. She's plain. No makeup, her hair has a simple bun in it. She looks to the camera and clears her throat

"Hello and welcome. We've just received word that Cybertron-the home planet of the Transformers-has been moved out of Earth's orbit and weather and seismic conditions have returned to normal. The President has declared the initial state of emergency over. But he also cautions the long road ahead."

"Coastal cities all across the globe have been wiped out. The death toll is... staggering, some early estimates close to fifty million. It will probably only rise. Much of the planet is in ruins. President Reagan has called on world leaders for a summit in Geneva to begin working on a recovery plan. Autobot Leader Optimus Prime has already pledged the full support of the Autobots in helping humanity to recover."

"In other news, the terrorist organization Cobra, believed wiped out during a Decepticon attack, has emerged on a new island in the Caribbean, formed during the upheaval. The Department of Defense and anti-terrorist unit Delta Six have pledged to keep an eye on them, while also working with the Autobots and Soviet counterpart the Oktober Guard. Meanwhile..."

And Earth will never be the same.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby Name_Violation » Sat May 21, 2011 1:59 am

Motto: "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."
Weapon: Multi-Function Sword
*slow clap*

good stuff.

Hearing about the Dinobots pre-season 3 always makes me nostalgic.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Sat May 21, 2011 4:07 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
Name_Violation wrote:*slow clap*

good stuff.

Hearing about the Dinobots pre-season 3 always makes me nostalgic.


Thanks! And yeah, the Dinobots were pretty badass and cool before season three...



And now... the followup to the three-part Ultimate Doom.

Countdown to Extinction
Gee, there's a cheerful title. We open with scenes of devastation. Smoke rising from a plain, a wrecked city. Victor Caroli narrates. "By bringing Cybertron into Earth's orbit, and harvesting the unleashed energy, Megatron leaves the world in ruins." More destroyed cities and volcanic eruptions. "But Optimus Prime and the Autobots fight back and destroy Megatron's starship, releasing enough energy to knock Cybertron out of Earth's orbit. And now the Autobots begin the repair of the shattered planet."

Wheeljack's leading the Dinobots in construction. Prime's acting as a support for Ratchet as he repairs a bridge. Ironhide's filling in holes and others are helping with a dam. It's excellent to see this! Consequences of what happened.

At the Decepticon base, it's not much better. There's major damage that has to be fixed. *Looks at crew* Not gonna happen any time soon. Skywarp and Rumble fight, the latter being tossed into a console. Thundercracker tries to mediate... or argue. Then Soundwave joins in for the pit of it. "Look who's talking, Thundercracker!" We also get our first onscreen appearance of Frenzy! "I didn't volunteer for this geeky assignment! I want Skywarp's job!" Is 'geek' the highest form of insult on Cybertron? He emerges from a pit and Skywarp tries to step on him, but Frenzy tosses him aside and Rumble... jumps on Skywarp's face in a totally wrong manner.

Megatron walks in, looking a lot better than last time we saw him. "Silence!" They all fall into line, Skywarp thinking he was dead. "I've only lost a starship, not the War!" He's looking for Arkeville, but he and Starscream are gone. Laserbeak flies in, transforms and slides into Soundwave's chest. It's Starscream's voice. "Now that Megatron has been destroyed, I am leader of the Decepticons. Understand, Doctor?" He wants Arkeville to take him to a secret lab. Megatron rallies the troops... leaving behind months or repair work. We cut to the Atlantic... and them just flying above.

Back at the Ark, Teletraan-One is back online. Just in time, as it or a Sky Spy spots Megatron. Prime rallies his own soldiers-probably on a short break from repair work. Or just rotating shifts so no one gets worn out. We then cut to Arkeville and guiding Starscream to his lab. Nice bit where Starscream transforms, ejects Arkeville and grabs him with his arm. It's a large, obvious-looking boulder with actual steps craved in the front. Real hidden. "My lab is an impenetrable fortress until I activate the front portal with a voice command."

"Then activate your mouth!"

"I Doctor Arkeville, genius of science, say open sesame!"

"How original..." Okay, a thousand points for them pointing out how dumb the password is. The boulder moves aside slightly, but Starscream grabs it and chucks it down the side of a cliff. So much for impenetrable... "A small example of when anyone tries my patience. Especially you!" Inside, the lab is huge. One wonders how long Arkeville's been operating. Starscream finds an exponential generator.

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It's apparently the ultimate power source. Arkeville's scared stiff. If the generator goes, so goes Earth. Starscream... doesn't care.

Back a ways, the Decepticons are flying overhead and Rumble just spots the Autobots rolling out below. Skywarp and Thundercracker attack. How long were the two groups not noticing each other?!

Back at the lab, Starscream's rigged the generator with a timer. It'll explode and blow up Earth. In seven hours, fifty-eight minutes and twenty seconds it'll blow up. Arkeville's horrified, but Starscream doesn't care. He'll be on Cybertron, ready to collect the resulting energy. Arkeville volunteers to... stay behind to make sure nothing goes wrong. Screamer's not a fool-this time-and takes Arkeville with him. Arkeville boards and Starscream takes off for interplanetary flight. He tries to talk him out of it, but Starscream brushes him off. "Compassion, from you? Spare me your concern!" it's kinda true, actually.

Starscream then goes on a major rant. "Once we're on Cybertron, nothing will interfere with my plans! Before long, I shall be Lord Starscream, tyrant of the firmament!" And he flies up to Cybertron, still close enough to Earth and possibly settling into an orbit around the sun.

Holy **** we've gained a tenth planet here!

Back on Earth, Bumblebee's buried. Brawn digs him out as the Autobots take cover. Wheeljack is.... itching for a fight. "I wanna fight in the clear!" He fires off a missile and takes out Skywarp. The Decepticons land... Megatron sneaking up on Prime from nowhere. One toss and Megatron... calls it quits. "These Autobots are too hero-programmed to know when to quit." The Autobots follow.

Back on Cybertron, Starscream talks to Shockwave. Arkeville's banned from Headquarters, per Megatron's orders. Starscream informs him Megatron's dead and flashes a badge... and that's enough to get him leadership?

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Okay, it is a nice badge. Shockwave's incredulous, and can't get through to Earth. Starscream orders him to not contact Earth, then shoots at him. He wants energy collectors set up. In less than three hours Earth will blow up. Hey, passage of time. Good to see. He gloats over Arkeville. "You will be the only member of your species to survive the end of your world!" Arkeville has a moment of redemption for his crimes and tries to stop Starscream's energy collection, but the controls electrocute him. Harsh. Some Reflectors take him to 'repair bay'.

Back on Earth, Megatron is leading the Decepticons to the 'valley of no return'. I'm guessing that's not the real name. They lead the Autobots into an area of instability. Quicksand. Obviously formed by the geological and meteorological catastrophes that happened. They transform, but can't pull themselves out. Megatron, in a moment of genre savvy, has Laserbeak stay behind to make sure they sink. He mentions they've wasted time on them.

Ironhide tries to get an arm free to fire some nitrogen into the quicksand. Laserbeak attacks, but Mairage nails him with a missile and he transforms into cassette mode. Jazz catches him while Ironhide's arm gets free and his hand retracts. He fires super-cool nitrogen at the quicksand... freezing it, I guess.So they can climb out of the holes. I have no idea if that would work.

Jazz holds up Laserbeak. "Hey, Optimus. How'd you like to hear number one on the Decepticon hot cassette chart?" Ah, Scatman. I miss you. :( Prime is... groovy. "As the Earthlings say, lay it on me man." He transforms and plays back the message Laserbeak played for Megatron. Prime has them roll for Arkeville's lab... How do they know where it is?

Megatron arrives and finds the generator. "Your destiny is to serve me, my potent beauty." Creepy as all hell closeup of his eyes as they're lit by the generator, too. Rumble comes in to inform Megatron that the Autobots arrived... and the Decepticons show up out of nowhere. They exit the lab as-the hell?!

Prime's fist comes out of the bottom of the screen and pops Megatron in the chin, knocking him into the cliff. Megatron grabs a rock up there and chucks it at Prime. "Here! Have a ton of fun!" Oh, that hurt. Prime dodges and it nearly kills Rumble. Prime laughs, which is disturbing in its own right. "Your aim's improving, Megatron!"

back at Cybertron, we see the horror as Arkeville's been worked on in the repair bay. He's been Borged, basically. "You've turned me into a mechanical freak!"

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Yeah, sleep tight folks.

"Be grateful you exist at all!" "But I can't move!" Ooh, that is just wrong.

On Earth, Prime's found the generator. Megatron tries to stop him, but Prime stands near the generator and taunts Megatron. He also informs him that the generator's unstable. Megatron has the others leave, but Shockwave finally gets through. "Call back later. I'm busy!" Shockwave tells him about the generator, Prime overhearing. Megatron finds the timer and crushes it. "Everything is under control, Shockwave." He asks where Starscream is and learns the plot. Speaking of which, Starscream realizes there was no earth-shattering kaboom. He thinks it's a malfunction in the timer. "You will go back to Earth to check it, Doctor." "And how do you propose I get there, on my roller skates?!" He plies Starscream with some flattery, getting him to go to Earth.

Megatron's disconnected the exponential generator... and acting kinda weird. It turns out the generator's melted his armor plating! He orders Prime out of the way, but Prime grabs the generator. They fight over it. And it bounces a bit. Megatron grabs it and runs out, followed by Prime. And we get the first-but not the last-bit of cooperation between them.

Megatron hands the generator to Prime and transforms into gun mode, letting Prime fire it into... space. Wow. It explodes... just as Starscream crosses paths with it. He crashes and Megatron looms over him, backlit and looking scary as all hell. "Welcome home, noble voyager." Starscream oils himself.

The Autobots drive away and contemplate what's gonna happen, laughing at the imminent pain. Ah, the good guys!

Thoughts
It was great seeing that first bit, the destruction. Well, good in the whole 'continuity' sense. We do get the sense of massive loss of life and damage. :(

So, Arkeville. Methinks his fate on Cybertron is not a happy one. I... wish I could feel sorry for him, but I can't.

And now...

We see the ABC news logo once more. The same anchorwoman is sitting there, still no makeup but her hair is done up a bit fancier. She clears her throat and looks to the camera

"Good evening. We've just received word that President Reagan has announced a massive rebuilding and recruiting program for the United States. Soviet Premier Konstantin Chernenko has issued a similar call.

"Across the world, anti-Transformer protests have sprung up, mostly around city ruins and devastated areas. However, in areas not heavily damaged, counter-protests have begun. Authorities urge calm, but it's not known if either side will listen.

"In other news, Delta-Six leader General Clay Abernathy and Oktober Guard leader Colonel Ivan Brekhov have pledged to work together and merge their respective teams under a new international command, unnamed so far. They held a press conference in Geneva to announce their goals."
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Sun May 22, 2011 5:25 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
Time to get a bit biblical as we experience...

A Plague of Insecticons
And sell some new toys, too!

We open on the island of Bali. Victor tells us of 'Demon Swamp, where a new form of robot now stalks. Boatmen are sailing by when new Decepticons attack, each in the form of giant insects. The stag beetle repeats the last word of every sentence, which is nice. The boatmen escape while the robots feast. The grasshopper is named 'Kickback' while the boatmen go to radio for help. The others are named Bombshell and Shrapnel.

Back at the Ark... they receive the SOS. Hopefully wired to them through proper channels. Spike and Sparkplug take the message while Skyfire takes some Autobots and Spike along. We cut to Laserbeak flying above the Decepticon base and sending the info to Megatron. He, Soundwave and Thundercracker go to Bali as well. In the swamps, they quickly land. Ravage is ejected and tracks down a large hut.

Megatron peels away the outer layer and reveals metal and the Deceptibrand. Said brand is red, but we'll assume it faded. Turns out this was an escape pod from their own ship back in MTMTE! Holy cow, that is so cool. Thundercracker puts it together rather quickly, actually. And we pull back to the Insecticons observing a settlement. They transform and attack the farm!

We cut to Prime and some other Autobots driving along what appears to be an empty riverbed. How'd they get to Bali, the waterskis or surfing? I say surfing! Unfortunately, they come across a local festival. Sideswipe finds an alternate route around. Sunstreaker needles him. "Since when did you know anything about this countryside?!"

"Listen, I've got search instincts like a proton-powered pathfinder." Sideswipe, you are a geek! Wheeljack ribs him, and Sideswipe decides they can go under the villagers! We cut back to the farm where the Insecticons are wreaking havoc. "I knew we should've sprayed!" says one farmer. Skyfire shows up, doing a brief gerwalk as he lets everyone out.

the Insecticons fire, but Brawn takes it like nothing. The Autobots are rather overconfident. Bombshell blows up the farm equipment while Shrapnel somehow animates them with electricity into Insecticlones. O-kay...

Brawn's still confident. "Ah, they're probably just optical illusion. I hope." And they fire. Skyfire gets snarky. "Still think they're optical illusions, Brawn?" The real Insecticons charge, forcing the Autobots back. They're hoping Prime and the others got the message. "They should be here by now!" And... we cut to Sideswipe pounding out a tunnel. "You and your shortcuts!"

Back to the farm, the Insecticons launch a shrapnel bomb, destroying the wheat. Windcharger uses his magnetic powers to repel them, and Skyfire can't transform. Kickback's... kick jammed his transform circuits. And to top it off, Megatron's flying in!

Megatron approaches them. They don't remember Megatron, but he feels... familiar. Some people think this means they weren't aboard the Nemesis, but come on! It's been four million years. And memory loss isn't unknown amongst the species. I rather like it.

Shrapnel asks for help with taking out the Autobots. Megatron's response? "With pleasure!" And they aim... and back to the tunnel, Prime has basically had it. "Stand back, Sideswipe. It's my turn!" "I'm not really tired, but if you insist." And Prime blows through, and they arrive at the battle.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker tackles Megatron... and are disposed of in literally two seconds. Prime transforms as Sideswipe is tossed back, being caught by Skyfire. The Autobots attack and the Decepticons leave for an oil refinery.

Wheeljack repairs Skyfire and he transforms, taking off for scouting missions. Prime tells him to be careful as they roll out. In the air, Soundwave reports that Skyfire's following them. The Insecticons double back to take him on. Shrapnel and Bombshell clamp onto his wings, forcing him down. Spike spots his crash. Wheeljack-one of the few Autobots who can fly-takes off and helps him out, but Kickback... yeah. Kicks him out of the sky. Prime catches him on his trailer. "Thanks, Prime. Keep on trucking!"

'Cause we got a great big convoy, rolling through the night. We got a great big convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?

Back at a rather impressive refinery, the Decepticons attack. Soundwave begins cube production while Thundercracker begins pouring. We cut to the Autobots and Insecticons. Shrapnel using some sort of 'override waves' on SUnstreaker and Sideswipe, forcing them to play chicken with the Autobots. Trailbreaker activates his force field and saves them. Brawn... is fastball specialed up to the Insecticons by Prime. I have actually done a screen capture of this:

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"Go get 'em, Brawn!" he grapples with Shrapnel, but Kickback... yeah. "That's what I call going down to defeat... from 'de feet." *Groan* Skyfire saves him. "Thanks, Skyfire. I don't mind the takeoffs but the landings are murder!"

The Insecticons go to the refinery. There, the refinery's being drained dry. Megatron is simply leaning against the wall, fusion cannon off. :D He directs the Insecticons to an oil tanker and to drink their fill. There's some good animation of them 'eager'. They leap up and drink. Megatron notices Skyfire coming and they shoot at him. He returns the favor by knocking the Insecticons off the tanker. Megatron... says something odd as the Autobots roll up. "Soundwave, activate the Ravage cassette!" The what? Never heard it uttered like that before.

The two sides fight, Kick back sneaking up on the Autobots and firing shrapnel. They're blown into the oil-slicked water... and Thundercracker ignites it. They dive, come up under the dock where he is and burst through. Ah, strategy!

Ironhide is ordered to douse the tanker flames. I had forgotten he was there. Storm clouds roll in and Kickback declares the day is won! Shrapnel fires a missile into the clouds and begins generating lightning, directed down... and this is gonna hurt. He blows them back. Bumblebee and Spike hide, but Spike realizes how to defeat the lightning! He has Bumblebee transform and drive at them. Shrapnel fires... and nothing.

Rubber tires. I... am no expert. I'm not an expert on many things. But I don't think rubber tires would be enough to shield them from that amount of lightning. So they transform and roll out! And we get another awesome Prime moment.

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How much win is this guy smelted from?!

There's some great animation of him shooting the Insecticons. Megatron flies over, shoots the tanker and pushes it to the refinery. Prime sees it, dives in and wrestles with it.

Back on land, Trailbreaker's force field disrupts the Insecticlone control and they vaporize.

Megatron suddenly emerges from the water and readies his fusion cannon, but suddenly...
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"Megatron... CATCH!"

...

SO! Moving on, here. The Insecticons decide to distance themselves from the Decepticons. They eat some energon cubes while Megatron waddles to the shore, angry at them. "We befriended them and now they steal our power source!" And we have a brief civil war as the Insecticons flee and the Decepticons chase after them. Bumblebee sums it up best. "For once I wish megatron the best of luck!"

Prime notes they'll probably be back together, due to similar engineering. Wheeljack has a rather interesting observation. "And with the same engineering, they won't stay enemies for long."

... So is that why Megatron's never killed Starscream?

The Insecticons will be back, but the Autobots will be ready for them. And Prime... hugs Spike and Bumblebee. Kinda creepily, too. "Spoken like a true Autobot, Spike!" And Wheeljack ponders designing a "vehicle transform" for him. Maybe a motorcycle. Spike has the perfect comeback.

"Maybe we'd better wait until I'm old enough to drive?" "You've got yourself a deal!"

Thoughts
Not the worst. Pretty much a 'buy my toys!' episode, but the Insecticons are a rogue element here. Skyfire got his butt kicked... literally by Kickback.

So, one more episode until season two!

The ABC news logo flashes on the screen. The same anchorwoman, still no makeup and hair in a semi-plain bun, looks up to the screen

Good evening. Repair work on the interstate highway system continues unabated as Route 66 is reopened. A small ceremony was held before workers resumed their work. It is unknown how long before full repairs are made, but progress is astonishing.

"Over in Europe, tensions cooled between Warsaw Pact and NATO as their first joint-allied wargame scenario was held. Although details are scarce, it appears some rather... interesting new technology is being used by the soldiers. Our correspondent has more..."
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Mon May 23, 2011 3:51 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
And now we end the first successful season of Transformers! Appropriately, with more toys! some new characters!

Heavy Metal War
So... Metallica fights Black Sabbath?

We open on a long shot of a city in a background, then panning over to a construction site. Industry! The driving heart of America! This is undoubtedly part of the ongoing reconstruction process. A foreman drops that 'energy discs' are being installed that'll allow power to be tapped directly from Earth's magnetic field. Suddenly, green and purple-colored construction vehicles pull up. They have no drivers... and Decepticon brands on them. "Right! No one drives us, stupid human.We are the Constructicons! We drive ourselves!"

The foreman shouts out to stop them and the humans... show some savvy by using their vehicles. Unfortunately the Constructicons, being more than just vehicles, are also packing heavy weapons. The power convertors and energy discs are stolen. The workers approach. "Foolish man of flesh! If you interfere with us, you will be terminated!" The foreman's picked up and simply tossed into the throng of workers. And they fly off.

We cut to a temporary Decepticon base and we get part of the Constructicon's origins. "They were worth the time we spent building them in these caverns." We'll get back to that... later. We get a roll call and pan across for maximum toy-buying advertising!

Image

"Scavenger! Mixmaster! Long Haul! Bonecrusher! Hook, and myself." The last is Scrapper, the apparent leader. There's no 'real' leader with this group. Megatron asks if they have the energy components. Long Haul transforms and they appear in his bed. Ah, I love this series. They're unloaded and hooked up to equipment. Megatron boasts it'll give him the power to vanquish the Autobots. Starscream snarks.

"Forgive me, but I believe your boast sounds vaguely familiar." Not through any fault of mine!" Now that I ponder it... most of the time it wasn't Megatron's fault! "This device will enable me to strike at the Autobots through Optimus Prime's only weakness-his overdeveloped sense of honor!" And we get a badly-drawn shot of his profile as he laughs.

At the Ark, Ironhide's chest is showing a graphic. Spike points out it's one... but one too many as it's Megatron! Cliffjumper fires a freezing substance from his wrist sockets, but Megatron blows through the resulting snowball. Wheeljack tries out his 'shockblast cannon'... which blows up in his hands. ""Ugh, that's a shock all right."

Ironhide fires energy blasts from his fists, kinda like the Gobots. Megatron dances around them. Prime taunts him and Megatron responds. Oh, he doesn't even have his fusion cannon! He lands and explains himself. "I have come about a matter of Cybertron law, Optimus Prime." He challenges Prime to single combat, the loser's faction exiling themselves to deep space for eternity. Cliffjumper doesn't trust him, but it'd end the war and he can take him! Prime decides.

"Also, it is the law of our native planet. Very well, I accept."

"Somehow I felt you would, Optimus Prime. You have such a strong sense of honor!" Megatron takes off once again for the base. There he stands inside a large chamber. He orders an 'energy transfer' to begin. Scrapper pulls some levers and a slot opens. The Decepticons put in their power chip rectifiers-apparently these chips are what allow them to manifest their special powers. We also learn that challenge is supposed to be between among unmodified champions.

There's some electrical flashing and glowing. "I now possess all your powers, in addition to my own." Starscream tells him Teletraan-One could detect the powers, so Megatron in a fit of genre savvy sends the Constructicons a digging beneath the Ark to destroy Teletraan-One. Damn, he's got it together!

We cut to the Ark. Spike's worried and points out the obvious. "I mean they don't call those creeps 'Decepticons' for nothing!" Prime reassures him that the code specifies a fair battle, and points out Teletraan-One. The Autobots roll out to a large hole in the ground-a literal large hole in the ground. The Decepticons fly in. "Hail Optimus Prime, and welcome to defeat!" Confidence, eh?

Everyone slides down to sit. Chip is being supported by Ironhide. "Doesn't this remind you of the gladiatorial combats in Ancient Rome?" Ironhide is... rather on par for a giant robot probably not interested much in ancient history. "Maybe it would, if I knew what you were talking about." "It's Earth history, Ironhide. Skip it!"

Soundwave ejects Ravage and Laserbeak... and stroke's Ravage's head. He's an adowable widdle kitty of doom!

Prime and Megatron approach each other. They shake hands, Megatron applying electricity and tossing Prime. He uses Starscream's cluster bombs, null rays, Rumble's earthquake generators, Skywarp's teleporting... it's not good.

We cut to the Constructicons digging and reaching the underside of Mount Saint Hillary. Scavenger's shovel extends and he's picking up Teletraan-One... who is picking them up too.

Back to the fight, Prime fights back. But Megatron's chest emits bright flashes from Reflector. He also emits high-frequency sonics from Thundercracker. "You were good, Optimus Prime. But not good enough to fight Megatron! And so the battle ends!" And he shoots Prime. Ouch. He declares victory...

Okay, an aside. I'm sorry, but no. There's no way the Autobots wouldn't be able to tell Megatron's been enhanced up the wazoo here. No. Way.

Spike, Sparkplug and Chip go to him, Prime blaming himself... for not seeing the obvious there. *Sigh* The Autobots are ready for a fight, but Prime stops them. He lost... the irony is, of course, if they had attacked they might've destroyed most of the 'Cons right then and there.

Prime and the rest transform, Huffer volunteering to take the trailer. Aww. :) They roll for the Ark. And we get a rather sad line, too. "Autobots, roll out... perhaps for the last time." Good use of music, too.

At the Ark, the Constructicons break through the floor. Teletraan-One summons the Dinobots to defend.

The Constructicons aim their weapons. "There's Teletraan-One! For Megatron, destroy it!" "No destroy Teletraan-One! Dinobots destroy you!" And there's a fight that blows a hole in the side of the mountain! "Sludge not see these Decepticons before!" "Not see again either, because we dynamite them to pieces!"

The Dinobots transform and proceed to whoop the Constructicons. "It's bad news, Scrapper. They've brought out the heavy artillery!" Scrapper decides on something... "Then it's time we did the same, only heavier!"

The Constructicons transform, not quite vehicle and not quite robot. It is a strange conglomeration, their bodies merging together along with their minds. It is large, terrifying... it is Devastaor!

Image

The first-but not last-combiner in the show, and if you think about it, terrifying to behold. The Autobots pass the battle... and keep right on rolling. Even though the Dinobots are getting their butts handed to them. Ironhide wants to help... but Prime says no. "Remember the law!" You have got to be kidding me!

In the Ark, Prime's repaired. Wheeljack wonders about Megatron and Chip Chase is the one to figure it out. Teletraan displays the graphics of the Decepticons. "Then Megatron cheated, and we can ignore the agreement with them!" NO FRIGGIN' DUH!!!!!!!!

Outside, Devastator is gloating when a huge Autobot appears, taunting him. It's a hologram from Hound. The Autobots shoot through it, causing Devastator to disassemble. The Dinobots counterattack and the Constructicons go into lava.

The Autobots drive the Decepticons back. Ironhide is once more bloodthirsty. "Nail 'em, guys! Turn 'em to scrap!" And there's a rather good shot of him aiming. The Decepticons are also driven into the lava.

All that's left is Megatron. "No, Megatron! You will not have to fight all Autobot powers at once-just me!" And he's sent into the lava below. "It is ended." Spike wonders if the Great War is finally over. "Have we seen the end of this War, forever?"

"Who can say, Spike? In this vast universe, is anything truly forever?" And Megatron emerges from the lava. Closeup of his face. "We shall rise... again!"

Thoughts
There are some big flaws here. Two stand out-the Autobots not being able to tell Megatron was enhanced and not helping the Dinobots out against Devastator. Sorry, but no. It's just too stupid. Suspension of Disbelief, broken!

Overall thoughts on season one
This... holds up surprisingly well. Some great continuity, good fights, rather deep characterization. And the Decepticons were hardcore bastards! No wonder GI Joe never tangled with them-they'd be wiped out!

The Transformers as a species are quite tragic. Torn by millions of years of war, driven almost to extinction. I see the Autobots indulging in Earth culture simply because having fun is almost nonexistent back home. Cybertron, as I pointed out, is empty...

For us humans, this is a shock and puts to shame the Masquerade bullshit I almost always hate. "We're not ready"? When the hell are we gonna be ready, when the doors being kicked in and we can't defend ourselves?! Not for Optimus Prime and the Autobots! They're working with us so we're not wiped out. And dammit I love them for it!

So tomorrow begins season two. Transform and roll out!
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Tue May 24, 2011 6:38 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
And now begins season two with...


Autobot Spike
New title sequence! New version of the theme! logos sweep from behind a planet to Cybertron! Mount Saint Hillary erupts with orange and then violet energy... for some reason. The titles are clenched by steel jaws-and we pan out to Grimlock chomping on Thrust as the Dinobots transform and fire on Blitzwing, who triple-changes and fires on Omega Supreme... who transforms and steps on Blitzwing. Scrapper scoops him up as Astrotrain transforms from robot to steam engine to space shuttle! The Insecticons swim through lava! The lava changes to a grid-not that Grid-and Prime leads some season-two Autobots against Megatron as the grid spirals down, sucking them in!

We open on a shot of the Ark. Victor Caroli informs us of a strange experiment inside. We cut to the interior as Sprakplug is tinkering, with wires hooked up from Teletraan-One to a bed. Wheeljack and other Autobots wander over. The bed rotates over, revealing a mish-mash of Autobot parts built into some Frankenstein's Monster of a giant robot. He wanted to see what would happen if he applied a little human ingenuity to the spare parts.
Image
That's great, Sparkplug. Now put it away...

Spike thankfully refers to it as Frankenstein monster and not erroneously as Frankenstein itself. Bumblebee's confused. Ah, the days before the internet as we know it! "Ah, it'd take too long to explain, Bumblebee." The Autobot powers up and Ratchet... says something rather dumb. "Another Autobot? Even if it works, who needs it?" Ah, gee. Maybe to replace your dying population and/or more soldiers to fight the Great War?!

It begins moving and the eyes light up. "You see, Wheeljack. You're not the only mad scientist around here!" Has Perceptor shown up yet? It steps off, growls and... begins trashing equipment. And I mean trashing. Sparkplug can't control him and Prime calls for it to be stopped. It takes out Ironhide and Prowl, but Trailbreaker's force field reflects its blasts back at it. They fire and it drops, shorting out. They decide to put it in storage, Wheeljack deciding pretty much out of the blue he'd like to try to figure out how to "direct mental impulses to Autobot X." Well, at least there's a good excuse for it-transfer an Autobot mind to it while their body's being repaired. Only question is... when have we ever seen a need for that?

They get a call that Decepticons are in the vicinity of a new Air Force rocket base. Apparently Teletraan-One has an alarm for just that occasion. The Autobots transform and roll out-even with roll call! At the base, an Air Force officer is giving a speech to the press when the Decepticons fly in. "It takes much energy to launch these rockets, General. That energy now belongs to us!" Megatron fires and shoots in front of the grandstand... I think I saw some soldiers disappear in the fire! I'm counting those as deaths.

The Autobots arrive and transform, the two sides fighting. Irnohide, Ratchet and Windcharger are taken down, but Soundwave is kicked by Brawn... into one of the rockets. There's mass destruction everywhere as the rockets and fuel blow up. And then we see Bumblebee and Spike driving along the rocket debris. Spike... was not the one to get Bumblebee to bring him along. "You sure we did the right thing by coming here, Bumblebee?" "No, but we could hardly stay behind either!"

Okay, maybe you could've gone along Bumblebee... but leave the wise human behind!!!

Soundwave reports to Megatron. "Energy supply, inadvertently destroyed. "There is nothing left to take!" Just as Megatron says that, one of the rockets blow up. That's one of the most unintentionally poignant lines in Transformers, methinks. The Decepticons retreat, but he transforms into gun mode and shoots Bumblebee, making sure the Autobots don't follow. Pretty smart. Spike's pretty banged up. Ratchet transforms into ambulance mode while Prowl escorts him there.

Spike is operated on and the doctor... makes an obvious remark that gets Sparkplug thinking about Autobot X. Bumblebee's repaired while Spike's readied to... have his mind transferred into Autobot X. The transfer is performed... and Autobot Spike begins to move. Sparkplug is beside himself with worry, being held back by Prime. "Spike, do you know me? It's your Dad!" "Dad? I'm Spike?! Me, no!" And he begins rampaging. "Spike, son. WHat have we done to you?!"

Spike rampages some and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker try to stop him. Prime orders low power shots only and Spike's taken down. Spike says it's hard to think. "Like something's telling me to do bad things!" They think it's a side effect of the mind transfer... but I don't think so. Autobot X rampaged before. Maybe that's it, not Spike himself.

Prime tells them they've got to go back to the Air Force base to help with repairs. "Every comfort will be provided to you here." And... we see Laserbeak spying on them, flying back to report to Megatron. He makes plans to try to twist Spike to his side. Starscream reminds him he's tried this before-and he has! With the Dinobots. "What surpeme irony! Turning their friend into their foe!"

Back at the Ark, Bumblebee is still being worked on. Spike's watching a movie on Teletraan-One... and it's a version of Frankenstein. Gee, this isn't a recipe for disaster, nosiree! Spike, predictably, goes nuts and begins trashing things again. Wheeljack, Sparkplug Ratchet try to stop him but he blasts off with rocket boots! Bumblebee rolls out to track him down, his radio still not fixed.

We cut to the Reflectors with their last lines in the series-no, seriously. This is the last time he/they speak. "Reflector to Megatron. I have him in my sights and will maintain watch until your arrival." He's watching Spike as he sits on a cliffside. He ponders helping the world like Prime... then says screw it. "I'm not like Prime! I'm a monster!" "With enough power to conquer mankind!"

Bumblebee arrives and tries talking him down, but nope. He's knocked off the cliff and hangs on for dear life, seeing the Decepticons fly in. Spike starts attacking, doing some damage. The seekers dive in, hitting Spike and taking him down. They land and Spike tries to act tough, but Megatron lands and begins bargaining, talking him down a bit. "Together we will punish those who did this to you." That'd be you.

""I-I don't know! It's getting harder and harder to think!" "Then let Megatron think for you, Autobot Spike!" Gee, that's always gone well! Spike joins him and shakes his hand. "Pay reall bad!"

At the rocket base, the Air Force manages to launch some rockets. The general's naturally excited. "Look at 'em go! Aren't they a gorgeous sight?" Prime is... subdued. "Very impressive... for primivite rocket technology." Ouch! Bumblebee pulls up, blowing through a guard post. He tells Prime what's going on and the Autobots follow. They arrive at the cliff and try talking him down.

Turns out Spike's got Megatron in gun mode behind his back. He starts ranting and fires at Prime, blowing him into a rock and the rock crumbles. Prime tries again to talk him down and Spike uses Megatron, the Decepticons coming in from behind. A firefight breaks out, but the Autobots are trapped in the middle. Prime dodges Spike's blasts, still trying to talk him down. Wheeljack rolls up with Sparkplug, who tries to help his son.

Sparkplug asks what's going on-but is blasted off the cliff. Spike snaps out of it for a brief moment and launches a grappling hook, saving his father. Megatron implores him to use his power. And Spike... uses him against the Decepticons. Yay! Megatron gets free, transforms and leads a retreat. Spike's contrite and makes up with Sparkplug.

Back at the Ark, Spike's mind is transferred back. The transfer device sparks and shorts... but Spike's back! Spike and Bumblebee share a high-five.
Image
"Hmm, I wonder-I wonder what'd it be like for a robot mind to be transferred... to a human?"

Wait a few years, 'Bee.

Thoughts
A fairly good episode, here. Kinda meta with the mind transfer. I loved them getting Fraknenstein and the Monster right.

And from the TF Wiki, here is a list of the parts used for Autobot X.

Image

* Prowl's forehead crest and right chest/front bumper
* Bluestreak's left door
* Sunstreaker's left shoulder
* Hound's shoulder-mounted missile launcher and right fender/shoulder
* Trailbreaker's arm cannon, left chest, and left thigh
* Optimus Prime's left wrist and parts of the right leg
* Jazz's photon rifle, mounted on his right arm
* the back of Jazz's left leg
* Jazz's crotch

And that line about nothing left to take... wonder how many times that happened during the Great War.
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Re: In Which I watch Transformers Generation One

Postby RK_Striker_JK_5 » Wed May 25, 2011 4:08 pm

Motto: "'Til All are One!"
Weapon: Electron Gun
And now time for an episode that focuses on a character not many think about...

Changing Gears
We open on some miners pushing out a cart laden with gold. Another runs up and... the Decepticons attack. Ooh, the tunnel is collapsed and buries one of the miners! Soundwave pumps his arms when he ejects Ravage... Laserbeak's ejected and grabs one of the minders while Ravage digs out the other one, apparently not buried but simply blocked. The remaining miner's radioing for help, mentioning the Decepticons by name. I always love that. Starscream goes to blast him... but Megatron stops him. He wants them to call for help.

At the Ark, Prime answers the call! "Autobots, assemble at once!" Related to Steve Rogers, perhaps? The Autobots run along, all save Gears who ambles at best. "Aww, wouldn't you know it? Every time I get set to lube my cable relays something happens." Bumblebee mounts and does a flip over him in a rather cool bit.

ImageIt's not your squeaking that.s the problem-it's your squawking!" Prime leads them to the mining camp and they quickly pull up to the edge of a cliff. He... shushes them. With his finger to his mouthplate. It is adorable.

Image

Ironhide does the 'okay' sign back and they get down on their bellies. They see the Decepticons and human prisoners and Prime directs everyone around. Prime fires and there's a fight. Megatron transforms and blasts the prisoner cage open and the humans... wander right into the Autobot's midst. "Autobots, don't fire!"

Megatron shoots some boulders and we get some more wonky TF physics. "Megatron energized those boulders!" They fall down and begin bowling over the Autobots-quite literally. Gears is shot into a hole formed by Megatron's blasts. Kinda cool, there. Starscream goes to kill him, but Megatron prevents it. "Fool! That Autobot is the key to my plan-the plan that will bring us final victory!" Skywarp takes off with him as Prime wakes up.

We cut to Africa and a Decepticon installation-a solar needle. Gears will somehow help Megatron draw power from the sun. Gears snarks off and STarscream stuns him with his null ray. Megatron opens up his chest. "A secret sensor scan of all the Autobots reveal that you alone have the special circuit I need." Gears is suddenly... nice?! "I feel so good-natured!" Oh, dear Primus... The circuit modulated his personality.

The solar needle activates and shoots a green beam at the sun, energizing towers all around and causing lightning. We cut to Pisa, Paris and New York City as tremors start up. At the Ark, the ground's shaking too. They were about to formulate a rescue plan, but Bumblebee spots solar flares. Rocks tumble from Mount Saint Hillary. "Megatron is behind this. I'd bet my titanium torsion bars on it." Safe bet, Prime.

Back at the solar needle, Megatron boasts. "Nothing in the universe can stop me!" Dude, don't take lessons from Cobra Commander! Starscream bosses around Gears, who takes it rather well. Megatron notes it won't be long for Prime to find him. We pan up to the sun and it's not looking healthy. Back at the Ark... "Teletraan-One has confirmed my fears. Someone has tapped into the heart of the sun, creating a dangerous instability. Unless this process can be stopped, the sun will explode in slightly less than two hours." Da-yum! The beam is coming from the geographic center of Africa... how they gonna get there, Skyfire?

Although when the beam launched, the origin point was Africa, so kudos there.

Back at the solar needle, the ground quakes. Starscream's concerned, but Megatron brushes him off. Makes sense he'd notice that, being the scientist. We cut to a stampede of zebras at the Autobots... have made it to Africa.

Skyfire, Skyfire, Skyfire....

Jazz and Sunstreaker cut a swath through the jungle on Prime's flanks. Back at the needle, Gears is... Gears. "I should be very angry with you, Megatron. You are an evil son of a retrorat. But for some reason I just can't get too upset." Starscream shoots at him, but Megatron deflects it. It slings Gears into Soundwave, causing a cube to hit an energy arc which almost vaporizes Starscream. Gears glances back at his circuit as we cut back to the Autobots. They jump a canyon, Bumblebee almost not making it. Wheeljack goes back and hauls him up.

They reach the needle. Bumblebee doesn't wanna risk Gears getting hurt, but Prime knows they have to take the risk. They fire, but there's a reflective energy shield up! Clever, Megatron. Prime notes the only hole in the shield is... where the sun's energy enters. He gets ready to block it, but Ironhide stops him. Cliffjumper suddenly transforms and jumps into the way of one of the beams, disrupting the force field! Megatron calls the Decepticons to battle while the Autobots advance.

Cliffjumper's still alive, a little dizzy. They come upon the solar needle and advance. Gears tries to get his circuit back, but Starscream stops him... sounding like Skywarp. Bumblebee rams Starscream from behind, saving Gears. Laserbeak and Ravage are ejected and gang up on Bumblebee. Gears is... chipper. "Isn't this a fun fight?" I miss the old Gears...

At the control station, Megatron and Prime fight. Prime tries to reason with Megatron, but no go. We cut to the sun destabilizing. Megatron gets the upper hand and tosses Prime at one of the energy arcs! Gears retracts his hand and a gun appears. He shoots at one of the pylons. Prime's gun is destroyed-and doesn't reappear for the rest of the episode!

Energy arcs all over. Megatron transforms and blasts Gears. The Decrpticons advance and Megatron calls for the Autobots to surrender. "Don't listen to him! Destroy the solar needle!" Alas... they drop their weapons. The ground shakes as Prime pleads with him again. Megatron orders Gears to repair the solar needle. Prime tries to order him not to, but Megatron knows psychology! "Gears, I asked you for a favor!" Dude, not like you're asking him to go to a seven-eleven and get you an energon shake!

Irnohide's irate. "What did you do to Gears, you monster? You-yah turned him nice!" Gears uses that hooked welder seen before. Megatron orders the Decepticons to prepare to kill Prime. "Megatron, would you give a condemned mechanism one last request?" "Yes, but be quick about it!" "Gears, I wonder if you'd do me a favor now?" So Gears shoots the pylon. Prime rushes Prime and the rest of the Autobots rush the Decepticons.

Megatron calls for battle stations... but they simply scatter. Ratchet channels his Marvel Comics version...

Image
Everybody was kung-fu fighting...

Wheeljack pummels Skywarp. Starscream shoots at Gears but Gears grabs him, spins him around and tosses him into a jimk pile. Soundwave gets Ravage and Laserbeak back and the Decepticons retreat without even being ordered to!

At the control station, Prime kicks Megatron's butt. And then kicks him into the air! Ironhide calls for them to go after them, but no go. Wheeljack and Ratchet-the latter kicking a boulder so it deflects a falling pylon away from Wheeljack-are called in to stop the solar needle. Ratchet goes to unscrew a panel, but Prime just rips it away. They've got the standard 'which wire is it?', the caveat this time is both wires look the same. Prime pulls out the left wire... and the solar needle is shut down. And it also restored the sun's equilibrium.

Gears reminds them to get his circuit. Trailbreaker announces, "We took a vote and, well, we decided we like Gears the way he is now." Ooh, that is subversive! Gears threatens them and they give him back his circuit. They blow up the solar needle and Gears is back to normal.

Thoughts
Interesting focus on a character we see very little of. Also rather subversive in that they preferred the nice Gears! Also, Ratchet kicketh much ass.
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