I'm in the mood to suddenly get some activity going again in this thread, in which case I'll get things started by talking about one of the best aspects of this show: Dr. Morocco.
Can I get an agreement on just how great a character this guy is? I mean, honestly, I am having such great difficulty trying to think of any other human villain more cunning, more likeable, more strategically brilliant than this one man. He's just oozing with delicious diabolical class and charisma.
He even still remains undefeated, having escaped Griffin Rock aboard the mayor's stolen schooner and armed with more knowledge about his enemies to use against them.
And what's more is that, not only is Morocco still out there, but the fact they only beat him in an alternate timeline that they undid means that they never actually beat him in the first place. No matter what happens, no matter how much the Burnses and Bots best the bad guy, he's completely untouchable, unreachable, always either being one step ahead of them or having fate on his side. A single, mortal human man that four-to-six Autobots and the law itself seemingly cannot permanently defeat. It's kind of frightening when you think about it, but in a good way.
Though, the season 1 finale does raise a few questions. Back when it aired, I pondered the following about Alternate Timeline Morocco:
In the alternate timeline, just how exactly did Morocco gain despotic control of the island? Isn't there, like, some sort of U.S. law that prevents the rise of a dictatorship in any part of the country? I mean, Griffin Rock is still or at least was part of the United States, so how could Morocco have possibly rose to such power without being stopped by the U.S. Government? Did he conquer the whole country as well? Did any other nations come to our aid to oppose his tyranny? Did he have to wind up conquering the whole world (or most of it) just to successfully conquer one mere island?
And, what is the status of the Autobots and Decepticons elsewhere on the planet in that timeline? Surely, Morocco's rise to power wouldn't have affected the Transformers winding up on Earth. Are they just so invested in their own battles to even notice a dystopia nearby? Does Morocco of that timeline even know about them if he has indeed conquered more than just the island? Is he aware of just how weak and fragile his MorBots are compared to them? Does he not feel threatened by their presence at all?
So many questions from one alternate timeline that no longer exists.
In addition to those questions, I also gotta wonder a few other things about the guy. Like, when he returned to Griffin Rock in the present back in episodes 12-13, did he remember his experience with the Bots/Cody/Frankie from back in 1939? Was he already aware of the Bots being as extraordinary as they seemed to be during his 1939 encounter with them. Did he remember Cody and Frankie? If yes, he sure seemed to do a good job at hiding those feelings of revenge he'd feel towards them all from humiliating him back in 1939.
But, if he did not, did he simply forget, or did the the time travelers indeed change history during their time-displacement incident? Like, did the incident in 1939 already happen in the main timeline's history even before they traveled back in time? If not, then was history changed anyway despite the time travelers' attempts to fix it by retrieving Dither? Was their being in 1939 enough to alter history, or was their presence in 1939 still an event of the main timeline's pre-episode 25 history?
If history was changed, that would explain Morocco's apparent lack of personal dislike of either the Rescue Bots or Cody and Frankie, but would also put the efforts of the time travelers in vain since they wanted to fix history, rather than change it in any way. But if history wasn't changed, then Morocco seemed to have honestly gotten over his humiliation in 1939 and only renewed his dislike of the Bots/Cody/Frankie after his present day plans were thwarted.
Yes, I know that the real world reason is because the season finale story hadn't yet been made (probably not yet thought of either) by the time episodes 12-13 were being made, thus making the Morocco's first meeting them in 1939 a retcon, but it still raises several questions from an in-fictional perspective.
Why yes, I have an inquisitive mind, why do you ask?
Anyway, I'm honestly hoping that the Bots'/kids' appearing in 1939 did occur in the main timeline's history even before episode 25, as any additional change to the timeline beyond the dystopian timeline being created and undone would mean that the world of the cartoon from episode 26 onward would no longer be the same as it was before 25, and it was already a great world as it was that I want the show to keep exploring without altering it.
Plus, the TFWiki
Aligned timeline page would need a serious overhaul for its present day sections once we get around to working in the Rescue Bots episode info regarding their 21st Century events.
Thus, that would leave the Dr. Morocco from episodes 12-13 as having already met the Bots/kids back in 1939. But then that raises the in-universe question of why, in episodes 12-13, he didn't seem to let on that he had met them before back then. Well, let's think about for a moment. Morocco obviously planned out his return to Griffin Rock ahead of time, having already built the MorBot with the intent of making it replace the Rescue Bots. Thus, he would have had to have known ahead of time about their being there. Could he have instead found out about them by simply conducting research on the island's current events and working them into his plans? Yes, that's very possible (this is Morocco we're talking about here, after all). But it is also possible that he used his past memories of meeting them before in conjunction with his research. Why, he could have even simply forgotten about the 1939 incident and only remembered them after having done said research. Either way, he was prepared upon his return to the island and knew what he was up against. The fact that he built the MorBot at all suggests he was inspired by some past knowledge of giant robots, period.
It is also entirely possible that he didn't learn as much about the Bots as we think he he did back in 1939. After all, he didn't quite get to learn that they were living machines, only that they were advanced technology from the future. For all he knew, he could have simply believed that they had really advanced programming that only made them "seem" partly alive. In fact, the only time in all of episodes 12, 13, 25 (1939), and 26 (1939) that he seemed to see definite signs of sentience in any of the Bots was in episode 13, when the MorBot zoomed in on Heatwave saying something like "Come on, let's see what you're made of," and he immediately overrode its programming, recalling it as though in response to seeing Heatwave speak like a person. Any suspicions he had of the Bots being more than they appeared to be would have only been confirmed (or at least further supported to the greatest extent) in that present day instant of that episode.
And, there were moments in episode 13 where Morocco was inside the laboratory that we didn't see. During those instances, he could have had the 1939 incident in mind while further plotting against the Bots. As for why he didn't seem to let on to this, especially when Cody and Frankie (whom he would have remembered from 1939) broke in and he pursued them, he might have felt it advantageous to not let it slip that he remembered them from back then and instead directed his vengeance towards something they'd find more understandable: His resentment towards the mayor, Chief, and Doc for ruining his reputation and making him a pariah among his peers.
There's also the idea that, if he both remembered meeting the time travelers in 1939 and conducted research on the island before coming back, he may have also suspected that the time travelers hadn't yet traveled back to 1939, and figured it would be advantageous to keep the fact that he knew them but they didn't know him to himself, especially once he'd notice that the kids didn't know who he was despite his knowing them. It's quite fitting to his character to analyze all factors available to him and to use them to his benefit as best he can.
I'd also think it would be cool if a season 2 episode with Morocco were to have a flashback to episodes 12-13 or earlier, in which we'd see Morocco remembering the Bots from 1939 back then, helping to further show how well a master strategist and manipulator he is.