The Energon Pub

[Noideaforaname]

"I will GLADLY sacrifice my life for their planet!"
"Me too!"
*gulp* "Mmmhmm..."

"Optimus, we needed that."

"Decepticons, transform and RISE UP!"

White Vehicons! They look soooo nice for being such a simple recolor. Yet another troop-builder Hasbro seemingly won't release...

Starscream seems to have learned his lesson on back-stabbing Megatron. Let's see how long that lasts.

The Omega Locks go from miraculously repairing buildings to miraculously creating buildings from scratch? I wonder how restoring an entire planet would work given the seemingly limited range of the Lock.
EDIT: Also kinda surprised it didn't affect Unicron. Granted the writers seem to have forgotten all about him...



This episode was kinda... not really new. Like, I know I've seen this kind of season finale countless times.

[Slashercon]

A season finale that VASTLY surpasses the first season. So many questions have been brought here and yet, we get answers as well. Now I know that Beast Hunters refers to the remaining Autobots being hunted down by Predacons. (I'm just guessing of course.) I wonder if Airachnid somehow survived the Autobot base going up in smoke.

[Archanubis]

Oh man, the wait for the new eps in spring is going to be MURDER. I just hope they roll out some new Rescue Bots eps so we can get our Transformers fix.

[SlyTF1]

That last shot gave me flashbacks of Mass Effect 3... But this time I felt happy. DECEPTICONS FTW!!!

[RAcast]

So, White Jet Vehicons? Perhaps this is the upcoming "General" Jet Vehicon repaint? I hope so, they looked great!!

Anyway, as for the episode...eh. I mean, the explosions were nice, and everything was pretty great up until Optimus was all "Clearly we should abandon the base!"
W-what? Okay, yes, abandon the base, get the hell out of dodge...but don't..don't just leave. Prime...what are you doing? STAHP!


Okay, so, I'm disappointed with this ending simply because Optimus pretty much chose the worst possible plan. He had the complete advantage. Vehicons and Insecticons never hit anything and die in droves, so it would have been trivial to drive out, whip out the Star Saber and cleave the Nemesis in two, like he tried to before...except there's nothing for it to hide behind this time.

Even if the Nemesis still got off it's big laser on the original base...there's a brand new one...right here...like a few hundred yards away. I mean, the Autobots outnumber the only Decepticons worth a damn in a fight three-to-one! That's Soundwave and Starscream, and I'm being generous by saying Starscream is worth a damn in a fight. Megatron has zero meaningful weapons (and only one arm), Knock Out is really only good if he catches you off guard, and cannon foddericons will never actually hit anything.

[PrymeStriker]

That's Soundwave

And Soundwave did nothing but shoot lasers from his breasts Laserbeak.

Megatron has zero meaningful weapons (and only one arm)

Yet, he's going to get his old arm re-attached per the NYCC promo.

[Archanubis]

Okay, so, I'm disappointed with this ending simply because Optimus pretty much chose the worst possible plan. He had the complete advantage. Vehicons and Insecticons never hit anything and die in droves

Except when it's plot relevant. And usually, the when the bots go up against the Vehicons and Insecticons, it's usually a handful or so of the drones - this time, Megatron's basically launching his entire army at them. Remember, it was being outnumbered that got Cliffjumper captured, and eventually killed, in the pilot.

so it would have been trivial to drive out, whip out the Star Saber and cleave the Nemesis in two, like he tried to before...except there's nothing for it to hide behind this time.

Except, for all Optimus knows, Megatron still has the Dark Saber (which I don't recall being recovered after the Omega Lock was destroyed, though). Megs may have lost his "new" arm, but that's no guarantee that it still won't work for him. Besides, there's the whole army thing to deal with as well... Prime pretty much made the right choice; better to scatter, regroup, and fight another day.

[RAcast]

Okay, so, I'm disappointed with this ending simply because Optimus pretty much chose the worst possible plan. He had the complete advantage. Vehicons and Insecticons never hit anything and die in droves

Except when it's plot relevant. And usually, the when the bots go up against the Vehicons and Insecticons, it's usually a handful or so of the drones - this time, Megatron's basically launching his entire army at them. Remember, it was being outnumbered that got Cliffjumper captured, and eventually killed, in the pilot.

Cliffjumper was alone and didn't have a sword that flawlessly kills hundreds of Vehicons in a single swipe.

Except, for all Optimus knows, Megatron still has the Dark Saber (which I don't recall being recovered after the Omega Lock was destroyed, though). Megs may have lost his "new" arm, but that's no guarantee that it still won't work for him. Besides, there's the whole army thing to deal with as well... Prime pretty much made the right choice; better to scatter, regroup, and fight another day.

Perhaps, but he's still down to one arm, which would still make him much easier to defeat than normal. Can't shift his grip and can't block with a two-handed grip means Megs would get pummeled pretty against an allied assault by Prime.
And an army of paper is still paper.

All in all, I vote we agree to disagree.

[Shadowman]

He had the complete advantage.

He did? Maybe I missed something, but I'm pretty sure Optimus didn't have a space ship equipped with a bunker-buster laser cannon.

And if taking over that brand-new base was so easy, they'd have taken the Nemesis for themselves ages ago.

[Archanubis]

Also, did Airachnid survive the blast? Yes or no?

Until they show either her mangaled corpse or her crawling away from the wreckage of the base, that's going to be one of the questions lingering until the new season begins. Considering they usually show the bodies of the characters they kill off (except Makeshift, but being at the heart of a large explosion kinda kills off the doubt), it could go either way. It also means there's hope for Wheeljack; we see his ship crash, but he's survived that, and we don't see a body (or the wreckage of his ship, either - and Starscream has written off characters early before ). Optimus' fate... is a little more dubious; though I agree with someone who mentioned elsewhere that Optimus is the "big marketable character" for the franchise and thus still likely alive. Hasbro has been reluctant to keep that character dead since G1.

What about June and Fowler? They weren't too far away.

We do see them in Fowler's helicopter afterwards, looking over the wreckage. What happens afterwards... is a mystery.

[DarkEnergon]

Why Optimus Why Why Why???

Why did Optimus slash at the ground bridge controls?

Why did Optimus stick around at all?

Did he want to die, because he was ashamed of letting Cybertron die?
--no, he still needed to protect earth, right? or did he think earth was lost?

Did he think he'd be buying time for other autobots?
--no, that makes no sense, they were gone already

Did he know some secret from Alpha Trion that was going to enable him to survive?
--sure doesn't look like it!

Did he think that if he died, the Decepticons would not bother with the other autobots?
--that seems dumb

Did he run off and get Solus' Forge and forge a fake arm to trick the decepticons, then forge a lil' ground bridge and get out?
-YES!

[Sabrblade]

Why Optimus Why Why Why???

Why did Optimus slash at the ground bridge controls?

To keep the Cons from finding the coordinates the space bridge sent his troops to. He destroyed the computer to hide their locations and keep them safe.

He likely wasn't aware of the Nemesis being right over the base with a superweapon ready to fire on it at the time.

[Foxbear]

 Oh my flipping word! This episode was awesome!

This is so beautifully done. Laced with G1 homages yet taking the story-line to places it never went before. Everything was so tense and real.
Optimus of course was noble and brave as we all knew he would be; but the expressiveness of his face was astounding. There! Is the character development the fan base has been screaming for from episode one.  
All of the bots were incredibly expressive, face plates and body language alike.
Ratchet vented all of their anguish at the loss of their only hope for revitalizing Cybertron.  
Arcee was the perfect second fighting through the emotions of the moment to support Optimus.
Bumblebee was the anguished youth in so far over his helm but trying his best.
Smokescreen the perfect soldier (or trying so hard to be).
Bulkhead the blunt.
Miko is fearless, and Jack living up to being a Matrix bearer. Something even Megatron references. Raf is so very frightened but determined to be as brave as the older children.
Another thing about this series, they recognize the existence of long term political effects. Megatron is already using Optimus's choice to his advantage.

And this explains why next season will have only thirteen episodes. The set programs used by the animators to generate, Jasper, the Autobot base, and Jack's home, the kids school are now old news. Pretty much each episode will need a totally new background generated. That is a HUGE task with CGI and a bold step on their part.


So very much can't wait!    

Bogus! That Vehicon would have crushed her with her windshield shattered when it fell on top of her car. I'm glad she's okay, but they had to break the laws of physics (again!) to do it.

Actually (and though I am hesitant to challenge Saberblade, I gotta on this.) According to physics force=mass times acceleration. The Con had the mass to crush her car no doubt but he had barely any acceleration.Just what he could manage from falling forward. So there was less total force. He did have enough to crush in the hood of the car (the only part he actually hit) and remember that under that is a solid steel engine block. Also those "mom" cars are built tough. Just yesterday I passed one with a fully mature Pine tree trunk fallen across its hood and it barely had a dent.
I'm calling this fairly realistic, except for the you know, flying aliens and stuff.

I know I'm supposed to feel sad about the Nemesis destroying the base with its superweapon, but all I can think of is... just what was Optimus trying to do when he sliced the computer with the Star Saber???

I figure that Optimus simply didn't know Megatron's plans at that point and he wasn't willing to take the risk that Meg would forgo looting the base in favor of a tactical strike. The computer holds not only the coordinates of the ground bridge but a record of all their contact with the humans, all of the locations of their energon stashes on Earth, basically everything Megatron would need to hurt a lot of people. Optimus wasn't willing to rish all that data failing to be destroyed and falling into enemy servos.

[Sabrblade]

Yeah, I asked that question before I was told the answer later. Destroying the computer kept his friends safe.

[csusandman]

Anyone else annoyed as Hell that the damn humans get stuck in the middle of it all and end up screwing the pooch for the Autobots?! This is the one time that I actually think Star Trek has a point: "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

I know. I KNOW. Prime was NEVER gonna sacrifice the humans. But damnit, I can dream can't I?!

And now, not only am I worried about Prime's fate, but that of "Transformers: Prime". I'm really hoping this show isn't drawing to a close so soon and will continue for many seasons to come! I've been so impressed, engaged and really, really entertained by this new series!

[Shadowman]

Anyone else annoyed as Hell that the damn humans get stuck in the middle of it all and end up screwing the pooch for the Autobots?!

I don't see how it was their fault they were taken captive by the Decepticons.

This is the one time that I actually think Star Trek has a point: "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

Optimus agrees; he's willing to sacrifice a dead planet in order to to prevent the destruction of a thriving planet and its six billion occupants. The many = Six billion life forms, the few = a dead planet.

[King Kuuga]

Anyone else annoyed as Hell that the damn humans get stuck in the middle of it all and end up screwing the pooch for the Autobots?! This is the one time that I actually think Star Trek has a point: "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

I know. I KNOW. Prime was NEVER gonna sacrifice the humans. But damnit, I can dream can't I?!

I agree on that one. The fate of Cybertron at the cost of the lives of three Earth children? That's a drop of blood in the ocean. And in the real world, sometimes you DO have to make that kind of hard sacrifice. But whatever, family show, Autobots don't kill (except Decepticons), blah blah blah.

As for Airachnid, I'm going to go ahead and call her dead. This is probably a big factor in why she didn't get a good toy: Hasbro did not care. She's
1. A fembot (typically not a good seller among young boys)
2. Out of comission by the time her toy would get released
3. Blown to bits.
Three strikes. Hasbro said "just make a toy so we can say we did and move on."
If she's not blown to bits I'll be very surprised.

[YRQRM0]

What an episode. I felt like this is the first time I've seen Earth really be threatened by Megatron, I loved it. Especially the way they focus on Megatron having ruined their old world, and then seeing him not only controlling Cybertron, but conquering Earth.

Interesting that the Omega Lock would even be able to shoot straight up into the sky like that, what would that be for if not for space bridges?

The tension between Ratchet and Optimus for destroying the Omega Lock was great. Interesting that he said it was the only thing that could restore Cybertron in any universe...I guess Ratchet subscribes to the multiverse theory?

I love the irony of Optimus destroying the Omega Lock, and having Megatron hate Optimus for destroying his Cybertron. Brilliant!

Silver jet cons seemed unnecessary and a bit distracting...I didn't think they were that cool.

I wonder if we'll see Air Defense command's air support ever show up...I was kinda looking forward to that.

I'm betting Airachnid survived, she was referenced quite a bit after her capture, and if the theme of season 3 is beasts, I'm sure there's something they'll use her for.

I've never been keen on bots losing limbs, and then just standing around like nothing happened. But whatevs.

You know Optimus can't be dead. He just cannot be...it's not possible. Would've been cool if the forge was part of this somewhere.

Terrific finale, this show never ceases to impress.

[Shadowman]

I agree on that one. The fate of Cybertron at the cost of the lives of three Earth children? That's a drop of blood in the ocean. And in the real world, sometimes you DO have to make that kind of hard sacrifice. But whatever, family show, Autobots don't kill (except Decepticons), blah blah blah.

Pay attention: Optimus didn't destroy the Omega Lock to save the kids. He destroyed the Omega Lock because Megatron was using it to destroy Earth.

You know Optimus can't be dead. He just cannot be...it's not possible.

Isn't it?

[RAcast]

You know Optimus can't stay dead. ...it's not possible.

^ Fixed.

[originaldave77]

It's a shame that HUB only ordered enough episodes to get this show to syndication (the magic number is 65 episodes). That does not bode well for a season 4 and beyond.

[Gabi1410]

Why Optimus Why Why Why???

Why did Optimus slash at the ground bridge controls?

Why did Optimus stick around at all?

Did he want to die, because he was ashamed of letting Cybertron die?
--no, he still needed to protect earth, right? or did he think earth was lost?

Did he think he'd be buying time for other autobots?
--no, that makes no sense, they were gone already

Did he know some secret from Alpha Trion that was going to enable him to survive?
--sure doesn't look like it!

Did he think that if he died, the Decepticons would not bother with the other autobots?
--that seems dumb

Did he run off and get Solus' Forge and forge a fake arm to trick the decepticons, then forge a lil' ground bridge and get out?
-YES!

Oh God that would be brilliant!! Seriously can't wait for Season 3 !

[King Kuuga]

I agree on that one. The fate of Cybertron at the cost of the lives of three Earth children? That's a drop of blood in the ocean. And in the real world, sometimes you DO have to make that kind of hard sacrifice. But whatever, family show, Autobots don't kill (except Decepticons), blah blah blah.

Pay attention: Optimus didn't destroy the Omega Lock to save the kids. He destroyed the Omega Lock because Megatron was using it to destroy Earth.

Yes, but if he had just activated the rebuilding of Cybertron in the first place, disregarding the children as a small sacrifice to prevent Cybertron from falling into Megatron's hands, that wouldn't have been an issue. That's what I'm saying.

[Archanubis]

As for Airachnid, I'm going to go ahead and call her dead. This is probably a big factor in why she didn't get a good toy: Hasbro did not care. She's
1. A fembot (typically not a good seller among young boys)
2. Out of comission by the time her toy would get released
3. Blown to bits.
Three strikes. Hasbro said "just make a toy so we can say we did and move on."
If she's not blown to bits I'll be very surprised.

Until I see a body, peices of the body, or another character claiming she's dead, I'm not making up my mind one way or another. Same with Wheeljack.

[Shadowman]

I agree on that one. The fate of Cybertron at the cost of the lives of three Earth children? That's a drop of blood in the ocean. And in the real world, sometimes you DO have to make that kind of hard sacrifice. But whatever, family show, Autobots don't kill (except Decepticons), blah blah blah.

Pay attention: Optimus didn't destroy the Omega Lock to save the kids. He destroyed the Omega Lock because Megatron was using it to destroy Earth.

Yes, but if he had just activated the rebuilding of Cybertron in the first place, disregarding the children as a small sacrifice to prevent Cybertron from falling into Megatron's hands, that wouldn't have been an issue. That's what I'm saying.

I think Optimus reasoned that even if Megatron was the one to revive Cybertron, they could still take it back. It wasn't until Megatron aimed it at Earth that it became a problem.

And I don't think there is, in history, one good leader who wouldn't fold on his objective when he opponent threatens to execute children in front of him.