Well, this is it. It's the final Tuesday for Machinima's Power of Primes cartoon, and we have just more episode to catch up on before we can cover the Finale that dropped earlier today. The battle for three ancient Transformers relics continues, so read on as we take a closer look at episode 9, Megatronus Unleashed.
(Note: The following review contains spoilers fro the Power of the Primes cartoon and the Prime War trilogy)
We start exactly where 8 left us, with Rodimus Cron having just been upgraded by Unicron, standing at the entrance to the Well of Sparks, having turned against his former ally Megatronus.
Rodimus takes the first shot, and Megatronus kinda just stands there.
Real nail-biting action there, guys. Well done.This episode also brings the return of one of my personal gripes with the last few episodes of the previous show:
SPLIT FRAMES!!!!
*lightning flashes*
If you read any of my reviews for the previous show, you know these were sloppily put into the series in what felt like a last minute decision. They just suddenly started popping up, and didn't really feel like the flowed well with the rest of the series. The animators/screenwriters apparently decided to bring them back in this show, as they rear their ugly heads once again.
Now, this is not to say that sudden editing/tonal shifts in a show can be a bad thing. It's a slippery slope, yes, but they can sometimes work out. The cinematic shots in a previous episode were one of the biggest highlights from this show for me. They looked really cool, added something to the story, were well executed, and while they weren't there from day one, they were a welcome change. The split frames are none of those things. They feel awkward, give the show bad pacing, and leave room for some strange animation for the character that isn't currently speaking, but is forced on screen anyway.
Aside from the fact that they didn't even bother to animate his mouth, Rodimus' upgraded form suffers from some desperately bad audio mixing. He sounds muffled and distorted, and you can only hear bits and pieces of his dialogue. Between the overly loud music and Rodimus' sound difficulties, it makes this scene, and a majority of scenes after it, difficult to understand.
I don't just want to nitpick, though, so let's get on with the story. Rodimus and Megatronus finally clash, and the pay off for this scene is about as exciting as you'd expect. But, to give the show it's due credit, it is more engaging and action packed than previous episodes, with some really cool imagery thrown in for good measure. The filmography and color palette combine in certain shots to great effect. It's actually one of the most satisfying fight sequences the entire trilogy has produced.
Bane was more understandable than this.The Autobots are finally released from their pillars of fire as Megatronus is distracted in the battle. They immediately set to work dismantling the Infinity Gauntl-sorry, the relic machine. Optimus Primal works on the Matrix of Leadership, and discovers it's calling to him. He removes it from the machine as the rest of the relics are released. This, of course, sets the target of both Megatronus and Rodimus on Primal, as they both want it for themselves. Grimlock and Windblade get blown away off the machine, and Grimlock wonders how they're alive. Windblade explains it's because Megatronus is getting weaker, although they've been shot by Megatronus several times before with no damage, so this revelation doesn't land with the power that the screenwriters I think intended. It would have been nice to see this shown in some way, make his blasters start to fizz out, make him look physically tired, etc.
Megatronus charges up a super attack as Solus begs him to stop, even though all the relics have been detached from the frame, so it isn't clear how she's still being powered. Just as the blast is about to hit the heroes, Optimus Primal uses the Matrix to protect them. Despite this, Megatronus continues the barrage in frustration. The Matrix has chosen Primal, however, and starts to transform him. For some reason, a shot of Perceptor is overlaid through this entire shot, and it's not really clear why. He's not exactly important to this scene or Primal's transformation. Or, at least, not more important than any other cast member. It doesn't help that Perceptor doesn't change his facial expression through the entire shot.
Isn't it nice to have this emotionless face slapped on top of what should be an emotional, vital scene?The Matrix turns Primal into Optimal Optimus, fully connecting him to his Power of The Primes toy. Almost immediately he gets tackled by Rodimus Cron, who beats him to the ground. This is the second awkwardly long punching sequence in the series, where a character who should be able to at least fight back against whoever is beating them up, just get repeatedly punched in the same 1-2 motion. It gets to be strange and could have been solved by quicker editing.
Primal finally throws Rodimus off of him, but Rodimus recovers, and the battle continues into the next episode.
Can you imagine trying to explain this screenshot to someone who hasn't seen any TF show since Beast Wars?As the series (and the trilogy) gets in to it's final moments, it feels a bit like they're trying to throw in everything they were mandated to but couldn't fit in prior. The inclusion of Megatronus' apparent grand scheme doesn't really fit, especially with the events of the previous shows. Megatronus' different attack moves are, and have been, a highlight. It gives a nice creative piece in the show, and it's honestly fun to see everything this Transformer god can do. The imagery of the Megatronus/Rodimus fight is great, as well. The pacing felt especially bad in this episode, however, and it's sad to see that the majority of it could have been solved by simple editing. As far as the actually concept of the show goes, while I can see it being a potentially controversial choice to have Optimus Primal to step into the Prime position to some, I personally have no problem with it, and enjoy just the ridiculousness of the mash up of some of these characters. We'll see how it all wraps up with the last episode!
If you haven't seen this episode yet, you can find it on the Go90 platform. Go check it out and then come back and tell me what you thought of it in the comments below. Do you agree or disagree? Please let me know! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you soon when I take a crack at the finale!