The Energon Pub

I'm sure there are people out there who wonder why the heck freezing Megatron in ice actually worked.

I think it's like THIS...

You've heard of hypothermia, right? That's when your body temperature drops to the point where your body literally shuts down. I was thinking, did something similar occur with Megatron? Maybe what happened to him can be compared to that, in that temperature extremes aren't a good thing.

Everything I know of has a specific temperature range at which it functions best, a broader range at which it functions period, and anything outside that it won't work at all. If it's sufficiently cold out, it's hard to get your car to start. My grandparents experience that a lot (lousy northern USA winters...). If it's colder than that, your car won't start at all. So we can safely say that temperature has an effect on mechanical things.

When the ice broke under him (as the prequel comic clearly shows) and he fell into the water, it must have lowered his core temperature to the point where his systems involuntarily shut down. Maybe it was how fast the temperature changed, or how much it changed, but the result is the same: a major drop in temperature.

Now, for an organic being, if your systems shut down you're dead. For a mechanical being, shutting down is simply that. Remove whatever caused the shutdown and you're good to go, hence Megatron immediately waking up once the cryogenic thingamabobs shut down.

In case you're wondering why flying in space didn't have that effect on him, he travels in his jet form, and his jet form was designed for this kind of stuff. Logically, that would mean insulation where insulation is needed. But when he's not in his jet form, he doesn't have that going for him. No insulation to protect him from the cold.

And I'm not even going to TRY factoring in water pressure and whatever effect ice crystal formation has on circuitry...

Cool write up. But for some reason, I still don't see dumping him in the abyss is going to work. We already know that salt water isn't going to hurt him, since he's already had a bath in the Arctic ocean once. I don't really see the pressure of the depths having an affect. Superior technology. They can travel in space. If they don't implode in space, I don't see it happening in the Atlantic either. Now, the freezing temperatures may work until someone gets them out of there and resurrects them. I still think that the All Spark bits in his chest are going to create some long drawn out "galvanizing" rebuilding of him and the others. Okay, maybe that's hopeful thinking. I thought Blackout was cool. I don't look at the helicopters on base the same way now.

Ofcourse he'll survive. I'm certain Megatron will return in the movies at some point.

As a Decepticon, I'd be insulted if he didn't survive it.

And Heatseeker, I give you...

THE POP & SQUISH ESSAY

The assertion that the ability to handle being in space means the ability to handle being at the bottom of the ocean isn't right. In terms of pressure, outer space and the bottom of the ocean are exact opposites. At the bottom of the ocean the pressure is very high, meaning anything not designed to handle it will get squished like a bug. However, in space the pressure is so low as to be not there at all, hence it being called a vacuum, and anything not designed to handle THAT will explode and/or just plain pop like a fricken balloon.

To the best of my knowledge, designing something that won't get squished is TOTALLY different from designing something that won't go pop. A space shuttle is designed to not go pop, but at the bottom of the ocean it would get squished. A deep-sea submersible is designed to not get squished, but in space it would probably go pop. And since Megatron is the alien equivalent of a space shuttle or something like that, things can be summarized as follows...

Megatron + bottom of the ocean = ouch.

It may not squish him like an oversized metal bug, but here's betting it's pretty darn uncomfortable down there.

And I think that in the prequel comic, as he's crashing through the ice and plummeting, doesn't Meg go on (internal dialogue) about his energy being very low from the trip so he couldn't power his sheilding or anything else? That might have something to do with both points. Tyrese mentioned seeing the force feild around Blackout. Say, that was never touched on very much after that, if they had some kind of force feild or projected sheilding, or if that was just some kind of stealth feild he was seeing on Blackout.

Night Raid wrote:As a Decepticon, I'd be insulted if he didn't survive it.

And Heatseeker, I give you...

THE POP & SQUISH ESSAY

The assertion that the ability to handle being in space means the ability to handle being at the bottom of the ocean isn't right. In terms of pressure, outer space and the bottom of the ocean are exact opposites. At the bottom of the ocean the pressure is very high, meaning anything not designed to handle it will get squished like a bug. However, in space the pressure is so low as to be not there at all, hence it being called a vacuum, and anything not designed to handle THAT will explode and/or just plain pop like a fricken balloon.

To the best of my knowledge, designing something that won't get squished is TOTALLY different from designing something that won't go pop. A space shuttle is designed to not go pop, but at the bottom of the ocean it would get squished. A deep-sea submersible is designed to not get squished, but in space it would probably go pop. And since Megatron is the alien equivalent of a space shuttle or something like that, things can be summarized as follows...

Megatron + bottom of the ocean = ouch.

It may not squish him like an oversized metal bug, but here's betting it's pretty darn uncomfortable down there.

Thanks for the learnin'. That just shows that I know absolutely nothing about physics.

Unicron's Head wrote:And I think that in the prequel comic, as he's crashing through the ice and plummeting, doesn't Meg go on (internal dialogue) about his energy being very low from the trip so he couldn't power his sheilding or anything else? That might have something to do with both points. Tyrese mentioned seeing the force feild around Blackout. Say, that was never touched on very much after that, if they had some kind of force feild or projected sheilding, or if that was just some kind of stealth feild he was seeing on Blackout.

That's a good point. If Blackout had shielding, how were the granade rounds from army dude (forget his name) able to penetrate his spark? I know they said the armour under his chest was thin, but if he had shielding, shouldn't that have offered some protection?

Insurgent wrote:

Unicron's Head wrote:And I think that in the prequel comic, as he's crashing through the ice and plummeting, doesn't Meg go on (internal dialogue) about his energy being very low from the trip so he couldn't power his sheilding or anything else? That might have something to do with both points. Tyrese mentioned seeing the force feild around Blackout. Say, that was never touched on very much after that, if they had some kind of force feild or projected sheilding, or if that was just some kind of stealth feild he was seeing on Blackout.

That's a good point. If Blackout had shielding, how were the granade rounds from army dude (forget his name) able to penetrate his spark? I know they said the armour under his chest was thin, but if he had shielding, shouldn't that have offered some protection?

Lennox used a Sabot round in the gun, and as Lennox blew Blackouts crotch to pieces it's likely it went up even more & took out most of the spark casing. The armour is weakest when shot at from beneath, as they don't have much need for it there, on cybertron it's unlikely any one ever got underneath a Transformer.

Justicity wrote:

Insurgent wrote:

Unicron's Head wrote:And I think that in the prequel comic, as he's crashing through the ice and plummeting, doesn't Meg go on (internal dialogue) about his energy being very low from the trip so he couldn't power his sheilding or anything else? That might have something to do with both points. Tyrese mentioned seeing the force feild around Blackout. Say, that was never touched on very much after that, if they had some kind of force feild or projected sheilding, or if that was just some kind of stealth feild he was seeing on Blackout.

That's a good point. If Blackout had shielding, how were the granade rounds from army dude (forget his name) able to penetrate his spark? I know they said the armour under his chest was thin, but if he had shielding, shouldn't that have offered some protection?

Lennox used a Sabot round in the gun, and as Lennox blew Blackouts crotch to pieces it's likely it went up even more & took out most of the spark casing. The armour is weakest when shot at from beneath, as they don't have much need for it there, on cybertron it's unlikely any one ever got underneath a Transformer.

As somebody said in a different thread, that was the nut shot of the century, baby!