Episode 60 -
The opening bit with the lightning gives it a nice classic horror film feel.
Starscream's mentioning Airachnid so soon in the episode has me curious. Maybe she really will show up in this one after all? I'll keep watching.
Starscream says that he supervised the acquisition of "dozens" of Predacon bones. If he's not exaggerating, then either some more bones were recovered off screen, or this episode takes place a bit later from when the last one left off.
Well well well. Looks like Knock Out hasn't killed or dissected Cylas just yet. He's merely been keeping him around, bound to an operating table, as both a prisoner to torture in his off hours and as a test subject for his experiments.
And this time, Knock Out's testing Synthetic Energon on him.
Even though he's still partially human, Cylas reacts to Synth En as aggressively as (if not moreso than) Ratchet did.
Starscream: "Megatron has long desired a beast machine super-soldier," - ugh, okay, that's enough Beast Era name-droppings already. This is becoming like the poor overuse of "more than meets the eye" in the first live action movie.
Since Cylas grows ever difficult to control the more doses of Synth En he's given, Starscream wants to add Dark Energon to the formula to make Cylas controllable by Megatron.
Knock Out: "Okay, true that Lord Megatron seems to possess a symbiotic link to anyone or thing infused with the dark matter allowing them to manipulate them as if they were puppets, but... have you forgotten what the so-called Blood of Unicron did to our warship?" - Let's hear it for Mr. Exposition! Bob Budiansky would be proud.
Since Raf had taken ill to the effects of Dark Energon before, Cylas's human half should, theoretically, also fall ill.
So... what, now he's part-zombie, part-vampire? He's even aiming for Starcream's neck (or close to it, at least). Knock Out even says that he's trying to "suck out [their] energon", which is more akin to a vampire than a zombie.
Starscream said "Vehicon troopers". Second time the term has been used in this show.
First time an episode uses both the terms "Vehicon" and "Terrorcon" in the same episode.
LOL at Knock Out running one way and then the other.
Ahh, Screamer and KO have a buddy-buddy moment.
Knock Out proposes that the reason Megatron cannot control the new Terrorcons is due to the Synthetic Energon possibly corrupting his link to them.
Ay yi yi, another mention of the "beast machine super-soldier". WE GET IT, alright? Though, I do love Knock Out mentioning how, despite Megatron sending him and Starcream to hunt down Cylas being part of their punishment, sending
him and Starscream isn't exactly the wisest idea since neither are really adept at handling such a situation when there are other, more capable choices (like, as KO mentions, the Predacon) better suited to handling this. Yet, Starscream, not being an idiot, points out that that's too great a risk, since a vampiric Terrorcon Predacon would be unstoppable. Great moments of brilliance in characterization need to happen more often.
Vehicons and Insecticons working together against Terrorcons is surprisingly a joy to watch.
Uh oh, Terrorcon Cylas found the vault containing the Polarity Gauntlet and... Airachnid.
And... she's free. More trouble's a-brewin'.
The Spider Woman is sure out of practice since we last saw her. It's... actually kind of interesting seeing her get her butt handed to her so easily despite how capable she's previously been shown to be.
Then again... nevermind. Her webbing saved her.
She... she killed him. Cylas, I mean Silas, is dead... and free. "Thank you," he said. The first death ever given by Airachnid in this show that turned out to be merciful, even if inadvertently.
And now she calls for the Insecticons.
Soundwave vs. Airachnid, Round 2.
And, like a boss, he pulls an "Orion Pax, Part 1" on her by bridging her out of the ship just like he did to Arcee. Only this time, it's to one of Cybertron's moons. Brutal.
Though, he also bridged away several Insecticons, leaving Airachnid still having some troops of her own, and Megatron down a few bug troopers.
As of this episode, Megatron has just lost more than half of his military forces. And Knock Out has been ordered to hand over ALL of his projects, including those with Synth En, to Shockwave. As for Starscream, it's punishing time.
And now, Airachnid has also become a vampire, biting her Insecticon minions. However, unlike the Terrorcons, she somehow maintains her sanity. If the Insecticons also become vampiric Terrorcons, then things can only get worse for the Autobots.
Speaking of which, no Autobots appeared AT ALL in the episode. A rarity.
This episode is a reminder of why I like the interactions between the Decepticons in this show more than I do the Autobots. They feel just as much of a ragtag, dysfunctional family who gets on each other's nerves just as much as the Maximals did in Beast Wars. Their diverse personalities both complement and contrast each other so well that the interactions between each of them just fee so much fun, as opposed to most of the Autobots whose interactions often feel a little too perfect and not conflicting enough. There's a distinct notice of "they don't like each other, but are forced to work with and tolerate each other anyway" going on here, and it's really great when we see the usually bickering Cons expressing genuine moments of camaraderie and admiration for one another like the often-quarreling Starscream and Knock Out get to do in this one. They bug each other, yet they also secretly respect one another. And, they're the
villains of the show, the guys we're not supposed to be rooting for, but can't help but get a kick out of anyway for how they play off of one another.
It was also a nice surprise to see Cylas, now back to Silas, get some closure, and Airachnid's exile opens up some possibilities for further use of her. However, with only five episodes left, I expect her to either be ignored for the remainder of the show (a la Meltdown's ambiguous fate in Animated), or any wrapping up of her story to be quick and done with swiftly, since there's Project: Predacon to focus on.
Next week... no next episode preview. Next new episode doesn't come until June 28th. Till then, reruns.
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Good job, episode. Now to finish off those annoying kids.
And to be honest I hope it is. In such dark series, trivial romances could destroy entire atmosphere, it simply dose'nt fit there! Also, technically it is impossible, considerind thar Cybertronias are genderless. Arcee seems to be femine, but truely she is the same robot like others. It of course is not enough to make all female fans to stop worshiping her despite bad development, but whatever.
[ Click to attempt signal recovery... ]
