The Energon Pub

Not sure, but I think Makeshift died, since the bomb was attached to him. That was indeed the best original name from Armada, and made sense for this guy's function, but since he became a fake Wheeljack that uses swords, it would've been so much cooler if he'd been named Slicer. They've used the name Skyquake, and Slicer was a Botcon exclusive even more recently, so it couldn't have been too obscure for whoever's doing the homage homework.

As much as that bit of pandering would've meant to me, none of the pandering that made it into this ep worked. Skyquake is so obscure that just using the name in the first one-off ep was enough, and the Scraplets were done right, but this one just fell flat. Aside from non-Wheeljack, I'm worried that the name 'Wreckers' is getting tossed around too casually these days, what with them NASCARs in DOTM having the same title. Just as the concept of combining happened so often in Energon that by the end of the series it had gone from dramatic to meaningless, I can see where the attention payed to making references to past TF media ring true throughout Animated has come to an end, which could easily result in a boring laundry list by the end of Prime.

Animated also maintained a consistent feel for the relative power and abilities of its characters that gave the show a real dynamic, something lacking in Prime since the Autobots have mostly the same fighting powers, and it's hardly ever clear if any 'cons besides the top 3 and guest-stars are even sentient or just drones. Wheeljack's casual departure at the end amplified this by leaving it confused just what the stakes of this war are. Up until now, wasn't it presumed critical that these last 5 Autobots stop the Decepticons on Earth? Doesn't that make Jackie's decision to fly off seem so irresponsible that it's borderline treasonous? Not that he was so unlikeable that I wanted him to die, but that would have made a lot more sense if they had to write him out.

Ah well, I still have high hopes for Prime, but so far its most redeeming quality is still the sexual tension between Jack Darby and Arcee.