PotP Gear: Machinima's Transformers Power of the Primes Episode 4 REVIEW

Burn wrote:TONIGHT

Megatron wrestles with a monkey


Volcanicus falls into a hole


And Perceptor punches Predaking

Hello, WE'RE BACK! Yes, that's right, it's Tuesday again, meaning we're now on episode four of the Machinima Power of the Primes series. If you'd like to know more, read on, as we take a look at



(This review does contain spoilers for the Power of the Primes cartoon, as well as the previous two shows to some degree.)

The main cast is still on the primal swamp planet and still being chased by Combiners. Predaking is continuing his search for the Enigma of Combination, and Perceptor swears that Victorion doesn't have it. The beast combiner refuses to believe him and, although his logic here is a bit hard to follow, he too has noticed the events Cybertron and the surrounding systems have been going through.


"Everything on Cybertron is trying to destroy everything else!" Top notch dialogue, guys. Just...just *kisses fingertips*

Volcanicus has finally had enough of Predaking, and pushes him over. Predaking promptly gets up and the two finally begin to tussle. Victorion gets upset with Megatron for leaving them behind, and starts to bluntly chip away at the ancient sacred temple of the Primes behind them, something you wouldn't think she'd do, being in favor of honor and fairly traditional.

Inside the temple, Megatron finds his way into a room with the Requiem Blaster sitting on a shrine, in a scene that was totally not spoiled in promotional material last week. (Spoiler: it totally was.)


*Que Legend of Zelda music*

Just as a side note, the music score in this scene when Megatron finds the Requiem Blaster is so ridiculous and over the top, it almost seems intentionally comedic. From a series with very subtle background music, (and certainly very little classical-styled background music) it just feels so bizarre. Don't get me wrong, it's not a badly composed piece of music, it just doesn't fit with the score of the rest of the series.

Anyway, when Megatron is about to take the Requiem Blaster, Optimus Primal appears from the opposite side of the room. He tells Megatron that he should leave, and Megatron goes on a tirade about his condescending tone, telling Primal he reminds him of Starscream. Which is fine, except he didn't really have one. He was speaking very clear, basic instructions. *sigh* I dunno.


It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!

The pair begin to fight for the blaster, and we catch up again with the group outside. Volcanicus and Predaking are still fighting, and it's...unbelievably boring. All but one of the camera angles are the most mundane, basic shots you could put in something like this, and there's absolutely zero tension. Seriously, the first fight we've ever seen in animation between these two awesome, giant, powerful combiners, looks like two elderly people gently tapping each other with their walkers.

But it gets worse


"Ooh, I'll get you, Gertrude! This'll teach you to miss bridge night!"

Predaking pushes Volcanicus into a super shallow, small puddle that he somehow isn't able to get out of. You know. Like a giant robot combiner totally would. He's seriously stuck here for most of the rest of the episode.


See, this is what happens when you forget to flip the toilet seat back down!

I'm not sure why, but Perceptor jumps in and tries to distract Predaking. He's successful, and turns the wrath of the combiner team toward the team who's been struggling to fight him since the second episode. Nice going Percy. Megatron arrives back from the temple, now wielding the Requiem Blaster, to bail the team out just in time. He threatens Predaking, and tells him they really don't have the Enigma, and if they find it, they'll keep in touch.


Minibot, 10 Year old, the other TF fan in my household:"Did it freeze up just then?" Me:"No, that's just the animation." Minibot: *Looks at me like he's looking at a camera on The Office*

The dinobots finally make it out of the puddle by decombining, as the temple behind them starts to glow, projecting a beam into the sky above them. Apparently this beam contains coordinates that Perceptor starts to read. They're hard to make out, but he recieves assistance from Optimus Primal, who I guess is okay from the fight he and Megatron just had, even though we get a total of zero explanation for that. The adventure continues with new allies, new weapons, and, finally, a new destination.


Minibot: "How is he reading it? He's not even looking at it!" *imitates reading a piece of paper thats two feet above his head by looking straight forward*

That's the end of episode 4. Despite it's fair, fair share of just plain goofy moments, I'd argue it's the best so far of the series. No bizarre plot errors, just straight to the point. And, more importantly, progress is made. It only took four episodes, (Read: that's 45 minutes of real life time), to get here, but we are finally here. This episode seemed a lot more coordinated and logical, and far less pf a jumbled mess compared to the preceding three. It actually leaves me excited, or at least interested, in the coming story, as there isn't exactly a predicable plot from here on. Yes, obviously they'll try to use the blaster to defeat Megatronus, but there are other twists and turns that the story could (and hopefully will) take. A small bit of hope has been instilled in me again. We shall see.


DINOBOT POOL PARTY!!

And, on that bombshell, it's time to end. See you next week!

Credit(s): Go90