Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 42

Not quite 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Last time on Beast Wars, a new face arrived on ancient earth. We’re introduced to Depth Charge, an angry Maximal hunting Protoform X aka Rampage. He was the head of security for Colony Omicron, the colony where Rampage went on his first rampage. He was the only survivor, spending four stellar cycles (years) hunting the creature, capturing him and bringing him back to Cybertron. He wanted the High Council to find some way to execute the mad experiment. Depth Charge was furious at the plan to just dump Rampage somewhere and apparently went hunting for them. He got hit with the Transwarp wave, turned Transmetal and was then sucked to Earth. He crashed in the ocean near the Maximals and scanned a manta ray. Rampage somehow sensed his arrival and ran off to meet him. The two dueled across the ocean floor, and the shore. They fought to a standstill, with Rampage escaping with the help of Quickstrike. Optimus and Cheetor grab Depth Charge and brought him back to base for repairs. After, Optimus tries to convince Depth Charge to join them, but Depth Charge is a bit of a dick and refuses. He leaves in a huff, focused only on killing Rampage. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open in the Ark cavern again. The Maximals are doing their best to get their defenses working at peak efficiency. Which is hard considering most of their walls are made of scrap metal, and their wiring is being cobbled together as they go. Rhinox tries to hook up Teletran-1’s force field to run through their systems and project it out over the bulkhead doors. He boots it up, but it shorts out within seconds. Again, their technology isn’t compatible at the best of times and it’s harder with scrap parts. Optimus sighs at plan A being a failure, so they’re forced to go with plan B. When Rattrap hears what it is, he’s disappointed to hear that its “Salvage Sentinel.” A plan made even more difficult considering the Axalon is in pieces and underwater. Optimus says that they’ll get special help then, before radioing Silverbolt.

 

Silverbolt radios back and reports that he hasn’t found Depth Charge. He thinks the ray might be within Megatron’s jamming field. Optimus orders him back to base, and Optimus thinks there might be another way to make the plan work. Blackarachnia was able to build a stealth submarine. It’s powered by hand, has no energy signature, and should be undetectable by any sort of scanner. Optimus compliments the spider on her work. Blackarachnia asks when she’ll leave, and Optimus tells her she isn’t, and that Rattrap is going. The cyber rat is adamantly against going in the Predacon death ball, but Optimus insists it has to be him. He’s the only one small enough to fit into it besides Blackarachnia and knows what parts they need from Sentinel. He’s still not jazzed, but when Optimus points out that they’re going to be stuck defending the Ark forever so long as they don’t have something like a shield, he finally relents. Rattrap wants back on Cybertron and doesn’t relish guard duty for approximately 4 million years. Cheetor starts laughing, and when Rattrap asks what’s up, the Cat points out that him inside that ball would make an excellent cat toy. Rattrap gets no respect at all.

 

Silverbolt ferries Rattrap to the river. He asks how he’s doing and Rattrap starts muttering about how the next time Optimus asks him for a favor he’s going to jam his blaster somewhere unpleasant when they reach the spot and Silverbolt drops him. Rattrap initially panics but then he starts turning the crank and gets into a rhythm pretty much immediately. Weirdly, the old timey sailing music that plays while he rows seems to be diegetic, or else Silverbolt is reacting very strangely to silence. He asks Rattrap’s status and Rattrap confirms he’s looking around and even compliments Blackarachnia’s design. He finds mostly bits and pieces until reaching the bulk of the Axalon. He heads inside. Unfortunately, a Predacon spy drone sees Silverbolt standing by and heads back to alert the Predacons.

 

Rattrap searches through the wreck of their ship. The Axalon looks extremely spooky with all the holes, water and fish about. Rattrap reaches Sentinel’s core and sees the control console. He extends a grabber arm and mutters that there’s no way it’s this easy. He’s proven right when a Morey eel pops out and makes him jump, and then a moment later he gets a proximity alert blaring. He tries to swim about, but is caught in Rampage’s oversized claw. He says, “How droll, a Rat in a can.”  He starts crushing the pod, his might claws more than powerful enough to shatter the metal. Rattrap tries to radio Silverbolt for help, but can’t reach him. He’s saved by Depth Charge’s timely arrival. He blasts Rampage off the undersea cliff and goes to talk to Rattrap. He tells the mouse to bail as he and X play rough, but Rattrap says he can’t. He promises to scurry away as fast as possible if Depth Charge keeps Rampage busy for a few cycles, to which Depth Charge agrees.

 

Megatron sees Silverbolt start to worry about Rattrap via his drone and is curious as to what is going on. He contacts his other soldiers; Inferno, Waspinator and Quickstrike are playing poker. He tells his subcommander that something has interrupted the Maximals attempts to recover Sentinel and orders his men to their designated positions. They don’t say it, but it sounds like Rampage has been MIA since the last episode and Megatron is eager to get his bruise back under control.

 

Rampage and Depth Charge battle, their missiles causing tremors severe enough that it starts pulling the Axalon from it’s position. Rattrap is thrown around but is able to pull Sentinel from it’s container. He slips free just as the ship drops. Right on top of the wrestling aquatic fighters. Rattrap breaches the water and Silverbolt is excited to see him. Rattrap tells him about Rampage and Depth Charge fighting underwater and begs him to get them out of here. Silverbolt grabs the pod and starts to fly away. He mentions that he pod is heavy, which perfectly sets up Waspinator. The wasp blasts him out of the sky, causing him to drop Rattrap as well. Silverbolt tries to transform, but hits the ground and is knocked out. Quickstrike meanwhile goes to grab Sentinel.

 

Rampage frees himself from the rubble by transforming and thinks he sees Depth Charge buried under some more. He tries to pull Depth Charge free by his tail, but it was a trap to distract him. Depth Charge fires upon the crab, but the hit doesn’t do much damage. They both transform into beast mode, Rampage skuttling away and Depth Charge swimming after him.

 

Topside, Quickstrike gives Sentinel to Waspinator, telling the flier to get it back to Megatron while he mops up the Maximals. Waspinator takes off, he struggles with the weight, but is able to get away. Underwater, Depth Charge caught Rampage and throws him to shore. Rampage’s bulky body collides with Quickstrike before he could finish off Silverbolt. He groans to the crab that he’s been looking for him everywhere. Depth Charge calmly walks out of the water. Silverbolt tries to convince him to go after Waspinator, but Depth Charge refuses, saying that that is their war, he’s got one of his own. Silverbolt tells the big ray to think about what it means to be a Maximal, if he dare call himself that again and the two almost come to blows. Rattrap tells Silverbolt to leave it, Depth Charge got what he wanted, and they’ll go after Waspinator. They take off. Depth Charge prepares an Energon dagger to cut out Rampage’s spark, but the crab again fled during the confusion.

 

Waspinator flies towards the base, the bug happily saying that he’ll be rewarded with a vacation when he brings it Megatron. Rattrap and Silverbolt sneak up behind him, Rattrap asking Silverbolt if he can handle a sudden dive. Silverbolt says he can and Rattrap tells him to get ready. He shoots Waspinator, just as the bug was saying how great, shot-at-free day he’s been having. Rattrap gets Silverbolt to carry him in his claws and they dive for the module, catching it before it can hit the ground. Their victory is short lived as a tree falls in their path, knocked over by Inferno. Rattrap goes flying, but Silverbolt catches the module. Inferno says to hand it over or burn. Silverbolt distracts him long enough for Rattrap to nab the module with his tail and drive away. Inferno chases after him, but Rattrap is extremely quick with his wheels. Depth Charge hears the explosions and assumes Primal’s “bozos” could use back up. He transforms and flies after them. Inferno shoots at Rattrap as he races around, destroying a bridge just before Rattrap reaches it, he falls, but is caught by Silverbolt. Unfortunately, Depth Charge pops right in their way and the three collide. They crash, and Inferno grabs the module and flies away.

 

Back at the base, Rattrap tells Optimus what happened and lays blame squarely on Depth Charge. The fish insists it was an accident. They get into a fight about who did what, Optimus learning about how Depth Charge also saved Rattrap earlier in the mission. He tells Depth Charge that this is what happens when he works by himself, they lost a massive resource to the Predacons. He asks Depth Charge again to join them, so they can hopefully avoid mistakes like this again. Depth Charge says he’ll think about it, and that this crew needs some kind of help. He winks after he says it though, and gives Optimus a high-five to show that he is willing to join.

 

Back at the Darksyde, Megatron has Sentinel incorporated into his ship and powered on. Well, shoot. Megatron laughs maniacally as the shield powers up.

 

Funny how the last episode ended with Cheetor asking if they’d see Depth Charge again, and at the end of this episode he agrees to join up. That’s a thirteen-episode season for ya, gotta fast track those character arcs. I like the general setup of this episode, going to the ruins of the Axalon to hopefully get Sentinel back and get their defenses at least in the realm of functional. The mini-sub was neat, and I liked the implication that Blackarachnia is being integrated into the team in some capacity. Seems like everyone’s willing to trust her craftsmanship at the very least. The underwater segment was cool, like I said, seeing the fish and other aquatic life already taking up residence in the sunken ship was really cool. It definitely gave the whole thing a ghost ship vibe. I think this episode did a good job showing us Depth Charge’s personality. Is he an asshole? Definitely. Is he obsessed with killing Rampage? Certainly. But there are just some Maximal qualities that he is unable to get rid of, like a base line empathy that refuses to let him ignore comrades in arms in danger. Much like with Cheetor last time, he did at least stop to talk to Rattrap before resuming his crab hunt, rather than just chasing Rampage. And while he blew off Silverbolt and Rattrap initially, he did give up on hunting Rampage fairly quickly when he thought that the two were in trouble. I think this ties back to Optimus’ comments about Depth Charge’s personality before Colony Omicron was destroyed. There’s a fundamental goodness to the fishy bot that is deeply buried under a lot of anger and pain, but he can’t just tune it out indefinitely. I like that while he didn’t agree right away, he did accept Optimus’ offer to cooperate fairly quickly. He might like being alone, he might be obsessed with vengeance… but solitude ways on any mind. Final thought… it’s funny to me that this entire time the Darksyde didn’t have any kind of energy shielding. I should have guessed that with how often the Maximals were able to just sneak into it, but like… I just assumed there were some other defenses besides proximity cannons. The more you know. Have a good night, everyone, and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 41

 Time to go fishing.

Last time on Beast Wars, Optimus got another new look. Optimus Primal elects to temporarily take Optimus Prime’s spark and the Matrix of Leadership into his body so they can perform emergency repairs on the damaged Autobot hero. Housing the second Spark and Matrix mutates Optimus’ body into a sort of half-Autobot form that Megatron dubs Optimal Optimus. Realizing Optimus’ new body and the Maximals quick thinking had foiled his plan, Megatron retreats with the intention of destroying the Axalon. On his way out he runs into Blackarachnia, who kicked him out of the Ark on the cusp of his victory because she didn’t want to be erased with the Maximals as she was also a Maximals Protoform. That proved to be one betrayal too many, so Megatron shot her point blank with his cannon. Optimus and Cheetor chase the fleeing Predacons down, but Megatron orders Rampage to pull the ship off the cliff. Optimus rocks to the base and almost stops the king crab, but chooses to protect Prime’s spark when Rampage shoots him, unfortunately deflecting the missile into the Axalon. The ship breaks into pieces and falls into the river below. Silverbolt begs an injured Blackarachnia to stay with him, to join the Maximals. She agrees, but says she’s working with them as a Predacon before passing out. Silverbolt howls in pain before being reminded she’s just in Stasis Lock and can be repaired. With their base gone and knowing that Megatron will try to attack the Ark again, the Maximals salvage what they can from the Axalon and set up a temporary basecamp in the cavern outside the Ark. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We begin with a tour of the Maximals new base. They widened the entrance to the cavern and added a pair of doors to hopefully fortify the location. It looks like they’re doing their best to fill out the cavern outside the Ark rather than be in the ship itself. Probably safer since ya don’t know if you’ll trip in here and, say, kick the comatose Wheeljack’s head and break one of his head lights. As I said yesterday, they salvaged most of their bridge from the wreckage and we join Rhinox trying to connect their computer system to the Teletran-1. It’s slow going, though, as Maximal and Autobot tech isn’t compatible with each other. Like, imagine trying to use a gen-1 iPod now. You’d need like 15 connector cables to get that to work and those are less than 30 years old. Imagine the difference 300 years makes. Optimus asks for a status report, and Rhinox says he’s making no promises. Optimus says they have to get things working soon, or the Maximal Elders have to send help soon or they may have to change their strategy. A clearly annoyed Rhinox says that they both know that IF the Elders were going to send help it’d be there already. Optimus replies he doesn’t know what he knows anymore and that none of them were exactly like they were when the war started, nor is their universe.

 

We jump into deep space. A computer abord a spaceship tells its pilot that this sector of space has been deemed forbidden by the Maximal High Council. The figure says to slag the Council and to do a quantum scan. The computer tells him this is also a no-no but he overrides it. The computer detects the signature of… Protoform X. Oh, someone’s hunting Rampage. A moment later he gets hit by the transwarp surge. He gets turned into a transmetal while being pulled into a breach and disappears.

 

We return to Earth and find Inferno and Rampage spying on the Maximals. Inferno radios Megatron, who gives the go ahead for the two to test the Maximals’ defenses. Inferno tells Rampage that he’ll attack Silverbolt and Blackarachnia, and when the others are drawn out, he should reign heavy fire on them. Rampage shrugs and says that sounds easy, which upsets Inferno. He tells Rampage to follow orders and flies off. Rampage looks to the sky, and I guess senses that someone is coming, someone he remembers. No, this clairvoyance of his is never explained. He transforms into Crab-Tank mode and drives off.

 

The ship comes out of Transwarp space, heavily damaged and with the pilot screaming. It hurtles towards Earth. We shift to a patrolling Cheetor. He sees the ship entering the atmosphere and radios into Optimus. He tells Cheetor to stay on it and that he’ll meet him shortly. Both Optimus and Rhinox hope this is what they’ve been waiting for. They open the blast doors and Optimus takes off in Jet mode. Outside, Inferno orders Rampage to be prepared for fire, not knowing that Rampage left. He orders the attack and charges alone. Blackarachnia and Silverbolt are confused why he’s here by himself but just shrug. Optimus rockets past him, and Blackarachnia drops a boulder onto Inferno. He just kind of groans as he sees it dropping, knowing he can’t dodge, and is crushed.

 

The ship crashes into the ocean. Cheetor recognizes it has a small star hopper before it hits the water. He circles around it when Rampage pulls up. He mutters that this game isn’t for him, and shoots Cheetor down. He shifts to full crab mode, saying that this game is just for the two of them and crawls into the water. The ship activates its emergency scanner and hits on a Beast mode, a manta ray. The pilot is warned that Protoform X is incoming, and he transforms to meet the crab. We learn this fella is named Depth Charge. He launches a drone to scan, which is shaped like a remora which I thought was a nice design touch. The scanner detects Cheetor, and Depth Charge swims over to grab him.

 

Back at the Darksyde, Megatron learns that Inferno was defeated and that Rampage ran off. He orders Waspinator to salvage Inferno, he flies off and whines about how he has to salvage Inferno, but when Waspinator gets blown up, no one salvages HIM. Megatron shakes his head at the departing bug and order Quickstrike to find Rampage, he wants to know how the crab is avoiding scans.

 

Cheetor wakes up and meets Depth Charge. Their meeting is cut short when Depth Charge’s scanner picks up Rampage’s signal. He tells Cheetor that he doesn’t want to leave Protoform X waiting. He transforms into his Transmetal vehicle mode, a jet, flies around and shifts to normal manta ray to dive into the water. Cheetor tries to radio Optimus but his com was damaged when he was hit. And his jets aren’t firing due to his dunking. He moans he hates water as he’s forced to wait for rescue.

 

Depth Charge links up with his drone that tells him Rampage is directly below him. Rampage leaps from his seaweed cover and grabs onto Depth Charge, saying hi to his ‘old friend.’ When Depth Charge calls him X, Rampage lets him know about the name change. He says it’s a bit obvious, but gets the point across. He uses his claws to start crush Depth Charge’s fins, saying that Depth Charge’s pain is lovely, but he wants Depth Charge’s terror too. He says that’ll make this more amusing like their ‘party’ on Omicron. Depth Charge activates his jets and rockets them to the surface. Once in the air, he shifts into jet mode. Rampage transforms into robot mode, complimenting Depth Charge on being ‘trickier’ than before and then shooting him in the head. Depth Charge crashes into a cliff and knocks Rampage off, impaling him on a spike. Depth Charge crashes, though, and passes out.

 

Optimus arrives and Cheetor quickly informs him of what happened. Optimus recognizes the name Depth Charge.

 

Rampage pulls himself from the spike and regenerates from the damage. As he approaches, Depth Charge’s body activates emergency defense systems. Rampage says that he should ignore the pain as it’ll only get worse. He compliments Depth Charge on chasing him for so long, saying that he shouldn’t be so surprised since Depth Charge was the one that caged him last time. Depth Charge activates his jets at the last moment to dodge Rampage’s spike, blasting him back and then shoots Rampage with energy disks from his chest. He roars that this time he won’t bother with a cage, creep. They trade shots, Rampage shifting to Tank mode after Depth Charge blocks his rockets. Depth Charge’s wings shield him from a lot of it, but some hits get in. Depth Charge takes his Tail Spear, roars “This is for Colony Omicron!” and hurls it at Rampage. He spikes one of Rampage’s cannon’s turret and causes it to blow. Depth Charge’s system warns him to activate his repair system immediately, but he ignores the warning to try to finish off Rampage. Quickstrike arrives and blasts him, saying that Rampage is ugly, but he’s a Predacon. Depth Charge is knocked out, but before Quickstrike can do anything more, Optimus flies in and blasts him. He lands and confirms he knows Depth Charge. He tells Cheetor to grab him and get him back to base. Cheetor asks what they should do about Rampage, but the crab slipped away in the confusion. Optimus says that he guesses Rampage has had enough… for now.

 

They get Depth Charge into the CR Chamber and Rattrap asks who the “herring” is. Optimus and Rhinox explain that Depth Charge oversaw security at Colony Omicron. The place that Rampage escaped from when he was first brought online and that he leveled. Depth Charge was the only survivor. He spent four years (stellar cycles) hunting Rampage before capturing him and bringing him back to Cybertron. He demanded that the Maximal High Council find a way to extinguish Rampage’s immortal spark, but instead he was turned over to Optimus and the Axalon for their ‘find an uninhabited rock and bury it there,” plan. Depth Charge was obviously upset with that decision. Rattrap shrugs at DC’s angst and asks the big question, how’d he get here? The repair cycle ends and they let him out. Depth Charge asks who the pit Optimus is but recognizes him once Optimus speaks. Cheetor tries to introduce himself to Depth Charge, but the big bot brushes him aside and tells him to chase a mouse. Optimus calls Depth Charge back and the fishman asks what he’s doing there. Optimus says he was about to ask the same. Depth Charge tells them about being caught in the Transwarp wave while hunting for Rampage. Optimus tells him they’ve got bigger issues to deal with right now. Depth Charge says that’s good, since that means X is all his again. Optimus tries to reason with him, but Depth Charge is single minded on his hunt for Rampage. Depth Charge is stunned when he sees the Ark, and they explain the whole situation with Megatron and trying to defend the Ark. Depth Charge says that he’s too with handling Optimus’ last mistake and demands to know where the exit is. Optimus tries to reason with him, saying that what happened on Omicron wasn’t either of their faults, and to stop seeking revenge. Depth Charge says that he’s seeking justice… which, ya know, is what everyone seeking revenge says. Optimus orders the doors opened for him.

 

Optimus tries one more time to get Depth Charge to help, saying that Rampage is with the Predicons now and that there’s six of them that Depth Charge will have to deal with if he wants the king crab. He says that when Optimus screws up, he screws up big, but thanks him for the tip. He transforms into jet mode and flies off. Cheetor followed Optimus and asks if he thinks Depth Charge will be back. Optimus says that there was a time when he won’t have left, but Rampage stole that from him. We cut back to Depth Charge’s ship, Rampage saying that it was so nice of him to come, and how glad he is that DC will be staying, before he blows the ship to pieces. Guess Depth Charge is stranded too.

 

And there we have our third to last cast addition, Depth Charge the Manta Ray. Don’t get used to his fish mode, he almost exclusively uses his jet alt mode since most missions are out of the water. If you can’t tell, he’s kind of going to fill Dinobot’s old role on the team as the resident asshole, with a bit of loose cannon sprinkled in for fun. He’s rude, angry, and laser focused on hunting down and killing the unkillable Rampage. Their dynamic is pretty good, with Rampage forever needling Depth Charge about all the people that died on Omicron and Depth Charge always taking the bait. He’s like the big dog that picks on the cat to get it to react. Depth Charge design wise is pretty neat, I enjoy his mouthless face and huge wings in robot mode. His typical fighting strategy is to tank hits with those wings before returning fire when the Predacons stop to reload. My only real complaint about the guy is that he shows up so late to the game. I really wish he’d been introduced in season 2 so we could have gotten more of him and Rampage. He adds a lot of character to Rampage too, as Depth Charge is the only character that Rampage seems to delight in tormenting. This reminds me of a bigger weakness of this show overall, to me, and that that’s I wish we knew more of the pre-Beast Wars lore. We get hints about Optimus, Rattrap, Rhinox and Megatron having history, and now we also see at the very least Optimus knew Depth Charge as well. We don’t get much more of their past, though, just lots of jabs from Depth Charge about Optimus screwing up with Protoform X and how he wants payback for Omicron. His line about how the old Depth Charge wouldn’t have left gives me a vision of a character that probably took his job seriously but believed in working with others and community far more than the angry fishman we’ll see going forward. He does loosen up a little bit as the show goes on, but Rampage is his fixation throughout. And that’s all I have to say about that. Have a good night and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 40

 New Season, New Primal.

Last time on Beast Wars, Megatron unveiled his master plan. The Maximals are able to hold off Megatron and Ravage’s assault, Rattrap ended up breaking into the ship and blowing it to the Pit (Cybertronian Hell). Megatron flees for the cavern Blackarachnia and Silverbolt were digging out. That cavern, as it turns out, housed the crashed Autobot ship, the Ark. Megatron arrives and forces Blackarachnia to give him access to the ship using the access codes she stole by threatening Silverbolt. The Maximals arrive, but Blackarachnia activates the ship’s defenses to slow them down. Megatron, meanwhile, enters the ship and finds the Transformers in stasis inside. He finds Optimus slumped in the captain’s chair, charges up his cannon and unleashes a full power blast directly to his head. This causes a massive time storm; a swirling vortex of energy that starts to erase time and space as the Maximals know it. Megatron loudly announces to the horrified Maximals that evil triumphs and now they no longer exist. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

The episode opens with the massive time storm that is erasing the universe as everyone knows it after Megatron (BW) murdered the Stasis Locked Optimus Prime. He gloats about his victory, until Blackarachnia stands up and reminds him that she was a Maximal Protoform. So, she’s at risk of being erased too. To prove how not cool she is with that, she reactivates Teletran-1 and boots him from the ship. Silverbolt crawls over and swears to protect her from the storm, whatever it is. Blackarachnia tells him to shut up and follow her, as she needs to ‘undo’ something. She and Silverbolt work together to activate the Ark’s emergency life support system. They get Optimus Prime plugged into it via his emblem, which stabilizes him and the time storm. For the moment. Unfortunately, Prime is still fading, and thus time is still in flux. We see both fade out of existence for a moment before fading back in to prove the point. Optimus and the others fly in and he utters his catchphrase, “That’s just Prime,” upon seeing the legendary leader with his mangled face. Rattrap adding “What’s left of ‘em, anyway,” which causes Rhinox to smack him. Cheetor says they have to save Optimus Prime or they are goners. Rhinox does some quick calculations and says there’s not enough time. Prime is already fading and with the trauma of the repairs they’ll lose him for sure. Optimus says they’ll just have to move his Spark. He opens his own chest compartment to let us know what he’s doing. Everyone tries to object to the idea. Rattrap says you can’t have two sparks in one body, and Rhinox points out that Prime’s spark houses the Matrix as well, so it’ll be too powerful for him. Optimus reminds them all that they don’t have much choice and flies to meet his ancestor. He takes Optimus Prime’s spark, erroneously depicted as the Matrix container, and places it within himself. The second the two sparks make contact, Optimus is thrown back amongst the cargo, dropping the Matrix container which shatters. Rhinox orders Blackarachnia to get the repair equipment online. They get Optimus Prime’s head into the repair system.

 

Outside, Megatron recovers and orders Inferno and Waspinator to converge on his position. Waspinator has reassembled himself and heads over, and a very badly damaged Inferno drags himself from the cavern he seemingly died in last season and announce, “I’m coming, my queen!”

 

The Maximals get the repairs going but meanwhile hear Optimus groaning in pain as he tries to hold the two sparks. Rhinox yells at Blackarachnia to hurry. She reminds them that she’s working with 4-million-year-old technology, and that takes time. Rattrap tries to threaten her to work faster, but Silverbolt won’t have that. Rhinox tells them to both knock it off as they have bigger problems. Imagine having to listen to petty squabbles while you’re trying to perform emergency surgery on Winston Churchill or FDR. I’d shout at them too. We see Optimus start to mutate, his body morphing and contorting as he continues to scream in pain, Cheetor asking what is happening.

 

We cut back to the Axalon where we see Tarantulas’ spider drones putting his body back together. One of them knocks Ravage’s broken head off the cliff and into the river below. Megatron calls an alert to his troops, ordering them to pull themselves together and meet at his location. We see Quickstrike’s snake arm find the rest of his body, and a badly burnt Rampage flake off the canyon wall as well.

 

Rhinox is able to get the regeneration systems set to maximum. Cheetor is the first to notice the… changes in Optimus Primal. His body has been completely morphed. He now towers over the rest of his troops, still being smaller than an Autobot but being twice as tall as Rhinox. His body has shifted to an entirely mechanical look, with extra fins and wings as well. He says, “In a word… Prime.” His chest has been converted to have a sort of cockpit design where we can see Optimus Prime’s spark floating inside it. Megatron and Inferno arrive and open fire on them, but Optimus’ new body comes with shields that easily block the attack. In the confusion, Blackarachnia transforms and scuttles away in spider mode. Optimus stomps over to Megatron and tells him they’re taking it outside. Megatron is impressed by Optimus’ new look, dubbing him Optimal Optimus. Megatron calls Optimus’ bluff, saying that he wouldn’t risk firing in the Ark, it could alter history. Optimus counters that he has four million years to clean Megatron off the walls, he might risk it. The two, weirdly, get into a quote fight before Rattrap tells Optimus to just shoot Megatron already. Rattrap prepares to do it himself, Optimus slaps him aside, and in the confusion Megatron orders Waspinator to launch the distraction attack. Waspinator’s shots cause a minor quake that throws the Maximals around and allows the Predacons to escape. Megatron tells Optimus that this place remains a target and that he will be back. Optimus realizes that the Axalon is unguarded and they can’t let Megatron escape to attack it.

 

Megatron and company fly out of the cavern and shoot at it, trying to reseal the hole. Optimus protects his troops with his shields and tells them they need to “transform and roll out.” Outside the cavern, Megatron finds Blackarachnia with her foot stuck. She isn’t apologizing for stopping him, asking if he thought she’d really go along with dying for his ambition. Optimus bursts out of the cavern in his new truck mode. Megatron says that there will be no more betrayals and shoots Blackarachnia. Cheetor notes that they’re headed for the base. Optimus tells Cheetor to follow him and transforms into jet mode, rocketing off. Cheetor notes that Optimus sure figures out a new body quickly, and Rattrap points out that he should as he changes them often enough. After the ‘ba-dum-bum-ching,’ he tells Cheetor to get moving.

 

Rhinox starts up the next phase of the repairs, saying he just needs a few more cycles. And once the repairs are complete, all they’ll need is for Optimus to bring Prime’s spark back in one piece. Rattrap radios in to tell him that Silverbolt might be in the middle of a… situation. Silverbolt cradles a badly damaged Blackarachnia, using his favorite pet-name for her going forward “sweet black poison of my heart” and begs her to stay with him. She says he’s got a way with words and that he almost makes her wish she was a better person. He says that she is, as she chose to not let evil triumph. When she points out that she was saving her own hide, he tells her that she still saved him, which still counts for something. He swears his undying love for her and begs her to join the Maximals. She admits that, for him, she would join his side, but as a Predacon. She passes out and Silverbolt lets out a howl of pain. Rhinox and Rattrap both mock him for the schmatlzy overreaction, as she’s just in Stasis Lock. They agree to take her in for repairs. Rhinox prays for Optimus to hurry back with Prime’s spark or none of this matters.

 

Optimus and Cheetor catch up with the Predacons. Cheetor takes out Inferno and Waspinator, and Optimus tackles Megatron. He rips Megatron’s tail from his beast mode, forcing him to transform and slaps him to the ground with it. Optimus says that it’s over, but Megatron reveals his evil backup plan. He has Rampage and Tarantulas’s drones drag the Axalon with ropes to knock it from the cliff. Optimus flies in, using his wings to slice the ropes they were using to drag it. Rampage transforms and marvels at how huge Optimus is now before firing a rocket at him. Optimus, fearing for Prime’s spark in his chest, blocks it with his arm… unfortunately deflecting the rocket at the Axalon. The ship breaks in two and plumets into the river below. Ramage laughs evil as he leaps in after it. Cheetor asks what they do now, and Optimus says that for now they’ll regroup and return their precious cargo to its vessel. They fly off as Tarantulas watches them go, laughing evilly.

 

Optimus returns Prime’s Spark. Optimus Prime briefly powers on and the two Optimus’ look into each other’s eyes before he goes back into Stasis. Rattrap makes a sarcastic comment about protecting Optimus Prime and making sure he stays in stasis lock for a few million years. Optimus agrees that’s their situation. He orders his Maximals… and one Predacon, to get as much salvage from the Axalon as they can. They need to fortify the location to keep Megatron and the Predacons out. They end up recovering the Axalon’s bridge from the river and set it up as their command post within the Ark’s cavern. Optimus announces that they’re moving in as they power it up.

 

First off, I love the design of Optimal Optimus. It’s a great combination of his original simian look with a bigger, blockier, more classic Autobot look. His original body was about average for his era of Transformer, his Transmetal body was big, and now he’s basically Goliath. Rampage and Rhinox were the biggest characters on each side up to this point and they’re basically up to his waist. I’ve wondered for ages if Optimus’ new body was simply a side effect of trying to house the Matrix or if the Matri acknowledged him in some way and thus reformatted him into something Prime adjacent. Not quite making him a Prime like with Hot Rod but making him more than he was. Just something I ponder occasionally. This episode was mostly marveling at Optimus’ new look and then having one of the biggest status quo changes of destroying the Axalon. It’s a good balance. And I like that Blackarachnia ends up defecting to the Maximals now that she knows Megatron’s big plan would involve her being erased. Weirdly, Quickstrike and Rampage never voice their own concerns about being erased as both were Maximal Protoforms as well. Inferno is too but I see him going along with whatever Megatron tells him. It’s just a minor inconsistency that bugs me. So, ya, new Optimus, new allegiances, and a new location, that’s a solid season premier. We’ll see where they go from here next time. Have a good night. Stay safe. 

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Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 39

Megatron wasn't kidding when he called this a final gamble.

Last time on Beast Wars, things took a turn for the worst. Optimus realized that Silverbolt was fraternizing with Blackarachnia and ordered him to stop seeing her, ordered him confined to quarters, and told him that Cheetor would be the one to bring Blackarachnia in. Silverbolt objected to this idea, knocking out Cheetor and fleeing the ship to speak with Blackarachnia. He finds her, she shoots him in the leg for interfering with her project, but they make up. He spends the rest of the episode helping her dig out a hole that Megatron dug and then filled in. Meanwhile, Megatron tricked Cheetor and Optimus into an ambush by Inferno with the lure of Energon. While Optimus is out, he speaks with Ravage and reveals to the former Decepticon that he was working under the orders of the Original Megatron. G1 Megatron decided to make a contingency plan if the Great War went south on him, engraving on the Golden Disk his plan to use a Transwarp drive ship (which was being developed) to go back in time. Ravage immediately releases Megatron and aids him on an assault on the Axalon. Oh, and it’s revealed that Tarantulas was a Lieutenant of the Predacon’s Secret Police this whole time. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

The episode begins with Megatron flying over Ravage’s ship as the special agent fires on Optimus and Cheetor. They land, transform and fire on Ravage’s, but are sucker punched by Quickstrike riding Rampage in Tank mode. They fall back as Ravage keeps firing on Rhinox and Rattrap. In the ship, they’re doing their best to keep the shields going, but Ravage’s weapons are state-of-the-art and not partially broken due to a crash. Rattrap tells Rhinox to drop the shields for just a moment after grabbing some demolition charges. He transforms into rat-racer mode (he calls it his Evel Knievel mode) and does a racing jump out of the Axalon and onto Ravage’s ship. He uses a blowtorch he assembled to start cutting a hole in the side. While that’s going on, Rhinox activates the external auto guns to help the others. He’s able to shoot Quickstrike off Rampage, who runs him over him. Cheetor and Optimus celebrate, but are shot by Megatron. Rattrap rips the final chunk of metal off Ravage’s ship and starts to dig in. Rampage fires a rocket at the Axalon and finally disables the shields. But Rhinox had expected that and came out with his gatling guns whirring. Ravage and Tarantulas see that the Axalon’s shields are down and prepare to launch a full assault on the base. Rattrap bursts in before Tarantulas can fire, though, and throws some sticky bombs on the spider’s hands. The bombs go off, Tarantulas ends up surviving but Ravage is consumed in the blast (for some reason) the special agents final words being “Decepticons Forever.” The ship crashes, Rattrap riding on their big missile like that dude from the Dr. Strangelove scene. The ship nearly crushes Rampage before coming to a halt… but then the rocket goes off and blows him up. Rattrap gets launched into the air, but Rhino catches him. Rattrap calls him his ‘Hero,’ before the big lug drops him. Cheetor wonders if it’s over now, but Optimus says no. He knows something turned Ravage against them, and Megatron isn’t headed back to the Darksyde. He and Cheetor transform into flight mode to follow him, carrying Rhinox and Rattrap respectively. Optimus says they must hurry, because if Megatron has found what Optimus thinks, the battle is just started.

 

We find Blackarachnia and Silverbolt still digging out the tunnel. The big wolf stops and stares at the sky for a minute. Blackarachnia asks what he’s staring at, and he tells her he’s looking at Venus, saying that the planet reminds him of her. She says “Hot, poisons and deadly” and that that’s sweet of him. Silverbolt is befuddle by her response… but, dude, you love a spider, obviously those are compliments to her.

 

The others are in hot pursuit of Megatron, Optimus telling his squad they need to stay together. He knows they’ll need all their firepower to stop Megatron. Cheetor asks what is this thing that Megs found that has him so scared and Optimus cryptically tells him that it’s the beginning of everything and possibly the end.

 

Silverbolt and Blackarachnia break into the cave.  They only have to walk in a short way to discover… the Ark. Silverbolt grabs Blackarachnia and flies her inside. If that name doesn’t ring any bells, Blackarachnia gives us a history lesson. It’s the escape ship that the Autobots used to flee Cybertron at the start of G1 Transformers. Megatron and the Decepticons followed and both armies ended up trapped in the ship when it crash-landed on prehistoric earth. They’re both knocked about by geological activity, and Blackarachnia says that the volcano they’re in will erupt in 1984 and lead to the Great War beginning anew. Silverbolt realizes that this is why Optimus was so worried, the power in the Ark is immense. Blackarachnia begins to gloat, saying that power is all hers… but then Megatron arrives and shoots. He knocks Silverbolt into the force field around the Ark, electrocuting him and knocking him out. He then turns and blows the cavern entrance shut again. Optimus and the others had just arrived, and when Rattrap asks what they’re supposed to do now, Optimus resignedly says, “dig.”

 

Megatron finds out that Teletran-1, the Autobots computer system, is active and keeping him out. Blackarachnia teases her boss asking if he has the codes to unlock it from the Golden Disk. This turns out to be the wrong jibe, as it makes Megatron realize that she has the codes. Remember, she stole them a while back before destroying Megatron’s backup. She refuses to give them to Megatron, since he can’t threaten to shoot her as he’ll still be without the codes. Then Megatron threatens Silverbolt.

 

The Maximals are busily digging a new entrance but it’s slow going even with four of them. Inside, Megatron repeats his threat. Blackarachnia tries to bluff, saying that Silverbolt means nothing to her. But when he prepares to shoot, she says, “It’d be a waste of ammo.” The Maximals start to get inside, and Blackarachnia says he should run. Megatron says that he thinks he’ll take care of Silverbolt first. Blackarachnia tells him to stop and that she’ll get him inside. But only because they need to get to cover. She opens the lock as the Maximals burst in, Optimus shouting “By Primus, NO!” Megatron has Blackarachnia activate the autoguns and goes to prepare a more… permanent solution.

 

The Maximals hurry to get through the Ark’s defenses, but the ship is incredibly fortified. When Rattrap says that the ship wasn’t built but pored, Optimus says “Diecast Construction. It’s a lost art.” He doesn’t wink at the audience, but it feels like he does.

 

Megatron enters the main hold of the Ark. He gives an evil speech as he flies through the hold, passing Soundwave and Starscream’s inert bodies as he does. He admits that he was hesitant to follow G1 Megatron’s instructions up to this point but realizes now that this is the only way. He flies up to Optimus Prime and says that this is a day of reckoning.

 

Outside the Maximals fire on the Fusion cannon that is holding them up, Rattrap making the shot that destroys it. The shockwave knocks Blackarachnia back and disables the shields, Optimus yells at his team to move.

 

Megatron gloats over Optimus Prime for just a moment more, charges his lance to maximum and prepares to fire. The Maximals can’t get inside because the door lock is jammed. Running out of time, and furious, Rhinox just shoots the lock open and rips the door wide open. Moments before Megatron takes the shot, shooting Optimus Primal point blank in the face. The death of the Autobot’s leader and hero of the Great War causes a huge space time anomaly to spread out from the Ark. A Space/Time storm engulfing the solar system. Megatron arrives to gloat, telling Optimus and the Maximals to ‘say goodbye to the universe,’ and pronounces with his space/time alterations, the Maximals no longer exits! The finale ends with a “To be Continued?”

 

Imagine having a season finale where, if your show wasn’t renewed, it ends with evil triumphing and your heroes dying in unimaginable terror. Twice. It’s a ballsy move, I give them that. I remember my jaw dropping back in 98 when I saw this episode for the first time and thought in that way of children that the bad guys won once and for all. It shook me. Megatron’s evil speech was a nice touch, as it does neatly explain why Megatron hasn’t executed this plan despite the episode making it clear that he found the Ark some time ago. Obviously, loading up on raw Energon and bringing it back to the future to power up a new Predacon war machine is a significantly less risky tactic than rewriting history. But, pushed into a corner by the Maximals and his superiors interfering, Megatron goes for the big gamble. Imagine how embarrassed he’d have felt if nothing happened… because unbeknownst to them Hot Rod was on the Ark, and thus was there to inherit the Matrix when everyone powered back up and became Rodimus Prime and thus was able to lead the Autobots to victory anyway. I liked how they decided to handle Blackarachnia’s feelings for Silverbolt. The she-spider’s reluctance to admit that she loves the bird-dog even as Megatron is pointing a blaster at his face, but still trying to convince her boss to back off is classic Rachnia. And I liked the cameos from Starscream and Soundwave, even though the way the computer animation worked back in the day made it seem like the Ark’s hold was basically empty besides those two and Optimus instead of being filled to bursting with warring Cybertronians. So, Optimus Prime is dead, Megatron has declared everlasting victory, and time is rewriting itself. Are you glad you won’t have to wait months to see how this plot resolves? See you tomorrow. Stay safe. 

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Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 38

 The plot thickens. 

Last time on Beast Wars, the Transwarp wave finally reached Cybertron. Well… Cybertronians. The wave was detected by the Tripredacus Council, the Predacon ruling body. Wanting to handle the situation quickly and covertly, they sent a special agent to ancient Earth to attempt to handle the Megatron situation. On ancient Earth, Silverbolt is revealed to have been smuggling bits of tech to Blackarachnia, whom he’s having an affair with. Megatron unleashes an all-out assault on the Maximal base but is driven off by the arrival of the agent. The agent introduces himself to the Maximals and is revealed to be an upgraded version of the G1 Cassette soldier Ravage. He tells the Maximals about how the Council wants this handled covertly and leads them on an assault on the Darksyde. Megatron scrambles his troops, giving special orders to Inferno and Waspinator, and tempts Blackarachnia into following the wasp. During the attack, Silverbolt gets a shot on Blackarachnia and is ordered to take it by Optimus, but he can’t do it. She escapes. Megatron is captured, though, and officially arrested by Ravage. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with the Maximals and Ravage back at the Axalon. Optimus takes a few moments to bask in the victory that he and his team have finally gotten over Megatron before having to focus on… less pleasant matters. Silverbolt comes in and Optimus starts chewing him out. He’s figured out that Silverbolt and Blackarachnia have been having a secret relationship and orders him to end it. Silverbolt is visibly ashamed by the reprimand, even more so when Optimus tells him that if Silverbolt can tell Optimus that he’s wrong, that Optimus will apologize and drop the whole thing. He obviously can’t. Silverbolt insists he can bring her around, but Optimus vocally disagrees. Can’t say I blame him, Optimus has seen Blackarachnia behave far worse than Silverbolt has. She tried to drop a flying island on them once. He tells the wolf-bird that Blackarachnia might be made of Maximal parts but she’s a Predacon to the core. Silverbolt points out that he was a Predacon once, but Optimus insists that it’s different. He tells Silverbolt that he is the noblest individual he’s ever met, but that strength is also a weakness. He’s sure that Blackarachnia is manipulating him. Silverbolt tries to defend her and himself, but Optimus won’t hear it. He says that Silverbolt’s actions have put them all in jeopardy and if they didn’t have Megatron in custody he’d be much more severe on Silverbolt. He orders Silverbolt to be confined to his quarters and tells him that Cheetor will retrieve Blackarachnia. Silverbolt asks that he be the one to do it, thinking that Blackarachnia won’t attack him but will have no restraint against Cheetor. Optimus just repeats his sentence.

 

We shift to Ravage’s ship where he has Megatron confined to a cell. Megatron is disgusted by the fact that the Tripredacus Council is still kissing the Maximal Elder’s collective asses. Ravage says that the Predacons will have their day, and that Megs is too impulsive. He says that this Megatron may bear the original’s name, but he doesn’t have an army like the Decepticons. Megatron tries to barter for his release, saying that he’ll hand over his private Energon stockpile to Ravage to refuel his ship and allow him to return home. Ravage says that he’ll just take the stockpile anyway, revealing that he had help disabling the Darksyde. He introduces Megatron to the covert agent among his ranks, Lt Tarantulas of the Predacons Secret Police. Tarantulas informs Ravage that he’s found Megatron’s stockpile and will send its coordinates to the Maximals right away.

 

Back on the Axalon, Cheetor gets his orders to find and capture Blackarachnia. The young scout is stoked to be helping capture the Predacon, but takes a moment to stop by Silverbolt’s room. He tries to assure his friend that he will bring in Blackarachnia without hurting her as best he can and that he’s sorry for this messed up situation. Silverbolt says that he’s also sorry, and when Cheetor asks “for what?” Silverbolt punches him out through his door. He apologizes again when that wasn’t enough to knock Cheetor out and hits him again. Unfortunately for Silverbolt, Rattrap happened to be walking by when he did that, and he hits the alarm. Silverbolt breaks a hole in the wall and flies away. Optimus joins Rattrap, and the rodent sighs saying, “I used to be young like that.” Optimus gives him a look and Rattrap amends his statement to be that they’ve got trouble.

 

Cutting a bit, we join Cheetor and Optimus as they fly to retrieve the Energon store. Optimus asks how Cheetor’s head is doing, Cheetor says that he’s okay but embarrassed that he let Silverbolt get the drop on him. Optimus insists that Silverbolt believed he was acting in Cheetor’s best interest. Cheetor says that he’s looking forward to returning the favor. They land and scout out the cave the Energon is stockpiled in. They find some Energon, but it’s in raw crystal form. Before they can react to this information, they’re attacked by Inferno, who screams that this is by Royal command.

 

We jump over to Waspinator flying towards a mountain range. Blackarachnia follows in her hovercraft a safe distance back. Silverbolt finds her and boards her ship. Silverbolt tries again to get her to agree to come back with him. She refuses and says that if he doesn’t leave, she’ll shoot him. Silverbolt says she won’t… so she does. Props to Scott McNeil, his “You shot me!” made it sound like he was actually in pain. Blackarachnia tells him “duh,” but Silverbolt moves the goal post by saying, “Well, you made sure it was a nonfatal shot, your inner Maximal must have stopped you.” Blackarachnia screams in frustration. Silverbolt says that he appreciates how she’s feeling, saying that she must not know whether to kiss him kill him. She points out she’s a literal Black Widow, so she can do both. They kiss… which unfortunately distracts them from the fact that Waspinator stopped flying. He reached the coordinates he was told to get to and tried to figure out what he was supposed to do next. They crash into him, shattering Waspinator and their craft into pieces. Silverbolt saves Blackarachnia, who is frustrated that he’d save her, again, after she shot him. He says that it’s his duty, as a Maximal and noble character. She mocks him but kisses him again, so she’s clearly into that noble character.

 

Back with Optimus and Cheetor, Inferno rains fire down on them. Inferno lasts only a few minutes before exposure to all the raw Energon behind him overloads his circuits. He crashes to the ground and starts having a Transformer stroke. Inferno screams, “For the Royalty” and ignites the Energon deposit. Cheetor and Optimus barely escape the explosion, and Inferno is caught up in it. The imagery makes it seem like he straight up dies in the explosion, but I assure you, he’s fine. As they fly out, Optimus radios Ravage.

 

Ravage goes to interrogate a very smug Megatron. He compliments Megatron on being able to work his own agenda even while imprisoned. Megatron counters by revealing that he knows Ravage’s orders are to leave no witnesses, so why should he cooperate. Ravage admits that that is true and asks Megatron for one good reason why Ravage should delay his execution. Megatron asks if Ravage ever asked why Megatron stole the Golden Disk. Ravage thinks it was to get Energon. Megatron says that that was a bonus, it got him a crew that was willing to work with him, but it wasn’t his real goal. He reveals that just as the Great War was heating up anew on Earth, the humans launched the Golden Disk on the Voyager Space probe. The original Megatron had every intention of winning the war, but G1 Megatron also believed in hedging his bets like the BW version. Megs says that Megatron got his hands on the Golden Disk and encoded a secret message onto it. One that he decoded. Ravage is skeptical, but then Megs reveals that he has a fragment of the Golden Disk. He sticks it into his projector attachment on his tail cannon and plays it. Ravage is shocked to see his old Commander recorded on it. The message is short, just revealing that he knew that Transwarp technology was being developed and that he wants any Decepticons that find this message to use it to alter the war, if it turned out he lost. Ravage immediately releases Megatron. While the logo on his shoulder is a Predacon, he’s forever a Decepticon.

 

Back at the mountain, we see Waspinator has somehow gotten his head onto a hand and he’s trying to drag himself back to an CR pit to rebuild himself. He’s whining the whole time as Silverbolt and Blackarachnia dig. Silverbolt is confused, as it looks like someone dug a hole and then filled it in. Blackarachnia reveals that yes, Megatron did. She tells him to get lost, but Silverbolt refuses to leave without her. When she threatens to shoot him again, he tries to talk to her inner goodness, which makes her madder and says she’s shooting something vital this time. He backs off but insists he’s not going without her. She reluctantly accepts his help and tells him to get digging. He blows a large boulder out of the way at her request.

 

We return to the Axalon as Optimus and Cheetor fly in. Optimus radios into Rattrap and asks what’s up. Rattrap reveals that Ravage has switched teams, right as Ravage flies his ship up behind the two of them, Megatron at its head. Inside, Ravage announces “Decepticons, Forever!” before transforming into a cassette tape and plugging into his ship’s system. Imagine sticking with that alt form 300 years after the 1980s. Megatron laughs triumphantly as Ravage opens fire.

 

Well, that victory didn’t last long at all. One thing I respect about BW era Megatron is that when he orchestrates a plan it tends to go through flawlessly. Like with his subtle manipulations that lead to Optimus’s apparent death when he took out the alien Planet Buster. He damn near has clairvoyance… or he’s read the script. I remember my jaw dropping during BW Megatron revealing where he’d gotten this plan from and playing a bit of G1 Megatron’s message for Ravage. Props to Gary Chalk, Optimus Primal’s VA, for his G1 Megatron impression for the recording. Now I can tell that’s not voice acting Legend Frank Welker, but when I was a kid, I couldn’t tell the difference. Whatever this plan is (yes I do know it), it must be a hell of a Hail Mary. It was weird seeing Silverbolt get reprimanded by Optimus. I mean, rightly so, having one of your soldiers as well as your friend betraying your trust by carrying on a secret relationship with one of the most dangerous enemy combatants should leave a bad taste in your mouth. I also can’t fault Optimus for believing Blackarachnia is manipulating him. He’s known that spider since she’s come online, and tricks, seduction and manipulation are her favorite tactics. That is one of the strengths of this series as opposed to G1, the small cast means that every character has interpersonal relationships with every other. He’s not a commander commenting on an enemy combatant that he doesn’t know, Optimus has had a lot of experience fighting Blackarachnia and he knows how dangerous she is. And, I respect Silverbolt sticking to his belief that she’s a better person than she often acts. He cares about her a lot and seems to think he knows her better than anyone else. Is that faith tested when she shoots him? Yes. But I think it’s clear that she has more to her than meets the eye. Ba-zing. Next time, we’ll conclude season 2 with a plan so insane it took two Megatrons to concoct. See you later, stay safe. 

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Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 37

Rescue is on the horizon. 

Last time on Beast Wars, we saw the short life of Transmutate. The unfortunate Transformer’s stasis pod was badly damaged upon landing on Earth and was buried under a ton of rock until it was unearthed by earthquakes. Rampage senses a kindred spirit in the malformed transformer and does his best to defend them even after Megatron and Inferno deem them to be defective and order him to destroy them. Silverbolt also senses a connection to the not-quite-right Transformer and tries to befriend them. The Maximals bring Transmutate back to base and scan them. The results are the Transmutate is incapable of transforming, has a mind only slightly more advanced than a drone, and immense power that they can barely control. Optimus suggests that it might be best for everyone to put Transmutate into Stasis Lock. Rampage comes near the base and calls out to Transmutate, who goes to meet them. Silverbolt follows and the two face off for the fate of the unfortunate Transformer. Distraught at seeing their friends fight, Transmutate gets in the way of their shots, using their power to absorb most of the destruction of the explosives. Transmutate is destroyed. Rampage recovers Transmutate’s head, the tragic Transformers last words being to tell their “Friend, good,” and “Friend, dark,” that they were hurt and powers down. Rampage screams in agony at losing Transmutate. Optimus and Cheetor arrive and suggest taking care of Rampage, but Silverbolt says to leave him be, as for the moment, they’re brothers in grief. Enough recapping. Lets get to it, shall we?

 

We open on the Transwarp wave that was created when Optimus destroyed the planet busting alien weapon at the start of the season. On the Axalon, Rhinox is doing some scans and calculations. He reminds us that as it’s a Transwarp anomaly, the wave is traveling not only through space but time as well at an accelerated rate. According to his calculations, the wave should reach Cybertron at any moment. He tells his friends that they’ll be going home soon. The Maximals celebrate at the news, Rhinox even pulling out a noise maker to that he blows as everyone else dances around. The only one that isn’t ecstatic is Silverbolt, who admits that it’s due to him not really knowing Cybertron. Keep in mind, Protoforms are the infant or larval forms of Cybertronians, so all the pod Transformers were effectively ‘born’ on Earth. Some of the comics dispute that with retcons for Tigertron and Airazor I believe, but I’m not touching that right now. Rattrap suggests that once they get back that he and Silverbolt… there’s really no two ways about it, he suggests they hit up a Transformer strip club. Silverbolt is… less than enthused by the idea. Cheetor suggests that he and Rattrap can hit up Six Lasers over Cybertron and ride the coasters there, which Rattrap immediately vetoes. I honestly think Silverbolt would be down for that.

 

Megatron also detects the wave and realizes that his plans are now on a very short timetable. He calls up Inferno and asks about the status of the early humans. Inferno informs him that their failed first attack caused several tribes of our early ancestors to scatter across the continent, so tracking them down is basically impossible with the forces they have on hand. Megatron says that he only has one other high-risk option remaining. He pulls up a monitor that is following Blackarachnia. Inferno asks what that option is, and Megatron tells him that he’s going to make a gamble and hope that the dice land in his favor.

 

Silverbolt takes a flight across the landscape and lands at a mountain side lake. He transforms and looks at mournfully at his reflection for a moment. Blackarachnia pops up and holds her blaster to his head, and says that he’s carrying a graviton generator that he will handover to her, now. Silverbolt sighs, stands up and brushes her weapon aside and asks if that was really necessary. She admits that she thought that pretending to hold him up might make this easier on him. Silverbolt says nothing about this is easy. He opens his chest compartment and gives her the generator. She gleefully takes it, but he grabs her hand and asks her to stop whatever she’s doing for the Predacons. He tells her that they’ll be going to Cybertron soon, and when they do, she can be reprogrammed back into the Maximal she was supposed to be. Blackarachnia scoffs at that, saying she likes being a bad girl. She runs her claw against his chest and says that she thinks underneath his squeaky-clean exterior he likes it to. The two drop the weapon and generator as they share an off-screen kiss. The white knight and the witch, tale as old as time.

 

The wave approaches Cybertron and activates a deep space satellite. The wave disrupts the outpost, throwing generic looking transformers about. The disruption causes the Tripredacus Council to convene. The Council is one of the ruling bodies of the fractured Predacon forces on Cybertron. The Councilors confirm that the transwarp signature matches the stolen Darksyde. The councilors had hope they’d seen the last of him when the Darksyde and Axalon disappeared a mega cycle ago. They’ve never had a standardized Cybertronian timescales, a mega cycle could be anything from an hour to a month to a year. Anyway, The councilors let us know that after Megatron’s disappearance they were able to smooth things over with the Maximals but lost some diplomatic repercussions. We never hear what those repercussions were, but it was enough to make all three members angry. We learn that since the Great War and the Decepticons loss, the Predacons have worked covertly to placate the ruling Maximals while they prepare for their inevitable coup and a restart to the Great War. They complement Megatron’s tactical brilliance but dub him a renegade, too dangerous to let running around loose. The Councilors cause one of their satellites to ‘accidentally’ explode to break up the Transwarp wave and keep the Maximals from detecting it. They also sent out one of their operatives to handle the situation. The operative uses an experimental transwarp ship to trace the signal back. The operative is ordered to terminate Megatron with extreme prejudice should he be found operational.

 

Silverbolt returns to base and Optimus tells him Sentinel is on high alert. Silverbolt asks if there is trouble, and Optimus says that there isn’t any at the moment, but he and Megatron both know that Megs is running out of time and that if he wants to pull something he’ll have to do it quickly. Cheetor asks if that means hostages and Optimus says that he’s praying that’s all Megs will try. Outside the base, we see Inferno and Waspinator setting up a computer terminal. Silverbolt gets to his workstation and starts typing, but Rattrap comes over and asks where he’d been. Silverbolt nervously says that he was on scout patrol. Rattrap chuckles at that and rather suggestively asked if he and the ‘enemy’ found any ‘new positions.’ Silverbolt punches Rattrap, knocking him to the ground and starts pressing down on his head before Optimus breaks them up. Silverbolt says that he overreacted, Optimus says that he knows Rattrap has that effect on people but now is not the time. They get back to work, Rattrap muttering that he thinks he touched a nerve.

 

Outside, the Predacons continue to set up a machine of some kind, just barely dodging a scan. They prepare to activate it, Optimus saying that an attack is coming. It might be subtle, but it will be coming. Before Inferno can do anything, Rampage comes trundling forward in tank mode, crushing the computer and firing on the ship. His attack drops the shields to forty percent and the Maximals activate their autoguns. Inferno, Waspinator and Rampage make short work of the guns, destroying them in a hail of plasma fire. Rattrap asks what they should do now, and Silverbolt says that, “Given our proximity, I breathe through my mouth.” I applaud him trying to make a joke to relieve the tension.

 

In space, the operative ship comes out of Transwarp space and heads for Earth.

 

Megatron joins his soldiers and they drop the shields to less than 20%. Their weapons are also failing. Optimus asks if there is any sign from Cybertron. Rattrap says there’s nothing. Optimus tries to rally his troops, but gets knocked aside by the assault. The ship starts firing on the Predacons. They’re all confused as the ship is cloaked. Megatron orders his men back, muttering that it’s now time to increase his wager.

 

Rattrap asks what just happened. Optimus says they ‘had help.’ They see the ship land as it decloaks, Optimus orders the shields lowered. Rattrap asks if that new brain of his is under warranty, as that’s clearly a Predacon ship. Optimus says that if they wanted to attack us they would, and to lower the shields. They do and wait several minutes. They don’t get any sort of greeting, but a hatch opens in the roof. Silverbolt’s nose detects something, just as they all spy laser sights on them. Cheetor asks what that could be. Optimus says “not what, who.” He reveals that after the Great War, a few Decepticons were granted amnesty. Nearly all had retired after that, but one was reprogrammed and rebuilt in a new Predacon body. The operative shoots all their weapons from their hands, finally revealing himself when everyone is disarmed. He is Covert Agent Ravage, sporting a Tigertron like head.

 

Ravage speaks, which is odd when you remember all he could do was snarl in the G1 era, and apologizes for shooting their weapons. He claims that he just wanted to avoid any… accidents. Rattrap says that the only thing worse than a Stinking Predacon is a stinking Decepticon. Optimus tells him to shut up and apologizes to Ravage, saying they’ve been fighting Megatron for a while. Ravage apologizes on behalf of the Predacon alliance and admits he’s here to handle the situation. Rhinox asks where the Maximal delegation is. Ravage tells a bit of a fib, saying that the signal was weak and only the Predacons detected it. He insist that they want to handle this situation quickly and quietly. He notes that many of them look… different than what he’d been briefed on, and Optimus says they’ve been through some stuff.

 

Back at the Darksyde, Blackarachnia takes the gravitation generator and plugs it into an escape pod. It powers up and starts to float. She hears Megatron bellow for her and goes to see him, after hiding her new pod. Megatron orders Rampage to a position before Blackarachnia arrives. Megatron tells her that they missed her at the battle earlier, Blackarachnia lies and says that she was ‘occupied.’ He orders her to her battle station. He then calls Waspinator over and orders him to the following coordinates. Blackarachnia overhears and whispers ‘this is it.’

 

The Maximals take off in Ravage’s ship. The plan is to hit the Darksyde hard and fast, to keep Megatron from escaping. Ravage says that the ship is there advantage. He plugs his hands into the controls which activates the cloaking device. Rattrap says that he hopes this’ll be enough and Ravage mutters they have one more advantage. We see Tarantulas exit his lab, transforming into vehicle mode and driving off just before the Maximals start their raid. They freefall in, Optimus and Silverbolt transforming mid drop to fly around. Cheetor also tries to do it but mistimes the drop and hits the ground. Rampage opens fire on Ravage’s ship. The blast rocks him, causing the special agent to admit that it was impressive before returning fire. He obliterates Rampage. Rhinox faces of against and defeats Inferno. Cheetor sees Waspinator and tries to shoot him but gets knocked aside by an autogun. Silverbolt sees Blackarachnia rise on a floating platform. Optimus orders him to shoot her down, but he can’t do it. Optimus is shot down by the auto guns. Ravage unleashes an assault on the Darksyde. Megatron tries to keep his defense up and running, but he’s captured in some kind of stasis bands. Ravage reveals himself and tells Megatron that he’s under arrest.

 

             This episode premiered March 11^th, 1998, when I was seven years old. A seven-year-old obviously doesn’t know much about geopolitics, but thirty-five-year-old me is embarrassed that he didn’t pick up on the Cold War vibes that this show has. Like, I suppose it could be forgiven early on given how little we’re told about Cybertron, the Maximals and Predicons, but when Ravage shows up with a Russian accent as thick as Drogo’s and a Predicon logo on his shoulder Winter Soldier style, it feels glaringly obvious. I like Ravage’s design for this, even though he’s basically a stripped down, black Tigertron. It works for the guy since he was always a panther of some kind, and I can’t fault the animators for using the assets they have on hand. The reveal of Silverbolt and Blackarachnia having a Romeo and Juliet style romance was a bit surprising. I like it in theory, and their relationship is an important plot point going forward, but I feel like it wasn’t executed the best. That is mostly due to the reduced episode count I think. We went from having 26 episodes in season one to 13 for season 2 and for 3. Losing that many episodes really cuts down on the amount of time that you can play around with the characters and their relationships. Thus leading to this thing where Blackarachnia and Silverbolt had one episode together hinting at an attraction, to this one where Silverbolt is literally committing treason in order to help her. It feels a bit rushed is all. The basic set up of a good-evil relationship is one I’ve seen before, but it’s usually with a villainous man and a virtuous woman. I obviously know what Megatron’s big gamble is going forward, but I promise you that it’s a doozy if you haven’t seen Beast Wars before. But more on that tomorrow. Have a goodnight and stay safe.Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/viewer-log-beast-149214526

Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 36

Everyone needs a friend. 

With all that’s going on right now, I need a bit of nostalgia, so January we’re doing more Beast Wars. I’ll most likely get back on My Hero Academia in February and we’ll alternate like that for a bit until we finish off Beast Wars. We only need about 2 and a half months of content to reach that end after all.

 

Last time on Beast Wars, Dinobot dealt with his existential dread. He hates himself for giving the Golden Disk to Megatron, paralyzed with the fear that he lives in a determinist universe, and egged on by a dig from Rattrap, Dinobot heads out to rectify his mistake. He traps Tarantulas and demands the spider give him a copy of the Golden Disk, Tarantulas tells him Megs isn’t risking making backups anymore and keeps the disk on him at all times. Dinobot needs a ride to Megatron’s location and forces Tarantulas to use his motorcycle mode to carry him. He arrives at a valley in time to see Megatron experiment with the disk. He has Rampage fire rockets at a nearby mountain top, cracking the peak. To Dinobot’s horror, he sees the recording of the mountain on the Golden Disk alter to match. To make matters worse, the valley they’re next to houses an early ancestor of humanity. Realizing Megatron plans to wipe out these early hominids in order to rewrite the future, Dinobot vows to stop them. The rest of the Maximals are enroute, with Rattrap muttering by the time they get there, there won’t be enough of Dinobot to fit in a toaster. Dinobot systematically defeats each of the Predacons but suffers damage as he does so. By the time he’s taken out everyone save Megatron, his internal computer warns him that if he loses much more energy he’ll be permanently shut down. They face off, Megatron mocking the weaponless and dying Dinobot for being overly sentimental and outdated technology. He asks what Dinobot can even do at this point. Dinobot snarls “improvise” and knocks the bolts out of his former commander with a club made from a thick stick and a rock. The Maximals arrive, scaring Megatron off, and Dinobot uses the last of his energy to destroy the Golden Disk shattering it into pieces. His comrades arrive and Dinobot is able to give them a heartfelt goodbye before shutting down. They watch his spark fly out of his body and scatter to rejoin the Matrix, the Cybertronian afterlife. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with Megatron getting an infusion of Energon as he sleeps, Rampage’s spark in a vice placed next to him. As he snoozes, Rampage breaks into Megatron’s room in crap mode and attempts to snatch it, but Megatron snaps awake and tells the crustation that he thinks Rampage has forgotten who owns him. He crushes Rampage’s spark in the vice and tells him not to forget again. Rampage snarls that he won’t.

 

We cut to Rattrap, Cheetor, and Silverbolt dealing with a Predacon jamming station. The area in question seems to be dealing with a lot of quakes, which is odd, but they don’t have much time to ponder why Megatron would build a station in this area. Megs detects their presence and tells Rampage to vent his frustration with them. The trio split up to investigate the area.

 

Back at the Axalon, Optimus and Rhinox detect the same quakes and notice that they’re building in intensity. Rhinox tells Optimus that their team is approaching the epicenter and that they can’t contact them due to the jammer. Optimus says that he’ll head out to tell them, as he’s not willing to lose any more friends.

 

The quakes shatter the ground around Rattrap, trapping him on an island of rock. He leaps into the air and gets snagged by Cheetor. Before they can get clear, though, the seem to get hit with an Energon surge that causes them to crash. They’re buried in rubble, which isn’t good, but the falling rock and earth uncover a Stasis pod! The pod is clearly badly damage and is sparking with pink energy. The Darksyde alerts Megatron to the pod, he orders Inferno to the pod’s location, the ant is as always enthusiastic to follow his master’s orders. Silverbolt spies Inferno and follows him. Inferno pulls the pod from the edge of the cliff. The pod sparks with more energy, the computer announcing that there’s been significant damage. The jumbled warning says that the DNA scanner is compromised, the data tracks aren’t operational and it’s all but screaming ‘error, error, error.’ Silverbolt arrives and he and Inferno battle for the pod, Silverbolt hurling the bug at a cliff to knock him out. Rampage arrives at the pod, transforms and asks if the pod is like him in some way. He touches the pod and gets shocked. Silverbolt arrives, but Rampage points out that if he fires on the crab he’ll destroy the pod too. Rampage says that he can feel the protoform’s pain and that their spark is strong. He begs it to break free of its containment. The pod explodes, knocking Silverbolt from the cliff and he starts sparking with the pink energy. Rattrap digs himself out and asks, “What in the name of my Great-Aunt Arcee is going on?” … It’s weird for me to hear that Rattrap is in anyway related to one of the most famous Transformers women. Silverbolt tells him about the pod and tells them to hurry. Cheetor frees himself and carries Rattrap to the top of the cliff.

 

We get are first shot of the new Maximal and it’s… a doozy. The damage the pod sustained made it impossible for the Protoform to scan for a beast mode and left it’s robot form badly malformed. The Protoform’s body is hunched over, with an elongated neck, oddly proportioned limbs and a head like a stereotypical gray alien. Rampage announces that they’re magnificent. Rattrap says that the tings coming out of these pods are getting weirder. Silverbolt says they should embrace what is different. The Maximals transform and prepare to fight. Rampage tries to encourage the Protoform to attack the Maximals, saying they are their enemy. Silverbolt says that Rampage is lying and offers the Protoform his hand in friendship. Before the Protoform can decide, Inferno flies in and announces that that Protoform is property of the Royalty and shoots at them. This scares the Protoform, who unleashes a scream that causes everyone to go into an Energon surge. Rampage is the first to recover, he tells the Protoform to come with him. He says he’ll protect them. Silverbolt recovers and says they have to save it. Optimus arrives.

 

Rampage leads the Protoform away and examines them. He notes that the Protoform is somewhere between a transmetal and a mutant type transformer. The Protoform seems to like those words. Inferno arrives and threatens the Protoform, and Rampage threatens to squash the bug. Megatron arrives via hologram and says that he’ll examine the Protoform. He asks their name, and the Protoform dubs themself Transmutate. Megatron orders them to transform. Transmutate tries, but their body really isn’t designed to change. Rampage begs it to just do this one thing, and Transmutate tries again and loses a piston. Megatron orders this creature to be destroyed, but Rampage is vehemently against that. Megatron tortures him with the vice, Rampage begs through the pain to give Transmutate a chance. Megatron decides to allow it, saying that he will destroy Transmutate if they fail.

 

Optimus orders Rattrap and Cheetor back to base, saying that he and Silverbolt will look for this new creature.

 

The Predacon trio head out, Rampage whispering to Transmutate that they’ll serve, for now, but will one day rise up and destroy their oppressors. Inferno demands to know what they’re whispering about. Rampage says that he’s just teaching Transmutate what it means to be a Predacon. Inferno asks where they’re going, and Rampage says they’re going some place for the Maximals to find them.

 

Silverbolt finds Transmutate laying on the ground, seeming injured. He lands and offers his hand in friendship to Transmutate. Before they can say anything, Rampage and Inferno leap out and shoot him repeatedly. As Silverbolt passes out, he asks “Why?” Inferno says that they’ll keep the head for Megatron, but Transmutate will destroy the rest of it. Rampage begs Transmutate to do it. When Transmutate doesn’t comply immediately, Inferno shoves them aside and calls them useless. This upsets Transmutate, who blasts Inferno with its powerful scream, sending him flying. Rampage compliments their choice but insists Silverbolt must be dealt with. He offers to kill Silverbolt, but Optimus flies in to save the day. He knocks Rampage aside and crushes him under a boulder. This upsets Transmutate and they prepare to scream, but Silverbolt begs them to stop. Transmutate examines Silverbolt and asks “Hurt?” Optimus says that he is and that he can get Silverbolt repaired. Rampage starts to stir and Optimus asks Transmutate to give him Silverbolt so he can fly him to safety. Transmutate reveals they can fly as well, Optimus saying that that is just Prime. They fly off as Rampage breaks free. He announces that he won’t let Optimus have Transmutate, that the creature’s darkness calls out to Rampage and they belong together.

 

The Maximals return to base and they examine Transmutate. Rhinox shakes his head after the scan. Silverbolt asks what the scans say. Optimus says that Transmutate’s data tracks are scrambled beyond repair, their body is quite frankly a nightmare, and that their logic circuits aren’t much more advanced than a drone. So, it’s extremely powerful but with an incredibly simple mind. Rhinox and Optimus both agree that it might be in everyone’s best interest to put Transmutate into stasis lock, now. Silverbolt is disgusted and infuriated by their assessment, asking if they’re Predacons now, destroying anything that doesn’t match their view of perfection. Transmutate limps away. They detect Rampage calling out to them, begging them to come to him. Transmutate leaps through the wall and flies away. Rattrap makes a crass comment about the nutty erector set flying away, and an irate Silverbolt calls them all fools before storming off. Optimus thinks that he’ll be easier to deal with after he cools off and orders everyone else to find Transmutate.

 

Transmutate meets with Rampage, saying that they belong together. Silverbolt arrives and tells him that “This one is not for you.” Rampage shrieks “It is ONLY for ME!” and they fight. They throw each other off the cliff. Transmutate looks down and says, “No. Hurt.” And flies down towards them. Rampage and Silverbolt fire on each other. Transmutate lands between them and uses their power to stop their projectiles from hitting each other. Both Silverbolt and Rampage shout, “NO!” as they’re consumed in the blast. We see Transmutate’s body is scrap metal now. A barely functional Transmutate looks at the two of them, dubbing Silverbolt “Friend, good,” and Rampage “Friend, Dark.” Rampage cradles their head as Transmutate announces “I. Am. Hurt.” And shutting down. Rampage screams in agony when he realizes that Transmutate is gone. Optimus and Cheetor arrive. Silverbolt tells them that they ended Transmutate before they gave it a chance to live. Optimus says that he should head back and they’ll handle Rampage. Silverbolt tells them to leave Rampage be, as for the moment, they are brothers.

 

Ya know, if you told me an episode that largely focused on Rampage would make me feel bad for the guy, I’d have called you crazy. This is the first episode to really characterize the terrible terror since his introduction and… he’s incredibly sad. Granted, being enslaved and having your heart/mind/soul crushed whenever your master decides he wants to do it doesn’t make for a fun existence, but I guess I never considered how miserable that existence was. Sentient life craves connection, understanding, and camaraderie, being denied those things is a personal hell all on its own. So, I understand why Rampage would be so desperate to fill the void in his chest, a very literal one in his case, with an empathetic existence like Transmutate. At least in theory. I think the episode could have done a slightly better job to portray Transmutate’s state of mind. In most scenes, they seem at best confused, and at worst… blank. Like they’re just a character model on screen. I think this episode really should have been a two parter, part one being Transmutate with Rampage, who fosters all their darkest, angriest emotions, and part two being Silverbolt trying to undo that damage before Transmutate ultimately sacrifices themself to stop their friends from fighting. It makes sense that Silverbolt would be all in on the unusual lifeform that is Transmutate given his own unorthodox form. He’s already a confabulation of two animals, so I understand his spark resonating with someone that didn’t even get one. And I also get Optimus’ idea that it might be better to put Transmutate into Stasis Lock. I personally would have said, “We’re just going to put Transmutate into Stasis Lock until we can get off world. Once we’re back on Cybertron, High Command can look after them.” Make it clear they aren’t killing Transmutate, but more like they’re putting them in a coma until they can get Transmutate somewhere that they can be looked after. Being marooned on a world with hostiles just isn’t a good place to have someone with that much power but not much sense is all I’m saying. I liked the final line from Silverbolt, him letting Rampage be because they’re both in mourning is a fittingly somber note to end on. Have a good night, everyone. Stay safe.

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social