Terrorsaur goes full Starscream.
Last time on Beast
Wars, the Transformers investigated an alien structure dubbed the Standing
Stones. A battle breaks out between the two forces, Terrorsaur destroying a
part of the structure in a “if we can’t have it, no one can!” and somehow ends
up sending a signal into deep space. After another battle at the site between
Optimus and Dinobot, and Megatron and Waspinator, Optimus is seemingly vaporized
by an alien probe that arrived. Rattrap and Dinobot fight over who should take
command, but Optimus’ disembodied voice reaches them and tells them he’s still
alive. The team goes back to the Standing Stones and try to pull Optimus out of
the device. A third fight breaks out at the structure, Rhinox unloads hundreds
of shots on Waspinator, knocking him back into a stone and the energy surge
causes the device to barf Optimus out. The Maximals drive off the Predacons,
and then they muse as to who sent the probe and why. Enough recap. Let’s get to
it.
We open on an
eagle flying through a canyon. The bird is suddenly snapped up by Terrorsaur
who was looking for a free meal. He flies around another bend and discovers a floating
mountain. He flies inside and finds metric tons of Energon crystals. The amount
of energy in this place intrigues Terrorsaur, enough that the Predacon chances
transforming into robot mode for a few seconds to perform a scan. … I question why
he doesn’t have a scanning function in beast mode for this exact reason, but
then we wouldn’t have a plot for the episode. Terrorsaur immediately starts
shorting out, his internal system telling him to return to beast mode or he’ll
go into ‘statis lock.’ This is the transformer equivalent to a coma, which
would be bad given its location. He goes to take a sample but gets blasted back
between two pillars of Energon. The energy supercharges Terrorsaur, the usual blue-white
Energon build up effect turning red. He says that the Energon has been fed
directly into his superstructure and he’s never felt more alive. As a Predacon,
this immediately make him decide to return to base to kill his boss and usurp command.
It’s amazing they get anything done. Terrorsaur rockets off, just in time for
Cheetor to see him from the canyon. Convenient. Cheetor runs after him, wanting
to learn more.
The Predacons,
meanwhile, are at their base testing out their new perimeter defenses, a pair
of high-powered cannons. Just after the cannons destroy a target box, Terrorsaur
descends and challenges Megs to a duel. Instead of whipping out a pair of Magic:
The Gathering decks, Megatron transforms and Terrorsaur stomps him. His
enhanced body is basically immune to Megatron’s attacks, and he can rain plasma
down upon him. Megatron breaks apart into a dozen pieces and Terrorsaur declares
himself leader. The other Predacons are apprehensive at their new boss, but being
the bad guys, roll with the change over quickly. Terrorsaur tells his troops to
prepare for battle and that the Maximals will be the next to taste his power.
Cheetor, watching from the distance, announces that this is ultra bad. But, a
moment later Terrorsaur’s boost runs out. He runs a diagnostic to confirm that,
yes, the super charge is completely gone. He’s warned that he has only a few
seconds before his power drain is so severe that he goes into stasis lock. He puts
Tarantulas in charge while he goes to “check on something” transforming back
into beast mode and flying off. Scorponok is obviously pissed at losing his
second-in-command position, but Tarantulas could care less about the promotion,
telling Scorponok to do as he pleases and chases after Terrorsaur. Waspinator
asks him what his command is, and Scorponok orders he prepare the RC chamber so
they can repair Megatron.
Cheetor runs back
to base and gives everyone the details about Super Terrorsaur and the floating
mountain. Rattrap is skeptical about a flying mountain, but Optimus trusts the
young scout’s info. He tells Rhinox to start a search and try to reach Dinobot,
who is scouting. Cheetor points them to the Mountain’s location.
Terrorsaur lethargically
flies toward the Mountain. He theorizes that the Energon there is extremely
unstable, which is why it super charged him but also drained away so quickly. He’s
planning to get a hit of the stuff and then rush to finish off the Maximals for
good. Tarantulas is following from the forests floor, planning to steal
Terrorsaur’s secret and take over.
Back at the Maximal
base, they get confirmation that there is a flying mountain due to a huge Energon
surge messing up their tracking software. Optimus orders Rattrap to get his demolition
gear and meet him for take off in five cycles. I don’t think they ever explain
the whole “cycles” thing, but I figure cycles are minutes, megacycles hours and
solar cycles days. Rattrap complains but goes to get his stuff.
Terrorsaur and Tarantulas
arrive at the Mountain. Terrorsaur flying in and Tarantulas climbing up from
the ground. The radiation is so intense that Tarantulas gets the surge warning
despite the distance. Optimus in robot form flies in, with Rattrap holding onto
his back. Rattrap whines about how he’d have taken a bat alt from if he wanted
to fly. Might just be the fact the words are one letter different, might be a
tongue and cheek nod to the fact Optimus was originally going to be a bat. There
were actually a bunch of toys sold with that alt form with him, Megatron being
a crocodile. They reach the mountain, Rattrap saying he owes Cheetor an
apology. They land and Optimus starts shorting out. He returns to gorilla mode,
and they prepare to investigate.
Optimus is clearly
in awe of how much Energon is in the mountain, noting they’ll need to use their
robot modes sparingly. Rattrap wants to just blow the place and run, but
Terrorsaur lands and takes their attention. He gets another hit of super Energon.
They come up with a quick plan, Optimus will draw him away and hopefully dodge
until his charge runs out, Rattrap will set the charges and prepare to blow the
mountain in four cycles. Optimus transforms and draws Terrorsaur away. The
super charged Predacon is tough, but Optimus is able to hold his own. Rattrap
transforms and quickly sets a pair of explosive charges. He mutters a prayer to
Optimus that he returns in time to get them out of there.
Optimus takes a
big hit from Terrorsaur, knocking him to the mountain side. He transforms back
into beast mode to avoid a surge, and Terrorsaur flies down to finish him off.
Meanwhile, Tarantulas attacks Rattrap. The two fight, which is kind of hilarious
as they’re stuck in their beast modes, but Rattrap is able to hold him off.
Terrorsaur runs out of juice before he can finish off Optimus, transforms back
and goes for a recharge. Rattrap throws Tarantulas off him, throws mud on his eyes,
and tricks the spider into running off the side of the cliff. Rattrap has got
some Bugs Bunny in him. He sees Terrorsaur fly in, and muses that he’s one gone
rat without Optimus. Terrorsaur reaches the inner part of the mountain just a
moment before the charges blow. He flies off and Tarantulas leaps from the Mountain.
Optimus reaches Rattrap and the two have to take a flying leap off the Mountain.
The surge from the explosion would fry Optimus circuits in robot mode. They land
in the forest below, not much worse for wear. Rattrap tells him that was crazy,
Optimus retorting that sometimes Crazy works.
Terrorsaur returns
to the Predacon base. He’s pissed at losing his Energon source but comforts himself
at least having gotten rid of Megatron. This
confidence is immediately wiped away when Megatron walks out, saying “Look who’s
back.” Terrorsaur’s scales immediately lose all color as he squeaks “Help.”
This was a solid
villain episode for Terrorsaur. We’ve seen him before, obviously, but this is
the first time where he’s gotten more than two or three scenes. He’s… well, basically
OG Starscream. He’s the extremely treacherous, cowardly, smug aerial commander
and is routinely beaten for his backstabbing plans. Hell, he’s also primarily
red. Yes, I know calling him aerial commander is a bit of a stretch when the
fliers consist of literally just him and Waspinator, but Waspinator is clearly number
2 in all their interactions. I give the dude props for having one of the most efficient
plans of a traitor to date. First hit, usurp command of the Predacons, second
hit, destroy the Maximals, a simple, elegant plan. If Cheetor hadn’t seen and told
the others it might have even worked. Maybe, it seemed like the power drain was
faster the second go-round but that might have been Optimus overtaxing him. There’s
also a nice dichotomy with Tarantulas’ style of treachery. I don’t believe he
ever personally tries to usurp command from Megatron, but the whole “follow
Terrorsaur to steal his secret” thing does suggest that this is more from not
having his own opportune moment than from loyalty. But, of course, if he axed
Terrorsaur after Terrorsaur axed Megatron, he’d be leading a team of three. One
of them being Waspinator. Not a great outlook against the Maximals, me thinks. This
was also a good showing of Rattrap and Optimus’ relationship. We never hear anything
about their times before the Beast Wars, but episodes like this always made me think
that these two and Rhinox are very old friends. There’s a banter between them
that just feels like these two have known each other for a long time. Sure, Rattrap
is skeptical of his leadership and often back talks, but it seems to be more
from a “we both got detention in school, don’t boss me around” vibe than from
actual malice or distrust between them. You have to have a lot of trust in someone
to just grab on their back and fly you to an alien mountain, it’s all I’m
saying. The final shot of Terrorsaur is great too. That image of him going
sheet white and squeaking help has stuck in my brain more vividly than a fair
number of other scenes in this series. So yeah. Next time, well meet the first
new recruit of the series. See you then.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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