Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 19

The hunt begins!

Last time on Beast Wars, the Predacons got another draft pick. A pod made landfall and Tarantulas saw to it that he specifically was the first to claim the pod. He knocked out the computers at both the Axalon and Darksyde before he and Blackarachnia (who found his base and forced herself along) went to claim it. He was able to reprogram the proto-form but they arrived too late to select it’s beast mode for it. Tarantulas had intended to make another spider, but the pod instead scanned a fire ant and thus created Inferno. Inferno had the unique issue of his beast mode affecting his logic circuits, making him think he really was a giant ant. He attacked both spiders and set about protecting his pod as his mind had made it his ‘colony.’ Airazor arrived, having been told of the pod’s landing by Tigertron, and tries to make contact, but Inferno attacks her. Blackarachnia shoots Airazor down and tries to ingratiate herself with the delusional bug. While they’re distracted, Tarantulas makes off with the pod, saying he’s finally got a way off the planet. Inferno, infuriated, follows him, Blackarachnia follows Inferno, and Tigertron follows all of them after telling Airazor to go warn Optimus. Tigertron destroys the pod, to keep any Predacon from having it. He gets brutally attacked by Inferno and Megatron, the spider’s having fled. He probably would have died if not for the arrival of Optimus and Airazor to carry him off. Inferno is brought into the Predacon fold for repairs. At his lair, Blackarachnia asks why he’s obsessed with getting a pod and he drops the hint that it’s because the planet is doomed somehow. The plot thickens. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

The episode begins with Cheetor in beast mode outside the base. He’s looking kind of odd, his eyes are a bright orange instead of the usual green. He’s also growling instead of making comments. He starts chasing a deer and trying to catch it. He comes to a wall of fire before falling into a volcano, and then jolts awake. Turns out he was having a nightmare. The base then starts shaking, for it seems the base is under attack. Outside, Scorponok and Tarantulas are firing on them. One of the ships autocannons are taken out as Cheetor arrives. He asks how he can help and Rattrap yells at him for still being in beast mode. He transforms and Dinobot picks him up one handed and takes him to the lift so they can fire on their enemies. Rattrap remarks that he’s sure the polka dots on Cheetor go right to his brain. Dinobot and Cheetor shoot at the arachnids, charging them and scaring them off. Megatron comes out and fires a large missile at the base, destroying another autocannon and letting the fliers land on the ship. Waspinator rips out a device from the ship and the Predacons fall back. Optimus tells the fliers they aren’t leaving the party early and flies after them. He’s able to get them in a pincer attack as Airazor arrives to help. But Megatron shoots Optimus down, and Airazor flies after him to save him.

 

Cheetor and Dinobot get the other two inside. Optimus is more or less okay, but Airazor took a bad hit and will be in the repair chamber for days before she’s back in fighting shape. Rhinox says they have another problem, right before they all get hit with an Energon surge. Once everyone is in beast mode he explains that the device the Predacons stole was their ‘rectifier coil,’ the part of the ship that protected them from the Energon buildup. They’re going to be stuck in beast mode pretty much continually now to be ready for a fight.

 

At the Darksyde, Megatron gloats about his plan. He says that the ‘effects’ of constantly being in beast mode will become noticeable in a few days but will be beyond their control. After that they’ll attack.  He cackles maniacally to the other Predacons, who join in after a beat.

 

At the Axalon a few days later, Scorponok transforms and starts shooting at them. Rhinox notes that it’s been two days of near constant Predacon presence outside the base. I have to admit this seems to be hardest on him and Cheetor, as they don’t have hands. Rhinox tries to get advice from Optimus but he’s asleep. He has a dream about being a gorilla swinging in a jungle before being awoken by Scorponok’s attack. Rhinox grumbles that it’s not a real attack, they’re just being shaken up. And they’re all going on two days without sleep. Rattrap hits a button and then complains about being stuck with his short rat arms and legs. He goes to transform but Optimus orders him to stay in beast mode, they need to be ready for an actual attack. He and Optimus start roaring at each other, more animal-like than ever. They are only stopped by Rhinox stomping and shouting at them to stop it. He has to flip their table for emphasis. They’re all freaking out at what is happening. Rhinox says they’ve been in beast mode too long and it’s effecting their minds. Rattrap moans that he’s a robot trapped in a rat’s body. Optimus says that Tigertron must have dealt with this, as their long-range scout he spends most of his time in beast mode. Rhinox says he sent a laser communication to him, but they have to wait for him to show up. Sentinel says the Predacon signatures are leaving and the Maximals go to get some sleep.

 

Optimus has his jungle swinging dream again. He finds himself surrounded by eyes in the dark and starts freaking out. He wakes up with a start. Dinobot has a similar dream to Cheetor’s, of him stalking prey. He catches and mauls a little dinosaur. He wakes up, as does Rattrap from a dream. All the Maximals are acting like animals now, with Dinobot chasing Rattrap like prey and gorilla Optimus exploring the area like the big ape he is. He leaves the base calmly, with Dinobot chasing after Rattrap and Rhinox and Cheetor following. Megatron, watching from the distance, says that this is all going according to his research. He’d read papers on Maximal programing and a theory that the sleep deprivation combined with constantly being in beast mode caused the Maximals’ animal sides to take over. They’re “sleep prowling.” He announces that tonight they hunt. He’s being very literal here. He’s got a big double barrel shot gun from like the 1920s and forcing Scorponok and Tarantulas to carry him on a palanquin like a big game hunter from that era. And Blackarachnia has a hide drum, for some reason. He finds Optimus and takes a shot, just missing the big ape. He orders his flyers to hunt down the other four Maximals, but Primal is his.

 

Back at the Axalon, Tigertron has arrived and is watching this from the security cameras. Airazor finally finished her repairs too and he fills her in. He converts to beast mode and says “the night is wild. And we have much to do.”

 

As Inferno, Terrorsaur and Waspinator hunt the Maximals from the air, Tigertron and Airazor head out. Tigertron comes across Cheetor and Rhinox first. He seems to use his animal presence or something to get the two of them to follow him.

Meanwhile, Airazor flies to the Predacon base. The Darksyde is empty but protected by it’s automated weapons. She does a high speed dive at the base, using her falcon speed to outpase the shots. She transforms midway and rockets forward, breaking the guns with a shockwave.

 

Rattrap is nearly lunch for Dinobot, but he runs into a tight crevice to escape him. Tigertron runs into Optimus and after the gorillas performs a threat display, leads him away. They find Rattrap and Dinobot, and Tigertron makes a speech. He accesses their core consciousnesses with his voice command. The animals start freaking out, but Tigertron yells at them to be silent, and then listen and learn.

 

In The Darksyde, Airazor finds the coil sitting on a table like a trophy. Airazor, not being an idiot, realizes that Megatron probably has a boobytrap set up. She reaches for the coil, an autocannon descends to shoot her, and she shoots it instead. A bit anticlimactic for a Megatron trap, not going to lie. She takes the coil and scampers.

 

Tigertron goes into his beast philosophy with his allies. He explains that while they were once ‘robots in disguise,’ he thinks that on this planet they’ve become something more. He says that their programing was designed to block their beast urges, which causes them to build up until they’re raring to break free. They need to accept both beast and robot forms to be whole. He tells them to mentally find the file in their programming that contains this block and delete it. It takes a moment but everyone deletes the programming block. Rattrap comes from out of the underbrush, saying he’s a rat robot and is much happier now. Tigertron reminds them to not fight their beast instincts and to use them to be better Transformers. But for now, they need to hunt some Predacons.

 

The Maximals find the Predacon hunting party, using their beast modes in tandem with their robot modes to run circles around the Predacons. My personal favorite was Rattrap riding Rhinox as he charges Terrorsaur and Waspinator, only for them to switch and Rhinox throw beast mode Rattrap like the Fastball special. … That’s the X-Men technique where Wolverine has a strongman like Colossus throw him like a furry ball of fury. Optimus ends up tossing Megatron to the ground just as their Energon surge hits. Cheetor announces that beast or bot they’re still the baddest. Airazor flies in with the coil, Rhinox announcing that things should get back to normal now, with Optimus saying that they could be even better before doing the gorilla chest thumping and everyone else roaring.

 

I’ll start off by saying this isn’t the start of any major change for the Maximals. They still use their beast modes about as frequently as before, maybe a little more often, but there isn’t too much of the beast-robot combos. Still, the concept of this episode was neat. The idea that they can lose themselves to their beast modes is a problem unique to this era of Transformers. Like, obviously Ironhide or Bumblebee aren’t going to start thinking they’re just an average truck or car. But, a guy that turns into a cheetah, yeah, I can see him losing it a little. This is also one of Megatron’s more ingenious plans. Using the psychology/biology of the Maximals against them to turn them into little more than frightened beasts is simple but elegant. It probably would have worked If Tigertron hadn’t been able to arrive in time. I will ask, though… is Predacon programing the same as Maximal, or did Dinobot just use the situation to try to eat Rattrap? Just saying, he’s still a Predacon in terms of hardware. Airazor’s plot was short here, but I just enjoyed seeing her flex on the Predacon’s security system. It’s a fun episode. Have a good night, everyone. 

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Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 18

 Another bug joins the bunch.

Last time on Beast Wars, the Maximals and Predacons wrestled for control of a flying island. The island had a powerful Obelisk at its center with a laser that could obliterate almost anything. Optimus and Rattrap flew up to it to give back up to the stranded Tigertron and Airazor. They were briefly slowed down by Terrorsaur and Waspinator, but Optimus took out the latter and the former was forced at gunpoint to fly Rattrap the rest of the way. Unfortunately, they arrived too late and Blackarachnia was able to get inside. She took control of the Obelisk and prepared to destroy the Maximal base. Tigertron, feeling horrible the whole time, got in after her and destroyed the Obelisk’s power source. The Island just barely missed the base and crashed into a nearby desert. As the Obelisk fell, it fired a signal to another Obelisk on the closer of the two moons, and it fired another signal into Transwarp space. As Tigertron laments the paradise they had to destroy, Rattrap asks the important question of Who is going to get that signal and what are they going to do about it. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

The episode begins in space with a line of stasis pods circling the planet. These are way more than the number of characters introduced, by the way. There’s about eight characters introduced via stasis pod, so I have no idea what’s going on with the like ten we see in space here. Anyway, one of the pods drops to the planet. The pod is detected by Tarantulas, and he activates a device that causes a power overload at both bases. Both sides assume the other is preparing for an attack, leaving them unaware of the pod falling. Tarantulas has his computer calculate where the pod will land. His planning is interrupted by Blackarachnia, who had found his secret layer. She’s figured out his plan to find the pod and reprogram the Maximal proto-form into a Predacon, loyal to him, and to his surprise she offers to help him.

 

In the wild, Tigertron is patrolling on his own when he hears a noise and goes to investigate. He sees the pod drop and tries to call it in. The comlinks are down, though, so he has to go investigate on his own. The pod lands, and begins scanning for lifeforms to model a beast mode after. The spiders arrive a moment later, and Tarantulas quickly opens the computer and swaps out the chips necessary to make it a Predacon. He pulls out a spider in a cage to use as a sample, but the computer already found something else. Blackarachnia asks if he can’t just stop the process, but he can’t.

 

Tigertron races to the pod but is spotted by Waspinator who was hiding in a tree. He decides to attack Tigertron, firing on the cat and tripping him up. Tigertron slams his head into a boulder and passes out. Waspinator gloats about destroying Tigertron, giving Airazor enough time to arrive and knock him aside. He tries to fight her, but she knocks aside his missile and then shoots his wings off. Waspinator slams head down into the ground, his head entering a rat’s burrow. The rat tugs at his antenna as he states how much he hates Bird-bot. Tigertron recovers, and he tells her about the pod and to get there quick. She flies off, Tigertron saying he’ll follow.

 

At the pod, it opens and out comes… a fire ant. Blackarachnia grumbles at how depressing it is that it’s another insect. She asks if Tarantulas is sure it’s a Predacon, and Tarantulas tells the ant to identify itself. The ant, weirdly, announces that Spiders are daring to invade the colony and he transforms to fight them off. He’s dubbed Inferno. He fires a rocket at them, launching them back. He says that destruction will come to anyone that threatens the colony and that the Royalty demands it. He then starts marching in front of the pod.

 

Behind a tree, the spiders revert to beast mode and Blackarachnia demands to know what is going on. Tarantulas believes that the ant beast mode is somehow interfering with Inferno’s mind. He thinks he’s really a giant ant defending his colony. Blackarachnia says that her venom will make him more friendly, but Tarantulas stops her, worried that she’ll damage the pod. She wants to know why he wants the pod so bad, but he refuses to answer. Airazor flies in, and tries to introduce herself to Inferno, not realizing he’s both a Predacon and insane. He fires on her and she dodges, but Blackarachnia transforms and shoots her down. She plants a foot on Airazor’s limp form and announces death to the Maximals, the enemy of the colony. She had the bright idea to try to frame the situation in a manner Inferno’s ant brain could understand. She shot down the invader, thus she’s a friend to the colony sort of thing. As she talks to Inferno, Tarantulas steals the pod, dragging it off with his webbing, saying that he “finally has a means off this dust bowl.”

 

Back with Blackarachnia, Inferno starts having an Energon surge and she tells him to return to beast mode. His damaged logic circuits make this command difficult for him to understand. Blackarachnia tells him that they’re both Predacons and Predacons are destined to rule. Inferno disagrees, saying the Royalty are the rulers. It’s only then that he realizes his pod was stolen. He reverts to beast mode and chases after Tarantulas, Blackarachnia follows a moment later, after wondering why Tarantulas wants the pod. Airazor is left on her own. Tigertron joins her and she explains the situation. He tells her to go warn Optimus and he’ll follow the Predacons. She wants to go with him but he claims to hunt better on his own.

 

Near the Darksyde, Scorponok spies on Tarantulas moving toward his layer with the stolen pod. In the base, Megatron is trying to get the ship’s computers running again. After another short he shouts for Tarantulas, as computer upkeep is his job. Scorponok radios in and lets him know about Tarantulas. Megatron is intrigued by the stasis pod and has figured out this is all Tarantulas doing. Inferno chases after Tarantulas and the spider decides to take care of that bug. Inferno finds his pod, Tarantulas leaps out and shoots him with his draining web. Scorponok arrives, telling Tarantulas that Megatron wants the pod and the Predacon brought to him at once. The pod suddenly explodes, knocking Tarantulas back and knocking Scorponok out. It was shot by Tigertron, who announces the Predacons won’t be getting any Maximals secrets from the pod. He’s attacked by Blackarachnia and then shot up by Tarantulas, severely damaging him. Megatron arrives and the spiders fall back. Inferno, infuriated, breaks out of the web and swears vengeance on who destroyed his pod. Megatron says that he likes this bug and tells him Tigertron did it. Inferno tackles Tigertron, swearing vengeance on all Maximals. Before being blown to bits by Optimus. He and Airazor fly in just in time to save Tigertron. The trio fall back, Megatron shooting at them in impotent fury. Scorponok says they’re out of range. Megatron throws Inferno’s head at Scorponok, saying to gather the pieces and to find the Spiders, he wants a word with them.

 

At the Axalon, Tigertron is repaired. Once he’s back to normal, he says he’ll be heading back to his patrol. Optimus says there’s no rush, as Cheetor, Rattrap and Dinobot are covering for him right now. He says that he wants to get back out there, as he feels more at home in the wild. Airazor suggests that he could visit more often, and he agrees to try.

 

Back at his layer, Blackarachnia moans that she was insane for siding with Tarantulas and that Megatron will have their heads for this. Tarantulas calls both Megatron and her short sighted. She says she didn’t ‘mean’ anything by her comment, that they need to stick together. Tarantulas admits that that also isn’t a good idea as the planet they’re on is doomed. She realizes that he wanted the pod to build an escape ship and wants to know how he knows. He orders her out of his layer. She says to keep her in mind for a future team up, before muttering he’s a lunatic and he calls her a witch. No love lost there. And the credits roll.

 

And that’s the last recruit of the season. We’ll get other Transformers later, but Inferno is the last addition to season 1. He’s a dangerously unstable Transformer, often shrieking about wanting to burn everything for the glory of the Royalty. I should note that after this episode, Megatron is able to rework Inferno’s programing to recognize him as the Royalty. Though occasionally he’ll get confused and refer to Megatron as his Queen, much to Megs’ annoyance. The bit about his beast mode dominating his logic circuits is interesting. The moment where he was essentially against everyone else was uniquely tense as you didn’t know whom he’d start shooting at. The plot with the spiders is also rather interesting. One of the dynamics I enjoy about them is that, while Blackarachnia clearly tries to use her… it’s weird to call them feminine wilds when she’s a robot, but yeah, those, to get Tarantulas to work with her, he’s completely aware of it and won’t give her an inch. He’ll react to her caresses, obviously, he’s not made of stone, but he never lets her get closer to his plans than he needs to. Can’t be too shocked by this, I must imagine there’s nothing that makes a male spider more wary than a female spider. His obsession with getting the pod is a fun little mystery, and while we get the answer, the planet will be destroyed somehow, we still don’t know how he knows. This’ll become clear later. Next time, a hunt is called. See you then.

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Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 17

Some might say this paradise was lost along the way.

Last time on Beast Wars, Tigertron got lost in the clouds. After being attacked by Terrorsaur and Waspinator in the frozen north, he ended up dropping from a cliff onto a cloud. It’s revealed that the cloud is hiding a giant tropical island with a Monolith at the center of it. Terrorsaur and Waspinator are shot down by the Obelisk and crash to the ground. Once alone, Tigertron begins investigating the island and finds out that there are booby traps hidden across the island. Upon learning of the island, Megatron sends Scorponok and Blackarachnia to investigate. Upon learning this and that Tigertron might be alive, Optimus Primal sends Airazor to follow them. She’s shot down by Scorponok but found by Tigertron. He tells her to rest and that he’d sent a message to their allies. He’d grabbed a Cyber Bee that Scorponok launched and reprogrammed. The episode ends on his warning that the Predacons are on the island and there’s a weapon on there that could destroy their base and win the Beast Wars. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

We open with the Maximals watching Tigertron’s warning. We then cut to the island where some butterflies flutter around before we get to Tigertron. He kind of loves being on the island, feeling that he’s finally come home. He claims that his ‘heart’ is a Maximal Fluid Pump, but his soul is that of a tiger, and he’s at peace here. He vows to keep the island from the Predacons.

 

Blackarachnia and Scorponok are making their way toward the Obelisk. She investigates one of the markings and accidentally triggers it. A pit opens under her, and she drops. She’s able to launch some of her webbing and catches herself before falling too far. She climbs back up and realizes that using these traps could be advantageous to them.

 

Back over with Tigertron and Airazor, they prepare to move out. Airazor is still badly damaged, though. She can’t fly, and obviously an aerial bird on the ground tends to be a tad slow, so she’ll ride on Tigertron’s back.

 

At the Axalon, Optimus Primal and Rattrap are soaring away from the base and towards the island. Rattrap complains about riding piggyback on Optimus again. Optimus reminds him that 1. He’s the only one small enough for Optimus to carry, and 2. The Island has booby traps and disarming those is like 30% of his job. At the base proper, Rhinox launches a laser probe to link with Optimus’s communicator to overcome the Energon interference. It’s a line of sight connection but it’s better than nothing. Cheetor runs in and warns them he just spotted the Predacon fliers leaving the Darksyde, about 15 seconds after they started attacking Optimus and Rattrap. Optimus has trouble dodging with a passenger and Rattrap can’t transform like this so the two end up getting shot down.

 

On the island, Blackarachnia just barely stops Scorponok from triggering another trap. Which is good news for the Maximals, as Airazor was able to spy on them from a distance with her enhanced vision. Unfortunately, they don’t realize mark = trap until the short valley they’re in gets blocked off on both sides and the walls start sliding toward them. Oops.

 

Optimus and Rattrap plummet for a few moments before Optimus’ jets reactivate. He shoots at the Predacons and promises to catch Rattrap, but he’s distracted by Waspinator’s shots. Rattrap screams bloody murder as he falls, saying he’s flightless and helpless. Terrorsaur, being a sadist and an idiot, flies in close to mock Rattrap as he drops. Rattrap transforms and shoots him in the face. Terrorsaur, damaged and startled, reverts to beast mode. Rattrap lands on him, says that he only needed to act helpless to get him in close and to fly or he’ll shoot him again. Optimus shoots Waspinator down just as Rattrap joins him, Terrorsaur still at gunpoint and they head toward the island.

 

In the shrinking valley, Tigertron asks Airazor if she can fly out of there yet. She says no, so he decides to try a dangerous idea. He transforms and shoots the boulder and then sprints for the exit he created. They escape just before the Obelisk’s beam hits them. Scorponok and Blackarachnia notice, and the spider insists they hurry before the Obelisk can recharge. Optimus and Rattrap arrive at the island just as they start shorting out. Optimus lands and Terrorsaur knocks Rattrap off him before flying away. They find Tigertron and Airazor right away, Tigertron warning them of the Traps and the Predacons almost being at the base. Optimus throws a rock at a trapped arch of rock and sees the mark glow before the rocks fall. Rattrap has a lightbulb moment and realizes something. The island is covered in traps, markings that reveal the traps, and defenses to keep out advanced weapons. He thinks that the island is some kind of puzzle, designed to attract intelligent lifeforms and then to see if they can figure out how to get to the center. He wants to get off the island, but Tigertron wants to protect the island. In the distance they see Blackarachnia and Scorponok reach the Obelisk.

 

They transform and need to find a way inside. Scorponok points out that if they use their weapons they’ll be blasted by the Obelisk. Blackarachnia, being a backstabber and amoral, decides to use the arriving Terrorsaur and Waspinator to their advantage. She opens a comm link to them, acting like it’s an accident and announcing she’s going to shoot them down to stop them from stealing their victory from them. She fires one of her spear gun bolts at them, pissing Terrorsaur off enough for him to be stupid, transform and shoot at her. The Obelisk shoots both flies down and Blackarachnia breaks into it before it can recharge another shot. Inside the stone monument is some advanced looking hardware, and Blackarachnia announces the island will soon be hers.

 

The Maximals charge the Obelisk, Optimus and a recovered Airazor taking to the sky.

 

Blackarachnia monologues about how she’ll use the island to defeat Megatron and the Maximals and rule. Scorponok reveals he was indeed sent to stop her because Megatron anticipated her betrayal. She tricks him into stepping back to get a shot off that won’t hurt him, activates a trap, and falls into a pit. He catches the rim, but she kicks his claw free, and he falls to the planet below. She quickly climbs to the top and finds a throne room. She steps on a panel in the floor and gets infused with the power of the Obelisk. It shifts her gold armor to silver. She sits on the throne, not in control of the island and decrees let there be light. She waves her claws and breaks the cloud cover around the island, exposing it to the now night sky. She starts firebombing the Maximals on the island as she orders the Island to move full speed to the Maximal base. Optimus warns the others to evacuate the base. The Maximals run for cover, Rhinox only stopping long enough to grab his plants.

 

On the island, Tigertron says this shouldn’t have happened. Rattrap agrees. A blast shatters a boulder and crushes one of Rattrap’s legs. Tigertron wants to help him, but he tells Tigertron to get to the Obelisk or they’re toast. He starts shooting at the Obelisk to try to draw fire. It shoots at him, breaking the boulder and freeing him. Tigertron enters the tower as Optimus cheers him on. Blackarachnia counts down to her victory, not realizing Tigertron made it inside. He asks forgiveness for what he must do before shooting at the power source for the island. Blackarachnia loses control and it soars over the base. It crosses over a cliff to a conveniently placed and never before seen desert, the Obelisk toppling as it crashes. The Obelisk fires a beam of energy from it, to a relay tower on the nearer of the two moons that fires another beam out into Transwarp space. The Maximals witness it, Tigertron is sure it’s a message. He mourns the fact they were given a paradise that they could have enjoyed if they’d just set aside their desire to fight. Optimus says that’s an old story and maybe one day they’ll learn the lesson. Rattrap, always the pragmatist, points out the more important question to the here and now, who was the message sent to? Whoever built the island isn’t going to be happy that it got wrecked. Rhinox says they’ll jut have to wait and see. The episode ends with the Maximals all looking skyward.

 

This was a cool ending of the two-parter. We got more of the island, and with Rattrap’s insight we learned what it and probably the other sites on the planet are for, testing intelligent life. This plus the Stonehenge style ruins they discovered a few episodes back hint at a species that is gathering meticulous amounts of data about this planet and probably isn’t too happy about the lifeforms marooned on its planet. Though, I will say that if the island wasn’t built with Transformers in mind, it’s super convenient it had an energy source that a Cybertronian lifeform could absorb and use to take control of the Obelisk. I know, kid’s show. But this same kid’s show did just deliver a poignant life lesson about the nature of paradise and intelligent life’s inability to set aside violence for a better, peaceful future. They also quote Shakespeare a bunch later, so this is a very smart kids show/long form toy commercial. This is one of the better episodes for Tigertron. It’s the first episode since his introduction that points out his connection to the planet that they’re on and his feelings that he’s more tiger that can become a robot than robot disguised as a tiger. Tigertron is… not a pacifist… more like a naturalist? He has a deep respect for nature, and more than any other Transformer tries to live in harmony with it. Of course he’d be moved by a perfect tropical landscape that they could just enjoy if they could only stop fighting. It’s also why he had to be the one to destroy it, ya know, for the extra knife twist. Blackarachnia taking the island for herself was pretty obvious, the only character I could have seen doing it faster or more brutally was her fellow spider Tarantulas. Hate to see how she’d explain this failure to Megatron. Next time, another pod falls. 

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Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 16

 Sky Islands in the sky, Afternoon delight. 

Last time on Beast Wars, a pod crash landed. The pod was severely damaged in the fall, but thankfully Rhinox was nearby to initiate emergency repairs. He and Cheetor are able to hold off the Predacons long enough to get the pod’s shielding back up and running, and ultimately to get the DNA scanner running. The pod scans a passing falcon and Airazor takes flight for the first time. She easily dispatches Terrorsaur before officially joining the team. Rhinox muses that when a Spark, the heart/brain/soul of a Transformer, comes online, there is great joy. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

The episode begins with Tigertron exploring the frozen North. A cloud passes over a mountain he’s standing on and an earthquake begins, causing the large feline to be pelted with snow and ice for a few minutes. He is confused by this as the area he’s in isn’t volcanic but leaves that mystery for after his weekly report to base. Unfortunately for him, Terrorsaur and Waspinator found him and follow him. Tigertron reports to a relay station that I guess they set up for him and connects to the base.

 

At the base, Rhinox is doing some research on the tidal forces of the planet they’re on. He notes to Optimus something weird about it, that while the planet has two moons, one is exerting significantly less gravitational force on the Earth. Like it’s hollow or something. Optimus asks if maybe their tech is faulty, but Rhinox isn’t sure. They get Tigertron’s call, Rattrap picking it up. Tigertron says it’s peaceful up there, right up until the Predacons attack. They shoot down and knock over his relay tower, cutting his communication off. Rhinox tells Optimus to go and that he’ll alert the others. Optimus turns on his Prime Jets and flies off.

 

Tigertron survives being crushed, but the Predacons circle around for another attack. As they fight, the cloud bank from earlier starts flying by. Terrorsaur launches a big missile at Tigertron. He dives out of the way, but the rocket is a dud. But then Waspinator shoots at him, hitting the rocket and blowing it. Tigertron rolls to the edge of the cliff, which breaks off. He tries to hang on but slips and falls to the cloud. Terrorsaur and Waspinator fly down to try to find salvage to prove they killed him… but there’s no impact crater. Terrorsaur noted that he fell through the cloud, and they fly to investigate. They disappear into and then we see energy blasts and the two screaming in pain.

 

Optimus arrives at the battlefield and gets the relay working again. He tells the others that with the burn marks, explosions and Tigertron’s footprints cutting off at a broken cliff, they may need to prepare themselves for the worst. Dinobot points out the obvious about who done it, he and Rattrap start to bicker, but Rhinox shouts at them to shut up. He asks if Optimus found any components to confirm their friend’s death. He hasn’t found any, but Tigertron isn’t answering his commlink. Destroyed or captured, he’s not there.

 

We cut over to the Predacon base. Airazor is scouting the place out just as Waspinator and Terrorsaur return. She notes that the two are heavily damaged, their synthetic scales/exoskeletons are cracked and burned, and goes to report this development. In the base, Megatron is flabbergasted that Tigertron apparently did this to them, but the flyers correct him. They tell that after following Tigertron into a cloud they found a flying island. They transformed and continued the fight with Tigertron right up until a giant Obelisk in the center of the island powered up and blasted them both out of the sky. Terrorsaur passes out onto Waspinator, Megatron realizes that getting this flying island and its weapon could be very advantageous. He orders his fliers to get repaired and tells Scorponok and Blackarachnia to investigate. Blackarachnia wonders if maybe they should figure out who build this flying island first, but Megatron tells her to never question him and move out. They need to claim the island before Tigertron can report into his comrades. Blackarachnia heads out, but Megatron calls Scorponok over to give him some private additional orders. Three guess what it could be.

 

Back at the Axalon, Airazor reports to the others about how the Predacon fliers were barely functional. Rhinox and Optimus agree that Tigertron wouldn’t have done that, he’ll defend himself but he is against unnecessary harm or killing. Rattrap and Dinobot almost get into a fight again, but Cheetor cuts them off, reporting Blackarachnia and Scorponok are on the move. Optimus asks Airazor if she thinks she can follow them covertly and she says “easily.” She transforms and heads out. Rattrap notes that something has Megatron worked up, Cheetor is hopeful that it might be Tigertron still being alive, but Optimus points out that while that would be good, they need to reach him quickly or that’ll change.

 

Tigertron climbs onto the main body of the island. He notes how strange it is that this seemingly tropical island can exist in the frozen north and in the sky no less. He accidentally crosses a boulder with a glyph on the side and triggers several traps. A pit fall that would drop him to the planet below and several hammer like spring traps. He Maximizes and tries to dodge but gets cornered. He pulls his gun and blasts them, and it’s only then that the Obelisk charges up and tries to blast him. He realizes that energy weapons aren’t allowed here, reverts to beast mode and says that he should remain a visitor not an invader.

 

Blackarachnia and Scorponok come across the flying island cloud. Scorponok launches one of his cyber bees at it. Through its camera he sees the island landscape, the fields and rivers and the giant Obelisk in the center. It starts to return to him, but Tigertron tackles it. Blackarachnia says that they will take care of him, too, transforms and launches a cable at the island. Airazor was flying by and follows them, though Scorponok spots her and prepares to fight. Tigertron disables the cyber bee, saying that this is probably a bad sign for peace on the island, but it might be useful. He looks up in time to see Airazor being shot down by Scorponok. She crashes onto the island and the Predacons are nearly obliterated by the Obelisk. Blackarachnia figured out that it reacts to their weapons and that they will need to capture it carefully.

 

Tigertron finds Airazor and tells her to rest, letting her beast mode initiate internal repairs. She tries to warn him about the Predacons but he already knows, saying he sent the reprogrammed cyber bee back to the base. At the base, Cheetor presents the bee to Optimus. He notes it’s good that he didn’t just shoot it down. Cheetor said he would have but it had one of Airazor’s feathers, and then Rattrap adds that he actually tried and missed. They activate the bee and get Tigertron’s message. He tells them that Airazor’s been hurt, and warns them of the island, the Obelisk and how if the Predacons can take control of it they’ll use it to win the Beast Wars. Credits roll.

 

This is a solid two-part episode. The aliens that left artifacts all over this planet have been on the backburner for a few episodes now and a flying island is a great way to make them relevant again. The island in question is indeed a paradise as Tigertron puts it, but I don’t know, a powerful energy blast to anyone who disrupts that peace feels like overkill. Whatever they are, they are powerful, and use writing of some kind given the glyph Tigertron passed that triggered the trap. And also having that little bit about one of the planet’s moons is solid foreshadowing. Let’s just say that their scans of the moon are one hundred percent accurate, you’ll see why that’ important in a few episodes. I don’t think it takes a genius to realize what special orders Megatron gave to Scorponok. Treachery is in the baseline code of basically all the Predacons except him, so Megs obviously told him to watch out for Blackarachnia to pull a backstab and to take her out when she does. And the fact that Blackarachnia knows that as well does not bode well for Scorponok’s chances at taking her out when the time comes. She’s a black widow for a reason. Trapping Tigertron and Airazor together will make for an interesting dynamic, a bird who can’t fly and the largely pacifist tiger, what a mismatched pair. The others will have to move fast to give them back up. Oh, and blocking Rattrap and Dinobot’s fights feels dangerous. If they don’t start arguing soon, they’ll both short circuit. Next time, part two. See you then. 

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Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 15

Another pod makes landfall. 

Last time on Beast Wars, we had some Jurassic Park shenanigans to deal with. Megatron created a clone of Dinobot to infiltrate the Maximals base. The major flaw in the clone was its inability to transform. Terrorsaur traps the original Dinobot in a collapsed cave and the clone gets to work. The clone is able to clear out the base, lying about a Predacon assault and then attempting to dispose of Rattrap on the sly to add credibility to his lie. Dinobot escapes the cave and returns to base. The two dinos battle, the OG Dinobot being the victor. He tricks Megatron into thinking he’s the clone just long enough to get Megatron into range of the base’s cannons. After, it’s revealed he ate his clone. Gross. Enough recap, lets get to it.

 

We open with a stasis pod in space. It’s struck by some debris and drops toward the planet. We get a helpful bit of exposition from the pod’s onboard computer telling us the hit from debris has damaged the pod’s seals and some internal systems. So… not good.

 

Down on the planet, Tarantulas is on comms when their computer detects the pod. He has it calculate the landing coordinates. Knowing the spider, he probably would have kept this to himself and done something terrible to the proto-form inside, but Megatron was eavesdropping and takes over. The computer tells them that the pod will land close to their territory, but its drop from space is erratic, so they won’t be able to get an exact landing point. Scorponok and Blackarachnia are the closest to the pod. Tarantulas offers to go and help as he’s their best coder and hacker, but Megatron says his skills are needed at the base. He’s ordered to tell the other arachnids to go for the pod and to put Terrorsaur and Waspinator on alert. Given how pissed Tarantulas seems when he’s alone, I think my guess that he had his own plans for the pod was spot on. He calls Megatron a Tyrand behind his back and Megatron calls him a Treacherous Arachnid, so they seem to have the measure of each other.

 

Out in the wilderness, Rhinox is surveying a bit of the Predacons territory. They’ve got a lot of Energon deposits in the area, but it’s all unstable, forming little geysers of energy. He’s about to write the expedition off when he sees the pod dropping. He maximizes and tracks it’s trajectory with his eyes. He tries to radio into base, but the interference is too extreme. He jumps down from the cliff he was standing on and starts running towards it. Thankfully, it turns out that Cheetor was scouting (resting in a tree) nearby and saw the pod. He radios Tigertron, whom he was scouting with and asks him to go back to base to let them know and then to follow him to his position. Tigertron agrees and tells Little Cat to be safe, to which he confirms to Big Cat. As he runs off a Falcon seems to fly after him.

 

Scorponok and Blackarachnia see the pod, Scorponok praising Megatron for telling them this and Blackarachnia mocks him for always groveling to their boss. He says that Megaton rewards loyalty and punishes treachery, which just makes her laugh harder.

 

The pod crashes into the ground and Rhinox comes on it a few moments later. Which is great because it’s badly damaged. A rock landed on the hatch and badly cracked it. Rhinox’s body starts shorting out due to high levels of Energon exposure, so he diverts power from his weapons to shields. He opens the pod. The proto-form inside is in bad shape, being almost a silver goo. Were its shields up and stable it should resemble a robotic humanoid shape, so it being barely recognizable as humanoid is very bad. He pops open the computer on the pod. He orders the computer to start scanning for lifeforms, but the damage is too extensive for that. He’s informed he’s got 8 cycles (minutes) to do repairs or the proto-form’s spark will go out.

 

FYI, this is the first time that the term “spark” was used. Before this the inner power source for a Transformer that also functioned as its brain/heart/soul was dubbed the Laser Core.

 

Rhinox pops open the pod’s side hatch and starts trying to replace damaged microchips. Cheetor arrives and the two compare notes. He tells Cheetor they need to fix the pod and soon or the Proto-form will die. Cheetor obviously wants to help, asking what they can do and Rhinox rather despondently says that he wishes he knew.

 

Tigertron, meanwhile, is running at full tilt for the base. He hears the clicking of Scorponok’s claws, transforms and ambushes him. Tigertron freezes Scorponok but takes a poison arrow from Blackarachnia. She leaves them both, saying she’ll be back for Tigertron when she’s got the new Predacon at her side.

 

Back at the pod, Rhinox explains to Cheetor the main issue here. The crash damaged the pod’s locking chip, it’s what regulates their bodies ability to absorb Energon. Without it, and on a planet like this one, it’ll fry their internal circuitry in minutes. Cheetor Maximizes and offers his chip. Rhinox tells him he’ll need to go offline for a few minutes while they perform brain surgery. Cheetor goes into repair mode and has a trippy vision/dream of Rhinox explaining sparks to him. Like I said before, they serve as the heart/brain/soul. They’re unique to each Transformer, when one goes online there is great joy and if one is extinguished the universe weeps. Cheetor comes back online and says that vison was ultra-gear. Rhinox says to tell him later and he makes some quick repairs. They’re able to restore the pod’s stasis lock, solidifying the liquid metal of the proto-form back into shape. Unfortunately, he just bought them time. And to make matters worse, the Energon concentration in the area is causing him shorts even with his dampeners on max. Cheetor suggest taking it back to base and use the restoration chamber on it, but there’s not enough time. Rhinox needs to get the scanner back online and hopefully find something with DNA for it to scan in this wasteland. And then they pick up Blackarachnia’s signal.

 

Cheetor faces off against Blackarachnia. They take shots at each other, Cheetor shooting a boulder and burying Blackarachnia in rubble. She breaks free and starts shooting at him. Rhinox, meanwhile is programing as fast as he can. He’s got 4.8 cycles (minutes). Blackarachnia overpowers Cheetor, taking his blaster and then beating with her knees and claws. She goes to shoot him with her venom dart, but he catches it and throws it back at her. She’s down for now, but then he sees Waspinator fly in. He quickly grabs his gun and shoots at the wasp. Unfortunately Terrorsaur flies in at that moment and Cheetor hits his Energon limit. So the big cat has to just run and draw them away.

 

Rhinox plugs himself into the pod and orders it to run the program through his central processor. He’s warned that can cause damage to him, but he says do it anyway. This causes a surge and throws him back, slamming him into a wall. His dampeners are taken off line and he’s force into beast mode. He passes out a moment later. But it seems to have worked, the pod’s scanner perks up and starts scanning for lifeforms.

 

Cheetor is able to take out Waspinator, tricking the bug into flying over an Energon geyser that goes off. But then Terrorsaur flies in and blasts him away. Terrorsaur crows about his good fortune before going to the pod. At it, the computer announces there are no compatible lifeforms in range and the spark will go out in minutes. Terrorsaur lands and says this is his lucky day and Rhinox’s last. But then the falcon from earlier starts circling above them. The pod’s DNA scanner kicks on and samples it. The proto-form transforms, launching into the sky. Rhinox asks Terrorsaur if he’s still feeling lucky as the new Maximal flies in and carries him away from Rhinox. The two of them start dueling in the sky, Terrosaur shooting at her while she flies around the shots. Having enough of this, she charges, announcing “Airazor, Maximize!” and assuming her robot form. She makes quick work of Terrorsaur, breaking him into individual pieces. Airazor lands by Rhinox and already knows him. He asks how she knows him, and she says she just does and that she knows she owes him her life. He says they should just call it even.

 

Back at the base, Rhinox introduces Airazor to the team. He says that they’ll be cleaning up Terrorsaur for days. Airazor says she’s not sure what to make of all this. Rattrap tells her that if she’s smart, she’ll make tracks and Cheetor tells her to ignore him. Optimus tells her she’ll get used to everything and takes her on a tour of the base. Rhinox muses about the Universe being in great joy when a spark comes online. Cheetor is surprised by him using that exact phrasing as his vision but smiles in agreement.

 

This was a great lore episode of Beast Wars. We got more info on Sparks and what makes them important, specifically on how it’s essentially the Transformer’s soul. Each one is unique, it’s their power source and essence and obviously one going out is bad. I liked seeing Rhinox work so diligently to save Airazor. He doesn’t hesitate to risk himself in an effort to save this unique life form. And there’s just something so COOL about Airazor rocketing out of her pod and then going toe to toe with the more dangerous of the Predacon Air Squad. She’s fast, she’s strong, and falcons are cool. It’s no wonder that she got the most screentime of all the Maximals in Rise of Beasts. I don’t mind telling you that she’ll be getting a fair amount of screentime going forward. A factoid about her that makes me laugh is that in the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, they give her a man VO and present her as a man. The Japanese distribution company I guess didn’t have faith that boys would want to buy toys of a female character (a dumb stereotype that persists). It’s definitely weird, but I guess her design is androgynous enough they could pull it off? Whatever. Good intro to a good character. Next time, the mystery of the planet they’re on gets deeper as they rise higher. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: What If...? ep 18

 Strange Supreme is back, nothing suspicious about that...

Last time on What If…?, Captain Carter got to live every Shakespear nerd’s fantasy and traveled to the year 1602. It’s a weird version of the time period, though, with Avengers, Norse Gods, and Space all mixed into it. She’s tasked with finding the ‘forerunner,” another person like herself that is from another time whose presence is causing this reality to break apart. A job made much more complicated when Queen Hela is lost to a rift and King Thor declares her an outlaw. With the help of Rogers Hood and his band of Avengers (Bucky, Scott Lang and some generic guy), Renaissance man Tony Stark, the man in the Iron Mask Banner, and Sir Fury on the inside, they’re able to power a device Stark made to do just that. It’s revealed to be Steve. Turns out, this version is from a timeline where in the battle against Thanos in Wakanda, his shield clipped the Time Stone in the fight. This caused the rift which merged 1602 and 2023 timelines together to make this composite world. Steve, memory restored, chooses to sacrifice himself and go back. The timeline corrected; Carter goes to get a drink when she’s joined by Strange Supreme. Enough Recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Ep 18: What if Strange Supreme Intervened?

 

Quick Recap on Strange Supreme for those who might not remember him. He’s from a timeline where instead of getting his hands horribly mangled in a car accident that starts him on his path to be a wizard, his only friend and on-again off-again girlfriend Christine is killed. More desperate to get her back than mainline Stephen was to get his hands back, he sought forbidden knowledge to break a canon event and save her. He absorbed demons to get the power to do it. He’s able to after beating an absorbing an alternate version of himself that the Ancient One created to try to stop him. But in breaking the canon event he broke his universe and it all, including Christine, melted around him. He was left in that bubble of time, allowed out briefly to help the Guardians of the Multiverse battle Infinite Ultron but was put back in with Killmonger and Arnim Zola suspended in a smaller time bubble, forever battling for the Infinity Stones. Enough Recap.

 

The episode opens with Peggy Carter in the bar in 1602, London. After the Watcher gives us a brief rundown of Captain Peggy Carter’s history, we find her talking with Strange Supreme. Carter is happy to see him as being stuck 400 years in the past doesn’t sound super fun to her, and Strange teases her about being sick of first run Shakespear and outdoor plumbing already. He upgrades their drinks to single malt whisky and Peggy asks him for a ride home. He agrees to help. The Watcher foreshadows that these two will need to work together to stop something terrible.

 

Carter and Strane enter his sanctum, the Sanctum Infinitum. Carter is shocked to discover that Strange has expanded his collection of prisoners trapped outside of time from Infinite Ultron. He’s apparently been traveling through the multiverse, containing Universe Killers, and sealing them in orbs. The pillars and halls decorated with them suggest he’s been extremely busy. Carter asks if this is his self-imposed penance. He’s glad she understands his thought process, and says he needs her help with something a little embarrassing. When she guesses that one escaped, he asks how she got that, and she explains that after watching Gremlins, Jurassic Park, and Aliens, she learned that collect enough dangerous things and one always escapes. Carter is hesitant to help, as she can already hear the Watcher telling her that meddling with the Multiverse is always a bad idea. He begs for her help, and she agrees.

 

He takes her to some kind of viewing area and shifts it to a version of the South Dakota Badlands, saying he lost his Universe Killer here. He upgrades Carter’s armor back to the 21^st century version and tells her that she’ll know her target when she sees her. Which, Carter admits, is worrying. Carter makes him promise to take her home after this, crossing his heart, before she heads through the portal.

 

It's winter in South Dakota, which can get freezing I can tell you as a neighbor to that state and walks through the woods. She finds a battered Mount Rushmore, but with the Red Skull’s carved into the mountain. The Watcher arrives, saying that the bomb at Project Rebirth in this universe was much more powerful, killing both her and Steve Rogers. Without as Super Solider Captain to lead the fight back against them, HYDRA unleashed their tesseract weapons against the world, won WWII but destroyed civilization as we know it in the process. The Watcher asks her what she’s doing here, as surely, she’s learned her lesson about meddling in other universes by this point. She says she’s going to meddle, and they’ll never agree on which is better, to interfere or just watch. He says it’s not about Watching but about Seeing and that he wants her to be careful.

 

A moment later a familiar blue blur can be seen in the distance. She’s attacked by the streak, being knocked around by the speedster. She launches her shield at the streak, knocking her back for a moment before she strikes again. The streak, yes it’s Kahhori, catches her Shield and the two talk it out. I guess she’s learned English since we last saw her. Kahhori claims that Strange is in fact the Universe Killer. Can’t say I’m shocked. She says that she’s not Carter’s enemy, but the delusional radaen:naras (according to the subtitles) is lying to her. A glyph appears beneath them and they’re both captured by Strange.

 

They drop into the Sanctum and Strange immediately starts blasting Kahhori. She blocks it with her powers and is able to tell Carter that Strange is gathering heroes along with Universe Killers and is feeding them into a Forge of some kind. She says he’s lost his mind, and that he’s doing this not to save the Multiverse but to resurrect his destroyed universe. Carter asks him if this is about resurrecting Christine, to which Strange says yes, but she should understand, as she’d do the same for Steve. Carter blocks Strange’s attack, saying she’d never do this for Steve. In part because Steve wouldn’t want her to do it, the price is too high. Strange shrugs and says in the grand scheme of things, no it isn’t and attacks harder, bending his energy around Peggy to strike Kahhori. Carter begs him not to do this but he’s not listening. She leaps through his energy attack and tries to strike him, but he’s got some sort of barrier around him. He says it’s better this way. Thinking fast, Carter sees the walls here are also lined with imprisoned beings. She hurls her Shield at them, knocking spheres free and freeing their captives. She and Kahhori agree that’ll keep him busy for a bit and they superspeed away to break the forge.

 

They stop and see how big the brawl has broken out into. There’s a cyborg rocket, a Malekith the Accursed, and a Hulk that seems to be bedecked in Celestial weapons among the masses of rampaging escapees. Terrifying. Carter is a big enough person to admit that starting a prison riot of universe killers wasn’t her best idea. They super speed away again as Strange comes in and starts capturing them. They run into the bowels of the sanctum and run into the Zombie Scarlet Witch. Shoot. Carter battles the zombie minions while Kahhori fights Wanda. She slams into Wanda and seems to teleport her away and then drops down to help Carter against the horde. Their eyes shift from Wanda’s red to green, and then Hela comes in astride the Fenris Wolf. She says that Zombies are her kind of party and orders them to kneel. Kahhori says the last woman to tell her that ended up regretting it, and Hela counters by saying she’s the Goddess of Death. They’re interrupted by Surtur storming in and Hela locking eyes on her one true nemesis. As they battle, and Strange opens portals to capture them, Carter and Kahhori slip away. As they superspeed away, they run into a Thanos. Before the fight with him gets started in earnest, someone snaps and dusts Thanos. Who? Killmonger, the one from the Guardians of the Multiverse. He’d gotten his hands on the Infinity Armor and was prepared to use it. Carter says they’ll need it to stop Strane, so Kahhori uses her nebulous powers to pull Killmonger from the armor and teleport him to the big brawl upstairs. Killmonger is weirdly silent here, but I guess that they couldn’t get Michael B. Jordan in for 90 second cameo. Carter puts on the Infinity Armor just before the building starts shaking. Kahhori realizes that Strange has started the Forge. It’s a huge pit with some kind of gyroscope deep inside it, and it’s pulsing with energy.

 

They rush in and Carter asks how they destroy it. Strange floats in and says he’d rather they didn’t. They start battling. Carter with the Infinity Stones and Kahhori’s speed prove a match for Strange’s power. As they fight, they Kahhori and Carter get a few shots down into the Forge, disrupting it slightly but not enough to stop it. They get Strange locked in a beam Struggle and Kahhori tells him that he’s lived alone for too long, and that there’s more of them than him. He decides to test that theory and makes bunch of clones, and Carter counters with Reality Stone Clones. Strange tells Carter that it doesn’t have to end this way. Carter tries to charge him with all her clones, but Strane turns them into butterflies. Butterflies cover her vision, and she blacks out.

 

Carter finds herself in the Project Rebirth lab just before Steve is supposed to go through the process. She almost believes the illusion, as Steve tells her that they can be together and be happy here, but she sees through it and punches Steve, who’s really Stephen, in the face. Strange tells her that she brought this on herself and tries to drop his prisoners into the Forge. Kahhori says that the protections around the Forge are weakening and tries to portal everyone home. She’s able to catch them all with her power and shifts the portals they fell through back to their home realities and tries to throw them back through. Strange attacks them, catching Kahhori in a giant hand and keeping Carter pinned in energy. Everyone starts dropping again, but Carter uses the Time Stone to try to send them back. Strange is impressed but says he mastered that trick a long time ago. He uses the Time Stone in the Eye of Agamotto to cancel out hers. She says that his world must be reborn or countless others will die. He also says that he thought Carter would understand, but now she’s finished. Hela, who had broken out of the trance a little says, “Not entirely,” tosses her crown to Carter and says “Give him Hel” before falling into the Forge. The other trapped heroes and villains throw their gear towards Carter and Kahhori. Carter uses a sword to blast him back and gives Kahhori time to save the rest of the prisoners.

 

The women outfit themselves in the weapons of the fallen, Kahhori getting Mjolnir and the Ten Rings and Carter throwing on Hela’s crown and her sword for good measure. They attack Strange in earnest, blasting him with the combined might of the multiverse. As the fighting gets worse, Strange loses control of his form, and starts turning into a monster. They blast him with all the weapons. Carter says it’s over, but Strange says it’s never over. He morphs into a bat monster and says they won’t stop him. He starts eating their weapons and grows stronger. Carter charges him without her armor, but Kahhori throws the Stones to her. She punches Strange and excises his demons from him for a moment. The demons form into a black cloud flowing around the real Strange. She begs for his help to stop this, but he says he can’t, his grief is too strong. It’s grown beyond his control. She says Christine wouldn’t want this, but Strange’s demon form and Strange say that they do. The two merge again and attack Carter. She knocks them into the Forge. She punches Strange but catches herself on the side of the Forge. Strane tries to blast her but the real Strange breaks through and stops hiss demon side, they drop into the Forge and the energy blasts out.

 

Carter wakes up in the Watcher’s realm, who tells her that Kahhori is safe back in her home dimension. They travel to Strange Supreme’s dimension. It turned out his plan worked, he was able to recreate his universe, but it killed him and kept him from being born into this version of Reality. Carter muses at all the pain that Strange caused to make this world he’d never see, and that she’d nearly helped him do it. The Watcher reminds her that she saw the good in Strange and it was in that small moment that let him conquer his demons and save this world. He says that the Multiverse didn’t need him to intervene, it just needed her. He offers to take her home again, which she agrees to, but suggests that they take the scenic route, surely there’s things to see. He tells her to just watch as the credits roll.

 

That was a fine finale. We’re setting aside my knowledge that technically the Infinity Stones should have no power outside of their home dimension as once again it lead to a kick ass fight scene. I’ll start by saying I tend to find ‘alt universe version of a hero is the greatest villain’ stories to be boring. Some can be interesting, like the Boom Studio’s comics making a version of Tommy Oliver that chose to be evil and sided with Rita Repulsa only to betray her and become Lord Drakkon. But most equate to “one bad day can make you a monster” and I personally don’t subscribe to that school of thought. That said, Strange Supreme’s fall from grace and into madness makes sense for his character and the fact he let literal demons consume him like Onigumo from Inuyasha, turning himself into a Naraku like monster, held together only by his grief at doing his beloved and his entire universe. Grief and anger like that coupled with his self-imposed isolation does things to people, terrible things. But I like that the writers gave Stephen the moral victory in ultimately holding his dark side back and sacrificing himself to restore the world. The message that the best part of him survived even if it was smothered by his dark side is a good one. Carter and Kahhori were a nice pairing for this one. Carter has got the name recognition, experience, and tactical thinking, and Kahhori has the nebulous powerset that comes with being exposed to an Infinity Stone. Super Speed plus energy and portal manipulation, a mixed bag but no more broken then say Captain Marvel. It was neat to see visual cameos of all the villains the show has done and some other concepts they haven’t like War God Hulk or Cyborg Rocket. I wonder if they’ll appear in a future season… they have the assets now. The final battle with the two heroes bedecking themselves in the gear of others was super neat too. While Infinity Stones + Hela’s Crown + Sword + Ten Rings + Mjolnir is a lot, I would have liked to see them use a few more the weapons before the big beam struggle. All I’m saying. So yeah, fun finale. Oh, and yeah, Marvel, find someway to bring Kahhori into the main MCU timeline, with Devery Jacobs reprising the role. Do it. You know you want to. Think of all the brownie points that kind of inclusion could give you. Think of pissing off DeSantis even more! Worth a shot. Have a good night, everyone.

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Viewer Log: What If...? ep 17

I wonder if Peggy was at all annoyed by the name "Maid Margaret"...

Last time on What If…?, Hela was given the Thor treatment. Rather than being banished to Hela the Realm, she was instead banished to Earth. Odin also enchanted her crown, but where Thor had to prove he was worthy, Hela would need to prove she knows mercy. She lands in ancient China and meets Xu Wenwu, bearer of and leader of the Ten Rings. Hela tries to steal the rings after it is shown they were powerful and she couldn’t move her crown, but Wenwu is too powerful for her. She flees his palace, taking the creature one day dubbed Morris by Trevor, the ‘Mandarin,’ as the creature told her he could lead her to a source of power. I should note that Wenwu only said that they should work together, like, dude didn’t even flirt with her when she wasn’t into it or anything creepy. She travels across China and ends up in Ta Lo. She’s taken in by Ta Lo and trained by its citizens to harness elemental power while also working through her issues. She has an epiphany that while she ‘wants’ to conquer the universe, this is the means to her end, the end she wanted was merely freedom to choose her own life. She realizes this just before Odin is informed of her disappearance, Ta Lo is outside of Heimdall’s sight, and launches an attack on the Ten Rings to avenge his daughter. Hela rushes to the fortress and she and Wenwu battle Odin. Hela has a speech about understanding mercy, her crown returns to her and Odin abdicates his throne to her, acknowledging she learned her lesson far better than he’d hope. The episode ends by saying Hela spent the next few centuries undoing the conquest she’d helped and showing her and Wenwu leading an army to battle Thanos. Fun. Enough Recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Ep 13: What If The Avengers Assembled in 1602?

 

We open with Loki reciting the “To be, or not to be,” soliloquy from Hamlet. He’s performing the play for a crowd of peasants, but also his siblings. Thor is heckling him like Statler and Waldorf of the Muppets and making Hela laugh. Hela is dressed rather regally so I assume she’s important here. A bunch of green lightning flashes and a portal opens. The peasants are ordered to run. Loki is almost sucked up but is caught by the time displaced Captain Carter and pulled back down. Unfortunately, Hela is caught and pulled though. Carter tries to save her too, leaping to the sky to grab her but she can’t get a good grip on Hela’s hand, and she’s pulled through and the rift closes. Her staff clatters to the ground and the peasants dub Thor their king. Thor is obviously not happy his sister and Queen was taken and accuses her of being the cause of the rifts. He exposits that the Scarlet Witch drew Carter there to stop the Rifts, but they’ve only grown worse since she arrived. He orders that she be taken prisoner. Carter obviously doesn’t go quietly, beats up a bunch of guards and then runs off. Thor orders the Scarlet Witch be brought to him to talk about her ‘hero.’

 

The Watcher cuts in to give us the gist of the situation. He explains that Carter was brought here to help this world but postulates that this strange but familiar time might just be a universe that is meant to die. But a glimmer of hope can perhaps change that. He explains that this dimension was collapsing in on itself and in an act of desperation, Scarlet Witch pulled in a hero from another world to try to save it. She wanted to help but after weeks of failure, she’s been deemed a failure and is being hunted for it. As the Watcher pontificates how utterly alone and forlorn Carter is… she points out that she can hear him. While he’s shocked by this, the Watcher warns her that this is a situation that she cannot understand. She then sums it up as this is a reality where the early 17th and the early 21^st century have been mushed together like two pieces of gum and she’ll need to unstick them before they collapse. The Watcher offers to bring her home, but she refuses to go. He tells her that worlds die, and he’s seen millions in his time… which is a severe understatement given his power. This is the Watcher; he sees all of time and space. The symbol to denote how many worlds he’s seen die is literally the infinity symbol.

 

We cut to Thor’s throne room where Sir Fury says that the rifts are increasing and growing stronger across the globe. The Isle of Ego, Nebula’s Observatory and Groot Groves have been destroyed. Thor swears that this is their darkest hour, but he refuses to let it be their last. He wants Carter brought in. Scarlet Witch tells him that she’s not the causes but is the one who can save them, along with another from a time yet to come. This pisses off the king’s aide, Happy Hogan, but Thor tells him to calm down. She says that this person is a ‘lost traveler’ someone that fell through time whose presence is causing their universe to collapse. Fury whispers to Carter, who’d been listening from a window, that she has her mission, and she leaps off.

 

We cut to the next morning where she wakes up Tony Stark, who’s some kind of alchemist in this universe. They examine the Yorik skull she’d taken from Loki the night before and find that there are particles of something on it. She postulates that it might be radioactive, and ye olde Tony says he loves her made up words. There’s a crash on the roof that distracts them. Carter tells him that she’s looking for another traveler to their realm and thinks that person will have a similar aura to her. She asks if Tony can trace it, he says yes in theory, but they don’t have anything to power that kind of magic. The only item that could is the king’s scepter, which Thor isn’t likely to give Carter right now. So he tells her they’ll need to steal it. And they’ll need a thief.

 

We shift focus to Loki riding in a carriage, talking about a new play that Will is working on about Iago. Of course Loki is most interested in the villain of the piece. They’re stopped by Rogers Hood and his band of outlaws. The group seems to consist of Rogers, Bucky, and Scott Lang. They steal money, clothes, and cakes from Loki. Before they can leave, though, Carter walks up and Rogers says he’s seeing a ghost. His “maid Margaret” died months ago. Guess these two literally can’t be together in any timeline without cheating. Loki tells his driver to ride off while they’re lost in each others eyes.

 

They retreat to the bands treehouse where Carter explains the situation to Rogers. He seems on board with stealing the scepter and is impressed with Carter just rolling with the punches about being sent to another world. He asks if there’s another Steve Rogers in her time, but before they can hash out multi-dimensional relationships, they’re attacked. Hogan had found their treehouse and launched squadrons of Yellowjackets at them, the soldiers being shrunk down before being fired in masse by muskets. The outlaws do battle with the Yellowjackets, Scott saying he can’t stand copycats as he also shrinks and grows to fight them. Bucky fires a barrage of crossbow bolts at Hogan, who freaks out and briefly turns purple. Rogers warns him to not make Hogan mad. They think they won for a moment, but the Destroyer comes in and starts blasting. Carter tells them to run, find Stark and get the scepter. She and Scott hold off the Destroyer long enough for the others to get away.  She’s captured and taken to the tower.

 

We see the king’s executioner, the Red Skull, sharpening his axe. Carter in her tower asks if Uatu is watching. He is, always, and offers again to bring her home. She refuses, asking him to help her find the ‘forerunner.’ The Watcher says he can’t see events clearly when a world is close to extinction. This world is destined to die, and she can’t change that. She says that if you see someone hurt, you help them. The Watcher points out that she has no idea what her actions might do. He asks what will she do if finding the forerunner is the final straw to destroy this universe? Or if fixing the universe traps her. She says she has to try, because she’s Captain Carter. She breaks her bonds and breaks out of her cell. She beats her way through the guards and finds a cell, the ‘monster in the iron mask.’ He tells her to leave him alone, as it’s quite in his cell. She apologizes to Bruce before tricking the guards into shooting at the cell, pissing him off and turning him into the Hulk. She rides on his back to freedom. She promises to fix things.

 

They return to Stark’s workshop. He’s gotten a device together that he says will find the forerunner and blast them back to their home dimension. They just need the ‘magic stone’ from the scepter to do it. FYI, if the colors are consistent to the MCU, the stone in question is the Time Stone. Rogers and his men arrive, saying that storming the castle is there thing.

 

They break into the castle during a royal court session. They all slip in, Carter and Rogers in the crowd, Stark as a choir boy hiding his box, and Lang and Barnes as horn blowers. Before the session can get started a rift opens. Scarlet Witch tries to force it shut but her power isn’t enough. The Hulk bursts in as the ‘signal’ and things kick off. Thor wants to join the fight, asking Thor where the hammer he got him is and Loki says he misplaced it. Rogers and Hogan get into a sword fight, Rogers slicing the feather from his hat. This pisses Hogan off enough to transform into his hulk form. Carter goes before Thor and begs for his help, but he refuses. He draws the ‘All-Father,’ a Vibranium sword from Wakanda. Carter says he’s more of a drama queen that Loki, to which Loki says ‘bless.’ Hulk and Hogan battle, Bucky and Rogers beat the Red Skull, and Carter tries to overcome Thor. Stark runs up with the box with help from Lang. Scarlet Witch stops Thor and Carter’s fight with her powers, letting Fury take the scepter and bringing it to Stark. They try to activate the machine, but it doesn’t work at first. They get it working just as Scarlet Witch’s power runs out. A green blast strikes them all and the Forerunner is revealed.

 

It’s Steve. The energy wave helps restore his memory. He reveals that this Steve remembers battling Thanos during the events of Infinity Wars in Wakanda. In this timeline, he struck the Time Stone in the fighting, and this must have jumbled the timelines together. Carter says she can’t lose him again, not like this, and Rogers being Rogers sacrifices himself to undo the timeline melding. There’s a bright flash and everyone vanishes save Peggy Carter. She goes to a bar to have a drink. There’s a flash behind her and she asks if that’s the Watcher come to gloat. It’s revealed to be Strange Supreme and he says he’s got a story to tell her.

 

This was an interesting penultimate episode for this season. I thought the premise was interesting, having this weird mashup of past and present MCU. I assume all the powers that were shown off would be explained as Magic in their world, I mean, it’s kind of magic already. I thought it was interesting to see how their powers interacted with the world, the Yellowjacket ambush squad being the most interesting use of the setting and technology. I mean, using muskets to launch waves of soldiers at your enemy? Brilliant. Happy Hogan as essentially the Sheriff of Nottingham was probably my favorite character in this one, with the handlebar mustache and pompous buffoonery. Though the Red Skull as the executioner and Loki as a literal Shakespearian Drama Queen tie for second. Adding the bit about the Watcher not being able to see events near a possible extinction/universe collapsing event was good, smart storytelling. This basically allows them to have finales with tension despite a near omnipotent voyeur watching, since any threat big enough to threaten the whole viewed reality is enough to keep him from knowing what the ending is beforehand. The reveal that Rogers was the man out of time works, though it was a little too neat for me. I don’t know, I guess I’d assumed the Forerunner would be someone that benefited somehow in this new universe and Robin Hood Steve Rogers didn’t quite fit the bill for me. Granted, that would have needed it to be Fury or Hogan or someone else in Thor’s employe then, which may have been just as ‘neat’ in that regard, but who knows? I do like that they decided to tie it back into the battle with Thanos and show how even touching the Infinity Stones can have incredible unforeseen circumstances. Those stones are the physical manifestation of the concepts they’re named after, so yeah, touching the Time Stone could have some wonky effects on time. I did like Steve’s little speech about how he’s sure there’s at least one universe where they can be together. I’m curious to see what Strange Supreme has been up to. We know he’s been out of his pocket of time for a bit now, having interacted with Kahhori in her timeline a few episodes back. Whatever got him out, be it his own power or the Watcher needing his backup again for some big project can’t possibly be good. But we’ll see about it tomorrow. Have a good night everyone. 

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