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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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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