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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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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