Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 35

 Let Battle Be Joined! 

Last time on Beast Wars, we learned the secret mission of the Axalon. Cheetor discovered a crashed oversized Stasis Pod and called it in. Optimus and Silverbolt fly out to meet him, and Optimus explains that this is Protoform X. He was an attempt to make a Maximal with the mutation that Starscream’s spark had that made it immortal. The result was a Transformer that was nigh invincible, but Protoform X was also extremely violent and aggressive. Their conversation was ultimately interrupted by Blackarachnia and Waspinator arriving to steal the Protoform, and then Tarantulas arriving to torture and probably murder Blackarachnia. The fight caused the Energon the pod was sitting on to overload and cause a massive storm that threw everyone around. Silverbolt and Blackarachnia ended up together and agreed to a truce until they could contact their teams. Tarantulas landed with the Protoform, which activated and ripped him to pieces. He’s fine. Silverbolt and Blackarachnia bond as they travel, despite their best efforts to avoid it. Silverbolt tried to coax out Blackarachnia’s better nature, but she fought him every step of the way. They were ultimately cornered by Protoform X, that revealed he was a Transmetal Coconut crab, with a tank alt-mode. Optimus and Cheetor arrive and help the unlikely pair fend off the colossal crustation. Megatron came across the body, he’d been monitoring Blackarachnia the whole time, and performed invasive heart surgery on the Protoform. He removed the spark and placed it in a vice of Energon to keep the Protoform, whom he redubbed Rampage, in line. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with a group of protohumans in a forest within a valley. They’re attacked by a large anaconda, and one is eaten alive. Dark way to open an episode. We then cut to Dinobot kneeling, sword drawn and clearly getting ready to perform seppuku. If you don’t know samurai traditions, it’s a form of ritual suicide that’s supposed to save the honor of disgraced samurai. The samurai cuts their stomach open with their blade and often have an attendant with them to decapitate them, so they don’t suffer. It’s gnarly, but I suppose Dinobot considering it shows how messed up be feels about the whole Golden Disk thing. He’s unable to end his life, though, and tosses his sword aside.

 

Optimus comes onto the bridge and asks Rhinox what’s up. Rhinox explains that the transwarp explosion released a shockwave across space time. He’d discovered that the wave was accelerating the farther it gets from them and by his calculations should reach Cybertron soon. Because of the weird space time rules of this show it’ll also hit Cybertron at a point in their future, ya know, so Cybertron knows what the hell is going on. If it hit the Cybertron in the year they’re on Earth the only one who’d be listening would be a very confused Shockwave. They’re going to know where they are. Optimus realizes that Megatron would also have made the same calculations, so they’ll need to increase the base defenses in case Megs starts getting desperate and attacks again.

 

Sometime later, Dinobot crosses paths with Rattrap, who makes a lot of passive aggressive jabs at him about the Golden Disk and his recent betrayal. When Dinobot snarls and threatens him to just try pushing him one more inch, Rattrap actually snaps. He shoves Dinobot back and snipes at him, “Ya know, I used to figure I had you pegged. Ya, he’s a slag spouting saurian. But at LEAST you know where he stands.” He storms off. Dinobot is angry, but he admits that Rattrap is correct. He wonders if destiny has tested him and if he’d failed. He claims that a deed once done cannot be undone, but it can perhaps be mitigated. He transforms into raptor mode and runs off with a blaster in hand.

 

Cheetor is on a scouting mission and comes across Megatron and Rampage near the valley from the opener. Some time must have passed between episodes as he’s not surprised to see Rampage with Megatron. They transform and shoot at Cheetor, driving him off. Dinobot, meanwhile, is tracking Tarantulas. He sniffs at some of the spider’s Energon silk when he hears Cheetor’s distress call. He hears Cheetor get shot down and panics for a moment, but Cheetor recovers, saying he’s falling back to base but someone needs to keep an eye on Megatron. Dinobot promises that someone will.

 

We cut to Tarantulas leaving his lair to pick up dinner. Despite his upgraded form, it seems he’s kept up his quirk form season one, where he cosplays as an actual spider. He captures animals and drains their fluids, I mean. He attempts to grab a deer, but Dinobot grabs him instead, saying that the ‘stench of his perversions revealed the lair to him. He holds Tarantulas by the throat and demands to know what is on the Golden Disk. Tarantulas says he can’t tell him. Dinobot shoots near his head, freeing the deer and spooking the spider to elaborate. He literally can’t tell him, as Megatron isn’t letting the disk out of his sight anymore. No copies, just the original that he always keeps with him. Dinobot announces that he will have to get it from Megatron. Tarantulas mocks him, saying that Megatron is miles from them right now. Taking a page of his new travel habits with Rattrap, Dinobot makes Tarantulas drive him in motorcycle mode. Ya know, because he’s keeping that blaster to his head. Tarantulas swears vengeance but Dinobot just says, “Shut up and accelerate.”

 

At the valley we see the protohumans milling about and then freaking out when they see the flying dinosaur. Megatron in flight mode soars over them and lands on a hill beside Ramage. He deems a mountain in the distance as the perfect target for their experiment. Rampage makes a snide remark and Megatron punishes him with a vice squeeze. He tells the giant crustation that he’s expecting a visit from Cybertron soon. Rampage says he’s looking forward to his imminent demise then. Megatron agrees that’s a risk, but only if history remains the same. He pulls out the Golden Disk and puts ‘The Sounds of Earth’ in a projector attachment to his tail lance. He uses it to show an image of the mountain. He orders Rampage to shoot the mountain. Rampage briefly considers shooting Megatron instead but fires on the mountain. Dinobot arrives in time to see the mountain get destroyed and see that it changed on the “Sounds of Earth” image. They both realize that changing their present alters the future and that Megatron’s power is virtually limitless so long as he has the disk and the future knowledge it contains. Megatron has studied the disk a lot since stealing it and knows that they valley they’re standing beside is the God Damned cradle of humanity. Knowing that human’s involvement is what ultimately helped the Autobots defeat the Decepticons in the Great War… Megatron 2 thinks he and his crew might give Megatron 1 a hand by wiping out our ancestors. Inferno, Quickstrike, Blackarachnia and Waspinator arrive to back him up. Panicked, Dinobot tries to call in backup but gets shot by Tarantulas when his back is turned. Tarantulas taunts him about how spider’s are venomous, but Dinobot counters with, “But they still SQUASH” before shooting a boulder onto Tarantulas, crushing him. Dinobot, injured, gets in contact with Optimus and warns it’s a code red situation. Just as the Predacons start attacking the protohumans. Optimus says they’ll get there ASAP but he should fall back and wait for them. Dinobot refuses, saying that he now knows the future isn’t written in stone, his choices matter, which is ironic since he doesn’t have a choice here. He says, “I am a warrior, let the battle be joined,” and draws his sword.

 

We cut to the Maximals racing across the countryside to reach Dinobot in time. Rattrap, shockingly, is pessimistic about their chances of arriving on time. Rhinox ribs Rattrap for, “always looking on the Brightside,” and Rattrap adds that with Dinobot fighting six Predacons, there won’t be enough of him left to fit in a toaster.

 

The Predacons have the valley ablaze, the protohumans running in terror. Dinobot arrives and quickly dispatches Inferno and Blackarachnia, stabbing the former and using him as a human shield to block Blackarachnia’s attack. He then shoots her with Inferno’s gun and then pops Inferno’s head off. He’s still him a few times in the crossfire but keeps going. So, it’s now 4 v 1. He comes upon Inferno and Rampage next. He comes up with a novel way to disable then. He lands on Waspinator after taking a few hit, knocking him down. Rampage wants to finish him quickly, so transforms into crab-tank mode. Dinobot grabs Waspinator and rams his head into the barrel of the tank’s cannon, blowing it up and crushing Waspinator head. If these guys couldn’t recover from nearly all damage, this episode would be so dark. Dinobot doesn’t come out unscathed though, his body is burned in several places, and his helmet is damaged exposing more of his teeth than normal. Megatron mocks Dinobot’s valiant effort, despite the fact he beat nearly all of Megatron’s troops by himself. He orders Quickstrike to scrap him, and looks at some protohumans, thinking about tilting the odds in his favor.

 

Dinobot tries to clear a path for more protohumans to escape, but is shot in the side by Quickstrike. The scorpion-snake says to not bother getting up, he enjoys kicking folks when they’re down. Dinobot shoots Quickstrike with his laser eyes, but his damage keeps him from a second shot. Quickstrike asks what is a warrior without weapons? Dinobot shouts, “A warrior still,” before beating the oil out of Quickstrike with his bare hands and piledriving him into the ground. Dinobot gets an alert that his power reserves are down to 4% and that he needs to go into stasis lock. Dinobot overrides the command, his internal computer insists he’ll die if he does this, but Dinobot just shouts “OVERRIDE!” again.

 

Megatron arrives in T-Rex mode and decides to mock Dinobot by listing his advantages. Namely that he has the Golden Disk that will allow him to alter history, and the only thing stopping him from erasing humanity from existence is Dinobot, a badly damaged exhausted soldier. Dinobot tries to rush him, but Megatron reveals that he has a protohuman at gunpoint. When Dinobot doesn’t attack him, he says that’s very ‘Maximal’ of him, and how he was always weakened by compassion. He turns his cannon on Dinobot, who does a summersault, grabs a stick and beats Megatron with it. Megatron is barely fazed, dusting himself off and asking if Dinobot really thought a stick would work against his Transmetal body. He smacks Dinobot aside and he starts going into an Energon surge. His internal computer warns that his power is failing and he’s in extreme jeopardy. Megatron mocks Dinobot and his obsolete technology and asks him what he could even do. Dinobot, as if waiting for that line says, “Improvise.” He then slams the stick into a rock and creates a primitive hammer. He then slams it into Megatron’s head, disorientating him knocking the Golden Disk free. This also frees the protohuman who runs off.  He then grabs the disk, holds it up and uses the last dregs of his energy to power his beam eyes. He shatters the disk into splinters before collapsing. The Maximals arrive and star shooting, driving Megatron off. He transforms and moans how he was SO Close!

 

Rattrap drives up, sees Dinobot and gasps. Cheetor puts out the fire with a some chemicals and then everyone gathers around Dinobot’s body. Cheetor asks if there is anything they could do, but Rhinox says he’s too far gone even for Stasis Lock. Optimus tells Dinobot that he did a good job, he protected the valley and the people that live there, and their descendants. Dinobot sighs and says, “Then there is nothing to regret.” Rattrap, while clutching Dinobot’s hand, repeats his ‘Slag spouting Saurian,” assessment but adds that “It’s nice to know where you stand.” Dinobot smiles weakly and just adds, “Upwind of you for preference, vermin.” He quotes Shakespear at his friends, specifically Hamlet, asking them to tell his tale to anyone who asks, truthfully, both the good and the bad and the rest is silence. He dies as Rattrap clutches his hand. We see his Spark raise out of his body into the sky. Everyone stands and salutes him as he goes, Optimus eulogizing him by saying, “He lived a warrior, and died a hero. Let his Spark join the Matrix with the greatest of Cybertron.” We see at dawn they cremate Dinobot’s body as the flyers fly over him in salute.

 

Sometime later, the protohuman from before got his hands on Dinobot’s hammer and uses it to crack a coconut open. He then uses it to kill a snake when it attacks him, the protohuman screaming in triumph when he realized what he did. Huh, Dinobot gave us stone age tools. Neat.

 

Ya know, when I decided to do one more week of Beast Wars content, I didn’t realize I’d end on this episode, but I couldn’t be happier with that accident of timing. This is one of the best episodes in the Beast Wars series. It was a perfect send off to Dinobot, even though as a kid (and still as an adult) I’m sad to see him go. Season 2 has been teasing this idea that Dinobot is going through an existential crisis since realizing they’re on ancient Earth. The idea that he’s in a determinist universe had clearly been messing with him for a while, and that was before he spelled it out or his attempt at Seppuku. I like that it is Rattrap’s chastisement that seems to inspire him to go out and make things right. While the two are antagonistic and always will be, Rattrap’s opinion of him clearly matters to Dinobot and so I think his rebuke hurt him more than anyone else would have. I also liked that moment where he was concerned for Cheetor when he heard him get shot down. He’s come a fair way from that episode where he was willing to sacrifice the big cat to try to get Megatron. The fight itself was spectacular as well. Dinobot taking out each of the Predacons, while still taking damage, was honestly a great way to remind us that Dinobot is a combat expert. A point further highlighted when he took Quickstrike out with his bare hands and then beat Megatron with an improvised hammer. The bot fights and fights extremely well. Taking out Rampage by using Waspinator’s head was my personal favorite TKO. I liked his final moments, too, giving him a moment to say goodbye to his team but specifically Optimus and Rattrap who were the two he was closest to in my opinion. Both their goodbyes touched him in a way that I think made his passing easier. Optimus gave the goodbye of a military commander, and Rattrap the goodbye of a comrade in arms. So… ya, Dinobot sacrificed himself to undo that great mistake that was giving Megatron the Golden Disk. Regardless of what you think of the former Predacon’s choices, I think anyone could agree he did his best to make up for that last screw up. Have a good month, everyone, I’ll try to figure out something else to do next. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 34

 A monster is unleashed. 

Last time on Beast Wars, the aliens interfered again. The transformers were all knocked out by the arrival of what turned out to be an alien vessel, though the Transmetals recovered quickly. Megs and Tarantulas postulate the quantum surge made them similar enough to the alien technology to make them resistant to the Alien’s technology. Megatron and his transmetals boarded the ship and he used the Alien Golden Disk to take control of the vessel. Optimus and Rattrap were able to break into through the Predacons portable shield and tried to stop them, but Megatron unleashed a quantum wave that knocked them out. The Predacons were pulled into the ship and Optimus was kidnapped. Tarantulas was also fired, as Megatron deemed their alliance finished. Rattrap takes Tarantulas back to the Axalon, and he helped them track the ship to the mountain it had moved to. Megatron revealed his plan to take the ship back to Cybertron and use it to prove to the Predacon leaders that war is their only way forward and made a cryptic remark of showing the Maximals and Autobots. The Maximals distract the Predacons long enough for Rattrap and Tarantulas to sneak aboard. Rattrap freed Optimus and they held Megatron off long enough for Tarantulas to sneak in and detonate the transwarp cells Megatron had been brought in. Everyone flees just in time to avoid the explosion. After the dust settled, Cheetor asked what about Tigertron and Airazor, and Optimus promised that they’ll keep looking for them. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open on a swampy forest area, and we find a Stasis Pod laying on a bunch of Energon crystals. Cheetor flies in and reports his finding, noting that the Stasis Pod is extremely big and has an X written across it. Back at the Axalon, Optimus shares a look with Rhinox before telling Cheetor to wait as he’s on his way with Silverbolt. As they walk off, Rhinox mutters to himself “Primus help us if that thing survived.” And we see that Megatron is monitoring the situation and the idea of the big soldier that was housed in that big Stasis Pod intrigues him. His side had been down a man since the alien attack after all. He orders Blackarachnia and Waspinator to the pod and to recruit the occupant. We see that he slipped a tracer of some kind onto Blackarachnia’s back, which camouflages itself after a moment. He says to himself that the spider’s spin their webs, but he spins larger ones… totally missing that Tarantulas has a probe monitoring him under his chair’s arm rest. He’s clearly still butt hurt that Blackarachnia freed herself from his control and remarks how dangerous field work is… especially if he catches her.

 

Optimus and Silverbolt arrive just as Cheetor starts to surge a little from Energon buildup. Optimus examines the pod, and we see giant insect legs hanging out of it. He hopes that the creature is dead. Cheetor asks what it is, and Optimus lets him in on the quote ‘dark secret’ of their journey. He explains that this creature, Protoform X as it’s dubbed, was an attempt by the Maximals to replicate the mutation that made Starscream’s spark immortal in a Maximal. While the experiment worked in the sense it made a Maximal that was seemingly impossible to kill, Protoform X was extremely violent despite also being intelligent. They couldn’t do anything to stop it aside from sticking it in a Stasis Pod and having a decorated captain find a desolate, dead world to drop it off on. Optimus goes in to take a closer look, but then the Predacons attack. They have a firefight, Waspinator getting shot down in the scuffle. Optimus tries to tell Blackarachnia that this is pointless as Protoform X is dead, but she doesn’t believe him. She makes a couple good shots, burying Optimus under some rubble and knocking Cheetor into a pile of Energon, the Energon surging and hitting Protoform X. She starts beating on Silverbolt, demanding that the wolf-eagle give up his stupid chivalry act and fight her. Before they can get more into it, Tarantulas rolls up and tackles her. He puts her in a headlock and demands he give her the information he wants. Megatron, who is watching, also wants to hear what she knows. She calls Megatron a slag spouting saurian, which disappoints them both. Tarantulas plans to torture the information out of her, but Silverbolt gets up and decks him for using a comrade as a Transformer shield. Knocking Tarantulas into the pod proves to be a monumentally stupid idea, as it caused the pod to overload, and that causes the Energon to blow up and make a storm that scatters everyone to the wind.

 

Silverbolt and Blackarachnia crash land some distance away. They’re both badly scuffed from the fall. They pull weapons on each other, but Silverbolt asks if she’s damaged, she answers ‘Just enough to make me interesting.” He remarks that Tarantulas might show up again to attack her and offers to protect her, which she takes given the situation. She suggests he make like a bird and get them out of there, but his wings were damaged in the crash, so he can’t fly. He suggests traveling to the top of a nearby peak so they can get above the Energon storm and contact their teams.

 

Tarantulas crash lands with the pod. He goes to check it out, only to find the pod empty. He looks around, and but misses the giant Transformer sneaking up on him. He screams in terror when he locks eyes on it.

 

Optimus tries to get in contact with Silverbolt, but the storm is causing too much interference. Cheetor hates to admit it, but says they need to fall back to base, get some cycles in the CR Chamber and then come back. Optimus begrudgingly agrees that it’s the best plan and they fall back, Optimus telling his newest soldier to stay safe.

 

Silverbolt and Blackarachnia trudge through the swamp, the spider remarking that even though she considers herself a creature of darkness, she still finds this dark swamp creepy. They find Tarantulas’ arm hanging from a tree, and Silverbolt makes a crack about him being disarmed, which causes them to both let out their tension with laughter. Inferno, who is monitoring Blackarachnia with Megatron, thinks it’s weird they’re laughing together, but Optimus says not to underestimate her, and assumes she’ll betray him soon now that Tarantulas has been seemingly removed as a threat.

 

They walk a while longer and find a fallen tree that gives them a bridge across ravine. Silverbolt goes first. He’s unsteady on his feet given his injuries but makes it a few feet before slipping. He turns to see Blackarachnia pointing her gun at him. He warns her that something is behind her. She thinks he’s trying to distract her… but Silverbolt is incapable of even thinking of doing that. She’s jumped by a sabretooth cat a moment later. Silverbolt transforms into beast mode and fights the big cat, knocking them both into the ravine. He transforms as he falls and grabs a vine. The vine stars to tear under his weight and Blackarachnia points her gun at him. He says he understands, as she is a Predacon. The vine snaps and he falls. Blackarachnia shoots her web crossbow bolt at him, catches him and pulls him up. She asks if he’s damaged and he parrots back the “just enough to make me interesting,” line. The Predacons watching their exchange are all visibly disgusted, Megatron actually saying Yuck. She spins an excuse about maybe needing him to fight off more predators for her.

 

Back at the Axalon, Dinobot monitors the Energon storm. As Optimus leaves the CR chamber, Dinobot insists they give up on the rescue plan for now and instead go on the offensive. He says with the Predacons being down two to their one, they have the numerical advantage. Optimus says that he’ll remember this the next time Dinobot is lost in an Energon storm and heads out with Cheetor. Dinobot says that “Victors do not spurn an opportunity.” When alone, he plugs himself into the ship’s computer and mutters that it might still come down to him. Cheetor and Optimus fly off to find Silverbolt.  

 

As they trudge, Silverbolt feels the need to point out to Blackarachnia that she WAS a MAXIMAL protoform at one point. She tells him to back up, but he insists saving him is a sign that she has a better nature within her. She says, again, shut up, but Silverbolt asks she just admit there’s a spark of goodness deep inside her. She shoots at him with her leg guns and then asks him if she should elaborate. He lets her walk off and then hears her scream. He rushes over and they find Tarantulas’ body. He’s been ripped limb from limb, and, according to Blackarachnia, already in stasis lock. She says the storm couldn’t have done this, and Silverbolt is sure this is the work of Protoform X. She’s shocked by this info as she was sure it was dead like everyone else. Silverbolt mentions it’s supposed immortality… which intrigues the eavesdropping Megatron. He as the computer manufacture an Energon Scalpel for him. They try to flee and run into Protoform X, who has taken the form of a giant Transmetal coconut crab. He transforms and attacks them, knocking Silverbolt aside and shooting at Blackarachnia. Silverbolt throws a javelin at him but X shoots it down, cackling as he does. Optimus and Cheetor spot them and rush in to save them. They call for backup, but Megatron intercepts the coordinates, saying that it’s time for his surgical strike.

 

In coconut crab form, X holds Silverbolt in his massive claws, taunting him and asking the Maximal if he’s feeling fear. X claims that his spark feeds on fear, and he should feel it so he might enjoy his pain. He crushes Silverbolt between his claws and Blackarachnia cries out to him. Optimus and Cheetor fly in and they and Blackarachnia start firing on it. They knock X from the side of the cliff down to his pod. Unfortunately, he then shows off his secondary form, a crab tank. He starts climbing up the side of the cliff on his treads, horrifying the onlookers at his seemingly invincibility. He claims that he raises again, and Silverbolt counters by saying, “In that case, let us give you further to fall.” He hurls a javalin at X’s tread, causing him to crash and fall from the cliff and down through the bigger ravine below. He lets off a shot, though, knocking Blackarachnia down after him. Silverbolt leaps after her, begging his blasted wing to work. It does and he’s able to catch her, flying her princess style back up. Blackarachnia thanks him but tells him to not expect gushing gratitude. He agrees with that, saying she is a Predacon after all. She leaps from his arms and runs off. Silverbolt tries to go after her, but Optimus tells him to leave her. Cheetor asks about X, ol Crab Legs as he calls him. Optimus says that they need to fall back and get Rhinox’s assessment of the situation. Besides, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. They fly off. Silverbolt lingers for a minute and says toward the direction of Blackarachnia that he thinks she’s more than a Predacon and hopes she’ll realize that someday. Blackarachnia takes a moment to watch him fly off, sighing in a “damn he’s hunky” sort of way, before shaking her head and muttering that she didn’t need him to save her anyway.

 

In the ravine, X lays in a crumpled heap, body sparking with an Energon surge when Megatron finds him. He pulls out his Energon scalpel as he looms over the berserker. He wakes up in the Predacon CR pit. Megatron muses that using an Energon blade on any other spark would have destroyed it, but X’s survived it. He calls it an advantage. X pulls his blaster on Megatron, but Megatron is able to stop him. How? He placed X’s spark in a vice of Energon crystals. He squeezes it, and it effectively gives X a heart attack, causing him to drop to his knees in pain. Megatron welcomes X to the Predacons, redubbing him Rampage. Because even Megatron recognizes naming an intelligent lifeform after a letter is stupid… (cough). He says that Rampage will be an honored member of their team, so long as he remembers he belongs to Megatron. He welcomes his new servant to the Beast Wars as he cackled madly.

 

Well, that was a hell of an info dump and entrance. While I’m sure that Rampage as a character didn’t exist in the first season, his introduction does give us a nice explanation as to why the Axalon was in a position to intercept the Predacons at the start of the series. Of course they were in the back end of nowhere space, because that’s the best place to dump an invincible homicidal maniac. We only get a little about Rampage’s backstory here, but I can assure you the sentence of being dumped on a dead world for his crimes is not exactly unwarranted. His design is great too, being bigger than Rhinox or Transmetal Optimus, with those enormous claws and his gun that’s bigger than Rattrap in rat mode. He’s a juggernaut. And the fact he’s eloquent is… unsettling. Like, Optimus said he was smart, but there’s a difference between being told that and hearing him wax philosophically on fear and how it feeds his very spark. I remember hearing once that while he acts psychotic a good chunk of the time, he’s something more akin to a Hannibal Lecter than a Jason Vorhees. Deranged? Yes. But smart. Dangerously smart. Megatron’s Spark in a vice strategy might be the only way to keep him in line. As to the other part of the story… well, they’ve been teasing this development of a Silverbolt/Blackarachnia attraction for a while now. He seems dead set on proving to Blackarachnia that she isn’t as bad as she thinks, and while I wholeheartedly believe that’s mostly because he believes in the good of everyone… I mean, come on. Inferno and Quickstrike are also former Maximal Protoforms and he NEVER tries to convert them even a little. On her part, while she acts disgusted by his chivalrous attitude and heroic speeches… she’s clearly into it. Like, even before they really spoke, she called him hunky. The attraction is palpable and it’ll only increase going forward. And I like Tarantulas’ continued vendetta against the other spider. She clearly wounded his pride when she outsmarted him and it’s a festering wound to him. He won’t be happy until he’s got what she’s hidden and exacted his revenge. It’s like his whole thing now, after killing the aliens and being a pest to Megatron. So… ya, good episode. Next time, Dinobot proves his mettle. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 33

 Another day, another doomsday weapon.

Last time on Beast Wars, the aliens returned. The Maximals realize their wandering allies Tigertron and Airazor were headed towards another alien area. They tried to warn them, but Megatron has been placing jamming towers all over the area so they could reach them. Optimus, Silverbolt, and Cheetor raced towards them, but arrived too late to help. Tigertron and Airazor are beamed off the planet, they promise they’ll find each other wherever they go. Using the fact that most of the Maximals aside from Rhinox were out, Megatron attacked the Axalon with Inferno and Blackarachnia to steal back the Alien Golden disk. They do so and escape before the others return. While the Maximals repair Rhinox, Megatron begins working on a plan to handle the aliens. Tarantulas joins the Predacons to tell them that he’s quitting working for Megatron but will work as a contractor here to get his anti-alien weapon ready. Everyone gathers at the site, the Predacons laying some sort of device around the plant that sent Tigertron and Airazor away, and the Maximals to fight them. Before a scrap can start, though, a new plant-based alien temple forms and everyone is knocked out by an EMP. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

The episode begins with everyone still out after the EMP pulse. The Transmetals are the first to recover, Rattrap remarking that he’d forgotten how “fun” Energon surges were to Optimus. At the temple, Megatron remarks once again that he likes these Aliens, with Tarantulas yelling at him they’d still be in stasis lock if it wasn’t for their upgraded forms. Megatron walks over to a sealed tunnel, touching it, but the temple doesn’t react. Tarantulas thinks it’s because the temple used up most of it’s energy with that blast, and that they’ll need to act fast before they can recharge. Optimus, Rattrap, Cheetor, and Silverbolt try to stop them, but Tarantulas activates the devices they’d implanted. Turns out they were piece of a portable forcefield to keep the Maximals out. Megatron uses the Alien Golden Disk to open a doorway. Optimus yells at him to not do it, as the aliens power is beyond him, but Megatron scoffs and says he is power. He, Tarantulas and Quickstrike revert to beast mode and go inside. Rattrap whines they lost this one big time, but Optimus says they lose when they quit and he’s not quitting. He orders Silverbolt and Cheetor back to base to get Rhinox and Dinobot back online. He asks Rattrap if there’s a way to take out Tarantulas’ shield web, Rattrap says it’s doable but asks what they’ll do once they’re through, since Megatron took the key to the site with him. Optimus says they’ll think of something. Rattrap scoffs at the idea that ‘they’ will do anything, implying it’ll be up to him to break it open, and mutters ‘that’s just prime.”

 

Megatron and his arachnids enter the main area of the alien site. He and Tarantulas kick Quickstrike into the area first to test for booby traps. Nothing goes off, Tarantulas thinking their beast modes have hidden them from the scanners. Megatron transforms, saying he’s done hiding. The aliens still don’t react, confirming Megatron’s theory that their upgraded forms render them invisible to the aliens, with Tarantulas countering that they’re now ‘one’ with their technology.

 

Rattrap has formulated a plan to break the shield, planting demolition charges on both sides of the web. Megaron finds a control panel for the site and places the golden disk on it. He gets hit with an energy surge that keeps the others from getting to him. Rattrap blows the web, rocking the whole structure, and Tarantulas tells Quickstrike to help him keep the Maximals out. Once he’s alone, the surge ends and a control chair comes down for Megatron as he laughs evilly.

 

Quickstrike and Tarantulas pop out and start firing at the Maximals. Optimus transforms into beast mode and uses his flying board to rush the Predacons. Before he can get close enough, though, the ship starts to take off. Both bugs leap from it. The alien ship targets Optimus and blasts him, knocking him and Rattrap off. A tractor beam activates and lifts the Predacons and Maximals skyward. Rattrap gets missed because he hides behind some rocks. Megatron’s face forms on the side of the alien ship, he says that he has control of the Alien ship, so the alien’s presence doesn’t matter. He drops Tarantulas, saying their alliance is over. He then reactivates his troops and brings them and Optimus inside. The ship teleports away and Rattrap is held at gunpoint by Tarantulas.  

 

Megatron teleports them to a snowy mountain, the one Inferno confirms is where he found the alien disk. They’ve got Optimus strung up by his arms. Blackarachnia asks why they’re here instead of attacking the Maximals. Megatron tells her that they will, in good time. He orders Inferno and Waspinator to do something important.

 

At the Axalon, Cheetor and Silverbolt work to try to find out what’s happening. Sivlerbolt says that he’d have better luck sniffing the alien horror out than searching for it with their scanners. Rhinox and Dinobot recover, Rhinox saying he’s getting sick of waking up in their R Chamber, but Dinobot saying it’s better than the scrap heap. They ask what’s going on and Cheetor says they aren’t really sure at this point. Silverbolt detects two signals approaching, Rattrap and Tarantulas.

 

Inferno and Waspinator transport some cargo for Megaron, Waspinator whining that this job doesn’t feel important. Inferno says any job for the royalty is it’s own reward, and Waspinator calls him a kiss ass. Well, he uses the term suck-up, but his tone is kiss-ass.

 

Tarantulas insists that he can find the vessel if he’s given access to the scanners, but Dinobot is keeping him at sword point and telling him no. Tarantulas reasons that if Megatron wanted to attack, he’d be doing it by now, he wants to know why. Cheetor is for scrapping Tarantulas. Rhinox asks Rattrap his thoughts, and he says the spider is their best bet at finding Optimus. Rhinox gives him access but tells him to be careful. Tarantulas does find them in a few keystrokes, complaining that their scanners are pitiful. He also detected the two bugs, revealing their cargo is transwarp cells, he insists they attack at once.

 

Optimus wakes up as Blackarachnia says the transwarp cells are hardwired. Megatron notices and tells Optimus he’s glad he’s awake. Megatron would hate for him to miss their journey home. Optimus is shocked to hear Megatron wants to return to Cybertron with this thing, saying the aliens will destroy their world if they find it. Megatron says he’ll destroy the aliens, after the Maximals, and the Autobots as well. This sounds particularly insane because remember, the Autobots are defunct. They transitioned to the Maximals 300 years ago. Optimus tries to transform but is shocked by his bindings. Megatron says there will be no heroics from Optimus here today. He’ll use Optimus and the vessel as trophies and convince the Predacon alliance that conquest is the only way forward.

 

The Maximals launch an assault on the base. Optimus tells Megatron to cancel his appearance, but Megatron is still confident that more trophies will just make him more persuasive. Silverbolt blows a hole in the side of the ship. Megatron curses them, and orders his soldiers to face them. Tarantulas and Rattrap slip inside, as the attack was just a distraction to get them in. The others fall back. Tarantulas slips away when Rattrap’s back is turned. Megatron begins gloating, powering up the transwarp cells and saying they’ll be home in a few nano clicks. Rattrap comes in and asks if he was really going to leave without saying goodbye. They take shots at each other, Megatron missing, but Rattrap hit his target, Optimus’ bindings. Optimus flies around and knocks Megatron from his control chair. He asks Rattrap if he can stop the teleport sequence. We see the Golden Disk flash and one of the symbols light up. As Megatron and Optimus wrestle in Beast mode, Optimus tells Rattrap to destroy the control chair. Rattrap does but it doesn’t stop the countdown. Tarantulas slips in and infects the transwarp cell with special data tracks. He races away after and Rattrap announces the ship is going to blow.  Megaron bites at Optimus, misses and shocks himself on a pylon. Optimus tells him this time, he loses. Everyone falls back, escaping just before the ship teleports up into space. It explodes spectacularly, Rattrap complimenting the sight. Cheetor asks what about Tigertron and Airazor, and Optimus tells him if they’re still alive, they will find them.

 

Man, the aliens are like 0-2 on sending death weapons to get rid of Transformers. That’s got to piss them off. I think it was interesting to be reminded that both Optimus and Megatron of this era aren’t the de facto leaders of their factions. Since they’ve been butting heads on their little castaway island this whole time, it’s easy to forget that there are entire command structures above them. There’s the implication that despite his ship’s crew size and their current assignment, Optimus is important enough that Megatron bringing him in as a POW would be a feather in his cape. I think that’s been implied for a while, but this is the first time I can recall that it suggests Optimus isn’t just an unlucky explorer that got a crap assignment. Whatever Megatron’s plan is, it seems like it’s monumentally huge. Something that involves the Autobots 3 centuries after they were rendered defunct by the Great Upgrade has to be. You might be wondering why I’m not commenting on the episode itself… but that’s because this is a plot they’ve done before. This is just the flying island story if Megatron got there first, and the island could get them back home. Preds get weapons, preds nearly use weapons, Maximals blow it up. The only difference is that this is the end of the Alien Golden Disk as it went down with the ship, and Tigertron and Airazor’s departure. There’s not too much to say on that plot line. Don’t get me wrong, I like the episode, it just followed a formula closely. Next time, we learn about a very special bit of cargo the Maximals were carrying, secret to almost all of them save their captain and science officer. This’ll be exciting. See you there. 

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Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 32

 They're BACK!

Last time on Beast Wars, Dinobot had a relapse. A growing fear that Megatron would soon win the Beast Wars by executing his mysterious grand plan coupled with an ill-timed kidnapping by Inferno lead to Dinobot offering to rejoin the Predacon cause. Megatron was skeptical of the sincerity of this request but decided to give Dinobot a shot. After humiliating Quickstrike in a trial by combat, Megatron was willing to let him back in. Provided Dinobot handed over the disks. He’d already given the Alien Golden Disk to Rhinox but still had access to the Earth disk. He took Megatron to the disk and turned it over. Megatron prepared to execute Dinobot from behind, but Rattrap saved him by shooting the tyrant lizard. Dinobot disarmed Rattrap with his laser eyes, but was then ordered by Megatron to execute him as a final loyalty test. Dinobot couldn’t go through with it, thought. They scare off Megatron when it’s revealed that Silverbolt and Optimus were enroute, but he escaped with the disk. Dinobot turned himself over to Optimus for judgement, saying that he’d been weak and foolish to think he wanted to be part of Megatron’s grand plan. He says he wants to help the Maximals, going so far as to say he’ll fight Megatron alone if he burned the bridge too thoroughly to be forgiven. Silverbolt wanted to forgive him, and while he dithered for a moment, so does Rattrap, so Optimus lets him stay a Maximal. Dinobot offers to explain to Optimus the full scope of what is happening, but Optimus tells him they can do that back at base. The episode ended with Rattrap giving Dinobot a lift home, purposefully going over bumps to annoy/punish him. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

The episode opens on Rhinox and Dinobot cross referencing all their information on the alien artifacts and records into a database. They’re able to map out all the sites that they’re aware of and guess where a few more might be. Sentinel begins to map the most likely locations, but Dinobot insists that doing this is a waste of time and that Megatron is the greater threat. In a shockingly direct moment, Rhinox chastises Dinobot by reminding him that giving Megatron the Golden Disk didn’t help their situation. Dinobot looks downcast and says that he had his reasons, which he told Optimus off screen, but Rhinox mutters that sometimes Optimus trusts too much. They find out that the next site is right in the path of Tigertron and Airazor’s trek across the planet. They try to radio them, but Megatron has built more jamming stations, and they can’t get a signal out. Dinobot says that he and Rattrap will go destroy the station and Rhinox has no comment for him as he goes.

 

In his lair, Tarantulas is just finishing up an Energon web and complaining that he didn’t have any help to do it when his computer alerts him to a new alien signal. He calls the aliens his ‘prey,’ confirming that he has interest in them as well. He transforms into his cycle form and drives off.

 

And in the Darksyde, Blackarachnia complains to herself how dull being on monitor duty is and how being loyal to Megatron is the worst. Not knowing that Megatron is watching her from nearby. She’s served under him for at least several months in universe, you think she’d guard her tongue more carefully. Before he can chew her out, though, the computer alerts her to Tarantulas’ dash for the alien site. Megatron and Inferno rush over to her station and Megatron demands Tarantulas return to base for questioning, but the great spider ignores his hails. Inferno offers to burn Tarantulas, but Megatron says not yet, and then yells at Inferno for once again referring to him as Inferno’s queen. He starts strangling Inferno when he does it again and tells Blackarachnia to track Tarantulas as she wants to know what got him out of hiding.

 

We find Tigertron and Airazor as they march across a plain. They see a weird plant spore dancing in the wind and Tigertron says that it’s the first bit of vegetation they’ve seen since they began their journey, and they need to find its source. Optimus, Silverbolt, and Cheetor are doing their best to track them down before anything can happen, but Megatron’s jamming station is making it difficult. Optimus has his jets switch to Maximum Burn and they race to their location. Tigertron and Airazor find the source of the floating plants in a valley. They transform to scan the vegetation but get distracted when they marvel at the beauty of seeing something green after weeks of constant burnt landscape. They hold hands and snuggle together just as they’re attacked by vines. They’re pulled apart and engulfed in plants. They reach for each other as they’re lifted over the alien plant. They clasp plants and swear that their sparks will find each other wherever they go before they’re hit with an alien beam of some kind. Cheetor arrives moments too late to help, screams No and tries to get to them, but is knocked back by the energy beam. He transforms and screams at the heavens for taking his friends.

 

 Back at the Darksyde, the Predacons confirm the presence of the aliens. They also confirm that this was where Tarantulas was headed.

 

As Cheetor berates himself for being too slow, Tarantulas pops up and attacks him from behind. He gets hit with a stun blast and is knocked out, as Tarantulas shouts “welcome back,” to the aliens.

 

Blackarachnia asks if they’re going to go help Tarantulas, and Inferno reports that Dinobot and Rattrap are attacking their jamming station and if they should help Waspinator and Quickstrike to defend them. Megatron says no to both, reasoning that because most of the Maximals are currently in the field, this gives them the perfect opportunity to retrieve the alien Golden Disk.

 

In the valley, Tarantulas tries to cut into one of the vines when Optimus and Silverbolt arrive. He returns to beast mode and escapes. Optimus revives Cheetor, who tells him what happened to Tigertron and Airazor. Rattrap and Dinobot let Optimus know that the jamming station has been taken down and to warn the lady and the tiger. Optimus tells him they were too late. He orders them to make sure the station has been taken care of for good and then fall back to base.

 

At the Axalon, Rhinox watches footage of the alien signal. It takes the shape of like a giant space squid beaming a column of light towards the planet. Optimus tells him what happened and tells him to see what he can find out. He promises they’ll be back soon. Rhinox magnifies his image of the beam of light and sees Tigertron and Airazor within the column. Sentinel warns him of Megatron’s arrival. He has the auto-guns come online. They added this huge cannon array since the last time and it gets right in Megatron’s face, though the Predacon leader claims to come in peace. Rhinox tells him that he’s about to leave in pieces. Megatron distracts Rhinox while Blackarachnia and Inferno sneak into the base. They fry the security system and Megatron smugly marches toward the base. Inferno sneaks up behind Rhinox and shoots him in the chest, knocking him down. Inferno and Blackarachnia attempt to steal the disk, but Rhinox gets up and uses Inferno’s head as a punching bag for shooting him. They actually make a Rock-‘em-Sock-‘em Robots joke where they trade punches until Rhinox knocks Inferno’s head up. Blackarachnia goes for the disk, but Rhinox pulls him machine gun on her and tells her not to do that. Megatron sneaks up on Rhinox and tells him to stand down. Rhinox tries to knock Megatron’s head off, but get’s his whole arm ripped off before he’s knocked out. Megatron takes the disk and tells his troops to fall back, saying they don’t have time for Maximals. Blackarachnia mutters to herself ‘when do we ever? Except for maybe that hunky, Silver…’ but trails off before she can finish that thought.

 

Later, the Maximals help repair Rhinox’s arm and try to figure out what to do. Cheetor is for trying to save Tigertron and Airazor somehow, while Dinobot has already written them off as casualties of war and advocates for preparing for the aliens’ return. Optimus says that he’s faced the void fighting the aliens before… but if that’s the cost for saving their friends, he’s willing to pay it again. Rattrap mutters they’re all going to die, and when everyone gives him a look, he waves his hands, “I know, I know, shut up Rattrap.”

 

The Predacons place the pair of disks in a new security vault and begin examining them. Blackarachnia asks how these disks can help them with the aliens. Megatron says that they have secrets only he knows, and Tarantulas then cuts in, saying that he’s the only one who could implement the plans Megatron has. Inferno nearly shoots him, but Megatron knocks him aside, saying Tarantulas is his. Megatron starts screaming at Tarantulas for his impudence, but Tarantulas says he’s tired of hearing Megatron’s tirades and claims that he is no longer under Megatron’s command. This infuriates Megatron, who promises to extinguish Tarantulas’ spark atom by atom. Tarantulas is nonplussed by this, saying that Megatron wouldn’t dare as that will lose him his only line of defense against the aliens. Megs asks what if they don’t come back, but Tarantulas is sure they will, and soon.

 

The Maximals try to formulate a pln. Dinobot wants to take the fight to Megatron now. Rattrap points out that they might need their help facing whatever the planet busters send next, but surprisingly Optimus is on team ‘fight now.’ He calls their last truce a joke and refuses to be as easily manipulated by Megatron this time. Before they can do anything, they get an alert about a special anomaly.

 

The Predacons return to the valley and begin setting up Tarantulas’ plan. They drive huge machines into the ground around the giant plant. Megatron arrives with Blackarachnia and asks the big question, why is Tarantulas helping if he’s declared he doesn’t work for Megatron anymore. He tries to be cagey about it, but Blackarachnia reveals he just hates these aliens. Tarantulas is shocked that she knows that. The she-spider reveals she gleamed a lot of information about him from when they shared minds. Megatron admits he can work with hate. They both start cackling evilly as Optimus and the Maximals arrive. Megatron tells him to leave, as they’re handling this. Optimus isn’t budging as he remembers how Megatron handled things last time. Everyone transforms and prepares to fight, but the alien signal arrives, transforming the plant into another of their temples. The Temple fires off a powerful EMP style pulse that knocks out all the Transformers assembled around it, just before the credits roll. Damn.

 

Salute to Tigertron and Airazor. They aren’t gone forever, but we won’t be seeing them anytime soon. They were ultimately removed for the same reason as Terrorsaur and Scorponok, to make room in the computers for newer characters. It sucks because I loved those two, but I get it. I do love that their last lines are both promising they’ll find each other wherever they go. It’s extremely sweet. I like the fact that both sides are wary of the aliens’ return. I mean, that makes sense given the last time the aliens were on Earth they nearly wiped them all out and did cause the deaths of two of them. Technically three of them, but Optimus got better. The raising tension between Megaron and Tarantulas is nice. It’s clear that Megatron is growing ever more vexed that his original chief scientist seems to only be around to cause him headaches now. Meanwhile, Tarantulas seems absolutely giddy to just be able to drop pretense and get into Megatron’s face with no fear of repercussions. He's done what neither Terrorsaur nor their spiritual predecessor Starscream was every successful at doing, separating himself from Megatron. It helps he has his hidden lair to scurry away to when not actively antagonizing anyone, but it still took some sizeable ball bearings to tell Megatron ‘I quit,’ to his face. Also, as weird as it felt, I like that Rhinox also scolded Dinobot for giving up the Disk, in his own way. Ya know you screwed up badly when Rhinox isn’t just letting bygones be bygones. So… ya, Tigerton and Airazor are gone, all of the Transformers have been disabled by the EMP, and the Aliens may have free rein to do what they want. Not a great situation, but they’ve dealt with worse. See you next time. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 31

 Dinobot has a crisis of faith, yet again. 

Last time on Beast Wars, Tarantulas went house hunting. Megatron sent his minions out to build a jamming station and a refueling station to prepare for a mysterious plan that even Tarantulas thinks is insane. But that’s the only detail we get about it. The arachnids, Tarantulas, Blackarachnia, and Quickstrike were sent to set up the refueling station. Tarantulas, being a gremlin, put a tracer on their equipment which sent their location to the Maximals. Silverbolt and Rattrap were sent to investigate. Reaching the cave, Tarantulas liked the layout and immediately wanted to turn this into a new lair, as his old one was cooked by the Doom Moon. He attempts to get Quickstrike to sign on with him by mind controlling Blackarachnia into flattering him. Blackarachnia decided she’s had enough of being his puppet, grabs an Energon cube and begins squeezing it, threatening to kill them both rather than be his slave. Tarantulas tries to call her bluff, but she actually tries to blow them up, and he is forced to break the connection between them when it sends her pain to him. Silverbolt and Rattrap arrive and they start fighting. The battle ends when the entrance of the cave is blown up. Tarantulas blames Silverbolt for destroying it, but the wolf-eagle says he didn’t do it. It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that Tarantulas did it and turned the cavern into his new lair. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open on the Predicon base, before pulling out and seeing that this is a computer rendering of the base that Dinobot is looking at. He pulls out further and has Sentinel add all the new Predacon installations that Megatron has had his troops building this season. All the points form a star shape that exactly matches one of the symbols on the alien Golden Disk. Dinobot thinks that Megatron is proceeding with his plans without the disks which is, concerning. He ponders what will happen if Megatron’s plan succeeds and if he made the right call switching sides when he did. His musings are interrupted by Optimus telling him that he needs to lead a field team into Predicon territory.

 

This is less prestigious than he’d hoped, as he’s once again forced to ride on Rattrap’s car mode. Because he’s Rattrap, he makes some snide remarks about offering Dinobot some snacks and Dinobot tells him to shut his snout. Silverbolt reports in and tells Dinobot that there is a jamming station but he’s not seeing any Predacons. Dinobot order him into his backup position while he and Rattrap go on.

 

They enter an area that Rattrap remarks would be great for an ambush right before Inferno burrows out of the ground and attacks them. Quickstrike sneaks up on Rattrap and they have a quick draw contest. I swear, whenever Quickstrike shows up he forces the genre to shift to a western. Rattrap pulls his gun fastest and knocks Quickstrike off the side of a cliff. Dinobot duels with Inferno, Silverbolt tries to help but he’s shot down and into Dinobot. Dinobot reverts to beast mode before passing out. Inferno compliments Waspinator on the take down, Waspinator announcing that he, in fact, RULES! Inferno orders Waspinator to take Silverbolt back and he takes Dinobot. Quickstrike joins them and whines about Rattrap outshooting him, but Inferno tells him to not think of the vermin and flies off. Waspinator asks “two-head” as he dubs Quickstrike, to help him carry Silverbolt but Quickstrike tells him to PG piss off. Rattrap finds Waspinator trying to lift Silverbolt and decides to help by being a gremlin. He puts on a bad southern accent, throws Waspinator a detonator charge and tells him to push the button, swearing that it’ll help him carry his burden. Waspinator does… and is hit with knockout gas. Rattrap winks at the camera, saying that he sure loves that guy.

 

Dinobot is taken to the Darksyde. Tarantulas advocate for killing him now, but Megatron wants the chance to chat with their dear old Dinobot. I’m sure he just wants to talk to someone that isn’t an invertebrate half the time. Megatron orders they wake him. Tarantulas gets what I can only describe as a cattle prod while Quickstrike and Blackarachnia hold him up. Dinobot wakes up, knocks everyone aside and transforms. He gets his sword to Megatron’s chest, who points out that was impressive but futile. The other Predacons are ready to kill him if he so much as knicks Megatron’s chest. Dinobot says that Megatron might also die if they do that and that would be a waste of two good Predacons. Megatron is surprised by this, saying that he’d thought Dinobot was a Maximal now, and Dinobot says times change as he kneels before Megatron.

 

We cut back to Rattrap and Silverbolt and their hostage Waspinator. Silverbolt is embarrassed by his earlier blunder and says they must rescue Dinobot, but Rattrap tells him to wait. Rattrap orders the injured Silverbolt to fly out of the jamming field and call-in backup. He transforms into racer mode and goes to get Dinobot.

 

Back at the Darksyde, Dinobot tells Megatron he’s willing to serve again. When Megs is skeptical, Dinobot says he only defected when he thought Megatron had lead them to the wrong planet, and after Megs betrayed him. He thinks that Megatron is the cleverer combatant and that victory will soon go to the Predacons. To show his loyalty, he reverts his activation code to Terrorize. Tarantulas says that this proves nothing, as anyone can change their code at anytime, and offers to do some poking around in Dinobot’s brain to be sure. Megatron isn’t sure that that would be a good idea, and Blackarachnia offers the alternative of a trial by combat against Quickstrike. Quickstrike is eager to fight and Dinobot also agrees.

 

The Predacons travel to a lava ring outside the base and the two face off. Dinobot goes into beast mode and tricks Quickstrike into poison blasting the spiders before he goes to beast mode as well. Dinobot throws him aside. Quickstrike transforms again and shoots at Dinobot, but Dinobot overpowers his poison beam with his laser eyes. He fries Quickstrike until he passes out. He tries to walk away, but Megatron throws Dinobot his sword and tells him to finish it. Dinobot refuses, saying that Quickstrike is a good fighter, and that under his tutelage he can be great. Megatron agrees that’s a good idea and tells Inferno to fix Quickstrike. He then demands Dinobot turn over the disks. Dinobot reveals he gave the alien Golden Disk to Rhinox but hid the Earth one. He orders Dinobot to take him to it.

 

They fly to the location, Rattrap having the good timing to see them fly by and follow. Dinobot recovers the disk and gives it to Megatron. He announces that the disk will allow him to write a bold new chapter for their race. Dinobot is less interested in a bold chapter and more interested in just knowing something for sure. Megatron prepares to execute Dinobot with his back turned, but Rattrap shoots Megatron from behind. Dinobot shoots Rattrap and knocks him out, the Rat asking if he missed something before passing out. Dinobot says they should go before Rattrap’s backup arrives. Megatron agrees but says he’ll need to execute Rattrap first. Dinobot doesn’t want to, but Megatron says it’s the final test of his loyalty. Rattrap looks up at him and says, “I always knew you were a stinking pred.” Dinobot can’t do, Megatron sees that and almost stabs him, but Dinobot blocks him. Rattrap hears from Silverbolt that he’s nearly arrived with Optimus. Dinobot tells Megatron that his ambition has driven him insane and he’s risking every Transformer for whatever his plan is. Megatron tells him to rejoin his Maximals, then, if they’ll suffer a traitor. He transforms and flies off.

 

Silverbolt and Optimus touch down. Rattrap lets them know that Dinobot betrayed them, and Dinobot owns up to it. Silverbolt is shocked the most by this and asks how his honor could allow that. Dinobot points out that he’s a Predacon and their honor code is… complicated. He says that Megatron is on the verge of a great victory, and that he thought he wanted to be part of it… but realized it would come at too high a cost. He says that he wants to stop Megatron. He’ll do it alongside the Maximals, or on his own if they can’t trust him anymore. Silverbolt, a recent Predacon defector albeit under wildly different circumstances, wants to give him another chance. Optimus asks Rattrap for his opinion. Rattrap lists a litany of reasons why he hates Dinobot… but ultimately votes to keep him as he’s gotten used to him. Dinobot changes his activation code back to Maximize. He tells Optimus that he must discuss something of great importance with him. Optimus says they’ll discuss it back at the base, and they’ll see him there. He and Silverbolt fly off, and Rattrap transforms into car mode and offers to give him a ride. Rattrap says that he was sure Dinobot would scrap him and asks why he didn’t. Dinobot says that when the day comes, he’ll destroy Rattrap when he chooses, so to think of it as a rehearsal. They drive off, Rattrap taking a very bumpy road as a passive aggressive punishment for Dinobot.

 

Well, that was a roller coaster of emotions. Dinobot is having a very serious existential crash out now that he knows that Megatron did take them to prehistoric Earth like he’d planned. Whatever plan Megatron hatched (Yes, I know what it is, but it’s more fun acting like I don’t) is apparently diabolical, crazy, and could work or wipe out the Transformers as a species. So… ya I get being conflicted about whether you want to help with that or not. His fully betraying the others was a punch to the gut when I was a kid, and still doesn’t feel great now. Again, I understand his mindset, I get his motivation, and I know how this works into his character arc. It’s a good moment, but I still hate it because I like Dinobot and don’t like seeing him regress like this. I do like that they made it clear that Megatron really wasn’t going to honor his end of the deal, because he’s Megatron of course. Dinobot could offer Megatron everything he wanted and Megatron would still kill him for disobeying him. Megs is a one-and-done when it comes to betrayals. Unless you’re Terrorsaur, Tarantulas, or Blackarachnia. But only those three. Rattrap and Dinobot’s relationship took a hit with this episode, but we’ll only see how bad of one in a few episodes. Confidence was shaken, that’s for sure. And now Megatron has the Golden Disk back, which, ya know, is extremely bad. But we’ll see more of why soon. Next time the Aliens make another appearance. What fun. See you there. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 30

 As always, Tarantulas weaves a wicked web. 

Last time on Beast Wars, the showdown finally got underway. The Maximals did their best to keep the Predacons away from their base while Rhinox had his out-of-body experience. Unfortunately, Megatron got wise and sent Waspinator and Silverbolt ahead to force them to fall back. Cheetor got kicked into gear by Rattrap and flew to head them off. He took out Waspinator with a headbutt and then had the auto-guns shoot Silverbolt down. Rattrap and Dinobot joined them, and they elect to help the new bot and get him repaired. Rhinox made it back to his body and while they’re still not in a great position, he insists that miracles can happen. The Maximals hold off the Predacons for a bit longer but were eventually overwhelmed. Megatron had his troops walk up slowly to gloat, which bought enough time for a reconstituted, Transmetal Optimus Primal to make a big entrance. He singlehandedly defeated most of the Predacons, and Silverbolt drove Megatron himself off as an end to his affiliation with the Predacons and start being a Maximal. Meanwhile, Blackarachnia was forced to try to recover some of Megatron’s records of the Golden Disks after Dinobot stole the original by Tarantulas. She used his momentary distraction during the fighting to download the records and then pretend that the records were booby trapped. In the end, Megatron announced things moving forward will be… interesting. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

The episode begins with the Predacons meeting to discuss making repairs to their infrastructure that was lost during the Planet Buster attack. He calls Tarantulas to him specifically, despite the spider’s insistence that he’s working on very important research on their new transmetal bodies. Megatron orders him, and the two other Arachnids, Blackarachnia and Quickstrike to a new Energon deposit he’d detected to build a refueling station for them. Inferno and Waspinator wonder what they can do in the meantime, and they’re ordered to build a jamming station nearby to block Maximal communications. They’re excited to do it, Inferno saying as much to his ‘Queen.’ I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but Inferno still sort of thinks he’s a giant ant and not a robot, and he mostly understands the world through that lens. So, if Megatron is his leader, that means that he is Inferno’s queen. He mostly sticks to calling Megatron the Royalty as a more gender-neutral term but slips up constantly. It’s the one thing Megatron hates about his new top kiss ass. Tarantulas ask why they’re doing this and Megatron cryptically says “Preparing for the future.” Whatever he’s doing, Tarantulas does seem to know what it is, saying that Megatron is “persist in his madness.”

 

The bugs all prepare to go about their various tasks. Tarantulas complains about wasting his time with this, but Blackarachnia tells him to shut up and get moving. She uses a bit of flattery to get Quickstrike to agree to take her share of the cargo, by saying that she’s sure a ‘big strong bot,’ like him can take more than 1/3^rd of the weight. Quickstrike agrees and gives her the nickname ‘Sugar-Bot,’ a nickname he will always use instead of her name going forward. I think even as a child in the 90s, I knew Quickstrike was simp. Waspinator brags that he and Inferno will finish their mission while the arachnids argue. Tarantulas is set on disrupting whatever plan Megatron has in place and plants a beacon in their supplies that will broadcast their position on Maximal frequencies. He transforms into his cycle form and drives off.

 

We cut to the Axalon where Rhinox is attempting to run tests on Optimus’ new Transmetal body. He says that despite his best efforts, they really don’t know the limits of these new forms and want to use a scanner he cobbled together to get more data. Unfortunately, the scanner shocks them both and knocks Rhinox out. Cheetor interrupts and lets them know he picked up Predacon signal on one of their frequencies. He tells Cheetor to get someone on it, and the closest pair are Rattrap and Silverbolt. So, fun fact, while Scott McNeil has provided the voice for Rattrap, Dinobot, and Waspinator this entire time, he also now voices Silverbolt. So basically, a third of the character interactions of the Maximals are just Scott McNeil talking to himself. Weird. Anyway, Cheetor tells them to check it out, Silverbolt is eager to be a service while Rattrap is a passive aggressive whiner. Silverbolt says he’ll “prove worthy of (Optimus’) trust,” and flies off as his noble trumpets flare. Despite knowing Silverbolt for only a little bit at this point, Rattrap says he already hates when he does that, implying to me that everyone hears the horns when Silverbolt is being noble.

 

Back with the arachnids, Quickstrike attempts to impress Blackarachnia by offering to take more of her load from her. Blackarachnia is clearly already annoyed by his advances but pretends to be flattered by his attention but doesn’t want to strain him. Tarantulas’ projects into her mind and laughs at Quickstrike not seeing how she’s manipulating him. He reminds her that he’ll allow her to play whatever games she wants with Quickstrike, but if she tries to play with him, he’s going to punish her. He then mentally blasts her so bad she causes some of the cargo to fall on her. Quickstrike rushes over and unintentionally belittles her again, and she snaps at him. He’s confused by this saying it’s impossible to understand females, and Tarantulas agrees that that is a fact of life. And I’m just sitting here thinking about how weird it is robots have any concept of gender at all. Blackarachnia swears to herself she’ll beak free of Tarantulas’ control and make him pay.

 

The Predacons start setting up the refueling station. Tarantulas is extremely impressed by the location. Aside from the cave entrance, it’s incredibly well hidden, the Energon is abundant, and fits his personal design aesthetic of “creepy underground lair.” He decides he won’t need the Maximals meddling anymore and destroys his beacon, announcing the cave is a perfect location for his new lair.

 

Rattrap and Silverbolt lose the signal. Silverbolt says they should do their best to follow their noses now they’ve lost the signal, which, ya, works when one’s a wolf and the other rat.

 

Back at the cave, Blackarachnia has the same idea as Tarantulas, saying that the cave would make a perfect fortress with some reinforcement. Tarantulas notes that the Energon deposit could supply a frugal Predacon for a very long time. He jumps on ‘Blackarachnia’s’ idea, suggesting that maybe they could turn this cave into a stronghold for them. An arachnid alliance, their own third faction. Blackarachnia scoffs at this, saying he's out of his mind. Tarantulas reminds her he’s inside hers, so she really doesn’t have a choice. He pitches the idea to Quickstrike, who is interested in the idea when Tarantulas suggest that he’ll get to fight even more in his faction. He’s hesitant at first, because Megatron is so powerful, but Tarantulas manipulates his fragile masculinity to get him to agree.

 

Silverbolt and Rattrap find the scent, and know the three Predacons they’re dealing with. They then find the combination of arachnid legs and tire treads that they left behind. The chase continues.

 

Thinking she’s alone, Blackarachnia mutters to herself that Tarantulas can laugh for now, but she’ll soon use Megatron’s datatracks against her. Tarantulas hears her muttering, but not what she’s actually saying, and demands to know what she’s thinking. She refuses so he tries to scan her mind. He discovers that she’s actually gotten a portion of her mind completely blocked from him. He tries harder to scan, but she fights him, throwing the equipment she’d been holding at him and knocking him over. She transforms and scurries away. Tarantulas gets up and quotes Bugs Bunny of all people, “Of course you realize, this means WAR!” I’m starting to think Tarantulas is a fan of The Looney Tunes…

Megatron relaxes in his CR chamber jacuzzi when Waspinator calls. He says they’re finished their project and will be heading back soon. Just before Inferno knocks a tripod leg over and the tower pitches forward onto Waspinator. So I guess they’ll be delayed a bit longer. Megatron is still pleased with their progress. He decides to check in on his Arachnid trio, but no one will answer their coms. So he knows that at least one of them is up to something.

Tarantulas hunts for Blackarachnia in the cavern. He begins to swear vengeance when she appears, transforming and pulling a knife on him. Having had enough of Tarantulas’ rummaging around her processor whenever he likes, she uses her dagger as a vice on an Energon chunk and tells him to severe the link or she’ll kill them by crushing the cube and causing a massive explosion. He says he’s not afraid and that he can stop her with a thought. Blackarachnia bets that the Energon radiation will interfere with the link. Tarantulas tests it, and she starts crushing the cube. The radiation causes them both intense pain, but Blackarachnia refuses to toss it aside unless he breaks the link. He initially is fine with her killing herself, but their link causes him to feel her pain as well. He finally agrees and breaks the link to free himself. Blackarachnia tosses the cube aside with just enough time to save herself from the explosion. Tarantulas is furious he lost his control over her and threatens to make her suffer for that, but Quickstrike interrupts, saying they’ve got trouble with a capital M.

 

The Predacons go outside and see Rattrap and Silverbolt closing in. Quickstrike is overjoyed he gets to fight something, finally and leads the charge against them. The battle commences, Silverbolt lobbing explosive feather javelins as Quickstrike fires his poison blasts. Silverbolt’s wing gets clipped and crashes. They trade blows, the Maximals holding their own despite the numbers difference. Until Silverbolt refuses to strike Blackarachnia because chivalry or sexism, depends on who you ask. But he has no trouble fighting Quickstrike, especially after he shoots Rattrap. They fuzors face off, something they often do as they’re ya know, kind of a pair. Silverbolt gets him pinned to the ground but is knocked off by Tarantulas. The spider runs from the cavern, warning the others they need to keep the Maximals away at all costs. Hearing that piques their interest, Silverbolt tries to fly to the cavern, but it explodes, knocking him back. Tarantulas says the Maximals have destroyed the cave and order them to fall back. Rattrap compliments Silverbolt on the explosion, but he insists he didn’t do it. Quickstrike tells Silverbolt, whom he dubs Tinhorn because he’s a southern cowboy stereotype, they’ll have it out for real one of these days and follows Blackarachnia, trying to get her attention again. Rattrap thinks Silverbolt will want to chase them, but Silverbolt has had enough excitement for today and thinks they can leave things as they are. And Rattrap thinks that’s the first thing he’s said that makes sense all day.

 

At the Darksyde, Megatron chews out his minions for failing to report and then for failing to protect the new refueling station. Tarantulas, so obviously faking contriteness that I’m shocked Megatron doesn’t pick up on it, claims that everything was destroyed even the stable cubes they could have harvested. Megatron orders them all out of his sight, as he’s furious. Later, we see Tarantulas setting up his lab, revealing that he’d destroyed the cave entrance with a single well-placed charge. He ends the episode with the old saying, “be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home,” and cackling madly.

 

This episode mostly serves as setting up Tarantulas’ position in the new status quo. As I said last time, with the death of Terrorsaur, he takes up the lion’s share of being the most traitorous Predacon. He was never dripping with loyalty, but he used to mostly work in concert with whatever Megatron is doing. But now, he’s much more active in his defiance of Megatron. I mean, he went so far as to propose forming a Predacon faction that was against the Maximals and Megatron. And if Blackarachnia hadn’t broken the link, I think he’d have kept up this plan. She has Quickstrike under her claw, so with her manipulating the other Arachnid, he’d have had two minions that would serve him. But Blackarachnia outfoxed him with that Energon gambit. I’m a little disappointed that the psychic connection didn’t last longer, as having Blackarachnia as an unwilling minion was an interesting dynamic. There was a point where it seemed like these two would work their own side hustle, but neither spider is particularly loyal so in a weird way they grew the most antagonistic to each other than any of the other Predacons. The other part of this episode was just to give us more of an idea of Silverbolt’s personality now that he’s a Maximal. And… ya, he’s a white knight. He does the tasks put to him with honor and vigor, he doesn’t complain, makes noble speeches, and refuses to strike a lady even when the lady will absolutely shoot him in the face if given the opportunity. There is good and bad to the white knight. He also gets along with just about everyone, as showcased by Rattrap being annoyed by but not openly antagonistic towards him in the episode. The only other thing to note is obviously that Megatron is planning something big, and it’s a plan crazy enough that Tarantulas has doubts about it. We won’t get many more details for a while, but since I know the plan, I can confirm its batshit nuts. But we’ll see more of that later. So, ya, Tarantulas is getting more unruly, Silverbolt has ingrained himself with his comrades, and Megatron is planning something bonkers. Next time, Dinobot makes a choice. See you then. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social