Everyone needs a friend.
With all that’s going on right now,
I need a bit of nostalgia, so January we’re doing more Beast Wars. I’ll
most likely get back on My Hero Academia in February and we’ll alternate
like that for a bit until we finish off Beast Wars. We only need about 2
and a half months of content to reach that end after all.
Last time on Beast Wars,
Dinobot dealt with his existential dread. He hates himself for giving the
Golden Disk to Megatron, paralyzed with the fear that he lives in a determinist
universe, and egged on by a dig from Rattrap, Dinobot heads out to rectify his
mistake. He traps Tarantulas and demands the spider give him a copy of the
Golden Disk, Tarantulas tells him Megs isn’t risking making backups anymore and
keeps the disk on him at all times. Dinobot needs a ride to Megatron’s location
and forces Tarantulas to use his motorcycle mode to carry him. He arrives at a
valley in time to see Megatron experiment with the disk. He has Rampage fire
rockets at a nearby mountain top, cracking the peak. To Dinobot’s horror, he
sees the recording of the mountain on the Golden Disk alter to match. To make
matters worse, the valley they’re next to houses an early ancestor of humanity.
Realizing Megatron plans to wipe out these early hominids in order to rewrite
the future, Dinobot vows to stop them. The rest of the Maximals are enroute,
with Rattrap muttering by the time they get there, there won’t be enough of
Dinobot to fit in a toaster. Dinobot systematically defeats each of the
Predacons but suffers damage as he does so. By the time he’s taken out everyone
save Megatron, his internal computer warns him that if he loses much more
energy he’ll be permanently shut down. They face off, Megatron mocking the
weaponless and dying Dinobot for being overly sentimental and outdated
technology. He asks what Dinobot can even do at this point. Dinobot snarls
“improvise” and knocks the bolts out of his former commander with a club made
from a thick stick and a rock. The Maximals arrive, scaring Megatron off, and
Dinobot uses the last of his energy to destroy the Golden Disk shattering it
into pieces. His comrades arrive and Dinobot is able to give them a heartfelt
goodbye before shutting down. They watch his spark fly out of his body and
scatter to rejoin the Matrix, the Cybertronian afterlife. Enough recapping.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
We open with Megatron getting an
infusion of Energon as he sleeps, Rampage’s spark in a vice placed next to him.
As he snoozes, Rampage breaks into Megatron’s room in crap mode and attempts to
snatch it, but Megatron snaps awake and tells the crustation that he thinks
Rampage has forgotten who owns him. He crushes Rampage’s spark in the vice and
tells him not to forget again. Rampage snarls that he won’t.
We cut to Rattrap, Cheetor, and
Silverbolt dealing with a Predacon jamming station. The area in question seems
to be dealing with a lot of quakes, which is odd, but they don’t have much time
to ponder why Megatron would build a station in this area. Megs detects their
presence and tells Rampage to vent his frustration with them. The trio split up
to investigate the area.
Back at the Axalon, Optimus
and Rhinox detect the same quakes and notice that they’re building in
intensity. Rhinox tells Optimus that their team is approaching the epicenter
and that they can’t contact them due to the jammer. Optimus says that he’ll
head out to tell them, as he’s not willing to lose any more friends.
The quakes shatter the ground
around Rattrap, trapping him on an island of rock. He leaps into the air and
gets snagged by Cheetor. Before they can get clear, though, the seem to get hit
with an Energon surge that causes them to crash. They’re buried in rubble,
which isn’t good, but the falling rock and earth uncover a Stasis pod! The pod
is clearly badly damage and is sparking with pink energy. The Darksyde alerts
Megatron to the pod, he orders Inferno to the pod’s location, the ant is as
always enthusiastic to follow his master’s orders. Silverbolt spies Inferno and
follows him. Inferno pulls the pod from the edge of the cliff. The pod sparks
with more energy, the computer announcing that there’s been significant damage.
The jumbled warning says that the DNA scanner is compromised, the data tracks
aren’t operational and it’s all but screaming ‘error, error, error.’ Silverbolt
arrives and he and Inferno battle for the pod, Silverbolt hurling the bug at a
cliff to knock him out. Rampage arrives at the pod, transforms and asks if the
pod is like him in some way. He touches the pod and gets shocked. Silverbolt
arrives, but Rampage points out that if he fires on the crab he’ll destroy the
pod too. Rampage says that he can feel the protoform’s pain and that their
spark is strong. He begs it to break free of its containment. The pod explodes,
knocking Silverbolt from the cliff and he starts sparking with the pink energy.
Rattrap digs himself out and asks, “What in the name of my Great-Aunt Arcee is
going on?” … It’s weird for me to hear that Rattrap is in anyway related to one
of the most famous Transformers women. Silverbolt tells him about the pod and
tells them to hurry. Cheetor frees himself and carries Rattrap to the top of
the cliff.
We get are first shot of the new
Maximal and it’s… a doozy. The damage the pod sustained made it impossible for
the Protoform to scan for a beast mode and left it’s robot form badly
malformed. The Protoform’s body is hunched over, with an elongated neck, oddly
proportioned limbs and a head like a stereotypical gray alien. Rampage
announces that they’re magnificent. Rattrap says that the tings coming out of
these pods are getting weirder. Silverbolt says they should embrace what is
different. The Maximals transform and prepare to fight. Rampage tries to
encourage the Protoform to attack the Maximals, saying they are their enemy.
Silverbolt says that Rampage is lying and offers the Protoform his hand in
friendship. Before the Protoform can decide, Inferno flies in and announces
that that Protoform is property of the Royalty and shoots at them. This scares
the Protoform, who unleashes a scream that causes everyone to go into an
Energon surge. Rampage is the first to recover, he tells the Protoform to come
with him. He says he’ll protect them. Silverbolt recovers and says they have to
save it. Optimus arrives.
Rampage leads the Protoform away
and examines them. He notes that the Protoform is somewhere between a
transmetal and a mutant type transformer. The Protoform seems to like those
words. Inferno arrives and threatens the Protoform, and Rampage threatens to
squash the bug. Megatron arrives via hologram and says that he’ll examine the
Protoform. He asks their name, and the Protoform dubs themself Transmutate.
Megatron orders them to transform. Transmutate tries, but their body really
isn’t designed to change. Rampage begs it to just do this one thing, and
Transmutate tries again and loses a piston. Megatron orders this creature to be
destroyed, but Rampage is vehemently against that. Megatron tortures him with
the vice, Rampage begs through the pain to give Transmutate a chance. Megatron
decides to allow it, saying that he will destroy Transmutate if they
fail.
Optimus orders Rattrap and Cheetor
back to base, saying that he and Silverbolt will look for this new creature.
The Predacon trio head out, Rampage
whispering to Transmutate that they’ll serve, for now, but will one day rise up
and destroy their oppressors. Inferno demands to know what they’re whispering
about. Rampage says that he’s just teaching Transmutate what it means to be a
Predacon. Inferno asks where they’re going, and Rampage says they’re going some
place for the Maximals to find them.
Silverbolt finds Transmutate laying
on the ground, seeming injured. He lands and offers his hand in friendship to
Transmutate. Before they can say anything, Rampage and Inferno leap out and
shoot him repeatedly. As Silverbolt passes out, he asks “Why?” Inferno says
that they’ll keep the head for Megatron, but Transmutate will destroy the rest
of it. Rampage begs Transmutate to do it. When Transmutate doesn’t comply
immediately, Inferno shoves them aside and calls them useless. This upsets
Transmutate, who blasts Inferno with its powerful scream, sending him flying.
Rampage compliments their choice but insists Silverbolt must be dealt with. He
offers to kill Silverbolt, but Optimus flies in to save the day. He knocks
Rampage aside and crushes him under a boulder. This upsets Transmutate and they
prepare to scream, but Silverbolt begs them to stop. Transmutate examines
Silverbolt and asks “Hurt?” Optimus says that he is and that he can get
Silverbolt repaired. Rampage starts to stir and Optimus asks Transmutate to
give him Silverbolt so he can fly him to safety. Transmutate reveals they can
fly as well, Optimus saying that that is just Prime. They fly off as Rampage
breaks free. He announces that he won’t let Optimus have Transmutate, that the
creature’s darkness calls out to Rampage and they belong together.
The Maximals return to base and
they examine Transmutate. Rhinox shakes his head after the scan. Silverbolt
asks what the scans say. Optimus says that Transmutate’s data tracks are
scrambled beyond repair, their body is quite frankly a nightmare, and that
their logic circuits aren’t much more advanced than a drone. So, it’s extremely
powerful but with an incredibly simple mind. Rhinox and Optimus both agree that
it might be in everyone’s best interest to put Transmutate into stasis lock,
now. Silverbolt is disgusted and infuriated by their assessment, asking if
they’re Predacons now, destroying anything that doesn’t match their view of
perfection. Transmutate limps away. They detect Rampage calling out to them,
begging them to come to him. Transmutate leaps through the wall and flies away.
Rattrap makes a crass comment about the nutty erector set flying away, and an
irate Silverbolt calls them all fools before storming off. Optimus thinks that
he’ll be easier to deal with after he cools off and orders everyone else to
find Transmutate.
Transmutate meets with Rampage,
saying that they belong together. Silverbolt arrives and tells him that “This
one is not for you.” Rampage shrieks “It is ONLY for ME!” and they fight. They
throw each other off the cliff. Transmutate looks down and says, “No. Hurt.”
And flies down towards them. Rampage and Silverbolt fire on each other.
Transmutate lands between them and uses their power to stop their projectiles
from hitting each other. Both Silverbolt and Rampage shout, “NO!” as they’re
consumed in the blast. We see Transmutate’s body is scrap metal now. A barely
functional Transmutate looks at the two of them, dubbing Silverbolt “Friend,
good,” and Rampage “Friend, Dark.” Rampage cradles their head as Transmutate
announces “I. Am. Hurt.” And shutting down. Rampage screams in agony when he
realizes that Transmutate is gone. Optimus and Cheetor arrive. Silverbolt tells
them that they ended Transmutate before they gave it a chance to live. Optimus
says that he should head back and they’ll handle Rampage. Silverbolt tells them
to leave Rampage be, as for the moment, they are brothers.
Ya know, if you told me an episode
that largely focused on Rampage would make me feel bad for the guy, I’d have
called you crazy. This is the first episode to really characterize the terrible
terror since his introduction and… he’s incredibly sad. Granted, being enslaved
and having your heart/mind/soul crushed whenever your master decides he wants
to do it doesn’t make for a fun existence, but I guess I never considered how
miserable that existence was. Sentient life craves connection, understanding,
and camaraderie, being denied those things is a personal hell all on its own.
So, I understand why Rampage would be so desperate to fill the void in his
chest, a very literal one in his case, with an empathetic existence like
Transmutate. At least in theory. I think the episode could have done a slightly
better job to portray Transmutate’s state of mind. In most scenes, they seem at
best confused, and at worst… blank. Like they’re just a character model on
screen. I think this episode really should have been a two parter, part one
being Transmutate with Rampage, who fosters all their darkest, angriest
emotions, and part two being Silverbolt trying to undo that damage before
Transmutate ultimately sacrifices themself to stop their friends from fighting.
It makes sense that Silverbolt would be all in on the unusual lifeform that is
Transmutate given his own unorthodox form. He’s already a confabulation of two
animals, so I understand his spark resonating with someone that didn’t even get
one. And I also get Optimus’ idea that it might be better to put Transmutate
into Stasis Lock. I personally would have said, “We’re just going to put
Transmutate into Stasis Lock until we can get off world. Once we’re back on
Cybertron, High Command can look after them.” Make it clear they aren’t killing
Transmutate, but more like they’re putting them in a coma until they can get
Transmutate somewhere that they can be looked after. Being marooned on a world
with hostiles just isn’t a good place to have someone with that much power but not
much sense is all I’m saying. I liked the final line from Silverbolt, him
letting Rampage be because they’re both in mourning is a fittingly somber note
to end on. Have a good night, everyone. Stay safe.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/viewer-log-beast-149129909
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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