The plot thickens.
Last time on Beast
Wars, the Transwarp wave finally reached Cybertron. Well… Cybertronians. The
wave was detected by the Tripredacus Council, the Predacon ruling body. Wanting
to handle the situation quickly and covertly, they sent a special agent to
ancient Earth to attempt to handle the Megatron situation. On ancient Earth,
Silverbolt is revealed to have been smuggling bits of tech to Blackarachnia,
whom he’s having an affair with. Megatron unleashes an all-out assault on the
Maximal base but is driven off by the arrival of the agent. The agent introduces
himself to the Maximals and is revealed to be an upgraded version of the G1
Cassette soldier Ravage. He tells the Maximals about how the Council wants this
handled covertly and leads them on an assault on the Darksyde. Megatron scrambles
his troops, giving special orders to Inferno and Waspinator, and tempts Blackarachnia
into following the wasp. During the attack, Silverbolt gets a shot on Blackarachnia
and is ordered to take it by Optimus, but he can’t do it. She escapes. Megatron
is captured, though, and officially arrested by Ravage. Enough recapping. Let’s
get to it, shall we?
We open with the
Maximals and Ravage back at the Axalon. Optimus takes a few moments to
bask in the victory that he and his team have finally gotten over Megatron
before having to focus on… less pleasant matters. Silverbolt comes in and
Optimus starts chewing him out. He’s figured out that Silverbolt and Blackarachnia
have been having a secret relationship and orders him to end it. Silverbolt is
visibly ashamed by the reprimand, even more so when Optimus tells him that if
Silverbolt can tell Optimus that he’s wrong, that Optimus will apologize and
drop the whole thing. He obviously can’t. Silverbolt insists he can bring her
around, but Optimus vocally disagrees. Can’t say I blame him, Optimus has seen
Blackarachnia behave far worse than Silverbolt has. She tried to drop a flying
island on them once. He tells the wolf-bird that Blackarachnia might be made of
Maximal parts but she’s a Predacon to the core. Silverbolt points out that he
was a Predacon once, but Optimus insists that it’s different. He tells Silverbolt
that he is the noblest individual he’s ever met, but that strength is also a
weakness. He’s sure that Blackarachnia is manipulating him. Silverbolt tries to
defend her and himself, but Optimus won’t hear it. He says that Silverbolt’s
actions have put them all in jeopardy and if they didn’t have Megatron in
custody he’d be much more severe on Silverbolt. He orders Silverbolt to be
confined to his quarters and tells him that Cheetor will retrieve Blackarachnia.
Silverbolt asks that he be the one to do it, thinking that Blackarachnia won’t attack
him but will have no restraint against Cheetor. Optimus just repeats his
sentence.
We shift to Ravage’s
ship where he has Megatron confined to a cell. Megatron is disgusted by the
fact that the Tripredacus Council is still kissing the Maximal Elder’s collective
asses. Ravage says that the Predacons will have their day, and that Megs is too
impulsive. He says that this Megatron may bear the original’s name, but he
doesn’t have an army like the Decepticons. Megatron tries to barter for his
release, saying that he’ll hand over his private Energon stockpile to Ravage to
refuel his ship and allow him to return home. Ravage says that he’ll just take
the stockpile anyway, revealing that he had help disabling the Darksyde.
He introduces Megatron to the covert agent among his ranks, Lt Tarantulas of
the Predacons Secret Police. Tarantulas informs Ravage that he’s found Megatron’s
stockpile and will send its coordinates to the Maximals right away.
Back on the Axalon,
Cheetor gets his orders to find and capture Blackarachnia. The young scout is
stoked to be helping capture the Predacon, but takes a moment to stop by Silverbolt’s
room. He tries to assure his friend that he will bring in Blackarachnia without
hurting her as best he can and that he’s sorry for this messed up situation.
Silverbolt says that he’s also sorry, and when Cheetor asks “for what?”
Silverbolt punches him out through his door. He apologizes again when that wasn’t
enough to knock Cheetor out and hits him again. Unfortunately for Silverbolt,
Rattrap happened to be walking by when he did that, and he hits the alarm. Silverbolt
breaks a hole in the wall and flies away. Optimus joins Rattrap, and the rodent
sighs saying, “I used to be young like that.” Optimus gives him a look and
Rattrap amends his statement to be that they’ve got trouble.
Cutting a bit, we
join Cheetor and Optimus as they fly to retrieve the Energon store. Optimus
asks how Cheetor’s head is doing, Cheetor says that he’s okay but embarrassed
that he let Silverbolt get the drop on him. Optimus insists that Silverbolt believed
he was acting in Cheetor’s best interest. Cheetor says that he’s looking
forward to returning the favor. They land and scout out the cave the Energon is
stockpiled in. They find some Energon, but it’s in raw crystal form. Before
they can react to this information, they’re attacked by Inferno, who screams
that this is by Royal command.
We jump over to Waspinator
flying towards a mountain range. Blackarachnia follows in her hovercraft a safe
distance back. Silverbolt finds her and boards her ship. Silverbolt tries again
to get her to agree to come back with him. She refuses and says that if he
doesn’t leave, she’ll shoot him. Silverbolt says she won’t… so she does. Props
to Scott McNeil, his “You shot me!” made it sound like he was actually in
pain. Blackarachnia tells him “duh,” but Silverbolt moves the goal post by
saying, “Well, you made sure it was a nonfatal shot, your inner Maximal must
have stopped you.” Blackarachnia screams in frustration. Silverbolt says that
he appreciates how she’s feeling, saying that she must not know whether to kiss
him kill him. She points out she’s a literal Black Widow, so she can do both. They
kiss… which unfortunately distracts them from the fact that Waspinator stopped
flying. He reached the coordinates he was told to get to and tried to figure
out what he was supposed to do next. They crash into him, shattering Waspinator
and their craft into pieces. Silverbolt saves Blackarachnia, who is frustrated
that he’d save her, again, after she shot him. He says that it’s his duty, as a
Maximal and noble character. She mocks him but kisses him again, so she’s
clearly into that noble character.
Back with Optimus
and Cheetor, Inferno rains fire down on them. Inferno lasts only a few minutes
before exposure to all the raw Energon behind him overloads his circuits. He
crashes to the ground and starts having a Transformer stroke. Inferno screams, “For
the Royalty” and ignites the Energon deposit. Cheetor and Optimus barely escape
the explosion, and Inferno is caught up in it. The imagery makes it seem like
he straight up dies in the explosion, but I assure you, he’s fine. As they fly
out, Optimus radios Ravage.
Ravage goes to interrogate
a very smug Megatron. He compliments Megatron on being able to work his own
agenda even while imprisoned. Megatron counters by revealing that he knows Ravage’s
orders are to leave no witnesses, so why should he cooperate. Ravage admits that
that is true and asks Megatron for one good reason why Ravage should delay his
execution. Megatron asks if Ravage ever asked why Megatron stole the Golden
Disk. Ravage thinks it was to get Energon. Megatron says that that was a bonus,
it got him a crew that was willing to work with him, but it wasn’t his real
goal. He reveals that just as the Great War was heating up anew on Earth, the humans
launched the Golden Disk on the Voyager Space probe. The original Megatron had
every intention of winning the war, but G1 Megatron also believed in hedging
his bets like the BW version. Megs says that Megatron got his hands on the Golden
Disk and encoded a secret message onto it. One that he decoded. Ravage is
skeptical, but then Megs reveals that he has a fragment of the Golden Disk. He
sticks it into his projector attachment on his tail cannon and plays it. Ravage
is shocked to see his old Commander recorded on it. The message is short, just
revealing that he knew that Transwarp technology was being developed and that
he wants any Decepticons that find this message to use it to alter the war, if it
turned out he lost. Ravage immediately releases Megatron. While the logo on his
shoulder is a Predacon, he’s forever a Decepticon.
Back at the mountain,
we see Waspinator has somehow gotten his head onto a hand and he’s trying to
drag himself back to an CR pit to rebuild himself. He’s whining the whole time
as Silverbolt and Blackarachnia dig. Silverbolt is confused, as it looks like someone
dug a hole and then filled it in. Blackarachnia reveals that yes, Megatron did.
She tells him to get lost, but Silverbolt refuses to leave without her. When she
threatens to shoot him again, he tries to talk to her inner goodness, which
makes her madder and says she’s shooting something vital this time. He backs off
but insists he’s not going without her. She reluctantly accepts his help and
tells him to get digging. He blows a large boulder out of the way at her request.
We return to the Axalon
as Optimus and Cheetor fly in. Optimus radios into Rattrap and asks what’s up. Rattrap
reveals that Ravage has switched teams, right as Ravage flies his ship up
behind the two of them, Megatron at its head. Inside, Ravage announces “Decepticons,
Forever!” before transforming into a cassette tape and plugging into his ship’s
system. Imagine sticking with that alt form 300 years after the 1980s. Megatron
laughs triumphantly as Ravage opens fire.
Well, that victory
didn’t last long at all. One thing I respect about BW era Megatron is that when
he orchestrates a plan it tends to go through flawlessly. Like with his subtle
manipulations that lead to Optimus’s apparent death when he took out the alien
Planet Buster. He damn near has clairvoyance… or he’s read the script. I
remember my jaw dropping during BW Megatron revealing where he’d gotten this
plan from and playing a bit of G1 Megatron’s message for Ravage. Props to Gary
Chalk, Optimus Primal’s VA, for his G1 Megatron impression for the recording. Now
I can tell that’s not voice acting Legend Frank Welker, but when I was a kid, I
couldn’t tell the difference. Whatever this plan is (yes I do know it), it must
be a hell of a Hail Mary. It was weird seeing Silverbolt get reprimanded by
Optimus. I mean, rightly so, having one of your soldiers as well as your friend
betraying your trust by carrying on a secret relationship with one of the most
dangerous enemy combatants should leave a bad taste in your mouth. I also can’t
fault Optimus for believing Blackarachnia is manipulating him. He’s known that
spider since she’s come online, and tricks, seduction and manipulation are her
favorite tactics. That is one of the strengths of this series as opposed to G1,
the small cast means that every character has interpersonal relationships with
every other. He’s not a commander commenting on an enemy combatant that he
doesn’t know, Optimus has had a lot of experience fighting Blackarachnia
and he knows how dangerous she is. And, I respect Silverbolt sticking to his
belief that she’s a better person than she often acts. He cares about her a lot
and seems to think he knows her better than anyone else. Is that faith tested
when she shoots him? Yes. But I think it’s clear that she has more to her than
meets the eye. Ba-zing. Next time, we’ll conclude season 2 with a plan so insane
it took two Megatrons to concoct. See you later, stay safe.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/viewer-log-beast-149306467
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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