TF: Prime Third Annual Derp Awards (Part 1: BEST!)

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It's that time again.

To get our rabies shot?

To make the FOX censors cry?

Noooo, it's the annual TFP Season Three Good/Bad DERP Awards. This article is a fun, fruitless time waster where I look back at the seasons and point out the highs and lows of the past season. It's also a nice abridged article for those who can't bother to shift through my waste of texts analyzing individual episodes. With Rescue Bot Season Two still months away, it's only TFP Season Three. So let's dive in and see which ones I consider cream of the crop or just plain creamy crap.

Check out Season One's TF Derp Awards here, Season Two's TF Derp BEST Awards Part 1, 2 and WORST Awards Part 1, 2.

:heart: As always SPOILERS!



BEST DERP AWARDS! (PART 1)



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BEST AUTOBOT: RATCHET

Once again, the medibot takes the gold—three in a row! What can I say, when at least half the Autobots are uninteresting and/or annoying, the guy who stays in the base most of the time has a better shot of winning this spot than the usual norm. Season Three ramp him up to the point where he became the most important Autobot (no, Smokescreen, you had your chance, go sit in the corner) when he was forced to finish the Synthetic Energon formula that ultimately gave Cybertron the second chance he always wanted.

As always, what makes Ratchet a defining character in a show like Prime is his ability to think past simple black and white. With the questionable bullshit the Autobots pulled because the show excuses them as the "the good guys", Ratchet will be that one character to call them out. He's done it repeatedly over the course of the show and it continues here, yet he's not so straightforward that it's his only trait. Ratchet understands Optimus' decision to destroy the Omega Lock if necessary, but feigns disappointment. When Predaking nearly kills him, Ratchet never admits the Autobots were not at fault for killing the Predacons (because they totally did contribute)—he can see the gray that others can't. For Transformers Prime, he really IS an exceptional character. I'm honestly glad a lot of how the show ended came through because of his actions.

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BEST DECEPICON: SOUNDWAVE

Honestly, I feel bad never giving him this award until now despite my constant praises. Starscream just really impressed the shit out of me in Season One considering I never cared for his character and Knock Out knocked it out of the park (I'm so sorry) with a deeper personality (that sadly never went anywhere) during Season Two.

While Starscream was content being the series' butt monkey the more it progressed, Knock Out was largely the same, minus the cray-cray. There are hints that he's not enjoying the lack of respect he's been getting, but god only knows if this will go anywhere in the movie because it certainly didn't in the show (outside of KO's flippant Face Heel Turn  - Heel Face Turn? - and that was largely one, big joke.) But Soundwave? Soundwave's been gold since Day One. He's probably the only bot who has consistently been portrayed as exactly as awesome and badass from start to finish. Though his ground bridge trick got old by Season Three, his badassery has never been diminished. He's a powerful warrior, graceful and beautiful, rarely ever lost, and even ended his tenure with a defeat that's innovative and original. Even his final moment ends elegantly.

Semper Fi, Soundwave, you were awesome.


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BEST NEW CHARACTER: PREDAKING

Ultra Magnus is fine, but he was hampered with Wheeljack's asinine subplot and it dragged him down a bit. Predaking however, retained a continuously excellent character progression throughout Season Three. Literally. I love the idea that he evolved from a mindless beast to a thinking, intelligent transformable robot. The writers did a bang-up job slowly, but surely establishing the growth throughout and it all pays out perfectly. His motivation is clear, he retains sympathy without needless "GRR ARGH I AM EVIL", I like his personality, I like his voice, and I can't wait to see what he'll get to in the movie.


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BEST HUMAN: RAF

Well, I guess? The problem is Jack doesn't do a whole lot (outside of staging Soundwave's awesome defeat) this time around. Miko dons the Apex Armor and while that makes her less useless than normal, she was still at her best in Season Two and lot of her personality is roughly the same irritating nonsense, only with the benefit of not rushing off into battle (at best, she asks to tag along.)

Raf's winning is more "default" than anything else; he's the human with the least character development, roughly staying the same throughout the show. The best he's ever gotten was back in Season One when he tells Ratchet having Bee in his life makes him feel special when he has to content with a large family. That's all there is to it and everything else is him sporadically helping the main cast with his hacking skills.

He pulls his weight with said skills by the trail end of the finale, giving him the spotlight he sorely lacked during Season Two, but I can't say it did anything to him as a character. It's only his contribution to the last final phases of Season Three and the uninteresting roles of his two human buddies that put him in this spot. So...victory?

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BEST EPISODE: "THIRST"

Look, I don't even need to explain why I like this episode because they are incredibly self-indulgent. I am a Starscream/Knock Out shipper. They are my TFP OTP and to have an entire episode devoted to these two douchebags assing around getting into trouble is all I could ever ask for. The last five minutes is still a painful rush job, but everything else is golden. The plot is fun and terrifying, and the dialogues fantastic. Comparing it to other Season Three episodes, it's hardly the "best" in terms of plot arcs and epicness, but who cares? I'll take this funny, witty, charming episode over some boring shit about Optimus any day.

Also, Knock Out/Starscream. Self-indulgence.


BEST CHARACTER ARC: PREDAKING

For all the reasons I listed above in the "Best New Character" section. Hey, I'm lazy and I don't feel like repeating myself. Just scroll up.


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BEST MOMENT FROM A CHARACTER I HATE NEVER REALLY CARED ABOUT: BEE'S TRIUMPH

In a twist I didn't see coming, Bumblebee briefly dies, is revived through the Omega Lock, and then proceeds to gut Megatron like the dumb shark that he is. Everything about this moment should not have worked, but it miraculously and magically did. The quick restoration could have been cheap, but was instead an inspired decision since lingering upon it would have forced emotions out of the cast, producing a sense of falseness and cheap feel to it when Bee does come back. His resurrection complimented and symbolized the Omega Lock and what the Bots and Cons have been fighting for and Megatron dying under Bee's hands adds extra karma to the whole thing, among others.

It was beautifully handled in a way I never thought the show could pull, which makes this scene extra sweet.


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BEST CHOEGRAPHY: TWO-WAY BATTLE BETWEEN ULTRA MAGNUS AND WHEELJACK VS. PREDAKING IN "EVOLUTION"

Finding a good screenshot of the characters fighting is hard because the fast action tends to blurr horribly when paused; especially CGi shows, so please forgive the crappy image above.

Intense, engaging, and damn brutal are the words to describe this epic carnage. Predaking hits hard and the punches he throws made me squint so damn hard I almost felt the pain myself. Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack's back and forth is spot-on and explains their teamwork so much better than whatever nonsense "Chain of Command " and "Plus One" did. THIS should have been the moment these two set aside their differences and bonded.


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PAINFULLY GOOD CGI MOMENT: NATURE FINDS A WAY

"Scattered" brings out some of Earth's beauty: the sunset during Arcee's time with Jack and Miko surrounded by flowers proved the cast really needed to get the fuck out of Jasper to actually see some color beyond brown and gray.

Runner-Up: Thank you for NOT turning most of the cast into their fugly Beast Hunter toys counterpart. Granted, I predicted this wouldn't be the case due to the complexity of the toy vs. the CGi needed to impossibly make it look good on TV, but still. Bee's new splash of black is especially delectable; I don't care for Smokescreen's blue and yellow, but it's his G1 coloring scheme, so I can let it slide. Optimus' giant form is too comical for me to appreciate though—how can he move with all that armor?

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BEST DIALOGUE: Not even a question…

STARSCREAM: Knock Out, this situation may be a bit more dire than either of us ever imagined.
KNOCK OUT: I find it rather ironic that after battling Autobots all these years, getting smacked down, shot at, blown up, this is how our lights go out?
STARSCREAM: Drained of our precious fluids. If this is indeed the end, if we are to become Terrorcon-chow, it has been an honor serving Lord Megatron with you.
KNOCK OUT: You're no Breakdown. Though I must confess, I have always admired your lustrous finish.

This is a good runner-up though: "Knock Out to Lord Megatron, I have secured one vintage, Predacon talon, plus two of the Autobot's pets for you to employ as hostages; lab experiments; well anyway you see fit. So go on, Big M, tell me you love me more than Starscream. …My liege? Um, too familiar?"

Oh, and THIS (calling out Starscream's Cliffjumper gag is a-okay in my book): Careful, Starscream, you may dislocate a landing gear patting yourself on the back."

Ya know, why don't I just give the damn award to Knock Out? He had a number of winning lines this season.

BEST TOY: I want to say Beast Hunters Deluxe Prowl toy out of simple bias, but as of this writing, I don't own him yet. So let's go with the Voyager Predaking. This toy is beautiful. It's intricately detailed, at a reasonable size (I will not be getting the giant 50+ dollar Ultimate Predaking), and damn accurate. I keep him in dragon mode because it's more badass.


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BEST BLURR AWARD FOR VIOLENT CHARACTER DEATHS: ALL HAIL THE SPIDER QUEEN

Face it, there is nothing worst (and better) way to die than being sucked of your fluids by a sexy spider lady vampire.


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THE ONLY TIME THE GROUND BRIDGE TRICK REIGN SUPREME: "Project Predacon" had Optimus flying to catch the falling Predacon fossil. He is literally seconds away from grabbing it, but Soundwave intervenes with a timely ground bridge, delivering to Megatron instead. PWNED.

STARSCREAM MAY BE PATHETIC, BUT BABY STILL GOT BACK: Starscream's reduced badassery could be a sad, sad tale by itself, but I was really taken back by how much I enjoyed his specific role in Season Three. His grandiose return is short-lived when he has to share second-in-command duties with the far loyal, far more competent Shockwave. As befitting his nature, Starscream butts head against Shockwave like a rival (made more hilarious when Shockwave doesn't know this is happening and up until the final episodes, would likely not have given a damn if he did.) It's a different role for him to take that's strikingly fitting of his personality.

The most interesting part though is Starscream's loyalty which they play shockingly straight. At no point does he ever consider betraying Megatron or scheming to overthrow him. He still schemes (mostly to get revenge/get rid of Shockwave), but never to the extent that he wants the leadership Megatron currently inhabits. Christ, he practically would have thrown himself over Megatron's dead body if it didn't crash millions of miles down to Earth (presumably crushing a couple of kids approaching a drum-beating Star Saber.) When you're expecting your Starscreams to backstab and betray or take any loopholes to usurp (the closest he's achieved this occurred Season One…also on a related note, the current IDW comics which y'all need to read—especially MTMTE—if you haven't), this IS a twist and a pleasant one at that.

I am vastly curious of his upcoming role in the movie.

"FRANKLY I FIND IT REPULSIVE; THE WHOLE IDEA OF YOU FLESHIES…"INTERFACING"...*SHUDDERS*

Between this and Chromedome/Rewind's Very Obvious Homosexual Romance, this is a good year for us crazy fanchicks.


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JUNE THE WONDER NURSE: Once initiated into the Secret Keeper society, June does little to nothing after "Criss Cross." She tries to get the kids away from the Autobots in "One Shall Rise", but it lasts for all but five minutes. She barely appears afterwards. It took nearly a season and half (and whopping FORTY-TWO episodes) before she was given another spotlight.

Her romance with Fowler was contrived and clumsy due to her minor presence in the show and some of her personality and plans border on idiotic, but as a whole, "Plus One" did a good job spotlighting her. She remains a unique presence throughout the show and I'm sad to say I wished TFP had done more with her, but I'm glad she had one last chance to shine.

HEY STATUS QUO, TAKE A HIKE! Season Three's reduced thirteen episode was a lifesaver than the potential act of atrocity it could have been. Despite the Autobots' reunion in just as little as four episodes, the life they once led has taken a significantly different turn that although doesn't change much in the grand scheme of things, was a nice precursor for things to come. From start to finish, there was a definite sense of an overarching plot that actually lasted beyond three episodes. Predaking's evolution served as one of the major catalyst and the overall pacing and quality of the third season immensely outweighs that of Season Two's.

It's ironic because if it wasn't for the second season, Season Three might not have been as good. If Season Two didn't conclude all the plot shit in-between, I would have bet dollars to donuts that Season Three would be much more crowded—possibly with important plot points left hanging instead of the roughly 98% they concluded here. It's kind of sad, but Season Two's sacrifice was not in vein; Season Three is much, much, muuuuuuch better for it.



That's it for Part 1. Part 2 next time: THE WORST AWARDS!


________________________________________________________________________________________________

:heart: STUPID FANCOMICS:heart:


Discovery (A Transformers Animated Fancomic): Read the entire thing here. More updated as the series progresses. Placed there for archival purpose.

Chess Piece (A Danny Phantom Fancomic):
An AU Danny Phantom comic. It's been canceled, but for those morbidly curious to read this convoluted train wreck, the link is here.

:heart: OTHER STUFF:heart:


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