TFP 'Ep. 31'/TRB 'Ep. 7' Revie

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Just humble bounty hunters, ma'am.


Previous Reviews

TRANSFORMERS PRIME SEASON ONE
Much of my review for Season One is in my DA journals, but they're kinda sorta old and I've changed my mind on some. If you want more recent opinions on how I feel, check them out here in the Toonzone Blog (incidentally, Season 2 is there, too): www.toonzone.net/blog/authors/…

I reviewed every episode except Episode 20 to 23. Yet anyways. I'll eventually get to them in the future. I know you can't see "One Shall Rise: Part 1" in that list, but rest assure, I did review that one as well. The link to that particular one is here: : www.toonzone.net/blog/blogs/42…

TRANSFORMERS PRIME SEASON 2 AND RESCUE BOTS SEASON 1
"Orion Pax: Part 1" Review
"Orion Pax: Part 2" Review & "Hotshots" Review
"Orion Pax: Part 3" Review & "Flobsters On Parade" Review
"Operation Bumblebee, Part 1" Review & "The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock" Review


SPOILERS


TRANSFORMERS RESCUE BOTS, EPISODE 7: "CODY ON PATROL"


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This island is doomed.

Let's recap. There's a man in danger at the very start when his helipack goes on the fritz. The rescuers respond by trying to stop him with water (which would outright harm the guy) and catching him with Boulder...and a mattress (and baseball puns). The day is saved by Cody (who comes out of flippin' nowhere) with a go-kart and a fishing pole. That he somehow had the strength to hold onto. And it works. Cody, a ten-year-old boy managed to save a man's life when his professionally trained siblings could not. This island is doomed. Then in an attempt to soup up the speed on his recently renovated go-kart, Cody "borrows" Doc Greene's nanite fuel to power it up. The go-kart goes haywire. Of course. This island is doomed. Then the nanites get the shit out of that dinky mobile and aim for bigger machines; AKA the Scrap Master (and in a move I did not see coming), BOULDER. Nanites got inside a goddamn Cybertronian. THIS. ISLAND. IS. DOOMED. Then they get the brilliant idea of forcing the nanites in generators...at a POWER PLANET. Things get hairy when the meter goes red. Charlie asks if they need to evacuate the town. Uh, YES! YES YOU DO! EVACUATE THE FUCKING TOWN! Everything works out in the end though. But just incase I haven't made this perfectly clear by now...

...THIS. ISLAND. IS. DOOMED.

For the far more literal-minded, I'm not criticizing this as an act of detriment to the series; it seems it's now possibly going to become a running gag that shit will happen to the island because of Doc Greene or its own, idiotic citizens. I get some sort of sick kick out of it. It's pitiful when a ten-year-old is far more resourceful than his older brothers and sisters. It's a bit of an annoying trait, but Episode Six proves he's just as human as everyone. Taking a page from TFA Bumblebee's playbook, he wants his go-kart (Rollin' Thunder - what a cliche name to give) to go faster so he can respond to citizens' calls/help faster. He doesn't really get the consequences or the ill-regard notion this will bring and like a child, only thinks straight and simply. It bites him in the ass (well obviously), but it's a nice, organic lesson. Cody isn't exempt from making mistakes as much as the others and I'm relieved the writers know he isn't always The Miracle Kid.

While this is a Cody-centric episode, Boulder plays a prominent role. My first thought when I saw him was Rhinox from Beast Wars, but :icontavalyara: shamelessly squeals that he is TFA Prowl and Bulkhead's lovechild. And it's hard to disagree. He adores nature, he's big and green, and speed isn't everything. He essentially tells Cody the same thing TFA Prowl told Bee (with minor altercations): watch and observe your surroundings to get a better assessment. Uh, both physically and metaphorically. Any who, even if Boulder is playing second fiddle, he's a constant presence in the episode and ultimately ends up playing the biggest (and most intense) road by the last stretch. I'd make some sort of comparison on how Rescue Bots handles this kind of character interaction better than Prime, but I'm already going to be a broken record in that show's review, so I'll be smug about it in my head.

After all is said and done, little Frankie is left checking her father's inventory. What we once thought was another formualic twist in the "Doc Greene fucks everyone up" folder completely pulls us a 180. The Nanite Fuels aren't his and no one knows where it came from. Heatwave notes the Scrap Master's dense armor when its briefly fueled by Nanites is comparable to Cybertronians. So, those things may be alien in nature.

...Whoa. Whoa. Whoooooooooa. D-Did the show open up a potential story arc? Did it hint that it could become epic-ified? I said in last episode's review that Rescue Bots is fine the way it is. The charm of its cast carries its stories and mishaps with grace, but it still always had the drive to become something bigger if they chose. Episode Six is possibly the benchmark for that something bigger. So are we expecting Decepticons? Or something else? I don't know and time will tell if an actual antagonist will work for or against the show. The whole point of the show is that Rescue Bots save lives from emergency requests that doesn't stem from a villain; this was suppose to be its schtick. Unless Knockout makes a one-episode appearance that involves Chase and parking tickets and thatwouldbesoawesomecanthisreallyhappenplease?! But still, Holy Hell, I don't think I can take anymore awesome surprises from this show or I'll explode in happy.

Oh, wait: www.seibertron.com/transformer…

You have no idea how stupidly excited I am for this upcoming episode. And it doesn't air till April 14th. Fucking tease, you guys!
:star::star::star::star: AND A HALF OUT OF FIVE


BONUS OBSERVATIONS

BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER: The Scrap Master reminded my friends of that movie. Now you can't unsee it either. It got ballistic later in the episode to reopen those nightmare fuels you guys had when you watched that film as kids.

ROLLING THUNDER 2.0: Like HELL that's the same vehicle! Cody cheated and made one from whole scratch!

SILENT, BUT SWEET: Cody's failed cat rescue scene is a little gem all on its own. Everything is shown through visuals with none of that excessive TALKING TALKING TALKING. Particularly the moment where Cody puts on a triumphant grin, as if he's expecting gratitude before the old lady walks off. It gets the message across with an added layer of class.

CERBERUS: For a second, I thought Frankie's two Dobermans had two heads! NOTE: Greek buffs, I know Cerberus has three heads.

"DOGGIES:" Boulder calls them "doggies". Not "dog", "doggies". That's adorable.

LARGER THAN LIFE: Those nanites are amazingly LARGE for nanites. Is it considered small in whatever home planet it came from? ...Actually, maybe. We have a possible and vague hint that it's not from Earth, so...

IS YOUR AIM SABOTAGE? Quickly after Cody fuels his kart with the nanite fuels, Frankie calls Charlie Burns to warn him of his son's impulse. The way it plays out almost makes it look like Frankie planned for her friend to get in trouble. XD

BEST LINE: "Not entirely sure who'd have thumped who." BLADES! Who knew you could be so dirty?! O_O

WORST LINE: None.


TRANSFORMERS PRIME, EPISODE 31: "OPERATION BUMBLEBEE: PART 2"


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Last episode ended on a good cliffhanger; Bumblebee is falling off a cliff as a result of playing catch up with Knockout. We were left wandering how he'd get out of it. You know Part Two is in trouble when it skips all that to show Ratchet chewing out Bulkhead for taking Bee scouting in the first place. Bumblebee suffers no ill-damage and makes it out fine. Granted, Ratchet may have patched him up, but we don't see how Bee gets out of that jam. Nothing. Not even a word on how. We don't even see Ratchet fixing him. This is not a good thing and the rest of the episode isn't a cakewalk either!

Alright, let me get the good parts out of the way because the bad will inevitably end up with the most word count. Ratchet's development is the best part of the episode. Continuing on from Part 1, he's still struggling to conquer this guilt. He offers his T-Cog to Bumblebee since he hardly ever uses his own. He's got a good point. There's that sense of sacrifice and doing his duty as a doctor to heal his patients, but it's also about ending or at least sedating his guilt. It's about trying to rise above his current self-esteem because he hasn't fixed Bee's voice yet and should have done better (when in reality, it's very likely he did the best he could - it's war, you can only do so much). One of the worst feelings a conscience sentient could have is guilt. That whole "It eats you up" feeling is a bitch. Getting the burnt out T-Cog to work is a cheap cop out, but not for Ratchet's character. It brings back his confidence and left a much more impressionable mark on me.

'Sides, I can take Bumblebee's easy recovery fine because the two-parter achieved what I wanted more: Bee got a personality and I'm satisfied. It's pretty much an easy expectation: Bee's impulsive, he reacts appropriately like a child. But he's also scared. What is he without his wheels and weapons? Just a useless member of the team. Nobody on his team thinks that way about him though; they've all been supportive (except Miko who's just snarky and needs to shut up and go away). Bee's fear is his own. So he disobeys Optimus' house arrest and goes to MECH to kick some ass and take back what is his. He does it well, but gets a damaged T-Cog for his effort. Call it karma, Bee. If it hadn't boosted Ratchet's character, than the T-Cog shouldn't have easily been fixed like that. Bee needed to know the consequences of his impulsive action. Everything is neatly solved for the Autobots, but you know what, I don't mind. Ratchet and Bee got some develop/personality and that's a way better payoff for me. Time will tell if Bee will be annoying because he's basically a little shit (I usually don't cater to the Obnoxiously Annoying Bratty Kid-Appeal trope), but I have no qualms right now.  

Oh, and KNOCKOUT IS STILL AWESOME AND !^*(#&@@&*#(@! It's bloody hilarious I feel this way because if you look deeper, Knockout doesn't have any. There's no depth to this guy. He's confident, he's smarmy, and most of all, he's shallow. His entire personality is his entire background. We don't know beyond that. He's just Knockout. ...And I kinda like it like that. I know I bitch on and on about character arcs and deepening their issues and personality, but it's hard to see Knockout achieve anything meaningful beyond his static role. I guess they could if they wanted to, but I'm left with that lingering feeling that it won't do him justice (and the writing quality of this show really hammers in that doubt). He's such a one-note character, but he's a fantastic one-note character. I suppose it's an exception to the rule sort of deal. I'm not opposed to slapping a character arc on him, but I'm not protesting for it either. Knockout is Knockout and he works his stuff so beautifully.

Alright, now I'm going to bitch.

Megatron makes off with the ancient Autobot weaponry before our heroes. Okay, fine, buuuuuuuuuuuut I'm left wondering what the hell are these going to be used for? Season One brought in a number of Cybertronian doo-dads, but all they do is serve as one episode gimmicks only to be destroyed/discarded/whatever, never to be used or seen again. They're still pulling trinkets out of their ass and I'm not sure what the whole point is. Are they actually going to do something with that damn hammer? Is he going to try and kidnap Optimus for sexy times and force Prime to use it because it's only powered by him? What? What? Whaaaat? What is the goddamn point of all these gizmos? Someone tell me! And no, paying homages to past TF series do not count and should not count. They can't rely on mythology gags to save their asses and cover it up magically to make up for shitty plots. I'm not criticizing the lack of a definite story arc, Transformers Prime seems to rely purely on multi-episode arcs that spreads itself around. That's fine, I don't have anything against that, but what is the point of these gadgets? If they're meant to just be Weapons Of the Day, a more formulaic route would work for a series other than Transformers Prime - this show isn't meant to follow a set pattern.

Also, you guys are going to do something with Breakdown, right? Alright, fine, the past Season Two episodes focused more on Optimus/Megatron and Bumblebee/Ratchet. But you're still going to do something, yes? Cuz' this guy is still boring. Breakdown's role is the same fucking thing he had in Season One: quips, Bulkhead rivalry, SMASH! Episode 16 hinted of something greater and there's a bit of desperation from him in Episode 18 because of those events. None of it has popped up since and I'm left wondering if whatever ideas they had for this guy has been sent to the scrapheap. You are wasting potential back stories, guys! At least make him interesting. Knockout is interesting and gets by through sheer charisma. What the hell does this guy have? I guess it makes sense he'd be duller than a plastic bag; his rival is Bulkhead and he hasn't moved past his MACHO MACHO MACHO act either.

And then there's Starscream. ...Where to begin with this one? I suppose I should start by linking a rant Tav argues on the mishandling of his character: tavalyara.deviantart.com/journ…

Take a look at this picture:

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When I see this picture, I see Starscream's ego. Silas is small and only a pawn in his game. He's just a fleshling Starscream can squish between his thumb and finger if Silas and MECH in general piss him off. Then he'll run off with the Energons and live to trick another day.

Don't get use to that mindset. This never happens.

The writers either screwed up again or they must be an amazing set of trolls. They must be. I never cared much for Starscreams in general, but his Prime counterpart really impressed the hell out of me. He's not just pretty, he's magnificent. His first onscreen appearance is not but two minutes into the first episode where he kills Cliffjumper. He tortures Fowler for information, he scratches Knockout's paint job knowing it's a worthy punishment for the vain bot. He demands to be called "LOOOOOOORD!", he takes no gump from anyone because as much as he runs from a fight with his tailpipe tucked between his legs, he has pride to back him up and give him the spine to counter and royally fuck people up another day. "Partners" is an awful Starscream episode. Trapped, he is simpering, whiny, and fearfully begging the Autobots to spare him. He gives puppy dog looks and while I've cooed over it, this should not be what Starscream does. He should not be pitied and he certainly shouldn't leave his  iron balls in his dressing room. Megatron I get and I don't particularly mind that aspect (Megatron is the bigger bad and he rightfully should be), especially since it did pave way for a new character arc. My point is, he's a bastard who is not worth pitying over. He doesn't get to have an easy life and any bad karma smacking his way is deserving. But we can still like him as a character. He can still be enjoyable, but the show keeps fucking it up.

Starscream leaving Megatron is interesting and I really like that. I want to see how he'll get by without a back-up on hand. He'll get the universal butt monkey boot kick, but for every failure, he'd press on and keep his chin up. That's what I want to see. Season Two displays these beautifully at first. It takes guts to return to the Nemesis, but he does it anyway because he needs Energon. He messes with "Orion Pax's" head for good measure before he escapes. He's injured and at the mercy of Autobots, but he still plays coy and gets them to heal him in exchange for valuable information with nary a simpering attitude. He marches into MECH flippantly and poses an alliance that would benefit both. MECH has him at gunpoint and Silas declares they know enough about Cybertronian anatomy to hit the weak points. Nevermind that their armor is too advance for those puny guns to bring them down; also later in the episode, Bee gets shot multiple times and comes out fine - maybe Silas is all talk...or Bee was moving too fast. I don't know or care. Starscream stands his ground and convinces them. In short, he returns to his badassery that the first half of Season One did so well on.

Next episode, Starscream is whimpering before Silas. The human insults him and he takes it like a chump. Starscream even pulls that same desperate trick by boasting of his victories of an Autobot's death to an unnamed MECH soldier. It was embarrassing when he told Airachid the same in "Partners", but now it's distressing. By doing this, the writers took his crowning opener with Cliffjumper's death and made it into mockery. It's now tainted by this display of awfulness. Instead of equally sashing back/standing his ground, Starscream is Silas' verbal punching bag and for what? So the creators can prove Silas is much more badass and evil? Bullshit. Silas already proved he's a menacing antagonist; this is hardly necessary. There's no reason why Starscream cowards behind Silas. Starscream's ends with a missing cog. That in itself is another interesting layer to his current story arc, but it's handled with about as much grace as a hobo with a sock puppet. There's like 12 of these guys, Starscream could have taken out his guns and gone apeshit on them. He could have squished at least half the humans under his heels. Disregard what Silas said in the previous episode that his men will shoot the vital parts off of Starscream; Bumblebee rushes into their base and not only destroys the man made Transformers, but gets out alive and intact. He threw several MECH members around without hesitation. You're telling me Starscream couldn't do that? You're telling me he is SO pathetic that MECH somehow knocked him unconscious and took his goddamn T-Cog without him putting up a fight!? Actually, fine, I get that. Starscream hasn't really shown his fighting chops in the show; he's likely to use manipulation and fight only when he has to and in most cases, he'll end up running away. But MECH isn't Cybertronian. There's only like a dozen of these jerks. Whip out your goddamn gun and blow them the fuck away. Step on a few. Even if MECH won, they could have showed Starscream doing something. Don't stand there like a pussy! EDIT: Tav pointed this out and I cannot believe I did not notice this, but why didn't Starscream fly away? If he's not going to fight, he had that advantage! Not like MECH has a helicopter on ready!

I get what they're trying to do: smack him so far down the barrel that his alternate selves could feel it. We also know he's going to go through shit because the universe is out to get him. And that's fine. Throw him around, set him on fire, run over him, push him off a cliff - he doesn't have a T-Cog, you can do that now - abuse the hell out of him. It's Starscream. Tav points it out sufficiently: TFA Starscream wades in the humiliation pool, but he still schemes and walks with pride. Transformers Prime can achieve this without sacrificing his arrogance and they did the past four episodes. What the hell happened here? I don't know why I still like this guy. I bought Cyberverse Prime!Scream at my Target. He's sitting on my drawer, staring and judging me. He's adorable. I think a part of me is in denial, the other part is hoping he'll pull off something awesome to make up for his decay, and the rest is just shame.

tl; dr: Starscream's somehow achieved more pathetic levels of fail and this is a bot who lacked dignity anyway.

This whole show has an issue with characters. Bee took an entire season to get a personality, Bulkhead and Breakdown is still assing around with their given archetype, Optimus had a chance to carry personal demons from his brief Decepticon days. Starscream has a character arc, but they're thoroughly fucking it up. What's going on here? Why are the character arcs either aimless or suffocating? Only Arcee had a perfect start to finish in the first season. If they can do that to her, why can't they do it for the others? What are they trying to do? A lack of arc doesn't bother me, but Transformers Prime is giving off the idea that it is leaning towards a coherent story with characters that would develop. Instead we only get pipe dreams and empty promises.

I hate to be a broken record (told ya the brick reference would come back), but Transformers Prime is once again falling into its own traps. It pulls out something awesome only to counter with a set of duds. I still think Season Two is doing a better job than Season One, so there's that silver lining, but it's walking on a thin rope. I watch it through fervent loyalty to the overall franchise, but it's getting to a point where I desperately praise anything they get right in a sea of mediocrity. It's the same mindset I have with The Simpsons and that show has a much bigger pop cultural influence and a strong start to back up their reputation (yes, even Season One of that show is better than Prime's first season). If I have to keep thinking this way though, then that's just depressing.
:star::star::star: OUT OF FIVE


BONUS OBSERVATIONS

BRING MY BROWN PANTS: D-Did Knockout just said he peed himself? XD

THE GAME OF OPERATION: Nobody wants to volunteer to perform surgery on Ratchet and Bumblebee. Arcee reluctantly agrees, but she gives off a relieved "yes!" when it's interrupted. ^_^;

SHUT UP, MIKO: Sans Jack's trip to Cybertron, the human kids haven't done much outside of witnessing the current events. This gives more room for the bots to grow, but it doesn't make Miko any less annoying.

CODE BLUE, CODE BLUE! An alarm forces Miko to panic and assume Ratchet is flat lining. Nevermind it isn't doing that cliché long "beeeeeeep", it actually did convince me for a second that this was the case before Optimus corrected otherwise.

TALK. IN. SLOW. AND. CONDESCENDING. TONE: Fowler, Bee can't speak, he's not deaf. XD

LAY OFF THE 'SHROOMS: Proof Ratchet is the best Autobot in the show: he talks gibberish nonsense while he's off stasis. It's hilarious.

THEY CALL IT FORGE… I call it "Magnus Hammer" under a different name.

FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE: We see Bee fight the humans from the POV of the MECH Transformers, but I have to ask why? Is it aware? Is it foreshadowing that it's more than just a mindless machine? The damn thing gets destroyed, so I don't think it matters. What was the point of this? Does it lessen the impact of a giant robot smacking humans around? And somehow a front row view of it makes it better how?

YOU RUN LIKE A LOSER: After he loses his T-Cog, Starscream spots the Autobots from afar. Then he runs away and the animation pulls off an incredibly awkward running motion.

BEST LINE: "For the most creative use of a shield generator in a supporting role, the winner is KNOCKOUT!" This line could have been cheesy (and it has a very cornball feel to it), but such is the power of Knockout's continued awesomeness that enhances it instead. He's confident with himself and will be a bastard about it.

WORST LINE: "Time to jet, because I can!"


.............


Okay, time to bring it back out.


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What the actual hell, Starscream?

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Comments34
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Haru-chii's avatar
'Aw man, they took my frigging kidney!"

Wait, can Starscream even fly in robot mode? He didn't seem to be too good at running (a Decepticon Rincewind) at the end there. We've seen him transform in mid-jump, but-is that what this is leading up to?

He's really going to need to act tough and fearsome now that he has no real way of defending himself. Bragging about killing an Autobot to humans is one thing when you feel you have the upper hand, but without his weapons and his main method of escape, Starscream is in big trouble.

Development wise, maybe it's focusing on one character a season? Optimus will probably take the whole series to actually become a real person, so to speak. At this rate, he's actually feeling something (guilt), which is an improvement over, well, nothing. He cares for his troops. He cares for the humans. But does he care for himself?