TFP 'New Recruit' Review

Sep 9, 201213 min read

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Published: Sep 9, 2012

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Look at the above screenshot. Smokescreen looks a lot like G1 Prowl if he was more bluer and louder with a "38" slapped on his door wings. He's also voiced by Nolan North.

This Nolan North.

THIS Nolan North.

Excuse me while I squee.

Smokescreen is an interesting guy. I don't mean his striking personality, GOD no. He's your standard immature, inexperienced, but eager young archetype that I tend to step back and judge with utter disdain. I don't really cater to the kid-appeal character and future episodes can either endear him to me or grate on my nerves. I'm torn whether this should have been the route to go with or not. Do we really need another bot that's impulsive and disobedient? Wheeljack, Cliffjumper, and even Arcee have frequently displayed a lot of these tropes that it's almost redundant. On the other side of the spectrum, if they went the opposite direction, he'd be Optimus. Choices.

Then there's the Problem With Bumblebee. Previous episodes (we're talking way back at the start of Season One) established him as the inexperienced rookie and now Smokescreen looks to fulfill that role. On my initial watch, I compared it to Dreadwing taking over Breakdown's role (you know it is; it's so obvious) though the parallels between the two pairs can still fit, however I actually think this is a neat commentary on the key difference between the two. Unlike Smokescreen, Bee's already an experienced warrior who's suffered severe consequences (his voice box) that adjusted him into a mature, well-adjusted figure. This is in comparison to Smokescreen mind you. Still, Bee is the bot who played straight man to Blades in Rescue Bots and that only emphasizes my point. The issue is that I'm more or less second guessing this because Bumblebee's personality has been emphasized about as well as dry paint. It's problematic because I'm left to guess that Bee has his head on straight and grew from his "Young Rookie" stage when the show never did a good job showcasing it. Or this is all bullshit and the real reason is that, well, someone had to be the defacto kid-appeal nutjob and the writers couldn't figure out how to use Bee better, so Smokescreen everyone! Now you see why I have this niggling thought that Smokescreen arrived to essentially "replace" Bee's role as the new kid on the block. It's even sadder knowing Bee is still better off than Breakdown.

About the only thing I hold in some actual contempt is his voice. Nolan North is awesome, but his Smokescreen sometimes shrill to chipmunk levels. It's a bit disconcerting to stomach when you lived with the idea that Nathan Drake is a badass and you want to be him. It's basically the opposite of how I feel about James Arnold Taylor AKA the guy who voiced that fucktard Tidus from Final Fantasy X. That character had a voice that could break glass and I had to use all the willpower to prevent myself from getting an epileptic seizure from this douchebag. The voice actor proved he was much better than that stupid game gave him credit for—he's Walker in Danny Phantom for one thing. I had to do a double take when I first discovered this because holy shit, this cannot be the same man who voiced that beach blond bastard. It is and it's hot.

Alright, I'm digressing. "New Recruit" did a damn good job introducing him. Finally, we have a new Autobot. We needed this since, holy crap, Episode Eight. What makes Smokescreen interesting isn't his personality, it's the potential Red Herring he may be. The Autobots are very good to suspect him after past fiascoes with frauds and rebels who don't play along. Damning of all is that the episode actually goes out of its way to emphasize certain clues that this dude is not who he may be. His story is too neat and clean, he's intrigued by the currently frozen Airachid and you get the immediate idea that he's going to do something...terrible. Hell, even his cutesy, optimistic giddy schoolgirl act could all be a facade. Also (and I'm aware this is stretching it) he came in a Decepticon pod that sported a red Con insignia. That's the symbol for the Shattered Glass Decepticons, the good guys of their verse. And what are the Autobots in SG? Evil. Don't take this too literally, I'm not saying Smokescreen came from the SGverse, but that he may not be who he seems. For Christ's sake, his name is Smokescreen! I honestly don't think he'll revert to the Cons or is a Con-in-disguise. I think he's actually a Mole; someone who's working for a higher Autobot authority to check up on Team Prime or on some secret mission or whatever. I say this because if the show is going for the "Smokescreen is suspicious" route, it'll be enough grounds for him to be called out on by Team Prime and still give him an option to stay as a main character and this series desperately needs a new Autobot. Or hell, all of this is just to turn audience's expectations and he's exactly who he says he is. Either way, we need some fresh Autobot meat in here.

_{Here's another picture to look at to break up the monotony of reading all this text.}

"New Recruit" has the same problem "Armada" suffers from: too much shit going on and not enough time to develop. Bulkhead's feeling insecure because he feels newbie is replacing him. Red Energon (which I'm getting kryponite vibes from; I vote a Pink Energon so everybody can be in one, massive orgy. Knock Out will be pleased and Soundwave will record everything) is introduced and we know it gives Bots hyperspeed, but at no point do we get a visual demonstration. Jack spends some time with Smokescreen and bonds with him a bit indicating a potential partnership between the two, if not temporarily. This is especially gold because it'll give Arcee a chance to protest since she's currently the most vocal against him. All of the subplots are underdeveloped. Also Starscream loses his Apex Armor already? Dude, the last few seconds of "Triangulation" made it seem he'll do some serious shit with that thing, but apparently not. The good thing about "New Recruit's" stack of plots is that unlike "Armada", it's not hastily wrapping up everything, but instead introducing new elements for future episodes. They're building up to it and while underplayed, it at least hints these B-Stories will be put to better use in the future. It damn well better! Although expect most of them to be solved in three-to-five episodes. I'm prepping the wine already. Also, I am totally calling it: Bulkhead is going to don the armor out of desperation to compensate for his injuries and prove to Smokescreen who's got the bigger robo-penis.

Oh, oh, ohhhh, Ratchet is awesome and he gets some funny ass line here. I'm just putting this in its own paragraph because I have nowhere to put it. Ratchet deserves his own damn paragraph; he's motherfucking Ratchet.

Also, whoa, okay, I did not see the Phase Shifter coming. I mentioned in "Tunnel Vision" that like Hell the Bots would use it because it's too easy, but Smokescreen totally did and I'm pretty happy. They acknowledged its usefulness and badda bing, they got an armor out of the deal. There's one teeny, tiny thing that bugs the shit out of me though. The Phase Shifter's first appearance establishes that anyone/thing can go right through the user. Only the ground stays intact under their feet and that's because of the horrifying ramifications if the Phase Shifter was ever that effective (Remember that one episode of Batman Beyond when that dude keeps phasing until he will presumably hit the Center of the Earth? Yeah, like that. Brrrrr.) However, Smokescreen pushed Starscream out of the armor? How? Shouldn't he technically phase through Starscream? Does that fucking thing have some dial that Smoky can use to alter how solid he wants to be for certain body parts? What? What? Whaaaaat? I call shenanigans on this!

Alright, I give, after repeated viewings, "New Recruit" is pretty good. Granted, all the B-plots are about as gracefully compacted as a packed clown car, but at least it opens up new twists and ideas (even if I'm mostly sure it'll all be solved real quick because why the hell not? Season Two's been doing it all throughout its run). And hey, Smokescreen did have a good introduction even if he has all the classic character traits for me to hate him in the future. On its own, "New Recruit" is a good episode with good-ish build-ups. Now let's see how future episodes fuck it up.

OUT OF FIVE

BONUS OBSERVATIONS

"AFTER THAT REVENGE STUNT HE PULLED WITH MIKO, WHEELJACK CAN STAY ROGUE!" Just sleep with him already, Ratchet.

FREEZE AND WE'LL LIVE! Pfft. I just love the moment the Vehicons start shooting, Optimus and the others just stand still before the intro pops up. It's like they know they gotta pose for the dramatic camera pan.

TFP TEACHES US THAT MONKEYS ARE FUNNY TO EVERYONE—EVERYONE: Starscream is amused by the Tap dancing monkey. I am also amused.

CROUNCH POWER: When Starscream ground bridges to the Red Energon, he's doing this weird ass crouching position that's less intimidating, more "I need to go to the bathroom." ><

NEEDLEPOINT: Wait, I totally forgot the Apex Armor device has a thin point sticking out of it. Starscream shoves it in him in order to transform the thing into the armor. I…doesn't that hurt? Does it literally have to be inside a Cybertronian in order for them to merge with the armor? Is the Apex Armor just one big sex toy?

BEST LINE:
_{ARCEE: All those cons came out of one pod?
RATCHET: The humans refer to the phenomenon as a clown car.}

RUNNER-UP:
_{SMOKESCREEN: Seriously, this is the best your planet has to offer?
JACK: Nope, but this is Jasper.}

Crappy cars notwithstanding, Jasper has an assload of browns to go with it. Better get use to the bland, Smokescreen.

HONORARY MENTION: "Starscream? I heard stories about that stiletto-heeled creep back in Cybertron."

This line is only here because he said "Stiletto-heeled."

WORST LINE: All the puns Starscream spouted during the final fight. I was willing to let it go after one or two, but the third was the straw that broke the camel's back.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

STUPID FANCOMICS

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.

OTHER STUFF

Archive
If you ever want a list of links to all the reviews/rants/analysis/time-wasters I wrote.

My Twitter: Follow me ramble in 100+ words or less here.

My Tumblr: Lots of pretty pictures I like. I may also submit sketches of "Discovery" that I won't put on DA.

Ask Crescendolls on Tumblr: Ask those four losers (and their cats) whatever you want.

"Discovery" TVTropes Page: I actually didn't make this TVTropes page. Someone else did and that person has my eternal thanks. So I'm promoting it because, well, it's my fancomic. XD

REQUESTS: No, I do not. Sorry.

Comments28

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agi-nekonin

Nov 30, 2012

I have a theory concerning when Smokescreen stared at Airachnid for a minute in the stasis pod, though it may be a little farfetched.

What if Smokescreen once knew Airachnid back on Cybertron before the war? What if there's the possibility that Airachnid is in-fact the Blackarachnia of Prime (TFA Blackarachnia aka Elita-1). I kinda feel like Airachnid was once a normal Cybertronian but got infected with alien material or was experimented on and it caused her mind to warp and turn her into what she is now.

What are your thoughts?

TFP 'New Recruit' Review

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