Transformers Animated (Spoilers within!)

[Wicked Woman]

Ok, now there's no more new eps until the US catches up...



IN THREE WEEKS! Not fair. Canada is a week ahead!


WW

[artemis-lady-warrior]

Fraggit! I still have to wait until after camp to see the last two! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wonko The Sane]

Okay,now for YTV's Review on Autoboot Camp

Animation

Longarm Prime/Shockwave:The disguise between Shockwave and Longarm are so ggod you won't really notice right away,but the big giveaway is the red 'eye' on the centre of Longarm's forehead and Shockwave's face.As for the head ornament on Shockwave,it is used as a mouth/chinplating for Longarm.As for his body,he is crafted as having rubber all over his legs and arms.His power,having the ability to stretch his arms and legs,has plates(Black in blue border)attached to one another.His colour scheme is white chest,blue border,blackish grey on his arms and legs,and his stomach plates are grey...for the colour of Shockwave,it is not certain is his colour scheme changes to purple,since we only see his face.As for Shockwave's face,it has a slender look than his G1 form,and his eye contians a pink cat's eye pupil.Shockwave's sholder plates detach themselves(For Longarm,they are atached to one back plate)to make him more like his G1 look.For Longarm's alt-mode,it is a Cybertonian tank.


Ironhide:Although seen in Mission Accomplished,we see his full body look,being a little more bulkier than his G1 counterpart.As for his power mode,he changes into silver,being impenetrable to Sentinel's shield.His alt mode resembles to Ratchet's Cybertonian alt-mode

Waspinator:I know I could have add this in my character review of Wasp,but to late for that now.Anyway,Waspinator contians both the physical similartites to BumbleBee and his Beast Wars persona.What is similar in the Beast wars peerspective is the stripes in his abdomen to his knees,however they are green and black rather than yellow ad black.He also contains antennae similar to the Beast warrior but they are in one colour than striped,no to mention that his chin-plating is an attached replica to Waspinator's mouth flaps in Beast Wars.To make him similar to BumbleBee is the size and body shape,though green.In his eyes,they are more oval than round,giving more of a Beast Wars quality,however they are blue than purple(In the ending they become bright purple).His shoulders are more upward than Cybertonian BumbleBee's.His alt mode is an altered sports/race car.


Storyline

There are two storylines in this Episode which is the past and present.Once again I will divide them.

Past

BumbleBee is prepared to join the service in order to be an Elite Guard member.From there he meets the new recruits:Ironhide,Longar,Waspinator,and Bulkhead.He explains to Waspinator that he and himself come from the same Protoform manufacturer,where Waspinator refuses to believe.As for Bulkhead,BumbleBee points out that Bulkhead came from an Energon farm,much to Bulkhead's surprise on finding that out.The recruits settle in line and meet there sergeant/tainer,Sentinel Minor.He each classifies there ambtions and names(That will set themselves for the entire Series)BumbleBee got off with a bad start with Sentinel,knocking off a building instead of targets in order to impress him and show off on Waspinator.The result was BumbleBee and Bulkhead end up on oil change duty,which Bulkhead is proud on doing,while BumbleBee mocks him and his dream on being a Spacebride Technician.Due to a clumsy accident,Sentinel is injured,filled with oil and punishes the recuits with 'Transformer-ups',but for BumbleBee,he has to stand,with an oil barrel on each hand and calls out an icantation.Tired of this BumbleBee walks off the punishmetn and overhears a conversation,hearing Megatron's voice,saying that there is a double-agent among the recuits.BumbleBee tries to stop him but the spy already left.When BumbleBee went further down to his room,he finds Waspinator walking around and assumes that he is the spy.He also finds Longarm and tells him the story,where Longarm gives him hope and determination to his mission.BumbleBee finds new ways to capture Waspinator,such as planting traps,microphones,and so on,but all traps are duped by Sentinel,leading to humilation and more Transformer-ups.Waspinator and Ironhide gang up on BumbleBee in his room and drilled his legs off,stuffing him in his locker afterwards.Longarm finds him and encourages him some more.Afterwards Sentinel orders the recuits to do some training with fake ammo.BumbleBee and Bulkhead teams up,but endied up in an argument about BumbleBee saying that he is not Bulkhead's friend and he is slowing him down.BumbleBee wanders off in the training field and is encountered by live ammo,altered by the Decepticon spy.Bulkhead saves BumbleBee and destroys the autoguns,by tearing down a building(Where Sentinel happens to walk under)In the end of it all,Longarm tells BumbleBee that Sentinel is doing a locker inspection.They plan on getting Waspinator's key,by tripping him and BumbleBee 'helping' him.He is able to get the key and Sentinel walks in.BumbleBee gives him a communicator,which was where the Decepticon spy was commuting Megatron with.BumbleBee and Sentinel agreed that it is Waspinator,and the bot was shakled,kicked out,and no longer an Autobot.Sentinel rewards BumbleBee for his bravery,however he wanted to know who was the one that destroyed the building and points it out to Bulkhead.BumbleBee steps in and 'confesess'.Sentinel kicks BumbleBee out of the Service and Bulkhead becomes a technician,and BumbleBee joins him along to build a Spacebridge.


Present

In an asteroid belt,a ship crashlands,where the Elite Guard ship also lies.Sentinel chases after Waspinator who escapes from prison.Waspinator ends up in a Spacebridge and uses it,stopping Sentienl and transports his way there.On Earth,Ultra Magnus calls out to Optimus and his crew,showing a picture of Waspinator.BumbleBee recgonizes him right away and Ultra Magnus warns them to capture him in case he heads for Earth.Meanwhile BumbleBee and Bulkhead are at monitor duty and finds a scrambled message of Megatro cimmuting with the Decepticon spy(The message was sent through Issac Sumdac).BumbleBee points out that the spy is Waspinator and traces the message.Bulkhead comes along and tells him to turn back and tell Prime.Thie leads to an argument between the two and Bulkhead leaves him behind.BumbleBee walks up to the mountainside near the Decepticon lair,but BumbleBee falls off the side and is buried under a hugh pile of rocks.BumbleBee tells himself that he is sorry for arguing with Bulkhead and respects his freindship.Bulkhead overhears and rescues him,where BumbleBee aplolgizes and heads home;feet away from the Decepticon door.Meanwhile,Waspinator lands in another astroid belt and tells himself that he is finding VBumbleBee for revenge.In the Autobot base,BumbleBee tells Longarm Prime about Waspinator and the message.Longarm is determined to get him,but later,he is seen talking to Megatron,revealling himself as the Decepticon spy,Shockwave.


What Bulkhead said to BumbleBee about learning the hard way is true.He had always been known to risk his own life and others lives for the sake of learning a lesson,but,like always,he never remembers those lessons and ends up in square one.However,with this one,there is hope that he is slowly maturing.

What was interesting to note is that BumbleBee was so close to advance the plot,but all is on the Decepticons now,as they are close to completing the Spacebridge.Hopefully there will be more of Shockwave development and involvement in the future.

The more interesting in this Episode is Waspinator and his transfer from being a sane person to an insane one.Perhaps he was isolated when he was punished but it is curious to know on how the Autobots do deal with prisoners,especially Decpeticon spies?Are there tirals involved?Are rights being violated?Tough interrogations?Torture?The truth of all lies on Waspinator.


Quirks

Sentinel will always be the comic relief,even in flashbacks.

The Autobots do Sari's laundry.


And now I'll be off to watch Black Friday...where I am already annoyed by the fact Grimlock had a thing for Blackrachnia.

[artemis-lady-warrior]

I myself find that Grimlock/Blackarachnia thing quite hilarious.

[Wonko The Sane]

I will do my Review shortly,as soon as I finish my reaction to it.

[artemis-lady-warrior]

okay then.. Can't wait to read it. BTW Meltdown = The Wicked Witch Of The West. XD

[Wonko The Sane]

[Wonko The Sane]

Review for UK Nick Toons' Black Friday

Characters


An Optimus and Grimlock focused Episode.

Optimus Prime:He takes a fair share at being a leader,but still has the flaws of not being one,as he tries to communicate with Grimlock about how the both of them are being manipulated by Blackarachnia.His feelings for her contnues to show as he was the first one to hear her,defend her,and take care of her when injured.He grows a sense of depression when he does not accomplish something,such as saving the lives of Prowl and BumbleBee,however he aknowledges that BA is still Elita;the good Autobot he lost long ago.

Grimlock:Throughout the Episode he is territorial,even fighting with other Dinobots to see Blackrachnia.He develops his own sense of leadership when teaming up with Prime,only to end up as his romantic rival.As for his new 'love' for Blackarachnia,Grim becomes the jealous type;defending her and often fighting with Prime for having a 'close' encounter with his beloved.When he is around Blackarachnia,he becomes more open to her and will obey her every command,but when near Optimus,he tells him that BA is his,and Prime will not stand in his way.

Meltdown:He lost his edge after he first premiered in Season 1 and is assumed as the writers' favourite villian;even giving him the chance to revive him.No new development is in him this time besides tricking Blackrachnia into almost becoming fully organic.He is also willing to kill Powell for Sari(and for his escape),to have a chance to get revenge on Sumdac.

Prowl and BumbleBee provide comic relief in this Episode,however,Prowl became a symbol for the annoyed TF:A viewers who can not stand BB a second longer.

Now for the central character.


Blackarachnia

Since I did a comparison on TF:A Waspinator to his Beast Wars counterpart.I decide to make a fair share for Blackarachnia.In this Episode she uses her manipulation techniques to both Grimlock and Prime,the difference is that Prime knows that he is being used,but Grim thinks of it as an act of love.When looking at this Episode,I look back to Blackarachnia's manipulation in BW.It seems to me that Beast Wars BA is loved by the following types of guys:

Smarter than a sack of hammers(Quickstrike)
Naive one on puberty(Cheetor)
Noble ones(Silverbolt,however he can sometimes fall under Point 1)
Insane scientists(Tarantulas)

I could add Rampage in as well,but mainly his adressess to Blackarachnia are more of wit than attraction.G1 Starscream can fit under another category,but he sees her as a student.As for TF:A Blackarachnia,her men fall under Points 1 and 3,you could count Meltdown as Point 4,but he falls under Rampage's category.Moving on,TF:A Blackrachnia will manipulate and use Grimlock whenever she wants,much like Beast Wars BA with Quickstrike and Silverbolt.The desire for TF:A BA to become fully mechanical is the same thing with Beast Wars BA wanting to become Transmetal II in Season III,but both have failed to achieve it at some point.The diffrence between the two is that TF:A BA has grown softer towards Prime,given the assumption that she is falling in love with him.However,it is not certain in the Episode if she were to injure Prime,but with Grim under the same scene with the two it is not needed.What is interesting to note is that it took Blackarachnia two encounters to become closer to Prime,while Beast Wars BA took around four or five encounters to accept her love for Silverbolt.


Storyline

It all starts off with BumbleBee and Sari visiting Meltdown to get answers from him about Issac Sumdac.Meltdown does not know where Sumdac is but he offers Sari to kill Powell,but he must escape in order to do that.Sari refuses and leaves,but he still tells her that the offer is still available.When the visit was over Powell sees the prsion footage from his office,making sure he keeps a close eye on them.Late at night,the Dinobots come to take Meltdown with his prison to take him to Dinobot Island.Fanzone and Powell went to investigate afterwards,and Powell tells fanzone about Meltdown making a deal with Sari through the footage.Fanzone asks where he got the footage,but Powell tries to stick to the original subject,ending with Fanzone refusing his need for protection.On Dinobot Island,the Dinobots chant for Blackarachnia,and ends up fighting over her.BA tells the Dinobots(By injuring Grimlock)that they have to obey or she will steal their powers(Which she will do either way).Now she speaks to Meltdown and her journey through Dinobot Island.In the flashback(From Megatron Rising),she washed up ashore in the island,where the Dinobots took her in and let her live in Meltdown's lab.She looked at his research on genetic eningeering and she asks to get rid of her organic half.Meltdown agrees but requires some item in order to do the procedure.Meanwhile at the Autobot base,Prowl looks at the footage and finds out that the Dinobots took Meltdown.Prime,Prowl,and BumbleBee go on to Dinobot Island(Where the silence contest between Prowl and BB begins).The three split up and Prowl eventually finds BB in a web,only to be ambushed by Blackrachnia shortly after.Prime finds his crew and BA,and demands him to find Meltdown's item for her,with the help of Grimlock(Who automactically agrees).Grimlock and Prime went down to Detroit,causing havoc and arguments between the two.They end up going to Powell's office and ask(Well threatened,with Grimlock eating Powell)to see Meltdown's old lab.They grab the item and head back to the island.Meanwhile Meltdown traps BA though the operating table,explaining to her that he will rid of her mechanical half.Optimus and Grimlock heads to defeat Meltdown but were stopped by the Pretenders,leading to a battle in a remote area of the island.Swoop and Snarl come in to the battle,and the four defeated the Pretenders,and head for Meltdown.Metdown is defeated by his item,melting away.Prime frees Blackarachnia and share a moment together,but was cut short by Grimlock's jealousy.Blackarachnia escapes from the two and Prime heads for Prowl and BumbleBee,only to find the antedote she promised to give Prime once the mission was done.Prime and his Autobots head home, aknowledging the fact that the Elita part of Blackrachnia still lies in her.In the end,Meltdown is revived.


I remembered back to MGK's very old comment on a Grimlock and Prime focused Episode,wanting another Low Road.When looking at this Episode,it had some sort of Low Road appeal on the partnership of Prime and Grim.1st,both characters are done by one voice actor(Prime and Grim played by David Kaye,while the orginal Low Road players,Dinobot and Rattrap were done by Scott McNeil).2nd,the reason why this odd couple was chosen is so they can save someone's life;Grimlock for BA,Prime for Prowl and BumbleBee(While the orginal Low Roaders went to save their friend Rhinox).3rd,they argued,leading into great comedy(All players displayed a sense of pride and disconcern for one another,often leading to slapstick and childish arguements).And finally,there was a scienetist involved(Meltdown for Black Friday,Tarantulas in The Low Road).Now I am not saying that Black Friday is the next Low Road but it is a tribute to the original work.It was good but not as humourous as the original,because this filler had some serious scene and development for Grimlock,Prime,and Blackarachnia(Oh,I forgot to mention that her Beast Wars counterpart was also in the Low Road,the 5thsimilarity),so there wans't enough time to add more humour between the two.It is to note that in The Low Road,it mainly focused on the orignal players for a good chunk of time,while other characters shy away from the limelight,but in TF:A,there were things going on that the Grim/Prime interaction was cut short.Either way,I liked this Episode as a tribute to the orignal Low Road.

There was some slight confusion in this Episode regarding time.When Blackarachnia said to Prime that Prowl and BumbleBee had only 2 'megacycles' to live,I was thinking she was referring to 2 hours.However,in the end of the Episode it was morning.Now I don't know what time the Autobots came to the island and the time Grimlock and Prime were in Detroit,but they were probably around the hours of 7-10 PM,and the battle and meetings ended at sunrise,which is around 5-6 AM.My guess is that Blackarachnia lied about the entire thing and gave them enough venom to pass out,but is not entirely fatal.If not,then she must have mistaked the word 'megacycle' to 'decacycle' which is defined as a day,so it means that they had 2 days to live.

We now face a new development in the series:The Love Triangle.Now,I have faced a love triangle in Beast Wars between BA,Silverbolt,and Cheetor,and this idea taken from that Series and put into this one,kind of unvalues the character of TF:A Blackarachnia,making herself more of a Beast Wars BA clone.Now I know this love traingle won't appear often as it did in BW Season 3(Which lasted 2 Episodes,if you count that Dark Glass Episode,3)and it will be used for comic purposes and an excuse to get Grim more.If it is for Dinobot screentime,I'll accept it,but I am worried on how the BA/Prime relationship will turn out,becuase if it were to be similar to Beast Wars BA and Silverbolt's journey to become a couple,not only it lessens the TF:A character originality of the same name,but does not count for originality in plot between her and Prime,but maybe that is why Grim should appear more often with them.

Also,it was an elaborate scheme to let BumbleBee shut up in this Episode,but it could have made more sense to not have that contest story at all.By then,I could have had more of a Low Road theme going on betwen Grim and Prime


Quirks

Fanzone knows where to put Powell in his place.

It takes a paralyzed BumbleBee to shut up for 10 cycles.


Now,off to see Sari,No One's Home.

[artemis-lady-warrior]

Persoanaly I was hoping Prowl and BA would have some kind of interaction besides "sneak up behind you, poison you, wrap you in my web and drag you away".
I just think that Prowl and her should have some kind of conversation in the future. She being half mechanical and him loving organic things it just seems like a good idea, but not really a romantic thing, just something to help her feel better about herself.
Personally I still like the Starscream/Blackaarchnia pairing even though those two had abosolutly NO interaction at all.
At least Optimus Prime (unlike knoble Silberbolt) is smart enough to know when somebody is using him.
grimlock is funny but I hope he's not just used as a love triangle character because that would get boring really easily. it kind of reminds me of Grimlock and Arcee in that one episode...... Grimlock said he loved Arcee... maybe it was a homage to that or something... XD Speaking of Arcee.. I wish we could see her again. It seems like everyone BUT her has appeared in more than one episode so far.

[Wonko The Sane]

Oh dear God he said that?Oh wow,now I like him even more...he's so cute. n_n

Anyway I am under tha same idea that a love triangle between the three would be boring,and I know I couldn't stand it if it comes around often,now that I have some sort of feelings for one of them.

Moving on,I can't really see an interaction between Prowl and BA.It does seem like a good idea and it would put a little bit of originality,but the writers would mainly put her with two beings:Sari and Prime.That will be it.

My thoughts on regarding Silver:I looked back on The Agenda and I think he knows he is being used,but he just doesn't care,he uses that as an advantage to convince her to join his side,which went on for four Episodes straight.

[artemis-lady-warrior]

Yes he did. It was in G1 in one of the five parter episode for the five faces of darkness (SEASON THREE PREMIER EPISODES) . he says "Me Grimlock, love Arcee!" i was like. O.o... WEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I know it won't ever happen except in fanfiction but it seems like a very good idea and if I worked for Hasbro I'd do something with it. Sadly I don't so I can't. I can't even send ideas to Hasbro but if I could I would because it MAKE SO MUCH SENSE at least in my mind. XD

[Wonko The Sane]

Grimmy loves Arcee.Adorable.I wonder what happens if they do end up together?

[artemis-lady-warrior]

Ain't gonna happen. She's stuck in a love triangle with Springer and Rodimus Pussy.

[Wonko The Sane]

Did she chose Springer anyways?

[artemis-lady-warrior]

They don't say but I get the feeling she did.