The Intergalactic Highway

Can't say I really stare at that part of Prime's anatomy too often. :p

I also noticed that this is the first episode where Agent William Fowler's given name is revealed. Could it be a reference to G1's William Irving "Sparkplug" Witwicky (father of Spike and Buster Witwicky)??

...probably not. d: So many Williams in Transformers. Sparkplug, Bomber Bill, Wild Bill, Bill Gordon, Billy Husky, Billy (from Transformers Armada), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Bill (Keepers Trilogy), William Lennox, William Hayes, Billy North... and now William Fowler. Man, WIlliam's gotta be the most common given name used in humans in Transformers. Heck, there was even one Transformer whose name was Billy!

And yet there's only ONE character in Transformers with the world's most common given name -- Mohammed. And he's damn obscure!

Also love this quote:

"You're a motorcycle, Arcee... shouldn't you know how to build a motorcycle engine?"
"You're a human, Jack... can you build me a small intestine?"
I just love cultural faux pas moments like this which remind us that Transformers are not only alien to humans, but that humans are alien to robots.

^ loved that line. I never would have imagined that comeback from her lol.

Hheeeeeyyy! Scraplets!! Nice G1 homage there! (and good to see them using another villain aside from the Decepticons). I was looking forward to seeing the Scraplets merge like in G1, but that never happened. Interesting to see how they changed their weakness too... in G1 their weakness was a legendary chemical compound so rare that Decepticon command thought it would be better to deploy the Throttlebots to spray them with corrosive acid (which would also kill any infected Transformers) rather than search for this compound. In Transformers Prime, their weakness is cold. I guess Cybertron must be pretty warm? (In G1, Carly once remarked that Cybertron felt cold -- or maybe it's just chilly but not quite cold enough to kill Scraplets <shrug>)

Just watched the episode today. For some reason this one looked a lot more impressive to me than the others. The damage design done by the scraplets was consistent for each character in every scene. The clouds above Optimus' head and the snow looked like the artists threw in a ton of textures. It was definitely well made. As for the weakness to cold, didn't the Transformers fight in space?

Alak wrote:As for the weakness to cold, didn't the Transformers fight in space?

Hehehehehe, good point.

Time for -- FANSPLANATION!!!

*ahem* Maybe it's wet cold that affects them... cos ya know, all that snow sticking to them and getting in... and... a wizard did it!

Convection Vs. Radiation.

In space the only way to lose excess heat is to radiate it away. All those movies you see where someone pulls of their helmets and they're instantly frozen? Hollywood science, ignore it, the vacuum damage would kill you first before you start to freeze. The space station and the shuttles needed fairly large radiators to get rid of their excess heat while in space (whilst outside the Earth's shadow), otherwise the crew would quite literally cook.

In places like the Arctic, you not only lose heat to radiation but also to convection, that is, the air carries the heat away from you.

So, fighting in space isn't too big a deal. They'd be generating enough internal heat from fighting to keep themselves fairly warm even in space even if they were fighting in the Earth's shadow. The Arctic would be a larger problem if the rate of convection and radiation is greater than that of their exertion and natural heat generating capacity resulting in a net loss of thermal energy.

As with all things, SCIENCE!

SCIENCE!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA! WARNING: This Link Comes With a Seizure Warning. You have been Warned. This Warning Provided By the Department of Redundant Warnings Department of Redundant Warnings

Good explanation. I'll take it.

"Awwwwwwww so cute--AHHHH TEETH!!"

My reaction to the Scraplets XDDDDD

As always, I loved this episode and love the scenes with the humans helping out and also the scenes with Optimus and Arcee.

So in otherwords.. your saying in the cold Transformers end up similar to batteries in my walkmen as a kid and freeze being out in the cold causing them to go offline? Geh. Always hated when that happened,usually when I was shoveling snow.

Batteries are a slightly different beast. They produce an electrical current via an internal chemical reaction. Extreme cold slows the reaction, reducing the current. Heat generally speeds up the chemical reaction but also increases electrical resistance thereby also reducing the current. Generally batteries are designed to operate within a certain temperature range, though I'm sure there are batteries designed to work in temperature extremes I doubt they're affordable.

TF's are like any complex machine, a car being the most readily identifiable. Too cold and they seize up, too hot and they burn out and melt... or explode.

Much like organic life really. Too cold and it's popsicle time. Too hot and it's barbecue.

Nuclear Power on the other hand works at any temperature. The hotter the better. The Sun is a prime example

And I've gone a rambling again haven't I? Damnit I need to go take my anti-rambling meds... where did I leave them? Damn this old age of mine... the whipper-snappers are gonna get the better of me one of these days...

I find your ramblings most educational.

Agreed. I like it when Razor One rambles.

Perhaps Wheeljack should've been called "Driftjack" :p One complaint, and it's something I didn't like so much with the Scraplets ep either -- not enough transforming!

Makeshift was a pretty cool character though

Agreed about Wheeljack. Maybe it's because I'm so used to his G1 characterization that I was sort of... thrown off by his portrayal in this recent episode. Makeshift did seem like a pretty tight Decepticon. Pity he won't be returning...

I loved how Bulkhead was a part of the Wreckers back in the day. I find that really fitting for him. It makes me wonder if we'll see any of the others later on down the road, since Hasbro wants to make this an on-going series.

Also, Makeshift is the coolest name for a Transformer who can copy other Transformers.