lol you mean "shouldn't arcee have a moral compass" given, y'know, saving that bitch's life was entirely her call instead of, y'know, killing an enemy combatant she had every right to kill.

But no, Airachnid is the Writer's Pet. They didn't have the balls to kill her off. That's why they had to outright show that blowing up a base didn't kill her despite her inability to run away.

I'm surprised you haven't figured this out yet, but when it comes to "morality" there's only one rule:

The Autobots are always in the right. Even if it's actually something blatantly questionable to any rational and sane people, the show doesn't give a fuck. The Autobots can do no wrong.

Well, fuck, I have to sig this now. I'm famous!

Damnit, doesn't somebody have the gif of Starscream's dance that somebody edited pantyhose over?

Don't forget that this also really underscores how fucking bullshit the entire 'oh no Bulkhead might hurt/be crippled/might actually have lasting effects from getting a hole blown in his back' thing by just underscoring how power and damage per character is not a consistent thing, and that in turn underscores just how fucking flawed the show is ultimately.

If Megatron is powerful enough to take down Dreadwing, who himself can fight Prime to a standstill, then how has Megatron not simply fucking won already? Megatron in that one instance hows he's already powerful enough to kill anybody he chooses in a single shot, yet what has he done for the entire fucking show? DESIRE MORE POWER TO DEFEAT HIS ENEMIES. The only thing holding him back...is because he's a fucking idiot who throws away every single advantage he gets when the slightest thing goes wrong! He is without question the worst Megatron ever!

But even with all that power, he can't kill a single Autobot. Why, you ask, when Starscream did it with a single hand stab to Cliffjumper? Because Cliffjumper only died so Arcee could fucking bitch about somebody's death for the entire show's run! And then they did it again retroactively with Airachnid just for the same fucking reasons! Except after that, when's the next time you see any Autobot die? hint: FUCKING NEVER.

This is why Transformers Prime is known as Transformers: Status Quo. Things that seem like they should be massive game changers simply peter out like a dud firework. It's really telling when the most successful thing that the Decepticons have actually managed to do whatsoever since the first episode (Starscream killing Cliffjumper and this removing 1/6th of all Autobots on the planet in a single stroke with one death...which Megatron hilariously undoes technically the second he comes back with the whole zombie thing) is finally blow up their enemy's base two seasons later. And there's still one season and a film left to go so based on that alone you know how that's going to eventually end up. The only time the story actually goes anywhere is at the end of a season when Megatron finally decides to do something progressive for a change.

The writers really screwed the pooch with Dreadwing's death, because they were forced to kill Megatron to make him seem strong...when in reality it actually paints Megatron as being far weaker than ever before when he kills a perfectly good underling for having a sense of honor while at the same time bringing back in a complete failure of a Decepticon (though ironically, there hasn't been a Starscream this adverse to chronic backstabbing disorder since Armada Starscream).

 

In response to you watching Patch...

 

Oddly, for all these rants about the scene, am I the only one who remembered that Megs doesn't HAVE a gun at this point and just low-key picks up Dreadwing's gun to do the deed?

This probably makes it more inconsistent, because Dreadwing's gun is rapid-fire not high-power, but I liked it in a hoist-by-his-own-petard way.

 

I remember the controversy over Dreadwing's death--should Megatron have killed him versus the cowardly Starscream?

To me Megatron's decision makes sense, taking into consideration his personality. (That is to say, accepting that a character is not always going to choose "the best" path or "the most logical path", because characters have flaws.)

First, Starscream is a known quantity to Megatron. Yeah, he tries to betray Megatron on and off, but Megatron usually seems pretty aware of it and unworried, so this isn't a big minus in Megatron's eyes.

Second, Starscream gets things done. Dreadwing doesn't. I could be wrong, but I don't think Dreadwing ever succeeded in bringing a relic back to Megatron. Not that I am knocking Dreadwing, mind you; he just had a run of bad luck which could have happened to anybody. But Megatron loves to judge his soldiers and blame them for any lack of Decepticon progress. Starscream showing up with ALL the keys vs. Dreadwing never returning with anything . . . A big contrast in Megatron's eyes.

Third, and I believe this is the key reason Dreadwing had to die, Dreadwing defied Megatron. Megatron said, "Stand down" and Dreadwing said, "No." Megatron simply cannot and will not tolerate dissension. He will accept sniveling, groveling, sulking, scheming, and even outright betrayal, but NO ONE is supposed to stand up to him. Dreadwing said, "No" while Starscream said, "Master." Of course Megatron was going to save Starscream.

I disagree that this move was supposed to "make Megatron seem strong." It did exactly what it was intended to do: highlight Megatron's weakness, which is that he sucks at managing his troops and that his instinct is to shoot his way out of awkward situations. It's an illustration of why he is a bad leader.

I'm not a big fan of "humans helping Transformers / Transformers saving humans!" so I found the Autobots trading the Omega Keys for the kids very frustrating. I sometimes wonder if Optimus subconsciously hates his own species because of the never-ending war and instead projects all his hopes onto humanity.

That said, I can certainly see his actions being a breath of fresh air after watching movie-Optimus. I'm not a big Optimus fan (any generation) but even I feel like movie-Optimus is almost a slur against the spirit of Optimus Prime.

 

I know I said my last post would be my, ummm, last, but consider this as the sequel movie.

There's "flawed" and then there's "poorly written." Megatron is both.

Because Starscream has never defied Megatron before.

That just goes to show how short-sighted and moronic Megatron is to judge the life and death of his troops on a literal whim. Because if a moment of thought had even passed into the vacant space that is his head, he wouldn't have even told Dreadwing to stand down. That's the most uncharacteristic thing of Megatron to do- that is, the typical Megatron.

The idea that the stupid decision can be excused because the absurd circumstances were crafted to allow it is not seeing the forest for the trees. Like AB says, this is the dumbest, most ineffectual Megatron ever. He's constantly making horrible judgement calls, and all of his victories are just handed to him by happenstance... and then promptly squandered by his arrogance and stupidity. But the character is not meant to be stupidly arrogant, he's meant to be making logical decisions, but he isn't.

See, if Megatron wa so concerned about loyalty and not wasting good soldiers, shouldn't he be on Dreadwing's side? Starscream was the one who got Skyquake, a potentially useful asset, killed. Dreadwing's hatred is a personal vendetta, but Starscream fucked Megatron over, too, technically. So really, Megatron has basically traded two capable warriors for an actual, literally pansy. Prime Starscream makes Movie Starscream look like a threatening independant by comparrison. (at least movie Starscream could fight) So what if Starscrema brought the Omega things back? Since when is Megatron one to reward someone like Starscream? Any other Megatron (read: every other Megatron ever) would've taken the keys and killed Starscream himself. (or again, just let Dreadwing off an annoyance) That would at least be understandable, because Megatron has a personal hatred of Starscream. See, Megatron is only a shortsighted fool when the show needs him to be, and a non-nonsense upholder of Decepticon peace when he needs to be. Whatever the reason, whatever the logic, Megatron is still out one good soldier and plus one worthless one.

It's just so, so unsatisfying. You can excuse it and dress it up all you'd like, but it doesn't change the fact that it was a detriment to the show, and an unrewarding conclusion to the character.

A sad, frustrating truth of the show.

 

Additionally, it just seems completely against Megatron's best interests (not like that's ever bothered him before) to off a soldier as opposed to just disciplining him when for the entire show all he gives a damn about in the end is MOAR POWER and/or MOAR ARMIES. Yet every time something presents itself, he always makes the wrong decision for the bigger picture. He's a fucking baby who throws tantrums every time something doesn't go his way.

Not to mention this is only compounded by the idea that this is supposed to be the later form of WFC/FOC Megatron, who has really degraded in capability between the games and the cartoon, but after his resurection in FOC he gets right down to brass tacks and retakes leadership of the Decepticons from Starscream sheer brute force - an ironic consideration given how Starscream at the beginning of the show was actually running the Decepticons far more efficently than Megatron has done in two seasons (not to mention a higher kill count of their enemy of one with Cliffjumper whereas Megatron can't even count Zombie Cliffjumper - the same dude Starscream killed no less - because slicing him in half did not kill him a second time). Ignoring the fact that at the end of FOC, Starscream is laying unconcious somewhere on Cybertron while Prime and Megatron are dueling on the top of the linked Nemesis-Ark going through the collapsing space bridge, for Megatron to be the same guy, he has to know Starscream can and will betray him again, and all Dreadwing wants to do is murder a proven traitor.

So instead Megatron kills the loyal guy and keeps the fucking backstabbing asshat. And the amazing thing is? HE DOES NOT LEARN FROM THIS.

Let's compare Prime Megatron to, say, Animated Megatron, in terms of how effective they are.

Prime Megatron's goals were in S1 to: A) Amass an army of dark energon Zombies (failed) and raise unicron (backfired), while in S2 it was 99% get-all-the-collectibles (which he sorta succeeded in making his minions do for him...before they all blew up) and almost deus-ex-machina's the apparent destruction of his enemies in the last episode of S2. And that's not counting all of the one-episode-shot-wonders like Silasdown.

Animated Megatron was in S1 was A) Get a new body (attempted several times with various side effects, eventually succeeded after reuniting with his old one) and B) get the allSpark (which he DID do and forced Prime to destroy it, denying both sides the artifact in the process). S2 was entirely Megatron spending time sitting in a chair unless he had to go kick some ass (starscream inexplicably not dying and trying to kill him several times in a row didn't even phase Megatron) while making his limited pool of soldiers (and spy on cybertron) do all the work in making the Space Bridge while also tracking down AllSpark shards to varying success (the biggest of course being the acquisition of the Constructicons to build the space bridge on Earth), with his main goal ALSO succeeding here and incidentally the only reason he failed was by his own hubris by thinking he knew better than Bulkhead and thus shoved Starscream's head into a power socket, causing the bridge to overload and trap him and Starscream's head in deep space...

...until S3 when Megatron got really freakin' lucky and OMEGA SUPREME showed up, but as we're not into S3 of Prime yet, comparing the final act of Animated is unfair at this time.

But still, overall it really does show that Animated Megatron with far less resources, troops, and time spent not being a head, managed to accomplish so much more than a Megatron who actually was in full control of all Decepticon assets and at worst spent a few weeks or months in a coma. But the real difference is in their combat ability. Prime Megatron is supposed to be some big badass but an army of Insecticons gave him trouble and he's always up-and-at-'em every few episodes.

Not Animated Megatron. Aside from his ass-kicking of Starscream sequence, he's rarely seen in any position that isn't him in his chair, but when he's actually an active force, he doesn't even need to be fighting to have presence. When the Constructicons show up at the Deceptibase, he calmly tells Lugnut to not nuke the shit out of them and then joins the two yellow bots in comroderie, skillfully seducing them to come to the dark side (where they have gourmet oil and stuff) while really planning on using them as manua laborers - not to say he doesn't reward their loyalty to the cause once the job is done, of course, and they in turn are still loyal to him after that even though they never actually see Megatron again. And in battle, well, he's saved for the season finalies because in action, he truly has no equal. They even had to cut out a bit from the S1 finalie where Megatron just stumbles upon the Dinobots and curbstomps them because he kicks so much ass in that episode already. He's only truly put at even odds against Wingblade Armor Optimus, also the point where Megatron regards Prime as such that he's worth remembering the name of, and they beat each other into the ground and only does Megatron narrowly loose that battle.

TL;DR: TF Prime's problem with Megatron is overexposure. He has to be present all the time with the scheming and the fighting and, combined with the sub-par plotting of episodic resets, it really dilutes him down and his completely idiotic decision making just drives it further home. Compare to Animated Megatron, who is rarely ever seen having to handle matters personally but when he does, shit is guaranteed to get real.

 

Man, I feel so alone in loving the show!

 

I liked the show when it first came on, but after rewatching it I started noticing its flaws. I like RID better.

 

You gotta remember, you're doing this blind and have the entire series at your fingertips, well past its airing.

The period of Prime for most of us is much, much longer, was fraught with disappointment after disappointment, the entire aligned concept fell apart largely because of this show not keeping its shit straight, and outright lies from the production crew.

 

You're not alone it's my favorite TF show to date.

 

So much to quote and it's such a pain in the ass to do on mobile ughhhhhhh

But first off I'll note @Autobot Burnout thanks for breaking my heart :'(

 

Like both SPLIT LIP and Burnout mentioned, I never cared for Megatron in this show. For someone that are supposed to be the leader of the Decepticons, he didn't really do anything aside from sucking at his job. He never did any well thought-out judgements, the majority of his victories are just mere luck like "Orion Pax" join his side at the end of S1, and always let his useless Vehicon drones to do the job while he can just do it himself. He reminds me of why I didn't like Car Robots Gigatron and the Bayverse Megatron.

There's nothing wrong for anyone to like this show. I really want to like it, but I just can't. As much as I dislike TF Prime, nobody should feel bad for liking it and disliking it.

 

Tough love, baby!

 

I'm in the awkward position of not really disagreeing with any of the criticisms but just not actually minding the flaws that much. I'm not going to argue that they aren't THERE, but I enjoy the show and it stands at a pretty respectable position in the Transformers animated canon (don't @ me).

And if anything I enjoyed it MORE when it first aired than I do now.

 

See if I get you Transformers Prime: The Complete Series on Blu-Ray anytime soon, mister!

 

Good. Don't got the room for it in my Blu-Ray rack anyway.

 

I'm right there with you. I totally understand Prime's flaws, but honestly, if I never came onto these boards and read all the negative responses to the show, I probably would've never noticed them and probably would've enjoyed it much much more (ignorance is bliss!). Granted, I loved every episode on initial viewing, and I still consider Prime one of my favorite TF shows despite all the hate.

Believe me, you're definitely not alone.  

 

You aren't alone in liking the show. I think people with negative feelings about something tend to be louder and more passionate than people with neutral or positive feelings (which is not intended as a criticism, just an observation). I do see flaws in the show, and have criticisms of the show, but like Anguirus overall I still love the show because the flaws aren't the ones that bother me very much.

 

Slayer, as you know, I've always enjoyed TFP! So I'm hanging in there with ya buddy!!  

I was here for all the original discussions, so I'm not really up for posting it all again, however, I do enjoy reading your Blog. Hopefully, some other newbies to the series are getting a chance to watch and enjoy along with ya!
Don't let the Doggy Downers get you down!!!  

 

Okay, lemme get into this. First off I'll say that Split, I feel you, but I'll miss your posts here.

Patch. Another clip show. It sucks because they likely didn't have a choice thanks to the budget issues we now know plagued the series, especially in season two. In hindsight I'm more merciful knowing that. Well, it was better than Grill. It at least had much more original animation and scenes. In those scenes, however, eh.

Megatron's deadpan nature once again is funny in this instance. His "see to it that KO is removed from the wall" was hilarious. Then his word of advice about speaking out loud. And finally his fourth wall/cortical psychic patch break when he tells KO not to consider betraying him. Also KO trying to fast forward/delete the incriminating footage of him was funny, after he said it was gonna be juicy.

And yeah I still find the dancing scene hard to believe that it was real. In the episode after the premiere, none of the Steve's showed such enthusiasm for Scream. I've since Headcanonned it as just a fantasy. Made up just for laughs.

Also I remember the animation in this episode being pretty. Not just the opening at sunrise (gorgeous), but the animation on the characters, especially when Megs and Scream converse at the beginning of the patch.

Then we get to Regeneration. Fellow contender for most controversial episode. Dreadwing's death sucked for reasons we've already seen. I get that Dreadwing didn't want to follow Megs nor Optimus, but he wanted to stay a Decepticon. Maybe he could've formed his own rogue faction? Not that there's anyone in this universe to form it with. But yes, even considering Dreadwing has a poor record of success, Megs should've spared him. Starscream is nothing compared to Dreadwing by this point.

Oh and hey Cap, we finally got to the episode where your avatar was taken from!  

The relic fight was kinda cool. Smokescreen nuking the Steve's was cool and a bit brutal. This episode confirmed whether or not the Steve's are sentient beings with Sparks, eh?  

I'll give Starscream credit for using Soundwave's research to get the kids while their guardians are away. Me-as-Ratchet had a meltdown on Formspring when I realized what happened. I used a screenshot of Scrat screaming at the sky in the original Ice Age. Also yeah Fowler's relocation of Raf wasn't a serious one considering he was still going to the same school as the others.

Then we get to Darkest Hour. Not one of the best Transformers franchise episodes ever, but certainly one of the best of Prime. It's third best for me. I don't mind Optimus surrendering, but the bigger question mark was him destroying the Omega Lock. On one hand it's human of him to make a rash, stupid decision. On the other hand, only Ratchet treats it as such and everyone else blows him off and don't question it because Optimus. Just like that awful scene in Regeneration where the Autobots question Optimus keeping secrets, but Smokescreen quickly shuts them down because Optimus. Like... no? Something that later happened by total coincidence and because Smokescreen left the base on his own doesn't exactly justify Optimus keeping secrets. And it's not like Optimus committed a crime keeping secrets, because Beast Wars fans, remember Operation Eternity? But I hate that the one time they question Optimus, goodie two shoes Smokescreen reminds them how good and wise and perfect Optimus is.

Why didn't Optimus disable the Decepticons, then double back and kill them while he had the chance? He quickly overwhelmed Megs and could've done it. The other Decepticons didn't stand a chance against the Star Saber, though I enjoyed the group shots of them for once. Hell Soundwave even (silently) cackled in an admittedly kinda distressing scene.

Then we get to Ratchet. Good lord what a scene. Jeffrey Combs knocked it out of the fucking park once again. The slumping against the computer, the raging at the team, snapping at the kids with that wounded "what about OUR planet?!?" And of course the famous "we needed that". Just... wow.

Then we have the loss of the base. This really, really hit home for me for a number of reasons. First off, the episode aired during my last year of high school, so I definitely felt the foreboding since I'd have to leave home soon to go off to college and adulthood and all. So watching the Autobots flee the base was moving. And of course, as an RP'er and a fan of the show, it hurt to watch our "home" be destroyed after two years. On the RP, much like after the end of season one, we continued in real time. So we lived out the next 5 months after losing the base. We were on the run, in hiding, separated from each other, while the Decepticons of course had their new base and all. So it was... an experience for sure.

I loved Fowler charging into the Decepticons as the soldier he is, to buy them some time. Wheeljack returning was also great, and it was cool that Starscream shot him down. Also the new Steve's are cool looking, I wish they had released their Cyberverse toy in the states. The Nemesis going Independence Day on the base was, again, cool, but undercut by the fact you can hear the same old gun-loading sound effects on the gigantic ass cannon that you'll hear on Arcee's blaster. I loved the music during the destruction of the base. Really sold the horror of the scene, at least for me, thanks to my unique viewpoint.

Other notes about these three episodes:

* June Darby finally came back after sitting out the whole season.
* The moment when the Bots realize they've been found is still stomach churning.
* Even Fowler was sad about the base going down. That scene where he and June watch it was... ugh. Still gets to me.

On another note, yes, all of Burnout and Split's and the rest's rants are pretty damn valid. As always Cap, I will say that some of your wishes and thoughts and pondering about next season will indeed come to pass, but no spoilers on what!