- Let’s start with Get A Clue.

- Strongarm makes reference back to her Academy days back on Cybertron, even name-dropping one of her instructors, Dropforge.

- Throughout the season, we will learn more about some of the characters backstories’. Well, maybe not so much actually, more like issues from our team’s past comes to the future. As you saw in Out of the Shadows.

- Strongarm episodes aren’t always great, but this one, and Strongarm’s Big Score were fine and I enjoyed them.

- I like to think that the crows were in reference to Starscream and the Seekers with their paint jobs.

- Fixit also tried to Drift and Grimlock together and that didn’t turn out so well... Fixit trying to learn the secrets of combination will become a recurring theme in the upcoming episodes.

Now onto Out of the Shadows.

- This was one of my favourite episodes of the season.

- Aside from being a repaint and re-design of Saberhorn, Shadow Raker was an amazing villain for Drift to have a rivalry with.

- I am glad they addressed Drift being a Decepticon, rather then completely ignoring it. They handled it really well.

- You have to really appreciate that Drift, Jetstorm and Slipstream didn’t turn out worse. Considering that they were all being lead by this Decepticon from a young age, and knowing that Jetstorm and Slipstream were thieves, if Drift didn’t save them, imagine how they could have turned out...

- Shadow Raker, was voiced by Ian James Corlett (BW/BM Cheetor).

- The shanix coins that Crustacion stole and hid in the ice actually served a purpose!

- Fixit tried to combine Sideswipe and Grimlock together in another failed attempt at combining. Someday he’ll get it.

- As a side note, the first few episodes of Combiner Force are not the best that RID has to offer because of the repaints, but I assure you that things will begin to pick up very soon. The Stunticons have to be dealt with, Soundwave is plotting something, and Optimus Prime, Windblade and Ratchet are still investigating Cybertron’s Government. Lots of interesting plots and confrontations to come!

 

Drift and his fellow Mini-con helpers finally get their own focus episode, and it's quite a good episode; I would consider "Out of the shadows" to be one of the better episodes in this season. As much as I would like to see Shadow Raker lasts for 1-2 more episodes, it's not that much of a loss consider how packed the rest of the episodes really are.

The hallway scene where Drift and the rest of the gang tried to find Shadow raker is quite cool, with Shadow Raker easily disable Bee's team one by one in quite an awesome way.

I can see why someone find the earlier episodes of this season to be boring as the earlier episodes of this season isn't the best in terms of what this show can offer; It gets better from here however.

 

Don't forget, Optimus and Megatron started their movements together before separating them into Autobots and Decepticons, so the "point" was shared by both factions, it's exactly "methods" what makes them different in this continuity.

 

Thanks for all of the replies. I uh, I made a mistake and clicked @Shadowwavepool7's spoiler tag thinking it was specific to that episode and I'll be the first to admit that despite the 'beating over the head', I didn't suspect it.  

Sorry I wasn't able to get to an episode yesterday. Ended up being a bit busier than the rest of this week. Should be able to squeeze one in today and then hopefully a few this weekend. We're getting close to our conclusion and there's no slowing down! (Except E3. It's a big deal for me.  )

 

the slow burn with the combiner arc, soundwave, optimus on cybertron, etc is worth it. And I never minded the week to week "problem solving" because any episode that doesn't have plot focus has character focus. repaints I understand can be tiresome but it's been a reality of Transformers since 1984 so I let it slide.

sideswipes reckless behavior is overcompensating for insecurity, which has been a thing brewing with him since the episode with jazz all the way back in s1e10

drift's nigh psychotic adherence to the letter of his "honor code" and his overbearingness on his students is actually caused by anxiety about his past with Shadow Raker

Strongarm went from insufferable to likable sometimes so that's an arc I guess.

Just keep pushing man. The plot is brewing so don't worry about watching the pot. sit back and enjoy the day-to-day stuff. this is still just a fun and colorful Saturday morning cartoon. This season will hit you in the head with a sack of bricks I promise you. You'll be picking up your jaw for days.

 

I certainly hope so!

E3 has my full attention at the moment but today is the last day of live stream announcements so tomorrow will probably be the next episode. I can't remember off the top of my head how many episodes I have left in the series but I imagine we will be wrapping up in July and I genuinely hope it goes out with a bang rather than a fizzle!

 

season 3 has 26 episodes. so 17 left?

 

Yeah, looks to be right. I'll be doing Disordered Personalities today, maybe more depending on how much time I have.

 

Disordered Personalities​

So this episode is actually one of my favorites and I really enjoy the emphasis on vehicle modes. Seeing the stunticon capabilities during the race was an extremely refreshing experience for the show and I really liked seeing them shine during the race - particularly the lightning pulse that went beneath the road.

The plot of having the Autobots all swap bodies was interesting and it was really endearing to see Grimlock so excited that he finally had wheels and got to go on one of the more exciting missions. I actually feel like executing this idea made the episode more entertaining because our Autobots weren't able to just show up and smack the stunticons around, they had to learn their new bodies and work around that.

I am curious though, about why Grimlock had such troubles trying to attach the minicons to his arms? Certainly it shouldn't be that hard!

Also, I'm pretty sure I saw the old decepti-doc in that racing line-up.

 

Now, I would talk about a bit on "Disordered Personalities".

- All of the Stunticons (Except Motormaster) appears in this episode, with Slashmark been the new addition to the team. They are quite badass and a bit territfying with all of the mess they did in the race, which is different from their G1 cartoon counterpart (The only think I ever remembered about G1 toon Stunticons is how Optimus and his crews once attempted to intimidate them)

- The Autobots swaps bodies for this time around. While this concept is nothing new, it's quite refreshing to see that they need to work with their new temporary bodies instead of simply shows up and stops the Stunticons with no effort.

 

I actually meant to mention Slashmark. I really like his 'too posh and smart for you' attitude and the design of his bulkier body. He reminds me a lot of 'Cave Guy' from Freakazoid. His abilities were also really cool.

 

The G1 crew were pretty dangerous in their first apperence when they had the personal forcefields that let them stunt drive into everything, but that got forgotten about afterwards. Though there was the time Wildrider and Deadend mugged Rodimus Prime for the Matrix.

 

Guilty As Charged​

This episode was really good and to be honest, my only complaint is how easy it was to tell Nightra was the bad girl and Blastwave was the good guy based on color scheme alone. It's kind of like in Star Wars, you always know the bad guy had black robes and a red lightsaber and the good guy wears more bright stuff.

I was looking for Blastwave's Autobot insignia the entire time and completely missed it up until the reveal so I'm assuming it wasn't really visible before hand.

I'm proud of Strongarm and how she reacted when the truth came out. She didn't hesitate, thought quickly on her feet and did her job well. She didn't even fire back with something snarky to Sideswipe at the end of the episode. If this trend continues, I'll be happy to admit that Strongarm is starting to grow on me.

We also see one of Soundwave's mini-cons fail at his mission and flee from his termination. I'm sure this little guy is going to be the defector that clues our Autobots into what's going on.

Overall, loved this one. Blastwave looks really cool and I got my wish for a 'bad autobot' with Nightra.

 

The Golden Knight​

Flamesnort, who I discovered the name of thanks to the TFWiki, is one of the best Decepticons I've seen depicted in this show. His nobility reminds me of a lot of Jetfire from Revenge of the Fallen but unfortunately, he doesn't change sides or see reason with Bumblebee and Fixit.

Which speaking of, this was a combo team-up I didn't know I needed but I really enjoyed the dynamic between the two and how Bumblebee helped Fixit find his own abilities and self-worth.

Flamesnort is also a very interesting con by design and his abilities remind me of Dragonheart, which I'm sure was partly responsible for his inspiration. His nearly defeated line of 'All hail, Megatron' actually gave me chills which is a first for this show. It's sometimes easy to forget that these Transformers were locked in a great war for so long and it never occurred to me that there might be bots who believe it's still ongoing.

I feel like this is probably the last we will see of the character but if not, I'd like to see him swap sides or at the least, continue being a devoted con who puts some work in but I doubt it'll be possible with brain rot...

Curious how none of the LARP guys visiting the island ever spotted him though...

Oh yeah, I also loved Grimlock's art and the fact that they somehow found a massive beret for him to wear!

----
note: Guilty as Charged was also reviewed today.

 

Two great episodes and each of them have lots to comment on, defintely two of my favourites. Let’s start with Guilty as Charged!

- You got your wish for an Autobot who is actually bad. Unlike Roughedge, Nightra had a personal connection to the team and had no intention of being good after she was expelled from the Academy.

- This episode marks the second time Detective Dropforge is name-dropped...

- The Mini-Con Hi-Test has defected from Soundwave’s control, you’ll learn more about in future episodes though.

- Blastwave being unable to speak and using Cybertronian Sign Language was a real treat. Also Bumblebee referencing the time he didn’t have a voice was a nice callback to Prime.

- This was probably just something I noticed. but I like how Bumblebee has a particular leadership trait he picked up from Optimus. As soon as Nightra was captured, Bumblebee immediately jumped to taking all the weapons from Windblade’s cache to retrieve her. Just like how when anyone in TFP was captured (particularly Ratchet), Optimus would risk everything to save them.

- This was probably the best Strongarm centered episode of the series.

- Overall a solid episode and probably one of my favourites just for having an Autobot that turned bad. Just goes to show that your insignia doesn’t define who you are, a recurring theme in the show.

Now onto The Golden Knight!

- I’m also sad you didn’t mention Motormaster’s reveal in your entry. We finally saw him out of the shadows. He also tossed Dragstrip aside, which I thought was a reference to Megatron constantly beating up Starscream in TFP. Every Decepticon team has to have a Starscream I guess.

- A common theory/headcanon among viewers is that Flamesnort was one of the Predacons that Megatron sent to Earth all those years ago. Even though he is a Crazyboly retool, he didn’t transform, so there’s still a chance!

- Most people like this episode because of Flamesnort actually being loyal to the cause. Unlike some other Decepticons in the show who seem to be common criminals, Flamesnort is one of those loyal ones who followed the political faction, to the end.

- I’m probably not the only one who feels sorry for Flamesnort. He generally believes that the war is still going on. It’s really sad to see the state he’s currently in.

- Also Grimlock trying out art was cool. He’s not the first green Autobot to enjoy art as a hobby.

- Something of interest I would like to bring up is the Seismic-Shock Warhead machine. Some have asked why Megatron never used it in Prime. My theory is that Megatron didn’t want to destroy another potential world, hence why he didn’t use it. It makes sense since they already lost Cybertron, and they placed it on the planet to destroy the Autobots, until they discovered all the Energon. Then they probably left Flamesnort in charge of it until the day they were ready to use it. That day never came and Flamesnort rusted away. A very dark concept.

Overall these two episodes were amazing, however the next one is... questionable at best. If you are wondering about those LARP guys not discovering Flamesnort, they probably never left the island...

 

Well, two episodes on the roll! This is quite a long post I have here, so bear with me.

Guilty as Charged:

This is quite a nice episode , even through I certainly wish that it's a bit more dificult to tell that Nightra is up to something or Blastwave been the good bounty hunter (Which would make the reveal of Nightra been bad more surprising).

I do think that it's a bit of a shame that Blastwave gets his own Warrior class figure (Which is eventually repainted into Bludgeon later in the toyline) way earlier before he even appears in the show, since Blastwave's faction been revealed as Autobot kinda spoils the plot of this episode a bit.

Soundwave also attempted his "usual thief tricks" again, which unfortunately fails this time around. Consider that the Mini-con that fails Soundwave's mission has already run away, it's possible that this won't be the last time that mini-con makes an appeareance.

A bit of on the nitpicking side, but I do find that Bumblebee and the gang almost get sucked out of the cargo ship after Nightra opens the air-lock a bit jarring since they're in space and there's no air pressure to suck them out of the ship. I could be wrong about that, so please correct me on that.

The Golden Knight:

Not a bad episode. Flamesnort is quite a awesome Decepticon despite been only a redeco of Crazybolt from the previous seasons; The idea of a character like him that still believe that the war is still going on despite it's over for a long time has quite a dark implication, as there could be more Cybertronians like him that could possibly sent most of the rest of their lifetime wasted on a "war" that they didn't even know has already over a long time.

The animation in this episode is quite good, especially with the part of the rotational shot around the ignition chamber is impressive for the kind of animation that this show uses.

The final Stunticon, which is Motormaster finally makes his first appearance in this episode. He looks quite cool (Aside from his oversized spiky shoulder armor), and I would love to see a Combiner Wars style Generations RID Menasor been make with a Motormaster figure that looks somewhat like it.

A bit unrelated, but the two humans that dressed up as knights (Which Bumblebee and Fix-it accidentally meets before they found Flamesnort) reminds me a bit of the knight theme in The Last Knight. Consider that TLK is such a mess of a film even by Bayformers standard, I'm not sure if that's suppose to be a good thing or not.

 

I was kind of curious as to why Bumblebee didn't speak with sign-language but instead opted for the radio?

I'm a big fan of the 'insignia not defining you' theme.

I meant to mention Motormaster and that I'm impressed with his appearance and how he just tossed that stunticon.

I also didn't even catch the Grimlock/Bulkhead similarities.

I actually thought the scene with them getting sucked out felt pretty cheesy. I mean, they were right at the door and Blastwave just stopped.

I'm glad I didn't follow the toys that closely then. It is strange realizing that the episodes I'm on now just aired, what, a year ago? I've never been this close to an airing date for a blog so I'm still surrounded in spoilers without knowing it  

 

The Stunticons are, in my opinion, one of the most underrated and underutilized Combiner teams out there, and I was very happy to see them in another show after all these years, even though the lineup is different (I was a bit bummed that Wildrider, who was my favorite of the group, was excluded, but fortunately, so was Dead End, my least favorite). I was eagerly awaiting the moment Motormaster finally stepped out of the shadows, and when that moment came, I certainly wasn't disappointed.

His robot mode looks glorious, and one thing that did disappoint me is the fact that we never got a proper toy of it or the rest of the team. And while some people didn't like this version's personality, finding him far too calm and not loud enough, I personally had no problem with it. Plus, said personality is actually closer to the what the original Motormaster's toy bio described: cold, cruel, and merciless. I also have to give credit to his voice actor, Travis Willingham, for such a good performance. Again, some people thought he sounded too calm and quiet, a few even said he would have been a better fit for Megatron, but I thought he did an excellent job portraying this character. He sounds every bit as cruel and merciless as Motormaster should be, and had some pretty good lines, as well.

"Great. At this rate, the planet's roads will be mine in 2000 years." (throws Drag Strip away) "It's time I showed you jabbergears how it's done."

If the Stunticons ever return in a future series, I really hope Travis gets to voice him again. However, I will admit I'm not a big fan of his Menasor (not really a spoiler, since we all know the Stunticons can combine), but more on that when the big guy actually makes his first appearance on the show.

 

The Fastest Bot Alive! ​

This episode contains a unique element in that all of the Simarcore-Mini-Clones are sparkless and thus allowed to be murdered on screen. The tiny bots are mauled, smashed and exploded in several different ways during their short appearance which is pretty fun to see but would be way different if the good guys were out here murdering actual cons left and right.

With that being said, if they're sparkless clones, why did they appear on Fixit's radars?

Simarcore is also pretty dumb to be so smart. Why would one of the only Decepticons to escape capture decide that smacking Grimlock around is more important than leaving Earth and starting a new life?

I'm happy that Grimlock didn't manage to get control of his super speed and become some unstoppable hero in 22 minutes either. Him rushing the process, slamming himself into walls and destroying everything is very true to the Dinobot I love.

It was also nice to see Denny and Russel a little bit more since most of this season feels like they're just kind of shoe-horned in.

Bumblearm/Strongbee was also probably the most boring looking combiner we've seen so far.

Here's to hoping we see some actual good combining soon.  

 

yeah, slayer, seeing simacore back was surprise, as was his apparently being dumbed down, just like grim. if u look at season 1, you see plenty of character growth in grim, only for him to reset to being overly dim and clumsy again in season 2, like always being in dino mode for no reason. its very similar if u remember to grimlock in g1 when we hit the movie and season 3.