Chip Chase? In "Roll For It"? He gets "thrown out of his wheelchair and onto the ground"? I have no memory of this.

 

The one where the Decepticons want the anti matter formula. He is also captured by Ravage and goes out a window Ravage jumps through.

 

This error always cracks me up.

 

I think that I wouldn't have been as annoyed with 99.9% of the human race if they didn't tell the Autobots to piss off after they saw one clip of the Autobots attacking an oil field and Optiscream declaring his plans to conquer the Earth and frame the Decepticons. The Decepticons could've brought back that personality destabilizer device from Attack of the Autobots and used it on some Autobots while they were recharging. Bringing back some human characters from the past few seasons to help Spike, Chip and Sparkplug might have helped as well; it could have shown us that it wasn't just the three of them and the Mayor (somewhat) who believed the Autobots to be innocent. Other than that, it was a great two-parter; I agree with you with that.

I think they intended it to be the voice of a generic Seeker for later on, but they forgot that they were meant to voice Starscream and not, say, Sunstorm. Either that or it was a prototype voice for Starscream. Still, it is funny listening back to that and hearing a surprisingly deep voice from Starscream of all Transformers! You know, I actually think that a version of Starscream having a similar-sounding voice to that would be cool, even if it doesn't fit the norm for his voice.

 

DESERTION OF THE DINOBOTS: PART 1​

So, after the Decepticons attack the Ultra Plane and the facility in which it was created in to get its blueprints, the Decepticons, meanwhile, decide to hide in a very well-disguised hangar with the word "HANGAR" displayed on the front to lick their wounds and argue amongst themselves, and Bumblebee, after his suspicion leads him here, reports back to Optimus Prime about this, but the Autobots are too far away to help, so they send in the Dinobots to attack them with their usual finesse. The Dinobots clash with the Decepticons, forcing Megatron to blow up several planes to escape, damaging the Dinobots. On their way back to base, the Decepticons begin to malfunction, and so, presuming the source of this to be "bad energon", the Decepticons travel to a powerplant to refuel themselves. In the Ark, the repaired Dinobots rebel against Optimus Prime and refuses his order to attack the Decepticons because the rest of the Autobots are too busy repairing the airport to stop the Decepticons, forcing the Autobots to fight the Decepticons themselves. During this battle, both sides begin to experience a series of malfunctions, ranging from Megatron's vocal components malfunctioning and Ravage transforms into a cassette tape and into robot mode randomly, forcing the Autobots and the Decepticons to retreat for repairs. In the Ark, while the Autobots suffer from their malfunctions, Perceptor, who is luckily stuck in microscope mode, is able to deduce that the reason for their malfunctions isn't because of bad energon, but it's because the Cybertonium in their bodies is depleting. Unfortunately, Cybertonium can only be found on the planet Cybertron, which can only be currently accessed by the Decepticons' space bridge, and it's very unlikely that the Decepticons would willingly let the Autobots use their space bridge.

Fortunately for the Autobots, it's discovered that Shockwave, who Megatron had entrusted with commanding the Decepticon forces on Cybertron back in MTMTE, Part 1, is sending a shipment of Cybertonium over to the Decepticons. Despite Optimus Prime's objections, Spike, Carly and Sparkplug decide to try and recruit the Dinobots, who shouldn't have malfunctioned because they were built on Earth, meaning they have no Cybertonium within them, and convince them to help the Autobots by collecting the Cybertonium on Cybertron. After stroking the Dinobots' ego a bit, the Dinobots agree to help and so the Dinobots travel to the space bridge so they can go to Cybertron. Outside, they are confronted by the Constructicons (who are trying to get the Cybertonium), the only other group of Transformers who was constructed on Earth, and so the two groups scrap. Even though the Constructicons form Devastator, they fail to prevent the Dinobots from traveling through their space bridge to the Decepticon headquarters on Cybertron. There, the Dinobots are confronted by Shockwave, which goes about as well as you'd expect. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Spike and Carly discover that the Dinobots are on Cybertron, and that they refuse to return back home to the Autobots because they think they're "bossy". This forces Spike and Carly to travel to Cybertron themselves, despite the weakening Optimus's objections, and so the two travel in Carly's car to the space bridge, where they evade Devastator and manage to go through the space bridge. But this time, Shockwave is prepared and fires at the opening doors...

As for animation and technical errors, I noticed that Starscream's face was coloured white instead of grey when the Decepticons entered the laboratory, Megatron's gun mode was coloured white when Starscream tried to use him to shoot Optimus, and Thundercracker was miscoloured as Starscream when he is attacked by Swoop. Also, Shockwave didn't have a gun when he reported his findings to Megatron, but there's suddenly one in his servo when the doors open, and we don't see him grab a gun. I also believe that I saw Grimlock's mouth move instead of Swoop's when Swoop objects to helping the Autobots' "brilliant plan". Also, Megatron's audio seems to drop out when he knocks Rumble back; he only says "Get... fool", as if he's trying to say, "Get off me, you fool!", though this might be foreshadowing his later vocal component malfunction.

As for the episode as a whole, I personally loved it. One thing I'd like to say is that I'd really like to praise Soundwave's sneakiness here. He somehow manages to get inside Ironhide's trunk, next to Blaster, SOMEHOW MANAGING TO EVADE THE OTHER AUTOBOTS AS WELL. Jesus Christ, you have to be seriously skilled at being able to immerse yourself in your surroundings if not even your mortal enemies could detect you until you launched your cassette tape. Either that or everyone was too focused on the Ultra Plane to notice. I also have to wonder: where are the Insecticons during all of this? There's a chance that they've consumed enough energy to replenish the supply of Cybertonium through other means, but otherwise, they're dying somewhere on Earth and no one knows about it. We only see the main cast of the Decepticons on Earth in this episode as well as Shockwave, but the Insecticons are nowhere to be seen for some reason. Now, as for the titular Dinobots, I liked how well-written they were in this episode; as in, how they were portrayed as they were. Although they're still quite defiant to Optimus, it's not to the point where they would attack him and be manipulated by Megatron like in earlier episodes; they seem to really dislike the Decepticons judging by their reaction when they find out that Shockwave is sending a shipment of Cybertonium to Earth. Grimlock in particular establishes his role as leader of the Dinobots and convinces them in his own way to side with Spike and Carly for this. They've honestly come along way from their introduction back in Season One, even if they do seem to go turncoat, though they still despise the Decepticons and I'm sure that they'll be convinced to come back to Earth by the end of the next episode. Finally, some of the malfunctions in this episode were actually quite funny, especially when Megatron's vocal components malfunction, leaving him unable to pronounce 'Autobots', which resulted in Starscream declaring himself as leader of the Decepticons since Megatron was barely able to talk.

So, up next is the next part of Desertion of the Dinobots!

 

He had it tucked in his belt loop just like every gangster

By the way, I’m not sure if you noticed it but the gun Shockwave is holding is actually SHOCKWAVE himself

Meaning the gun is him in his gun mode

no amount of energy would have helped

The cybertonium was depleted because of being exposed to earths atmosphere for millions of years, consuming energy wouldn’t have helped them at all

 

Gives the phrase "I am playing with myself" a new meaning.

I am pretty sure this is the reason for the meme regarding Starscream: "Megatron has gonne to the bathroom, I am the leader now"

 

Ugh, I'd forgotten another one of these macguffin episodes. Although they were fun before there was a series "bible" they're painful to see now.

Oh well, you've got a Dinobot/Shockwave fight, though the IDW Spotlight Shockwave was probably the best distilled one to date. I don't remember if they ever faced off again in the cartoon.

And I'm sure that at point blank range there's no WAY Shockwave can miss!

 

I remember reading the IDW Spotlight Shockwave comic a while back - at least a year back. I remember there being a fight between the Dinboots and Shockwave - might've been either on Cybertron or in the snow on Earth - and Shockwave was excavated by some hapless humans at the end of the comic. I think I remember loving the fight, but my memory of it is very vague. I have to read that comic again one day...

I know Shockwave will appear again later on in this season - it's an episode involving Alpha Trion and Female Autobots if I remember correctly - but I don't know if the Dinobots will fight Shockwave again, or if Shockwave will leave Cybertron (don't think The Autobot Run counts since he was only there for a scene, I think). Personally, I hope there's another confrontation with them; maybe have some allies for Shockwave to even the odds a little.

 

Shockwave & the Dinobots are sort of the 1984 1/2 Transformers. The toys didn't come out until 85 but Shockwave had a scene in the first episode of the cartoon and the 4th issue of the comic. The Dinobots might have been obliquely mentioned even earlier in the comic. (Prime says, "we are weak, and some of our strongest are still missing") anyway they pretty much show up a few issues later when the comic is renewed.

In the Marvel comic the Dinobots faced off against Shockwave who came to Earth looking for Megatron millions of years prior, and it was your standard knock down drag out.

IDW took it to another level, because the writer gave both sides motivation. Shockwave cold and dispassionate was simply on a scientific experiment. The Dinobots, subject to rage and anger, were following Shockwave for payback for some prior slight.

The best part of the book to me is when Shockwave LITERALLY cannot conceive that their motivation is no more complex than simple revenge. It kinda breaks Shockwave mentally for a bit, and he unlocks an extra reserve of whupass, finishing off the Dinos.

Spoiler

Which makes it ironic that he was ultimately defeated because Grimlock had a backup plan! Hahahah

 

That’s not correct, the toys of shockwave and the Dinobot’s were released late and 84, jetfire as well FYI

 

DESERTION OF THE DINOBOTS: PART TWO​

This episode continues on from the last one: it's a race between the Autobots and the Decepticons, as all Transformers who were created on Cybertron are starting to go offline because of Cybertonium depletion. After managing to re-recruit the Dinobots after they abandoned the Autobots at their (seemingly) darkest hour, and they end up wanting to stay on Cybertron, Spike and Carly are forced to go to Cybertron themselves to get the Cybertonium and Dinobots, the two humans are attacked by Shockwave, who was ordered by Megatron to gather enough Cybertonium to prevent the Decepticons' supply from being depleted. Carly's car is destroyed, as well as several other objects in the room - even one of Shockwave's troops - but Spike and Carly manage to hide in a small hole in the Decepticon master computer. After Carly tries to work the computer, she's hit with a surge of electricity and falls into the computer. Spike jumps in with her after failing to prevent her from falling in and the two travel down a ladder in the hole, and from then on they are guided by Sparkplug and Teletraan 1 to Wheeljack's old laboratory in Iacon. When they arrive there, an intruder, who appears to have been stalking them, starts to pound on the roof, which forces Spike to grab a gun and shoot at the intruder. When Spike manages to shoot them, the intruder begs them not to shoot him - the intruder is Swoop, who escaped the clutches of the Decepticons, who captured the rest of the Dinobots! Swoop, Spike and Carly are guided by Sparkplug to the Mass Transit System - they travel through it until their car is trapped by a damaged tube and they are forced to walk the rest of the way - even worse, they are no longer able to contact Sparkplug. After nearly being killed by the ancient defence system presumably laid by the ancestors to the Autobots and the Decepticons, which damaged Swoop's wings, the crew of an Autobot and two humans find a records room in an abandoned, decrepit city: inside, they find out about the history of the Great War between the Autobots and the Decepticons!

The Great War was a series of conflicts which were sparked after the Decepticons began their conquest of Cybertron. The Autobots, helpless against their warmongering counterparts, either decided to flee Cybertron or they stayed to fight. Those who decided to stya invented transformation, initially giving them a boost in the war, though the Decepticons eventually were able to transform as well. Many Decepticon rulers were overthrown by the Autobots, and, in turn, many Autobot leaders were overthrown and presumably killed by the Decepticons, leaving both sides in a stalemate. After hearing about this, Swoop and the two humans are captured by a Sentinel and some of Shockwave's drones. They are taken to the Cybertonium pit, where they find out that the Dinobots' memory chips were altered! After Carly rectified this, Grimlock and Spike faked an argument with one another - the Sentinel was originally ordered to remove the humans from the Pit, but that was all for naught, as when the force field was lowered, the Dinobots burnt them all to cinders and escaped with the humans in tow. By now, Sparkplug has managed to direct the space bridge to land outside of the Autobot ship, but they only have one shot at this working right. The Dinobots, Spike and Carly travel up the access tube to Shockwave's laboratory, where they all scrap with one another there. Shockwave managed to contact Megatron before this, who orders Shockwave into ensuring that the Cybertonium ends up in Decepticon servos or else! The Dinobots manage to overwhelm Shockwave, and though Swoop's wing is severed, the Dinobots and the humans manage to bring the shipment of Cybertonium over to the Ark, saving the lives of the Autobots. The day is saved once again and Spike and Carly are made Honorary Autobots.

As for animation errors, I noticed that one of Teletraan 1's computer displays read: "DECEPTKON COMPUTER BRAIN", and that the front of Slag's checkguard was coloured red when Carly fixed him. At the end of the episode, Slag's face was white when the force field was deactivated, and Swoop's wing damage disappeared for several shots after he said, "Must've triggered switch", but it reappears after he starts to try to avoid the heatseeking missiles. Finally, Shockwave's gun servo seemed to have been replaced with a real servo when he appeared on the guard's communication screen.

As for my opinion on this episode, I loved this episode, and I'd say that this is one of my favourite episodes in this season so far. In this episode, we learned a lot about Cybertron's past, much more than in previous episodes. Before watching this, I believed that the Great War was a long, arduous, ever-lasting war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, so finding out that it was a series of wars was quite surprising to me. I wonder if we'll ever get to meet another Decepticon leader from the past and/or any other Autobot or Decepticon commanders who either fought on Cybertron before Optimus and Megatron or on another planet in the galaxy. I wonder what the fates of the Decepticons will be since they didn't get any Cybertonium from SHockwave - I presume that Shockwave probably sent in another shipment of Cybertronium after the episode ends, where Megatron probably clobbered Shockwave for his failure to stop the Dinobots and the humans from sending in the first shipment to the Autobots; the antagonists need to survive until the last episode and/or the movie, after all! That, and I doubt the Decepticons would be willing to let themselves die. This episode seems to have quite a heavy focus on Swoop, at least for the middle and end portions of the episode: he's the only Dinobot to escape from them. I liked his characterisation here a lot: he's quite friendlier than the other Dinobots, which is saying a lot, but he can still be just as rebellious as the others - he, for one, seems to like the humans more than the others. I also love how this episode basically sums up the character development of the Dinobots: at the beginning, the Dinobots were majorly rebellious and even fought Optimus at one point. Over time, they slowly-but-surely began to gain respect for him, which culminates in this episode, where the Dinobots initially abandon the Autobots to their fate, but they eventually come around and help them get the cargo of Cybertonium back to the Ark, and the Dinobots decide to follow Optimus Prime's orders, at least until Grimlock doesn't want to anymore. I'll be interested in seeing anyone else get this much development, and how everyone else develops as the series progresses.

So, the next episode is Blaster Blues, which, judging by the title, will be centred around the character Blaster!

 

BLASTER BLUES​

So in this episode of the Transformers, Spike, Carly and Blaster go to a rock concert, and Blaster likes the rock music the band's playing so much that he wants to share it with the Autobots at maximum volume while the Autobots are overseeing Omega Supreme's target practise. However, the Autobots, aside from Jazz and Cosmos, don't like the noise level of the music that Blaster is projecting to them, to the point where Optimus Prime outright tells Blaster to "SHUT UP!", and so do the rest of the Autobots there (minus Jazz). Meanwhile, Professor Harley presents his newest creation, the Voltronic Galaxer, to his fellow scientists and reporters at the Haley Observatory, which is intended to translate Earth's recordings into other languages through pulses so that they can contact alien life. The Decepticons, intending to use this deice to blackout the Earth's airwaves to make them submit to the Decepticons and hand over all of their energy reserves, attack the Observatory and steals the Voltronic Galaxer from the scientist; they then fly off towards their base in the moon. The Autobots then split off into groups: Powerglide, Spike and Carly search half of the hemisphere, while Cosmos and Blaster are searching outer space. The latter two locate Megatron and the Decepticons in a moon base and end up captured by them before they can contact the Autobots. Blaster is forced into use as a trans-scrambler while Cosmos powers the device and Megatron orders the Galaxer to be used to blackout the Earth's airwaves. This ends up causing a forest fire, as well as trapping motorists on a frozen highway. At an airport, several airplanes are forced to land by the blackout, and Powerglide manages to land a plane but he's damaged by Starscream and Thundercracker's attack, and so is Optimus Prime. Spike manages to strap a jetpack onto Powerglide before he crashes into a control tower while Megatron begins to broadcast his demands to the entire Earth; Blaster uses this as a chance to play music from the rock concert on the same channel, letting Carly track the transmission back to the Moon. They then take Optimus to the Autobot base, where Carly does some quick repairs on Optimus and Powerglide, the humans and Optimus are taken by Omega Supreme to the Moon. When they arrive on the Moon, they are attacked by Megatron and Astrotrain, though Omega manages to get his hands on Megatron - Astrotrain manages to ram Omega and force him to release Megatron; Astrotrain then leaves and Omega Supreme pursues him. Megatron decides to attack a seemingly defenceless Optimus, but he manages to reactivate himself just in time to defend himself from Megatron's attack. Meanwhile, Blaster and Cosmos manage to cause the Voltronic Galaxer to receive feedback and explode, forcing Megatron to retreat and the day is saved yet again by the Autobots!

As for animation and technical errors, I noticed that Cosmos’s helmet cap was coloured green instead of red as he landed on the Moon, the guitarist’s left arm, which should’ve been doing the fretwork as they were playing their song, was up in the air, Blaster’s forehead was red instead of white when he was threatened by Megatron, and I swear I heard Megatron’s evil laugh when he announced his plans above the Haley Observatory play twice – that might’ve been just me, though.

As for my opinion on this episode, I personally liked it a lot. This episode's main focus is on Blaster (and Omega Supreme towards the end), and I'm a fan of rock and metal music so I found it interesting to see Blaster's general smooth-talking, rock-loving personality in play. He kind of reminds me of a radio announcer somewhat; it might just be his voice, though. I loved Omega Supreme's voice because I personally think it sounds quite badass, especially when he pretty much shit-stomps the Decepticons at the end of the episode. This is the first time we've seen Omega Supreme in the series if I'm right; this was an excellent introduction for him. He pretty much cleans house with the Decepticons at the end and helps the Autobots to win the day and destroy the Voltronic Galaxer. The concept of the Voltronic Galaxer itself was very interesting: it was once an invention by humanity which was intended on contacting alien life, but it was, thanks to the Decepticons, transformed into a device that could blackout all of the Earth's airwaves. Other than the forest fire and the avalanche, I bet that there was some other disasters caused by the Galaxer which more than likely caused a lot of deaths worldwide - I think that the Autobots we didn't see in this episode were probably stopping other disasters caused by the Voltronic Galaxer. This episode put quite a bit of focus on Cosmos, who hasn't really had much attention on him other than part 2 of Megatron's Master Plan from what I remember, and he seems to be very interesting. From what I gather, he can feel quite lonely when he's out voyaging in space in his UFO alt-mode, hence why he was so eager to rebuild the Moonbase on the Earth's moon at the end. I should also mention this: I laughed when Optimus shouted at Blaster to shut up at the beginning of the episode - it gives me flashbacks to MTMTE Part 3. I really love how the writers have given Optimus a personality beyond a stoic, powerful leader who will defend organics and his fellow Autobots: he's played basketball with Spike in The Master Builders, for example.

So, on to the next episode, then: A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court!

 

There's a very interesting "alternate lore" that if you look back at the very beginning and read the first Marvel issue carefully, it looks like in the beginning (or on Cybertron) ONLY Autobots transformed. Decepticons were referred to as "using war machines". It was only because both Autobot & Decepticon were repaired by the Ark that the Decepticons gained this ability (and thus ONLY Earth based Decepticons had this power.)

It was never really mentioned again and yet here's it resurfaces in this narrative.

Would never happen in a "children's" show nowadays. 

 

Ah, that's interesting! I'll have to check out the OG Marvel comics one day - I think I remember reading some of it a while back! So, would other Decepticons eventually have this ability installed into their processor to gain the ability to transform?

 

Hey! You're only 61 episodes away from the finish line  

The next episode is one of the strangest and probably one that I remember most vividly out of the entire run.

You're also getting really close to "Make Tracks", "The Golden Lagoon" and juuuust a little further down the road until "Kremzeek!" which are three of my favorite episodes.

The Golden Lagoon is probably my all-time favorite and I'm very excited for you to get to it.

Keep up the good work! I'm glad to see you haven't given up. I know it's one hell of a task to get through the entire series!

 

No love for War Dawn, Cap? I'm hurt...

 

Excuse me?

I recall that the cons were able to transform from the very beginning’s of the first issue

And I certainly do not recall any mention that they could not on cyberTron nor that it was the ark that gave the the ability

can you please cite some information to back that up

 

I took your suggestion and read the first marvel issue very carefully and discovered that you have either confused some other TF fiction With the first marvel issue of Transformers or some fiction from another series altogether

It is plainly spelled out with them the first two pages that the the Decepticon DID INDEED have the ability to transform before they were re-activated on earth by “Aunty”

In fact it’s spelled out that they had the ability before they started the war, And there is no mention that they were “useing war machines

Some of what’s written can be previewed that the gained the ability only weeks before the war got started, But I feel that is only one perspective on what was said and can be Taken a different way

If you cant see the wording I can post close ups Of the worded sections, And if you do recall where are you read what you “remembered” I would like to learn more about that

 

Honestly Prowl, I couldn't remember what episode it was and had to google it. Looking at the tfwiki page, I still don't remember it very well apart from some 'cosmetic appearances'. I'll give it a rewatch today or tomorrow and get back to you