Sorry but those pictures are kind of lol

 

EPISODE 17: THE ELITE GUARD
That's no moon, it's a giant chin attached to a jackass.

Spoiler

Youtube

Tubi release
Transformers: Animated S02:E01 - The Elite Guard

Who's ready for more jerks?!

We open the second season with a visit from the titular Elite Guard, featuring Sentinel Prime, Ultra Magnus, and a debuting Jazz.

One of those characters is awesome, a fun throwback to a favored classic with a modern twist and update. The other two are different flavors of grating.

On the plus side Jazz is a lot of fun. he feels familiar but also new and different enough that he's not just a retread of his G1 self. Plus he's got nunchucks! That fact alone immediately makes him like twice as cool. Almost every scene he's involved in is fun or entertaining and even just seeing his various reactions to Earth is usually worth a laugh.

We also get a nice showcase for Optimus and his crew to remind us that in spite of being a repair crew by name, they can hold their own in a dangerous situation as well as the more honed fighters do. It's not like we needed the reminder since we just went through the previous season, but it's nice to get the point of comparison while they have real fighters around them just so we know it's not a "they hold their own pretty good for a bunch of non-combatants" situation.

Besides that, this episode does well to kick off the season by giving us our two biggest driving forces in the plot for the next little while: the kidnapping of Prof. Sumdac and the fate of the Allspark. The former we knew was going to be an issue as soon as he vanished at the end of last episode, but after seeing the Allspark seemingly destroyed previously it's a twist to find out that it survived in shattered form and its small shards are now powering all sorts of different machines and robots. This will also be a handy way to introduce new threats as allspark-powered robots will be able to put up a fight against the Autobots and take some of the place that the human villains occupied previously.

Unfortunately, here to take a bit of the shine off things are our two other Elite Guard bots that aren't Jazz. Sentinel Prime we already know the deal on. Sure we know he's supposed to be a jerk but even acknowledging that's supposed to be the point doesn't really make him less annoying. Maybe a bit more tolerable, but still annoying.

Meanwhile the issue with Ultra Magnus is that he starts out as kind of a jerk, cutting bots off and passing judgement without knowing the full story. It sets him up like some kind of cold, distant leader who cares more about maintaining order than seeking truth. That's a fine character given the setup of the Autobot leadership being somewhat questionable so far in this series. But then somewhere along the way things flip and Magnus becomes kind of cool and likable. Some of that is down to his cool hammer. It's a very cool hammer and it scores him some points. But the rest of it? It just kinda happens without much prompting. That's bad story telling and makes it hard to get a read on what Magnus is supposed to be. Is he a jerk with a soft center? a reasonable bot with fits of unreasonableness? Apathetic except when he's showing off? It's hard to get a read on him because we don't get enough information or justification for what goes on.

Still, for as much as those two end up being annoying jerks, we still got a strong start to the new season and that's really all one an ask for.

Spoiler

-Things pick up in the aftermath of last episode, with the Autobots helping to clean up the massive amounts of property damage caused by their fight.

-Optimus also has a dump truck trailer now. Where did he get that? And how is it so smoothly connected to his truck body not only on the "bin" but also back behind his truck mode wheels? The extended wheels and chassis of the trailer look as if they connect smoothly to him. There are even fuel tanks or storage or whatever on the side!

jOh no! Optimus was just Wideload in disguise this whole time!​

-Up above on the overpass cars are honking because they can't get past the obstructions. The obstruction being a) giant slabs of concrete that have broken off from somewhere, and b) the fact that the overpass is missing its entire middle span. What did these people honestly think was going to happen? they'd sit there and honk and magically there would be road to drive on? They had to notice that the bridge portion was impassable before they pulled up.

-The woman that is doing most of the honking is a familiar character model as the one that comforted Daniel when he started crying over the destruction of the News Bot during the Headmaster episode. Now she has a different, never-before-seen child in the car. And just to top things off, according to the wiki she's actually supposed to be the mother of a 3rd child not present here but seen at Sari's birthday party.

-Anyway, Optimus lifts the section of concrete away, but the sight of him lifting it over his head with an apparent scowl on his face freaks out all the drivers, who panic and speed off thinking that he wants to crush them.

-Ratchet understands why the humans might be afraid of all the bots.

-He also wants to know where Bumblebee is instead of helping.

-Turns out he's helping, just in a different way. He's at Sumdac Tower working as the receptionist. Because Sari is filling in as company president in his absence. Bumblebee and a small child running a multi-million/billion dollar robotics empire. What could possibly go wrong!

Now he knows how Headmasters Arcee felt​

-Sari get a call from Porter C Powell (that greasy guy who was helping Meltdown last season) who is apparently the chairman of the Sumdac Systems board of directors. He's upset that she's using company resources to search for her dad. But she won't hear of his objections and says that the company's name is still "Sumdac" so she's going to call the shots.

knowing what we know about Powell (which at this point isn't even his name since he's never said it and I just took it from already knowing the show/it being on the wiki) this won't end well for her.

-While this is going on a news report shows a strange ball of fire heading for the city center. The Autobots head there and we find that Captain Fanzone is equally as distrustful of the Autobots as the rest of the populous after what happened during the massive bot fight. But things turn out to not be so dire as the obligatory smoke/steam from a boarding ramp clears to reveal a trio of Autobots: Ultra Magnus, Sentinel Prime (ugh) and a new bot.

One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong​

It's Jazz!

-Magnus cuts off Optimus' greeting and orders Jazz to put up a forcefield to separate them from the organics. Jazz doesn't think it's necessary, but Sentinel tells him that organic beings spew slime that melts through armor plating.

Woo, so not only are Sentinel and to a slightly lesser extent Ultra Magnus jerks, they're also pretty racist/speciesist too!


Jazz is played by comedian and prolific voice actor Phil LaMarr. You may know him from his time as a regular on MADtv, as Marvin, the guy John Travolta shoots in the head in Pulp Fiction, or as Ma'alefa'ak the evil brother of DC's Martian Manhunter on the CW Supergirl show. Or you may know him for his voice roles such as the title character in Samurai Jack, Virgil "Static" Hawkins from Static Shock, Green Lantern John Stewart in the DCAU Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, Hermes Conrad in Futurama, Black Vulcan in Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, and a bajillion other things where he puts to use his ability to project a shockingly deep and intimidating voice in spite of being a small, skinny guy.

Japanese Jazz (who goes by "Jazz" and not "Meister" is Hideo Ishikawa. he was a cast member of Galaxy Force as Dreadrock (Cybertron's Jetfire).

-Magnus orders Optimus' crew to be decontaminated, which consists of them being sprayed forcefully by hoses while Optimus objects. Sentinel enjoys this. Just like he enjoys Optimus getting chewed out for "losing" the allspark.

-Jazz is the only one of the trio who has a decent head on his shoulders. I like him. Which is par for the course for most versions of his character.

-If there was an episode to help cement how much of an utter wanker Sentinel is, it's this one. Every word out of his mouth is condescending, insulting, smug, jackassery without a shred of awareness or respect.

He refuses to believe the Decepticons are or were on Earth, nor that Optimus' crew could've defeated Megatron.

-Of course this is because he Decepticons are hiding in a cave that is protected from Autobot scanners.

-Megatron has new plans: conquer Cybertron. To do this he needed to be free from the Allspark (which he is) and a space bridge to get home (which is apparently Autobot-only tech).

-During his fight in the pilot episode he downloaded an incomplete schematic of the space bridge and intends to use Professor Sumdac to fill in the gaps. He also reminds Sumdac that the Autobots won't come for him because it's his fault that Megatron was resurrected in the first place.

And yes, cold, merciless, evil Megatron is more likeable than Sentinel Prime.

-Sentinel continues to insult Optimus and the Autobots, leading to a near fight between him and Bulkhead, who is surprised that Optimus refuses to stand up for himself.

-Intending to investigate Optimus' claims, Magnus orders Sentinel to transform so they can head out. He and Sentinel also have earth vehicle forms that Sentinel obtained so they could blend in. Magnus gets a big, beefy future truck that sort of evokes his G1 look while Sentinel is a jacked up 4x4 pickup with a snowplow on the front. In bright, balmy, sunny weather. Perfect disguise!

Sentinel wouldn't have reason to understand the concept of seasons, but I still prefer to think that he's just an idiot​

-As they drive off Sentinel rams a couple of vehicles. Because he's a prick.

-Sari worries about the other bots, but she can't get in the ship without the forcefield going back up.

-As they travel Optimus tries to teach the other two the rules of Earth's roads, but Sentinel refuses to listen. For his trouble (and a massive dose of karma) he plows through some barricades and goes right off the end of an unfinished section of highway. I hope that hurt, jerk.

-back in the Decepticon HQ, Sumdac tries to work on the space bridge, but his helper robot (awfully kind of Megatron to give him a robot helper) goes haywire, prompting Megatron to shoot it. After destroying the bot he discovers that it had a fragment of the Allspark embedded in it, which likely corrupted its circuits. We're kind of past Chekhov's gun at this point. it's more like Chekhov's armory

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/EnragedKlutzyAlbertosaurus-max-1mb.gif

-Megs theorizes that this could mean that shards of the allspark are everywhere in Detroit, and any that find their way into robotic circuitry could cause these random robots to be imbued with Cybertronian tech.

And oh yeah, Megatron's fusion cannon makes its G1 noise. I can't remember if I noted this before during the pilot as a fanservice bit. (note from future Liege: I did mention this, so no fanservice ding this time)

-Of course right on cue we see a Sumdac assembly line plunking Allspark bits into those police robots and Powell then calls Sari to say that a problem has come up at said factory and since the company's name is Sumdac that means she's in charge of fixing it.

-She decides she needs her "assistant" and attempts to use the key to cut through the forcefield. it works! Take that, Leader-1 Magic! You've been replaced!

-Unfortunately while she can get past the forcefield, she doesn't get past a laser tripwire which alerts Jazz to the organic infestation.

-But Sari has an advantage: While Jazz is perfectly nice, he's ill informed about organic life and believes Sentinel's claptrap about spraying acidic slime. So when sari picks up on this and frightens him, he freaks right out.

What happened to 'do it with style' Jazz?​

-Sari asks the others to come help her, but Jazz objects since he's supposed to keep an eye on them. Bumblebee points out that Sentinel never said where he had to keep an eye on them though. 10 points for Gryffindor! Bumblebee.

-It also means that Jazz gets to show off his stylish vehicle mode.

Oh. There he is.​

-On Dinobot Island, Optimus leads Sentinel and Magnus to the crash location of the ark, but they're beset upon by the Dinobots. Optimus cautions them to be careful but of course Sentinel doesn't listen because he's an ass.

For his trouble he gets his butt handed to him by Grimlock. See? See what happens when you take the aggressively jerk-ish know-it-all and have them suffer for their arrogance? Sentinel may be hateable, but the fact that he gets regular comeuppance for his behavior makes it work. When we had Chromedome acting like this and being praised or justified for it with no repercussions that's what made it infuriating.

-Magnus gets the Dinobots to back off because his hammer is pretty much Mjolnir with a long handle. Impressive.


According to the allspark almanac and some toy packaging, the hammer may be called any of "the Magnus Hammer" (use in the show), "Stormbringer" (on the packaging for an Ultra Magnus figure) or "the Stormbreaker Mass-Hammer" (the almanac).

-Headed back to the other bots, they arrive at the factory while Jazz admits he's impressed by traffic lights.

-And that's when a door blows open and all the police bots roll out to open fire on the bots.

-Turns out Jazz is a ninja like Prowl. Except he has glowy nunchuks. He's making a strong case for "best Jazz ever". Nunchucks!

-He also drops a reference to the martial art "Metallikato" which was what Bludgeon practiced in the Marvel comics

*Ding* fanservice (G1-Marvel)

-Sari tries to run from the police bots, but Sentinel (who arrived here with Magnus and Optimus after Ratchet called for backup) activates his forcefield and keeps her away from him while leaving her open to being attacked. Like an asshole.

-Optimus takes Prowl and Jazz inside to shut the assembly line down. While she does this, the others outside take out the remaining robots. Magnus handles a ton of them himself with his hammer, which looks awesome. Bumblebee is suitably impressed.

-Sentinel shows up inside to arrest Optimus but finally Op stands up to him and tells him to shove it while he helps Sari figure out why her key is jammed in the console.

-It was caught by a fragment of the Allspark, validating Optimus' story and making Sentinel look like the knob he is. Magnus praises Optimus' efforts and criticizes Sentinel. Good. Good!

-Sari is upset at how he's going to explain this to the board, so we cut to the tower where Powell has locked Sari out of the office in the tower. He and the board have voted to remove her from leadership of the company after he did some research and found that Sari has absolutely no public records pertaining to her birth, or adoption, or existence whatsoever. And without a will from Isaac to state his wishes, she has no claim to the company at all.

The Autobots LOSE! Evil TRIUMPHS! And YOU! YOU NO LONGER EXIIIIIIIST!!!!​

dun dun DUNNNNNNNNNN!!!



Fanservice Tracker
G1: 0 (total: 17)
G1-Marvel: 1 (total: 1)
Beast Wars: 0 (total: 4)
Non-Series-Specific Japan: 0 (total: 1)
Masterforce: 0 (total: 1)
Overall: 1 (total: 24)

Pros
+Jazz is awesome

+Ultra Magnus is cool too when he's not being a stuck-up jerk

+His hammer is especially cool

+Optimus and the Autobots get to show off what makes them effective

+The allspark fragments set up our path forward for this season

+as does Prof. Sumdac's capture and requirement to build a space bridge



Cons
-Sentinel is a jerk, which is the point but it doesn't make him less annoying

-Jazz rather easily disobeys/misinterprets orders when given the chance. Hard to believe he'd last under the somewhat stick-in-the-mud Magnus and my-way-or-the-highway Sentinel with such "creative" interpretations of commands

-Magnus switches from unreasonable jerk to cooler old guy without much reason. It just sort of happens halfway through the episode.

 

EPISODE 18: RETURN OF THE HEADMASTER
Raise your hand if you asked for Sentinel Prime and Headmaster in the same episode. Put your hands down, you liars.  

Spoiler

Youtube

Tubi release
Transformers: Animated S02:E02 - The Return Of The Headmaster

Why?

Why is this a thing?

Who saw Sentinel Prime, jerk extraordinaire, and Headmaster, nails-on-a-chalkboard incarnate and thought "You know what? We need them in the same episode!"

Once again even if he's supposed to be annoying it's hard to stomach too much of Sentinel. Even if much of this episode is Optimus getting the upper hand and being able to screw with Sentinel for kicks, he's just so irritating every time he opens his mouth and says something dumb that it takes a lot of effort to get through the episode.

Meanwhile there's Headmaster, who's also incredibly irritating every time he opens his mouth and says something dumb. Except I'm still not convinced that this is on purpose. Instead he keeps feeling like a failed cringe comedy villain who is just so cringeworthy that he's not funny the slightest and every time he's on screen I just patiently (or impatiently) wait for it to be over.

Which makes it all the more infuriating that the b-plot of this episode is fantastic. Sari has to deal with the fact that Porter C Powell has pulled a power play to declare that she is unable to run her father's company or even be recognized as a person. It's heavy and dramatic and deserved to be the focal point of a story instead of the b-side to a pair of jokers who make me want to gouge my ears out.

Spoiler

-Things open up with the continuation of what we learned last episode: that Sari, legally speaking, doesn't exist. We find her in her room in the tower clearing out her stuff because she's being kicked out. Powell shows up to hear her ranting and says that he's using her room for more R&D space to recoup money lost while she was running the company.

The fact that there are references to a board and Powell is its chairman would seem to indicate that Sumdac Systems is publicly traded. That raises a whole host of questions about its operations under Isaac Sumdac that weren't there when we just assumed it was specifically his private company.

-To rub things in, Powell tells Sari she can't keep Sparkplug or the Tutor Bot because they're company property. I know he's just doing it to be a knob, but Sparkplug was explicitly said to be a birthday present which should mean it's not company property at all.

-Regardless, he also says the new occupant of her room will be arriving shortly. Cue the elevator opening to reveal (ugh) Headmaster.

he starts off with "that's right lamer! The master-man with the master-plan is back!" and I just... I just can't.

-How the heck did Powell even hire him? He publicly held the city (and state) hostage for a huge ransom and threatened to blow it up by sabotaging a power plant which would've murdered millions of people. He was, for all intents and purposes, a terrorist. How in the world is he not in jail for like a kajillion years?

-Across town Optimus and (ugh) Sentinel are at a press conference with the mayor, the mayor's aide, and Captain Fanzone. As usual Sentinel pushes himself to the forefront with ego and bluster well also being a callous, condescending jerk in dealing with the humans.

-Optimus tries to intervene and smooth things over, but Sentinel throws a tantrum over that and insults him for good measure.

-Then he has a hypochondria attack when he has to shake hands with the mayor.

You'll notice that while Sentinel is infuriating, I'm not lamenting having to discuss him like I am with Headmaster. Becuase that's the difference between a character we're supposed ot hate and a character that just ended up hateable.

-At the Autobot HQ, which actually is Sumdac Systems property and should've been repossessed by Powell in his power-trip, Bulkhead and Bumblebee try to cheer Sari up as she's been forced to come and live with them.

-Unsure of how to cheer Sari up, Bulkhead and Bumblebee ask what makes them happy and feel at home. The answer, apparently, is loud music.

-Back at the tower Masterson continues to be nails on a chalkboard with all his terrible slang and random words ending in "-age"

-Powell says that he plans on going into military tech. Masterson is excited but he needs a new robotic test subject. He sets his sights on Sentinel. Good. I hope they kill each other.

-After the commercial Masterson phones in a fake Decepticon sighting ot Captain Fanzone. Given his incredibly distinctive voice you would think that his identity would be given away. But nope!

-Sentinel still doesn't believe there are any Decepticons. The odd thing about this is that even if he and Magnus don't believe Optimus and the others' story, there's a whole destroyed city out there from the fight. Surely someone had to have captured some video of the attack. News cameras, traffic choppers, somebody's cell phone! Anything?

-Sentinel takes off and ignores basically all traffic laws and causes tons of property damage. Like a jerk.

He even gets a stop sign wedged in his plow.

Yes. Please. Stop.​

-Sentinel condescends to Fanzone and the captain has easily picked up on exactly what kind of idiot Sentinel is. Because he's sharp. Or possibly just because he happens to have ears and a pulse.

-Sentinel insults Optimus yet again before heading in to investigate, calling him "maintenance prime". one cut later and Optimus pulls a classic comedy move of thinking of a comeback too late (calling Sentinel "pompous gasbag prime") and capping it off with "that's what I should've said."

I legitimately laughed out loud at that one.

-Suddenly it's night. Have they been searching for hours? IF they have then Sentinel sucks at searching because he's been at this forever.

-He almost takes out a cat but this allows Headmaster to get the drop on him

"Total ownage never gets old"

I disagree.

-Some time later Optimus can't find Sentinel, but gets a radio transmission that leads him to find Sentinel's disembodied head. In spite of being asked not to laugh, Optimus gets a great belly laugh over his comrade's predicament. And so did I.

Karma is just the best thing ever​

-Sentinel freaks out over the prospect of Magnus finding out about what happened and asks Optimus to cover for him. Optimus responds "like you covered for me all those stellar cycles ago?" suggesting that perhaps Sentinel threw Optimus under the proverbial bus for the incident that led to the loss of Elita and that's what got him kicked out of Elite Guard training.

-Bumblebee radios Optimus becuase "Powell just re-hired that whack-job Headmaster"

Given the change in the sky, that had to have been hours ago, Bumblebee. A little more expediency might've been useful.

-Optimus takes Headinel Prime to see Porter Powell and get some info on Masterson. As petty revenge (the best kind of revenge), he stops hard at a traffic light and smacks Sentinel against the inside of his windshield.

It's very satisfying.

-Back at the base Bulkhead is trying to feed Sari a nutritous meal of
1) a fish skeleton (with head) that has flies circling it
2) some... Acorns I think?
3) A rabbit (alive)
4) several small barrels of oil (I would like to know where someone gets barrels that size. They would make great display pieces on my Transformer shelf  )

Bulkhead might get art, but he's no michelin star chef​

Clearly Sari hasn't taken them out to eat enough. Though I was pretty sure she went to the burger joint with Bumblebee so you'd think he would've at least picked up on the fact that they could get food from there.


-Optimus arrives at Sumdac Tower, leaves Sentinel in a potted plant and goes to inquire about Headmaster only to be turned away by Powell.

Good thing Optimus can intercept the phone call Powell and Masterson have immediately after Prime is shooed out. So I guess listening to other peoples' private conversations is an "all the time" thing for Optimus and not just for his own troops.

RiD Optimus would be proud.

-Switch to the docks, where Optimus has found a ship that the phone signal traced to. But before they can get on board a crate opens up to reveal Tutor bot and Sparkplug (the dog, not the guy from the mines) with headmaster units on and apparently having been upgraded to include blasters. Or Sparkplug has a blaster, Tutor bot just straight up fires laser beams from his face screen.

-After being pinned down by laser fire, Optimus has to make a desperate move to catch up to the departing ship. This means driving through a hail of laser blasts, down the pier and leaping off the end, only to cover the extra distance between him and the ship by using his axe like a mini jet booster. It's a fun and creative little sequence that makes the most of Optimus' abilities without going for the obvious path of using his grapplers (which I thought he might do)

-Back at the base, Bumblebee and Sari have moved on to trying to teach Sari in place of the tutor bot. Given how bad that thing was at its job, the bar for success is set very low.

I love Bulkhead's tiny (relative to him) glasses though.  

I'm waiting for Bulkhead to open up a section of "Advanced Smashing 201"​

-Today's lesson is "stuff. And how it works."

-Sari's question is why she doesn't seem to exist. Neither of them seem prepared to answer that.

-I also almost missed that bumblebee has a tiny mortarboard.

-Both Bumblebee and Bulkhead trade theories on Sari's origins. I won't say any more for the sake of those rare people who haven't necessarily seen the whole series yet, but let's just say that there's a lot going on with some of their guesses.

-Sari's not in the mood for this randomness though and she gets upset and runs off to her room.

-Back on the ship Optimus and Sentinel find the missing body, with Headmaster attached to it.

-Every line headmaster speaks is like poison to my ears.

-Sentinel asks if Optimus is enjoying being able to beat up his rival's body. He doesn't say yes, but with the smirk he's wearing he doesn't have to.

-Eventually Optimus gets the upper hand by tearing Sentinel's arm off and using the shield attached to said arm along with his axe to beat up and then sever the headmaster unit from the body. Optimus likely enjoyed every minute of that. Aside form the part where he was just about killed.

-Separated from the body, Headmaster transforms his head unit into its little mini-robot and bails, presumably (unfortunately) to live to appear on this show again another day.

This little guy would almost be fun if not for its pilot​

-At least that's what looks like is going to happen. Instead Optimus punts Sentinel's head like a soccer ball and strikes headmaster in the back, knocking him over. I guess Masterson's design is like a turtle and he can't get up if he's flipped onto his back. But more importantly Optimus got another brief moment of abusing Sentinel to enjoy.

-Unfortunately just as Fanzone is about to arrest Headmaster, Porter Powell shows up and claims there are no grounds. The ship belongs to Sumdac Systems and therefore there is no disputed property destruction. As an alien Sentinel apparently has no rights when it comes to the theft of his body (which seems a little harsh even if it is Sentinel. You'd think if the Autobots have been here for months that the question of how to address their legal status would've come up at some point. If only for the sake of dealing with all the property damage they've been party to) and the fight happened on whichever lake they were sailing on so it was international waters and might have been jurisdiction of the mounties (which he says as if it means there's nothing to deal with. But I'm pretty sure the RCMP would have an issue with alien robots and humans from the US having a dangerous brawl within the boundaries of Canada.

But hey, points for acknowledging that Canada exists!  

-Back at the base Bumblebee and Bulkhead go to knock on Sari's door but Prowl tells them that they have to stop pushing what they want to do onto Sari and instead listen to what she wants. They put this into practice by just going straight into her room without knocking and asking if she's OK.

Pretty sure that's not quite what Prowl was going for.

But it does lead to progress as Sari breaks down into tears over everything that's happened and admits that she is most definitely not OK. Though at least this time they admit they'll butt out a little and simply be there to listen to her for whatever she wants and whenever she wants.

-The next day I guess we're out in a park where the autobot ship is situated. Ultra Magnus asks about rumors that Sentinel had his body stolen, but Optimus steps up and covers for Sentinel (while Sentinel stews in the background over Optimus speaking for him after what happened with the mayor). Magnus believes Optimus' story about Sentinel intentionally baiting Headmaster and leaves the two so that Sentinel can show maybe the tiniest glimmer of redemptive traits by expressing gratitude to Optimus for the assistance. Though he does admit it wasn't easy to do.

And that's where we end things.




Fanservice Tracker
G1: 0 (total: 17)
G1-Marvel: 0 (total: 1)
Beast Wars: 0 (total: 4)
Non-Series-Specific Japan: 0 (total: 1)
Masterforce: 0 (total: 1)
Overall: 0 (total: 24)

Pros
+The fallout of Sari's predicament is emotional and dramatic

+It's fun watching Optimus clearly enjoy being able to jerk Sentinel around once he's just a head



Cons
-Sentinel is annoying even if that is the point

-Headmaster is even more annoying when it seems like that's not the point

-Powell's takeover and actions are a bit hard to place in the context of what little we know of Sumdac Systems

-For all the conflict with Powell and Headmaster and whatnot, little changes and we're no different from where we started by the end.

 

This makes me wonder why powell didn’t evict the Autobots from their base since it’s Sundac property?
Oh god two hated characters combined into one.

 

My best guess is either Powell wasn't aware of its affiliation to the company, he just wanted to be a dick to only Sari, or he realized that if he tried evicting the Autobots, he'd be having big problems given Optimus's phone tapping happened later on.

It's likely the first one though.

 

Thank you, both. Those were quite clever.  

Well, I mean depends on the jerks. Ted Dibiase, sure! X-Pac after turning on Kane... no.

They definitely did a great job with Jazz, here. He's cool and open and just hip, dig it?

I like this, showing the damage and the Autobots helping out. it always wamrs my heart to see them being more than just war machines.

Well, now he's got better access to their ship. I don't have much of a problem with there being multiple trailers for his cab to pull.

I... kinda can't blame them after all the damage and destruction, but at the same time we saw Optimus and others saving lives. Come on, people! Don't be Marvel comics people.

He's seen things, man...

Considering some of the CEOs and business decisions I've seen over my lifetime? They're probably better at it than most!

What a piece of shit! Just right there, no regard for Sumdac. And telling his daughter that, to boot!

And idiots as well who don't know a thing about organic life. How did Optimus escape being assholes like this?

You just wanna punch him, and then cheer as he gets his comeuppance. It's very effective.

Oh, the Decepticons are being smart! Who thought that would happen?

It could be both.

Although truth be told, I could've used a snowplow like this yesterday.  

Leader-1 magic is SO last season, after Cyber Planet keys and the Allspark key.

Leader-1: "Beep BOOP BEEP!"

He's coming. Just gonna need a little bit of development.

or Hot Shot, or Sideburn, or Cheetor or... well, you get the idea. And yes. Catharsis like this with the jerks is needed, otherwise they become insufferable.

best Jazz, best Ratchet... Another thing, it gave backstory to both he and Prowl without interrupting the action or slowing things down. Nice, concise, good way to get stuff through!

He was more worried about 'organic contamination' then he was the murderous police bots firing lasers. She he's an asshole and an idiot!

So was I. Ultra Magnus has problems, but he's an ass-kicker. Well, for now...

he also mentions he's a washout, but still has the same rank. That was a bit confusing to me at the time.

This was one hell of a gut punch and morbid way to end the episode. And it sets things up for later on. It also has people wondering and wanting to tune in and have I mentioned just ow fucking good Animated it as stuff like this?!

I did not. Although Sentinel was the less-annoying one.

He's just rubbing it in, isn't he. Asshole.

A minor plot hole, but more kicking the dog.

Who thought his dialog was any good?! As for him getting out, Powell mentions managing to use lawyers and stuff... but it's not enough. As you say he should be in jail for life.

It's just insane the contrast and how visible it is here seeing them side-by-side.

I'll chalk that up to him having bigger stuff on his plate/not wanting to infuriate the Autobots.

They mean well... but that's all the good I can say. I will say I felt increasingly bad for Sari as time went on.

Seriously, with all the other good characters in this show how did anyone think Masterson's dialog was any good? And I think his slang was dated even back then!

That's one of the things that pissed me off about Revenge of the Fallen. A huge robot fight in the middle of a city and no one captured any footage or reported on it or anything? Bullshit.

He's Fanzone. he's seen Sentinel's type a hundred times.

I did, too.   Again, the comedy in this show is so good!

Well, he's Sentinel. I can 100% believe he sucks at searching, like everything else.

And again, I did too.   He earned everything that's coming.

Again, more backstory and hints at the past without slowing down the pace of the episode!

it's entirely possible Sari hadn't told him that, at least not yet.

I fucking laughed at seeing Sentinel belted up inside and the seatbelt across that ginormous chin of his.  

So... where's Ratchet and wouldn't he know what humans eat?

he's still wondering why Optimus isn't hacking the phones of Sari or the other kids around.

Who the fuck thought this was within ten light-years of a good idea?!

He just looked so cute wearing them.

I wanna say the writers were just being epic-tier trolls writing this bit out.

I actually felt really sorry for her. Massive credit for making the mood change work and to Tara Strong for her acting, here.

I enjoyed every minute of it, too.  

It's a bunch of legalese that looks right... but as you say, wouldn't hold up under scrutiny.

What is this, the first time since Masterforce?  

Again, just a really good scene here with a lot of emotion and done really, really well.

All right, been neglecting this guy for a bit.



Voyager-class Optimus Prime. He's a really good toy. The battle mask can slide into his chest to reveal his face. His cannon squirts water. The axe isn't show-accurate... like most of his axes. He's got an auto-morph gimmick where you press a button on his back while in truck mode and his legs spin into position, but mine's showing its age and doesn't work too well anymore.



Not much, here.   Just the Headmaster unit on Bulkhead. He doesn't transform, and I would've bought a toy of him that did transform. Hasbro, get on it!   One cool thing is when it's attached to Leader-class Bulkhead like this, Bulkhead's phrases change to that of Masterson saying 'total ownage!' I think that's really neat.

 

Think actually an episode where Sentinel encounters Meltdown actually would have been more interesting. He's been established as the only human villain who can be a legitimate threat to Transformers and would actually play into Senintel's fears about organics.

and always, no Headmaster is always a plus

Sari said when she first brought them there that Sumdac isn't even aware he owns it and I don't think the Autobots advertise that's where they live, so Powell probably doesn't even know they live there.

 

It turns out that Optimus actually transforms into a general purpose emergency truck that can connect to a series of specialized trailers.

It's a proven fact that some people's IQs drop 200 points the instant they get on the highway.

With the way some adults run their companies in the real world, an actual child may or may not be an improvement.

Yeesh, Sentinel really needs to learn to move on with his life.

Also, Bumblebee and Bulkhead mention that Sentinel doesn't seem to recognize the two of them. That factoid will become relevant later.

AH! AFTER FIFTY YEARS, I'M FREE! IT'S TIME TO CONQUER CYBERTRON!

WRECK HIS SHIT, BULKHEAD! YOU RULE!

Mr. Plow, that's my name! My name again is Mr. Plow!

Being Sentinel is suffering, most of it self-inflicted.

The Autobots had better start collecting those Shikon Jewel shards before Naraku Megatron does!

Unfortunately, that's the only thing impressive about Animated Ultra Magnus.

And the bad news just keep coming for Sari!

Because Sentinel needs to get his head taken too!

TOTAL OWNAGE!

As we have seen in real life as of late, there are some people who simply don't face any kind of negative consequence from their actions.

That's what happens when you push faux cringe hard enough that it becomes actual cringe.

Same, Animated Optimus is so endearing to me.

He probably knew Powell would start squawking after having his cage rattled, so it's only natural for Optimus to monitor Powell's communications.

I really don't understand why they keep going back to Headmaster when Meltdown is available.

What rumors? Who was spreading these rumors? Was it Bumblebee? I bet it was Bumblebee.

 

Watch period: Tuesday, January 24 through Monday, January 30 @ 11:59:59pm Pacific.
EPISODES
17) Mission Accomplished
18) Garbage In, Garbage Out
19) Velocity
20) Rise of the Constructicons

This is roughly the halfway point of the series as we get into the middle of the second season.

I hope to have episode 17 done for Wednesday night, though it'll be a late post as I'm off to a hockey game in the evening and likely won't be home until at least 10pm PT.

 

EPISODE 19: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Everything's wrapped up much earlier than usual! Time to go home everyone!

Spoiler

Youtube

Tubi release
Transformers: Animated S02:E03 - Mission Accomplished

This isn't quite the standard "one side thinks they've won the war only to find out that it's not as over as they believe" episode like we've seen in past series (like "victory" in Beast Wars) but it still plays to that idea as the backbone of the plot even while we're fully aware the 'cons are still lurking about.

And the result is mostly fine. It's becoming a bit standard with Sentinel being a jerk, nobody believing Optimus, him having to break rank to save the day and then maybe finally getting a bit of respect he didn't have before, but parts of that are quite good. Especially the parts where Sentinel is made to look like a chump.

Also the Elite guard still being around means we get more Jazz and that's always a good thing. And the Decepticon subplot quietly does a lot of the heavy lifting for entertainment value as Starscream discovers what the allspark fragments have granted him, Megatron has to deal with his now even-more-annoying subordinate/usurper, and everything pulls together in a car crash of competing interests that ends with Megatron having secured a quiet upper hand while Optimus and company refocus themselves into a new mission on Earth. Plus we tease Megatron having a secret double agent on Cybertron that promises to bring some mystery and intrigue later in the season.

But with all the work done around the Elite Guard, I'm still not entirely sure what the deal is with Ultra Magnus as he waffles between sensible, reasonable authority figure and being kind of a demanding, inconsiderate jerk. Just pick a lane already.

The episode also suffers for how much it had to work to keep the Decepticons tethered to the Autobots within the plot but without making a situation where the Autobots look incredibly stupid for not recognizing the 'con presence. This sort of inconsistency also haunts Starscream, whose new immortality powers waver between being basically indestructible and being able to revive after fatal injuries. They needed to better clarify where on the immortality spectrum he fell and stick with that so there are concrete rules to his new power. This felt like an episode that could've used a couple of review passes to smooth out its rough edges, leaving it to suffer for the inconsistencies and unfocused ideas it presented. Not terrible, but not as good as it could've been.

Spoiler

Things open with a new character appearing: Ironhide!

Busting Decepti-chops off-screen​

And yes, it is Ironhide this time and not "Aaaahhhrnhaaahhhhd" as his accent is tamped down quite a bit.


This ironhide is voiced by Corey Burton. According to Derrick Wyatt his vocal characterization is supposed to be based off of Huell Howser, a Tennessee-born TV host most famous for producing an over-20-year run of PBS-broadcast travelogue show "California's Gold" which unsurprisingly was focused on exploring California.

In Japan he was voiced by Atsushi Imaruoka, a long-time supporting player in a bunch of anime shows as well as the official voice of Adon in Street Fighter IV. This is one of his 5 guest/incidental voices in this series. Also of note is that since Japan renamed Bulkhead to Ironhide to fit into their daft plan to pretend this whole show is canon to the first Bayverse movie, they had to compromise by renaming this Ironhide to "Armorhide"

-He's reporting to Ultra Magnus that his team is under attack and they need backup before an explosion cuts off the video feed.

Magnus tells his other troops that Decepticon uprisings are happening all over the galaxy. Jazz surmises it might be because they've heard Megatron isn't dead and Sentinel outright blames Optimus for that happening.

-But no matter, Magnus orders Optimus to prepare his crew to depart in 12 Megacycles (hours?) to join the war effort. He's also told that he will have a public inquiry which will be an opportunity to set the record straight about the status of the Decepticons on Earth (which Sentinel denies exist) and the Allspark. Somewhat frustratingly, Magnus bluntly tells Optimus that he has to "quash the rumors" of the Allspark's fate and Megatron's existence to avoid panic. Essentially he outright tells Optimus that he has to lie at a public hearing which is a court martial in all but name.

I'm really having trouble figuring out what they're trying to do with Ultra Magnus. One minute he's a jerk. Then he's reserved and cautious, but reasonable. now he's a jerk again who's willing to throw Optimus under the bus by coercing him into lying to the rest of Cybertron with a flimsy "it's for the greater good" justification.

-Somewhat beaten down Optimus agrees and returns to the base to tell the other bots and Sari that they're leaving. Of course Sentinel shows up to be a gigantic dickhead about everything. He even tells Optimus that he'll somehow get Optimus reinstated into the elite guard if he goes along with Ultra Magnus' plan. The plan that involves Optimus not only denying the state they're currently in but also taking responsibility for leading his team AWOL to head to Earth for 50 years. How does he figure Optimus is going to rebound from that? Well, I know the real answer is probably "he doesn't. He's just using it to try and goad Optimus into doing what he wants" but I guess what I'm asking is how does he think Optimus isn't going to see through this incredibly transparent bribe/swindle?

-Optimus turns him down and is committed to the truth, so Sentinel immediately arrests him.

-Meanwhile Starscream wakes up on a garbage scow, mid-sentence of ranting at Megatron with no idea where he is or what's happened.

-He also doesn't pick up any Decepticon life-signs. Including his own. Confused and angry he takes off into the sky and we switch to Decepticon secret HQ.

-It's there we learn that Professor Sumdac has engineered signal dampeners that mask the Decepticons' life signs.

-Megs now wants to figure out a communication device so he can coordinate his troops in space. But without the requisite tech themselves or anywhere on Earth they're going to have to resort to stealing a transmitter from the Elite guard ship.

Good luck with that!

-Back at Autobot base Bumblebee realizes that they have to find someone they trust to take Sari. The only human they can think of is Captain Fanzone, who is not impressed with this idea.

-They admit that pretty much the only reason he's atop their list is because most of the other humans they know are jerks or supervillains. Truth hurts though.

-And back at the Elite Guard ship, Sentinel is still trying to convince Optimus to go along with their plan, suggesting that he doesn't want Op to lie, just confirm their scanner readings, which state there are no Decepticons on Earth.

-I'll tell you what: They especially aren't bursting up through the ground inside the ship's shield bubble so they can steal the transmitter they need. Nope. no Decepticons here at all.

Nothing to see here. Move along​

-Blitzwing and Lugnut get away with the transmitter and then inadvertently lead Starscream right to their base.

-Megatron is not amused to see Starscream again, so he kills him.

-Lugnut sees no spark in Starscream's chest, so he chucks Starscream out of the cave and into the river below. And that's where screamer wakes up again. This time he sees that his own spark chamber is empty and then finds that he has a piece of Allspark in his forehead that is powering him and making him immortal.

*ding* fanservice (G1) for immortal Starscream

-After the commercial break Megatron has the transmitter hooked up and broadcasts a message to his troops. While this is going on Starscream tries several more sneak attacks on Megatron that all end with him being "killed" and chucked in the river. 3 more times.

You know what they say about the definition of insanity. Right, Megs?​

-It takes those 3 additional deaths for him to realize he needs to reassess his plan

-As the Elite Guard ship flies over Detroit, they pick up the signal of another allspark fragment. This time Magnus and Jazz are going to retrieve it with Sentinel left to guard Optimus.

I don't like his chances in a one-on-one fight.

-Optimus figures something's off about this situation as previously their scanners didn't detect the fragments' energy, only Sari's key did. So he scans the clouds above the train that purports to have the fragment embedded in it and discovers a thermal image of Starscream.

Coming soon: lava lamp edition Starscream​

But Sentinel refuses to believe Optimus because he's a big loudmouth jerk.

-Optimus baits Sentinel into attacking him and manages in one move to trip up Sentinel and put him in stasis cuffs so he can warn Magnus and Jazz of the ambush.

-Meanwhile Sari and Fanzone are left in the park to talk about stuff like bedtimes, allowances, and phones. And Fanzone adds "kids" to the list of things he hates along with machines.

This could look concerning out of context​

-Optimus radios the rest of the team to help the elite guard and Bumblebee has a bit of a point:

"Why is this our problem?"

-Optimus counters by saying that they still can't let the others be ambushed. Plus you do have to save Jazz because he's the only one of the trio that I actually like.

-Fanzone and Sari also give chase. It's made incredibly dramatic considering they're just racing against time and not against any obstacles or enemies on the freeway itself.

-Starscream follows the train with the shard in it, monologuing about how he rigged it to blow up as a trap for Megatron. Boy is he going to be pissed off when Ultra Magnus shows up to spring the trap.

-As this is going on Blitzwing and Megatron close in on the train and Megs, being a smart bot, recognizes that it's a trap set by Starscream.

-Meanwhile Magnus says that the shard will overload the train and kill everyone. For a bot who has mostly not given a toss about organics he is shockingly concerned about them not being killed by the explosion. Too bad for him that his hammer and Jazz' nunchucks are useless.

-So it's a good thing that Optimus is there to come up with a proper plan. Even if it is one that involves significant amounts of child endangerment as bumblebee has to race to get Sari on top of the train so she can use her key to get the shard out.

-When Bee and Sari jump off the overpass onto the train, it very quietly makes the jumping noise from the Six Million Dollar Man. Random!

We can rebuild him. We have the technology​

-She and Bee manage to get the fragment out, and Prowl cut the passenger cars free of the engine, but the engine is still hurtling into the last station. At least we get another solid Sari face out of it.

Like 40% of this series is just fun Sari faces​

-The crisis is averted when Optimus, Bulkhead, and Ratchet team up to stop the runaway engine.

-Magnus rolls up after everything's safe and sound and chews Prime out for leaving the ship and for the lack of Decepticons to corroborate his story. Thankfully for Optimus up in the sky Megatron and Blitzwing chase Starscream down and shoot him out of the sky.

-Optimus gets to rub Sentinel's nose in the fact that a Decepticon has just shown up. and then Starscream blasts Magnus to steal the allspark fragment. Magnus goes down a heck of al ot easier than Megatron ever did.

-And just so we can demonstrate that Starscream is immortal, he shrugs off everything the Autobots can throw at him now. Again, much easier than he did against Megatron.

-Jazz asks Sentinel to take charge with Magnus down, and Sentinel panics. So Optimus steps up and takes control of the situation quite effectively, only for it to cheese Sentinel off. Thankfully Jazz is there to play peacemaker.

Jazz is the best.

-It's kind of fitting that Sentinel's whole special power is just having a giant shield. Only being able to protect himself and nobody else is really on brand for him.

-Optimus sneaks around and gets the stasis cuffs from earlier onto Starscream, allowing the Autobots to take him into custody. And that's the end of Starscream. Right?

Right?

-Back at the Elite Guard ship Magnus commends Optimus for his actions, rebuke's Sentinel's complaints about Optimus breaking rank and going against orders, and allows Op and his team to stay on Earth to wrangle the remaining Decepticons and secure the allspark fragments. They also get a big case of stasis cuffs.

-And with that the Elite Guard depart. I guess losing Jazz is a small price to pay for getting rid of Sentinel.

-Back at Decepticon HQ Megatron orders communication with their double agent on Cybertron (FORESHADOWING) that plans will go ahead, creating space bridge tech and then striking while the Autobots are distracted so that Megatron can conquer Cybertron with minimal opposition.

Cut to black.

Fanservice Tracker
G1: 1 (total: 18)
G1-Marvel: 0 (total: 1)
Beast Wars: 0 (total: 4)
Non-Series-Specific Japan: 0 (total: 1)
Masterforce: 0 (total: 1)
Overall: 1 (total: 25)

Pros
+We finally get some more Decepticon action

+Starscream turning out to be immortal is a nice bit of fanservice with a purpose

+and him getting repeatedly slagged just to pop back up again is fun

+Jazz is still cool

+and Optimus getting to rub dirt in Sentinel's smug face because he's actually right about everything is satisfying.

+The tease of megatron having a double agent is intriguing



Cons
-I still don't know what to make of Ultra Magnus

-Sentinel is never not annoying

-The lengths they had to go to in order to avoid just spilling that all the Decepticons are still around was a little much

-Starscream's level of immortality is a bit inconsistent (sometimes he dies and comes back, sometimes he just shrugs off whatever he's hit with)

 

But Liege!

He likes Optimus, but that won't stop him from throwing him under the bus if the greater good requires it.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ultra Magnus drops all charges and sticks Optimus in some dead-end desk job tucked away in some dark corner at Elite Guard HQ. All the better to keep an optic on him and make sure Optimus doesn't shoot his mouth off. Sentinel thinks Optimus would gladly accept this bribe because he's been hip deep in the Elite Guard's corruption for thousands of years that he doesn't even know what honesty is anymore.

It's not that hard, the Autobots are pushovers.

Well that was convenient!

My favorite Transformers montage of all time!

Sentinel's been taking it easy at Elite Guard HQ for so long that he forgot the basics of CQC!

Jazz is definitely one of the good ones.

I like to think Ultra Magnus used to actually care about other people once upon a time, but the horrors of war and millions of years of political bullshit just drained the life out of him. On occasion, he'll have moments of lucidity, but then it's right back to being numb to everything.

Ultra Magnus is an ultra jobber!

Jazz will return!

 

Main thing that bothered me about this episode was that did it seriously never occur to any one on Optimus' team to show footage as proof of Decepticon activity on Earth? I mean, we're even shown in the episode when Megs gets first revived there's news footage covering these events.

 

"It's a fake!"

—Sentinel Prime, probably.​

 

so i have a few thoughts to get out based on your own opinions of ultra magnus in the last few eps. something im pretty sure you're already aware of is this is a much more nuanced show than it appears at first watch. one aspect that is not very clear at first and is glimpsed more as the series goes on, and in ancillary media like comics and the allspark almanac, is both factions are portrayed much more realistically and darker like real war. the decepticons, while the villains and terrorists, view themselves as freedom fighters fighting autobot oppression to reclaim their home(which given some of the pre war lore might not necessarily be totally off). the autobots, while the "good guys" are seen as xenophobic/racist, are ruled by a military force and as the future of the series will show, have made many morally grey decisions in the name of peace or victory over their enemies.

ultra magnus is portrayed as very realistic military leader; hes an honorable bot and good leader but hes also a military commander and has to make the dirty choices too. as you've seen, he does see promise and value in optimus, but getting him to hide the truth of megatron and the allspark is what he sees as the better option. such could be said for the unlikable sentinel too, he almost represents the extreme of the kind of bot magnus could be in his role. i just suggest you look a bit closer at these characters going forward and other aspects of the autobots as a whole to see the wide picture as the series moves forward. there is an animated comic related to this that ill suggest when we reach the ep where it would be relevant.

i also highly recommend post series you read the allspark almanacs which are just amazing and expand on the series sooo much. i can link a sight where full, hd scans of the both books are posted online if you're interested without dumping the money for them. pm me for the link

 

Gee, I wonder if they're referencing something from real-life with this title and how the Elite Guard are acting...

A bit of a shame. I loved Peter Cullen's drawl while voicing old Ironhide.

Wait, how is this Optimus' fault, precisely? And isn't it a good idea to have the truth instead of burying it and being unprepared?

Oh, wait. This is the Elite Guard.

Fucking dumbass. Just like Krypton in Superman 1978. Bury your head in the sand until it's too late.

I'm still not entirely sure how Optimus fits in with the Elite Guard and with his rank.

Good on Optimus and the show for not having him fall for Sentinel's bullshit.

Very clever of Megatron to have him make those.

Oh, it's the Elite Guard in Animated. These guys make the Keystone Cops look competent!

Why aren't there alarms or anything like that going off when this VITAL PIECE of equipment it ripped off?! Somewhere, Captain Needa from Empire Strikes Back is foaming at the mouth over this.

I fucking love this bit. Just so damned funny.    

Hey, at least he's not taking Starscream back!

I don't like Sentinel's chances against Sari.

Like a boss.  

It looks even worse if you're a DCAU fan...

He's Optimus Prime. He may stumble a bit, but he'll get right back up and still try and do the right thing.

Well, didn't hurt Starscream was flying right below him.  

I'm with @Rojixus . Stuff like this is the old Ultra Magnus peeking through.

Well, to be fair Sari's the one with the key and this is nothing compared to some of the shit some human kids have done.

Random, but classic.

Oh, no! Sari was just forced to watch all of Energon without a break!

About... 90% as cool as Tobey Maguire doing it in Spider-Man 2.

I didn't like Ultra Magnus going down so easily. How did the Autobots win the war if their top guy goes down so easily?

Sentinel just can't get his head out of his waste-extraction unit, can he?

the best version of Jazz, that is.  

Somewhere, Steve Rogers is pissed at Sentinel Prime for using a shield.

A much better fetch quest than in Inuyasha.

At this point it's nineshadowing.

All right! Time for Sentinel Prime!


He's a snowplow. That's... about it. He rolls well, at least. The plow is completely static, though. And if the legs aren't lined up perfectly the shield can't slide in properly.



And here he is in robot mode. I love his expression, captures him perfectly.   Unfortunately, he could do with improvement. he has no elbow swivel, no waist swivel or wrist anything, so his posing with his lance and shield are limited at best. He's also only Deluxe-class, so he's pretty damned small.

So... yeah. Sentinel Prime needs a new, updated toy.

 

He doesn’t deserve to be a legacy toy.

 

Is prowl considered a anti hero?

 

No. A modern anti-hero usually represents an inversion of the usually heroic character. Like someone does morally ambiguous or questionable things for nominally good reasons. Like a vigilante that murders supposed bad guys with little justification other than "they're evil so of course they deserve to die." Or someone who instead of being noble and stoic and confident is instead willing to fight dirty, doesn't like putting themselves in danger, and openly wears their emotions on their sleeve even when it's not proper.

Dinobot and Rattrap are two flavors of anti-hero type bots (Dinobot being closer to the former example above, Rattrap the latter).

Prowl's just a bit prickly. He still means well and generally seems to fight reasonably honorably.

 

EPISODE 20: GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT
<BLURB>

Spoiler

Youtube

Tubi release
Transformers: Animated S02:E04 - Garbage In, Garbage Out

I'm a simple man who likes simple things. Weird Al, fun comedy, things I recognize, and character development.

So what does this episode have? All those things! There are lots of bits of fanservice, from Spike and Carly showing up with names (and a familiar voice) to the episode's central focus: Wreck-Gar.

Re-imagined from a jingle and tagline spouting walking recording to a fountain of fanservice, Wreck-Gar gets a fair amount of enjoyable comedy out of his revised gimmick and all of the freedom it allows.

But that's not all! Because the fanservice isn't just in all the references and gags Wreck-Gar can make. He is a reference in and of himself because he is voiced by the legend with a TF: The Movie tie - Weird Al Yankovic himself! That's... shockingly perfect and I'm almost surprised nobody thought of it before.

But of course the episode isn't all silly gags and "I understood that reference!" Captain America gifs. There's also a nice little beating heart of Ratchet needing to learn how to get along with people. And sure, he kind of only succeeds by accident and doesn't really learn anything but it's still a decently fun ride that is our access point to all the Spike and Carly stuff.

Plus near the beginning we get this short little moment with Megatron and Lugnut that I absolutely love to death. So much so that the biggest negative of the episode is that there isn't more of that because it deserved to go beyond the single scene.

Ultimately I think this is the episode that proves I don't just give out A+ grades for high drama and grim stakes. I'll do it when an episode is pure fun distilled into a concentrated form. And that's what we have here. This is an episode that lets us come down from some of the heavy aspects we started the season with and relax while being reminded that this is a silly cartoon about toy robots that change into stuff and we shouldn't take it so seriously.

Spoiler

-We open this one with a scene to set the tone: trash robots around the city are malfunctioning and Sumdac Systems refuses to fix them because Porter Powell is a jerk and won't lift a finger until he gets paid.

So you can likely strap yourselves in for a somewhat lighter episode because this doesn't seem like we're going to get into a particularly grim or serious Decepticon plot this time.

-At Sumdac Systems, Powell looks for new ways to monetize the dispute. A couple of scientists demonstrate that they've reprogrammed the nanobots from the pilot episode to consume garbage for a fraction of the price of repairing the trash bots, and Powell cna charge a hefty fee for their use, making this a much more profitable venture than simply doing the repairs.

Of course there's no word on whether or not this is safe, though the fact that the two scientists are conducting their demonstrations from inside full haz-mat suits might be a strong indicator.

-Meanwhile Optimus and the Autobots are loading garbage onto a barge as a way to try and repair their relationship with the humans of Detroit.

Ratchet is not amused by any of this. To the point that he absent-mindedly dumps some guy's car into the lake. Well, maybe not so absent-mindedly. More like "thinks this is stupid and really could not care any less"

-Fanzone shows up and tells the guy that the city will cover the "damages" to his vehicle. covering damages instead of covering a replacement makes it sound like they're gonna fish it out of the lake and get it repaired.

I don't really have a witty remark for this one because the rest of this episode's images focus on a theme and this is the odd one out. So instead just marvel at one jerk arguing with another. Jerkception!​

-Optimus decides that Ratchet needs to work on his people skills and ends up assigning Bumblebee and Sari to the task (right after they mocked whichever poor sap would get stuck with the job). Prowl finds this very amusing (by Prowl standards. He actually cracks a smile. That's massive in Prowl terms.

My question is: What does Optimus think Bumblebee and Sari are going to do? Sure they're cheerful and somewhat charismatic, but neither has a great reputation for empathy or selflessness or any of the things they actually need to bring out in Ratchet.

-Everyone drives off, leaving ratchet to take Sari. But while they argue about Ratchet being polite Sari's key glows and points out a nearby allspark fragment. In a baffling development, neither she nor Ratchet notice the brightly glowing key or the big tracking beam it emits to point at the shard, which is buried in the nearby garbage scow.

-After they leave the shard itself glows and from the trash emerges a new/old face:

a long, long time ago
in a galaxy far away
Naboo was under an attack.​

Yep, it's Wreck-Gar. Except he doesn't know who he is. So after seeing a blimp that announces the police are here to help, he heads off to the police station to get them to aid him in figuring out his identity.


Of course, we don't need the police because we already know his identity. and we know the identity of the fun meta-casting of his voice actor: "Weird" Al Yankovic! Yep, after his previous brush with the Transformers was providing "Dare to be Stupid" for the Junkion dance scene in the original movie, here he takes on the mantle of that scene's focal character, imbuing him with a goofball/scatterbrain personality that is radically different from Eric Idle and Tony Pope's proto-Bayverse-Bumblebee stitching together of commercials and jingles and song lyrics.

Weird Al also voiced the engineer in the haz-mat suit that showcased the nanobots earlier in the episode.

In Japan, Wreck-Gar's voice also reaches into the franchise's past, but not back to the original Wreck-Gar or the movie. Instead they cast Mitsuo Iwata, last heard as Roadbuster in SuperLink (aka Ironhide in Energon) after having played Silverbolt and Jetstorm in Beast Wars and Beast Machines. It won't be the last time he shows up in the franchise.

I'm counting the use of Weird Al on a character he has a connection to as *Ding* fanservice (G1)


-Over at Decepticon HQ (I almost debated calling it "the underbase" for a bit of marvel fanservice, but I don't want to get confused and start thinking it's legitimate fanservice or that the name is real) Lugnut promises to find the newly detected shard for the glory of Megatron. It's pretty clear that Megs has reached the limits of his tolerance for Lugnut's fawning adulation for his leader.

You know, I even think it's kinda cute the way
You poison my coffee just a little each day
I still remember the way that you laughed
When you pushed me down that elevator shaft​

Megatron: "Just..... go."

It's basically Beast Wars Megs and Inferno with BW Megs' bombastic annoyance replaced with quiet, simmering irritation.

-Heading back to check on Wreck-Gar, he accidentally stops a police car from chasing Angry Archer (who apparently was managing to out-run the car while he was on foot. Quite impressive) and the Archer convinces him that the two of them are a criminal duo. Wreck-Gar also introduces himself based on a couple of insults that were just hurled at him: "Worthless wreck walking pile of garbage." which Archer shortens into Wreck-Gar.

-At the same time, Bumblebee, Sari, and Ratchet are stuck in traffic. This isn't helping Ratchet's temper.

-Bumblebee has to be the smart one by realizing they can use their lights and sirens to force their way through the traffic. Too bad it has the unintended side effect of causing a human in distress to flag them down.

A familiar human. With a familiar voice!


For the first time this series, the homage to Spike Witwicky speaks! And for another touch of *ding* Fanservice (G1), it's Corey Burton reprising his post-movie voice.

In Japan, their Spike was played by Katsuyuki Konishi. Once again not the G1 actor, but here he's also the voice of Angry Archer and was previously Grand Convoy (Optimus Prime) and Overdrive (Cliffjumper) in SuperLink (Energon)

Carly only gasps now but she does have a speaking line later on. The wiki indicates that they didn't get Arlene Banas back and instead just had Tara Strong do it because why wouldn't you maximize her use if you've got her on the payroll? There is no listed Japanese actress for the part.

-Spike needs help because his car broke down and he needs to get the very pregnant Carly (she wasn't pregnant at all as far as we could see last time she appeared so obviously a fair amount of time has passed between then and now) to the hospital. Ratchet is, of course, grumpy about this but agrees to help after some prodding from Sari.

-Unfortunately his first act of compassion and consideartion is to floor it as soon as the two passengers are in the back of his ambulance mode and scare the heck out of them.

I think I'm missin' a contact lens
I think my wallet's gone
And I think this bus is stoppin' again
To let a couple more freaks get on, look out
Another one rides the bus.​

-Angry Archer attempts to train Wreck-Gar to be his criminal partner, but Wreck-Gar keeps misunderstanding everything. he swipes the demonstration jewelry and when Archer asks for the jewels back he gets tools and spools (of thread). Then after Archer clarifies that he's looking for the "sparkly things" Wreck-Gar pulls a literal sparkler out of his backpack full of garbage.

-Spike tries to get "the driver" to slow down, but finds the driver's seat empty and apparently hasn't figured out that this might be a Transformer. What this scene does give us is confirmation that Spike and Carly are actually Spike and Carly. Each refers to the other by name.

-Ratchet tries to calm them down and insists there's nothing to panic about. Only there is something to panic about: Wreck-Gar literally "knocks over" (using Angry Archer's parlance) an armored car and sends it tumbling towards them.

-It's at this point that Ratchet abandons keeping them calm in order to pull off some high-risk driving maneuvers, dump the gurney with Carly on it out his back doors, and then almost accidentally kill the pair when he uses his magnets to rip Wreck-Gar's car axle "hammer" out of his hands and toss it so it lands mere feet away from the humans (including Sari)

-Sari gets a good bit of snark though as she takes all of this in stride and reminds Carly to breathe.

-Angry Archer swipes what was in the back of the truck and instructs Wreck-Gar to give the Autobots "everything he's got". So Wreck-Gar takes that literally and throws a bunch of random things at Ratchet and Bumblebee, including a very familiar looking motorcycle (which Bumblebee blocks with a "boiled side of beef" that looks like nothing of the sort.

Put down that chainsaw and listen to me
It's time for us to join in the fight​

and yes, *ding* Fanservice (G1)

-Wreck-Gar overhears Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Sari arguing about how Autobots should protect life and catch the bad guys and in his naive, impressionable way he decides to take off and do exactly that while also branding himself with an Autobot insignia.

-He's sort of proud of himself in spite of failing, but Ratchet upbraids him and says he's not an Autobot nor will he ever be one. In doing so he convinces Wreck-Gar that he's "only good for garbage". So that's what Wreck-gar does, spreading garbage everywhere. Good job, Ratchet.

-Also he transforms into, of course, a garbage truck.

-Lugnut detects Wreck-Gar's allspark fragment and confronts him. In the process he swings a mace to stop the not-Autobot. That mace is actually part of Lugnut's toy, which I believe was in the pictures that RKStriker showed when he spotlighted the Lugnut toys. Apparently the show artists weren't aware that was a feature of the toy until after they had completed Lugnut's official models and animated large chunks of the 1st season, so it doesn't make its debut until this episode. Its debut is also its finale as it won't appear again after this.

I'm the pious guy the little Amlettes wanna be like
On my knees day and night, scorin' points for the afterlife glorious Megatron​

-When Wreck-Gar tells Lugnut that he isn't and will never be an Autobot, Lugnut concludes that he must be a Decepticon and Wreck-Gar goes along with it, slapping a Decepticon logo on his chest. Shame that his optics don't also change to red.

-Powell shows up at the scene of the armored truck crash and we learn that the cannister that was in the truck contained a sample of trash-eating microbots. Sari figures they should just leave Powell to his own mess, but Ratchet points out that combining those microbots with an allspark fragment is bad news.

-They find Wreck-Gar, but when Ratchet grabs him Lugnut springs into action and we go to commercial with a fade to black that keeps displaying the blinking light of Lugnut's megaton punch (or "Punch of Kill Everything")

-Back from break Wreck-Gar misinterprets the blinky light for the Universal Greeting, so he responds in kind.

*Ding* Fanservice (G1)

-It causes a massive explosion but doesn't hurt either Wreck-Gar or Lugnut.

-Wreck-Gar then accidentally spills the nanobots onto Lugnut and they start eating through him. Now the worry is that when he crashes the bots will end up ravaging the city.

-Meanwhile in a nearby park Powell tries to call off the demonstration without the nanobots, but in the distance the scow that part of Lugnut crashed on floats towards them with the garbage dissolving. The people are excited, and Powell thinks he can work this to his advantage, but they don't suspect the danger they're in.

-I appreciate that every time Wreck-Gar says he's only good for garbage, he always shouts "GARBAGE!"

-Ratchet tries to get Wreck-Gar to stop, but he won't listen. Even when told that he'll destroy the whole city and wouldn't dare do something that stupid.

Wreck-Gar: "I am Wreck-Gar. I dare to be stupid!"

*ding* fanservice (G1) because he said the thing.

-As he announces he'll destroy the whole city, Wreck-Gar's optics turn red. So I was right, just on a time delay.

-Ratchet says this leads him to making the ultimate sacrifice to save the city. Something he swore he'd never do.

He apologizes for all the insults he hurled at Wreck-Gar.

-This gets the other bot to do a total about-face and declare that he'll be a hero (with an Autobot insignia on now). So he starts vacuuming up the nanobots. How does his vacuum not get eaten through? Allspark magic I guess!

-Only it's not a total victory. His backpack starts malfunctioning and he falls off the scow into the water. Ratchet tries to retrieve him, but only succeeds in pulling up a glowing bunch of trash.

-As the now nanobot-free scow reaches land, Sari calls Ratchet a hero, Powell complains that his microbots are destroyed, and the mayor (or rather the mayor's aide since we've gotta squeeze every penny worth of value out of Tara Strong's contract) declares that Powell won't get the sanitation contracts after all. Everybody wins!

-Ratchet gets sick of the fighting over the trash issue and forces Powell and the mayor's camp to sort out the trash issue. They do.

-And lastly at the bottom of the river, Wreck-Gar finds himself buried in the riverbed unable to get free. At least until the next time they can afford to pay for Weird Al to record some lines.

It's hard to bargle nawdle zous
with all these marbles in my mouth​

Fanservice Tracker
G1: 5 (total: 23)
G1-Marvel: 0 (total: 1)
Beast Wars: 0 (total: 4)
Non-Series-Specific Japan: 0 (total: 1)
Masterforce: 0 (total: 1)
Overall: 5 (total: 30)

Pros
+It's Wreck-Gar, and he's Weird Al!

+The plot goes along with relatively little Decepticon interference

+Spike & Carly

+Ratchet gets some spotlight and we learn a bit more about his nature

+The real villain is just Powell being a slimy idiot.

+After all the heavy episodes, it's good to have one that's just a lot of silly, fanservice-laden fun.



Cons
-I wish there was more of Megatron's growing frustration over Lugnut's fanaticism.

-Ratchet doesn't really learn anything in the end.

 

The man's running a corporation he stole from an 8 year old girl, not a charity!

Tests schmests, just get the product to market and work out the bugs to sell the fixes in an update patch for ludicrous markup!

He only said that to get them out of his servos.

You have Weird Al, you use Weird Al.

BW Megatron: "Ah, so it would appear you have one of those too."

They already have Corey Burton doing new roles, they might as well give him some old ones too!

Damn Ratchet, Wreck-Gar was just trying to help!

The Decepticons will just take anyone, won't they?

I'm beginning to think that thing is more trouble than its worth, Lugnut.

Except the city after a few weeks of no sanitation services.

"Ratchet, what about Wreck-Gar?"

"What about Wreck-Gar?!"