Major kudos to you guys for waiting for the USA Airdates to do these episodes.

 

The title made me  . Im downloading it now, cant wait to listen  

 

Cool, was awaiting this.

 

Another double dip? Alright!

 

On the whole thing of the data cylinder just sitting in the canyon, I had kind of assumed that one of the two factions actually dug it up prior to when Bulk was called into action, and it had gotten dropped on the ground durring the struggle. And I realize that is probably pure speculation/retcon on my part. But that would seem like more sense to me then that it was just sitting out in the open for all these years.

That being said, I know that the show does already have a reputation of "secret" cybertronain tech laying out in the open. The downed Decepticon ship haging out the side of a hill, indeed being the biggest offender. And as a usual apologist for this series, I actually agree that this is kind of a major flaw in the show.
I'm not so fussed about the fact that there are Cybertonian artifacts on earth, since it's been established that ancient Cybertronians in fact did use earth as a base of operations long ago. I just wish the writers actually would put a little more insight into the details of it.

And also, as someone who did find Miko to be rather intertaining, I also can not argue with anyone's qualms with her character, at this point. She indeed suffers from Animated Bee Syndrome.

 

You mean like how in G1 there was a huge alien spacecraft sticking out of a volcano for 4 million years in Colorado......and no one noticed until 1984?

 

Yeah, exactly. Things that as fans, would have hoped that the francise could aspire to do better, now.

 

I also presumed that it was dug up, but even if it wasn't, depending on where it was, it's quite possible that it simply wasn't found. The earth is rather large, huge even, humungous one could say. Even nowadays, we're actually uncovering like, cities and stuff.

As for the cylinder not being jarred, that's also okay with me. Consider this, you see this big outcropping of rock. This huge rock has been around for millions of years. Yet, there's a pretty good possibility that in all those millions of years, no animal decided to ram a big frikkin' rock with it's head.

It takes a particularly ******ed animal to want to ram at a giant, heavy, HARD object. And it'd have to be a pretty stupid animal if it thought that it could move such an object by doing so as well. It'd have to be something with the proportional brain size of an ant which thinks it could move a rubber tree, to do so.

I'm fine with them finding stuff on earth. It moves the plot. If we remove the frequency of McGuffins appearing with a higher than probable degree of frequency from any series, we'd have an absolutely hamstrung library of fiction. Take Star Wars for instance. What're the odds of two droids with a distress call landing on a world with the true chosen one, who was being watched over by the recipient of the distress call. And the distress caller is the sister of the chosen one and the daughter of the distresser Vader.

With the exception of the cylinder itself, the other artifacts they've uncovered in the past actually makes sense if we consider earth as having been a battle site. The McGuffins have been various weapons and an energy extraction device which could double as a weapon. If earth was a table for playing children's card games, these would be Uncommon and somewhat Rare items. The Cylinder's the only "super mega ultra convention only exclusive super rare" item so far.

Edit: I'd say the Immobilizer and Harvester's are Uncommon, Polarity Gauntlet is rare? Also, in reference to a point made regarding metallurgical testing would have been done on the Harvester, I think it's reasonable to assume that not every item ever found would necessarily be tested. Or heck, the Harvester could well be composed of materials that are perfectly ordinary and can be found on the periodical table of earth. It's really the technology that sets any of these artifacts apart. Erm, sorry that I'm nitpicking on stuff you guys probably have no recollection of. It's just a point that caught my ears.

 

Also the stupid animal I refer to is Miko.

 

Guys, you touched on two Beast Wars references in TMI: the mention of beast machines and the chord Miko hits to snap Bulkhead out of the coma...

that chord DEFINITELY is the same note as the opening to Beast Wars   great catch guys.

 

Hmm, no one's done a "I'm surprise you didn't ..."?

Okay, then I will. I'm surprise y'all didn't mention Knock Out getting his paint job painted over by Bulkhead in TMI.

 

at the end of TMI I was shouting at the screen "DON'T HAVE HIM WAKE UP YET!" was really thinking it would be a to parter or carried over.

For the revisit to Synth-En, I kinda want it to be resolved with juicing up Prime to the extreme and just let him loose on the juiced up Decepticons. Complete with Peter Cullen unleashing the beast. Screaming like when he stopped the train.

 

Just watched Re-Animator because of this podcast.
I regret nothing.

 

It's kind of hilarious listning to where Gog's moral compass points on the use of Synthetic Energon.

I mean I see where his logic is coming from, but he's basically suggesting that it's acceptable to win a war through manipulating your comrades through use of enhancement drugs and secret implants.  

 

Right, because allowing the war to continue for another ten thousand years and billion casualties is the better alternative.  

But hey, they'll sell more toys that way.

But sure, in the world of Prime, you're right. It's totally unacceptable. It would mean Bulkhead would miss out on watching movies with Miko. It's easier for them to wait for the next McGuffin to appear in the desert. Prime wants to scream and holler about Megatron never dying, but he doesn't seem too interested in doing anything about it. I really doubt Bulkhead and Arcee would hesitate to volunteer if it meant she didn't have to lose another partner ever again. Hardly a moral issue, since ratchet proved that short term exposure is completely reversible. Unless they show otherwise in the future,

I could see the part of Ratchet torturing a dude as being a moral issue I guess. But hey, give the Cons an ultimatum, say it ends now, or we end it, and any Con still willing to fight will get what they get.   If things get out of hand, they put them to sleep. if anything, the "secret implants" are a fail safe that would prevent anything from going horribly wrong. I'm just saying, if Prime really wanted to end the war, he could.

But in all seriousness, my main issue is introducing a game changer like this. It's basically a push of a button that makes Cybertronians into SUPER-Cybertronians, simple as that. If you can alter a TF that much with a liquid that can be mass produced from a formula, there will be severe consequences. That was mostly an example of how a possible consequence like that would affect the fiction. I could totally see Prime wanted to end it quickly before the Decepticons get access, because they would NOT show the same restraint I suggested. What comes to mind for me is the Pretenders from the movie. They have the ability make make a Decepticon look like a person that is flawless and near undetectable, and they make it a girl trying to attract Sam? Why not go for a clone of the President? And who knows, maybe they will deal with it in a good way. My point is, in the universe of the Prime, something like that is HUGE, and unless it gives them robot-cancer or something, that would tip the scales in a huge way.

 

That's an interesting parallel coming from you, one who's, seemingly, biggest issue with the film franchise is that the bots are often treated as little more then automatons then the actual living sentient beings that they are. In which case the question of what is ethical for living robots comes into play.

But is it really a guarantied victory? Certainly it buffed Rathed out to Bulk and Breakdown's level, it also impaired his judgment to the point that he thought he could take on Megatron single handedly. A clear delusion as after getting in a lucky sucker punch, Meg quickly and effortlessly knocked Ratchet's little power trip down to bitch setting.

Could actively using unrefined synth-en still bring beneficial results? Possibly. But in a similar vain, so could torturing defenseless working class, apparently.

Well...The upcoming episode will reflect on this. I've seen it, I'm assuming you have not.

I could very well see it coming up again, since Ratchet had said that he was going to continue to try and refine it. And I wouldn't put it passed Bulk or especially Arcee to volunteer themselves. But I still find you're idea that the others would be so willing to treat one of their own like a rabid attack dog with a shock collar, slightly disturbing.