Monday, March 31, 2025

Transformers Rewatch Original Season 2E

Blaster Blues
Blaster attends a concert in his enormous radio form. Wasn’t that illegal in the Eighties?
I do believe I heard the unmistakably deep voice of Omega Supreme! (Rocket and base complete with little tank on a track.)
Humans have created a universal translator. Wow! 
Ooh Astrotrain first appearance! (triple changer- space shuttle and locomotive) Cosmos is chasing him through space. Transformer specialist battle!
Not only are these two both space borne, they also have some of the most ridiculous size changing, being shorter in robot form than many of those who ride inside of them
Look, the Decepticons also have a base on the moon. Where are they getting all of this purple metal? 
The universal translator turns off everyone’s radios on Earth. That’s…Handy?
Oh no all of the Autobots drove into a giant snowstorm because there’s no radio. Morons.
Autobots can convert to snow tires while driving, making me wonder why flats are as big a problem as they always are. Perhaps also because they are morons.
Spike and Carly take a trip in in Powerglide, attaining a new level of ignoring safety considering his crash record. Oh, its fine, Spike saves him.
Spike- “Powerglide can you make it to the moon?” Spike you are the purest mix of smart and stupid.  
Oh well, Optimus Prime is dead again,
Hey, Omega Supreme! Holy Crap he’s huge...  
and dumb. He can be completely distracted, in combat, by a foot smack.
Hurray! Optimus is fine for... uh… reasons I guess. Ah, he was just resting.  
Omega’s transformations have even worse mass changes than Prime. His rocket leaves the base behind but it’s all there when he changes back This will require further study.
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A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court
Time travel is really easy in this universe. Why don’t they do it more?
Look Stone ‘enge! Wait, sorry. Stone ‘enge with the Parthenon in the middle. I missed that on the tour. (OR I would have missed it if I was on the tour… probably.)
Good thing the Decepticons punched the knights instead of vaporizing them. This would be a different story.
Starscream understands what happened and adapts to the situation immediately. Maybe he should lead after all.  
Spike, quit hitting on the medieval babe. Carly was faking a sprained ankle and throwing herself at you two stories ago. Medieval babe's name is Nimue! Oh crap. Run spike!   
Hey Hank and Sheila from the Dungeons &Dragons Cartoon are in the crowd.  
Starscream is fun when he’s finally done putting up with human crap.
Their energy charges drain really fast. Maybe time travel does that.
Hey, it’s Merlin! Why not at this point? Ooh he said “the dragons breath,” nice Excalibur reference.  
Starscream the scientist builds a generator. Way to adapt. I’m moving further into your camp.
Spike on his own… still a mix of genius and idiot.  
Meanwhile the princess and the bad guy who isn’t all that bad fall in love. I feel like about an hour was edited out of this twenty-five minute story.
More science! Making gunpowder out of bird poop!
Now the Autobots have no energy, they’re so useless.
“Magic will never defeat science!” You tell ‘em Starscream. Really moving to his team.
Oh, but magic can defeat science. Great lesson there, writers. Well done.
Holy crap a dragon! I feel like this fight should have been more than a minute and a half.  
 
 
I also forgot the clunky CGI on the second half of Season Two disk menus is Soundwave not Megatron. Probably due to the gun thing, but I approve. It means the Season Two DVDs have the same Transformers on the menus as my new sneakers.
 
 
The Golden Lagoon
Time for the Season Two credits gang again, on both sides. Gotta sell those new toys. 
The three new Seekers are much more interchangeable than the originals were. Like, I know they’re  the pointy headed red, blue and white ones, and I know their names are Ramjet, Dirge and Thrust, but I have no idea who is who.
Perceptor’s microscope barrel is also a laser cannon. I felt the need to point that out.  
Time for a Beachcomber focus as the little dune buggy stumbles into a magical, wooded, Disney style glen. There is lots more magic on this show, suddenly. 
Electrum gives magical invulnerability to all damage. *quick confirmation check* It is a real alloy. *additional quick confirmation check* And it doesn’t do that. 
The Season One Decepticons are coming into the fray from the “not the Nemesis” underwater base. Starscream holds his nose while jumping into the pool. There is a lot to unpack about that. 
Due to their tactical prowess, only Mirage shows up on the Autobot side. 
Ooh! New commercial bumpers. Neat!  Anyway…
Warpath’s spoken sound effects have finally become annoying. 
Yes! Mirage goes to get the other Season One Autobots.
Good gravy! Omega Supreme is insanely big…and can replace his face with a turret… and drops from one single Megatron shot. This supports my theory that leaving most of his mass behind when he’s a rocket reduces his density. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.  
Making Decepticons monochromatic (revealing just how few designs there are) might have been an error.  
I like how neither side thinks to guard the electrum. Whoah! SHINY! Omega Supreme standing in it counts as guarding I believe.  
Wait. How does shooting a pond of invulnerability blow it up? And take out the entire enchanted glen?
That was a real downer ending for a weekday afternoon. 
 
 
The God Gambit
Cool! A new planet…where there is a multicolored alien, religious war. The religious ones are evil. This is unsurprising. 
Cosmos versus Astrotrain again. (Ah, Astrotrain’s sudden lust for power is explained by the script first featuring Megatron, until yet another “sell the new toys” directive. Then again, how would Megatron have gotten to another planet under his own power? I should really just take these at face value.)
Astrotrain has a whistle, to blend in no doubt. Woo woo!
Cosmos gets shut down from ONE broken wire. That seems like a design flaw.  
It will take all of Omega Supreme’s energy to fly there. Yup, more design flaws. Little Cosmos made it carrying a few friends. Omega’s whole “leaving ninety percent of his mass behind” makes his life rough. 
There is very nice design work for the alien planet. There will be significantly more of that later and next season. (I'm getting ahead of myself.)
I feel the need to mention that Jazz took out Starscream by throwing a rock at him on this planet of crystallized energy and electric lava. 
Astrotrain almost died falling into a pit, because he forgot he can fly… in two of the Triple Changer’s three forms.
Dude! The Decepticons blew up the planet’s whole civilization and they are reduced to building houses with sticks. The Autobots should have come back here to find an entire culture built around hatred of Cybertronians.

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