|
I can't believe I spent a better half of the evening just typing all this up for an hour and a half show. Oh well, it has finally come to fruition. Too tired to proofread at this time, so please do forgive any spelling mistakes or missing words that I might have missed.
Part 1:
- It's quite nice to see the new clips in the opening animations - better animation than the show itself. Many of the bots in it don't feature much if at all in Season 4, like Blaster and Metroplex. The Duocon Flywheels only ever appears in the intro. Also notice the Micro-Bruticus flying around Metroplex. Way out of scale. Also Scorpanok has got the chin protrusion that you see quite a lot on any artwork for the Japanese Transformer series.
- Goldbug, not content with his gold coat, adds more to his faceplate.
- Scattorshot's voice is different when he first appears. Almost calm and composed. He reverts back to normal durign the attack.
- Magnus gets a bit of gray on his helmet at the start. Prime gets gray on top of his helmet through most of the 3-part episode.
- Goldbug, who is in a control room somewhere in the city, reports to Prime with space in the background.
- Seems like Autobot city (has a moat now?) is defended mostly by Throttlebots.
- The whole attack is a bit of an excuse to parade most of the new characters. Since there are so many new characters for both sides, the Decepticon charcters get the obligatory New Character strength boost. Stays with them through most of the first episode and wavers as the story goes on.
- The whole sequence with Punch/Counterpunch and the twin Decepticons Wingspan and Pounce just serves to show you that Punch/Counterpunch is rather stupid. I'm have a feeling the Decepticons have cottoned onto his trick by now. He also gets a transparent faceplate for his Punch form.
- thanks to the obstacle race that Blurr and Hot Rod were in, Brainstorm get the idea of having a human assistant. He wonders where to put them. It's all to set up the Head/Target Masters gimmick this season introduces, but if we think back to Only Human, the Cobra Commander cameo episode, there was room to install cockpits in their torsos for humans to pilot them.
- A matter of design: If anyone's watched these episodes, Headmasters and perhaps even own the toys, you'll probably notice that there is a lot of design differences with the heads. It's not like they haven't done this throughout the series, but having recently watched Headmasters and looked at photos of the toys, I just couldn't help but spot some of the differences.
Cerebros in particular gets a completely different head - he's really meant to have a miniature Fort Max styled head. Instead he's given a rather generic head with the faceplate flavour of the month - the one with the vertical bar down the middle. A couple of other new character have adopted the same faceplate, namely Crosshairs (who doesn't have a faceplate) and Chromedome (who is meant to have a faceplate matching Brainstorm's). US G1 does Brainstorm right in this department, while Headmasters drops it. Neither US G1 and Headmasters give Hardhead a faceplate.
- The Key to the Plasma Energy Chamber - a plot/convenience device created just for these episodes that has been handed down from leader to leader for safekeeping. Just like how they introduced Matrix of Leadership. Prime gives the whole exposition as to what it is over the loudspeakers on Cybertron. Hot Rod probably never knew about it during his time as Rodimus.
- Sixshot gets his one minute of fame. To be fair he did get a bit of time dedicated to himself and got to say a line. A lot of the other new characters never got any coverage, any speaking lines (Weirdwolf for example). Worse, some never even show up.
- Despite Sixshot being known as a one-man army (he has Samurai Consultant on his credentials), he still needs someone to fire him in his laser gun mode.
- A case of hitting a tack with a sledgehammer: Scourge opens an access hatch to make his way to the Plasma Energy Chamber. Rather than chase after Scourge on foot - the to-be Headmasters and Targetmasters all file into a shuttle and fly into the hatch. A whole shuttle. It does set up the excuse for these robots to get thrown off to Nebulos by the Plasma Energy overloading the shuttle's engine. Coincidentally, the engines don't blow up until the shuttle lands.
- The Nebulons aren't familiar with Transformers can recognize Spike to be a 'human'. It's possible they call their own people humans?
- Over the three episodes, a good number of the fight scenes back on Cybertron seem to show the Decepticons shooting at each other. Or it seems that way, and I think mostly involve the Terrorcons.
- Like their Decepticon counterparts and Sixshot, Fastlane and Cloudraker get their short spotlight in the story by being told to go look for the lost Autobots and the key to the plasma energy chamber. They were the only ones told to go, but Punch goes with them.
- Right after sending the twins off, Optimus and the Throttlebots roll out. Ultra Magnus (his whole armoured body) transforms into his white cab while his trailer enter from offscreen just like Optimus' trailer.
- The Nebulons seem to be randomly sticking the magnetic bombs onto or next to the Autobots they captured.
- Daniel saves Arcee by jumping on Snapdragon's head and he himself then gets snapped up and thrown. Between the two of them, I think Arcee would've fared much better without the assist. However it does cripple Daniel and sets him up to become Arcee's headmaster partner.
- Anyone noticed how that, with some exceptions, almost every female character to appear in Season 3 is voiced by Susan Blu (Arcee)?
- Most of the Nebulons and Hive headmasters have names that can probably best be described as call signs or nicknames rather than actual names. But it did get me wondering about the names used by the Transformers - ignoring the fact that this was all decided by the design committee responsible for repackaging and rebranding the toys for the western market. Many of names that consist of one word or a composite of two words, or end a word in -tron to make up a cool sounding name. Just to run of some random examples that probably don't exist: Backflush, or Multisprocket, Greatpenny, Flamefarthing, Dualaction, Waxcreep, Kilotron, Petatron, Turkeyshoot, Oxbarrel, Rockticon.
Then there are those that two-part names like Alpha Trion, Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus. These almost sound like ordinary names such as Magnus. Then again I suppose they are an indication of status such as the -imus Prime suffix.
I'll stop there as I'll just end up drifting off the scope of this topic. Still food for thought.
- Making Headmasters is the "only way" to get back the key and the "only way" to get Daniel off the life support system. There are lot of only-way's in this story arc.
Part 2:
- Spike remodels the Autobot heads into headmasters very quickly. Or maybe it's just a matter of having someone occupy the head and it just happens?
- The headmaster heads are very large and their interiors are spacious enough to have cockpits in them. I think the whole Transformers Headmasters method of the headmasters being the robot that pilot larger bodies (Transtectors) works a little better in this respect. However, having two living entities sets up the chance for the head/gun and body to have witty interactions with one another.
- I must note that the heads have to be attached by cranes the first time. The Decepticons didn't need that for their headmaster/targetmaster conversions.
- This whole episode features a lot of introductions for all the head/targetmaster companions.
- Since the Matrix is empty (or they say it's empty), Prime runs off to Vector Sigma for answers.
- The Decepticons set up a torture rack for the Autobots they've captured. I'm guessing this is part of or was on board their ship.
- Cyclonus changes his appearance for episode 2 and has droopy cheekbones and is wearing eyeshadow. He was like this back when he was taken over by Starscream's ghost.
- So the whole point of being head/target master is to be able to pop your head off or throw your gun (after firing it once) at the enemy so that you can have the smaller companion attack them with their (small) firearms while you attack with the vehicle mode weapons?
- Arcee's head is just a standard exo suit?
- Though Prime claims the Matrix is an empty shell, note that there is blue sparkly light emanating from it. It must've started gathering wisdom again since it was emptied after cleaning up the Hate Plague.
- Since he can't merge with the Matrix, Prime tries to use the Matrix's container to merge with Vector Sigma.
- When the Hive capture Scourge's party and they're dumped onto a conveyor belt, notice the machinery in the background. It's Skorpanok's colour scheme - and has the Decepticon symbol on it. Zarak pre-empting their alliance with the Decepticons?
- The Hive people (Lord Zarak in particular) have rather muscular bodies for being a people that are so mentally advanced that their bodies have atrophied.
- One thing I was wondering, since they've got such advanced machinery (controlled by their minds no less), why do the Hive bother using the Decepticons? They could just build their own bodies and pilot them themselves or do it remotely as usual. Time saving measure perhaps? Probably not an issue since Zarak goes off and allegedly rebuilds their city into Scorpanok.
- If anyone's recalls the people that lived on Kranix's planetoid that was eaten by Unicron in the movie, some of them appear to have relocated to Nebulas and joined the Hive. They are seen seated amongst the Hive chairs and they climb into the exo suits remodelled from the beast headmasters' heads. Come to think of it, I hadn't realized that most of the Decepticon headmasters had beast modes.
- Judging by Alpha Trion's spiel, it seems that this whole event, including merging humans with transformers, was cooked up by Vector Sigma.
- Apeface is among the unique triple-changers that have headmasters that dual as their robot and beast mode heads. In the show, his headmaster is a separate entity from his beast mode head.
- Weirdwolf has a head resembling an alligator more than a wolf.
- As noted earlier: The Decepticon targetmasters are used by firing them once and then tossing them out. I can understand it adding an extra laser pistol or two for the headmasters, but wouldn't this be considered a downgrade in firepower for a Targetmaster?
- Chromedome (Frank Welker) sounds a bit too much like Galvatron (also Frank Welker) during the Targetmaster intro fight.
- After the Decepticon Headmasters and Targetmaster run away, Spike says "Forget it, They can fly and you guys can't.". Now, this is the Autobots-Can't-Fly rule that pops in whenever it is convenient for the plot that we all know and love. However, the Autobots that Spike was saying to just happen to be Brainstorm and Highbrow. Yes...
However if you look at all the later battles, these guys only ever seem to be on the ground when in their alt-modes after this. Such as when they go to surround Optimus and Arcee when she recovers the Plasma Energy Chamber Key.
- They suddenly decide to turn the six Autobots that were recovered into Targetmasters. A thought just occured to me, and why didn't they just have assign each Autobot two Nebolon rebel partners? You could have a head and target master in one robot, increasing firepower and manpower in one hit. Had this series continued on and introduced the Powermasters, they could have a third as well.
- Prime suddenly arrives on Nebulon and without any explanations as to what is going on they jump right into the introducing of the new Autobot Targetmasters and Headmasters to Prime. The Nebulons (Recoil at least) have heard of Optimus Prime. It's often hard to tell how much time has passed between some of the scenes in this series.
- While waiting for Zarak's modifications to the city to finish, the hive target masters standing next to their Decepticon partners are about equal in size.
- "E-nihilate them" - the Decepticon Target masters then proceed to throw their guns at the Autobots.
- The conveyor belt machine rises! No actually the Hive city rises as Scorpanok. Scorpanok, and later Fortress Maximus are just bodies for their headmasters unlike the smaller headmasters.
Part 3:
- In the recap of the last episode, the announcer mentions that the energy from the Plasma Energy Chamber can destroy entire stars. I think that was the first mention of that bit.
- Scorpanok is made to look large as he has an access ramp that pops open from one of his legs.
- Prime wants Spike to come with him back to Cybertron sinec he's the 'only chance' to stop the plasma energy chamber. He's forgetting that there's about 10 other organics in the form of Nebulons on the shuttle.
- The Combaticons construct gigantic vernier thrusters on Cybertron to move it? Didn't Cybertron already have some to begin with?
- Zarak gets Arcee to hand over the key after they try to harm Daniel by ripping an arm off. Where exactly do your arms reside when you're inside an Exo Suit? It almost looks like the wearer has to operated with arms akimbo.
- Prime gets hallucinates with Alpha Trion nattering about all sorts of stuff like the Plasma Chamber key is a key to a miracles and whatnot. Do you suppose this is the same sort of direction that was taken with Optimus Primal towards the end of Beast Machines?
- They wonder how you can move a whole planet - this has been done in season 1 by way of making use of the now forgotten space bridge transport system they had.
- Prime knows that Galvatron took Cybertron to earth. There's no real explanation as to why though. Wasn't Cybertron brought close to the earth back in Season 1 or 2?
- Cyclonus' cheeks return to normal for this episode.
- After having their power packs ripped from their bodies and left on a junk heap, Ultra Magnus and Silverbolt are still functional. Though it does come off looking almost as if they're hiding deliberately among the junk and listening to the conversation amongst the Decepticons.
- Note: Fortress Maximus is rebuilt from the old Hive city. Scorpanok was built from the new city.
- Just like how the Autobots cannot fly rule kick in when the plot calls for it, the Headmasters are now suddenly unable to stay in robot mode when their heads are detached. This appears to mark the end of the parts for the Autobot Head and Target masters in this story.
- When the Autobots race after the Nebulons into Scorpanok and are captured by Cyclonus and the Combaticons, Vortex is painted as Blades.
- We know Galvatron's loopy, but what's Galvatron's objective with blowing up the universe?
- Just as it is with the toys, Fortress Maximus appears larger than Scorpanok - at least in base mode.
- Scorpanok's very first head merging sequence is pretty boring after you compare it with the sequence in the intro - even the ad-bumper clip is more exciting. The same goes for Fortress Maximus. Their showdown was also not the epic clash between titans that it could have been.
- I didn't realize this fact, but it seems that Spike doesn't need to be a part of Cerebros in the Fort-Max combination.
- I don't quite get what happened when Spike popped out of a hatch on Fort Max and suddenly Scorpanok was thrown off. Anyone got any ideas?
- When Optimus is getting Spike to listen to him, he's in a space background when he should be inside Scorpanok.
- After getting in all a huff to rush off and destroy the key, what ever happened to the Nebulon Head/Target masters? They just seemed to momentarily vanish from the story after they ran off. They suddenly reappear after the Plasma Energy Chamber goes off and Spike has to go and save the day. In one they appear to be in their merged form, in the next they're in their individual forms.
- Why did they bother taking the exo suits off when the plasma energy wasn't affecting them in the suits?
- Spike's spur of the moment idea to save the day was to reverse the flow of energy and pump it right back into Vector Sigma. It could have had dire consequences but at least paid off and brought about a new Golden Age.
- The thruster that they reversed to take the energy back in and send it to Vector Sigma has turned cone shaped.
- When the Golden Age begins and we see the robots on the rubbish heaps reawaken, there's one with Arcee with her head attached. Shortly after that, we see that it is not.
- Cerberos transforms into a miniature computer shaped like Fortress Maximus in base mode.
- With the shot of the celebrating Autobots (it's recycled a few times), we can see that not only have the Autobots been revived, but Goldbug has been turned back into Bumblebee. Actually there's a yellow guy next to him that could also be Goldbug.
- Fortress Maximus flies back to Nebulon in base mode. I guess it's easier to fly in base mode rather than travel in battleship mode.
- Since Arcee's head is just Daniel in an exo suit. We see inside of Arcee's head that Daniel is also wearing an exo-suit.
- Daniel appears to have wanted to express some form of expression towards Arcee at the end. I'm curious to know what he was going to say. And beyond this, does he ever recover from his injuries?
Despite these being the only episodes in this season, it does feel like they meant to conclude the series with it. They unfortunately left it off with a bit of an open ending that suggests that more stories could've come after it - such as Zarak usurping leadership and other shennanigans that would get Cerebros out of retirement. But that's just a could-have-been.
It's a bit like how some anime series have the TV series first that cover a good deal of a story, then condense (or make something new up) and release the it as original video animations to conclude the series. Of course these are usually done at a higher budget, so the animation is generally top notch. The same can't be said for this though.
- NKF
_________________
No, there's no hidden message. They're just initials.
|
