Other cartoons
--Oh, look, it's the sports tryout episode. I suppose we had to have one sooner or later, and to be fair this was a pretty decent one--it's fun watching Peter just get to cut loose and enjoy himself. I just don't care if he makes the football team, is all. (Also, I was having hideous visions of his actually getting on the team, and then spending every episode trying to balance crimefighting with team practices. I suspect Peter hadn't quite thought that part through.)
--And Flint Marko has finally transitioned to being a small-time loser to...well, actually, he's still kind of a small-time loser. However, I can respect someone who goes "Vendetta against Spider-Man? Screw that! I just wanna steal stuff!" He is results-oriented!
--That's Otto Octavius? Wow. His origin is going to have to be really traumatic. (See also: Eddie Brock.)
--Glory Grant! Hi, Glory! Nice to see your romantic tastes have improved. Sort of. At least there are no werewolves?
--I hate Norman Osborn. I mean, I really, really hate him. Mocking his son for being a loser is bad enough; mocking him on the assumption that he's going to lose is just...poor Harry. Norman's transition to supervillain is going to be strictly a formality; I just hope he doesn't take Harry with him. (No doubt this is an utterly vain hope, Osborn dysfunctions being what they are. Oh well.)
--Oh Gwen. Oh poor, poor Gwen. I would feel bad for her if I wasn't so busy giggling. Honey, I think you're just going to have to go ahead and whack him over the head with something heavy; I fear he's too distracted for anything else to get his attention. (Then again, the end of the episode establishes how much he likes Gwen's company, and it's clearly important to him to be on good terms with her; now if he can just take that last step...) Also, points to Gwen for not being obstructive about Peter's Bugle job just for the sake of it.
--The Mary Jane routine still works forty years later, and I am so looking forward to the payoff when she shows up--partly because I adore her, and partly because the look on Peter's face will be hysterical. I actually hope they don't do it too soon, though; give things time to develop with Gwen before MJ shows up and shakes everything up.
--The thing I like about the Sandman (well, one of the things) is that beating him up is totally ineffective, so the hero must get at least moderately creative to stop him. Pour cement on him, scatter him to the four winds, have a beer with him... Hey, it worked really well that one time! Though for Peter it would have to be a soda.
--Next week: I was wondering where Alex O'Hirn had gotten to, and why I didn't recognize the name. I really can't believe I didn't get the joke before now...
--"I must be ready to battle alongside my...Autobot...brothers." That clearly hurt so much. Megatron's acting skills are, like his patience, wearing extremely thin.
--Actually, I find myself wondering about Isaac's backstory with Megatron--I mean, inasmuch as he can have one given that Megatron was offline the whole time. Still. Fifty years of studying and tinkering and reverse-engineering, and Megatron is obviously an insanely advanced and humanoid-looking robot; it would hardly be a stretch for Isaac to start thinking of him as a person, talk to him, wonder what he was like when he was alive... It helps make sense of Isaac's gullibility if he's really reacting to decades of his own assumptions (and guilt) about Megatron.
--Mind you, Megatron is an Academy Award winner next to Starscream. "MEGATRON IS OFFLINE! TERMINATED! I DID IT MYSEL-saw it myself." Oh Starscream. It is fortunate for you that your audience is not really paying attention. But you're quick with a scheme and have a really evil smirk, so I can cope. (Also, the whole bit of business with Lugnut kneeling before him was hysterical. "Ooookay...")
--Prowl, I love you, I do. And your earnest protectiveness of the Dinobots is both admirable and endearing. But you totally deserved getting yelled at; Optimus needed to know about them well before now, ideally back when they kidnapped Sari. I know, I know, it wasn't their idea, but you didn't know that. And high-power robots of uncertain motives running around on Earth (at least one of them can get off the island under his own power)=time to share. Optimus' first meeting with them might even have gone better if he hadn't been under so much stress, although it's hardly a sure thing; those are not very compatible personalities. (That exasperated "Dinobots are robots" made me snicker...but it probably didn't help.)
--Frankly, I'm with Optimus about Sari's key. Yes, it's hers and the All-Spark gave it to her specifically...but she's a vulnerable seven-year-old organic, and that key's already been targeted by Decepticons once. Plus, she's still taking advantage of it, even knowing that she's created killer robots that way--trying to get the power back on may be defensible, but powering up toy planes isn't. What better choice did Optimus have? (Well, I suppose she could have gone to sit in the ship with Ratchet for the foreseeable future. I can't see her being thrilled by that option either, though.)
--Actually, I just generally feel sorry for Optimus in this episode, even while recognizing that he's a real jerk in places. He's gearing up to protect the most important military asset ever (not to mention an incredibly powerful artifact and an entire planet) from a group of cold-blooded killers who vastly outpower his forces (he had to die to defeat just one Decepticon, and the Decepticon wasn't even killed), and none of his team will just do what he freaking tells them. Sure, the pressure's making him downright nasty, but he's trying!
--I will reserve judgment on whether Sari is being stupid to trust Blackarachnia until I see whether she actually does trust Blackarachnia. The kid's an excellent manipulator, this we know, and anything she says or does when she's in trouble is suspect. I'll be disappointed if it turns out she's fallen for it, though.
--Ratchet. Ouch. Do they have spare arms in the ship?
--Okay, Bumblebee's been watching too much human TV if he's using the "bad reception" gag on Prime. *g*
--Megatron and Starscream's exchange of poisonous pleasantries is just a thing of beauty; Starscream is enjoying that far, far too much. You know, Starscream, if you'd just gone ahead and shot him, before that annoying Autobot showed up, you would probably have won right there! But I guess that would not be as much fun. (And heck, it still might not have worked, since Megatron apparently has pretty good offensive capabilities for a severed head.)
--Speaking of which, the...man, can I even call it a fight?--the scuffle between Bumblebee and Starscream really highlights the power differential between the Autobots and Decepticons. Bumblebee hits Starscream with everything he's got multiple times, and Starscream just looks bored; Starscream fires once and Bumblebee hits the wall. The upcoming fight is looking a little one-sided.
--"You didn't have a voice in your head, you had a head in your head!" Heh. Okay, I may be sold on Blitzwing.
--It may have been a mistake to watch that YTV commercial for Animated; I don't think I was supposed to be giggling when Megs pushed Isaac down on his knees. But it does kind of look like he's being made to do exercises...
--Next week: Megatron's back, and the Autobots are completely screwed. Ah, cliffhangers...