"Transform and Roll Out!" Part 2/2 - Review
Finally, the end of my summary... review... thingie of the first three episodes of Transformers Animated. THIS IS THE SMALLER HALF but I still talk a lot, mostly because there's a lot of action in this part. And a lot of Starscream. Like 100% more Starscream, which is epic. |3 There is also a lot of continued fail, but that's to be expected.
And yes, I'm probably gonna wind up doing these for... a lot of the episodes, if not all of them. Let's see if I ever get tired of it, though. There's forty-two total, so this might be a long haul project... Sorry to anyone who gets tired of these posts! (I think this is one of my three main fandom loves, now, along with Reborn and Keroro. Eek! Snuck outta nowhere, this one did. Though they are all vaguely similar...)
*So, you're... sounding a little unhinged there, Starscream. I guess floating around on a ruined spacecraft for fifty years (or "solar cycles"), trying to find the most powerful thing in the universe for your people in an attempt to become unquestioned ruler of the Decepticon forces (which... couldn't he have been working toward that without the All Spark for the last fifty years if he hadn't decided to float around randomly in space instead?), might drive anyone a little batty. Luckily, he seems to recover when he picks up the All Spark's signature, although "recover from being unhinged" is a very relative idea, with Starscream.
*Also, Starscream, how and why can you tell Earth looks "extremely promising" -- All Spark aside -- just from a shot of the planet? That line was weird for me. It's in a sector out in the middle of nowhere... unless he meant that it seemed like a place the All Spark might be.
*NOW, A MONTAGE OF EACH OF THE CHARACTERS. Bulkhead is stuck in traffic, and overhears a guy complaining that it would be faster to walk; he then transforms back into his normal mode and... takes the advice and just walks, which is much faster, l-lol. Prowl is standing as still as a statue, beside a statue, covered in birds, and... learns the downside of being a statue covered in birds. :|b 'BOT'S FIRST NATURE LESSON. Bumblebee takes Sari through the drive-through of some place called Burger Bot. Ratchet is sleeping in a no parking zone, gets a bunch of tickets, and when the police officer comes by to slap another one on, he transforms back and complains about CAN'T A BOT GET A STASIS NAP AROUND HERE, tears the tickets off, and storms off. (Once again, go go robot grampa!) ... and Optimus states that they must protect humanity because it is life, and asks how humanity can create new life. Sari whispers something in his ear, and Optimus's response is, quote: "... O_O"
Just as a note: I highly love that section.
*OKAY THEIR BASE TURNS OUT GREAT LATER BUT: goddamn Sari that warehouse is a dump why are you giving it to them expecting them to be enthusiastic. That is very unlikely.
*AND THEN THE "SUPERHERO" AUTOBOTS GO TO FIGHT A FIRE. I think the only thing that stands out to me at all about this scene is wtf why is Prowl shooting water out of his back. That's where the flame things for his flight come from. NO WONDER THEY RANDOMLY DON'T WORK, PROWL, STOP SHOOTING WATER THROUGH A PLACE WHERE FIRE HAS TO GO. >|
Unless that's energy of some kind. That can... fight fires. Somehow. I can't even tell and that's kind of sad.
*Starscream, stop watching them. It's creepy. It's creepy. I should not be able to even consider being able to use the phrase "Ceiling Starscream is watching you," but I can, and that's sad.
*SUMDAC INTRODUCES A RAPID-TRANSIT TRAIN THING! He has the mayor and the chief of police with him as figureheads! And... apparently the Autobots are with him for some reason, too, although they probably had no hand in building it and wouldn't be able to ride it and wouldn't need to. Apparently they are just kind of guests at every special event ever. Makes me think they must pretty much be the media's darlings or something, which I can see Bumblebee loving and Prowl and Ratchet hating, and Optimus and Bulkhead somewhere in between, in the realms of "huh?"
*Unidentified aircraft invading U.S. airspace! GUESS WHO THAT IS. Starscream flies around and takes down a bunch of really nice jets, then scans the remaining one and decides to blend in with a new, improved alt mode, in order to avoid constant attacks, because it's annoying. Not because it's dangerous, because he was starting to get annoyed. For someone who's so completely goddamn ridiculous as Starscream is, this kind of starts to show that he is not a weak enemy.
Back at the grand opening of the new transit system, Sumdac asks everyone to direct their attention overhead, for an aerial acrobatics show... a bunch of jets called the Crimson Angels. I'm sure that this is not going to have anything to do with Starscream's new alt form at all.
*"For once, something that flies that's not a Decepticon." Bumblebee says this right after a seventh jet, just a little differently colored from that other six, zooms into the picture and joins the formation. So, you know, overall great timing, 'bee.
*Goddamn, Starscream's got a good blast on him. He takes a shot and the Autobots looked like they braced, and then all five of them slam back-first into the train. :| (Well, Bumblebee and Prowl slammed back-first into Bulkhead, but that's because Bulkhead's huge and someone usually winds up hitting him.)
*SHUT UP STARSCREAM.
*SHUT UP STARSCREAM.
*Seriously this guy just loves to hear himself talk. I love him so much and I actually like when he's talking, but every time he does, I just feel an overwhelming urge to yell "SHUT-UP-STARSCREAM!" So.
*And then everybody starts failing again. Bulkhead says something Starscream "exalted leader of the Decepticons" doesn't like about Megatron being the leader, which prompts Starscream to blast both him and Bumblebee (why not!) back into a building. Optimus and Ratchet run to pull them out from under falling debris, which works, but they immediately get blasted again. And then Prowl pulls off a successful Ninja Attack, then gets thrown into the street so hard he leaves a crater. And Starscream then proceeds to mock them for being pretty goddamn weak for "heroes."
*Then it's OPTIMUS'S TURN TO ATTACK. He wraps his grappling hook's cord around Starscream's legs and tries to pull him down. This just results in Starscream lifting him off the ground and flying around the city, slamming him into buildings, the ground, etc. as they go. I think my overwhelming thoughts on this scene, first seeing it, could easily be summed up as "ow. ow. ow." Then Starscream shoots the cord and Optimus drop onto a truck, and Starscream once again mocks them for being "heroes" -- and for thinking they were the ones who defeated Megatron.
"You think you defeated the great Megatron? You did no such thing. I DEFEATED MEGATRON! I planted the device that overloaded his circuitry! His fate was sealed before he even reached your ship!"
Just had to brag about that, didn't you, Starscream? 8| (Also, aw, Bulkhead. "He's lying! ... Isn't he?")
*HAHA OH MAN.
"Now, bring me the All Spark, Autobot scum!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Really? Then I'll just have to destroy these puny creatures for no good reason!"
WAY TO GO BEIN' A VILLAIN, STARSCREAM.
*... Could any of the Autobots be doing anything besides staring in horror while Starscream takes fire on their human friends? He does it for like, fifteen straight seconds, repeatedly, while no one does anything. And then it's Bumblebee who jumps in the way of a blast meant for Sari -- which was stupid, but heroic, and AT LEAST HE WAS DOING SOMETHING, GOD.
*Of course, this just lets Starscream use him as a hostage. But man, this shows Starscream as being a decent bad guy, in terms of being as much of a jerkass as he need to be in order to get exactly what he wants. He picks up Bumblebee by the arm and dangles him rather high up in the air above the street... though since Optimus and Prowl already survived worse falls, I don't know why that's such a threat. Maybe because he's already badly hurt?
"Now let's try this again. BRING ME THE ALL SPARK, AUTOBOT SCUM."
"My name is Optimus Prime. And I'm prepared to sacrifice my life to protect the All Spark!"
"But are you willing to sacrifice theirs?"
Bumblebee is flung so that he skids directly into the train, Sari runs out of the way, and Starscream now has three humans (Sumdac, the mayor, and the police chief) and Bumblebee as hostages. Do you see why I say the Autobots fail kind of a lot for a while?
*And, driving home one of the MORALS OF THESE EPISODES one more time as hard as they can, Optimus says he doesn't know if he can be a hero and make a choice like that, and Prowl... finally climbs out of his crater and gives a speech about how he's not alone, and how he had to learn the hard way, but a machine is greater than the sum of its parts, etc. blah blah. GO TEAMWORK. They all put their hands over one another's, including Sari, and Sari says SHE HAS A PLAN which they... immediately don't even listen to and start walking off without her.
GO GO TEAMWORK.
*SARI TURNS ON THE WATER WORKS. Once again, I can see why people went >| at her. But once again, she makes me kinda go |D because that was some pretty expert string-pulling, there. They finally decide to go with Sari's plan (she and Prowl sneak up to the train, revive Bumblebee with her magic key, and free the hostages, while the other Autobots keep Starscream distracted so he doesn't notice), using, as bait... the All Spark. Which just seems so very bright. :|
*RESCUE TIME.
"Sari! How did you get up here!"
"Same way you're getting down."
lololol surprise Prowl. /nothing intelligent to say here
Prowl then grabs Sumdac in one hand, the mayor in the other, and has the Police Chief hold on tight, and jumps. Leaving Sari on board the train to revive Bumblebee so they can book it. You can probably see where this is going to go wrong pretty quick.
*Sari wakes Bumblebee up with the key. Bumblebee immediately revs backward and slams his head into the wall. Prowl lands hard on some... robot blimp thing, jolting his passengers, who make enough noise to get Starscream's attention. Pissed, Starscream manages to evade, ignore, or shrug off the attacks from the Autobots trying to keep him away, zooming straight past Prowl -- and blasting the train car that Sari is still on. Bumblebee and Prowl immediately grab onto it and keep it from flying off the tower... and Starscream laughs and shoots them in the back, propelling both of them and the train and Sari off the building.
*"There! The train is released. I kept my end of the bargain. Now it's your turn to keep yours!"
OH STARSCREAM YOU ARE SUCH A BITCH.
*Optimus goes for the All Spark, trying to keep Starscream from getting it and sending Bulkhead and Ratchet to go "help the others." (And poor Bulkhead, seriously -- "What are we supposed to do, catch 'em on the first bounce?!" HE HAS A POINT.) Bumblebee and Prowl, meanwhile, crawl onto the train car itself and start trying to weld it open. They finally get a hatch open, and Bumblebee and Sari proceed to be cute.
Bumblebee: "Reach out! I'll grab you!"
Sari: *terrified and clinging onto the pole, just shakes her head*
Bumblebee: "You can trust this face, can't you?"
Sari: *reaches out a hand slowly and puts it in his*
THEY ARE FUCKING ADORABLE BFFS, JUST SAYIN'.
*Meanwhile, Optimus gets to the All Spark first and SNATCHES IT UP before Starscream can grab it. Optimus is thereby stuck in robot form since he's holding the thing, though, and Starscream proceeds to change into a jet and chase him. Jet vs. On Foot is not anything I would like to take bets on, myself.
*And, back with the Rescue Squad, Prowl slows the fall by climbing to the FALLING END of the vehicle, grabbing hold, and starting up the jet thrusters in his back, while Bumblebee goes into vehicle mode, Sari gets in, and they jump out of the train. Prowl then abandons it and lets it hit the ground, while Ratchet catches Bumblebee in his weird energy things before he and Sari can crash.
*And then Optimus runs up and tosses Ratchet the All Spark. :|
"Ratchet! Think fast!"
"Aw, crud."
Then they start the greatest game of Keep Away ever. Ratchet catches the All Spark in his energy things, and immediately throws it to Bumblebee -- who, still in alt mode, zooms away with it for a minute and then flings it to Prowl, who catches it, tosses it in the back of a pickup trick, and then kicks the pickup truck, sending it hurtling down the street. (Not gonna lie: for a minute, I totally thought Prowl was going to carjack that truck. That was a very confusing moment.)
The truck hits a hydrant, the All Spark is flung into the air, Bulkhead fumbles it ("I GOT, I GOT IT, I---")... and Starscream zooms in and snatches it. "FOOL! Did you really think you could keep the All Spark out of the hands of---"
And then Bulkhead hits him with a wrecking ball. Starscream drops the All Spark and is flung back, and Bulkhead catches it. "I said, I got it."
BEST GAME OF KEEP AWAY. EVER.
*Of course, they completely ruin it with their end game, in which they all just calmly re-group RIGHT THERE, Bulkhead hands the All Spark over to Optimus, and they calmly start to talk about getting it somewhere safe, apparently totally ignoring the fact that they didn't defeat Starscream yet. Like, at all. And, pissed off, Starscream immediately blasts them and all the surrounding buildings. Not gonna lie, they kind of deserved that.
*Starscream once again swoops down and grabs the All Spark. Then he swoops back up, stops, and... once again makes an egomaniacal speech. It's a short one this time, though, and he immediately uses the All Spark to start blasting the fuck out of the city. It is apparently a very powerful piece of deus ex machina (har).
*Optimus says that the All Spark will not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Decepticons without a fight. He climbs a building near Starscream, throws his axe into Starscream's wing, tackles him out of the air, and snags the All Spark when they both crash. The next game of Keep Away doesn't go very well, except Optimus shoots some white gunky stuff right into Starscream's face and Starscream's response is pretty much "EWW," which made me laugh (WHAT ARE YOU TWO LIKE FIVE YEARS OLD?). They basically just keep crashing through shit until things end with a huge tug of war, and then the All Spark itself says BITCH NO and blasts the shit out of Starscream. I don't even know where he landed, he got flung so far.
*Optimus, however, is left hanging above the city on a billboard. This does not last long. That fall is, I have to give them some realism credit for this, at least a lot farther than any of the other falls they recovered from before.
*"So this... is what is feels like... to be a hero..."
And Optimus goes offline. You can tell when a Cybertronian dies in this series because all their colors disappear. Seriously, they fade out and go completely monochrome. I think it's also kind of cool in a semi-realistic way how Optimus was all cracked up and obviously injured -- though the All Spark's casing didn't even get a scratch from anything it had been through, so kind of lol there. It's the All Spark, though, so I can excuse it.
*SARI TO THE RESCUE. Again. Or, strictly speaking, Sari's belligerence + her magic key + the All Spark itself suddenly flipping out and shooting energy straight into Optimus's chest makes his Spark come back, all his colors come back, and all his wounds heal.
*"Is this... the Well of All Sparks...?"
"No. It's Detroit."
Pfft that made me laugh quite a bit. I don't quite know why.
*As a note... I like the fact that the city being TORN UP BY THEIR EPIC FIGHTS doesn't just go totally unignored in this canon. It doesn't have a backlash on the 'bots heroic reputations only because, besides the damage happening through their attempts to save the world, they also actually go around repairing everything afterward themselves.
*And Professor Sumdac has Megatron's offlined head and hand in his lab. It's how he was able to start his robotics empire... with Decepticon technology. He worries about whether, if they knew the truth, his new friends would ever be able to forgive him. I wonder if this was supposed to be a shocking ending to these episodes, since everyone who was paying any attention to Episode 1 would have realized all of this when the young Sumdac found Megatron's head in a crater pretty much in his backyard.
AND THAT IS THE END OF "TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT." All in all it was pretty damn enjoyable! I actually love these first three episodes, despite the cheesiness and some bits being awkward; that's just how they are. They're not my favorite episodes, by far, but they were still pretty epic, especially for something that introduced the main plot and all of the major characters you need to know about right off the bat and what they can do. I like the fact that the Decepticon menace is actually a menace and that the Autobots are not evenly matched with them.
Most of all, I'll admit, I love the characters too much to care at all about any of the imperfections in the show that so many people say it has. Every show's got its ups and downs, after all, and I enjoy every single moment of this one, so I think I can safely put it in the "THIS IS EPIC" category. THAT'S RIGHT YOU GUYS: TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED IS A FUCKIN' EPIC SHOW. It's official now because I say so. :|b
But seriously, summing up my impression of the first episodes... IF YOU DIG GIANT ROBOTS and like shows that are corny and crazy and obviously made for kids -- or at least don't mind the "obviously made for kids" part, lmao this show likes to drive a moral home as hard as it possibly can -- then I definitely encourage checking this thing out. It makes me want to flail around and spazz in joy more than any American cartoon has in a long time, and that is always, always, always an epic thing.
Also, I finally splurged like... a few cents because lol my automatic paid account renewal is soon, wao, and got 100+ icons for my journal. I am slooowly filling these up! These are IMPORTANT CHOICES TO MAKE, you know, guys. But I'm cool with renewing, soon, even, 'cos as it turns out, after a refund from the bank I have over a hundred dollars in my account, so. Should be cool until I get a job, which should be very soon, I AM VERY EXCITED AT THE THOUGHT OF HAVING AN INCOME AGAIN.
But yeah so new icons and thank you so much confusedmenot, you rock and your icons rock and just. Rock. ♥
And yes, I'm probably gonna wind up doing these for... a lot of the episodes, if not all of them. Let's see if I ever get tired of it, though. There's forty-two total, so this might be a long haul project... Sorry to anyone who gets tired of these posts! (I think this is one of my three main fandom loves, now, along with Reborn and Keroro. Eek! Snuck outta nowhere, this one did. Though they are all vaguely similar...)
*So, you're... sounding a little unhinged there, Starscream. I guess floating around on a ruined spacecraft for fifty years (or "solar cycles"), trying to find the most powerful thing in the universe for your people in an attempt to become unquestioned ruler of the Decepticon forces (which... couldn't he have been working toward that without the All Spark for the last fifty years if he hadn't decided to float around randomly in space instead?), might drive anyone a little batty. Luckily, he seems to recover when he picks up the All Spark's signature, although "recover from being unhinged" is a very relative idea, with Starscream.
*Also, Starscream, how and why can you tell Earth looks "extremely promising" -- All Spark aside -- just from a shot of the planet? That line was weird for me. It's in a sector out in the middle of nowhere... unless he meant that it seemed like a place the All Spark might be.
*NOW, A MONTAGE OF EACH OF THE CHARACTERS. Bulkhead is stuck in traffic, and overhears a guy complaining that it would be faster to walk; he then transforms back into his normal mode and... takes the advice and just walks, which is much faster, l-lol. Prowl is standing as still as a statue, beside a statue, covered in birds, and... learns the downside of being a statue covered in birds. :|b 'BOT'S FIRST NATURE LESSON. Bumblebee takes Sari through the drive-through of some place called Burger Bot. Ratchet is sleeping in a no parking zone, gets a bunch of tickets, and when the police officer comes by to slap another one on, he transforms back and complains about CAN'T A BOT GET A STASIS NAP AROUND HERE, tears the tickets off, and storms off. (Once again, go go robot grampa!) ... and Optimus states that they must protect humanity because it is life, and asks how humanity can create new life. Sari whispers something in his ear, and Optimus's response is, quote: "... O_O"
Just as a note: I highly love that section.
*OKAY THEIR BASE TURNS OUT GREAT LATER BUT: goddamn Sari that warehouse is a dump why are you giving it to them expecting them to be enthusiastic. That is very unlikely.
*AND THEN THE "SUPERHERO" AUTOBOTS GO TO FIGHT A FIRE. I think the only thing that stands out to me at all about this scene is wtf why is Prowl shooting water out of his back. That's where the flame things for his flight come from. NO WONDER THEY RANDOMLY DON'T WORK, PROWL, STOP SHOOTING WATER THROUGH A PLACE WHERE FIRE HAS TO GO. >|
Unless that's energy of some kind. That can... fight fires. Somehow. I can't even tell and that's kind of sad.
*Starscream, stop watching them. It's creepy. It's creepy. I should not be able to even consider being able to use the phrase "Ceiling Starscream is watching you," but I can, and that's sad.
*SUMDAC INTRODUCES A RAPID-TRANSIT TRAIN THING! He has the mayor and the chief of police with him as figureheads! And... apparently the Autobots are with him for some reason, too, although they probably had no hand in building it and wouldn't be able to ride it and wouldn't need to. Apparently they are just kind of guests at every special event ever. Makes me think they must pretty much be the media's darlings or something, which I can see Bumblebee loving and Prowl and Ratchet hating, and Optimus and Bulkhead somewhere in between, in the realms of "huh?"
*Unidentified aircraft invading U.S. airspace! GUESS WHO THAT IS. Starscream flies around and takes down a bunch of really nice jets, then scans the remaining one and decides to blend in with a new, improved alt mode, in order to avoid constant attacks, because it's annoying. Not because it's dangerous, because he was starting to get annoyed. For someone who's so completely goddamn ridiculous as Starscream is, this kind of starts to show that he is not a weak enemy.
Back at the grand opening of the new transit system, Sumdac asks everyone to direct their attention overhead, for an aerial acrobatics show... a bunch of jets called the Crimson Angels. I'm sure that this is not going to have anything to do with Starscream's new alt form at all.
*"For once, something that flies that's not a Decepticon." Bumblebee says this right after a seventh jet, just a little differently colored from that other six, zooms into the picture and joins the formation. So, you know, overall great timing, 'bee.
*Goddamn, Starscream's got a good blast on him. He takes a shot and the Autobots looked like they braced, and then all five of them slam back-first into the train. :| (Well, Bumblebee and Prowl slammed back-first into Bulkhead, but that's because Bulkhead's huge and someone usually winds up hitting him.)
*SHUT UP STARSCREAM.
*SHUT UP STARSCREAM.
*Seriously this guy just loves to hear himself talk. I love him so much and I actually like when he's talking, but every time he does, I just feel an overwhelming urge to yell "SHUT-UP-STARSCREAM!" So.
*And then everybody starts failing again. Bulkhead says something Starscream "exalted leader of the Decepticons" doesn't like about Megatron being the leader, which prompts Starscream to blast both him and Bumblebee (why not!) back into a building. Optimus and Ratchet run to pull them out from under falling debris, which works, but they immediately get blasted again. And then Prowl pulls off a successful Ninja Attack, then gets thrown into the street so hard he leaves a crater. And Starscream then proceeds to mock them for being pretty goddamn weak for "heroes."
*Then it's OPTIMUS'S TURN TO ATTACK. He wraps his grappling hook's cord around Starscream's legs and tries to pull him down. This just results in Starscream lifting him off the ground and flying around the city, slamming him into buildings, the ground, etc. as they go. I think my overwhelming thoughts on this scene, first seeing it, could easily be summed up as "ow. ow. ow." Then Starscream shoots the cord and Optimus drop onto a truck, and Starscream once again mocks them for being "heroes" -- and for thinking they were the ones who defeated Megatron.
"You think you defeated the great Megatron? You did no such thing. I DEFEATED MEGATRON! I planted the device that overloaded his circuitry! His fate was sealed before he even reached your ship!"
Just had to brag about that, didn't you, Starscream? 8| (Also, aw, Bulkhead. "He's lying! ... Isn't he?")
*HAHA OH MAN.
"Now, bring me the All Spark, Autobot scum!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Really? Then I'll just have to destroy these puny creatures for no good reason!"
WAY TO GO BEIN' A VILLAIN, STARSCREAM.
*... Could any of the Autobots be doing anything besides staring in horror while Starscream takes fire on their human friends? He does it for like, fifteen straight seconds, repeatedly, while no one does anything. And then it's Bumblebee who jumps in the way of a blast meant for Sari -- which was stupid, but heroic, and AT LEAST HE WAS DOING SOMETHING, GOD.
*Of course, this just lets Starscream use him as a hostage. But man, this shows Starscream as being a decent bad guy, in terms of being as much of a jerkass as he need to be in order to get exactly what he wants. He picks up Bumblebee by the arm and dangles him rather high up in the air above the street... though since Optimus and Prowl already survived worse falls, I don't know why that's such a threat. Maybe because he's already badly hurt?
"Now let's try this again. BRING ME THE ALL SPARK, AUTOBOT SCUM."
"My name is Optimus Prime. And I'm prepared to sacrifice my life to protect the All Spark!"
"But are you willing to sacrifice theirs?"
Bumblebee is flung so that he skids directly into the train, Sari runs out of the way, and Starscream now has three humans (Sumdac, the mayor, and the police chief) and Bumblebee as hostages. Do you see why I say the Autobots fail kind of a lot for a while?
*And, driving home one of the MORALS OF THESE EPISODES one more time as hard as they can, Optimus says he doesn't know if he can be a hero and make a choice like that, and Prowl... finally climbs out of his crater and gives a speech about how he's not alone, and how he had to learn the hard way, but a machine is greater than the sum of its parts, etc. blah blah. GO TEAMWORK. They all put their hands over one another's, including Sari, and Sari says SHE HAS A PLAN which they... immediately don't even listen to and start walking off without her.
GO GO TEAMWORK.
*SARI TURNS ON THE WATER WORKS. Once again, I can see why people went >| at her. But once again, she makes me kinda go |D because that was some pretty expert string-pulling, there. They finally decide to go with Sari's plan (she and Prowl sneak up to the train, revive Bumblebee with her magic key, and free the hostages, while the other Autobots keep Starscream distracted so he doesn't notice), using, as bait... the All Spark. Which just seems so very bright. :|
*RESCUE TIME.
"Sari! How did you get up here!"
"Same way you're getting down."
lololol surprise Prowl. /nothing intelligent to say here
Prowl then grabs Sumdac in one hand, the mayor in the other, and has the Police Chief hold on tight, and jumps. Leaving Sari on board the train to revive Bumblebee so they can book it. You can probably see where this is going to go wrong pretty quick.
*Sari wakes Bumblebee up with the key. Bumblebee immediately revs backward and slams his head into the wall. Prowl lands hard on some... robot blimp thing, jolting his passengers, who make enough noise to get Starscream's attention. Pissed, Starscream manages to evade, ignore, or shrug off the attacks from the Autobots trying to keep him away, zooming straight past Prowl -- and blasting the train car that Sari is still on. Bumblebee and Prowl immediately grab onto it and keep it from flying off the tower... and Starscream laughs and shoots them in the back, propelling both of them and the train and Sari off the building.
*"There! The train is released. I kept my end of the bargain. Now it's your turn to keep yours!"
OH STARSCREAM YOU ARE SUCH A BITCH.
*Optimus goes for the All Spark, trying to keep Starscream from getting it and sending Bulkhead and Ratchet to go "help the others." (And poor Bulkhead, seriously -- "What are we supposed to do, catch 'em on the first bounce?!" HE HAS A POINT.) Bumblebee and Prowl, meanwhile, crawl onto the train car itself and start trying to weld it open. They finally get a hatch open, and Bumblebee and Sari proceed to be cute.
Bumblebee: "Reach out! I'll grab you!"
Sari: *terrified and clinging onto the pole, just shakes her head*
Bumblebee: "You can trust this face, can't you?"
Sari: *reaches out a hand slowly and puts it in his*
THEY ARE FUCKING ADORABLE BFFS, JUST SAYIN'.
*Meanwhile, Optimus gets to the All Spark first and SNATCHES IT UP before Starscream can grab it. Optimus is thereby stuck in robot form since he's holding the thing, though, and Starscream proceeds to change into a jet and chase him. Jet vs. On Foot is not anything I would like to take bets on, myself.
*And, back with the Rescue Squad, Prowl slows the fall by climbing to the FALLING END of the vehicle, grabbing hold, and starting up the jet thrusters in his back, while Bumblebee goes into vehicle mode, Sari gets in, and they jump out of the train. Prowl then abandons it and lets it hit the ground, while Ratchet catches Bumblebee in his weird energy things before he and Sari can crash.
*And then Optimus runs up and tosses Ratchet the All Spark. :|
"Ratchet! Think fast!"
"Aw, crud."
Then they start the greatest game of Keep Away ever. Ratchet catches the All Spark in his energy things, and immediately throws it to Bumblebee -- who, still in alt mode, zooms away with it for a minute and then flings it to Prowl, who catches it, tosses it in the back of a pickup trick, and then kicks the pickup truck, sending it hurtling down the street. (Not gonna lie: for a minute, I totally thought Prowl was going to carjack that truck. That was a very confusing moment.)
The truck hits a hydrant, the All Spark is flung into the air, Bulkhead fumbles it ("I GOT, I GOT IT, I---")... and Starscream zooms in and snatches it. "FOOL! Did you really think you could keep the All Spark out of the hands of---"
And then Bulkhead hits him with a wrecking ball. Starscream drops the All Spark and is flung back, and Bulkhead catches it. "I said, I got it."
BEST GAME OF KEEP AWAY. EVER.
*Of course, they completely ruin it with their end game, in which they all just calmly re-group RIGHT THERE, Bulkhead hands the All Spark over to Optimus, and they calmly start to talk about getting it somewhere safe, apparently totally ignoring the fact that they didn't defeat Starscream yet. Like, at all. And, pissed off, Starscream immediately blasts them and all the surrounding buildings. Not gonna lie, they kind of deserved that.
*Starscream once again swoops down and grabs the All Spark. Then he swoops back up, stops, and... once again makes an egomaniacal speech. It's a short one this time, though, and he immediately uses the All Spark to start blasting the fuck out of the city. It is apparently a very powerful piece of deus ex machina (har).
*Optimus says that the All Spark will not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Decepticons without a fight. He climbs a building near Starscream, throws his axe into Starscream's wing, tackles him out of the air, and snags the All Spark when they both crash. The next game of Keep Away doesn't go very well, except Optimus shoots some white gunky stuff right into Starscream's face and Starscream's response is pretty much "EWW," which made me laugh (WHAT ARE YOU TWO LIKE FIVE YEARS OLD?). They basically just keep crashing through shit until things end with a huge tug of war, and then the All Spark itself says BITCH NO and blasts the shit out of Starscream. I don't even know where he landed, he got flung so far.
*Optimus, however, is left hanging above the city on a billboard. This does not last long. That fall is, I have to give them some realism credit for this, at least a lot farther than any of the other falls they recovered from before.
*"So this... is what is feels like... to be a hero..."
And Optimus goes offline. You can tell when a Cybertronian dies in this series because all their colors disappear. Seriously, they fade out and go completely monochrome. I think it's also kind of cool in a semi-realistic way how Optimus was all cracked up and obviously injured -- though the All Spark's casing didn't even get a scratch from anything it had been through, so kind of lol there. It's the All Spark, though, so I can excuse it.
*SARI TO THE RESCUE. Again. Or, strictly speaking, Sari's belligerence + her magic key + the All Spark itself suddenly flipping out and shooting energy straight into Optimus's chest makes his Spark come back, all his colors come back, and all his wounds heal.
*"Is this... the Well of All Sparks...?"
"No. It's Detroit."
Pfft that made me laugh quite a bit. I don't quite know why.
*As a note... I like the fact that the city being TORN UP BY THEIR EPIC FIGHTS doesn't just go totally unignored in this canon. It doesn't have a backlash on the 'bots heroic reputations only because, besides the damage happening through their attempts to save the world, they also actually go around repairing everything afterward themselves.
*And Professor Sumdac has Megatron's offlined head and hand in his lab. It's how he was able to start his robotics empire... with Decepticon technology. He worries about whether, if they knew the truth, his new friends would ever be able to forgive him. I wonder if this was supposed to be a shocking ending to these episodes, since everyone who was paying any attention to Episode 1 would have realized all of this when the young Sumdac found Megatron's head in a crater pretty much in his backyard.
AND THAT IS THE END OF "TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT." All in all it was pretty damn enjoyable! I actually love these first three episodes, despite the cheesiness and some bits being awkward; that's just how they are. They're not my favorite episodes, by far, but they were still pretty epic, especially for something that introduced the main plot and all of the major characters you need to know about right off the bat and what they can do. I like the fact that the Decepticon menace is actually a menace and that the Autobots are not evenly matched with them.
Most of all, I'll admit, I love the characters too much to care at all about any of the imperfections in the show that so many people say it has. Every show's got its ups and downs, after all, and I enjoy every single moment of this one, so I think I can safely put it in the "THIS IS EPIC" category. THAT'S RIGHT YOU GUYS: TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED IS A FUCKIN' EPIC SHOW. It's official now because I say so. :|b
But seriously, summing up my impression of the first episodes... IF YOU DIG GIANT ROBOTS and like shows that are corny and crazy and obviously made for kids -- or at least don't mind the "obviously made for kids" part, lmao this show likes to drive a moral home as hard as it possibly can -- then I definitely encourage checking this thing out. It makes me want to flail around and spazz in joy more than any American cartoon has in a long time, and that is always, always, always an epic thing.
Also, I finally splurged like... a few cents because lol my automatic paid account renewal is soon, wao, and got 100+ icons for my journal. I am slooowly filling these up! These are IMPORTANT CHOICES TO MAKE, you know, guys. But I'm cool with renewing, soon, even, 'cos as it turns out, after a refund from the bank I have over a hundred dollars in my account, so. Should be cool until I get a job, which should be very soon, I AM VERY EXCITED AT THE THOUGHT OF HAVING AN INCOME AGAIN.
But yeah so new icons and thank you so much confusedmenot, you rock and your icons rock and just. Rock. ♥