[7.3/10] This is mostly a new character introduction episode, and on that measure, it’s pretty unremarkable. That’s because Jetstorm, Thrust, and Tankor are pretty unmemorable baddies in their first outing. Jetstorm is a little snarky, Tankor has a Frankenstein complex, and Thurst is a...vaguely sinister motorcycle? There’s not much to them. There’s some juice to the notion that Megatron needs minions with free will to combat enemies with free will, but that’s not really explored here. Instead, it’s just a trio of new villains chasing Black Arachnia and Rattrap around, and while there’s some cool animation and direction, the story isn’t all that arresting.
The one compelling part of it is Black Arachnia having visions of Silver Bolt which, given the idyllic nature of the autumnal plane she drifts off to while in robot mode, suggests that he may be in robot Heaven, or at least in robo-Purgatory. There’s some really cool impressionistic design work and framing that helps sell the mysticism of Black Arachnia’s connection to her beau.
I also like that our heroes are uncovering the mystery of exactly what happened to them when they returned to Cybertron and remembering their fallen comrades. (Though what are the chances that, given the circumstances, Megatron reused their sparks in his new “Vehicons”, i.e. Jetstorm = Silverbolt and Rhinox = Tankor?). There’s a solid puzzle there, and I’ll be curious as to the answer.
I also appreciate the continued adventures of guilt-ridden Optimus. He’s a lot more compelling as someone who unduly blames himself for everything that happened to his home planet, whose emotional messiness can literally get him overheated, than as the generic leader guy he was on Beast Wars.
Overall, a solid enough outing, which doesn’t do much for me on the “here’s the new baddies” front, but which introduces some cool ideas the show will hopefully pick up on down the road.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-09-04T14:51:29Z
[7.3/10] This is mostly a new character introduction episode, and on that measure, it’s pretty unremarkable. That’s because Jetstorm, Thrust, and Tankor are pretty unmemorable baddies in their first outing. Jetstorm is a little snarky, Tankor has a Frankenstein complex, and Thurst is a...vaguely sinister motorcycle? There’s not much to them. There’s some juice to the notion that Megatron needs minions with free will to combat enemies with free will, but that’s not really explored here. Instead, it’s just a trio of new villains chasing Black Arachnia and Rattrap around, and while there’s some cool animation and direction, the story isn’t all that arresting.
The one compelling part of it is Black Arachnia having visions of Silver Bolt which, given the idyllic nature of the autumnal plane she drifts off to while in robot mode, suggests that he may be in robot Heaven, or at least in robo-Purgatory. There’s some really cool impressionistic design work and framing that helps sell the mysticism of Black Arachnia’s connection to her beau.
I also like that our heroes are uncovering the mystery of exactly what happened to them when they returned to Cybertron and remembering their fallen comrades. (Though what are the chances that, given the circumstances, Megatron reused their sparks in his new “Vehicons”, i.e. Jetstorm = Silverbolt and Rhinox = Tankor?). There’s a solid puzzle there, and I’ll be curious as to the answer.
I also appreciate the continued adventures of guilt-ridden Optimus. He’s a lot more compelling as someone who unduly blames himself for everything that happened to his home planet, whose emotional messiness can literally get him overheated, than as the generic leader guy he was on Beast Wars.
Overall, a solid enough outing, which doesn’t do much for me on the “here’s the new baddies” front, but which introduces some cool ideas the show will hopefully pick up on down the road.