Review: Transformers War For Cybertron: Siege: Episode 3

CONTAINS SPOILERS 

"It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, have callously murdered one of our finest soldiers, the patriot Impactor." - Megatron, opening episode 3.

"Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong." - Luke Skywalker. 

While Megatron spins the events of Episode 2 to his own ends, the very-much-alive-but-injured Impactor is found by none other than Ratchet.  Except this is War For Cybertron, not G1, and Ratchet is not an optimistic medic, he's a cynical engineer-turned-healer who regrets designing weapons to end the war more quickly and now fixes and mens warriors from both sides (or neither) to atone for his actions.

So, naturally Ratchet takes Impactor to his makeshift field hospital. The Decepticons don't take care of their wounded, and the Autobots don't have the Energon.

There is the usual level of uncertainty, debate and hesitation at Autobot Command.  What if we find the Allspark? What if we take it off Cybertron?  

This contrasts sharply with discussions at Decepticon HQ. Starscream is in full flow, undermining Megatron's plan to use the Allspark to reformat the Autobots into Decepticons. These new 'Cons would not be "true, pure Decepticons" but would "dilute" their warrior heritage.  It appears Starscream is a Dalek or a war criminal who advocates ethnic cleansing - genocide - instead.  

Jetfire calls out Starscream's insubordination, and Megatron (doing his dramatic 'overhearing while entering thing) states it plainly: "Anyone who has a problem with my vision for Cybertron will not have a place in it."  There are no ifs and buts here, and if the Autobots don't get their collective alt modes in gear, they are going to get completely wiped out, and soon.

Elita, Optimus's advisor (or critic) directly challenges his what ifs, which are replaced by a crazy scheme with the episode 1 space bridge.  Prowl: "This is madness." Elita: "It's worse - desperation."

The Decepticons' interrogation of Ultra Magnus is not working, so Megatron gives Shockwave free rein to get results.  There are no compromises here; Megatron's ends justify any means necessary.

Mirage and the Autobots, meanwhile, prove Starscream's point that reformatted Autobots wouldn't be true Decepticons: Mirage can't hold a Decepticon holographic disguise for more than five seconds at a time.  Having said that: Mirage producing disguises and holograms!! Yes!! Somebody read his tech specs! He barely manages to hold his disguise together for long enough to exchange greetings with Skytread and Spinister, and the rest of the Autobot patrol has to wade in. Optimus remains a shadow of his later self, and can barely hold his own against Skytread.  He really needs to hit the gym or something.  The Autobots manage to chase the outnumbered Decepticons off, so that they can meet Ratchet at his field hospital. Wheeljack needs Ratchet to repair the space bridge so that Optimus can send the Allspark off-planet.

Ratchet's hospital is like all military hospitals: filled with walking wounded, under-resourced and failing.  Pretty much everything Optimus says in this scene ("This is admirable, Ratchet," and so on) just sounds patronising and pathetic. Optimus is weak. He's indecisive; useless in combat (except to help is troops retreat); lacking any kind of strategy... I really hope he gets the Creation Matrix/of Leadership soon, otherwise he might just as well pack his bags and give up.

The Bots present their plan to Ratchet. His reply: "What, just so you can take this war to another planet?"  Like Earth?

There's a touch of history between the elitist,  upper-class Mirage and the born-to-slave Impactor (and Megatron).  So they did read Mirage's tech specs and his biography!  

The interrogation of Magnus continues with red electricity instead of white, and with a staged escape by Magnus.  You don't really think the Decepticons let him 'escape' by accident?  Megatron knows Magnus has too much honour to shoot Megatron in the back - he said the same of Optimus in episode 1.  As he says to Magnus: always take the shot.  The Autobots really are going to get slaughtered if they don't start pulling the trigger more often.  I know Megatron = bad and Autobots = heroic, but I'm struggling to support this current batch of heroes and their lack of decisive action.

Ratchet agrees to help the Bots fix the Spacebridge, but he's not doing it for the Autobots, and I don't blame him. Impactor (Decepticon, complete with all-in-one homing device and comm unit) demands to accompany them, and despite Autobot reservations is allowed to join the trip.  He's supposed to become the leader of the Wreckers, but he's not off to a good start giving away the location of Autobot command. Maybe it was accidental, but I'm not buying it.

In a tragic coincidence, Magnus concedes to Shockwave's torture at the same time as Jetfire and Skywarp pick up Impactor's signal.  This forces Jetfire's hand, as he will not slaughter the Autobots in their base, while Skywarp will not hesitate. Jetfire shoots Skywarp in the back (where Magnus would not) and allows Skywarp to flee.

Megatron closes the episode as he started it, the Autobots "defiling Cybertron's holiest relic" and "destroying the Allspark". He seems unstoppable, especially as he concludes with his own chilling interpretation of the Autobot maxim: "till all are one".

Review: Transformers: War For Cybertron: Siege: Episode 2

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Episode 2 of Transformers: Siege picks up all the threads of Episode 1 and moves them forwards significantly.  This story does not lack pace:  Ultra Magnus visits the Decepticon base, and as military commander of the Autobots, surrenders to Megatron.  Misguided?  Yes.  Foolish?  Completely.  But it's also consistent with his character, as we saw in Episode 1.  Ultra Magnus will do anything to preserve the Autobots, even if it means surrendering.  Optimus, on the other hand, will never surrender to Megatron's tyranny, even if it means the extinction of the Autobots.   It's an interesting development to the discussion Prime and Magnus had in Episode 1.

Megatron insists that Ultra Magnus should convince Optimus to end the war; Ultra Magnus disagrees, and since Ultra Magnus will not order the Autobots to stand down, Megatron puts him in a prison cell.  This is not going to end well (even if we know that Magnus will survive).

This episode suffers from what I call the "prequel problem".  If Optimus, Bumblebee and Another Autobot go off on a suicide mission against the Decepticons, guess who isn't coming back?  Since we know how things work out in the end, we know what's going to happen to get there.  Optimus and Bumblebee must survive, because they do survive.  But will Another Autobot survive this dangerous mission?  It's not looking good.

Shockwave and his team want to find the Allspark, which, in this incarnation of Transformers, is dodecahedral.  Shockwave believes he can reprogram and then activate it so that it will reformat all Autobots into Decepticons.  Megatron carefully considers this; Jetfire describes it as a victory without honour.  The prequel problem strikes again, if you recall what happens to Jetfire in the future.

Ultra Magnus transmits news of Megatron's plan to Optimus, and Optimus gathers 'everyone'.  It's a tragic reflection on the current situation that 'everyone' consists of little more than Chromia, Elita 1, Cog, Hound, Sideswipe and Wheeljack.  Soundwave (with his G1 voice firmly in place) intercepts Magnus's message and Megatron lays a trap for the Autobots.  This all makes sense, and things go from bad to worse for Magnus.  Just how is he going to get out of this one?  We know he will do - courtesty of the prequel problem - but things are looking bleak.  

It's fantastic to see so many of the characters in this episode using their specific abilities - Soundwave intercepting and then fabricating comms messages; Mirage using his holographic powers - as well as them exhibiting unique personalities.  Jetfire is the honourable warrior; Starscream is ambitious and conniving; Elita 1 is skeptical; Prime is heroic and optimistic.  There are no wasted scenes throughout the episode - the story is tight, and every character and every line is delivered with a purpose (whether immediate or long-term).

The Autobots fall straight into Megatron's trap:  Hound, Sideswipe, Six-Gun, Prime, Chromia and Cog take on the Decepticon ambush (guess who isn't coming back?).  Impactor, Skytread, Barricade and Spinister lead small groups of Decepticons from their vantage points.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing so many Transformers from the G1 cartoon and previous comic series on the small screen - this series isn't afraid to introduce and showcase a wide range of characters (unlike Transformers Prime, for example, which focused tightly on a smaller cast).

The ambush fight scene features some great action sequences.  Optimus runs into the battle - armed, at last - and defeats Impactor (who is also suffering from the prequel problem).  There's a great sense of the chaos that follows as the Autobot squad struggle to retreat when it all kicks off.  Cog gets the force of the blast of the Decepticon ambush, and is very badly injured; the Autobots are able to make a getaway, with Prime transforming to vehicle mode and carrying Cog away.

The recriminations begin at Autobot base; Elita 1 doesn't quite say, "I told you so," but it's in every word she says to Prime.  They didn't capture the energon, they suffered casualties, and all because Optimus trusted the message that had apparently come from Magnus.

The situation is worse at Decepticon HQ.  Megatron has lost Impactor, and also lost the energon he put up as bait for the Autobots.  Assuming that Optimus seized the energon, Megatron goes to Ultra Magnus and demands the location of the Autobot base.  The situation has gone from bad to worse for the naive Autobot prisoner; he's going to suffer for his idealism.

So where did the energon go?  The opportunistic Bumblebee stole it during the chaos of the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons.

This was an excellent episode, possibly even better than the first.  The plot moves along at a phenomenal rate; the individual characters start to shine - this isn't "Optimus and the carbon-copy Autobot heroes versus Megatron and his 2-D troops" - and the fight scenes are extremely well directed and orchestrated.  It does suffer in from places from knowing what happens to some of the characters (although this does raise the question - how do they get to their destinations from these starting points?) but this is minor compared to the scale of the storyline.  I am already looking forward to the next episode (I just need to find time to watch it!);

Tarn Hauser-Gate; Iacon (where Megatron sets the trap)