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)