At the end of the last episode, we saw Bumblebee receive the Alpha Trion protocols, meaning that he'll be a prominent character in this series (although I truly wish he wasn't). However, things improve for the storyline overall with Soundwave making a valuable contribution; I wish they'd kept his voice closer to the original 1980s cartoon series, but the new version will suffice. Soundwave tracks the Alpha Trion protocols and the network they used to move around the planet. Shockwave has a 'secret experiment' which can use this network and bring it down. The virus will destroy all processors and mainframes that use the Autobot code; this would deny the Autobots one of their key advantages (although the collateral damage will be significant).
Will the Decepticons go ahead with a plan to destroy an Autobot advantage, even if it causes widespread damage to Cybertron's infrastructure? Did they wreck Sherman Dam?? You may not enjoy the story, but the visuals remain outstanding.
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| Say, "Cheese!" |
Meanwhile, Jetfire is trying to defect to the Autobots, having realised that Megatron is bent on genocide, and that's too strong for his taste. Jetfire's ideals conflict with Megatron's, and Megatron has gone too far by murdering Ultra Magnus. We all know Jetfire ends up as an Autobot, and we can see how this should work out, although it's not going to be a smooth ride.
Wheeljack and Bumblebee partner up to try and get the Alpha Trion protocols out of Bumblebee's brain, in an attempt to write him out of the storyline. Nobody was in a rush to get them out of Ultra Magnus's head, so I like this idea (although I know it won't work). The Allspark, according to the map, is in the Sea of Rust (so why didn't Ultra Magnus point this out? Just saying). Elita-1 continues to needle Optimus Prime at every opportunity, "We're as low on hope as we are on energon." Honestly, she's just becoming too much of an irritation to be helpful. They might be able to traverse the Sea of Rust with Jetfire's help - what a coincidence that he's just decided to join the Autobots in their fight. Elita 1 says of course that this is tactically unwise, but then says they need to carry on anyway. She really isn't bringing much to the party, except some unwanted negativity.
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| Elita-1, Chief Autobot Naysayer |
We left Impactor, Ratchet and their uneasy group repairing the Space Bridge. The repairs are a success, and Mirage generates a large-scale hologram to hide it.
Wheeljack, meanwhile, needs raw energon to get The Ark up and flying - so Bumblebee again takes the lead.
It's not all wins though, as Megatron and his cronies are able to infiltrate Ultra Magnus's brain and start destroying the Autobot network. I am becoming increasingly unimpressed with Ultra Magnus's decision to try to negotiate with the Decepticons, way back in Episode 2. He was storing the Alpha Trion protocols; he's got access to this Autobot network; he knows Megatron can't be trusted... his decision was naive at best, and utterly misguided. He's done more damage to the Autobot cause than Elita 1, and that's saying something.
On the Autobot side, the plots are getting complicated. There's the Space Bridge, which has been reactivated because... it's there. There's the Ark, which is the Autobot's main base, which Optimus wants to use to possibly flee the planet, although I'm not sure. Whatever ity is, it all has to happen at the same time, because Optimus says so. I really miss the decisive, confident Optimus Prime of the 1980s cartoon; this version is a wet lettuce by comparison.
On the Decepticon side, the aim is simple: defeat the Autobots through propaganda; destroying their assets, and direct physical confrontation whenever politically possible.
Who's going to win?
The Autobots go off with two aims: get the raw energon from the Mercenary Soundblaster, and retrieve the Allspark from its safe location in the Sea of Rust. This involves driving through lightning storms, dust storms and a multitude of other natural obstacles (if this was Earth; I don't recall Cybertron ever being dusty); and eventually reaching the site of the Allspark. Optimus has, "A feeling, as if the Matrix itself sends a warning," and the next thing you know, they're engaging - sigh - in hand-to-hand combat with robot zombies. We had similar zombies in the early episodes of Transformers Prime, and they are just as out-of-place here as they were there. What's the point? Can't we have some imaginative jeopardy between our heroes and the Allspark? No, it's recycled robot zombies. Will the heroes survive?
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| Here come the robot zombies... again... |
The plan to obtain raw energon from Soundblaster also seems to be going off the rails: Soundblaster's guards scan Bumblebee, Arcee and Cog for weapons. Cog transforms into a huge arsenal of weapons... but no, he's clean. But wait, Soundblaster knew that all along... this isn't looking good for our heroes.
All-in-all: a convoluted plot starts to take shape. The Autobots want the Space Bridge, and the Ark (and the energon to power it), and the Allspark, in order to get the Allspark off Cybertron, and presumably flee themselves (in a chase to retrieve it from deep space). It seems unnecessarily complicated, but it is what it is. The Decepticons, on the other hand, are out to destroy the Autobots no matter the cost, and to seize the Allspark for themselves, in order to turn all the remaining Autobots into Decepticons.
It's not clear how all this will turn out in the end, but it's clear that the temporary jeopardy of Bumblee and the Energon Gang, and Optimus and the Allspark Gang is entirely temporary, and should be resolved very quickly in the next - and final - episode!
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