I wanna see it now. I'm an addict, and will have to wait for the torrent to come out, unfortunately, but damn do I want it .

So, when you canucks get it, feel free to laugh at my britishness. and then tell me how awesome it is.

Great episode. Can't wait to see more of the 'Screamer clones.

Although Prowl's "revelation" was kind of weak. He may have been reckless with his new upgrades, but he was right when he said the Autobots needed upgrades to really compete with the Decepticons It would have seemed like keeping the upgrades and leaning how to use them properly would have been the better lesson learnt.

*lurks patiently on Mininova*

Agreed. And really, if any of the Autobots have the capability to learn how to use upgrades responsibly, it's Prowl. Well, and Optimus, probably.

Also, Lockdown remains one of my favourite Decepticons

Lockdown: "Er, I'll just be taking my bounty and leaving, kthxbye."
Megatron: "STFU!"

Another pretty good episode. Feels like another filler though, mainly there to introduce Starscream's clone army.

Prowls armor looked good. And from the looks of how the sidecar is connected I think there aren't that many changes needed to the current mold.

I'm hesitant to call out which character was the main lead for this episode. Was it Prowl, or Bumblebee?

You best be joking, Bee wasn't even IN this episode

Prowl was acting just like his yellow compadre the entire time, for example the know-it-all attitude, the 'fake-static' (I laughed my ass off when Ratchet said exactly what was on my mind), the teasing and banter during the fight-scenes, all these things are more Bumblebee than Prowl.

pretty good eposode I liked it

SEEKAHS FO LIFE

Prowl vs. Lockdown totally made up for the less-than-awesome fight they had last time. The animation was great.

I completely agree with Father Time - I felt that Prowl was quite out of character and was acting more like Bumblebee. Prowl is supposed to be the whole self-discipline Zen-master, whereas Bumblebee is the impulsive one. Having said that, I did like how Prowl was forced to take a good look at himself and realised that he was becoming more like a Decepticon.

Aside from Prowl being quite out of character, I did rather like this episode.

I also liked how the animators actually paid attention to the laws of gravity on the Moon, something which is sorely ignored in so many other episodes of Transformers in other series where gravity on the Moon is shown to be the same on Earth! It was a bit inconsistent at times, but overall you could see that they were definitely trying to show that the gravity on the Moon was less than on Earth.

It was also funny how the Starscream clone mocked Bulkhead's name. I also liked the adult humour with Lockdown's reference to Prowl's "sparkplugs." Haven't seen that kind of sexual innuendo in a TF cartoon since Beast Wars.

One burning question though: where the fcuk did those clones come from?!? (o_O)

Hello! How many times did Ratchet say it? Prowl's Bumblebee like behavior was explained by the EMT Pulse updgrade. >_>

No, it's not.

I get the whole point of the story, and the message behind it, however, what we have seen so far of Prowl was that he would never behave as he did in this episode. Rathet's EMP pulse emitter gizmo was an excuse for the writers to have Prowl act this way, and to set up the plot of the story. Doesn't mean that it's not out of character. Just as how in G1, Prime had no problems in using mind-control devices on the Constructicons, thus eliminating their free will. It's part of the plot, yes, and from a meta-view, it's understandable that the writers had him act that way. However, it means that they sacrificed the character integrity for the plot, which I consider sloppy writing. In G1, well, it's excused and even generally expected. In Animated, it's still understandable, however, because the quality of the writing in general is relatively high compared to most other TF shows, it's all the more jarring. Just because an 'explanation' is given, doesn't mean that the issue has suddenly become null-and-void(sic?).

Indeed. An explanation was given, but it wasn't a terribly good one. Prowl's actions in this ep essentially flew against the whole Zen-master persona which the series has established for Prowl. From everything that we've seen about Prowl up till now, we would expect him to be above such temptations and impulsiveness. The whole going solo thing contradicted the character development established for prowl in the pilot where he learnt the importance of being a team member - a lesson which he's adhered to up until now.

The story would've been more forgivable if they'd used Bumblebee instead of Prowl - and there didn't seem to be any reason not to use Bumblebee. The whole roller-coaster thing was really an excuse to remove Bumblebee and Sari from this ep.



There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the ForceAllSpark.

P.S.: When I first saw that samurai-helmet on Lockdown's shelf, I immediately thought it was a G1 homage to Bludgeon. Did anyone else think that or am I just looking too closely?

P.P.S.: Interesting how so far, Animated has portrayed Ninjas (Prowl, Jazz) as being good and Samurai (modded Prowl) as being evil, which is contrary to how ninjas and samurai are otherwise usually portrayed in fiction. (factually ninjas and samurai were enemies*), but of course "good" and "evil" are matters of perspective)

*References:
Turnbull, S., Samurai Warriors, Blandford Press, UK, 1987
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai

Excuse for a plot or not...I don't agree that Prowl has lost his integrity for the plot. There was a resolution in the end with Prowl giving up the mods and turning back to his even tempered spiritual ninja ways. NOW if the writers continue with Prowl on his reckless path then yeah I'll agree with you. Personally I thought it was quite a nice character development. He's not perfect.

If you wanna talk characterization...why does Bulkhead have to be written as a clumsy muscle bound idiot that destroys everything in his path? That one, for me, is just tiresome. Of course I know the kids like it.

So it isn't possible that what we saw in Prowl this episode is actually part of his character? I think what's happening is that we've become so used to quick character sketches substituting for actual characterization that we've come to see anything beyond the most basic character traits as "out of character." "Prowl is a silent nature lover and that's all there is to him! Anything else is not Prowl!" Maybe what we saw this week is Prowl too.

That aside:

Am I the only one who saw a Boba Fett reference in Lockdown's poncho?

I really like the fact that the Autobots spend most of their time repairing stuff that's been destroyed in their battles with the Decepticons. So often in kids' shows you see total crazy urban destruction with no repercussions at all. It's nice to see that the writers are thinking logically about the show.

I never even noticed before till i watched this episode (my attention span sucks, lol), but Lockdown's got a rubsign on his chest.

I also like how Prowl gained an ego once he got those upgrades.

And there you have it folks. That was the whole point of the episode. Yes, Prowl is the (normally) level headed one, but experiencing the power of Ratchet's EMP generator, Prowl suddenly likes having such power at his disposal. I kind of saw it as an eternal struggle. Part of him wanted to ditch the mods, but the other half tore at him thinking that the mods were the only shot at beating out the Cons. Not to mention that there was a small part of Prowl who thought the mods were cool.

Part of the moral was showing what can happen even to level headed beings when confronted with the ability to command power. As far as the BB/Prowl thing, I agree that there could be some lines drawn to connect the 2 in this episode (which in itself is irony, since Prowl always bags BB for "mods" or for being rash). However, Ratchet pointed to the ego trip Prowl had when upgrading, but didn't necessarily tie links directly to BB. Ratchet pointed out how some of Prowl's actions were SIMILAR, but didn't do a flat out comparo.

You know he kinda had a bit of an ego in "Roll Out" and the first couple of episodes. He was kind of a loner and seemed a bit put off by the rest of the team.

Great episode! I love stories that deal with internal conflict. As the others have already said, it was explained throughout the episode that Prowl was on an ego-trip due to the mods and upgrades. Like the old adage states "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Prowl reminded me a bit of Batman in this episode. There was that struggle to defeat the enemy without unkowingly becoming like the enemy in the process.

Anyone want to wager on whether we'll be getting a G1 repaint for SS after seeing this Ep? And then, I'm sure some other seekers "clones" will follow. Speaking of the toys, I wonder if the samurai/sidecar will be an add-on to the existing fig, or a completely new Prowl mold.

1) Yes, there's already a Skywarp in the works.
2) There's also rumor of a Thundercracker surfacing.
3) Half and half, it's a Prowl with improved hands that will come with the side car accessories.

This hits the nail on the head right here. Prowl is such an intelligent and capable combatant that you wonder how he ended up on a space-bridge repair crew. Except when you see his inability to function in a group. That had kind of been glossed over in every episode from the pilot until now. Prowl just wants to find the solution within and execute it on his own, which is commendable but also his downfall when there are teammates involved. If anything, this episode reinforced his character.

Except that using Bumblebee would not have as powerful an effect on the moral of the story (upgrades=power can corrupt even the most level-headed). Bumblebee is already rash. The writers chose Prowl for a reason, and that is that he is seemingly the most level-headed. Yes, Prowl is out of character (at least the character we know so far) but that's the whole point. If it was Bumblebee, then the audience would have thought, well that's just Bumblebee being Bumblebee. But with Prowl, then the audience thought wow that's NOT Prowl at all. It must be the upgrades. Is it a bit off to explain the moral of the story in this way? Perhaps to you and me. But for kids, it's much easier for them to understand if it's as black and white as this. And as some have already mentioned, it's nice to see that not all characters are pigeon holed to have only a certain characteristic. This episode actually reminds me alot of Lord of the Rings. Frodo, a hobbit, portrayed mainly as peaceful (internal conflict and all), succumbed to the power and evil of the ring at the end (as do many). The moral of the story would not be as nearly as effective if they used anyone other than Prowl, IMO. Just like the moral of the story would not be as nearly as effective if LotR used another race as the bearer of the ring rather than a hobbit. Yes, it was more believable in LotR because they had 6 hours to show the internal conflict of Frodo. Whereas Fist full of Energon had 20 minutes to portray the internal conflict of Prowl.

That's because Prowl was supposed to have moved on from that. The whole thing with character development is that your character moves from one phase or stage to another, as part of how that character evolves/develops/matures - whatever you want to call it. In the pilot, yes, Prowl was too much of a maverick who failed to understand the value of being a team player, but he learnt a harsh lesson and supposedly moved on from that. If writers wanted to maintain or foster even part of that rogue element within Prowl, then they should have maintained parts of it in Prowl in other episodes.

For example, although Bumblebee has made progress from moving away from being such an impulsive, hot-headed and immature character (rather irritatingly slowly at first too), writers have still retained an element of his impish nature - which means that it can be recalled to some degree when the occasion arises, e.g.: in the episode "Velocity." As you've pointed out, Prowl's former rogue element has been completely removed since the pilot until now, which would lead the audience to believe that he had well and truly evolved way passed that - so seeing him slide not just back to how he was, but even further back in such a short period of time doesn't seem to fit well, in terms of logical character progression.

Compare this with say Beast Wars/Beast Machines Blackarachnia's transition from evil to good - it was a long, gradual and arduous journey throughout Beast Wars until she was fully realised as a true heroic character in Beast Machines. Now for BM Blackarachnia to revert back to evil at the drop of a hat would be very jarring to the story. Yeah okay, she did revert back to evil in Universe, but that was due to influence from Unicron - who's a god.

The idea of having a character in flux isn't necessarily a bad idea, but IMO the execution could've been done better.


...and that is something that I've disliked about the characterisation of Bulkhead since this series started. Although we've seen Bulkhead make improvements in Season 2. He's no Rhodes scholar, but constantly falling about and being a destructive clumsy oaf as much as he used to. And they are showing more of his actual persona being being just a clumsy brute - that was one thing I enjoyed about "Rise of the Constructicons," and even in this episode I liked how Bulkhead felt cut when that Starscream clone couldn't remember his name.

On that note, I also really hate how the Dinobots are also constantly portrayed as not just being clumsy muscle bound idiots, but as savages too. (-_-)


Really? I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I really didn't like it when the G1 cartoon decided to severely dumb down the Dinobots after Season 2. I always preferred the Dinobots from the G1 comics because they were just better written.


If I want to see a Transformer in Animated with multiple personality disorder, I'll look at Blitzwing.


I didn't see that. I thought it was a reference to the episode being called "A Fistful of Energon," being a reference to Clint Eastwood in "A Fistful of Dollars."




Yes, I agree. It reinforces the fact that their conflict has consequence - and anything that teaches kids about consequences and responsibility can only be a good thing.

Children's Television Workshop'd!


So... you're saying it's okay for the show to talk down to kids? As Michael McConnohie said in the G1 DVD interview, kids hate being talked down to and assumed as if they're stupid. Doing that can often make children being resentful of the literary material.

You don't need to dumb things down to make it appeal to kids. There's a lot of things in Animated Season 2 that I think are great because they're not dumbing it down as much as Season 1.


You're talking about static one-dimensional characters, like the Transformers in the G1 cartoon. This isn't what we're talking about here though. Character development is all good, but it needs to be done in a logically connective manner. This is part of the reason why I don't like some of the characters in Beast Machines (e.g.: Megatron) simply because the character development between Beast Wars and Beast Machines wasn't done in a satisfactorily logical manner IMO. BM Megatron is a fantastic character in his own right, but he's just _not_ Beast Wars Megatron - and that is bad character development.

Was Prowl a cool character in this episode? Yes. But is it the same Prowl that we've been seeing develop throughout the series? Dubious.


And timing is a crucial element of story telling. Don't try to make a character go through extreme character change in a single episode like that...

As Father Time said, it's really more like they did it because it suited the plot - i.e.: it was a plot device, rather than actual character development for its own sake. What they could've done was to seed sub-plot elements in previous episodes to lead to this, such as showing bits of Prowl's ego manifesting, rogue nature re-surfacing etc.

This is something that was done frequently in the Transformers Marvel comics and Beast Wars. G1 Scorponok's transformation into a martyr and "Code of Hero" would've totally sucked if writers hadn't previously seeded sub-plot elements that would later mature into primary plot elements later.

Tezuka "God of Manga" Osamu (and I'm sure many other writers) once described planning a story as creating a large tree but with branches winding around the trunk, not away from it. The trunk of the tree represents the primary plot line and the winding branches represent sub-plots which branch out from the trunk but always wind back into it.

Was it dumbing down? Yeah, probably. But IMO not to the extent that it was insulting to most kids. Yeah, perhaps some kids may find it insulting but IMO not most kids. And yes, probably setting up this episode by showing bits and pieces of Prowl's sometimes irrational behavior in other eps would have made for a more believable episode here. It didn't seem too far fetched to me though so I wasn't as bothered by it. But I get your point.

G1esce color Starscream and G1 sound effect for the win.

Finally, great episode to compensate the lacking of the past two episodes!

meagtron has a gerwalk mode...

Just watched it, and I'm on the side of it being a good 'un. Prowl's attitude seemed believeable to me. I'm pretty sure its all about showing that even the most noble can be corrupted, and Prowl realising that.

maybebut it was far more iteresting to watch filler than velocity.

what I want to know is how screamer foundthe material to build all those clones.

It was also good to see the dinobots again. I still think it would benice to have Swoop and Snarl speak as well as Grimlock. can't wait to see Black Friday.

I don't know...I think they have kept up with that side of his character. Who was it that stole the Dinobots and moved them to a secret island? Who told Bulkhead NOT to tell Prime or the other Autobots? None other than Prowl. Man now I gotta go back and watch all my recoreded episodes for more examples not that I wouldn't mind doing that.




Again I'll have to go back and watch the G1 Dinobot episodes but...my recollection is that they ARE being portrayed exactly as their G1 characters, cartoon wise that is. Although the Other Dinobots arn't talking. That doesn't really bother me as much as the lack of using the Dinobots in more Animated stories.



I was 11 to 12 when G1 started. I honestly don't remember if I noticed the show being dumbed down or not. I just remember that it was the reason I rushed home after school every day. NOW that I'm a 33 year old adult, yeah it was really dumbed down. Granted I don't really even mind it now either. I still enjoy watching the show for the nostalgia. I will say that as far as comics go, it would be cool to see some of the current comics in a cartoon format. man some of those Spotlight stories are just

Crap...I deleted the wrong quote...as far as multiple personalities, again I like the idea that they are showing these characters flaws as well as their strengths.



One of my favorite Eastwood movies...well I LOVe all those old SpaghettiWestern Eastwood films though. I SO totally saw this!





Well the interior of the wrecked Decepticon ship looked pretty stripped. Could be that he scavanged the remains of the ship. I don't think that Megs did that as he may not know that it is up there and he had his peons stealing construction materials.

power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

can't believe people were critisising the writing whenthey were obviously going for this angle in Prowl's character.

1) Drugs are bad Mmmmkay

2) Starscream clones are good Mmmmkay

3) awesome episode.

I do believe we are all talking about different perspectives here.

At the one hand, most of you accept the story as the standard "All power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely- Lord Acton" story that it is. And you take the plot-device of Ratchet's EMP-weapon as sufficient enough an explanation to suspend your disbelief.

And I agree with everything you say. However, for me, and it seems for Goki as well, the excuse provided in the show is NOT sufficient to warrant us to suspend our disbelief. I get the trope, and I understand what the writers were going for with this episode. However, as with my previous example of G1 Optimus Prime, I may understand it, but that doesn't make it right. It's too much of a leap in the character of Prowl to act this way. You all accept the excuse given, and that's fine: I don't, because I feel the character would never act this way, and the excuse provided is in my opinion not enough to change his behaviour so drastically as it did in this episode. The standard plot has been filled in with the characters available for this show, and perhaps Prowl was the best suited comparatively for the role in this plot, and I would indeed say it is high time he had an episode of his own, however I feel the writers shouldn't have written it in the way they did, if at all.

Anyhow, I feel this discussion is getting old, so I think it's best we end it, and talk about other aspects of the episode.

Well, it makes sense that the Animated Dinobots act like savages, because not only are they not the brightest Energon cubes in the stockpile, they've been left to their own devices on a freakin' island with just animals for company since only about a day after gaining sentience, and every time the Autobots send someone to talk to them, something ends up side-tracking the mission. It reminds me a little bit of Lord of the Flies, actually.

I think people are taking this episode too seriously. But I'll just point out that sometimes with character development (as with real people), you can have characters fall back in to their old harmful habits before they learn their lesson properly.


That said, any episode with Starscream in it appears to be inherently awesome.

(also, Goki: You should watch yourself with the whole "Teh Dinobots aren't as good as the Marvel Comics Dinobots I read as a kid" stuff. Before you know it, you'll surround yourself with your geewun toys, comics, make videos complaing on YouTube, and start mailing death threats to writers )

To be fair to Goki the writing for the Dinobots in the Marvel comics was awesome. TF:A's lazy portrayal of the Dinos as big stupid dumb savages is the weakest part of the series for me.

I loved this episode, bright and breezy with lots of action. Prowl is my favourite character and it was nice to see him as the star. Lockdown reminded me of Deaths Head which is no bad thing and Megatron's totally unnecessary use of the word 'fool' is pure fanwank for me.

Well I particularly liked Lockdown in this episode. The first time we saw him they really made him out to be just an Evil-body part snatching-bounty hunter. This episode painted him, IMO, in a more positive light. He's not a good guy, but he's not a bad guy either. He's just doing a job and getting it done however he can. But then again isn't that what a basic good bounty hunter type of character supposed to be?

And, as posted above, I loved the Eastwood connection. Proof that I think the writers are beginning to see that there is a more sophisticated adult audience watching this show. NO kids are gonna get that reference.

Good episode. A return to a more action oriented ep. after the last two goofier (but entertaining) ones.




Actually, there is such a thing as backsliding. That's what we saw here. Prowl had some fancy new gadgets and it went to his head. It's actually a very common flaw. I think that it's more unrealistic to think someone changes and just keeps on that same path without faltering or ever being challenged. This was one of the first times that this particular aspect of his character was challenged. It would be silly to think that he would instantly check himself.

Oh, and I think Bumblebee would have been horribly out of his element in trying to take on Starscream by himself - remember what happened to him in "Megatron Rising, pt. 1"? Prowl has a better handle on combat tactics.

I think he just wanted the job done and was trying to prove himself. He got cocky with the upgrades. This lesson won't sh*t next year when Prime can suddenly combine with his trailer.

Wait wait wait! Hold up hold up! After posting, I went back to youtube and now I'm wondering when did Screamer have time to make this army if he was captured by the Autobots? Don't say during the fifty yrs he was looking for the Allspark. He would have used them day one. Unless they needed a spark which would lead me to believe he got the idea after getting his Allspark shard. which would have given him no time unless he can instantly reproduce.

It's got to have something to do with the All-Spark fragment. Also, there was a period of time between him breaking free and when Prowl picked up the signal. Not much, but it's something...

Never mind. Magnus said Screamer was gone for a Deca-cycle.....however long that is.

well he only had to make the first 2 then while the clones were keeping everyone busy he made the 3rd and so on.

Too bad they passed up the chance to do a Toshiro Mifune reference or two when Prowl had the samurai armour. That would've been interesting on a meta-level, with the character from the original movie facing off against his counterpart from the remake.

Where did Starscream get the materials to construct those clones? And would Starscream have the expertise/skills to construct clones?!? Simply possessing the AllSpark doesn't explain enough - the AllSpark fragment in his noggin just keeps him 'alive' (undead?) - but he can reproduce it. And the clones haven't been portrayed as being sentient or living themselves - we saw this when the bombs activated, they just shut down like drones. So where did he get the time, ability and resources to make a freakin' clone-drone army?! (o_O)

(OFFTOPIC)

As Octavian Prime pointed out, the G1 Dinobots were fantastically portrayed in the G1 comics. They were never geniuses, but they weren't idiots either. Remember that Grimlock was elected as Autobot leader after Optimus Prime's first death. And in fact, I thought that was a much better executed story of power absolutely corrupting when we saw Grimlock become a corrupt tyrant. Grimlock continued to question his leadership abilities into G2, although Optimus Prime never stopped believing in him. Grimlock was Optimus Prime's named successor after his second death (as a Powermaster). Swoop (originally known as Divebomb) was formerly part of the Autobot Elite Flying Corps back on Cybertron until he was shamefully defeated in battle by a Decepticon who stole his name, forcing him to rename himself as "Swoop." The other Dinobots were portrayed as being powerful warriors who were unquestionably loyal to Grimlock and would follow him to whatever end. Slag was the Berserker, in very much the classical Anglo-Celtic/Norse definition. And remember that Grimlock was also Earthforce commander. And remember that it was only the Dinobots who saw through the Decepticon's deception during the Autobot-Decepticon Alliance. Every other Autobot, including Prowl, firmly believed that Bludgeon and his followers were honouring the Decepticons' alliance with the Autobots as forged by Scorponok and Optimus Prime. But in the end, the Dinobots were right.

Now although the G1 cartoon Dinobots weren't as well written as their G1 comic counterparts, they were still not as retarded as the Animated Dinobots. Now again, they were never scholars - in fact, Spike did point out at one stage that they were illiterate - but they weren't idiots either, at least in Seasons 1 and 2. The Dinobots did become really stupid in Transformers The Movie and Season 3, which was really quite sad. They basically became really infantile and changed from being these awesome powerful friends of the Autobots to becoming big, clumsy comic relief characters. *sigh* But even as stupid as they were, they were never animalistic savages, which is how the Animated Dinobots are portrayed.

The Animated Dinobots seem to have the intelligence level of Noble/Savage, but aren't as well presented characters IMO. Even Noble/Savage had better character development (and even became a martyr).

I'd like to see the Dinobots get developed a lot more beyond just being big, stupid and angry - even if they only reach the level of Noble/Savage. (-_-)
(/OFFTOPIC)

Also, just because they looked like they might be offline at the end of the episode, doesn't mean they WERE, or that they'd been that way the whole time. Think about it: You make one clone, then get that clone to help make another clone, and so on, and so on, and soon you've got a brisk little production line.

Like Oompa Loompas!

I'm sure they'll explain the clones in a later episode...

Maybe you should start and online petition in protest.


Another thing about clones: They gave off AllSpark radiation....