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. :D

 

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.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

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?).

 

 

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? :roll 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? :redface

 

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.

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.

 

 

:beer :thumb :pfx :thumb

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.

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.

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.

 

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.