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Cartoon Viewing Club: Gustavo mutters about "Grimlock's New Brain"

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Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats

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Sep 15, 2017, 1:24:08 AM9/15/17
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"Grimlock's New Brain" is the follow up episode to "Money Is Everything", and explains where the Technobots came from, and also features the Terrorcons, last seen under Quintesson control, now pretending to be Decepticons.

The episode was written by Paul Davids, who also wrote "Chaos", "The Thief In The Night" and "Cosmic Rust" -- all episodes that I rather like. He also wrote "Jesus In India", about Jesus's "missing years", from the time he was 12 to 30, where his life wasn't documented in the Bible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW3-4JXSSQg

John Prine also wrote of the missing years of Jesus, but that version suggests Jesus mostly wandered around Europe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9BRia7J9P4

"What are you going to be when you grow up?"
"God."

Honestly, one of the most interesting parts of these reviews is discovering what the writers also did -- sometimes wacky shit. I so want to know about Jesus in India. Almost as awesome as the story of Mormonism, where Jesus was wandering around the Wild West as a gunslinger or whatever.

"Jesus Christ was a man, a carpenter by trade
He robbed the Glendale train
The people they did say, for many miles away
It was robbed by Frank and Jesse James"

It is possible that I know nothing about Mormons. I suspect my version is more fun.

The episode begins with a momentous occasion -- a new generator deep within the planet, blah blah blah. Ultra Magnus is very excited about this, and Rodimus cuts off his speech by requesting that Grimlock just throw the speech.

They were always trying to show that Rodimus was cool and impulsive on the show, but what is cooler than stable leadership and a steady hand on the tiller? Here we again discover the many flaws with an insanely impulsive leader who leaves the most important tasks to his friends, regardless of their competence. Grimlock pulls a variety of switches marked "Emergency", and -- as the switches advertised -- it creates an emergency, Heck of a job, Grimmy.

Rodimus charges in and takes charge of the situation, points to the button that needs to be pressed, and the generator starts. We now see the thunderous applause of all the Autobots present -- Slag, Sludge, Snarl, Broadside, Wheelie, Blurr and Kup. Ultra Magnus was giving a speech to 7 Autobots on this momentous occasion.

Grimlock then suddenly asks Perceptor "Why you think Grimlock stupid? Me not stupid, Grimlock smartest Dinobot of all!". Either we are missing an uncharacteristically harsh line of dialog from Perceptor, or Grimlock could see him rolling his optics. Perceptor then replies with a backhanded compliment, before criticizing Wheeljack's workmanship. I've always assumed that Perceptor and Wheeljack must have had a rivalry, since they occupy the same niche in the Autobots, but now that Wheeljack is dead.... Perceptor reigns supreme.

Grimlock suggests he might bash Perceptor's brains in.

We then cut to the Skuxxoid and Slizardo, who are up to no good. The Skuxxoid wants to get on with it, since his kids need the money. The return of Slizardo is a bit surprising, as he was last seen in a Season 2 episode, and his inclusion here is pretty random. He seems bigger now.

The two miscreants slide through the Autobot Generator And Fun Park (are Energon slides far behind? I hope not!), and exposit something about a bottle of pink liquid. Galvatron has searched the whole universe for it, and cannot find any more. They dump it into the generator.

Meanwhile, Cosmos and Sky Lynx fail to fly. Springer spazzes out, and we discover that there is something wrong with the generator which causes Autobots to glitch increasingly badly. As Teletraan II explains this, the video terminal pans upward, and upward, and upward. Also, several Autobots wink into existence as they approach Blaster -- what that means for the time space continuum is an open question.

Blaster is compulsively transforming, and explains that this has never happened before. In the 1980s, the phrase "this has never happened before" was used exclusively to describe erectile dysfunction.

If the Autobots cannot shut down and fix the generator, they will have to leave Cybertron forever. This really sounds like a Quintesson plot. It's exactly the type of stuff the Quintessons have been trying to do for ages.

Perceptor makes some excuse to not be on the mission his is uniquely qualified for, and hands Rodimus a compass. And so, Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Grimlock head down into the core of Cybertron to do delicate repair work on a generator. Which one of them has the right skills? Why don't they take the slide? None of this is explained.

I assume that Perceptor has the compass because he was there before, setting up the generator. He really should be on this mission.

The compass is an electomap, and makes the noises of an old Star Trek communicator. Grimlock breaks it and throws it down a ravine, obviously offended by the theft of intellectual property. He then stomps off, disgusted, and is followed by Kup.

As Rodimus and Ultra Magnus approach the generator, Rodimus is unable to stop transforming, Ultra Magnus presumably suffers from less obvious glitches, like erectile dysfunction.

As Kup and Grimlock approach the generator, Kup is losing his mind more than normal. Grimlock appears unaffected, but he does have different origins than the rest of the Autobots.

Grimlock turns off the generator by kicking it and biting it. He gets a full blast of the energy, which makes him suddenly smart. Yes, the malfunction of Wheeljack's invention is to make it work properly.

Grimlock then immediately asks the elderly Autobot if his hearing is impaired. Way to be insensitive towards your elders, Grimlock!

Rodimus and Ultra Magnus are strolling, with Rodimus explaining that suddenly everything is normal, and Ultra Magnus filling out his codpiece or whatever. Unfortunately, they walked into a death trap, but fortunately Grimlock saves them. Hooray!

Grimlock can detect their mortal peril, even though they are behind a door. Does he have X-Ray vision? Is he psychic? Was there a monitor showing this? We never get an answer.

And then Rat-Bat flies away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UHAcClxxKM

And then Dinobots are fishing on Cybertron. Sitting in a pool, and biting fish. I like to think that these are rare, endangered fish that the Dinobots are brutally mauling for fun. They might be Cyberfish or something, but they don't look like it. The Dinobots want Grimlock to join them, but he is too busy with smart stuff.

You should never be to busy with smart stuff. Biting fish is one of the great pleasures of life.

Meanwhile, whereever the Decepticons are today, the Skuxxoid and Slizardo land and want their money, but Rat-Bat got there first and has reported that the Autobots are fine now. Galvatron decides that the mercenary miscreants failed their mission, since the only alternative is that his plan failed.

Under threat, Slizardo points out a new source of anti-electrons -- Unicron's brain!

On Cybertron, Grimlock announces that it is just as he suspected -- someone fed anti-electrons into the generator's power circuit. Perceptor says of course, and Grimlock insults him.

In space, Decepticons are approaching Unicron's head. Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and the Terrorcons all on a ship of some kind. Galvatron babbles out some exposition.

And on Cybertron again, Grimock's Dinobot buddies want to play Dinobot games, but Grimlock is busy installing technobabble into a shuttle. The Dinobots decide he is acting all uppity, and leave.

Grimlock explains to Rodimus, Perceptor and Kup that the source of the anti-electrons (which we would call positrons, by the way) was Unicron. And that the Decepticons are on their way there now. This makes Slizardo's revalation that there are more positrons in Unicron's brain seem less like an amazing leap, by the way.

If Galvatron knows where the anti-electrons came from, then he should have known that all the parts of Unicron are likely to be rich with anti-electrons, so I assume he doesn't know where they came from. Which means that someone else is really behind this plan. This very, very Quintessony plan. Perhaps someone who has worked with the Skuxxoid before, like the Quintessons had.

Autobots shuttle up to Unicron's head, and Galvatron shoots them with a cannon and an anti-electron attack. The shuttle crashes, and Galvatron orders the Terrorcons to destroy the Autobots.

As Kup leaves the shuttle, he is dazed and confused -- suffering from anti-electrons like before. We might think that this is because of the blast, but last time he was exposed the effects went away as soon as the anti-electrons did. I think it is the environment -- some shielding has been damaged (we've had Autobots in Unicron's head before, and they were fine, right?)

Rodimus starts transforming. And Perceptor asks "How can we defend ourselves when we can't control ourselves?" -- he is having trouble controlling his emotions.

The Terrorcons seem fine, as did the other Decepticons. I think anti-electrons only affect Autobots. Which really makes me think there is a Quintesson plot somewhere in the background that we don't see.

Grimlock wanders away during the battle, and builds Nosecone. Grimlock will not win any father of the year competitions, when he denies being Nosecone's father. Grimlock has Nosecone drill a hole into Unicron's brain!

Cyclonus and Scourge go get some more anti-electrons by removing a cork from a sphere in Unicron's brain. Unicron asks some questions about who dares enter his mind, etc., Grimlock sends Strafe to disarm Unicron when he comes under attack too. Cyclonus and Scourge are rescued. Hooray!

Fighting continues. Either Grimlock as created a bunch of robots in no time at all, or the battle has been raging for weeks or something. Kup yells at Sinnertwin that he has faced bigger monsters than him. This is, technically, true, but Kup did run away from them for millions of years (see "Chaos", another episode by Paul Davids).

Grimock has finished his robots, and calls them Technobots. We did see Technobots in the previous episode, along with Terrorcons under Quintesson control. We have to decide which is more plausible -- that Technobots somehow travelled back in time for the previous episode, or that the episodes are out of order, and that somehow Terrorcons come under Quintesson control after this. We have seen enough time travel in the cartoon that this seems more likely to me.

On the other hand, if the Quintessons are behind this entire anti-electron plot, then the Terrorcons might have been doing their bidding in both episodes, unbeknownst to Galvatron.

Technobots to the rescue. Cyclonus's glass bottle of anti-electrons is shattered. Our heroes have never seen the Technobots before.

Terrorcons merge into Abominus. Grimlock then gives the Technobots his anti-electrons from his brain. It's all very dramatic, as Unicron is secretly reborn into the Technobots. Computron fights Abominus, Galvatron has never seen Computron before... The Terrorcons notably don't mention having never seen him before.

And back on Cybertron, Rodimus gives another speech about the generator to a slightly larger crowd, as he restarts it, and the episode is over. Teletraan II explains Ultra Magnus before the closing credits.

Overall, this is a really good episode. It raises some questions though:

- Why do Anti-Electrons not affect the Decepticons?
- Why does Galvatron want to drive the Autobots from Cybertron? (Quintessons seem likely)
- What happened to Slizardo during *his* missing years? (I think he went to India, learned Buddhism, and then rejected it to become a gunslinger)
- What part of Unicron did the first batch of anti-electrons come from? Is Grimlock's New Brain really Unicron's Old Elbow?













New and Improved Zobovor

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Sep 15, 2017, 7:20:51 PM9/15/17
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On Thursday, September 14, 2017 at 11:24:08 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> He also wrote "Jesus In India", about Jesus's "missing years", from the time
> he was 12 to 30, where his life wasn't documented in the Bible.

I've actually always wondered what Jesus was like as a kid. Most modern parables tend to gloss over that part.

> It is possible that I know nothing about Mormons. I suspect my version is
> more fun.

I'm married to one and I still don't know much about them. Most of the stereotypes you read about (polygamy, magic underwear, etc.) don't seem to hold up. Except for the part about putting hot dogs in Jell-O. That part is totally true.

> They were always trying to show that Rodimus was cool and impulsive on the
> show, but what is cooler than stable leadership and a steady hand on the
> tiller?

Rodimus Prime is really just Hot Rod with longer legs and a U-Haul trailer. He's still a kid. I suppose that in several million years he would wisen up, but the cartoon didn't run quite that long.

> Grimlock then suddenly asks Perceptor "Why you think Grimlock stupid? Me not
> stupid, Grimlock smartest Dinobot of all!".

Random piece of trivia: This line of dialogue made it into the Magic: the Gathering card that features Grimlock (I think it just barely made its debut at HasCon if I am not very much mistaken).

> Perceptor then replies with a backhanded compliment, before criticizing
> Wheeljack's workmanship.

And the guy was dead, so he couldn't even defend himself. Not cool, Percy.

(Of course, the people who worked on this show are dying left and right these days. "Webworld" is now officially off-limits from criticism since Len Wein is gone. Not that anybody would criticize "Webworld" anyway, but I'm just sayin'...)

> We then cut to the Skuxxoid and Slizardo, who are up to no good. The Skuxxoid
> wants to get on with it, since his kids need the money. The return of
> Slizardo is a bit surprising, as he was last seen in a Season 2 episode, and
> his inclusion here is pretty random. He seems bigger now.

Could be that Slizardo was a youngster in "The Gambler" but now he's all grown up. A less interesting explanation is that this may not be Slizardo at all (he's never identified by name in this episode... actually, I don't think the Skuxxoid is either, hmm) but I really hate that explanation.

> Blaster is compulsively transforming, and explains that this has never
> happened before. In the 1980s, the phrase "this has never happened before"
> was used exclusively to describe erectile dysfunction.

They had Viagra by the year 2006, didn't they?

> If the Autobots cannot shut down and fix the generator, they will have to
> leave Cybertron forever. This really sounds like a Quintesson plot.

Aw, you always blame the Quintessons for everything.

(You're probably right, admittedly.)

> The compass is an electomap, and makes the noises of an old Star Trek
> communicator.

I actually wonder how so many of these distinctive sounds end up in random sound archives. Lots of Star Trek sounds get used in this show. The sound of the turbolift doors opening get used frequently when Soundwave ejects his tapes. The ambience on the Enterprise bridge got used for Autobot Headquarters quite a bit. Tons of Star Wars sounds got used, too (the lightsaber sounds, X-Wing Fighter engines, TIE Fighter engines, etc.)

I seriously think the transforming sound is the only sound effect they actually created for this show.

> As Rodimus and Ultra Magnus approach the generator, Rodimus is unable to stop
> transforming, Ultra Magnus presumably suffers from less obvious glitches,
> like erectile dysfunction.

"I can't deal with this now! And I swear this has never happened before!"

> They might be Cyberfish or something, but they don't look like it.

Look at how much Sludge's neck changes shape when he gulps that thing down.

> In space, Decepticons are approaching Unicron's head. Galvatron, Cyclonus,
> Scourge and the Terrorcons all on a ship of some kind.

Not just any ship! That's the ship Unicron gave to Galvatron in The Transformers: the Movie. Apparently it's the Decepticon mothership, according to dialogue from "The Rebirth."

> If Galvatron knows where the anti-electrons came from, then he should have
> known that all the parts of Unicron are likely to be rich with anti-
> electrons, so I assume he doesn't know where they came from. Which means that
> someone else is really behind this plan. This very, very Quintessony plan.

So how would that work, exactly? Quintessons hatch a plan to destroy the Transformers (or maybe just the Autobots), and hire the Skuxxoid to "accidentally" let it slip that he knows a way to sabotage the Autobots?

> The Terrorcons seem fine, as did the other Decepticons. I think anti-
> electrons only affect Autobots. Which really makes me think there is a
> Quintesson plot somewhere in the background that we don't see.

Well, when the anti-electrons were slipped into the power generator, it was shooting beams of light or something directly at the Autobots. So, maybe their effects are cumulative? Or maybe the Decepticons were equipped with special shielding (anti-anti-electron)?

> Grimlock wanders away during the battle, and builds Nosecone. Grimlock will
> not win any father of the year competitions, when he denies being Nosecone's
> father.

One day, Grimlock will say, "Me going out for energon goodies" and just never come home.

> Either Grimlock as created a bunch of robots in no time at all, or the battle
> has been raging for weeks or something.

Maybe time flows differently inside Unicron's head than outside of it.

> Kup yells at Sinnertwin that he has faced bigger monsters than him. This is,
> technically, true, but Kup did run away from them for millions of years
> (see "Chaos", another episode by Paul Davids).

That's kind of hilarious.

> On the other hand, if the Quintessons are behind this entire anti-electron
> plot, then the Terrorcons might have been doing their bidding in both
> episodes, unbeknownst to Galvatron.

Oooh, I hadn't thought of this. They're secret agents!

> - Why do Anti-Electrons not affect the Decepticons?

Autobots have electrons in their circuits. Decepticons have anti-positrons. Only anti-anti-positrons would affect Decepticons. Obviously!

> - Why does Galvatron want to drive the Autobots from Cybertron? (Quintessons
> seem likely)

Megatron was usually pretty consistent in his goals (steal energy, kill the Autobots). Galvatron's a little less consistent. He's like Gargamel, who sometimes wanted to turn the Smurfs into gold and sometimes he just wanted to eat them. Galvatron's the same way. Sometimes he's still bent on conquering Cybertron ("The Rebirth") and sometimes he wants to destroy it ("Chaos"). I imagine driving the Autobots from Cybertron would mean that he would get to reclaim it for himself.

> - What happened to Slizardo during *his* missing years? (I think he went to
> India, learned Buddhism, and then rejected it to become a gunslinger)

Something something Devcon crucified.

> - What part of Unicron did the first batch of anti-electrons come from? Is
> Grimlock's New Brain really Unicron's Old Elbow?

Well, if this whole episode is a Quintesson plot, as you suggest, then maybe the Quintessons actually had dealings with Unicron before he was destroyed. (Their profile in Marvel Comics does refer to them as servants of Unicron...)


Zob (I think I like the brownies from Domino's more than their pizza)

Gustavo Wombat

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Sep 22, 2017, 3:44:16 AM9/22/17
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New and Improved Zobovor <zobo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thursday, September 14, 2017 at 11:24:08 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of
> the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
>> He also wrote "Jesus In India", about Jesus's "missing years", from the time
>> he was 12 to 30, where his life wasn't documented in the Bible.
>
> I've actually always wondered what Jesus was like as a kid. Most modern
> parables tend to gloss over that part.

The kid stuff was covered. He got baptized and stuff.

>> It is possible that I know nothing about Mormons. I suspect my version is
>> more fun.
>
> I'm married to one and I still don't know much about them. Most of the
> stereotypes you read about (polygamy, magic underwear, etc.) don't seem
> to hold up. Except for the part about putting hot dogs in Jell-O. That
> part is totally true.

The magic underwear is real, but might just be some sects — the ones that
marry other Mormons, mostly. The magic underwear is not very interesting
though. Not sexy, just magic.

>> They were always trying to show that Rodimus was cool and impulsive on the
>> show, but what is cooler than stable leadership and a steady hand on the
>> tiller?
>
> Rodimus Prime is really just Hot Rod with longer legs and a U-Haul
> trailer. He's still a kid. I suppose that in several million years he
> would wisen up, but the cartoon didn't run quite that long.

Rodimus didn’t charge in half-cocked nearly as often, and recognized his
responsibility. He chafed against that responsibility a lot, but he
recognized it.

He grew a lot over Season 3


> And the guy was dead, so he couldn't even defend himself. Not cool, Percy.
>
> (Of course, the people who worked on this show are dying left and right
> these days. "Webworld" is now officially off-limits from criticism since
> Len Wein is gone. Not that anybody would criticize "Webworld" anyway,
> but I'm just sayin'...)

Not one of my favorites. It’s mostly fine, but I don’t think Transformers
did comedy well ever.

>> We then cut to the Skuxxoid and Slizardo, who are up to no good. The Skuxxoid
>> wants to get on with it, since his kids need the money. The return of
>> Slizardo is a bit surprising, as he was last seen in a Season 2 episode, and
>> his inclusion here is pretty random. He seems bigger now.
>
> Could be that Slizardo was a youngster in "The Gambler" but now he's all
> grown up. A less interesting explanation is that this may not be
> Slizardo at all (he's never identified by name in this episode...
> actually, I don't think the Skuxxoid is either, hmm) but I really hate that explanation.

If there is a ritual where Slizardo’s race plucks out their left eye upon
hitting puberty or something, that would be nifty.


>> If the Autobots cannot shut down and fix the generator, they will have to
>> leave Cybertron forever. This really sounds like a Quintesson plot.
>
> Aw, you always blame the Quintessons for everything.
>
> (You're probably right, admittedly.)

So many of the stories don’t make sense without someone or something acting
behind the scenes, prodding the Transformers along...



>> If Galvatron knows where the anti-electrons came from, then he should have
>> known that all the parts of Unicron are likely to be rich with anti-
>> electrons, so I assume he doesn't know where they came from. Which means that
>> someone else is really behind this plan. This very, very Quintessony plan.
>
> So how would that work, exactly? Quintessons hatch a plan to destroy the
> Transformers (or maybe just the Autobots), and hire the Skuxxoid to
> "accidentally" let it slip that he knows a way to sabotage the Autobots?

Would the Skuxxoid have to let it slip? Galvatron would likely be eager to
get a new weapon to use against the Autobots, and he doesn’t look into
anyone’s motives, because he is insane.

>> The Terrorcons seem fine, as did the other Decepticons. I think anti-
>> electrons only affect Autobots. Which really makes me think there is a
>> Quintesson plot somewhere in the background that we don't see.
>
> Well, when the anti-electrons were slipped into the power generator, it
> was shooting beams of light or something directly at the Autobots. So,
> maybe their effects are cumulative? Or maybe the Decepticons were
> equipped with special shielding (anti-anti-electron)?
>
>> Grimlock wanders away during the battle, and builds Nosecone. Grimlock will
>> not win any father of the year competitions, when he denies being Nosecone's
>> father.
>
> One day, Grimlock will say, "Me going out for energon goodies" and just never come home.

You’re joking, but look how he ditched the Dinobots earlier.

>> Either Grimlock as created a bunch of robots in no time at all, or the battle
>> has been raging for weeks or something.
>
> Maybe time flows differently inside Unicron's head than outside of it.

I now think they were built from the remains of robots who dies in the
battle with Unicron in TF:TM


>> On the other hand, if the Quintessons are behind this entire anti-electron
>> plot, then the Terrorcons might have been doing their bidding in both
>> episodes, unbeknownst to Galvatron.
>
> Oooh, I hadn't thought of this. They're secret agents!

“Grrr, Hun-Grr.”

>> - Why do Anti-Electrons not affect the Decepticons?
>
> Autobots have electrons in their circuits. Decepticons have
> anti-positrons. Only anti-anti-positrons would affect Decepticons. Obviously!
>
>> - Why does Galvatron want to drive the Autobots from Cybertron? (Quintessons
>> seem likely)
>
> Megatron was usually pretty consistent in his goals (steal energy, kill
> the Autobots). Galvatron's a little less consistent. He's like
> Gargamel, who sometimes wanted to turn the Smurfs into gold and sometimes
> he just wanted to eat them. Galvatron's the same way. Sometimes he's
> still bent on conquering Cybertron ("The Rebirth") and sometimes he wants
> to destroy it ("Chaos"). I imagine driving the Autobots from Cybertron
> would mean that he would get to reclaim it for himself.

Both were easily distracted by shiny objects, so I could honestly see
either being lured into nearly anything.



--
I wish I was a mole in the ground.
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