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Cartoon Viewing Club: Zob's Thoughts on "Heavy Metal War"
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Zobovor (the Man with All the Toys)
Dec 15, 2017, 3:03:30 PM12/15/17
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"Heavy Metal War" was, I believe, the finale to the first season of Transformers, though due to the way syndication airdates sometimes differed, not every TV station played the episodes in the same order. The web site epguides.com gives its original airdate as December 15th, 1984. The episode was written by Donald F. Glut, which you probably already knew, since it's got the Dinobots in it.
Our episode begins at a construction site in the middle of nowhere, with the construction foreman (voiced by Corey Burton) providing some exposition about the energy disks that will draw power from the planet's natural magnetic field to provide electrical energy for the world. (The disks are already Decepticon-purple, probably because visual designer Floro Dery was tasked with designing the Decepticon invention-of-the-week but wasn't told that they were a human invention that later gets stolen.) Suddenly, a fleet of construction vehicles appears from off in the distance, kicking up a huge dust cloud. The foreman is annoyed by the appearance of more laborers that he didn't ask for, until he realizes that the vehicles are driving themselves. This trope was a common theme on Knight Rider, and it was used a few times for Transformers, but I think this episode was the most effective time it was employed on the show. "No one drives us, stupid human!" balks the team leader, Scrapper. "We are the Constructicons——we drive ourselves!"
Scrapper, a front loader, snaps the cables holding the invention in place and it falls into the waiting Long Haul, a dump truck. Long Haul deploys a missile launcher (the Hasbro toy was equipped with this, but this is the only episode in which he uses it) and stops the human-driven construction vehicles from advancing; Mixmaster, the cement truck who is described by Hasbro as a "chemistry lab on wheels," blasts acid at the vehicles that melts them into goop (but not before the drivers bail out, of course, because this is a family show). Scavenger, a steam shovel, scoops up a power convertor and adds it to Long Haul's haul. A kamikaze worker tries to ram Bonecrusher with another bulldozer, jumping out just before they collide, but Bonecrusher is by far the tougher of the two and emerges totally unscathed. Hook, the crane truck, lifts a third, unidentified component and adds it to the collection of Constructicon treasures. Each of the Constructicons has officially gotten to do something.
When this episode was originally released to DVD by Kid Rhino, they had been working with a lot of early, incomplete prints of first-season episodes, so there's a scene where the camera is supposed to pan up as the Constructicons change to robot mode. The direction for the camera movement wasn't accomplished, so we get these dramatic shots of Bonecrusher's feet, Mixmaster's feet, etc. The same folks from Rhino went on to form Shout Factory, using the same audiovisual assets, and the Shout Factory release corrected some of the more egregious errors pointed out to them by fans. The correct camera movement as the Constructicons shift to robot mode is included this time, though the footage is of a notably poorer quality, because they had to utilize the one-inch master tapes for the correct footage rather than the better-condition 35-millimeter print with the incorrect animation.
So, the Constructicons transform, revealing themselves as Decepticon robots. Like the Dinobots and Insecticons before them, they all share a set of team colors (light green and purple, mostly, with some black and grey thrown in) and to the uninitiated, they're a little hard to tell apart. Unlike a lot of other characters on this show, they look pretty much exactly like the Hasbro toys, aside from a few coloring oddities (the wheels on Scrapper's shoulders change from black in vehicle mode to green in robot mode; Mixmaster is consistently shown with a purple mixing drum, but it was green on the toy). Also, Long Haul's toy was mistransformed when the animation model for his dump truck mode was designed, so his robot head and fists are always visible, even as a dump truck. The Constructicons were originally Diaclone toys released by Takara in Japan, and had been sold in various colors (one version of the set had two red vehicles, two yellow ones, and two blue ones). Yellow is a much more common color for real-life construction vehicles, but the unified Hasbro color scheme helps to identify them as villains (think the Joker or Lex Luthor), on a show where most ground vehicles were good guys.
As an aside, the voice actors for all six of the Constructicons were tapped from existing voice talent on the show. Scrapper was played by Michael Bell, who had been on the show since the start playing Sideswipe and Prowl, and also played Swoop. Mixmaster was Frank Welker, who easily had more characters on this show than anybody else (Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Laserbeak, Ravage, Sludge, etc. etc. etc.) Long Haul was voiced by Gregg Berger, who had previously been brought in to play Grimlock. Neil Ross, who had been brought in at the same time to play Slag, was cast as both Bonecrusher and Hook. Scavenger was Don Messick, who had been cast during the pilot as Ratchet and Gears. The only actor brought in specifically for the Constructicons was Arthur Burghardt, the voice of Devastator, who was already a fixture on G.I. Joe as Destro (and was also a lead character in the competing Challenge of the GoBots as Turbo).
The Constructicons fly off and arrive at a temporary base of operations for the Decepticons, where Megatron awaits. He utters a throwaway line about how "they were worth the time we spent building them in these caverns," thus offering an explanation, of sorts, about their origins. This episode was written before David Wise established the hard-and-fast rules during the second season about how the only way to create new Transformer life is with the computer Vector Sigma. One supposes that perhaps the Decepticons had some personality components in storage and it was only the Earth bodies for the Constructicons that they had recently constructed. (Of course, the show bible went on to describe the Constructicons as having no established origin, leading David Wise to write another origin story for them called "The Secret of Omega Supreme" that establishes them as former good guys from Cybertron, totally at odds with their origins from this episode. Note that the Constructicons were fully functional in "Desertion of the Dinobots" while all other Transformers from Cybertron were rendered disabled, another strong piece of evidence in favor of their Earth origins.)
Each of the Constructicons gets name-checked (buy our toys, kids!) as Scrapper reports on the success of the mission. Long Haul transforms to dump truck mode to show off their prize. (In the Rhino version of the episode, the stolen components are missing, so Rhino attempted a shoddy cut-and-paste of the devices into the scene. The Shout Factory edition has the correct animation, but the quality of the footage isn't quite as good.) The Constructicons begin attaching the stolen devices to a gigantic machine whose purpose will become clear soon enough. Despite Starscream's snarky remarks to the contrary, Megatron is convinced that this time, his plan will defeat the Autobots forever—and it relies on appealing to Optimus Prime's indelible sense of honor. Oh noes!
(There's a deleted scene where Wheeljack is showing off some of the Dinobots' new skills before Megatron arrives at the Autobot base. Wheeljack continually tweaking and improving on the Dinobots was evident a pet theme of Don Glut's, since we also saw some of this in "War of the Dinobots" and would see it again in "Dinobot Island." In this missing scene, the Dinobots suspend a boulder in mid-air using their various powers and abilities until Grimlock finally catches it in his mouth. We unfortunately lost a great line of dialogue where Ironhide remarks, "Big deal. So now we got ourselves a Dinobot baseball team that eats the ball!")
At the Autobot volcano base, Ironhide detects Decepticon signals as Megatron, alone, approaches. The Autobots are swift to attack, with Cliffjumper (colored like Bumblebee in the Rhino version) deploying his glass gas to little effect; Megatron is unaffected. Wheeljack whips out his latest invention, the shock-blast cannon, which promptly explodes in his face. This episode was animated by Toei in Japan, and it's among their most impressive work on the show. This is one of the most visually dynamic of all Transformers episodes, rivaling "Call of the Primitives" for its artisitc merit. Some notable moments include when Cliffjumper first launches his glass gas, and the whole sequence with Wheeljack readying his cannon, its subsequent detonation, and him falling on the ground. Megatron dodging Ironhide's blasts in mid-air is another incredibly well-animated moment. His movements are so fluid and graceful, and you get a real sense of the weight of his boots as they trail behind his movements slightly. (That's a huge problem with CGI these days... the characters may be rendered beautifully, but they don't have any sense of weight when they interact with the environment around them.)
Eventually, Megatron's lack of counterattacks makes it clear that he hasn't arrived to start a fight, and Optimus Prime allows him to land and state his case. Citing Cybertron law, Megatron proposes a contest between himself and Optimus Prime. There seems to be a piece missing from his speech, though. What he says is, "I come about a matter of Cybertron law. Our war has gone on for millions of years, Decepticons fighting Autobots, in which opposing leaders—you and I, Optimus Prime—may do battle." I think it would make more sense if he'd said something like, "Our war has gone on for millions of years, Decepticons fighting Autobots, in which there is no end in sight. I propose a decisive contest, in which opposing leaders—you and I, Optimus Prime—may do battle." I think his speech might have been the victim of an overzealous dialogue editor.
With the other Autobots offering Optimus a strong show of support, Optimus agrees to the challenge. He's played right into Megatron's hands. Megatron even taunts him about this a little before flying off: "Somehow, I felt you would! You have such a strong sense of honor!"
So, this is where it gets a little diabolical. The components that the Constructicons stole have been incorporated into Scrapper's invention, which is identified as a strength transfer machine. All the Decepticons have assembled for the experiment. Any epiosde in which the entire group is allegedly present does seem questionable, though, because there are almost always characters missing. The only Decepticons we actually see are Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Soundwave, Reflector, and Rumble. What about Ravage and Laserbeak? What about Frenzy? (Buzzsaw technically hasn't appeared on the show yet.) For that matter, what about the Insecticons? (Can you imagine a duel between Megatron and Optimus in which Megatron suddenly takes bites out of Optimus and starts EATING him?!)
Anyway, Scrapper calls for each of the Decepticons to remove a power chip rectifier from his own circuitry and deposit it into the machine. These are the source of each Decepticon's special powers, apparently. Not dedicated hardwire circuitry or specialized internal components, but a single removable microchip. Starscream balks at the idea, partly because he doesn't want to give up his own special powers, but also pointing out that Megatron is technically cheating. Megatron considers this a minior loophole and is more concerned with the big picture. He threatens to kill Starscream, who wisely backs off.
The strength transfer machine roars to life and there is a fury of energy as the Decepticon powers are transferred to Megatron. The exchange is a success, and Megatron now possesses the special abilities of all the other Decepticons, in addition to his own inherent powers. He vows to mop the floor with Optimus Prime, and we've reached our first commercial break.
As we return, Starscream points out another problem: Teletraan I will likely be monitoring the ensuring battle, and will alert the Autobots if it detects any trickery. Megatron is prepared for this possibility, too. He sends the Constructicons into action, whose plan is to excavate beneath the Autobot base, come up in the middle of the control room, and destroy the computer before it can cry foul. At the Autobot base, Spike expresses his concerns about the duel, pointing out that "they don't call those creeps 'Decepticons' for nothing!" Optimus is more optimistic, because they don't call him "Optimus" for nothing. (See, I can do it too!) There's a moment where Optimus transforms into a cab with two wheels, before his trailer, with the rest of the cab portion, connects to him.
As the Autobots drive up to the site of the contest, a dried up river bed, there's a scene where Ironhide returns to robot mode. In the first Rhino DVD release, the transformation sequence was backwards, so Ironhide changes from robot to vehicle. For the Shout Factory release, they could haved used the poor-quality one-inch master tapes, but instead they took the better-looking 35-millimeter footage and played it backwards. You can tell they digitized it, though, because Ironhide's transformation sequence looks blurry and pixelated. Well, they get a You Tried star, anyway.
(Interstingly, there's another deleted scene where the Decepticons are flying towards the river bed, and Starscream is complaining that he can barely fly. It's implied that none of the Decepticon troops can even transform without their power chips, and the Autobots even observe that the Decepticons aren't showing off their usual aerial expertise.)
Megatron makes some boastful claims about Optimus Prime's imminent defeat, and the respective sides take their seats as spectators in preparation for the fight. There's a cute moment where Soundwave ejects his various tapes so they can watch, and Soundwave pets Ravage's head. The Decepticon Apologists used to point to this scene a lot as evidence that the Decepticons were really pretty okay guys, and that Soundwave was a loving father. Or something.
Prime keeps reminding Megatron that this is to be a fair mano a mano duel, as if he suspects Megatron has something up his sleeve. Almost immediately, Megatron takes advantage of his newfound powers, using the combined strength of enough Decepticons to grab Optimus by the hand and sending him hurtling to the ground. Starscream recognizes when his cluster bombs and null rays are being utilized, and loudly points this out to the other Decepticons. Megatron even uses that gun barrel mounted on his back, something we very rarely see him do (the Microman toy was designed to position it facing forwards in robot mode, hence Megatron's box art; I'm pretty sure having it point up on his back was a Hasbro invention, and the toy isn't exactly designed to accommodate this). Megatron can even cause earthquakes by pounding the ground with either his fist or his fusion cannon; in a cute moment, Rumble just looks at Thundercracker and points his thumb at himself, as if to say, "Yeah, that was me, I did that."
(You're not going to believe this, but there's a deleted scene where Megatron actually transforms into a jet mode! He uses his newfound powers of flight to strafe Optimus before transforming back to robot mode. Perhaps not unexpectedly, Prime expresses considerable surprise that Megatron has never done this before. It would have been amazing to have gotten this moment in the final episode! It wouldn't have been a very good move from a toy-advertising perspective [in the storyboards, he seems to be drawn more or less like Starscream's jet mode] but there are lots of things the characters did on the show that their toys couldn't do. And it would have been epic! Finally, some validation for the Titans Return Voyager-class Megatron toy!)
Determined to just end this chicanery, Prime picks up a gigantic boulder and chucks it at Megatron... who proceeds to teleport out of the way, Skywarp-style. Meanwhile, the Constructicons are hard at work, tunneling beneath the volcano. They break into the volcanic core to find a pool of molten magma. "Careful, Scrounge," warns Scrapper, "this volcano isn't inactive!" Or maybe he says "is indeed active!" It's hard to say. Regardless, he's definitely getting Scavenger's name wrong. Scrounge was an early, working name for the character (Scrapper was originally called Gravedigger). There are lots of characters who got renamed during preproduction (Trailbreaker was Guzzler; Windcharger was Sprint; Swoop was Divebomb; etc.) but Scavenger seems to be just about the only one whose preproduction name actually made it into a finished episode. Oops!
(In the part of the fight where Megatron launches into the sky and Prime grabs his legs, there's a deleted part where Megatron can predict, telepathically, that Prime is about to do this, and says as much. Wheeljack makes a remark that Megatron seems to be able to read minds in the same manner as Soundwave.)
Back at the river bed, the battle continues. Prime is giving it his best, but Megatron is pulling out all the stops and there's just no besting him. "You cannot blast what you cannot see... nor what you cannot hear!" he boasts, using Reflector and Thundercracker's abilities in turn. (In the original broadcast version of this episode, the sound effects obscure Megatron's dialogue so the word "see" isn't actually discernible. The sound was remixed for the DVD release and the sound effects no longer cover the dialogue. See, sometimes the original broadcast version isn't always better!) Megatron lands the final blast with his own fusion cannon, and Prime is down for the count. At almost exactly 14 minutes into the episode, that's the end of act two.
After some advertising for Donkey Kong breakfast cereal and the state-of-the-art ColecoVision video game system, we return from our last commercial break to find the Autobots gathering around their fallen leader. Ironhide and the others want to retaliate, but Optimus insists that they abide by the conditions of their agreement. Despite the fact that he can barely transform, Prime is fully prepared to gather up the Autobots and leave Earth forever. In a touching show of camaraderie, Huffer offers to tow Prime's trailer so that he can save his strength. Megatron elects to follow the Autobots, ostensibly to ensure that "noble Optimus Prime" keeps his promise to leave. (In the original broadcast version of this episode, it's Huffer who is still towing the trailer away as the Decepticons follow. It's Prime in both DVD version of the episode.)
As the Constructicons prepare to break through the cavern ceiling into the volcano base, Teletraan detects the Constructicon presence and summons the Dinobots into action, evidently activating them remotely. They really do just stand around in the broom closet until they're needed. "Teletraan One calls... Dinobots respond!" Grimlock grumbles. (The vocal flanging settings for the Dinobots seem weird in this episode. The regular Autobots, the Decepticons, the Insecticons, etc. each got their own voice amplification settings, but it sounds like somebody really cranked up the Dinobot settings in this episode. It's particularly noticeable in the sibilant "s" sounds in the dialogue for Grimlock, Slag, etc.)
Just as the Constructicons set their sights on Teletraan, the Dinobots react with violence, blasting a gap in the side of the volcano wall and forcing the Constructicons out through the hole. (Grimlock even launches a missile out of his twin stunner laser gun, probably because the script called for him to use his galaxial rocket launcher, which came with the toy and was mentioned in his tech specs, but he never carried this weapon in the cartoon.) In a rare moment of awareness, Sludge observes that these are Decepticons that they've never encountered before. "Not see again, either," quips Snarl, "because we Dino-mite them to pieces!" Hard to tell from the voice delivery, but I'm sure he was making a pun here.
The animation makes it so much fun to watch this episode. When the Dinobots get ready for battle, I love the way Grimlock and Slag just fall into their dinosaur modes. It's just such an incredibly smooth and fluid movement. I will be the first to admit that a lot of the animation in this show is pretty perfunctory, but moments like this are pure art. Sludge stomps the ground and opens up a river of magma; it's a brief scene, but we really should have lingered on this for a moment longer, because the fact that he did this becomes really important later.
The Constructicons decide it's time to strike back, so they prepare to combine. In most episodes, the Constructicons have to transform to "phase one" first (change back to vehicle mode) and then initiate "phase two" (actually combining together). I've never really liked the design for Devastator. It's very plain. It has precisely the same amount of detail as any of the individual Constructicons, which seems wrong, sinve you'd think he would have six times the number of welded seams, metal plates, armor panels, etc. Each individual Constructicon actually loses a lot of detail when he transforms into a Devastator piece, which is unfortunate. They also had to cheat Devastator's animated design somewhat, since the toy is actually made up of a bunch of intermediate connector pieces (the pelvis part that connects Long Haul to Scrapper and Mixmaster; the Devastator head piece, which serves as a connector for Hook and Long Haul; etc.) The contention of the show is that Long Haul forms Devastator's entire body, including the chest shield, minus the tops of the shoulders and the head. It's not the most elegant solution, but I guess it beats having pieces flying from off-screen. (Also: Devastator has two animation models for his head, one with individual eyes and one with goggles. He switches back and forth between them a lot. Not just in this episode, but in several of them.)
The fight between Devastator and the Dinobots is pretty good. Grimlock is at the top of his form when he sinks his teeth into Devastator's forearm, but he is rewarded when Devastator flings him into a rocky outcropping. Snarl is looking especially dynamic when he gives Devastator a good, solid whack with his tail, after which Devastator kicks him straight into the air. He lands near the magma river; Snarl can draw energy from the Sun, and I don't know if he can absorb power from molten lava in the same way. He springs up suddenly, though, either reacting to a newfound energy charge, or just because his ass is hanging over a river of molten rock and it hurts like hell.
The Autobots observe that the Dinobots are engaged in combat, and Ironhide wants to help out until Optimus reminds him of the Cybertron code of combat. I don't see how this is applicable, honestly. Besides, the agreement between Prime and Megatron concerned only Autobots and Decepticons; no mention was made of Dinobots or Constructicons. But, I suppose, that's a legal technicality, and now I'm just thinking like a Decepticon. (There's also a red-colored Wheeljack in this scene. I call him Fender Bender.) I guess it's good that the Dinobots aren't legally bound by the agreement, or else Prime would have recalled them back to the base as well.
"Uh, sorry about that," Ironhide seems to say for no reason as Optimus Prime is being repaired. (It's the tail-end of a moment where Ironhide pounds the cavern wall in frustration, but only this moment remains in the finished episode.) As Ratchet and Wheeljack wonder how Prime could have been defeated by Megatron so easily, Chip Chase calls up an energy scan on Prime's damaged components, and Teletraan is able to identify the Decepticons that damaged him (i.e., all of them). Amusingly, when the display of the various Decepticons pops up on Teletraan's computer screen, the Hasbro product numbers are used for them. For example, the number 5781 appears next to Starscream, which is the same product code that appeared on Starscream's toy packaging, instructions, and sticker sheet. Even more comical is that Rumble is identified by Teletraan as a "red robot," because somebody was using Hasbro data for reference. And what about Reflector, a toy that actually wasn't sold by Hasbro until two years after this episode was made? He's identified as number 5793, very likely the number that WOULD have been associated with Reflector if he had been sold at retail in 1984. (Eventually, Reflector was sold in 1996 through a mail-order offer. Reflector's G1 instructions and sticker sheet didn't have a Hasbro number listed at all, and he's got number 12505 on his plain mailer box.)
So, the Autobots figure out that the agreement with Megatron is null and void. Now it's finally time for them to do something. This moment is thematically similar to the Autobots returning from exile in "Megatron's Master Plan," and also calls for Prime to make an important realization before he is able to change his mind and actually take action. Outside, Devastator is shocked by the sudden appearance of a gigantic Autobot even larger than he is (spoiler: it's a hologram). The huge Autobot taunts him and laughs, distracting him long enough for Prime to ready a carefully-aimed shot at Devastator that breaks him into his component Constructicons. (Devastator actually splits into seven pieces, including the chest shield, which doesn't seem to be attached to any of them this time. In other episodes, it appears to be somehow formed by Long Haul's truck bed.) It doesn't make sense for a huge combined form to have such an obvious weakness, but it's a very common theme on this show for the combiners to get knocked apart into their individual team members.
With Devastator no longer a threat, the Dinobots are free to focus their assault on the individual Constructicons. Sludge shoots lasers from his mouth. Slag shoots with his horns. Sludge gets another turn with his eye lasers (I'm sure one of these moments was supposed to be Grimlock, but it really is drawn as Sludge both times). Snarl fires snot lasers out of his nostrils. I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. The Constructicons are knocked into the lava, which looks particularly brown and muddy on the DVD release. Hound finally switches off the giant hologram and Megatron realizes he's been tricked. (I think this is the first robot design on the show created by Floro Dery that wasn't based on an existing toy, so you can see a little bit of his artistic flair. It doesn't look like it can transform into anything at all, but then, neither does Gears.)
The Autobots move on the Decepticons with laser fire, likewise knocking them all into the lava. One supposes the Decepticon troops, without their innate abilities, are really in no condition to fight back. Prime makes a remark to Megatron about how "you will not have to fight all Autoobt powers at once—just me!" thus demonstrating that Prime knows he cheated, and also one-uppping him after a fashion because he can beat Megatron without needing to increase his own strength to do it. Megatron doesn't even try to defend himself or argue about the agreement at this point. He knows when he's been licked. All the Decepticons sink into the lava and disappear.
Spike asks if this is the end of the war, and if the Decepticons are gone forever. "Who can say, Spike?" muses Optimus, waxing philosophical. "In this vast Universe, is anything truly forever?" Below, Megatron pokes his charred head out of the magma long enough to promise in a harsh voice, "We shall rise... AGAIN!" Episode ends. The ending of this episode seems structured as if it were the end of the entire series, which I supposed it could have been, after a fashion. At this point, they might not have known the show was being renewed for another season, so they might have wanted to write the episode as a wrap-up to the series just in case there were no more episodes. Compare this to the end of season two, which had absolutely zero closure ("B.O.T.") because they knew The Transformers: the Movie was coming up next (and voice recording for season three was already well underway).
This is one of my favorite episodes to watch. The visuals are great eye candy and the best animated moments just never get old. Prime and Megatron getting into a full-blown, no-holds-barred, good ol' fashioned Transformer smackdown is what every little kid watching this show wanted to see, and only their final fight from The Transformers: the Movie even comes close to rivaling it. This may be the very best episode of the first season.
Zob (going to see The Last Jedi tomorrow)
Our episode begins at a construction site in the middle of nowhere, with the construction foreman (voiced by Corey Burton) providing some exposition about the energy disks that will draw power from the planet's natural magnetic field to provide electrical energy for the world. (The disks are already Decepticon-purple, probably because visual designer Floro Dery was tasked with designing the Decepticon invention-of-the-week but wasn't told that they were a human invention that later gets stolen.) Suddenly, a fleet of construction vehicles appears from off in the distance, kicking up a huge dust cloud. The foreman is annoyed by the appearance of more laborers that he didn't ask for, until he realizes that the vehicles are driving themselves. This trope was a common theme on Knight Rider, and it was used a few times for Transformers, but I think this episode was the most effective time it was employed on the show. "No one drives us, stupid human!" balks the team leader, Scrapper. "We are the Constructicons——we drive ourselves!"
Scrapper, a front loader, snaps the cables holding the invention in place and it falls into the waiting Long Haul, a dump truck. Long Haul deploys a missile launcher (the Hasbro toy was equipped with this, but this is the only episode in which he uses it) and stops the human-driven construction vehicles from advancing; Mixmaster, the cement truck who is described by Hasbro as a "chemistry lab on wheels," blasts acid at the vehicles that melts them into goop (but not before the drivers bail out, of course, because this is a family show). Scavenger, a steam shovel, scoops up a power convertor and adds it to Long Haul's haul. A kamikaze worker tries to ram Bonecrusher with another bulldozer, jumping out just before they collide, but Bonecrusher is by far the tougher of the two and emerges totally unscathed. Hook, the crane truck, lifts a third, unidentified component and adds it to the collection of Constructicon treasures. Each of the Constructicons has officially gotten to do something.
When this episode was originally released to DVD by Kid Rhino, they had been working with a lot of early, incomplete prints of first-season episodes, so there's a scene where the camera is supposed to pan up as the Constructicons change to robot mode. The direction for the camera movement wasn't accomplished, so we get these dramatic shots of Bonecrusher's feet, Mixmaster's feet, etc. The same folks from Rhino went on to form Shout Factory, using the same audiovisual assets, and the Shout Factory release corrected some of the more egregious errors pointed out to them by fans. The correct camera movement as the Constructicons shift to robot mode is included this time, though the footage is of a notably poorer quality, because they had to utilize the one-inch master tapes for the correct footage rather than the better-condition 35-millimeter print with the incorrect animation.
So, the Constructicons transform, revealing themselves as Decepticon robots. Like the Dinobots and Insecticons before them, they all share a set of team colors (light green and purple, mostly, with some black and grey thrown in) and to the uninitiated, they're a little hard to tell apart. Unlike a lot of other characters on this show, they look pretty much exactly like the Hasbro toys, aside from a few coloring oddities (the wheels on Scrapper's shoulders change from black in vehicle mode to green in robot mode; Mixmaster is consistently shown with a purple mixing drum, but it was green on the toy). Also, Long Haul's toy was mistransformed when the animation model for his dump truck mode was designed, so his robot head and fists are always visible, even as a dump truck. The Constructicons were originally Diaclone toys released by Takara in Japan, and had been sold in various colors (one version of the set had two red vehicles, two yellow ones, and two blue ones). Yellow is a much more common color for real-life construction vehicles, but the unified Hasbro color scheme helps to identify them as villains (think the Joker or Lex Luthor), on a show where most ground vehicles were good guys.
As an aside, the voice actors for all six of the Constructicons were tapped from existing voice talent on the show. Scrapper was played by Michael Bell, who had been on the show since the start playing Sideswipe and Prowl, and also played Swoop. Mixmaster was Frank Welker, who easily had more characters on this show than anybody else (Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Laserbeak, Ravage, Sludge, etc. etc. etc.) Long Haul was voiced by Gregg Berger, who had previously been brought in to play Grimlock. Neil Ross, who had been brought in at the same time to play Slag, was cast as both Bonecrusher and Hook. Scavenger was Don Messick, who had been cast during the pilot as Ratchet and Gears. The only actor brought in specifically for the Constructicons was Arthur Burghardt, the voice of Devastator, who was already a fixture on G.I. Joe as Destro (and was also a lead character in the competing Challenge of the GoBots as Turbo).
The Constructicons fly off and arrive at a temporary base of operations for the Decepticons, where Megatron awaits. He utters a throwaway line about how "they were worth the time we spent building them in these caverns," thus offering an explanation, of sorts, about their origins. This episode was written before David Wise established the hard-and-fast rules during the second season about how the only way to create new Transformer life is with the computer Vector Sigma. One supposes that perhaps the Decepticons had some personality components in storage and it was only the Earth bodies for the Constructicons that they had recently constructed. (Of course, the show bible went on to describe the Constructicons as having no established origin, leading David Wise to write another origin story for them called "The Secret of Omega Supreme" that establishes them as former good guys from Cybertron, totally at odds with their origins from this episode. Note that the Constructicons were fully functional in "Desertion of the Dinobots" while all other Transformers from Cybertron were rendered disabled, another strong piece of evidence in favor of their Earth origins.)
Each of the Constructicons gets name-checked (buy our toys, kids!) as Scrapper reports on the success of the mission. Long Haul transforms to dump truck mode to show off their prize. (In the Rhino version of the episode, the stolen components are missing, so Rhino attempted a shoddy cut-and-paste of the devices into the scene. The Shout Factory edition has the correct animation, but the quality of the footage isn't quite as good.) The Constructicons begin attaching the stolen devices to a gigantic machine whose purpose will become clear soon enough. Despite Starscream's snarky remarks to the contrary, Megatron is convinced that this time, his plan will defeat the Autobots forever—and it relies on appealing to Optimus Prime's indelible sense of honor. Oh noes!
(There's a deleted scene where Wheeljack is showing off some of the Dinobots' new skills before Megatron arrives at the Autobot base. Wheeljack continually tweaking and improving on the Dinobots was evident a pet theme of Don Glut's, since we also saw some of this in "War of the Dinobots" and would see it again in "Dinobot Island." In this missing scene, the Dinobots suspend a boulder in mid-air using their various powers and abilities until Grimlock finally catches it in his mouth. We unfortunately lost a great line of dialogue where Ironhide remarks, "Big deal. So now we got ourselves a Dinobot baseball team that eats the ball!")
At the Autobot volcano base, Ironhide detects Decepticon signals as Megatron, alone, approaches. The Autobots are swift to attack, with Cliffjumper (colored like Bumblebee in the Rhino version) deploying his glass gas to little effect; Megatron is unaffected. Wheeljack whips out his latest invention, the shock-blast cannon, which promptly explodes in his face. This episode was animated by Toei in Japan, and it's among their most impressive work on the show. This is one of the most visually dynamic of all Transformers episodes, rivaling "Call of the Primitives" for its artisitc merit. Some notable moments include when Cliffjumper first launches his glass gas, and the whole sequence with Wheeljack readying his cannon, its subsequent detonation, and him falling on the ground. Megatron dodging Ironhide's blasts in mid-air is another incredibly well-animated moment. His movements are so fluid and graceful, and you get a real sense of the weight of his boots as they trail behind his movements slightly. (That's a huge problem with CGI these days... the characters may be rendered beautifully, but they don't have any sense of weight when they interact with the environment around them.)
Eventually, Megatron's lack of counterattacks makes it clear that he hasn't arrived to start a fight, and Optimus Prime allows him to land and state his case. Citing Cybertron law, Megatron proposes a contest between himself and Optimus Prime. There seems to be a piece missing from his speech, though. What he says is, "I come about a matter of Cybertron law. Our war has gone on for millions of years, Decepticons fighting Autobots, in which opposing leaders—you and I, Optimus Prime—may do battle." I think it would make more sense if he'd said something like, "Our war has gone on for millions of years, Decepticons fighting Autobots, in which there is no end in sight. I propose a decisive contest, in which opposing leaders—you and I, Optimus Prime—may do battle." I think his speech might have been the victim of an overzealous dialogue editor.
With the other Autobots offering Optimus a strong show of support, Optimus agrees to the challenge. He's played right into Megatron's hands. Megatron even taunts him about this a little before flying off: "Somehow, I felt you would! You have such a strong sense of honor!"
So, this is where it gets a little diabolical. The components that the Constructicons stole have been incorporated into Scrapper's invention, which is identified as a strength transfer machine. All the Decepticons have assembled for the experiment. Any epiosde in which the entire group is allegedly present does seem questionable, though, because there are almost always characters missing. The only Decepticons we actually see are Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Soundwave, Reflector, and Rumble. What about Ravage and Laserbeak? What about Frenzy? (Buzzsaw technically hasn't appeared on the show yet.) For that matter, what about the Insecticons? (Can you imagine a duel between Megatron and Optimus in which Megatron suddenly takes bites out of Optimus and starts EATING him?!)
Anyway, Scrapper calls for each of the Decepticons to remove a power chip rectifier from his own circuitry and deposit it into the machine. These are the source of each Decepticon's special powers, apparently. Not dedicated hardwire circuitry or specialized internal components, but a single removable microchip. Starscream balks at the idea, partly because he doesn't want to give up his own special powers, but also pointing out that Megatron is technically cheating. Megatron considers this a minior loophole and is more concerned with the big picture. He threatens to kill Starscream, who wisely backs off.
The strength transfer machine roars to life and there is a fury of energy as the Decepticon powers are transferred to Megatron. The exchange is a success, and Megatron now possesses the special abilities of all the other Decepticons, in addition to his own inherent powers. He vows to mop the floor with Optimus Prime, and we've reached our first commercial break.
As we return, Starscream points out another problem: Teletraan I will likely be monitoring the ensuring battle, and will alert the Autobots if it detects any trickery. Megatron is prepared for this possibility, too. He sends the Constructicons into action, whose plan is to excavate beneath the Autobot base, come up in the middle of the control room, and destroy the computer before it can cry foul. At the Autobot base, Spike expresses his concerns about the duel, pointing out that "they don't call those creeps 'Decepticons' for nothing!" Optimus is more optimistic, because they don't call him "Optimus" for nothing. (See, I can do it too!) There's a moment where Optimus transforms into a cab with two wheels, before his trailer, with the rest of the cab portion, connects to him.
As the Autobots drive up to the site of the contest, a dried up river bed, there's a scene where Ironhide returns to robot mode. In the first Rhino DVD release, the transformation sequence was backwards, so Ironhide changes from robot to vehicle. For the Shout Factory release, they could haved used the poor-quality one-inch master tapes, but instead they took the better-looking 35-millimeter footage and played it backwards. You can tell they digitized it, though, because Ironhide's transformation sequence looks blurry and pixelated. Well, they get a You Tried star, anyway.
(Interstingly, there's another deleted scene where the Decepticons are flying towards the river bed, and Starscream is complaining that he can barely fly. It's implied that none of the Decepticon troops can even transform without their power chips, and the Autobots even observe that the Decepticons aren't showing off their usual aerial expertise.)
Megatron makes some boastful claims about Optimus Prime's imminent defeat, and the respective sides take their seats as spectators in preparation for the fight. There's a cute moment where Soundwave ejects his various tapes so they can watch, and Soundwave pets Ravage's head. The Decepticon Apologists used to point to this scene a lot as evidence that the Decepticons were really pretty okay guys, and that Soundwave was a loving father. Or something.
Prime keeps reminding Megatron that this is to be a fair mano a mano duel, as if he suspects Megatron has something up his sleeve. Almost immediately, Megatron takes advantage of his newfound powers, using the combined strength of enough Decepticons to grab Optimus by the hand and sending him hurtling to the ground. Starscream recognizes when his cluster bombs and null rays are being utilized, and loudly points this out to the other Decepticons. Megatron even uses that gun barrel mounted on his back, something we very rarely see him do (the Microman toy was designed to position it facing forwards in robot mode, hence Megatron's box art; I'm pretty sure having it point up on his back was a Hasbro invention, and the toy isn't exactly designed to accommodate this). Megatron can even cause earthquakes by pounding the ground with either his fist or his fusion cannon; in a cute moment, Rumble just looks at Thundercracker and points his thumb at himself, as if to say, "Yeah, that was me, I did that."
(You're not going to believe this, but there's a deleted scene where Megatron actually transforms into a jet mode! He uses his newfound powers of flight to strafe Optimus before transforming back to robot mode. Perhaps not unexpectedly, Prime expresses considerable surprise that Megatron has never done this before. It would have been amazing to have gotten this moment in the final episode! It wouldn't have been a very good move from a toy-advertising perspective [in the storyboards, he seems to be drawn more or less like Starscream's jet mode] but there are lots of things the characters did on the show that their toys couldn't do. And it would have been epic! Finally, some validation for the Titans Return Voyager-class Megatron toy!)
Determined to just end this chicanery, Prime picks up a gigantic boulder and chucks it at Megatron... who proceeds to teleport out of the way, Skywarp-style. Meanwhile, the Constructicons are hard at work, tunneling beneath the volcano. They break into the volcanic core to find a pool of molten magma. "Careful, Scrounge," warns Scrapper, "this volcano isn't inactive!" Or maybe he says "is indeed active!" It's hard to say. Regardless, he's definitely getting Scavenger's name wrong. Scrounge was an early, working name for the character (Scrapper was originally called Gravedigger). There are lots of characters who got renamed during preproduction (Trailbreaker was Guzzler; Windcharger was Sprint; Swoop was Divebomb; etc.) but Scavenger seems to be just about the only one whose preproduction name actually made it into a finished episode. Oops!
(In the part of the fight where Megatron launches into the sky and Prime grabs his legs, there's a deleted part where Megatron can predict, telepathically, that Prime is about to do this, and says as much. Wheeljack makes a remark that Megatron seems to be able to read minds in the same manner as Soundwave.)
Back at the river bed, the battle continues. Prime is giving it his best, but Megatron is pulling out all the stops and there's just no besting him. "You cannot blast what you cannot see... nor what you cannot hear!" he boasts, using Reflector and Thundercracker's abilities in turn. (In the original broadcast version of this episode, the sound effects obscure Megatron's dialogue so the word "see" isn't actually discernible. The sound was remixed for the DVD release and the sound effects no longer cover the dialogue. See, sometimes the original broadcast version isn't always better!) Megatron lands the final blast with his own fusion cannon, and Prime is down for the count. At almost exactly 14 minutes into the episode, that's the end of act two.
After some advertising for Donkey Kong breakfast cereal and the state-of-the-art ColecoVision video game system, we return from our last commercial break to find the Autobots gathering around their fallen leader. Ironhide and the others want to retaliate, but Optimus insists that they abide by the conditions of their agreement. Despite the fact that he can barely transform, Prime is fully prepared to gather up the Autobots and leave Earth forever. In a touching show of camaraderie, Huffer offers to tow Prime's trailer so that he can save his strength. Megatron elects to follow the Autobots, ostensibly to ensure that "noble Optimus Prime" keeps his promise to leave. (In the original broadcast version of this episode, it's Huffer who is still towing the trailer away as the Decepticons follow. It's Prime in both DVD version of the episode.)
As the Constructicons prepare to break through the cavern ceiling into the volcano base, Teletraan detects the Constructicon presence and summons the Dinobots into action, evidently activating them remotely. They really do just stand around in the broom closet until they're needed. "Teletraan One calls... Dinobots respond!" Grimlock grumbles. (The vocal flanging settings for the Dinobots seem weird in this episode. The regular Autobots, the Decepticons, the Insecticons, etc. each got their own voice amplification settings, but it sounds like somebody really cranked up the Dinobot settings in this episode. It's particularly noticeable in the sibilant "s" sounds in the dialogue for Grimlock, Slag, etc.)
Just as the Constructicons set their sights on Teletraan, the Dinobots react with violence, blasting a gap in the side of the volcano wall and forcing the Constructicons out through the hole. (Grimlock even launches a missile out of his twin stunner laser gun, probably because the script called for him to use his galaxial rocket launcher, which came with the toy and was mentioned in his tech specs, but he never carried this weapon in the cartoon.) In a rare moment of awareness, Sludge observes that these are Decepticons that they've never encountered before. "Not see again, either," quips Snarl, "because we Dino-mite them to pieces!" Hard to tell from the voice delivery, but I'm sure he was making a pun here.
The animation makes it so much fun to watch this episode. When the Dinobots get ready for battle, I love the way Grimlock and Slag just fall into their dinosaur modes. It's just such an incredibly smooth and fluid movement. I will be the first to admit that a lot of the animation in this show is pretty perfunctory, but moments like this are pure art. Sludge stomps the ground and opens up a river of magma; it's a brief scene, but we really should have lingered on this for a moment longer, because the fact that he did this becomes really important later.
The Constructicons decide it's time to strike back, so they prepare to combine. In most episodes, the Constructicons have to transform to "phase one" first (change back to vehicle mode) and then initiate "phase two" (actually combining together). I've never really liked the design for Devastator. It's very plain. It has precisely the same amount of detail as any of the individual Constructicons, which seems wrong, sinve you'd think he would have six times the number of welded seams, metal plates, armor panels, etc. Each individual Constructicon actually loses a lot of detail when he transforms into a Devastator piece, which is unfortunate. They also had to cheat Devastator's animated design somewhat, since the toy is actually made up of a bunch of intermediate connector pieces (the pelvis part that connects Long Haul to Scrapper and Mixmaster; the Devastator head piece, which serves as a connector for Hook and Long Haul; etc.) The contention of the show is that Long Haul forms Devastator's entire body, including the chest shield, minus the tops of the shoulders and the head. It's not the most elegant solution, but I guess it beats having pieces flying from off-screen. (Also: Devastator has two animation models for his head, one with individual eyes and one with goggles. He switches back and forth between them a lot. Not just in this episode, but in several of them.)
The fight between Devastator and the Dinobots is pretty good. Grimlock is at the top of his form when he sinks his teeth into Devastator's forearm, but he is rewarded when Devastator flings him into a rocky outcropping. Snarl is looking especially dynamic when he gives Devastator a good, solid whack with his tail, after which Devastator kicks him straight into the air. He lands near the magma river; Snarl can draw energy from the Sun, and I don't know if he can absorb power from molten lava in the same way. He springs up suddenly, though, either reacting to a newfound energy charge, or just because his ass is hanging over a river of molten rock and it hurts like hell.
The Autobots observe that the Dinobots are engaged in combat, and Ironhide wants to help out until Optimus reminds him of the Cybertron code of combat. I don't see how this is applicable, honestly. Besides, the agreement between Prime and Megatron concerned only Autobots and Decepticons; no mention was made of Dinobots or Constructicons. But, I suppose, that's a legal technicality, and now I'm just thinking like a Decepticon. (There's also a red-colored Wheeljack in this scene. I call him Fender Bender.) I guess it's good that the Dinobots aren't legally bound by the agreement, or else Prime would have recalled them back to the base as well.
"Uh, sorry about that," Ironhide seems to say for no reason as Optimus Prime is being repaired. (It's the tail-end of a moment where Ironhide pounds the cavern wall in frustration, but only this moment remains in the finished episode.) As Ratchet and Wheeljack wonder how Prime could have been defeated by Megatron so easily, Chip Chase calls up an energy scan on Prime's damaged components, and Teletraan is able to identify the Decepticons that damaged him (i.e., all of them). Amusingly, when the display of the various Decepticons pops up on Teletraan's computer screen, the Hasbro product numbers are used for them. For example, the number 5781 appears next to Starscream, which is the same product code that appeared on Starscream's toy packaging, instructions, and sticker sheet. Even more comical is that Rumble is identified by Teletraan as a "red robot," because somebody was using Hasbro data for reference. And what about Reflector, a toy that actually wasn't sold by Hasbro until two years after this episode was made? He's identified as number 5793, very likely the number that WOULD have been associated with Reflector if he had been sold at retail in 1984. (Eventually, Reflector was sold in 1996 through a mail-order offer. Reflector's G1 instructions and sticker sheet didn't have a Hasbro number listed at all, and he's got number 12505 on his plain mailer box.)
So, the Autobots figure out that the agreement with Megatron is null and void. Now it's finally time for them to do something. This moment is thematically similar to the Autobots returning from exile in "Megatron's Master Plan," and also calls for Prime to make an important realization before he is able to change his mind and actually take action. Outside, Devastator is shocked by the sudden appearance of a gigantic Autobot even larger than he is (spoiler: it's a hologram). The huge Autobot taunts him and laughs, distracting him long enough for Prime to ready a carefully-aimed shot at Devastator that breaks him into his component Constructicons. (Devastator actually splits into seven pieces, including the chest shield, which doesn't seem to be attached to any of them this time. In other episodes, it appears to be somehow formed by Long Haul's truck bed.) It doesn't make sense for a huge combined form to have such an obvious weakness, but it's a very common theme on this show for the combiners to get knocked apart into their individual team members.
With Devastator no longer a threat, the Dinobots are free to focus their assault on the individual Constructicons. Sludge shoots lasers from his mouth. Slag shoots with his horns. Sludge gets another turn with his eye lasers (I'm sure one of these moments was supposed to be Grimlock, but it really is drawn as Sludge both times). Snarl fires snot lasers out of his nostrils. I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. The Constructicons are knocked into the lava, which looks particularly brown and muddy on the DVD release. Hound finally switches off the giant hologram and Megatron realizes he's been tricked. (I think this is the first robot design on the show created by Floro Dery that wasn't based on an existing toy, so you can see a little bit of his artistic flair. It doesn't look like it can transform into anything at all, but then, neither does Gears.)
The Autobots move on the Decepticons with laser fire, likewise knocking them all into the lava. One supposes the Decepticon troops, without their innate abilities, are really in no condition to fight back. Prime makes a remark to Megatron about how "you will not have to fight all Autoobt powers at once—just me!" thus demonstrating that Prime knows he cheated, and also one-uppping him after a fashion because he can beat Megatron without needing to increase his own strength to do it. Megatron doesn't even try to defend himself or argue about the agreement at this point. He knows when he's been licked. All the Decepticons sink into the lava and disappear.
Spike asks if this is the end of the war, and if the Decepticons are gone forever. "Who can say, Spike?" muses Optimus, waxing philosophical. "In this vast Universe, is anything truly forever?" Below, Megatron pokes his charred head out of the magma long enough to promise in a harsh voice, "We shall rise... AGAIN!" Episode ends. The ending of this episode seems structured as if it were the end of the entire series, which I supposed it could have been, after a fashion. At this point, they might not have known the show was being renewed for another season, so they might have wanted to write the episode as a wrap-up to the series just in case there were no more episodes. Compare this to the end of season two, which had absolutely zero closure ("B.O.T.") because they knew The Transformers: the Movie was coming up next (and voice recording for season three was already well underway).
This is one of my favorite episodes to watch. The visuals are great eye candy and the best animated moments just never get old. Prime and Megatron getting into a full-blown, no-holds-barred, good ol' fashioned Transformer smackdown is what every little kid watching this show wanted to see, and only their final fight from The Transformers: the Movie even comes close to rivaling it. This may be the very best episode of the first season.
Zob (going to see The Last Jedi tomorrow)
David Connell
Dec 15, 2017, 3:31:42 PM12/15/17
to
On Friday, December 15, 2017 at 3:03:30 PM UTC-5, Zobovor (the Man with All the Toys) wrote:
> Even more comical is that Rumble is identified by Teletraan as a "red robot," because somebody was using Hasbro data for reference.
Even Teletran One knows the truth! Rumble is red! :-D
> Even more comical is that Rumble is identified by Teletraan as a "red robot," because somebody was using Hasbro data for reference.
Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.
Dec 16, 2017, 11:00:46 AM12/16/17
to
On Friday, December 15, 2017 at 2:03:30 PM UTC-6, Zobovor (the Man with All the Toys) wrote:
> "Heavy Metal War" was, I believe, the finale to the first season of Transformers, though due to the way syndication airdates sometimes differed, not every TV station played the episodes in the same order. The web site epguides.com gives its original airdate as December 15th, 1984. The episode was written by Donald F. Glut, which you probably already knew, since it's got the Dinobots in it.
>
> Our episode begins at a construction site in the middle of nowhere, with the construction foreman (voiced by Corey Burton) providing some exposition about the energy disks that will draw power from the planet's natural magnetic field to provide electrical energy for the world. (The disks are already Decepticon-purple, probably because visual designer Floro Dery was tasked with designing the Decepticon invention-of-the-week but wasn't told that they were a human invention that later gets stolen.) Suddenly, a fleet of construction vehicles appears from off in the distance, kicking up a huge dust cloud. The foreman is annoyed by the appearance of more laborers that he didn't ask for, until he realizes that the vehicles are driving themselves. This trope was a common theme on Knight Rider, and it was used a few times for Transformers, but I think this episode was the most effective time it was employed on the show. "No one drives us, stupid human!" balks the team leader, Scrapper. "We are the Constructicons——we drive ourselves!"
>
> Scrapper, a front loader, snaps the cables holding the invention in place and it falls into the waiting Long Haul, a dump truck. Long Haul deploys a missile launcher (the Hasbro toy was equipped with this, but this is the only episode in which he uses it) and stops the human-driven construction vehicles from advancing; Mixmaster, the cement truck who is described by Hasbro as a "chemistry lab on wheels," blasts acid at the vehicles that melts them into goop (but not before the drivers bail out, of course, because this is a family show). Scavenger, a steam shovel, scoops up a power convertor and adds it to Long Haul's haul. A kamikaze worker tries to ram Bonecrusher with another bulldozer, jumping out just before they collide, but Bonecrusher is by far the tougher of the two and emerges totally unscathed. Hook, the crane truck, lifts a third, unidentified component and adds it to the collection of Constructicon treasures. Each of the Constructicons has officially gotten to do something.
>
> When this episode was originally released to DVD by Kid Rhino, they had been working with a lot of early, incomplete prints of first-season episodes, so there's a scene where the camera is supposed to pan up as the Constructicons change to robot mode. The direction for the camera movement wasn't accomplished, so we get these dramatic shots of Bonecrusher's feet, Mixmaster's feet, etc. The same folks from Rhino went on to form Shout Factory, using the same audiovisual assets, and the Shout Factory release corrected some of the more egregious errors pointed out to them by fans. The correct camera movement as the Constructicons shift to robot mode is included this time, though the footage is of a notably poorer quality, because they had to utilize the one-inch master tapes for the correct footage rather than the better-condition 35-millimeter print with the incorrect animation.
>
> So, the Constructicons transform, revealing themselves as Decepticon robots. Like the Dinobots and Insecticons before them, they all share a set of team colors (light green and purple, mostly, with some black and grey thrown in) and to the uninitiated, they're a little hard to tell apart. Unlike a lot of other characters on this show, they look pretty much exactly like the Hasbro toys, aside from a few coloring oddities (the wheels on Scrapper's shoulders change from black in vehicle mode to green in robot mode; Mixmaster is consistently shown with a purple mixing drum, but it was green on the toy). Also, Long Haul's toy was mistransformed when the animation model for his dump truck mode was designed, so his robot head and fists are always visible, even as a dump truck. The Constructicons were originally Diaclone toys released by Takara in Japan, and had been sold in various colors (one version of the set had two red vehicles, two yellow ones, and two blue ones). Yellow is a much more common color for real-life construction vehicles, but the unified Hasbro color scheme helps to identify them as villains (think the Joker or Lex Luthor), on a show where most ground vehicles were good guys.
>
> As an aside, the voice actors for all six of the Constructicons were tapped from existing voice talent on the show. Scrapper was played by Michael Bell, who had been on the show since the start playing Sideswipe and Prowl, and also played Swoop. Mixmaster was Frank Welker, who easily had more characters on this show than anybody else (Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Laserbeak, Ravage, Sludge, etc. etc. etc.) Long Haul was voiced by Gregg Berger, who had previously been brought in to play Grimlock. Neil Ross, who had been brought in at the same time to play Slag, was cast as both Bonecrusher and Hook. Scavenger was Don Messick, who had been cast during the pilot as Ratchet and Gears. The only actor brought in specifically for the Constructicons was Arthur Burghardt, the voice of Devastator, who was already a fixture on G.I. Joe as Destro (and was also a lead character in the competing Challenge of the GoBots as Turbo).
>
There was such a massive pool of voice actors back then. Now cartoons seem to all be voiced by the same people, but each cartoon only needs 5-10 actors.
> "Heavy Metal War" was, I believe, the finale to the first season of Transformers, though due to the way syndication airdates sometimes differed, not every TV station played the episodes in the same order. The web site epguides.com gives its original airdate as December 15th, 1984. The episode was written by Donald F. Glut, which you probably already knew, since it's got the Dinobots in it.
>
> Our episode begins at a construction site in the middle of nowhere, with the construction foreman (voiced by Corey Burton) providing some exposition about the energy disks that will draw power from the planet's natural magnetic field to provide electrical energy for the world. (The disks are already Decepticon-purple, probably because visual designer Floro Dery was tasked with designing the Decepticon invention-of-the-week but wasn't told that they were a human invention that later gets stolen.) Suddenly, a fleet of construction vehicles appears from off in the distance, kicking up a huge dust cloud. The foreman is annoyed by the appearance of more laborers that he didn't ask for, until he realizes that the vehicles are driving themselves. This trope was a common theme on Knight Rider, and it was used a few times for Transformers, but I think this episode was the most effective time it was employed on the show. "No one drives us, stupid human!" balks the team leader, Scrapper. "We are the Constructicons——we drive ourselves!"
>
> Scrapper, a front loader, snaps the cables holding the invention in place and it falls into the waiting Long Haul, a dump truck. Long Haul deploys a missile launcher (the Hasbro toy was equipped with this, but this is the only episode in which he uses it) and stops the human-driven construction vehicles from advancing; Mixmaster, the cement truck who is described by Hasbro as a "chemistry lab on wheels," blasts acid at the vehicles that melts them into goop (but not before the drivers bail out, of course, because this is a family show). Scavenger, a steam shovel, scoops up a power convertor and adds it to Long Haul's haul. A kamikaze worker tries to ram Bonecrusher with another bulldozer, jumping out just before they collide, but Bonecrusher is by far the tougher of the two and emerges totally unscathed. Hook, the crane truck, lifts a third, unidentified component and adds it to the collection of Constructicon treasures. Each of the Constructicons has officially gotten to do something.
>
> When this episode was originally released to DVD by Kid Rhino, they had been working with a lot of early, incomplete prints of first-season episodes, so there's a scene where the camera is supposed to pan up as the Constructicons change to robot mode. The direction for the camera movement wasn't accomplished, so we get these dramatic shots of Bonecrusher's feet, Mixmaster's feet, etc. The same folks from Rhino went on to form Shout Factory, using the same audiovisual assets, and the Shout Factory release corrected some of the more egregious errors pointed out to them by fans. The correct camera movement as the Constructicons shift to robot mode is included this time, though the footage is of a notably poorer quality, because they had to utilize the one-inch master tapes for the correct footage rather than the better-condition 35-millimeter print with the incorrect animation.
>
> So, the Constructicons transform, revealing themselves as Decepticon robots. Like the Dinobots and Insecticons before them, they all share a set of team colors (light green and purple, mostly, with some black and grey thrown in) and to the uninitiated, they're a little hard to tell apart. Unlike a lot of other characters on this show, they look pretty much exactly like the Hasbro toys, aside from a few coloring oddities (the wheels on Scrapper's shoulders change from black in vehicle mode to green in robot mode; Mixmaster is consistently shown with a purple mixing drum, but it was green on the toy). Also, Long Haul's toy was mistransformed when the animation model for his dump truck mode was designed, so his robot head and fists are always visible, even as a dump truck. The Constructicons were originally Diaclone toys released by Takara in Japan, and had been sold in various colors (one version of the set had two red vehicles, two yellow ones, and two blue ones). Yellow is a much more common color for real-life construction vehicles, but the unified Hasbro color scheme helps to identify them as villains (think the Joker or Lex Luthor), on a show where most ground vehicles were good guys.
>
> As an aside, the voice actors for all six of the Constructicons were tapped from existing voice talent on the show. Scrapper was played by Michael Bell, who had been on the show since the start playing Sideswipe and Prowl, and also played Swoop. Mixmaster was Frank Welker, who easily had more characters on this show than anybody else (Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Laserbeak, Ravage, Sludge, etc. etc. etc.) Long Haul was voiced by Gregg Berger, who had previously been brought in to play Grimlock. Neil Ross, who had been brought in at the same time to play Slag, was cast as both Bonecrusher and Hook. Scavenger was Don Messick, who had been cast during the pilot as Ratchet and Gears. The only actor brought in specifically for the Constructicons was Arthur Burghardt, the voice of Devastator, who was already a fixture on G.I. Joe as Destro (and was also a lead character in the competing Challenge of the GoBots as Turbo).
>
> The Constructicons fly off and arrive at a temporary base of operations for the Decepticons, where Megatron awaits. He utters a throwaway line about how "they were worth the time we spent building them in these caverns," thus offering an explanation, of sorts, about their origins. This episode was written before David Wise established the hard-and-fast rules during the second season about how the only way to create new Transformer life is with the computer Vector Sigma. One supposes that perhaps the Decepticons had some personality components in storage and it was only the Earth bodies for the Constructicons that they had recently constructed. (Of course, the show bible went on to describe the Constructicons as having no established origin, leading David Wise to write another origin story for them called "The Secret of Omega Supreme" that establishes them as former good guys from Cybertron, totally at odds with their origins from this episode. Note that the Constructicons were fully functional in "Desertion of the Dinobots" while all other Transformers from Cybertron were rendered disabled, another strong piece of evidence in favor of their Earth origins.)
>
> Each of the Constructicons gets name-checked (buy our toys, kids!) as Scrapper reports on the success of the mission. Long Haul transforms to dump truck mode to show off their prize. (In the Rhino version of the episode, the stolen components are missing, so Rhino attempted a shoddy cut-and-paste of the devices into the scene. The Shout Factory edition has the correct animation, but the quality of the footage isn't quite as good.) The Constructicons begin attaching the stolen devices to a gigantic machine whose purpose will become clear soon enough. Despite Starscream's snarky remarks to the contrary, Megatron is convinced that this time, his plan will defeat the Autobots forever—and it relies on appealing to Optimus Prime's indelible sense of honor. Oh noes!
>
> (There's a deleted scene where Wheeljack is showing off some of the Dinobots' new skills before Megatron arrives at the Autobot base. Wheeljack continually tweaking and improving on the Dinobots was evident a pet theme of Don Glut's, since we also saw some of this in "War of the Dinobots" and would see it again in "Dinobot Island." In this missing scene, the Dinobots suspend a boulder in mid-air using their various powers and abilities until Grimlock finally catches it in his mouth. We unfortunately lost a great line of dialogue where Ironhide remarks, "Big deal. So now we got ourselves a Dinobot baseball team that eats the ball!")
>
> At the Autobot volcano base, Ironhide detects Decepticon signals as Megatron, alone, approaches. The Autobots are swift to attack, with Cliffjumper (colored like Bumblebee in the Rhino version) deploying his glass gas to little effect; Megatron is unaffected. Wheeljack whips out his latest invention, the shock-blast cannon, which promptly explodes in his face. This episode was animated by Toei in Japan, and it's among their most impressive work on the show. This is one of the most visually dynamic of all Transformers episodes, rivaling "Call of the Primitives" for its artisitc merit. Some notable moments include when Cliffjumper first launches his glass gas, and the whole sequence with Wheeljack readying his cannon, its subsequent detonation, and him falling on the ground. Megatron dodging Ironhide's blasts in mid-air is another incredibly well-animated moment. His movements are so fluid and graceful, and you get a real sense of the weight of his boots as they trail behind his movements slightly. (That's a huge problem with CGI these days... the characters may be rendered beautifully, but they don't have any sense of weight when they interact with the environment around them.)
>
Shockblast is later reused multiple times for characters when Shockwave is unavailable for some reason.
> Eventually, Megatron's lack of counterattacks makes it clear that he hasn't arrived to start a fight, and Optimus Prime allows him to land and state his case. Citing Cybertron law, Megatron proposes a contest between himself and Optimus Prime. There seems to be a piece missing from his speech, though. What he says is, "I come about a matter of Cybertron law. Our war has gone on for millions of years, Decepticons fighting Autobots, in which opposing leaders—you and I, Optimus Prime—may do battle." I think it would make more sense if he'd said something like, "Our war has gone on for millions of years, Decepticons fighting Autobots, in which there is no end in sight. I propose a decisive contest, in which opposing leaders—you and I, Optimus Prime—may do battle." I think his speech might have been the victim of an overzealous dialogue editor.
>
> With the other Autobots offering Optimus a strong show of support, Optimus agrees to the challenge. He's played right into Megatron's hands. Megatron even taunts him about this a little before flying off: "Somehow, I felt you would! You have such a strong sense of honor!"
>
> So, this is where it gets a little diabolical. The components that the Constructicons stole have been incorporated into Scrapper's invention, which is identified as a strength transfer machine. All the Decepticons have assembled for the experiment. Any epiosde in which the entire group is allegedly present does seem questionable, though, because there are almost always characters missing. The only Decepticons we actually see are Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Soundwave, Reflector, and Rumble. What about Ravage and Laserbeak? What about Frenzy? (Buzzsaw technically hasn't appeared on the show yet.) For that matter, what about the Insecticons? (Can you imagine a duel between Megatron and Optimus in which Megatron suddenly takes bites out of Optimus and starts EATING him?!)
>
> Anyway, Scrapper calls for each of the Decepticons to remove a power chip rectifier from his own circuitry and deposit it into the machine. These are the source of each Decepticon's special powers, apparently. Not dedicated hardwire circuitry or specialized internal components, but a single removable microchip. Starscream balks at the idea, partly because he doesn't want to give up his own special powers, but also pointing out that Megatron is technically cheating. Megatron considers this a minior loophole and is more concerned with the big picture. He threatens to kill Starscream, who wisely backs off.
>
> The strength transfer machine roars to life and there is a fury of energy as the Decepticon powers are transferred to Megatron. The exchange is a success, and Megatron now possesses the special abilities of all the other Decepticons, in addition to his own inherent powers. He vows to mop the floor with Optimus Prime, and we've reached our first commercial break.
>
> As we return, Starscream points out another problem: Teletraan I will likely be monitoring the ensuring battle, and will alert the Autobots if it detects any trickery. Megatron is prepared for this possibility, too. He sends the Constructicons into action, whose plan is to excavate beneath the Autobot base, come up in the middle of the control room, and destroy the computer before it can cry foul. At the Autobot base, Spike expresses his concerns about the duel, pointing out that "they don't call those creeps 'Decepticons' for nothing!" Optimus is more optimistic, because they don't call him "Optimus" for nothing. (See, I can do it too!) There's a moment where Optimus transforms into a cab with two wheels, before his trailer, with the rest of the cab portion, connects to him.
>
> As the Autobots drive up to the site of the contest, a dried up river bed, there's a scene where Ironhide returns to robot mode. In the first Rhino DVD release, the transformation sequence was backwards, so Ironhide changes from robot to vehicle. For the Shout Factory release, they could haved used the poor-quality one-inch master tapes, but instead they took the better-looking 35-millimeter footage and played it backwards. You can tell they digitized it, though, because Ironhide's transformation sequence looks blurry and pixelated. Well, they get a You Tried star, anyway.
>
> (Interstingly, there's another deleted scene where the Decepticons are flying towards the river bed, and Starscream is complaining that he can barely fly. It's implied that none of the Decepticon troops can even transform without their power chips, and the Autobots even observe that the Decepticons aren't showing off their usual aerial expertise.)
>
> Megatron makes some boastful claims about Optimus Prime's imminent defeat, and the respective sides take their seats as spectators in preparation for the fight. There's a cute moment where Soundwave ejects his various tapes so they can watch, and Soundwave pets Ravage's head. The Decepticon Apologists used to point to this scene a lot as evidence that the Decepticons were really pretty okay guys, and that Soundwave was a loving father. Or something.
>
> Prime keeps reminding Megatron that this is to be a fair mano a mano duel, as if he suspects Megatron has something up his sleeve. Almost immediately, Megatron takes advantage of his newfound powers, using the combined strength of enough Decepticons to grab Optimus by the hand and sending him hurtling to the ground. Starscream recognizes when his cluster bombs and null rays are being utilized, and loudly points this out to the other Decepticons. Megatron even uses that gun barrel mounted on his back, something we very rarely see him do (the Microman toy was designed to position it facing forwards in robot mode, hence Megatron's box art; I'm pretty sure having it point up on his back was a Hasbro invention, and the toy isn't exactly designed to accommodate this). Megatron can even cause earthquakes by pounding the ground with either his fist or his fusion cannon; in a cute moment, Rumble just looks at Thundercracker and points his thumb at himself, as if to say, "Yeah, that was me, I did that."
>
> (You're not going to believe this, but there's a deleted scene where Megatron actually transforms into a jet mode! He uses his newfound powers of flight to strafe Optimus before transforming back to robot mode. Perhaps not unexpectedly, Prime expresses considerable surprise that Megatron has never done this before. It would have been amazing to have gotten this moment in the final episode! It wouldn't have been a very good move from a toy-advertising perspective [in the storyboards, he seems to be drawn more or less like Starscream's jet mode] but there are lots of things the characters did on the show that their toys couldn't do. And it would have been epic! Finally, some validation for the Titans Return Voyager-class Megatron toy!)
>
> Determined to just end this chicanery, Prime picks up a gigantic boulder and chucks it at Megatron... who proceeds to teleport out of the way, Skywarp-style. Meanwhile, the Constructicons are hard at work, tunneling beneath the volcano. They break into the volcanic core to find a pool of molten magma. "Careful, Scrounge," warns Scrapper, "this volcano isn't inactive!" Or maybe he says "is indeed active!" It's hard to say. Regardless, he's definitely getting Scavenger's name wrong. Scrounge was an early, working name for the character (Scrapper was originally called Gravedigger). There are lots of characters who got renamed during preproduction (Trailbreaker was Guzzler; Windcharger was Sprint; Swoop was Divebomb; etc.) but Scavenger seems to be just about the only one whose preproduction name actually made it into a finished episode. Oops!
>
> (In the part of the fight where Megatron launches into the sky and Prime grabs his legs, there's a deleted part where Megatron can predict, telepathically, that Prime is about to do this, and says as much. Wheeljack makes a remark that Megatron seems to be able to read minds in the same manner as Soundwave.)
>
> Back at the river bed, the battle continues. Prime is giving it his best, but Megatron is pulling out all the stops and there's just no besting him. "You cannot blast what you cannot see... nor what you cannot hear!" he boasts, using Reflector and Thundercracker's abilities in turn. (In the original broadcast version of this episode, the sound effects obscure Megatron's dialogue so the word "see" isn't actually discernible. The sound was remixed for the DVD release and the sound effects no longer cover the dialogue. See, sometimes the original broadcast version isn't always better!) Megatron lands the final blast with his own fusion cannon, and Prime is down for the count. At almost exactly 14 minutes into the episode, that's the end of act two.
>
> After some advertising for Donkey Kong breakfast cereal and the state-of-the-art ColecoVision video game system, we return from our last commercial break to find the Autobots gathering around their fallen leader. Ironhide and the others want to retaliate, but Optimus insists that they abide by the conditions of their agreement. Despite the fact that he can barely transform, Prime is fully prepared to gather up the Autobots and leave Earth forever. In a touching show of camaraderie, Huffer offers to tow Prime's trailer so that he can save his strength. Megatron elects to follow the Autobots, ostensibly to ensure that "noble Optimus Prime" keeps his promise to leave. (In the original broadcast version of this episode, it's Huffer who is still towing the trailer away as the Decepticons follow. It's Prime in both DVD version of the episode.)
>
> As the Constructicons prepare to break through the cavern ceiling into the volcano base, Teletraan detects the Constructicon presence and summons the Dinobots into action, evidently activating them remotely. They really do just stand around in the broom closet until they're needed. "Teletraan One calls... Dinobots respond!" Grimlock grumbles. (The vocal flanging settings for the Dinobots seem weird in this episode. The regular Autobots, the Decepticons, the Insecticons, etc. each got their own voice amplification settings, but it sounds like somebody really cranked up the Dinobot settings in this episode. It's particularly noticeable in the sibilant "s" sounds in the dialogue for Grimlock, Slag, etc.)
>
> Just as the Constructicons set their sights on Teletraan, the Dinobots react with violence, blasting a gap in the side of the volcano wall and forcing the Constructicons out through the hole. (Grimlock even launches a missile out of his twin stunner laser gun, probably because the script called for him to use his galaxial rocket launcher, which came with the toy and was mentioned in his tech specs, but he never carried this weapon in the cartoon.) In a rare moment of awareness, Sludge observes that these are Decepticons that they've never encountered before. "Not see again, either," quips Snarl, "because we Dino-mite them to pieces!" Hard to tell from the voice delivery, but I'm sure he was making a pun here.
>
> The animation makes it so much fun to watch this episode. When the Dinobots get ready for battle, I love the way Grimlock and Slag just fall into their dinosaur modes. It's just such an incredibly smooth and fluid movement. I will be the first to admit that a lot of the animation in this show is pretty perfunctory, but moments like this are pure art. Sludge stomps the ground and opens up a river of magma; it's a brief scene, but we really should have lingered on this for a moment longer, because the fact that he did this becomes really important later.
>
> The Constructicons decide it's time to strike back, so they prepare to combine. In most episodes, the Constructicons have to transform to "phase one" first (change back to vehicle mode) and then initiate "phase two" (actually combining together). I've never really liked the design for Devastator. It's very plain. It has precisely the same amount of detail as any of the individual Constructicons, which seems wrong, sinve you'd think he would have six times the number of welded seams, metal plates, armor panels, etc. Each individual Constructicon actually loses a lot of detail when he transforms into a Devastator piece, which is unfortunate. They also had to cheat Devastator's animated design somewhat, since the toy is actually made up of a bunch of intermediate connector pieces (the pelvis part that connects Long Haul to Scrapper and Mixmaster; the Devastator head piece, which serves as a connector for Hook and Long Haul; etc.) The contention of the show is that Long Haul forms Devastator's entire body, including the chest shield, minus the tops of the shoulders and the head. It's not the most elegant solution, but I guess it beats having pieces flying from off-screen. (Also: Devastator has two animation models for his head, one with individual eyes and one with goggles. He switches back and forth between them a lot. Not just in this episode, but in several of them.)
>
> The fight between Devastator and the Dinobots is pretty good. Grimlock is at the top of his form when he sinks his teeth into Devastator's forearm, but he is rewarded when Devastator flings him into a rocky outcropping. Snarl is looking especially dynamic when he gives Devastator a good, solid whack with his tail, after which Devastator kicks him straight into the air. He lands near the magma river; Snarl can draw energy from the Sun, and I don't know if he can absorb power from molten lava in the same way. He springs up suddenly, though, either reacting to a newfound energy charge, or just because his ass is hanging over a river of molten rock and it hurts like hell.
>
> The Autobots observe that the Dinobots are engaged in combat, and Ironhide wants to help out until Optimus reminds him of the Cybertron code of combat. I don't see how this is applicable, honestly. Besides, the agreement between Prime and Megatron concerned only Autobots and Decepticons; no mention was made of Dinobots or Constructicons. But, I suppose, that's a legal technicality, and now I'm just thinking like a Decepticon. (There's also a red-colored Wheeljack in this scene. I call him Fender Bender.) I guess it's good that the Dinobots aren't legally bound by the agreement, or else Prime would have recalled them back to the base as well.
>
> "Uh, sorry about that," Ironhide seems to say for no reason as Optimus Prime is being repaired. (It's the tail-end of a moment where Ironhide pounds the cavern wall in frustration, but only this moment remains in the finished episode.) As Ratchet and Wheeljack wonder how Prime could have been defeated by Megatron so easily, Chip Chase calls up an energy scan on Prime's damaged components, and Teletraan is able to identify the Decepticons that damaged him (i.e., all of them). Amusingly, when the display of the various Decepticons pops up on Teletraan's computer screen, the Hasbro product numbers are used for them. For example, the number 5781 appears next to Starscream, which is the same product code that appeared on Starscream's toy packaging, instructions, and sticker sheet. Even more comical is that Rumble is identified by Teletraan as a "red robot," because somebody was using Hasbro data for reference. And what about Reflector, a toy that actually wasn't sold by Hasbro until two years after this episode was made? He's identified as number 5793, very likely the number that WOULD have been associated with Reflector if he had been sold at retail in 1984. (Eventually, Reflector was sold in 1996 through a mail-order offer. Reflector's G1 instructions and sticker sheet didn't have a Hasbro number listed at all, and he's got number 12505 on his plain mailer box.)
>
> So, the Autobots figure out that the agreement with Megatron is null and void. Now it's finally time for them to do something. This moment is thematically similar to the Autobots returning from exile in "Megatron's Master Plan," and also calls for Prime to make an important realization before he is able to change his mind and actually take action. Outside, Devastator is shocked by the sudden appearance of a gigantic Autobot even larger than he is (spoiler: it's a hologram). The huge Autobot taunts him and laughs, distracting him long enough for Prime to ready a carefully-aimed shot at Devastator that breaks him into his component Constructicons. (Devastator actually splits into seven pieces, including the chest shield, which doesn't seem to be attached to any of them this time. In other episodes, it appears to be somehow formed by Long Haul's truck bed.) It doesn't make sense for a huge combined form to have such an obvious weakness, but it's a very common theme on this show for the combiners to get knocked apart into their individual team members.
>
Zobovor (the Man with All the Toys)
Dec 16, 2017, 5:04:28 PM12/16/17
to
On Saturday, December 16, 2017 at 9:00:46 AM UTC-7, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
> There was such a massive pool of voice actors back then. Now cartoons
> seem to all be voiced by the same people, but each cartoon only needs 5-10
> actors.
Well, it really depends. On a show like SpongeBob Squarepants where you only have a small handful of regular characters, you don't need very many performers. Transformers had hundreds of characters, which required a much larger pool of actors. I think the available pool of existing actors is roughly the same size, but we don't seem to have as many truly talented performers in modern now. Tom Kenny comes to mind, and Tara Strong, and a few others, but it goes back to my theory about craftsmanship. We get so many movie actors who come in to record cartoon voices, and they just sit there and recite their lines. They're not really acting or emoting.
> There was such a massive pool of voice actors back then. Now cartoons
> seem to all be voiced by the same people, but each cartoon only needs 5-10
> actors.
> They needed a season 4 episode where the Constructicons build a time machine
> and reconcile all the conflicting origins.
> They probably reused the animation in a different episode, except for
> Ironhide's line.
> If the Shock-blast cannon had worked, how short would this episode have been?
> I don't understand how so many mistakes were made for the DVD releases. They
> reverse a part here, they do bad cropping earlier. Were they just doing a
> terrible job fixing perceived other mistakes? They ddn't fix a number of
> coloring mistakes.
The problem was when Rhino originally went to collect the episodes for the DVD release, it was the early, unfinished episodes that they found instead of the final broadcast versions. So, it wasn't Rhino trying to fix mistakes and creating more problems (usually); it was usually just an early cut of the episode.
With that said, Rhino actually DID try to fix mistakes in some episodes, like making Shockwave's eye flash in a few scenes from "The Ultimate Doom" because the animators had forgotten to do so.
> I always hate when story delivering scenes are cut.
> I had the same thought, but since it was a deleted scene, TR Megatron remains
> unvalidated.
> The giant Autobot looked like a weird combination of Skyfire and Broadside
> to me. The first time I watched it my brain just said Skyfire.
Zob (wants a toy of the Giant Decepticon Warrior from the Micromaster commercials)
Optim_1
Dec 17, 2017, 12:51:02 AM12/17/17
to
On Friday, 15 December 2017 15:03:30 UTC-5, Zobovor (the Man with All the Toys) wrote:
>
> So, this is where it gets a little diabolical. The components that the Constructicons stole have been incorporated into Scrapper's invention, which is identified as a strength transfer machine. All the Decepticons have assembled for the experiment. Any epiosde in which the entire group is allegedly present does seem questionable, though, because there are almost always characters missing. The only Decepticons we actually see are Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Soundwave, Reflector, and Rumble. What about Ravage and Laserbeak? What about Frenzy? (Buzzsaw technically hasn't appeared on the show yet.) For that matter, what about the Insecticons? (Can you imagine a duel between Megatron and Optimus in which Megatron suddenly takes bites out of Optimus and starts EATING him?!)
Didn't the Decepticons and Insecticons part on very bad terms in "Plague of Insecticons?" In fact, didn't they always not get along in every other episode? So, the Insecticons would probably not have agreed to give their powers to Megatron if he actually asked them.
>
> So, this is where it gets a little diabolical. The components that the Constructicons stole have been incorporated into Scrapper's invention, which is identified as a strength transfer machine. All the Decepticons have assembled for the experiment. Any epiosde in which the entire group is allegedly present does seem questionable, though, because there are almost always characters missing. The only Decepticons we actually see are Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Soundwave, Reflector, and Rumble. What about Ravage and Laserbeak? What about Frenzy? (Buzzsaw technically hasn't appeared on the show yet.) For that matter, what about the Insecticons? (Can you imagine a duel between Megatron and Optimus in which Megatron suddenly takes bites out of Optimus and starts EATING him?!)
OTOH, the electical zap Megatron gives Optimus while shaking his hand could be from Shrapnel's power chip rectifier.
>
> With Devastator no longer a threat, the Dinobots are free to focus their assault on the individual Constructicons. Sludge shoots lasers from his mouth. Slag shoots with his horns. Sludge gets another turn with his eye lasers (I'm sure one of these moments was supposed to be Grimlock, but it really is drawn as Sludge both times). Snarl fires snot lasers out of his nostrils. I wish I was making this up, but I'm not.
>
> This is one of my favorite episodes to watch. The visuals are great eye candy and the best animated moments just never get old. Prime and Megatron getting into a full-blown, no-holds-barred, good ol' fashioned Transformer smackdown is what every little kid watching this show wanted to see, and only their final fight from The Transformers: the Movie even comes close to rivaling it. This may be the very best episode of the first season.
>
>
> Zob (going to see The Last Jedi tomorrow)
Optim_1
Dec 17, 2017, 12:58:43 AM12/17/17
to
On Saturday, 16 December 2017 11:00:46 UTC-5, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
> >
>
> There were quite a number of deleted scenes.
>
They could easily have made the episode a two-parter with the deleted scenes added. The first part could end with Optimus's defeat as the cliffhanger. The storyboards show an extended Dinobots-Devastator fight that could have helped pad out the second part.
> >
>
> There were quite a number of deleted scenes.
>
http://cartoonpaperwork.com/network/dt/003.shtml
Zobovor (the Man with All the Toys)
Dec 17, 2017, 2:34:10 AM12/17/17
to
On Saturday, December 16, 2017 at 10:51:02 PM UTC-7, Optim_1 wrote:
> I thought the animation in this episodes was uneven. It also seems different
> from a typical Toei animated TF episode. The lines on the bodies, faces and
> especially the eyes seem softer and rounded rather than straight and angular.
I think that might be because the supplemental models for the characters' heads and faces hadn't been developed by this point. For season two, Floro Dery went back and created close-up model shots of the characters' helmets and faces from multiple angles. Prior to this point, character faces were sometimes being interpreted as soft and rounded, as you say, instead of the sharper, angular look we got in later Toei installments like "Dinobot Island" or The Transformers: the Movie.
> I thought the animation in this episodes was uneven. It also seems different
> from a typical Toei animated TF episode. The lines on the bodies, faces and
> especially the eyes seem softer and rounded rather than straight and angular.
> Was it good? Should I go see it?
Zob (and BB-8, the little interloper, is actually starting to grow on me)
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