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Gustavo's Thoughts on "The Master Builder"

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Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats

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Apr 15, 2016, 12:09:52 AM4/15/16
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"The Master Builder" is an episode of the second season.

Seriously, if you were to pick an arbitrary, representative episode this would be it -- it spotlights a couple of characters who do nothing of note before or after this episode, Powerglide appears, it has a weird sports thing for comedy, and it demonstrates that Optimus knows best. I can completely see why this is some people's favorite episode as it is completely and utterly typical, and generally succeeds at everything it tries to do.

We start with Powerglide flying about bragging to himself, because someone thought Powerglide was going to be the big breakout character. I do love the opening, where the camera pulls out, revealing that you have been looking through Powerglide's cockpit. We are probably supposed to identify with Powerglide in this scene, but I'm pretty much on Skywarp's side, as he starts shooting the plucky little Autobot.

Unfortunately, Powerglide shoots down the Audience Identification Character, but he is then shot down by Starscream, so there's at least some justice in the world.

We then cut to Hoist and Grappel in the Autobot base, as Grappel is working on a model of his Solar Power Tower. The character model for Hoist looks awful. "Here comes the sun!" Grappel exclaims as he turns on a desk lamp. Hoist is amazed by the desk lamp, while the model Solar Power Tower sparkles and makes weird noises like change being dispensed.

Grappel is worried that Optimus Prime will not be impressed, saying "If he's not impressed, I will be depressed", but Hoist reassures him that Optimus will love it, and offers to help present it.

It's a bold choice having two single-handed robots holding down this episode, by the way. I wish they would high five, and then dual with their nozzle hands.

Also, every time Grappel turns his head, I think of how impossible that is on the toy.

There's a scene change from Autobot to Decepticon logos, suggesting someone in the next scene is secretly a Decepticon spy. Also, there is marching music. They wheel the model and desklamp past Wheeljack who is suitably impressed: "A-Ok, Grappel, with a capital A!" It is a miracle the desk lamp does not explode then and there.

Meanwhile, Optimus and Spike are playing basketball. In deference to their size differences, the basketball is almost as large as Spike's torso.

Optimus would like to know if his is drooling correctly, and when Spike corrects him, Optimus's massive hand swings past the boy, barely missing him. This is comedy gold right here -- we have the Transformers as fishbot-out-of-lubricant playing sports and getting biological terms wrong. Optimus then spins the basketball on his finger.

The astute viewer would assume that the Autobot leader is going to learn some important lesson from playing basketball, which will come up later.

As Grappel and Hoist arrive, showing off their little model, Optimus says "Compute fast!" and throws the basketball at Spike with such force that it knocks him off his feet -- he hits the ground with an audible thud. There are only two possible interpretations of this -- either Optimus did it on purpose, or Spike could have been killed at any moment while playing basketball with a massive 30 foot tall robot weighing several tons.

"Wow," Spike says, visibly impressed by the cart Grappel and Hoist are wheeling the model in on. "Did you make that slick doohicky?" The cart should be bigger than Spike.

"And what does your doohicky do?" Optimus asks. The wordplay is surprisingly good for Transformers.

Grappel explains that it does nothing since it is just a model, Hoist begins to explain further, and Grappel cuts him off and says that they want to create a full sized tower because it would be awesome.

"I agree completely," Optimus says. "But, how do you plan to defend it against the Decepticons. Perhaps you didn't consider that..."

"No, Optimus, I'm afraid I didn't..." Grappel replies, uncomfortably because Optimus has touched him without permission.

"Then I must regretfully withhold approval of the tower..." Optimus goes on.

It's really odd that Optimus insists on Grappel working out the security arrangements himself. He's just shooting down Grappel's ideas for fun at this point. In a healthy organization, one will recognize that individuals work as part of a team, and that different individuals will contribute different portions of the overall project. Grappel has a grand plan for a Solar Power Tower, and if it is truly revolutionary, the Autobots should find a way to handle its protection -- perhaps by constructing it right in front of the base, which they have to protect anyway, or by using an automated defense grid powered by the Solar Power Tower itself which will eventually go awry and prevent anyone from getting within 30 miles of the tower.

Teletraan-1 then interrupts Grappel's disappointment with condition magenta. Powerglide was shot down by enemy fire in Sector 3.

Hoist drags Grappel out with him to rescue Powerglide from the Decepticons.

Optimus says nothing as they drive away. There is a surprising lack of specialization among the Autobots in this episode. Sure, they are civilians who are pressed into service by the war, but some are bound to be better at warfare than others, and a good commander would take note of that, and plan accordingly. I don't think Optimus actually values his non-military Autobots, even if they do the important task of keeping his fighting force in fighting shape.

Here, for instance, there could be Decepticons waiting to ambush the repair team. Powerglide was shot down, so it seems reasonable to assume that the Decepticons had a reason for not finishing him off... bait. And, destroying the maintenance crew would hurt the Autobots more than destroying one or two warriors.

Luckily, the Decepticons were not hanging around waiting to shoot anyone who tried to repair Powerglide, so Grappel is free to complain about his genius being wasted and that he might as well be a grease monkey like Hoist.

The relationship between Hoist and Grappel is actually pretty well done. Grappel is the smarted, but more insecure one, and Hoist helps give him confidence. Meanwhile, Hoist gets to actually maybe accomplish something by helping out Grappel. Also, between the two of them they have a single pair of hands. They work together as a team better than the rest of the Autobots do.

Driving back from repairing Powerglide, Grappel and Hoist are in a narrow canyon when Grappel begins to talk Hoist into building the Power Tower without Optimus's approval. Hoist is concerned about that, but Grappel says that they must not let the Decepticons intimidate them. Hoist then rebuts the argument on practical grounds, and Grappel sadly agrees that they cannot build it themselves.

Meanwhile, far above, on either side of the canyon, massive Constructicons are watching and listening.If the canyon is 30 feet across, then each Constructicon must be 300-500 feet tall. Obviously, the out of universe explanation is that this is just poor perspective by the animators, but in universe, I can only conclude that there is some kind of non-Euclidian geometry going on.

Hoist gets nervous because of the vibrations, and then spots the Constructicons, who each remain about the size of Devastator. The Contructicons dump rocks and dirt onto the Autobots, trapping them.

Hoist and Grappel believe that they are doomed and will have to fight their way out, despite Scrapper's immediate pleas that they are just there to talk. Hoist makes some clever rejoinder before he and Grappel start firing.

On top of the canyon, Bonecrusher pushes the wall of the canyon onto the Autobots, burying them alive. At this point, the canyon has a weird structure, as the lip of the canyon sticks up and I can only assume that the entire thing is not natural, as at least one wall of the canyon is just a wall -- either this was a Decepticon plot all along, or the canyon was man-made. Perhaps it was an earthen dam created by native americans, and it has since fallen into disrepair and all the water leaked out centuries ago.

I prefer to think that it was a plot. Starscream and Skywarp shoot down Powerglide, then Hoist and Grappel go out to repair him, and the Constructicons trap the repair bots. The canyon was either just a wall built up to topple on our heros, or the Constructicons dug out a large trench at the top of an existing canyon and stacked that dirt up to topple. They then improvise upon hearing of the Solar Power Tower.

Now that Grappel and Hoist are trapped, Scrapper can return and make his case without being shot at. Scrapper says that they are not the enemy and that Megatron knows nothing of the meeting. Hoist gets an arm free and aims, but Grappel tells him to wait.

Scrapper says that if they wanted the Autobots dead, they would already be dead. Bonecrusher helpfully points out that they could still do that, but Scrapper points out that this wasn't really helpful at all.

Grappel wants to know what the Constructicons want, and Scrapper explains that they have left Megatron, because he took them (and their feelings) for granted. Scrapper continues by explaining that back on Cybertron, Grappel's buildings were works of art, and that they could make beautiful music together.

Meanwhile, Megatron and Starscream are watching on a video screen -- a rock formation tips back revealing a camera. This is pretty clearly a Decepticon built canyon. Starscream says "*those* traitors should be deconstructed at once, Mighty Megatron" -- he really does emphasize the word "those", so the statement doesn't apply to him. Megatron says "Leave it to me."

Is this the only time that Starscream actually refers to "Mighty Megatron" in a non-mocking tone of voice? I mean, not flagrantly mocking.

Hoist and Grappel debate whether to seek the aid of the Constructicons to build to Solar Power Tower. Hoist questions whether they will ever be able to trust the Constructicons completely, but this is a more practical question than the usual "Can you ever really know or trust anyone completely?" argument that comes from smoking too much pot in a dorm room,

"I must have your decision," Scrapper says. I have always had trouble telling the Constructicons apart because of the common color scheme, but they do look so good together. I have similar problems with the Aerialbots. I think what I really want is a combiner team that has different accent colors but otherwise a similar color scheme. (And yes, the Aerialbots do differ... barely).

"And we must have proof, that you are telling the truth," Grappel responds, demonstrating that all orange Autobots have a tendency to rhyme. It is good of him to struggle against this, and mostly succeed.

"You shall have the proof that you require," Scrapper says, and then fires at the rocks that are burying the Autobots. Grappel gasps, showing that he really doesn't trust the Constructicons, but that he is burying his distrust beneath his ambitions.

We have a scene change, and the Constructicons are back at the Decepticon base, where they are greeted by Starscream, Skywarp and Megatron. Starscream is holding a rifle on them, rather than aiming his useless null rays.

"Ah, my /loyal/ Constructicons. You are loyal, aren't you? No, you are traitors!" Megatron says. Various Constructicons appear to gasp at this, as Megatron shows images taken from the rock-cam.

Scrapper: "Megatron, you've got it all wrong!"
Hook: "We're still working for you, and the glory of the Decepticons!"
Bonecrusher: "You see, we eavesdropped on their plans!"
Long Haul: "To build a whopper solar tower!"
Scavenger: "To produce megawatts of energy!"
Mixmaster: "Which we can use to destroy the Autobots, get it? Ha ha ha"

I really like that scene, as it shows there is a connection between the Constructicons even when they aren't combined.

After panning across the Constructicons, we pan across the Seekers persent: Skywarp, Dirge, Starscream and Ramjet, all holding rifles. They don't speak, or finish each others' sentences.

Megatron advises the Constructicons that it would be inadvisable to betray him. The Constructicons say that they need proof to convince Grappel, oh Noble Megatron.

Megatron sits down, in a chair, to demonstrate that his body is not so disfigured by kibble that he is unable to sit in a chair, and suggests that they give Grappel his most treasured possession. Megatron then laughs an entirely inappropriate laugh.

And back to Grappel and Hoist. The Constructicons arrive with a load of energon cubes -- apparently Megatron thought better of giving his most treasured possession, and decided that Energon cubes were good enough. Scrapper, or someone who might be Scrapper alleges that they stole them from Megatron.

The Autobots are suitably impressed. "It's enough energy to build your tower," Hoist says. "Yes, my dream is coming true," Grappel responds. Grappel is completely enthralled with the idea of creating his tower and is ignoring his best judgement. Hoist is just an enabler.

And then the Constructicons go off and hold up a liquor store to get building materials. The liquor store wasn't finished yet, and would be one of the world's first skyscraper liquor stores, but the Constructicons got what they needed anyway.

The foreman on sight just tears up the plans to the world's largest liquor store.

And another scene change. Grappel and Scavenger are studying the plans for the Solar Power Tower, while the model sits around near them. There is a bit of a construction montage, and Grappel never asks where the construction materials came from. He knows, but he just doesn't want to know.

"As soon as my Power Tower is finished," Grappel says, "I must find a place to sign my name in very large letters."

Back outside the Autobot base, the Autobots continue to play basketball. The basketball court is weirdly green, and Optimus is playing against robots much smaller than him. Very sporting, Optimus.

"Watch out, Spike, I am driving for a layoff!" Optimus declares, even though Spike is not on the court. I suspect that Spike is entertaining himself by having giant robots do his bidding.

Optimus continues to be sporting by using the secret power of flight -- which Autobots had vowed not to use since MTMTE, to help make a shot. He then tells Tracks that he (Tracks) needs maintenance. Prime is such an asshole.

Meanwhile, Spike is weirdly gritting his teeth and running down to the basketball field. Tracks is explaining that he would love to go in for some maintenance -- perhaps a nice ring job -- but that he is having a doozy of a time getting an appointment with his Hoistness.

When Optimus declares that he needs to have a world with Hoist, Spike explains that Hoist and Grappel have been gone all day, and then points at Smokescreen. Optimus decides Powerglide should go search for them.

The wierdest thing in this scene isn't the basketball field in resplendent green on the desert, nor the Autobots playing basketball, but Spike's behavior. The teeth in particular, and that wild pointing at Smokescreen. I cannot help but think that the entire scene was redubbed, and that Spike was originally filled with rage, shouting at Smokescreen for cheating.

Back on the construction site, someone has created a shack for Grappel to hold court, and listen to Constructicons acknowledge their incompetence. So, Grappel is off to the tower, showing Scavenger how to weld, and Hook how to install panels. I am pretty sure that Hook is just feigning incompetence so Grappel will do all the work -- "Hmmm, fabulous! But you better do a couple more of them, as I don't think I've quite got it yet."

No one shows Long Haul how to haul things, and he is getting tired of it. He wants to build something someday.

We then get another view of Powerglide expanding outwards from the cockpit showing only sky -- was this the only episode that did that? I remember a 3rd season episode where the scene is revealed to be on a viewscreen...

Powerglide interrupts Optimus rolling a basketball up and down the backs of his arms, with the news that Grappel and Hoist are collaborating with Decepticons. Optimus is angry, says that they better have an explanation and then declares... DISASTER CODE BLUE!

Between Condition Magenta, and Disaster Code Blue, I suspect that the writers had kind of given up. It is excellent.

And at the worksite, the Constructicons merge into Devastator to put the solar focusing ball on top of the tower. They appear to change size multiple times in this sequence.

As soon as Grappel declares it to be done, Megatron appears and shoots the ground out from under them, so they plummet into a hole. Devastator then lifts the Autobots out of the hole -- has he switched sides, or is he going to crush them in his fists?

"Magnificent," Megatron declares, "Now the gullible twosome will perish inside their own tower!" As Megatron rubs his hands together, we get a weird sound effect. The Decepticons get to work getting energon.

Optimus and a small selection of robots with vehicle modes completely unsuited for off-road, drive across a green field, and then attack. Laser beams come out of headlights, and the battle is on.

Megatron's first command: "Fall back and regroup!"

Constructicons sneak behind the tower and then merge into Devastator. As their body components become arms and legs, we get the same sound effect as the tiny Solar Power Tower.

Fight, Fight. Bang, Bang. Shoot, Shoot. Megatron has binoculars in his chest. Devastator reaches into the ground, and then shoots his hand up somewhere else to attack Warpath. "Hey, here I am, you scrap metal meatball" More fighting and the tower is destroyed.

I just cannot care about fight scenes.

"My Magnificent Tower!" Megatron shouts. "You Autobots will pay for this!" And then Megatron flies away.

The Autobots search the remains of the Tower for Grappel and Hoist, and discover them frozen in carbonite. Ironhide makes fun of them, but Optimus demands they be released fast, so Brawn punches them until the material crumbles. Two punches.

Once the battered and weakened Autobots are freed, Optimus says that they will have to clean up all the rubble by themselves. Grappel examines the remains, finds the model, says "It was incredible for a little while, wasn't it?" And then throws the model into the scrap heap again.

-----

Overall, this is a pretty decent episode, despite the repeated appearances of Powerglide.

The relationship between Grappel and Hoist is excellent, for instance. This is Grappel's spotlight episode, and we get to see him not only as a gullible and arrogant fool, but also as someone who Hoist considers to be a friend -- even if we are never shown any good sides to Grappel, we rest assured he must have some.

The Constructicons were very nice -- some of them got a brief cameo of personality, like Long Haul's desire to build, and Hook just slacking off and getting Grappel to keep showing him how to do something until it was done. The scene at the Decepticon base, where there is one thought running through the bunch of them was simultaneously creepy and illuminating as to their relationship. It wasn't quite Reflector levels of creepy, but even when separated there is clearly a connection.

The basketball was... there. Perhaps it shouldn't have been, but part of G1 is the goofy attempts at humor.

Optimus was a complete dick in this episode.

And now back to working on "The Littlest Stunticon"!






Zobovor

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Apr 15, 2016, 11:42:21 PM4/15/16
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On Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 10:09:52 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Seriously, if you were to pick an arbitrary, representative episode this
> would be it -- it spotlights a couple of characters who do nothing of note
> before or after this episode

Oh, Hoist gets at least two more episodes where he's arguably the star of the show (quite literally the star, in the case of "Hoist Goes Hollywood").

> the model Solar Power Tower sparkles and makes weird noises like change being
> dispensed.

It's probably my least favorite sound effect in the entire show. It really sounds horrible.

> It's a bold choice having two single-handed robots holding down this episode,
> by the way.

Let it never be said that differently-abled robots never get representation on this show!

> Also, every time Grappel turns his head, I think of how impossible that is on
> the toy.

Sometimes this sort of things bothers me and sometimes I ignore it. It's easier for me to accept characters moving their bodies in accordance with human anatomy (almost none of the G1 toys had moving legs or working elbows). I dislike it when they come up with stuff that you cannot reenact with the toys, though. Like Inferno swiveling his ladder.





> The astute viewer would assume that the Autobot leader is going to learn some
> important lesson from playing basketball, which will come up later.

THAT'S what is missing from the episode. Optimus lectures Grapple and Hoist and throws in a clever basketball metaphor for good measure. "Next time you need to make a three-point shot, make sure your head's in the game! Transform and roll out!"

> "And what does your doohicky do?" Optimus asks. The wordplay is surprisingly
> good for Transformers.

There's a lot more word play in this episode than usual. Starscream's reference to wanting the Constructicons to get DE-constructed, Grapple's assertion that if Prime isn't IM-pressed, Grapple will be DE-pressed; etc. For a long time I had assumed this was the work of the credited episode authors, but I've learned recently that almost all of this mad punnery was added by Ron Friedman, the guy who rewrote nearly every line of dialogue for the show.

> if it is truly revolutionary, the Autobots should find a way to handle its
> protection

Build the damn thing inside of Omega Supreme's tank tracks. Bam. Problem solved.

> I prefer to think that it was a plot. Starscream and Skywarp shoot down
> Powerglide, then Hoist and Grappel go out to repair him, and the
> Constructicons trap the repair bots.

At least that would give the attack on Powerglide some meaning, instead of just being a random Decepticon strafe attack. It's highly uncharacteristic of the Autobots to just make repairs in the field, though. I'm thinking of instances like Ratchet and Wheeljack going to pick up Powerglide in "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide" or Hoist towing the Dinobots back to base in "Desertion of the Dinobots." It's weird that they fixed Powerglide right there on the spot.

> Is this the only time that Starscream actually refers to "Mighty Megatron" in
> a non-mocking tone of voice? I mean, not flagrantly mocking.

It might be an isolated incident. It certainly is a rarity for Starscream. It's even more of a rarity that he was present in this episode and didn't completely overshadow events with his Starscreamness.

I wonder if anybody ever used the "mighty Megatron" and "mighty Galvatron" titles as evidence arguing that they were the same person?

> I have always had trouble telling the Constructicons apart because of the
> common color scheme, but they do look so good together. I have similar
> problems with the Aerialbots. I think what I really want is a combiner team
> that has different accent colors but otherwise a similar color scheme.

I feel the same way about the Dreadnoks from G.I. Joe, and I don't even have the excuse that they're all wearing the same colors. They all have beards and sunglasses, though, and that's apparently enough to confuse me.

Regarding color schemes, I like how they handled the Predacons. Razorclaw is mostly black and orange with some yellow. Headstrong is mostly yellow and red with some black. Rampage is mostly red and black with some orange. Tantrum is mostly orange and grey with some red. Divebomb is mostly black and orange with some yellow. So, not identical color schemes, but still somewhat uniform.

> I really like that scene, as it shows there is a connection between the
> Constructicons even when they aren't combined.

I also really like Mixmaster's goofy laugh.

> Grappel never asks where the construction materials came from. He knows, but
> he just doesn't want to know.

This is a good observation. He knows the Decepticons usually steal their raw materials, but of course if he questions Scrapper about it, he risks throwing away their entire working relationship.

> No one shows Long Haul how to haul things, and he is getting tired of it. He
> wants to build something someday.

Long Haul is the Charlie Brown of the Transformers universe. Nothing ever goes right for him. Also, he turns into Devastator's butt.

> Between Condition Magenta, and Disaster Code Blue, I suspect that the writers
> had kind of given up. It is excellent.

Well, no. It's clear from this episode that the Autobots have a very carefully laid-out color-coded alert system. We can infer that the colors go in the order of the rainbow. Since Powerglide getting shot down by Decepticons is more urgent a problem than Grapple being discovered cavorting with the Constructicons, it probably goes like this:

Condition Red: Lowest state of readiness. Ironically named after Red Alert, who panics over nothing.

Condition Orange: Slightly elevated state of readiness. Example: One of the Dinobots has woken up and stumbled out of the closet.

Condition Yellow: Heightened state of readiness. Example: There are new Insecticon bite marks on the outside of the Ark.

Condition Green: Extreme state of readiness. Decepticons have been detected and Soundwave has ejected more than one tape.

Condition Blue: Disaster-level. Sheepacrons have been lost.

Condition Magenta: Holy shit, it's a lion. Get in the car.

> As Megatron rubs his hands together, we get a weird sound effect.

It sounds like he's trying to open a jar of peanut butter. (Condition Yellow! Can't get the peanut butter jar open!)

> I just cannot care about fight scenes.

They are necessary as part of the medium, but I agree they can be boring sometimes.

> The basketball was... there. Perhaps it shouldn't have been, but part of G1
> is the goofy attempts at humor.

For some reason, the image of Prime spinning a basketball on his fingertip is very iconic in my mind. I have a tiny plastic basketball and for a very long time, my Masterpiece Optimus Prime toy was holding it. I don't know why he doesn't still have it.

Lots of cartoon shows break into impromptu sports games and it's varying degrees of clever or embarrassing. Maybe it's never appealed to me much because I'm not into professional sports in the slightest. The original Ninja Turtles cartoon had an episode where the Turtles are trying to get an energy crystal and it turns into a football game, with the crystal getting tossed back and forth and Krang even saying to Rocksteady, "Pass it to me, Rocky! I'm open!" There was another episode where they were playing basketball and somebody actually wrote a Harlem Globetrotters style theme just for that episode, only they were whistling the TMNT theme song.


Zob (and then there was the episode of Red Dwarf where they play a game of pool with actual planets)
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