Blackout and A Matter of Gravity Review

Mast doesn't know what it's getting into. We'll

be right back. Well, before we get into Mast

Mayhem episode 12, I and TF2 and Mike last week

in the editing process forgot to include Bruce's

words. So here are some words of wisdom from

Bruce Sato from last week's episode. What's that?

He who laughs at quicksand should be sure of

his own feet. We've got to get to the root of

this, fast. There is no journey unless the first

step is taken. Uh, right. We're leaving immediately,

Matt. If at first you don't succeed, drop a magnetic

bomb. Now back to mask and venom. Hello, this

is Steve, Joe, and Mike, and welcome to The Mayhem.

This is Mast Mayhem, episode 12. And with me,

as always, is my Rhino co -pilot, Optimus Solo.

Hello. Good day. In this episode of Mast Mayhem,

we'll be giving you our thoughts on episodes

28, Blackout, and episode 29, A Matter of Gravity.

What the hell is a Transformers character doing

in this episode? I know you're going to say that.

So buckle up and enjoy the ride. Our dream machine

is almost ready for the big time. And I've given

it a suitable name for its debut. Blackout. Well,

what if opening night's a bomb? Nothing's lost.

I never paid the Japanese inventor the two million

for making it. That guy sure got a yen for money.

Get it? A yen for money. We get it. Knucklehead

As you know the blackout can suck up electricity

from any object or machine So I've had our vehicle

specially insulated blackout can also shoot a

high voltage blast Destroying almost anything

you mean it's a dead end for anything that stands

in our way Then why are we taking a coffee break?

because we have to make one more collection of

power here we go blackout take it away with the

plot all right another trip to japan this time

on the server what nothing this time on the super

bullet train that matt helped fund of course

then there's a big power outage that is caused

by venom or a blackout, if you'd like to say

that. The train is taken out of commission until

it can be cleared because they're not sure if

it had something to do with a blackout. And then

we see this new vehicle unveiled for venom that

they're going to use in this episode, which is

appropriately named Blackout. And then all the

venom vehicles we learn have been specially insulated

to be protected from Blackout's abilities to

basically electrically charge everything and

short everything, et cetera. Now Venom needs

one last power stock so they're going to get

some more power from a different place Meanwhile

Mask is investigating to try to clear the bullet

train and they see Venom So then we have a real

quick showdown just between Thunderhawk and Blackout

T Bob gets knocked out Matt's in trouble after

losing out to Blackout and then we have another

commercial cliffhanger But that gets solved real

quick after the commercial and he's got to assemble

a mask team That's funny because somebody asked

him something and he's like, but right now I've

got to assemble the M .A .S .K. team. Transport

arrives with the M .A .S .K. team, which includes

Matt, Alex, Bruce, and Gloria for once. M .A

.S .K. tracks down the builder of the Blackout

who is supposed to get two million dollars to

build this but never got paid. So then they come

up with a plan to overload Blackout using a horseshoe

formation and T -Bob as the conductor. So T -Bob's

going to be part of the plan. We have our mass

venom showdown. Mass sets up the horseshoe trap.

And T -Bob saves the day by funneling all of

their power that they harnessed from Blackout

back to it and destroying it. And we have the

regular four venom members. So it was four on

four this episode. So what did you think about

the plot for Blackout? OK, we've got a couple

of plot notes here. Okay, I guess there's a plot

here, right? If there is, someone please explain

it to me, because it is never said why Venom

is draining the energy. Mayhem never says it's

to ransom the country's energy supply or that

they'll use it to fuel their own evil ways. No

explanation is bad. Oh yeah, they're using it

to fuel blackouts so it can be a supercar, but...

They don't really mention why they're going to

use, like, are they just going to try to take

out masks once and for all? Yeah, they don't.

They say why they're using blackout, but they

don't say why. They say how they're using blackout,

but they don't say what the whole plan is at

all. Right. Japan and bullet train, yay. Give

me locomotive any day. I'm so sick of Aster train

being a bullet train. Uh, so Matt tells Scott

and T -Bob to hide in the hangar, which they

do to a point, and then they are out standing

on some barrels. T -Bitch loses his balance,

falls, and is offline. Part of the plot in this

is Matt is knocked out. There was a gas tanker

that explodes and a trail of fire is headed for

Matt, and he overturned Thunderhawk. Scott keeps

trying to wake T -Bitch for like five damn minutes,

and he finally opens his dome and fixes him because

Matt is too heavy. for Scott to pull away from

the fire by himself. Okay, I can understand that

Matt being too heavy for Scott, but the fact

that you're not running to find another masked

team member to help you versus trying to wake

your dumbass robot? Which, by the way, you've

mentioned three or four times, actually way more

than that, you've mentioned a dozen times that

T -Bob's not human so he can't be sleeping. Well,

he was knocked offline and there's a different

I know but it's just funny that you use the word

wake up and I'm gonna be Scott This just proves

my point this Scott was the worst 80s kids Worst

80s kid in cartoons ever. He just is That yeah,

I don't know what are your thoughts on the plot?

I mean, I don't mind the plot if there wasn't,

like you said, an explanation for what the ultimate

goal of having blackout was going to be. If it's

just we're just souping it up so we can have

a super duper car to help us in our every day

mis every day, you know, action, I guess I could

maybe buy that. But they still just don't really.

It's kind of it's a cool car. It's a cool idea

that they're harnessing power and that it can

do all this stuff and that they're protected

against it because they've insulated their other

vehicles. But yeah, we need a long term like

what was the purpose yeah and my whole spiel

there probably could have been a low beam but

since it's plot centric since matt could have

possibly died that's why i put it in the um hearing

the thoughts on the plot because it was so fucking

stupid here's one king -size thunderstorm to

ruin your parade We're going to turn on the high

beams. I only have three. I only have three high

beams and I have one low beam when we get to

it. But Blackout looks freaking awesome. I actually

thought it was a new Venom vehicle or something.

I thought it was a new vehicle that someone was

going to be using in the future. No. It was cool

looking though. Yes. Fork in the toaster reference.

Scott points it out. He's like t Bob. Don't you

remember that time you put the fork in the toaster?

So we see the transport jet in full view not

just passing over now we have seen both This

week and last week. We've seen the transport

jet a number of times. I do like that because

it's Not just oh the vehicles are just here,

right? I mean it's only what a two second extra

thing of animation to put in there. I mean I'm

sure that that you know that two seconds takes

like you know 40 different drawing styles to

get the animation done or not drawing styles

but like drawing points to get that animation

done but that's better than just having no explanation

of how the vehicles got to fucking Japan in the

first place. What about you for high beams? I

have one like you like with all always hearing

a quote and seeing a reference to something else

at one point They said the stinger special Yeah,

I did like that. They actually included T Bob

in the you know, he was playing a part to funnel

the energy So there was a reason for him to be

there And that they gave the whole like David

and Goliath reference as far as him getting up

the courage to go against Venom since he's just

a little guy in their organization type thing

uh... i'd like to i did like that but at the

same time i was hoping he would get electrocuted

here but what he was going to and i'd like to

miles line when he's when uh... He had stolen

blackout, obviously without paying for it, and

then he's using it, and it wasn't working right,

and he just says, I'm glad I didn't pay for this

thing. That was funny. T -Bob, are you okay?

Wow, T -Bob, you are the best fireworks I ever

saw. Yeah, I got a bang out of it too. Getting

into the low beams, I only have one. The bullet

train is not the only reason we came to Japan.

Venom is in the area! How the hell do you even

know that, Matt? Does Mask have spy cameras that

Venom doesn't know about? Now, I know we brought

this up, but I know we've brought it up in the

past 11 episodes, but it just constantly, constantly

grates on me. that he just immediately knows

that venom is in the area with it like there

are some episodes where you know he'll use the

computer to like search out in the area of people

in the area something like that but when he just

when he or any of the other masked people or

when even when scot or t but t bob said that

they just immediately know that just pisses me

off to no end with this cartoon yeah i can see

that my only big Low beam that I pointed out

while I was watching this was the the way that

the episode ended. It was a very awkward and

long ending. They they all are supposed to laugh

at a joke, but they all instead of laughing,

they just like have their eyes all closed and

then they don't say anything and they don't laugh

and there's just music going on. But it goes

on for like two minutes like they needed time

to fill and they just like didn't do anything

with it. It was just a very awkward way to end

the episode. So I didn't like that. I mean, there's

little plots here, plot points here and there,

like we've already pointed out, so I don't need

to repeat those. They must have created the crystals

from the coal with the gravity weapon, then took

only the best ones. But what do they want with

them? Extraordinary! This is the hardest substance

I've ever seen. This is Matt. Finding any answers

down there? Sorry, Matt. Just more questions?

Then I'll keep scanning for those gravity waves.

It's our only hope of finding mayhem. And finally,

up today is a matter of gravity. Take it away

with the blot. It's train day here at the Math

Mayhem. Uh -huh. At the Math Mayhem? What's the

Math Mayhem? First we had our bullet train and

now we have a regular train involved here right

from the beginning the trains getting destroyed

It's getting crumpled like a pop can getting

crushed Scott sees it on the news and then runs

and shows Matt and Hondo what happened T Bob

keeps getting food in his face little side story

there And we find out that the coal has been

stolen from the train Matt Scott Hondo and T

Bob then traveled to the Philadelphia Mint to

discover things or to investigate things Scott

wants to go because he wants to do some studying

for a research paper or something that he has

to do, project of some sort. Yeah, some school

project. T -Bob and Scott find a giant diamond.

The computer analyzes the diamond or the crystal.

We see electromagnetic ripples that start disrupting

T -Bob. Matt sees them through a spectrum. They

find more crystals and there's a two -on -two

showdown between mask and venom. Hondo is getting

crushed in his car. We go to commercial break.

They're doing a lot of cliffhangers and commercials

lately We'll talk more about Hondo in his car

here in a minute mask regroups and assembles

the team It's one of the long assembly montages

where the mass come down and everything Masks

still with no answers to solve the crystal mystery

Scott is working on his report Meanwhile, while

he's doing that, Venom tries to rob the Philadelphia

Mint. The Venom cars are all crystallized, like

a shield of crystal, basically, force field type

thing. Then we have our full showdown. Before

we were just two on two, now we have the full

Mask and Venom teams going off against each other.

Alex is meanwhile trying to find weaknesses in

the vehicles. He does, and Mask, one by one,

takes the vehicles out, and then Matt takes the

gravity ray out. And then we are... Left with

the unveiling of night stalker, which we'll talk

about in a minute The venom agents on this one

just Vanessa Cliff miles with sly not in this

one I don't think so. So we've had one episode

last week where Cliff wasn't in it this one sly

wasn't in it and For the good guys, we had Matt

Hondo Bruce Alex and Gloria so five of them Mean

come on Rax needs a break every now and then

because I mean look at all this shit the guy

goes through That's true. You know chased by

pandas, you know encased by vines blown up from

from what whatever Contract, you know dude needs

vacation some somehow My only note as far as

the plot is really weird though like the whole

scenery change yes i know they say they're in

philly and they show they're in philly but then

they're out in the woods in the middle of fucking

nowhere i swear during that time i thought at

one point they were in a foreign like they went

from philadelphia to a foreign country because

it doesn't like it didn't look like to me it

didn't look like woods that would be here in

north america i don't know it just it looked

really weird yeah i kind of like all the combinations

of we got train and we're dealing with the coal

which is being used to make the crystals and

the crystals are being used for different things

I mean I know it's kind of like a little bit

might seem like everywhere like it's going here

there and everywhere but I kind of liked all

the different like aspects to how they were using

each thing for another purpose type thing yeah

I did too and the crystallized cars were cool

yes they were Until they shattered. I'm glad

everyone is fine. Personally, I happen to feel

like a garbage can lid. Turning on the high beams.

I'll let you go this time because I've got a

few, but they're not like... whatever. What do

you got for high beams? There's a couple cool

lines. I like it when at one point Scott says

he said something and he finishes it with, all

right, and Matt's like, all wrong, kiddo. I thought

that was kind of funny. I like when Vanessa points

out, she goes to talking to Cliff, she says,

nice move Dagger, first time I've seen you do

something right. I thought that was funny. Cliff

is always the one screwing stuff up. I think

the environmental people are going to be up in

arms on this one because Hondo killed a tree.

He took out a tree. T -Bob was hilarious when

he was scrunched up. When he was in his scrunched

up form with his higher pitched voice, I thought

that was funny. We finally see Mask headquarters

for the first time in what seems like forever.

Yeah, Boulder Hill, yeah. Scott actually was

working on his report and not getting involved

on purpose for once. Thank God. They've had some

better ways of involving Scott lately. Scott

actually yells at T -Bob for using so many puns

in this episode. It's like the writers for this

episode had just watched the previous episodes

and were like, we gotta address this. There's

too many puns being used. Bolas for the win.

What? good use of bolus oh yeah coming out of

the car and and cracking the diamond or the crystallized

shields on the other cars um i like when matt

i don't know if this is good or bad for a leader

but matt is uh basically doling out rolls for

everybody and and giving everybody something

to do in the mission and then at the end he's

like did i leave anyone out I thought it was

funny that he said that but as a leader you really

shouldn't you know if you left somebody out or

not I love that miles was out of shape because

he was running and they like emphasized his heavy

breathing Yes, they do. He's like out of shape

and bad. Um, and my final and most important

high beam is We didn't just reassemble the same

car here. We've had a new car built for Hondo.

Yes And the night stalker although at first didn't

look cool when they showed at the at the very

end shot looks pretty cool Looks pretty damn

cool. Yeah, so I like that. They didn't just

say like oh here's a new replica of your old

car like they have for Thunderhawk and Every

other car yeah, that was like one of my last

high beams, so I'll talk about that now Yeah,

I love I love the way the night stalker looks

um And I'm glad that they finally gave him a

decent helmet Instead of just a pair of goggles.

God, that was the worst helmet ever that he had

before. T -Bob gets smacked twice while trying

to bring Scott his lunch. T -Bob the butler.

Incredibly shrinking T -Bob. I did like that,

I thought that was funny. Bruce swims for it.

And while Bruce is swimming for it, we find out

that in his secret life, Alex is a bubble -bather.

Oh god, oh damn the crystal -coated vehicles

are destroying the mask team yikes that's not

good That's true yeah, what a trashy message,

but so true after all small soldiers lost their

limbs I'm pulling references all over the place,

yeah. What's wrong with you? It's that gravity

force! I can feel it in my gyros! I've got to

escape! I'll be squashed again! I don't believe

it! I just left Philadelphia and now I'm reading

the gravity weapon there! Let's move it! Turn

on the low beams. What do you got? I really only

had one that I wrote down during this episode

I know you're gonna have plenty so that's fine

I just don't like how they really never explained

how Hondo got out of his car His car is getting

crushed. It does the whole like cliffhanger thing

going into the commercial break Like how is he

gonna get out? He's getting crushed He's and

then he's just out of the car Yeah Yeah, that

was kind of messed up. So what do you have? Oh

boy, here we go. Why the hell does Matt just

leave Scott and T -Bitch to their own devices?

He knows they never listen. Okay, do Scott and

T -Bob... Okay, so Scott and T -Bob are driving

where? I know Matt told them to go back to the

train tracks, but they are in the middle of nowhere

out in the woods. That's true. I mean, as in

that scene, as they're driving, nowhere do you

see, oh, hey, the train tracks are 50 feet or

100 yards or 100 feet ahead of us, or they're

100 feet to the left, or they're 500 feet to

the right at no point in time. I mean, it's almost

like they were trying to create a stock animation

scene of them driving in the woods. That just,

no. No, not a fan. It occurs to me that no one

in this episode has looked up to see where the

damn beam is coming from. And then after Hondo

is nearly crushed to death, Matt thinks to use

his scanners. Seriously. Too many bad puns in

this one as well. How did the team get there

so fast? Yikes, no explanation dammit. So T Bob

wants to get away from the gravity weapon so

he can So he done get smushed again. This is

then Why does he go outside right in front of

the damn ray and get squished again? Yeah Plus

he looks right up at switchblade. I Swear to

God T Bob walked out outside He guts he looks

up sees switchblade and then he gets squished

I liked it though because it made him in his

funny voice again. You know the one thing I noticed

about this week's episode and last week's episode?

We still have yet to bring up the writers. Oh

well, next week. We will eventually. Keep putting

it off. So I guess that's it for low beams, right?

Yep, that's all I had for this one. Alright,

we're gonna head to some commercial breaks and

other audio, and we'll be back after that. Hold

on, there's a battle we have to tend to. Be right

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is half the battle. Yo Joe! We got him. Now back

to the show. So getting into our overall thoughts

before that, we're going to talk about the two

PSAs this week. You got never ride too on a bike

and never stick hands in a garbage disposal.

Oh boy. Love that the two kids like are riding

the bike They fall and they crash or whatever

and they get up and then Scott who is noticeably

younger than the two kids starts telling them

what to do He would have just got his ass kicked

yes, he would have like hey older guys don't

ride two on a bike what little kid boom Exactly,

and then never stick your hands in the garbage

disposal. That's just funny. Yeah, I Mean it

is true. I was always afraid of garbage disposals

Yeah. As a kid. Alright, so Blackout, what do

you give it? I liked parts of it, I liked the

look of Blackout, but there was just something

just not quite right, so I had to give this one

a 3. For me, I liked, I loved Blackout, I loved

the whole car design of it, the whole vehicle,

but the overall plot... Is the fact that there

is no overall block is there's no fucking explanation

of why they're you doing the shit they're doing

I gave it a two out of five Okay, what about

matter of gravity? I? Really couldn't find I

mean I'm not saying this is like my favorite

episode ever or anything like that But I really

couldn't find a lot of stuff to to critique and

negative aspects of this episode so I'm Forced

to give it a four just because I didn't there

wasn't stuff. I dislike plus the night stalker

was cool Night Stalker was cool, and I do love

that they, you know, instead of rehashing, as

you said, the old vehicle, that they gave him

a new one. I do love that. That still does not

take away from the horribleness of T -Bob. I

love T -Bob in this episode. No, no, no, no.

I'm sorry. The plot line of T -Bob looking up,

seeing Switchblade, and then knowing he's going

to get squished again. That's just... T Bob would

know better than that whoever was writing this

episode Apparently hadn't seen a lot of the other

episodes because usually T Bob learns from his

lessons for the most part Even though I don't

like him there are some times where he will do

something once like take um What what was it

the oh god the insectoid episode? the night Like

crawlers the Rotex, okay, the bug episode, you

know which one He gets attacked by these things.

Next thing you know, he's building like a brick

house. Yeah, you know what I mean? He learns

from the kind of stuff and it's like This episode

whoever was writing it again where you know,

we're not looking that stuff up at this point

in time We will eventually hopefully by next

episode probably not but It's just the overall

plot in the way that Even though I'm not a fan

of t -bob just the way that his characterization

is in this episode just makes it suck So it's

a two out of five for me Okay All right So yeah,

anything else you want to add before we close

out? You know, I thought they were decent episodes.

I thought both of them were entertaining to a

point I thought both cars that were used blackout

and night stalker that were shown were cool So

I didn't really have too much of a problem with

either one of these episodes not like my favorite

episodes overall But I didn't hate them So thank

you for being part of Mass Mayhem today. If you'd

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