Mercenary Pursuits, Forbidden Fruit, and The Weak Component

Sentinel Online. Now loading the Beast Unleashed

Podcast. We're gonna turn Cybertron into a giant

nuthead! The Beast Unleashed Podcast. And this

episode of the Beast Unleashed Podcast features

Stephen C. Phillips, Mike Blanchard, and Michael

Wilson. Hello and welcome to the world's first

ever Beast Wars Beast Machines Review Podcast.

This is the Beast Unleashed Podcast brought to

you by the GeekCast Radio Network. I'm your host,

TfJR Mike, and I'm joined by Pecan Court Michael.

Hello. Hey, how's it going? And Steve Megatron.

Hello. That's not nearly close enough to being

as dark. I was not trying to be. I was being

Beast Wars Megatron. Well, this isn't fucking

Beast Wars anymore. Today we will be reviewing

three more episodes from Beast Machines Season

1. And we have Dead Air. Yes. I actually thought

that was a pause point. That's funny. I just

thought you were going for a break there so that

you could break into the first episode. No. Steve,

what have you been up to? Well, I've been doing

more voice hacking crap. Yes, I'm saying crap

because one of the sites that I was trying to

do some of the stuff on, I apparently have to

pay for my account. I have a free account, but

you have to pay for your account to submit anything,

so it's like 30 bucks a month and I don't have

the money to throw away on it right now, so I

guess I'll pass on that. So you pay them to do

work? Yeah. That's not how it's supposed to work.

And then you get paid for work if you happen

to get it. I had massive computer issues this

week. Not necessarily today. I had, you know

those mean viruses, those anti -virus, the fake

ones? Yeah. Yes. I got one of those without even

being on my machine at work. and I came back

to my machine and it was loaded with it and then

I luckily had a system restore to go back to

when it first infected it which corrupted the

virus to some extent so I was able to remove

it and then I go to my secondary job and the

motherboard fried on the computer so I had to

swap out the hard drive from the old machine

and put it in the backup machine In the meantime,

we're writing out food tickets by hand without

a computer. Trying to figure this all out. Which

was a pain in the ass. And then... Yeah, so it's

been quite an odd week as far as computer is

concerned. But I have been watching a marathon

of Beast Machines, so it hasn't been totally

bad. At least your DVD player hasn't. Corrupted

and falling apart on you. Well, see that's the

thing I have a DVD player per computer So that's

two then I have my magical Netflix Which I can

use on my Wii or my blu -ray player and then

I have my DVD recorder Which is hooked up to

my TV as well. So I'd have to have an awful lot

go wrong Don't jinx yourself exactly find some

wood knock on it quickly it uh... on that my

desk hopefully we don't have a solar flair that

max out all that was a bad corey heart reference

yes unfortunately i'm the same one that keeps

bringing them up uh... michael even up to uh...

lately Not a whole lot we sent Aiden back to

school You know, this is a second year of preschool

they actually put kids in preschool at the age

of three now, right? Yeah, it's crazy three -year

-olds going to school. It's insane nuts. Yeah

Yeah, exactly No, I he's pretty smart already

I mean, you know, he knows his ABCs and all of

his colors and he knows he can spell a little.

And he's only four. It's crazy. But yeah, so

we sent him back to preschool and he likes it.

He's already bringing home little crafts and

stuff. That's always fun. Yeah. So, you know,

I've been catching up on blog posts. Damn time.

Yeah, I know. I wrote up a blog post about Puggalus

Maximus. That I got from Callie Mm -hmm, and

I got another one in the pipeline now actually

got three in the pipeline now The Aiden and Gavin

got a grow a frog in the mail This is a sounds

like a horribly Disformed Chia pet it you know

it's worse. It's it's a little plastic box right

and And it comes with a tadpole. And it's a weird

genetic offshoot tadpole that you can see through.

So you can literally see the little legs inside

its body that will grow out and become frog legs.

And its legs in the last week have gotten bigger

and have been poking out of its body. I can't

imagine what that would feel like. It must suck.

So we've got this tadpole that we're now taking

care of. And the boys love him. His name is Bob.

Bob the Tadpole. So I got a blog post about that

written up and another blog post about that weird

thing with my foot where I couldn't walk for

several days. That kind of sucked. So yeah, so

I'm writing up all these blog posts. I'm trying

to catch up on things and just not having as

much luck as I would like to. I have been trying

to be more responsible with my finances at the

same time being irresponsible with my finances

if that makes any sense. I have to, without really

getting into it, but I have two loans that I

need to get rid of. and just stop doing loans

altogether. That way I can actually have money

every month. So I've had to sell several Transformers.

Actually, I'm selling another lot of Transformers

to a buddy of mine. It's given me a really good

price on them. So yeah, that's going on. At the

same time, I went to Target today and found Legends

Class Ravage. Only complaint about him, and I

know this isn't Toycast, but only complaint about

him is his eye is not purple. Huh. I've actually

got one right here. Let me look at his eye. It's

red, or orange, or whatever. I think it's kind

of a brown. Mmm, whatever. Anyway. I also picked

up Big Bang Theory, complete third season on

DVD. I love that show. Okay, seriously, I thought

you were supposed to be working your way out

of that here. I am, I am. All the while putting

himself back in. No, no, no, no, no, no. When

I start to come out, it just sucks me back in.

So I've got that coming. So yeah, that's actually

the first set of stuff that I sold slash traded

was. I got some toys back in trade, so I have

two Crystal Rodimuses, I now have two original

US Rodimuses, so that's done. And I've got some

other stuff coming in, so that's pretty much

what I've been up to, and I've been watching

Beast Machines off and on, I think I'm... four

episodes into season two? Cause I watch them,

like, I'll watch them take notes, and then like,

the night that we record them or the day of the

night that we record them I'll watch them again

as a refresher so technically I watch each episode

twice and in case I missed any notes like I was

doing that tonight and I added some notes to

a couple of the episodes that we're going to

talk about so that's pretty much what I've been

doing we've got episodes 75 Well, 74 .5, so we

got episode 75 and 76 pre -recorded for Toycast,

so that's done. MWIRE is on a slight hiatus.

What else, what else, what else? Stan Bush interview

that we did is up. We're running a contest to

give away two of Stan's, two Stan Bush packages.

They each have a signed CD and a t -shirt. If

people become a fan or like us on Facebook on

our Facebook page If we hit 200 we'll randomly

give it away to somebody if we hit 300 we'll

give a second set away, so I Think right now

we're at a hundred and Seventeen eighteen nineteen

somewhere around there. I don't know. Yeah, we're

getting there. I'm impressed Otherwise it's epic

fail and then I get a set. For me. With a signed

CD. Okay, so let's get into some episodes. Sorry,

guys. It's all my fault. You appear to have picked

up a nasty virus. Not to worry, my friend. Soon

you will be free. Free from pain. Free from your

freakish beast modes. Free from the chaos of

your individual sparks. Take our one reward!

And you shall have it, my friend. You've earned

your freedom. As have your two partners. Where

are Jetstorm and Thrust? Take or not share! Take

our one freedom now! He's actually volunteering

to have his spark yanked out? Talk about being

unclear on the concept. I am your creator. Please

me and I shall reward you. Disappoint me and

you shall suffer. if there are no further interruptions.

I'm afraid there will be. I am transformed. I

am transformed. First up today is Mercenary Pursuits.

Rattrap discovers a counter virus that helps

him transform, but once he starts, he can't stop.

Okay, again, Rhino, you guys suck when it comes

to synopsises. That was the entirety of the episode.

Well, I know that was the entirety of the episode,

but that just sucks. My first note was... Electrocuting

Megatron still has bots that fail him though.

Because he electrocutes them because they failed

him. I like that scene. Yeah, that was awesome.

I like Jetstorm. Here's the deal, Excellency.

These two got in my way. Here's a little piece

of advice. Don't fuck up. Yeah, exactly. It's

a very slight cue and then it goes into the regular,

not really the Beast Machines theme, but the

regular music of the chasing. Beast Machines

has a slight Looney Tunes moment, not just any

virus, putty tat. Was that a Looney Tunes moment?

Yeah. What was Looney Tunes saying? Because Rattrap

called Cheetor a puddy tat. Oh, see, when I think

of Looney Tunes moments, I'm thinking like...

Well, okay, it wasn't a moment, it was a reference

then. Oh, okay, like a quote? Yeah. Okay, fine.

I'm thinking like somebody walking over a cliff

and their eyeballs bugging out, you know? I'm

defying gravity while it occurs to me that I'm

defying gravity. I'm dying, you know? That type

of thing. Two -headed rat trap is the art for

this episode. Creepy. Ta -da! It's like, for

my next trick, I'll pull a head out of my shoulders!

Head and shoulders? No, it's like, uh, the Hitchhiker's

Guide to the Galaxy, Slard Mardifast. Um... It

has two heads. Oh, okay. Whatever you say. Or

was it Bart Slardifast? Oh, alright. I forget

how it's pronounced. And that added robotic noise

on Scott's voice for Rattrap was kind of cool,

too. I still think that was stereo, where it

was actually recorded and then played back twice.

Could be. Well, from like two different heads,

yeah. Yeah, that's true. There's a scene where

jetstorm transforms as he's like lying on the

ground But the jet mode looks like almost like

a shuttle mode and I kind of thought of it as

a multiple transformation kind of like hot rod

from TFTM, but I don't know And then I don't

know. I just it looked different than what his

normal transformation is it just did Was it just

because he was upside down or did he look different

in? It looked different in like as he was doing

the transformation it looked different than the

way he normally transforms i i don't know it

was just it was weird um and rat trap makes up

for his screw up earlier because as he's doing

the whole transforming glitch thing it shorts

out the uh the cage lock thingamajiggers yeah

it breaks the locks and he frees everybody else

yeah Hey Megatron, get out of my head! I especially

like the Zen dial tone that he gets. With Megatron

saying, sorry, no one home. Yeah, that was awesome.

Steve's going to do that line now. I'm sorry,

Tank Corps is not available at the present time.

Would you like to leave a message? See, that

was almost like, precognitive on my part. It's

like, Steve is going to—oh! I'm sorry! My final

they're talking about, where's Rhinox, what happened

to Rhinox, what happened to Silverbolt, and blah,

blah, blah. Which, that'll come up later. Yeah.

unsuspected most surprising yes yes we are going

to reveal that now but people should already

know what the hell happened and as soon I don't

think it happens in these episodes but it happens

in future ones we're going to invoke somewhere

within within the show BoltMatrix Beta from TFWire.

He has a little quote that he used to do in the

TFWire intro about Black Arachnia searching for

Silverbolt, so we're going to incorporate that

somehow. Steve, what are your thoughts on Mercenary

Pursuits? I thought it was a pretty good episode

overall considering They were trying to figure

out what's going on with Rhinox and Silverbolt

and how to get them back. You had Rattrap try

and cheat his way out of being stuck in beast

mode. And I just thought it was hilarious how

he's like, hey, look at me, I'm transformed.

And they're all yelling at him and screaming,

transform back to beast mode. And he's like,

but I just transformed. And they're like, do

it. And he's like. Why? You know, just going

back and forth with them. Because Tankor is right

behind you, you dumbass! He doesn't see all the

explosions at the time. Yes. But yeah, and I

thought it was cool how they brought back the

prison bonds that they used in Beast Wars to

tie up the beasts when they brought them to Megatron.

Did they? I thought they had more like something...

Not so much. Well, yeah, they were they were

they were shackled. But yeah, they had more like

energy beams around them though No, they use

those and uh for Megatron He when they tied him

to the shuttle and when oh, yeah in season two

when he was in there. Yeah and ravages Shit,

but yeah, it was cool to see Rattrap break out

and actually save everybody else and See tank

or basically take down Megatron Yeah, that was

cool At least, you know, temporarily and then

Megatron's like, Primal just hacked Tankor. What

a good idea. He's like, I can use this. And then

he's like, delete the last 20 cycles of his memory.

And then Tankor's like back to normal and slagging

them and Primal tries to get back in and Megatron

says this famous quote of the episode. That,

to me, put the icing on the cake for this episode.

Yeah, it's funny. We have two episodes in this

that we're going to be talking about today that

Megatron gets damaged or goes offline. But there's

one where he, in a way, shows a sense of honor

in some sort. Which is not Megatron like Yeah

But yeah, this this was definitely It was a better

episode out of the many in this That we're doing

today. I like This particular episode and the

final one not necessarily the one of the next

I agree to that too. But, yeah, did you notice

Megatron's scar is over his left eye instead

of his right in this episode? You know, you sent

me that picture last time we recorded and I don't

see any scar on his head, but whatever. It's

right above his eye. Yeah, it goes right over

his eye. I'll have to look at it again later.

Fool. You'll see I actually saw it on his left

eye and I thought wasn't that on the other side

last time it was kind of but that You know just

figured it was just me. Well, I mean if you're

not familiar with it, it looks like It looks

like it's part of his head but it's not Yeah,

no, it's Clearly a scar going across his eye.

Yeah, which you know, it was plainly Seeable

No, there's something happened to him in between

the end of Beast Wars and the beginning of Beast

Machines where, you know, he set up shop and

created the virus in those warehouses. He planned

all this other stuff. Apparently he had to fight

somebody over something because he's scarred

and especially his dragon mode's all messed up.

Well, the dragon mode he did himself. He was

trying to eliminate and purge the beast form,

but he's so... paranoid about everybody else

you know trying to um traitor on him because

of the beast wars that he trusts no one so he

tries to do everything himself which leads me

to think that possibly during his uh whole attack

on Cybertron uh he somewhere along the line got

slagged and Had to repair himself and decided

not to use the CR chamber because it make him

vulnerable Probably kept them as reminders of

not to trust anyone or maybe Rodimus Prime handed

his ass to him Then where's Rodimus at now? Oh,

yeah, wait Megatron's the only one shut up Unless

you're going across to the the botcom stuff where

Megatron doesn't know about the offworlders,

which Rodimus was a part of. So, technically

speaking, he's not necessarily there, but I like

to believe everyone else is dead. Cause Steve

is just that morbid. Do you have anything else

for mercenary pursuits? I'm not morbid, I just

like Megatron finally getting the upper hand.

Asshat. Anything else Megadron? I will hand that

stupid car into the inferno in the smelting pit

after I extract his spark. The stupid flame covered

car? Yes. Wouldn't that be poetic justice to

toss the flame covered car into the inferno?

I think I would let Jetstorm and Thrust Trash

him. Never gonna happen. And then have Tinko

drive over top. Never gonna happen. It would

be fun to watch them. Never gonna happen. See

now if it was uh... When he gets reformatted,

he will become Springer. I was gonna say if it

were Springer, Mike wouldn't be complaining.

Shut up. No. Okay, so, Michael, your thoughts

on Mercenary Pursuits? Tank or Smash? Tank or

Overrise? Yeah, that hasn't gotten old yet. It

will, soon, after he says it about a thousand

times, but at this point... It hasn't gotten

so monotonous as to be annoying. So, I dig it.

I like Tankor. I think he's just so... You know,

he's just so Green Hulk. He's one of the better

designs out of the Veikons. You think? I think

so. Just because he's a tank? Or you have like

a tank bias? No, just because of how he looks.

I mean, I like Thrust too. Yeah. But, I think

with that big bulky form, I think he works. Like

that giant Cylon eye that goes back and forth?

Oh yeah, that's kick -ass. The, uh, the spinny

Gatling gun, uh, turret on his shoulder. Gatling

gun of doom. Oh, I'd take a robot form like that.

You know what really cheeses me off, though?

No mouse sensors? Or cheese sensors? No. What

the hell was that all about? Cheese sensors?

Well, remember in Beast Wars? Rattrap had cheese

sensors. Oh, yeah, no you actually do have tank

or vision on this episode. Oh, yeah, yeah you

do um Really pisses me off about tank or and

again this kind of goes to There was no no such

thing as screen accurate toys I did some research

and I looked up his beast machines toy. It is

fugly as all get out Know my brother had actually

had that toy and it looks nothing like him Unless

you go for the battle of the sparks edition,

which is a tank or drone which looks exactly

like tank or but it's a basic figure Yeah, no

the tank or drone the tank drone is dead on tank

or he looks awesome Yeah, and I don't get why

they didn't do that for the proper tank or and

because they kind of screwed up the other jet

or the other Yeah, yeah, yeah, no the mega site

I think the first year the first season that

came out none of the toys look like What they're

supposed to look like no, I mean tank or he's

a fun toy. He's got a lot of gimmicks on him

He's neat. He's still you know. He's a tank.

He still has that the turret that comes over

He still has that eye that goes back and forth

and you can actually move it by moving is there's

like a thing you turn And the eye goes back and

forth across, you know? So I mean, he's got tank

-or -like stuff. But he's not painted to look

like tank -or. Oh no, he's like red and black.

Yeah, that's ugly. I still like pink drones.

The what? The tank drone figure. No, the tank

drones kick ass, yeah. I'm actually looking right

at the tank drone here on my shelf. I actually

want one. Oh, he's cool. I'll have to put a picture

up. I know what it looks like, I just never got

one. The tank drone is cool. I don't want to

get into the discussion over the toys, but you

know who else is a good toy is that Beast Machine

Scavenger. He's a little scout class tank. He

rocks. We'll have to get into that when we get

to the last episode of the TVU. But you know

what kills me though is that you've got Tankor

and then you've got the tank drone, right? Which

is a little tank drone. Then you've got Thrust

and you've got... the thrust drone which is a

small small which is more cartoon accurate right

then you've got jet storm and the aerodrome and

what's odd is that the aerodrome is just a repainted

jetstorm he's not like a smaller you know more

screen accurate version of a of an aerodrome

like the other two are he's just another just

another jetstorm the the other side of that is

an ultra and a deluxe Oh, yeah. No, I'm just

talking about the Deluxe. Yeah, the Ultra got

repainted as a BotCon exclusive, but that's not

it. Cyclonus. Yeah, yeah, but that's about it.

But no, you know, that particular mold, the Deluxe

mold for Jetstorm is awesome. It works. I've

got like five repaints of it. So getting back

to Mercenary Pursuits here. Ah, yeah, sorry.

Two Dyke Crests. Two Dyke Crests, exactly. There's

no sewer surfing this time though. It just doesn't

look it doesn't look like a rat trap at least

it's a functional base get baseball cap Yeah,

yeah, he's got a visor mm -hmm. I take the visor.

I don't think that the I Don't think the toy

has a visor, but we won't go yeah, let's not

go there. I won't go back to the shelf right

yeah Yeah, so basically red trap can't Right,

but... He's got the wheels. He could just speed

off You know anywhere anywhere else would be

fine, but instead they kind of keep them with

him and They just keep getting followed and shot

at to the point where eventually they're captured.

Yeah They're like damn it rat trap Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, it's like what the hell. I'm just really

surprised. They didn't leave him behind and that

in like a cruel, like, you know, cripple him

and leave him for dead type of way, but just

like, hey, you've gotten out of worse scrapes

on your own, you know, why don't you give us

a break and head off in the opposite direction

and cover our, you know, basically cause a distraction

so the rest of us can get away. Yeah, but the

problem is, is that... You don't have the maximum

rubber burn in this version of Rattrap. He really

can't do anything for himself, especially once

he took the Transformation Enhancer, because

the Transformation Enhancer fucked him up. You

know, he really couldn't do anything, regardless

of even attempting to be a diversion so the others

could get away. So they kind of had to figure

out a way to, you know, save his ass. Well, luckily

in the end it's him saving their ass. Yeah true.

Can't mix up for it. But yeah, so they're all

captured they're all in front of Megatron and

Megatron says your soul is mine Not in so many

words, but you know, it was a Mortal Kombat.

Yeah Chang Sung from Mortal Kombat Fatality.

Scorpio wins. Exactly. So, yeah, I dig that.

I thought that was funny when that came up. I

wish Steve hadn't said that. Why? No, Scorpion

wins. I wish you hadn't said that because the

first thing that popped into my head was, get

over here! That's the first thing everybody thinks

of when they think of Scorpion. Yeah And lastly

Someone just another note about the the graphics

quality here It's it's not enough for it, you

know, the visuals to be awesome But it's just

the way that they do it the beast machines is

all about the bright light in the background

So that in the foreground you get dark silhouettes

So it's it and they they they they do it all

the time to fantastic effect and You know the

well, I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves,

but it really comes into play during the weak

component. Yeah Really, but yeah all the time.

There's like a bright light in the background

And then you've got you know one or two figures

in front of the light And you can't see any features

them at all. It's just like the silhouette marching

toward you or whatever. It's kind of like the

characters have gone back to kindergarten to

have their silhouettes sketched out. Maybe. Yeah,

I'll buy that. But it's a lighting effect that

they never used in Beast Machines. I mean, they

progressively got better and better and better

at lighting in Beast Machines. I'm sorry, Beast

Wars. but here in beast machines they're trying

something completely different and it's just

especially with a dark tone of the series it

just really works oh yeah it's much better in

this series than uh in beast wars as far as all

the lighting and all the uh new elements they're

able to add with details regardless of the mush

mushroom cloud fire effects i don't see any I

don't see any visual problems with beast machines

whatsoever. As far as the backgrounds, the lighting,

all that stuff. Well, I would say that, you know,

again, this is, you know, 1999, 2000 when these

came out. And nowadays, you know, if you're going

to have a cityscape, the cityscape is going to

include, like, textures on buildings that make

them look like buildings. Here, They have a cityscape

and the fighting goes across you know entire

blocks of just huge towers and things and The

only downside I can see here is that the the

buildings all look like giant blocks It's like

a big purple block. It may have lines or something

on it to denote that there's texture but not

so much it's not like Regular building where

there's gonna be windows or you know things like

that. It's it's literally just a very large geometric

shape That that they they climb up on top of

or jump around and things like that right, but

it did even in Beast Wars When they would do

flashback scenes showing Cybertron, so yeah,

it looked roughly like that Yeah, but I mean

if you're going there's more detail, but it's

still the same Exactly. Yeah, if you're gonna

take a reference though take a reference from

something that's a little more detail, you know,

but no, especially when you know, though they

go to the Well, it's Cybertropolis yeah, but

I I'm thinking I mean Cybertropolis again, it's

just a It's a large city, but they're the buildings

are very nondescript But when they get into the,

no, no, no, no. I'm thinking of the, you know,

it's like a factory that builds the tanks. Oh,

that's an weak component. Yeah, you're stuck

on weak component. We haven't even gotten there

yet. I keep jumping ahead, I'm sorry. But again,

you get in different environments where it's

smaller. where you have a smaller scope to the

environment. Not an entire city, but just a smaller

area where there's maybe an enclosed area. They

get into a lot of detail. Catwalks and all these

different things going on, mechanical arms. It

looks really nice. You can see what they can

do. They're not really slack in here. It's awesome.

Yes, it is. We are going to move on. I am transformed!

Next is Forbidden Fruit. You always complain

when I talk over you and you can't hear yourself,

and now you're trying to talk over me when I'm

trying to read the goddamn synopsis. I was going

to, but you didn't give me a chance! Shut up,

Steve. The Maximals discover a new beast mode

maximal, a bat named Nightscream, and a mysterious

fruit tree, neither of which should exist in

the machine world of Cybertron. Exactly. I'm

sorry, but Optimus is no Mr. Miyagi. Sure he

is. No, he's not. He's the new Zephester. No,

that's his new role. He's the new Zen Master.

And he catches flies with chopsticks. That whole

scene, the only thing I kept thinking about was

Karate Kid. Everybody loves tongue from fighting.

Oh boy. This note I took especially from Michael.

Enter Night Scream. Let the stoning begin. Let

the plot holes begin. Primal says, explanations

later. I'm like, yeah, you fucker, you're going

to explain this shit. This just doesn't make

any sense at all. You know, we were talking about

the toy earlier, or the toys earlier, as far

as being off model, obviously. But one thing

I noticed about, I never noticed this till now,

but Jetstorm is a dark blue. Okay, and the jet

drones are a slightly lighter version of it.

But Jet Storm is more pronounced because obviously

he's going to be the general. And the first thing

I thought of when I saw this and finally noticed

it was, oh, they pulled a Scourge in sweeps.

Because Scourge is a dark blue and the sweeps

are slightly off color blue, like the same thing,

a slightly lighter blue than Scourge. Well, you

know what's weird though is that with the other

generals Well thrust has His guys are a different

color slightly different color But they're much

smaller. They're like little tiny thrusts You

know whereas with jetstorm they all seem to be

the same size Yeah, they're just different colors

and again with the toys toys are the same way

jetstorms dark blue the aerodrones are light

blue So that's kinda neat. Some people say Cheetor

became a dick in this show. I see it as him looking

out for everyone else, especially in this episode.

Well no, he's definitely growing up. He's growing

up, but a lot of people that I've talked to that

even though they like the show of Beast Machines,

they don't really like the character development.

Yeah. And a lot of people say that Cheetor was

a dick in Beast Machines. And there are a couple

instances where I agree, especially the way that

they treat Rattrap a lot of the time. But I don't

see it. And then after the reformatting, nice

upgrade. Nice upgrade. At least he doesn't have

to eat anymore. Oh, he eats! He eats energy!

The Oboe Unicron! He's got the worst special

power ever. I like the scream though, that's

cool. We'll get to that later, because that actually

comes in with a weak component, I think. It's

like reverse deepthroating. Ooh, that sounds

really wrong and kinky and horrible. He's gonna

have a bootpacking good time. Do you know what

that word means yet? Yes, I do Don't tell Mike

it'll be our little secret. I don't want to know

I don't even care. I looked it up It's odd to

say the least. Yeah, you know the Japanese The

The cheater optimus exchange is It's clearly

Optimus Prime Magnus type of emotions. It's the

exact same scene from TFTM. Where? When after

Optimus goes after he says he has no more energy

he has to rest up and he's like you will lead

them now and Cheetor is like oh I I can't, we

need you and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He

goes, no, you can handle it. I have to rest.

I have to go take a nap now. You must lead them.

But when I was watching it earlier today, and

maybe it's just me and reading in all these G1

references, but I swear, it's just like when

Prime passed the Matrix. The Matrix on... Not

Mattress, Mattrix. Take my mattress. It's just

like when prime passed the matrix on to Magnus

because Magnus promptly stole it back later Doesn't

matter Get your continuity, right? No, I know

what you're talking about. I'm just saying yeah

steals command back Fuck you. You're doing it

wrong He was doing it wrong Every team needs

a rookie, and Night Scream is it for this show.

Yeah, Cheetor's like, knock it off, you dumbass.

Probably thinking, was I ever that stupid? Oh,

yes you were! It was only a couple of seasons

ago, you were almost as bad. What? I'm not gonna...

Yeah, exactly. What, like three years? Four.

Yeah. So, what do you have for this one, Steve?

Well There is the the magical element of sound

wave Some way was there yes, he was in the flashback

scene, and it looks like he's got his arms in

the air like he's screaming Oh, no, I'm about

to be hit with a virus In a letter shot by a

vehicle and the virus came out of the sky It

came out of the sky and it turned me into a boombox

No a night scream I seem to think yes, and I

think night scream is frenzy so You can infer

it either way it doesn't matter I don't care

Yes, no rumble is blue frenzy is red You know

what I don't care what color they are because

he's still a frickin bat Well, maybe he was rap

bat hey Yeah, but get this maybe he wasn't listen

to his voice. He sounds like a frenzy to me Kinda

anyways Did he say first we crack the shell and

then we crack the nuts inside that was rumble

not frenzy Yeah, but it doesn't matter he blows

away chat streams little crew The sound waves

to the ground But uh, I think it's weird that

that stupid plant Tree thing that makes the other

Maximals retarded and cheaters like I'm not eating

that crap. I don't know what it is Like I'm being

a picky picky cat my body's a temple. He's like

he's like I'm prissy and I don't feel like eating

He's like it looks like ass and then primal's

like mmm Yum, he's like eat get strong And Ice

Cream's like, get your stinking paws off me,

ya big dirty ape! Oh man, you are like jumping

all over this episode. That's like two different

scenes, like one comes before the other, but

um... It should have been, damn dirty ape. It

should have been, get your stinking paws off

me, you damn dirty ape. Yeah, they can't do damn,

it's kids television. Although it's okay to,

you know, show people having personality disorders

and killing people, but, you know. And later

on, Night's Cream will say, you can have my gun

when you pry it from my cold dead fingers. After

he chokes out of existence. It's another Heston

crew. Sorry. One of the things that... And again,

you know, it's been said from episode one from

the Oracle. Kill the bat. No. Where does he get

those wonderful toys? There's no Megatron kill

the bat Oh, maybe I can learn from the bat to

get rid of my stupid beast mode, but he wasn't

in this episode You know, I know that's another

thing Megatron so far because like I said, I've

watched a head There's a few episode once we

get up to the next episode of the podcast He's

hardly in it at all. But anyway, um, yes, I know

anyways Anyways, oh The tree thing from episode

1 the Oracle is told primal find the balance

Well, no, it's a thing where Megatron and we

know this already Megatron once Cybertron to

be purely technological. Optimus thinks that

it needs to be purely organic. And then of course,

I'm jumping ahead here a little bit, but later

on we will learn that the balance is the techno

-organic. So, that was the problem with the tree,

and Optimus even says so. You know, the tree's

organic nature pulled out our organic natures

and... you know made us all fully organic well

whereas if this was the beast planet if this

was earth and they still had their original forms

from earth not the oracle techno -organic forms

they would have been fine eating that yeah but

because they're techno -organic they had to eat

techno -organic and that was a base tree which

is why night scream having his regular beast

form was fine eating it before Right. What kills

me though is that, oh, it's an organic tree.

Organic trees don't usually disintegrate when

you chop them down. It's that special kind. It's

a special kind of organic tree that disappears.

It got critters. Yeah, I just wasn't... Little

tiny quick strikes eating it. All of your expectations

will be shattered. That's right. Who is doing

I hate this episode. It should rot in hell. I

don't really care for it. Nightscream should

die. He should have been squashed. I wish Jetstorm

would have, you know, ripped his head off and

then shoved it down his throat. Okay then. How

do you just segue from that, Michael? Well...

Yeah, I will jump right into my problems with

Nightscream. And they are many and varied. He's

what? Problems with Nightscream, many and varied.

Besides him being a stalker. Well, yeah, exactly.

He's a peeping Tom, for one. He likes to watch

you pee. And do the curly shuffle. Rattrap trying

to transform and he wasn't getting it right and

he starts sparking and he's like spinning around

on the floor That being the curly shuffle in

case you're not aware. Oh, yeah. Yeah, do the

curly shuffle. Yeah Yeah, I thought it was funny.

All right. No, I thought it was funny. I just

didn't think of it that way It wasn't funny when

he brought up Ronax and silverbolt. That was

kind of dickardly actually Yeah, that was a dick

move. Yeah, that was rude Anyway, back to complaining

about Nightscream. First of all, there shouldn't

be beast modes on Cybertron because those were

only in the Beast Wars on Earth. Why would you

have a beast mode on Cybertron? That makes no

sense. It's like, you know, the Wookiees have

a home on Kashyyyk. They didn't grow up on Endor.

If the Wookiee didn't grow up on Endor, then

it doesn't make sense. So, no, it doesn't make

sense. Secondly, the story that they come up

with as far as I was Rumble, or I was Frenzy,

whoever, and I fell down a hole, and then when

I woke up, I was a bat. What the hell is that?

Because he's not in a biopod, right? He's not

in the Stasis pod. He's not in the Stasis pod,

no, but he said that they were upgraded with

built -in DNA scanners. Now when did they say

that? It's further past this episode. The whole

story of Night Scream comes back up because they

then find the chamber with the DNA, so... But

the fact that you're on a metal planet, what

do you need a built -in DNA scanner for? So when

they go to other planets, they can miraculously

scan without needing a stasis pod. Here, we'll

eject your body into orbit, see what happens.

If you don't disintegrate, you might scan some

form of life. It could be dead, and you could

be too, but it doesn't matter. You could be a

dead horse by the time you hit the ground. Well,

it kills me though. Yeah, I see I don't like

that idea and I'll tell you why because then

you end up with like Bayformers Bumblebee Who

kind of tips over on two wheels and scans himself

a sweet ride? Which I didn't so much like that

either I probably stole it from this. They're

like hey, that was a good idea. Yeah, let's use

it. Everything about Bayformers pisses me off.

Well, they stole the pods too technically because

they crash landed in pods which happens to be

their outer So I mean they're stealing from beast

machines and beast wars. I think the stasis pods

better than a built -in DNA scanner Michael Bay

continually rapes our childhoods like Starscream

rapes giant metal bugs That's an old reference

Yeah, you gotta go way back to the TFG one podcast

to figure that one out You know, as much as I

like Alessandro Giuliani, who does the voice

for Night Scream, I really don't like Night Scream.

Night Scream is just worthless. He's emo. Look

at his hair. Oh, let me flip my hair. It's like,

yeah. Is that hair or is that some weird kind

of, you know, flaccid growth coming off the top

of your head? That's penis face, but it looks

yeah, it kind of looks like a flaccid growth

I'm not gonna say what kind of growth it is.

I'm just saying So yeah, I don't I don't like

nice guy. I mean I understand that maybe they

need a new kid kid quote -unquote kid character

because design is so stupid it is oh it is stupid

you know and the toy was so Monstrous compared

to the rest of the Beast Machines figures. It

even dwarfed the Supreme Cheetor. You know the

toy, no it doesn't dwarf Supreme Cheetor. The

toy is taller than Air Attack Optimus Prime though.

I mean, Optimus Primal. And Primal, that's a

big toy. That toy was actually made with a gyro

in it so that when you held it in your hand and

turned it, it could tell if it was flying. It

could tell, you know, if it was tilted one way

or the other. Oh, that's cool. And would make

different sounds accordingly, you know. And what

do you get with Night Scream? You get Dick. I

think he lights up, and that's about it. I have...

I can't actually say, because I don't think I

ever played with that toy. He was a pain in the

ass to transform. My brother had that toy, and

he had difficulty. He just left it in robot mode

99 % of the time. That's what I did, yeah. I

think I transformed him once, and I don't even

like the character. It's all Robo Kibble. It

is. And he's got these huge ass wings that just

don't make any sense. And to be honest, the,

uh... The McDonald's Happy Meal version is probably

a better toy. Yeah, better than the big -ass

Ultra version. I mean, because it's just... The

thing's just damn huge, and it's not a very good

toy. Just not enough gimmick to it, and not enough

play value. Now if they made, you know, maybe

a mega size, a smaller one, maybe that, you know,

could have gotten away. I think Deluxe would

have been fine. Wasn't Mega the deluxe size and

Ultra the Voyager class? No, they still had Voyagers

the mega size. Oh, okay. This was before they

got all those fucked up names for what they used

to have. Before they started doctoring all the

names of them. Find a way to hide the god damn

feet. That toy should be destroyed. They should

use the Ultra from Beast Wars and redo that.

Yeah, aw, that would've been awesome. Well, there's

a lot of dropped balls with this series, to be

honest. Yeah, Hasbro drops a lot of balls. That's

why other people end up having to pick them up

for them. Okay, on that note, what else do we

have for this episode? Pick up my balls. Finally

finally a general appears with his army Up until

now, you know, they introduced the generals and

the generals just kind of show up together You

know or one of the time and they're like ha ha

we will not kick your ass But this is the first

time we've actually seen a general show up with

a lot of drones like overwhelming force drones.

Yeah Which is awesome. It was very very cool

And then at the end, he's like, Jetstorm, adios.

I love that. As a character, I think Jetstorm

might be one of my favorites from the series.

He has all the best lines. Oh, yeah. I was going

to say I like where he says the thing about an

unlawful assembly. Oh, yeah. I'm going to have

to take you boys downtown. in pieces. Clearly,

Cheetor says, just say no to drugs. Anything

that makes your eyes glow red is probably bad

for you. Primal thought it was okay, though.

He just tried it just once. Yeah, just this one.

I can stop whenever I want. I'm just gonna try

it just this once and then I'll stop. Steve,

think about what you just said. You know what

the key word in that sentence is? Primal actually

tried to think. Because seriously, he makes...

I see why Cheetor took over. He makes poor decisions

in this series. Well... His judgment clouded

with God talking to him constantly. For this

little spheroid drone. Half of it is the fact

that he's got... You know, the weight of an entire

planet on his shoulders. I just killed everybody,

it's all my fault, I'm the most horrible person

ever. And then on top of that, it's... You know,

he's found religion. And he's having trouble

reconciling that with who he is. No, I'm serious.

No, I know you're serious, but when you said

found religion, the only thing I can think of

is... Losing my religion. Well, he's losing his...

higher thought processes and basically and not

just because he's eating the forbidden fruit

is because you know, I He's just not thinking

clearly Yeah, no at this point. No, he's not

because oh, I'm tired and I just converted this

this guy It's it's uh, it's the fact that he's

really not fit to leave at this point He's just,

you know, I mean, yes, he is the Zen Master and

he's teaching everybody how to transform and

how to, you know, fight and still remain transformed

and blah, blah, blah. But he's just not making

very good command decisions. No, he's not. Yeah,

whereas with Cheetor here, he's, you know, he's

fighting from instinct. He's, again, growing

up, he understands things a little bit better

than he did when he was just like, screw you

guys, I'm going to go run out in that minefield.

Back in Season 1 of Beast Wars. Uh, and, you

know, in the end, he takes over. He's like, haha,

I'm the leader now, bitches. That's not what

it was. Don't go there. Don't say that. Well,

no, he was reluctant. He's like, oh, I don't

know, but he's ready. You know? It's not like,

uh, let's say, like in Armada, where Optimus

Prime says, hot shot, you be the leader. It's

like, a hot shot? What? Hotshot was like the

equivalent to, you know, Season 2 of Cheetor.

Or, Beast Wars Season 2 of Cheetor. Oh god, don't

even... No, no, no, no, you cannot... Hotshot

is way worse than Cheetor. You cannot compare

Hotshot to Cheetor. What the hell are you thinking?

You can never compare Hotshot to Cheetor. Hotshot.

Like, the Unicron trilogy was blasphemy that

should be rotted in hell for eternity. I'm just

saying that, you know, as far as... Hey, this

is a bad idea. Why the hell did you put this

kid in charge? It's, you know, you go back to

Armada Hotshot. No, you don't. You go back to

Season 1 of Beast Wars, not fucking Armada Hotshot.

No, you just blame Hot Rod for all this. Hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Watch it. Well, again,

bad decisions in leadership choices, you know,

that's number one. You know, I think I would

have been happier with, like, Bumbleless Prime.

Hot Rod. You want to talk about bad choices in

leadership? Hello, it's the finger holes, Ultra

Magnus. You can't open the damn thing unless

you put your fingers in the holes. That's what

she said. Oh, it's the shocker all over again.

Oh, God. El fruto prohibido. What else do you

have, Michael? I think that's about it, is the

fact that, you know, I like that after so many

years of watching Cheetor grow as an individual

and Ian Corlett's voice change... From you know

from childhood to puberty to you know teenager

to adulthood It's nice that finally. He's like

heck. Yeah, I'll take the lead if Rhinox were

here. He'd be taking the lead Let's not go there.

We can't go there. Yeah, we can Yeah, shut up.

We can't go there yet Steve what about you? What

do you think of forbidden fruit? I Already went

there Yeah, I think you talked to Steve already.

I said this is the episode that should run an

attorney. Oh, yeah, that's right. Okay. Well,

we're moving on then Holy fuck Oh boy, we've

had a limp biscuit and REM reference in the same

episode discussion. That's crazy. I'm going for

Nickelback next to the transforming Maximals.

That's an order! Jeez, you try to help and they

bite your whiskers off. I must warn you, this

DNA purge is still in the experimental stages.

Will it eliminate my beast mode? Absolutely,

in theory. And why am I still waiting? Perhaps

you should wait until the Maximal situation is

more stable. And allow them to unearth another

mongrel beast? Hardly. Finally up today is the

weak component. Rattrap finally learns how to

transform, only to find that his robot mode has

no weapons. With nowhere else to turn for protection,

he turns to Megatron. Okay, I guess the... I

guess the psychic vibrations have worn off because

I was waiting for Megatron to say something and

it never fucking happened. I don't know what

freaking line you want me to say. Who are you

telling to quit breathing? See how quickly your

friends turn on you? They promised you great

power, but only I delivered it. They abandoned

you rat trap. This episode marks when they added

the words Beast Machines at the end of the title

sequence. I liked it better with the words than

without the words. I don't like the intro theme

song without the words. It just doesn't do it

for me. Beast Machine sounds better because it's

more robotic, whereas Beast Wars was more primal.

Say what you want about the character of Night

Scream, and I know Michael and Steve both are

going to, but his scream is awesome, especially

when it hit that one jet and knocked it into

the other one jet. It's like Han Solo. You're

all clear, kid! Yeah, no, even that is is no

reason to like night scream It's yeah, it's like

fact is cool though. It's kind of like night

scream, you know We we could compare him to a

young cheetor but night scream can actually hit

things It's like, you know, it's not like shooting

the broadside of a barn you can aim at things

and hit them and make them careen into other

things you know, whereas Cheetor spent most of

the Beast Wars not being able to hit shit. Cheetor

is being a dick to Rattrap in this episode just

because he can't transform. I find it strange

that throughout Beast Wars Cheetor was the one

who was being picked on and ridiculed, but now

it's Rattrap. Night Scream is the rookie, they

all kind of gang up on him as well. But you would

think, regardless of Rattrap's inabilities or

not learning how to do stuff, you would think

that he wouldn't get as much shit as everybody

else or as Night Scream would or anything. I

mean, Rattrap has been here from the beginning.

They just like hazing him. I guess. I kind of

see this as a handicap. Well, yeah, it'll actually

come out and say, oh, he's handicapped. But I

think if they did see it that way, or at least

if his teammates saw it that way, they wouldn't

be so quick to bash on him. They're like, oh,

well, we have to cover for him because he's our

friend and he's our buddy. But that doesn't necessarily

mean that they're going to like his disability.

Like hey your robot mode it sucks. You're stupid

Well at this point he can't even transform No,

he learns how to trans you know he gets transforming

down. He just he got a raw deal on weapons Because

his robot mode has no weapons And then rat trap

makes Megatron go offline Yay! Yeah, so you single

-handedly won the Beast Wars. The Beast Machines.

The Beast Machines... The Beast Machines Wars.

Yes. The Machine Wars. That was an awful line.

I know that Beast Machines is supposed to be

really dark and all compared to Beast Wars, but...

Damn it. I really don't like rat traps dark side.

It's just The whole time and this goes back to

what you were talking about earlier Michael about

the lights and the shadows it has this rat trap

in the little or the big tank or body type thing

and It's got a red background and you've got

his face Silhouetted in black and the only time

you actually see his facial features is when

he fires a shot at his friends It's so awesome

Oh, it is awesome. The effect is awesome as far

as the silhouette. I like that, but I just, I

don't like Rattrap's dark side. I just... Yeah.

Yeah, you know what? It never looks so good as

when Rattrap shoots down Night Scream. Again,

the lighting is awesome. Not just because he

shot down Night Scream, but because, you know,

it looked really good when he did it. But yeah,

that whole room is just very dark and not just

dark, but red. And everybody is in silhouette

except when they're shooting at each other. And

then for a brief instant, it'll light up as they

deflect a shot or fire another shot. And it's

just very well done. The art direction here is

superb. My final note is actually... I just thought

of this tonight and it was because of this episode

that I thought of this. I have a theory on why

there is a sun and a moon for Cybertron. Supposedly

at the end of Beast Wars they go back into the

future. Pun intended. If that future includes

what happened on Earth after Beast Wars going

into G1, remember Cybertron was brought to Earth's

orbit. It was then knocked out of Earth's orbit,

but assumingly it remained within the solar system

So that's why Cybertron now has a Sun and a moon

I Don't buy the Cybertron is in the stall system.

I don't either Don't buy it as far as own. Yeah

as far as I can understand as far as I remember

Cybertron wasn't in a solar system It it isn't

it doesn't actually orbit star it just kind of

free floats through space and the fact that you

know that there's no tides to regulate there

there's no need for external warmth because it's

a giant planet made out of metal nothing really

grows there it's full of robots you know there's

no need for external warmth or or you know a

regulatory orbit of a moon I was just well there

would be in this series because of the organic

background that they've brought up for it. Right.

Well, it's weird. Sometimes when they show it

from the planetary, whether you see the whole

planet, you'll see cloud formations, wispy clouds

over the surface. And sometimes when you look

up in the sky, you'll see clouds. They're like

pink and purple clouds, but wispy, not cumulonimbus

clouds, but just cloud cover. You know, it's

the type of thing you kind of brush off and don't

think much about, but later on, the way the series

ends up, you would definitely need to have some

type of atmosphere. Mm -hmm. Yep. And that's

why I still say it's somewhere in the Milky Way

galaxy. In our solar system. Nay. You wouldn't

need a space bridge to get there if it were in

the same solar system. I don't know. I thought

it was a good idea. No, I can see how you could,

considering the G1 episode where they brought

the two planets together, I can see where you

would get that, but I don't think that's so much

the case. Again, I still think that it's just

a free -floating planetoid, almost like a large

comet. Well, and the other thing is, when I first

wrote this little note that I just read, I was

thinking of The Ultimate Doom. Now that I'm thinking

about it further, Galvatron did hook up a giant

rocket to Cybertron and took it to Earth at the

end of Rebirth. So... Still. I don't count. Yes

it does. that don't count, that fucking counts!

Those episodes never existed, they still had

Headmasters. Yes they did, the Japanese continuity

is what doesn't exist. That's what Headmasters

is. No. Okay, so, Steve, tell us your notes.

My notes? Where we're going, we don't need notes.

Exactly. Alright, um... I like how Megatron actually

did get damaged for once As much as I don't like

him getting damaged because I like Megatron,

but um It was kind of ironic to see him in the

spot that They could end it yet rat trap didn't

yeah rat traps like you have no his makers. I

want no his makers You'd think that Rattrap would,

especially in Beast Wars, he was the one who

hated Megatron the most. You would honestly think

he would wander in there as opposed to being,

you know, selfish and saying, oh, you know, I

want to better myself at my buddy's expense.

You'd think he would walk in, take out Megatron,

and then return back to his buddies as the conquering

hero. Hey, you all want to look down on me and

push me around? Well, screw you, I did what you

couldn't. I killed Megatron, take that, bitches.

Yeah, and he would be the one to do it. He would,

you know, assuming he had, what do they call

those pocket charges, you know, popping out of

his arms, you know, he would just toss one right

down his throat and say, eat it! And that's the

only thing we need to bring up. Sorry to interrupt

you guys, but... Sure. Ratchet's robot mode this

time around has virtually nothing. Outside of

his little visor inner tail interface thing which

Talk about plugging into a horrible hole. Um

tentacles Yeah, nobody expects the tentacle him

in Megatron we're doing some mine Okay, but my

point is rat trap the cheese yes bring it on

right So, Rattrap in beast mode has this giant

fucking hole in his back where he puts stuff

and takes stuff out of. Yeah, he's got like a

cockpit almost. I know! And I'm thinking, okay,

you couldn't have put that crap in his arms in

robot mode? It's my rat carrying case. You crack

it open, you put the parts inside, you carry

it away. You know, bada -bim, bada -boom, that's

my big hacking unit. And you know, I'm gonna

jump ahead here. Rattrap put, after they got

off the forbidden fruit thing and before the

tree was destroyed, Rattrap put a fruit in his

little cockpit thing. Later on, when we get to

it, Rattrap pulls out a seed from the tree. So

how did the piece of fruit Turn back into a fucking

seed. We'll get to that later on, but that was

different when we - His digestive system pooped

it out. Okay, what else do we have for this episode?

When Rattrap before he traded, he says, not from

where I'm standing, which Scott McNeil went from

Rattrap to Silverbolt in the same sentence. Well,

standing does sound very Silverbolt -ish. Yes.

He's like, not from where I'm standing, you know,

it's, it's. Yeah, exactly. You did catch it if

you were, if you're listening, but there was

a lot of, I don't want to say a lot of emotion

here, but more emotion than retrap is usually

portraying. Yeah. That's why it kind of came

too close to silver bowl was because while one,

he does both voices and two. Yeah. uh... retro

doesn't normally go out of the squeaky energetic

tones he's normally just you know like look at

me i just kicked her ass with a bomb read it

and weep or eat it and die whatever yeah but

again they're showing that these characters have

grown up And some of them have gone slightly

dark, and Rattrap is one of those. Well, he was

one of the more energetic in the previous show,

too. Right, but I mean... What are the points?

I think they're showing that these characters

are all being written by different writers. Well,

that's true, too. Titilio is not writing anymore.

It's somebody else who may or may not have a

handle on what happened during the Beast Wars.

And not just that, but it's just showing how

much the battle has graded on them over the years.

Well, you know we could use that as an excuse,

but the fact is Bob skewer wasn't writing Peace

Force No, Bob forward and Larry titillio did

most of it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean don't get me wrong.

I like what skewer did excellent story excellent

story, but the fact that the characters don't

line up as well as What maybe they should have?

also wasn't even written by skewer anyway, but

It was written by Rodney Gibbs. Oh, I thought

Skier and... He was the story treatment guy for

the most part, and Eisenberg was too. They did

a lot of the episodes too, but I mean, it's still...

This specific episode wasn't written by him.

No. I remember back in the day, Bob Skier had

a website. It's down. Oh, long ago, yeah. All

that stuff is archived, I believe, on a Ben Yee

site. But, yeah, back in the day, Bob Skier had

a website and he would post a Q &A on, you know,

the stuff that he wrote, at least. And, you know,

I used to love reading that stuff. Some people

would piss them all off and they wrote death

threats to poor Bob and, you know, it was very

unfortunate at the time. It's just a damn show

when everybody's taking it personally. Well,

you know a lot of people I can understand part

of it but at the same time it's it's kind of

retarded that people were getting that Cranky

over it. Yeah, I mean exactly, you know energon

was the worst series ever but you didn't see

me calling up Hasbro and You know saying I'm

gonna blow up your headquarters with all your

toys that have energon and armada in it Well,

you know to be fair, it's not just energon armada

energon and cybertron all three shows sucked

ass, but Well, this shows... Well, you know what,

we've gone down this red hole before, basically,

and I like Cybertron, and I love minicons, but

yeah, so if I'm gonna pick on a series, it's

gonna be Energon, because there's really no redeeming

value there. But there's minicons! Not really.

Not really. Anyway, digressing! Yeah. Again.

What else you got, Steve? I like Megatron's quote

where he says, Ah, so this is how the world ends,

not with a bang, but with a sipping rodent. He

should have said whimpering. Yeah, I know, that's

what it says. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Yeah, that was retarded. But yeah, it was cool

how he... Basically cut a deal with rat trap

saying, you know, you protect me for 24 hour.

What was it a solar cycle? Half a solar cycle

hours just but yeah just till morning. Yeah,

and you can keep the weapons. No, you know You

know no Taking it back or anything. He'll just

give it to him Well, you know honestly if the

Maximals had stayed away like they said they

were going to And, you know, Ratsharp could have

gotten away with actually just standing there

all night. Because he didn't expect anybody to

show up. They said, no, we're not going anywhere.

We're staying put with Optimus Primal. He could

have gotten the weapons, Megatron would have

revived, and then the status quo would have been

put back in place. Everything would have been

the same except... He would have gotten a buttload

of weapons and you know, nobody would be any

the wiser They would have figured it out. But

regardless, you know It's like what do you want

me to do walk in there and kill Megatron by myself?

And then you fuckers wouldn't come with me. So

what do you want? Yeah, but I like how Megatron

even after primal goes in there allows the Maximals

and rat trap to walk away and the diagnostic

drone comes up and it's like Why are you letting

them go? And, you know, he's like, that he'll

liberate their sparks another day. Well, the

quote is, you know, he played a fair hand and

there's always, you know, like you said, liberate

their sparks another day, so... Right. But you

know, Rattrap isn't the only one here who's going

against character. Megatron is just so... Different

here. This is so not Megatron that even the drone

is surprised that he lets him go right now It's

you know magic would never have seen rat trap

being a traitor for one Yeah Well, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, you'd never see rat trap being a traitor.

So he has had a 180 turn here basically and now

Megatron who is you know, his basically killed

his own people for portraying honorable traits,

let's say. And here he's like, oh, let's do the

honorable thing. Like, no, he wouldn't do the

honorable thing. He would be like, screw y 'all,

I'm the full power. Yeah. But the thing is though,

the difference is, is that they made a deal.

And granted Megatron has gone back on deals in

the past, but that was because Megatron then

had the upper hand here he didn't he was vulnerable

so that's why in the end he was he was not only

backup the full power but he had all three of

his general standing there at full power right

so i i don't know i i i was really surprised

that uh Everybody just decided not to act like

their normal selves here for a little bit although

it does kind of fit Megatron in some senses because

How arrogant he is? Which is how he's always

been Yeah, well if he thinks he's gonna get the

upper hand in the next episode maybe I could

see that but I You know not having watched that

one again. Yeah, I don't know but having Tampered

with Right or not right now, it's tank or Allowing

certain programming abilities to you Screwed

with he left open a door that he knew would lead

to some sort of victory because of a previous

Transformation of a certain maximal into a Predacon

once before the icon Yeah, well he was a Predacon

and be so yeah dark designs. Yeah. Yes So he's

basically playing the same hand again now knowing

what to expect right? Who that's yeah? We'll

have to bring that back up when we get to that

though What else we got for? the weak component

I Think pretty much. That's it for me Okay then,

that's my cue. Yes. In the beginning of this

episode you've got Optimus Primal having a dream

where he basically sees what's going to happen

with Cheetor. I mean with Rattrap, where you've

got Megatron with Rattrap in his hand saying,

In Beast Wars, it was Cheetor who had the precognitive

dreams. He only had one. He had like three or

four. No. Yeah. No, he only had one. No, he had

one where he saw back on Cybertron how things

were going to go. On the web, he saw the Starscream

and Megatron and Tarantulas on Cybertron. Right,

right there was I know there was at least one

other one there was the one where he oh I forget

what episode it was but he went down for a nap

basically and in cycle down mode and Rhinox was

saying it was telling him about oh, yeah Yeah,

but that's not really a precognitive dream though.

That's yeah. He was under Yeah, he was under,

but that's not him seeing the future, though.

Right, because it was in his dream, but it wasn't

like... I don't know. Yeah, and again, it's like

wouldn't it be neat if Cheetor had the dream

this time as opposed to Optimus. But I guess

Optimus having this this mystical connection

to the Oracle, now he's getting ESP. Yeah. Which,

you know, doesn't make any sense. But yeah, we'll

go with it, sure. ESP, extra scary personality.

Exactly, yeah. He goes up to him and he goes,

boo. Well, you know, ahh! What's scary is when

you open the door and there's people there in

suits and they're like... Can we tell you about

the Oracle? No, I don't want to tell you. No!

And they have the, what is it, that stupid ass

book, The Covenant of Primus. That's right. And

they're wearing sound wave suits. And they come

out and they're like, well, let us do a little

demonstration and they pop out cassettes. You

know, they all start doing a little dance, and

pretty soon everybody's converted, and Optimus

Primal's shang -hanging everybody, and... It

just gets worse from there. Yes, that's why Megatron

had them eradicated before they could even start.

That's right, because no good can come of this.

No! Take them to the pit! So, back to the weak

component. Yeah, exactly, um... Yeah, basically

the only way Rattrap can transform is to completely

go against character. Basically, he's thinking

of others first, as opposed to being a selfish

bastard, as he always is. He did start out in

the Beast Wars as more of a mercenary, where

it's like, look, I'm not putting my neck out

for you. But he grew, and eventually he did.

Uh, you know kind of really threw himself in

the danger more than once for his comrades And

and the fact here that they're saying oh, I'm

thinking of you guys and now I can transform

It's like, you know, when is he not thinking

of other people? Yeah, so it's uh, yeah, it's

like It's odd that they would say oh I can only

transform when I'm you know being what I'm not

When it seems to me like that's what he's been

all along Hmm interesting. Yeah, but you know

in the end he gets his own Ed 209 You have 20

seconds to comply But he gives it up though,

I wouldn't have given that shit up You know what

I earn this. I'm keeping it. You know, you guys

want to badmouth me because I don't have guns?

I got guns now. Cheetor, you want to take a ride

in my ED -209? Come on! We'll take you around

the block. I'll even let you shoot the missiles.

Oh, jeez. I would have kept it. It was a very

cool vehicle. ED -209? Well, with the exception

of the tank treads, it looked very ED -209 -ish.

Right? It just surprises me how much of other

crap we reference in this show There's a lot

of homages here Right, and I'm not saying that

there isn't but I'm just saying like the entire

run of beast unleashed there's so many things

that we've Gone down dark holes with or whatever

and it just like like my back to the future reference

earlier There's just a lot of pop culture we

can tap into here. The giant tank thing looked

a lot like the ED -209. I always thought that.

Oh, and this is something for Steve. This is

the first time since the Beast Wars that Megatron

has said, oh, yes. Yeah. It's nice to hear him

say it again. Although it's not as, uh, kind

of a, I don't know. It's not a, yes. It was more

of a, oh yes. Excellent. Yes. It's more like,

yes. Yeah. I was surprised you didn't pick up

on that though. I was really thinking about it.

I've watched like eight episodes in two days,

so. He says it at least twice during the series

though. I mean he gets a couple in there. Yeah

He gets one in there later, which I absolutely

love even though I don't like the scene much

later when When he's and you know quote -unquote

spoiler alert for future episodes when he's mr.

Mini spark With many hands and then he goes into

this body He's being built or that he's having

built and we're not gonna say what body that

is because you know, let's save that But when

he does that he goes he does this like giant

laugh and he goes I'm alive. Oh, yes Anything

else on the weak component? No, I think that's

about it. Alright, I think we're going to go

to some clips or quotes or something or other,

I don't know, and we will be back with the outro.

There she blows. We'll return to the Beast Unleashed

podcast after this. Hey, this is Cheetor, and

you're listening to the Beast Unleashed podcast,

Ultra Gear. Here's quote number one. I gave you

each a spark. I granted you independent thoughts,

individual identities. I asked only one thing

in return. The complete end are to destruction

of four purely maximals. Why has this not happened?

Okay, magnificence, check this out. I have the

whole zoo on the ropes and I'm bobbing, weaving,

and flying circles around them like nobody's

business. These two lug nuts have to come along.

Mess up my timing. An interesting tale. Now here

are some meaningful words. I am your creator.

Please me and I shall reward you. Disappoint

me. And you shall suffer. Difficult choice Here's

quote number two End quote number three. And

as for you, my impulsive Imparator, I'm afraid

we'll just have to refrain from purifying the

planet, weeding out the rogue elements, et cetera,

et cetera, for at least half a solar cycle. And

if I don't? You'll go offline. Permanently. Care

for a second opinion? So this is the way the

world ends. Not with a bang. but with a simpering

rodent. Speak for yourself, Nix. I am here to

work a deal. I am transformed. You got noisemakers?

I want noisemakers. And in exchange? In exchange?

I guarantee my Maximal pals leave you alone till

morning. Half a solar cycle. Plenty of time to

recuperate, recalibrate, and re... whatever else

it is you gotta do. Here is my counter -proposal.

I liberate your spark here and now, thus freeing

you from the pain of your wretched Maximal existence.

Alright! Your way! I'll just send a distress

signal to my buddies, and they'll come up and

slag ya! Please do. Send for your friends. I'll

do it! Just you watch! You wouldn't be here unless

you had nowhere else to turn. So let's cut through

the signal noise, shall we? I sense you are at

a crossroads, my friend. estranged from your

allies. Perhaps you've begun to realize Optimus

has led you astray. I, uh... I ain't ready to

fly the vehicle on flag, if that's where you're

going. All I ask is that you defend me for this

one night. Fight on my side. See things from

my point of view. If after that time you still

wish to fight for Optimus and his cause, The

weaponry is yours to keep. No strings attached.

And I walk outta here... in one piece. Completely

unharmed. Naturally, if any harm comes to me

by a maximum hand, you forfeit the weaponry.

Deal. Now, back to the Beast Unleashed podcast.

So I saved my last note from the weakest component

for this little outro here. These episodes go

by way too fast. I think every episode goes by

way too fast. It does! Again, it's running, and

then comes the running, and the screaming, and

the shooting, and you know, basically getting

your ass handed to you as you run away. It's

exciting stuff. Yeah, it is. But you know, because

it's so exciting, Just shoots past. Yeah, if

it was just boring dialogue the whole time, you

know half an hour later You'd be you know, slitting

your wrists. Oh, yeah, how long sitting in? Yeah,

how I have been sitting in the seat watching

all this crap, but no, I mean it seems Really?

It seems like you know, you're watching for all

of 10 15 minutes Well, actually the episodes

themselves are only probably about 20 minutes

long so that's a bad analogy As crazy as it is,

it is actually harder to come up with stuff to

discuss on the Beast Machines episodes because

they move so fast and because they are regardless

of our little nitpicks on the designs and on

the on the You know the mushroom cloud fire effects

and all the nitpicky character stuff Outside

of that it is really hard. I mean I actually,

because like I said before in this episode, I

actually watch these episodes twice. I watch

them first, I take notes. I then watch them again

and I see if there's anything I can add into

it because I had, like for weakest component,

I had two notes before I rewatched them this

evening. I had two notes for that entire episode

and then I added stuff into it. It's extremely

hard for me to take notes with these like Steve

was saying because, number one, they go by so

fast. Number two, for me, they're so enjoyable

because I love this show. No, it's fantastic.

What I'm wondering, though, is each episode is

20 minutes long, roughly. What happens if you

take out all the scenes of them running and being

shot at? But yeah, exactly it's like okay all

the scenes are then running down a small corridor

being shot at you remove all of that What do

you have left? Maybe maybe eight nine minutes.

Mm -hmm Course is gonna go fast because that's

Pretty much, you know, you're not gonna write

a note about running down corridor running down

court I mean actually no I did my first note

of the last episode was And the running starts

again. Yeah Here comes the running. Yeah, that's

all they do. They run and they run and they run

and Yeah, again, if you take out the running

when he got left Yeah, that's that is very true

actually Well except for this last episode I

mean where Yeah, the weak component where there

wasn't a whole lot of running right was actually

a story and things going on and and Rattrap in

the Ed 209 Yeah, yeah, I'm actually before I

forget about this. I'm actually checking something

really quick Let's see here Yeah, so it's a pause

no a little break No, oh wait a second. I guess

yeah Glada yeah, did we already talk about iTunes

reviews for this show? No, I don't know okay

good I think you had mentioned that there was

a new review, but you weren't going to say what

it was until this episode. Yeah, okay, that's

right. So, thank you for joining us here on the

Beast Unleashed Podcast. Our subways get in contact

with us or leave feedback for the show. Visit

the website, geekcastradio .com. You can comment

on each episode post. Join the forums, producthuntempire

.com slash nexus. Leave the show's feedback in

iTunes. We have an iTunes review. It's actually

glade wrote it his his name on iTunes is pod

cast or fi I don't know It's kind of like Michael's

Otto Botley logo thing or saying things Yeah,

it looks like that but another made -up word.

Yeah, exactly So Glade left this one a great

listen. I do a lot of outside work and I need

podcasts to keep entertained. I highly recommend

this one. I grew up watching Beast Wars and Beast

Machines and the host and co -host do a fantastic

job reviewing the episodes. Thank you guys for

the amazing podcast and keep up the good work.

So thanks for listening. podcast here because

I like Spawn. I was a big fan back in the day

when I collect comic books and back in the day

like 20 years ago, right? Right. Yeah, I was

a big Spawn fan, big McFarland fan to be honest.

So yeah, I'm kind of looking forward to hearing

that. Call the voicemail line and tell us to

show you leaving the message for and your name.

502 -526 -5821. We hope you enjoyed this episode

of the Beast Unleashed podcast, and join us next

time when we're reviewing three more episodes

from Beast Machines Season 1. Basically, we are

doing a three -parter next episode, so it's gonna

be one long discussion. So, it's Revelations

Part 1, Discovery, Part 2, Descent, Part 3, Apocalypse.

For now, I am TFG1 Mike with... Michael Wilson.

Megatron, close the show. And Steve Megatron

Phillips. I think he fell asleep. Boiled goose?

How about some nice haggis? Yeah. Choke on a

pepper. Sorry. And that's the end. See you next

week. We can edit that out, right? No, we're

not editing that out. See you next week, folks.

Bye.