From kendrick@io.com Wed Oct 25 11:30:24 CDT 1995
Article: 24914 of alt.toys.transformers
Path: news.io.com!io.com!not-for-mail
From: kendrick@io.com (Kendrick Kerwin Chua)
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Subject: TF Weekday 10/25 - Chaos
Date: 25 Oct 1995 11:21:48 -0500
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TF Weekday Oct 25 1995 - Chaos

This is, bar none, my favorite post-movie Transformers episode. Most
people like to think of the Transformers story as a military one, two
armies clashing and two sets of soldiers fighting over an ideology. This
is fine for a short-term appreciation of th e fiction, but for me
Transformers has always been more mythological than militaristic.

Transformers are not soldiers to me. They're archetypes. They represent
the best and the worst aspects of humanity and what people have to offer.
The Decepticons are flaw and vice, while the Autobots are virtue and
resolution. So many people confuse the people that the Transformers are
with the ideas that they represent. It is entirely possible to admire
Megatron for his strength while disagreeing with his viewpoint. For this
reason, I try not to get involved in that silly 'conspiracy' argument that
ATTer s can never and will never resolve.

But back to the point; this episode defines Kup's character. Kup
represents triumph over guilt. We find out why Kup is a storyteller, and
that's because he is the ultimate defense against regret and guilt. Kup is
absolution through experience, and that ma kes him one of the most
admirable Autobot characters.

The EI/AD: A death crystal gun converted into a planet-smashing cannon by
the Decepticons is this episode's evil invention.

The plot: The Skugzoid bounty hunter is back, playing with his recently
inherited gun in what turns out to be a Decepticon litter buoy. Accosted
by Blast Off, the Skugzoid offers the death crystal gun in exchange for
some consideration. Meanwhile, Kup is finishing his Iqueyak story on
Cybertron for a captivated audience. When Grimlock asks about the rumor of
a monster called Chaos on the planet Dread, Kup gets defensive and silent.
Wreck-Gar calls with an alert, and the Autobots get to a goo where they di
scover an old EDC base and an old EDC ship lying there, decimated by some
shrapnel weapon. It turns out to be the death crystal cannon, wielded by
Runamuck riding atop Blast Off. After a brief space battle between Blast
Off and Sky Lynx, the Decepticons b low up a comet and leave out of
boredom. Kup verifies that this is indeed a death crystal stuck in Sky
Lynx's wing, and after pressure from the others he tells the untold part
of his story. After beating the Iqueyak, he was captured by the Orgs on
Dread t o work in the death crystal mines. Kup was the only survivor of an
avalanche, and had the opportunity to rescue the other robot workers until
Chaos revealed himself, a gigantic, glowing, ursine golem on whom crystals
growed. Kup ran away rather than savin g the others, and has lived with
that shame to this day. The Autobots get to Dread where Galvatron has
resumed miner slaver and built a death crystal cannon, aimed at Cybertron.
Sky Lynx fights the Predacons and rescues Blurr from the quickmud flats.
Pinn ed down by the Decepticons near the caves, Kup is trapped in the mine
shaft leading to Chaos' lair. He lures him out through an alternate path,
giving him time to free the slaves. While the Autobots fight around the
now active volcano, Kup turns the canno n around 180 degrees with the help
of some of the freed slaves, accidentally knocking over Galvatron and
Astrotrain in the process. As Chaos bursts from the mine shafts, Kup
blasts him with the cannon, destroying all the crystals, the mines, and
Chaos him self. The Decepticons run away as Sky Lynx flies the Autobots
and the freed slaves off Dread, and Kup feels a great weight lifted from
his shoulders as he jokingly relates the story of an old shuttle named
Jonah-Gar...

The characters: I handled Kup in the intro, so let's talk about the other
silly, unnecessary characters. Blurr and Wheelie are your standard
annoying pair of twits who do nothing. Wreck-Gar is only there to make
surgeon general jokes. Sky Lynx isn't much more than an interstellar
chauffer. Grimlock serves slightly more of a function; he spurs Kup on to
confront his guilt face-to-face. In a lot of ways, Grimlock fills the
youthful naive void that's been left behind now that Rodimus Prime is a
seasoned vete ran and not the brash cavalier he used to be. The Predacons
aren't very well fleshed out anywhere, and Predaking doesn't act like the
creature of instinct he's supposed to be. But he is smarter than your
average combiner team, which probably set the prece dent for the brilliant
Destron gestalt generals that we see in Headmasters and Zone later on.
Astrotrain, like Perceptor, seems a lot more comfortable in the 2005
universe than he ever was in 1985 stuck on Earth. He's enthusiastic and
functional.

The plot holes: If the crystals actually grow on Chaos himself, why are
they sitting around in the mines? Do they scramble to grab what few
crystals they can after each time Chaos gets a haircut or something? For
that matter, who was it who thought of usi ng them as a weapon in the
first place? Kup claims that the crystals are the hardest, most
destructive substance in the galaxy. This seems to be a viable claim,
considering that all the weapons which use the crystals fire them in a
random spread, rather t han using finely chiseled slivers or large
chunks... Simply because they can't change the crystal, they can only pick
and choose which crystal. If such a substance existed, it wouldn't be a
large, translucent crystal like they show; it'd be a tiny crystal
 like most metals are.

Moving pictures: Great animation. They recycle the Predaking merging
segment, but it's worth seeing twice. Nice fades in and out when Kup tells
his story, and he magically appears in the middle of the flashback he's
retelling. Interesting how he used to b e a brighter shade of aqua way
back in the past. There are a lot of nice transform shots too; Blast Off
unfolds like a flower to grab the Skugzoid by the throat, and Blurr
whizzes into his robot mode on Goo like a pile of magnets locking
together. The effect of the crystals flying through space tearing holes
in everything is very well done. You hardly even notice little errors like
Sky Lynx's mouth moving impossibly or Kup's eyes being colored wrong in
the cannon segment.

The cuts: A few bits of the fight scene between Runamuck and Sky Lynx are
cut out, but nothing really important. This episode is distinct for having
a LOT of recycled footage before and after commercial breaks. In the
original broadcast, you had a whole m inute and a half of crystals flying,
Autobots ducking for cover, and Kup stashing his tricorder whilst firing
his gun all repeated.

Toys they should reissue: I want a new Kup toy now. Dammit, I want a Kup
toy to begin with, never had one. :) Kup deserves much better than the
flattened head and wide, hollow chest that the original toy had. I
wouldn't mind an action master version of hi m that takes advantage of the
ball-and-socket joints in his arms. And definitely give him that
Targetmaster gun mount on the flatbed.

Quotables:
"You left these lyin' around! I wanted to give 'em back to ya!"

"Pop-top can not popping! Zip-lock bag not locking!"

"Obliterated? By you grubby Predacons? That'll be the day..."

"You Blurr lucky we get tired of waiting! Otherwise you be nothing but mud pie!"

KKC, I'm speechless. This episode has a lot of great memories attached to
it for me.

--
Kendrick Kerwin Chua - "London? You put the Eiffel Tower back... in London?!"
kendrick@io.com - WTB: 1980s Transformers, US and Japanese, and GIJoe figures
Necronomcon FAQ home page at http://www.io.com/~kendrick/necronomicon or anon
FTP at io.com:/pub/usr/kendrick -Personal home at http://www.io.com/~kendrick