From kendrick@io.com Wed Nov 22 22:36:21 CST 1995
Article: 26685 of alt.toys.transformers
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From: kendrick@io.com (Kendrick Kerwin Chua)
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Subject: TF Weekday 11/22 - The Return of Optimus Prime Part II
Date: 22 Nov 1995 22:35:25 -0600
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TF Weekday Nov 22 1995 - The Return of Optimus Prime Part II

The EI/AD: A super heat-resistant metal which protects Optimus Prime from
the effects of the red-glowing hate plague is this episode's alien
invention...

The plot: As Optimus is revived, Sky Lynx updates him on the situation (as
a convenient method of retelling the plot for you viewers who have just
joined us...) They revive Blaster, Blurr, Kup, Steeljaw, and Bumblebee
with the help of the Quintesson, and Bumblebee is given a Throttlebot body
and renamed Goldbug. They fly out to Charr and rescue Galvatron from his
own, and cajole him into leading them to the super-metal. After they
survive all manner of natural hazards, infected Decepticons attack,
leaving only Sky Lynx, Galvatron, Jessica and Optimus to search out the
metal. A slip of the tongue reveals Optimus' plan to coat himself. Jessica
is infected by Cyclonus, and she in turn infects Galvatron, but Prime is
able to escape with the metal. The Quintesson and Sky Lynx work on coating
him, and then Optimus faces down Rodimus Prime and takes the Matrix from
him, but at the cost of having Sky Lynx infected. Back at Metroplex, Prime
searches through the matrix only to find that abstract wisdom is the only
thing which can stop the plague. As infected beings all over converge on
Metroplex to destroy Optimus, he awakens and opens the matrix to light
their second dark hour, and the plague is destroyed. Swafford and Morgan
learn their lesson the hard way and apologize. Galvatron calls a temporary
truce out of respect for their ordeal. Hot Rod notes that the matrix no
longer contains the collective wisdom of the Autobots, and Optimus makes
it a point for all to fill it again.

The characters: Alright, I'll tackle the big question here... Who is the
better leader, Optimus Prime or Rodimus Prime? The facts are that Optimus
is a do-gooder who is always perfect, who preaches without being
pretentious and who always knows the right thing to do. Rodimus is a
young upstart with flaws and doubts, who leads with a conviction he
doesn't necessarily feel and is still learning the ropes. Facts which
don't really add to either side of the argument, mostly because the
argument is moot.
   Optimus is a cosmological figure. Rodimus is a deontological figure.
In English, what I'm saying is that Optimus defines the universe, and
Rodimus lives in it. Optimus represents the noble, the divine, the
ultimate good in all human beings, whereas Rodimus represents the human,
the mortal, the closest approximation of good that we humans can ever
hope to achieve. Which one is the better leader in your mind depends on
what level of perfection you strive towards in your life. Optimus Prime
and Rodimus Prime cannot be compared because the worlds in which they
exist are not parallel. With the return of Optimus Prime, the
Transformers universe becomes a war of gods again. When Rodimus was the
leader, the war was one of ideology, of internal struggle, of conquering
one's own fears and doubts.
   In simplistic terms, Optimus is universal. Rodimus is personal.
Optimus is a god. Rodimus is a man. Feel free to disagree, but this is
one point I firmly believe in.
   In other character news... Goldbug is supposed to be a seasoned,
matured persona of Bumblebee, our favorite everyman grown-up and much
wiser. Instead Goldbug's origin is contrived and unoriginal, something
like Spiderman's new costume (trivia note: Dan Gilvezan, the voice actor
for Bumblebee, was also responsible for the voice of Spiderman in the old
80s 'Spider Friends' cartoon). Galvatron is portrayed not as insane but
misanthropic, as seen in his treatment of his Autobot rescuers in the
caves of Charr. I prefer this characterization for some reason, if only
because it really IS Megatron amplified to a greater degree. Sky Lynx gets
to break out of the mold of the interstellar chauffer, proving his worth
in close quarters and actually acting like a lieutenant commander for a
change. Even infected by the plague, Cyclonus still finds time to be a
loyal and trusting second... trying to invoke Galvatron's sense of honor
and comradery to get him to join the infected Decepticons. And bonus 3-D
points go for the Quintesson, one of few Quints who's able to put aside
his own goals and desires for the sake of a universal need... Wonder what
happened to him after the plague ended...

The plot holes: Sky Lynx names Wheelie as one of the surviving Autobots
who was uninfected after the fight with Superion in episode I. Instead,
Blaster is part of the crowd, and Wheelie is nowhere to be seen. The
super-metal is impervious to heat and radiation, right? So how the HELL
do you melt it down to coat anything? The animation suggests that the
metal is atomized somehow and just flaked onto Optimus' body like
powder... And the fact that Optimus seems to avoid heavy physical
activity while coated seems to suggest that the metal is prone to breach
by more conventional, physical means. Light your darkest hour, eh? It
bothers a lot of people that there is a second 'Darkest Hour(tm)' in the
Transformers Universe... You can explain this away semantically by saying
that Unicron appeared in the Transformers' darkest hour, and that the
hate plague appeared in the whole universe's darkest hour, but that is
stretching it just a bit.
   One other thing... Optimus makes a point of telling Galvatron that
because they know each other so well, Optimus won't share the secret of
the plague's cure with him. When the HELL did Optimus ever get the chance
to know Galvatron? I like to imagine that MAYBE, just maybe Optimus was
always afraid that Megatron would become crazed and power-hungry... You
can compare Galvatron and Megatron the same way I've compared Rodimus and
Optimus; Megatron is evil with restraint, perfect plans and perfect use
of resources doomed by selfish intentions... Galvatron is evil with no
restraints, doomed before it begins. In its own way, an evil man is more
dangerous than an evil god.

Moving pictures: Amazingly good animation, especially compared to the
first episode. Metal surfaces are reflective and shiny a la 'Nightmae
Planet', which makes everybody look like huge robots; check out the
side-by-side shots of Galvatron and Optimus walking around the caves of
Charr for good examples of this. Too bad a lot of transform sequences are
wasted and silly; Rodimus' transform is particularly bad, especially in
the car factory. Everybody's body movement and rolling is ruined by that
silly red-glowing effect too. You'd think they could find a better visual
representation of infection than the old green Smurf 'Gnapping' color change.

The cuts: Can't tell. Either I'm getting real used to the Sci-Fi cutting
techniques or they've stopped cutting stuff out of these episode...
Unlikely since USA is a bunch of money-grubbing corporate types who don't
care about our enjoyment, only the commercial time [mental note: erase
that before posting, needlessly patronizing...]

Toys they should reissue: I guess it's kind of pointless to ask for a new
Optimus Prime, seeing as how they're making a point of including the poor
guy in EVERY new Transformer line they come up with, whether he be
semi-truck or bat or sports car. Perhaps a quad-changing Optimus Prime
that has all these modes combined into one toy? Now that would be
something I'd pay money for.

Quotables:
"You seem pretty anxious to get a piece of me! Let's see what I can cut
out of you!"

"Gotcha!"

KKC, continues adamantly to be a slab of meat. With internet access
limited, sits on counter with limited shelf life. Filets and steaks
available upon request.
--
Kendrick Kerwin Chua - "Oh the bubbles, they tickle my - *GASP* Tchaikovsky!"
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