TF:Animated #9 Along came a Spider (spoilers)

[i_amtrunks]

Spoilery also:

I Liked the Episode. It fleshed out Prime really well, he is a very "by the book" style leader, and was even moreso when he was a younger bot, and it cost him a team member and friend.
Sentinel behaved more or less like I expected him too. And he is Captain America in fighting style.

It was fairly obvious as to what was going to happen from the moment you see the Giant Spider, since they made no effort to change the look of Arachnia and Elita in their robot forms, and since Elita didnt ever transform.

Elita's power is rather stupid though (yes I know it was for a plot device), mimicking other robots skills is great and all, but them only lasting 5 seconds is a tad silly, and not really worth the effort.

The thing that really dragged the episode down was the lack of Prowl and Ratchet back in the present, those two would've been great to bounce some one liners and whatnot off. Instead the annoying Duo (Bumblebee and Sarri) plus Bulkhead (another "my bad" to boot) mainly teased Prime and were general annoyances. Prime should've slapped them back into line.

Black Arachnia crying at the end seemed a bit too much, it's fairly obvious she will return to being an Autobot, all they managed to do was fall into stereotypes "no matter how strong the female warrior is, she will always cry and be emotional". She is a far cry from Beast Wars Black Arachnia.

[Robzy]

The thing that really dragged the episode down was the lack of Prowl and Ratchet back in the present, those two would've been great to bounce some one liners and whatnot off. Instead the annoying Duo (Bumblebee and Sarri) plus Bulkhead (another "my bad" to boot) mainly teased Prime and were general annoyances.

But to be fair to the writers, could you really see either Prowl or Ratchet going trick-or-treating? Or dressing up?

[i_amtrunks]

But to be fair to the writers, could you really see either Prowl or Ratchet going trick-or-treating? Or dressing up?

I could see them getting dragged out by the Annoying Duo, or at least having them in the base.

[GoktimusPrime]

I really liked this episode. Sentinel Prime and Blackarachnia are vastly different personas from their G1 and BW counterparts, but I can live with that since this is an entirely different universe/reality.

I do like Elita/Blackarachnia's ability to mimic other Transformers' abilities - and it gets more like Rogue when she became Blackarachnia because the power absorption process actually harms the host Transformer.

I really like the Blackarachnia character as a tragically fallen Autobot. Reminds me of Rampage from Micron Legend (aka Armada Wheeljack). I also like how she's so far the only technorganic Transformer, and the show explains how she became technorganic, how she resents it, but also how she seems to be stuck with it (i.e.: her organic and technological aspects are so deeply fused that one cannot survive without the other). I find that it's a much cooler excuse for her to remain technorganic as opposed to Beast Machines Megatron who simply didn't trust anyone (not even mindless drones) to transplant his spark... especially considering that his spark managed to transplant itself into several different bodies afterwards. :/

Black Arachnia crying at the end seemed a bit too much, it's fairly obvious she will return to being an Autobot, all they managed to do was fall into stereotypes "no matter how strong the female warrior is, she will always cry and be emotional". She is a far cry from Beast Wars Black Arachnia.

I don't know if her returning to being an Autobot is "obvious." And if she does, it's not necessarily a bad thing -- all depends on how they develop the character from being a Decepticon back to being an Autobot again... so long as the progression is logical, then I don't mind (e.g.: BW Blackarachnia's evolution from Predacon to Maximal).

As for the crying thing... I liked it in terms of it shows how emotionally tormented she is, reinforcing the tragedy of this character... she is consumed by the sadness of the life that she now lives; a situation that was "forced" upon her and that she felt little control over. As a result she feels that her life is spiralling out of her hands and desperately wants to regain control of it. She's allied herself with the Decepticons most likely out of convenience. And it's natural for people to feel sad and angry when they're feeling powerless and impotent -- men tend to lash out very angrily (although that's largely a socio-cultural thing; society teaches boys that it's wrong to look weak and that often the best way to counter that is to get mad and smash stuff).

At first I wasn't so hot about her physically weeping - but now that I think about it, she's technorganic, so why not?

And let's not forget that Optimus Prime once cried when Scorponok died.


PS: Still unhappy with Bulkhead still being the dimwitted brute. :/

[Gutsman Heavy]

As for the crying thing... I liked it in terms of it shows how emotionally tormented she is, reinforcing the tragedy of this character... she is consumed by the sadness of the life that she now lives; a situation that was "forced" upon her and that she felt little control over. As a result she feels that her life is spiralling out of her hands and desperately wants to regain control of it. She's allied herself with the Decepticons most likely out of convenience. And it's natural for people to feel sad and angry when they're feeling powerless and impotent -- men tend to lash out very angrily (although that's largely a socio-cultural thing; society teaches boys that it's wrong to look weak and that often the best way to counter that is to get mad and smash stuff).

At first I wasn't so hot about her physically weeping - but now that I think about it, she's technorganic, so why not?

Very good point, I'd also like to point out that her behavior is inline with someone who is a victim of abuse, I know someone who was horribly abused and they put on a very strong front for the sake of appearing in control, but are really hurting on the inside. Whilst Animated BA may be acting similar in pure coincidence it makes BA a character I can emphasize with. Plus it was a top episode!

PS: Still unhappy with Bulkhead still being the dimwitted brute. :/

I still love it, always a sucker for the dimwitted brute!

[STL]

I did enjoy this episode. I actually made an effort to watch it late last night but fell asleep due to exhausation. So I tried again tonight and was thorougly impressed.

I liked how Blackarachnia cried at the end. It's not usual for Transformers especially and it makes them seem much more human as I can appreciate how she feels to have gone through what she has. It's not just cold, mechanical revenge but a layer of hurt that tears away at her.

As for Sentinel Prime and Elita-1 themselves, I felt that in the flashbacks they deserved what was coming. They were the ones who wanted to keep going when Optimus said not to. Now they turn around and blame it on poor ol' Optimus.

I do agree that what holds this back is the excessive Halloween hunting aspect of it. Nevertheless its still a very decent episode.