To air Saturday, April 9th on The Hub at 7pm EST.

Note: This is the new time slot for Transformers: Prime




Trying to impress a girl and get even with the school bully, Jack convinces Bumblebee to help him win a street race, but the action speeds out of control when Knockout arrives.

Oh slag. It REALLY IS A Velocity-esque episode.

Prepare for bore-doom.

At 0:18 it looks like there's a new human character model.

Interesting.

And just what was wrong with Velocity?

Everything. 100% of the action was chase scene, the villain was lame (dude dressed like french Satan Bumblebee), Sari and Bumblebee going dumb again, the only good thing about the whole episode was the rocking Decepticon theme racing remix.

That was quite honestly the best episode to date. Seriously.

About my only qualm is that Bumblebee's personality is limited to being a robo-Lassie for the time being. Be nice if he was more equal a character with the rest of the cast.

Oh, good to hear. I'll start camping youtube then.

It was definitely better than Velocity, at any rate, which is probably my least favorite Animated episode. Street racing is pretty uninteresting to me, so I'm glad this episode packed in other stakes.

Well, I totally spaced on the time and day change. Youtube it is.

I can agree with that. What made it so good for me wasn't the subject matter so much as how it was presented: this episode cleared up a lot of problems I'd been having with Prime until now. The world felt more fully-realized, characters got to have character developing moments, the dialogue was snappy, the action scenes were tight, the story never had a dull moment, and Optimus' screen time was kept to a minimum as it should be. If every episode was done as well as this one was, I'd probably like the show a whole lot more.

Turns out it wasn't as velocity-esque as expected. I like how Breakdown isn't "Dumb muscle" at all, he's a surgeon!

Well, it wasn't a bad episode. It didn't make me cringe. That's a plus. The dialog was pretty good. Arcee was the highlight of the episode. Ratchet was completely absent. The plot was pretty dull.

So Bumblebee has to get Raf's permission before he does anything? It seemed really weird that Jack had to ask Raf's permission to go out with Bumblebee.

I think he was doing that because Raf would be deprived of his bodyguard and best friend. You know, as a courtesy.

I hope Knockout's toy has a removable door.

I really like Knockout.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FTransformers

It's up and it's great.

I find it kind of funny that Jack needs Raf's permission as opposed to Bumblebee and Raf's permission, as if Bumblebee is a pet.

I find it funnier that Bulkhead was more than fine leaving the bully to the Cons. Shows that while he looks out for human life, he is okay with something happening to someone other than the three human allies.

I really enjoyed this episode. It had a bit of character development for Jack and went back to his first meeting with Arcee by bringing back his crush. Arcee is not so much a mother, but a big sister or cool aunt who understands Jack's reasons and is willing to go along with them when necessary.

Favorite part besides Bulkhead's reaction to the kidnapping of the bully, is Arcee's reaction to finding out that Jack and BB went out to race. She warns her teammates to look after Jack until she has a word with charge.

Also, I am curious the change in Knock Out's appearance. I enjoy this version of Starscream: a schemer who while fearful of Megatron, will still exert his authority and power over others. Definitely a threat to all except Megatron himself.

I loved how Knock Out actually does one of those bio-fodder things that Decepticons do in their off-time, and it's actually a plot point.

Just finished watching it. This was one of their stronger eps I think.

I know humans in TF shows get flack but I think this ep felt... Better, because there were Finally a reasonable number of humans existing in the kid's world. Good characterization all around helped a lot too.

I actually laughed out loud at Miko and Raf acting "normal." An old bit, sure, but pretty funny in execution.

Arcee remains a really strong character, Bulkhead very likeable, Starscream and the Cons had good personality too. Knockout certainly has personality, like an evil sociopathic (more so) Sunstreaker.

What I really want to see now is the show building up more internal continuity, maybe even a more deliniated overarching storyline. The characters are filling in, they just need to aim them somewhere definitive and epic.

ZacWilliam, looking forward to next ep...

Snoozefest.

Get to bed earlier.

After Prime groaned, I wanted him to add, "Children, I am FOUR MILLION YEARS OLD."

Was this a first time ever?

For what?

I'm gonna guess the Spock eyebrow raise? I don't know. Increduous Prime?


ZacWilliam, someone lying to Prime? Enquiring minds want to know...

I don't get this insinuation that Bumblebee was being led around by Jack. When they asked Raf, it seemed Bumblebee had simply already been brought on board.

Solid episode. Not quite as good as Scrapheap, but an improvement over several of our other ones. Fully enjoyed it - lots of good character development. LOVING Knockout. Want toys.

Man, the only thing stopping these Autobots from being the least responsible ever is the existence of Animated Bumblebee. Optimus should make a new rule: "If Miko thinks something is a good idea, don't do it."

Nice to see another Transformers Animated writer getting to work on Prime!

Always love a knockout episode <3 needs toy ASAP.

tho I am pissed at the need to ask Raf for permission to use Bee O_o

It wasn't great but it wasn't bad.

Just a completely average episode.

Which is most episodes of Transformers: Prime.

Given the premise (Jack does something stupid to impress a girl), I honestly expected the moral of the tale to involve the fact that Jack already had a few gals who were impressed by him (Miko, Arcee, his mom, etc.) and so he didn't need to show off for anyone.

Also, Arcee's bit about "girls don't like having their stats aired in public" almost sounded like what a mad girlfriend might tell her guy.

Uh

It was an ok episode despite missing Ratchet and Soundwave, my two favorite characters, but it did have my third favorite character, Knockout.

Wasn't the race with Vince supposed to be on a dirt road? Looked pretty paved to me, and did they just leave the girls out there in the desert?

edit: Also the timeline for this episode was a little confusing. I know they're trying to go for a movie feel, but that's not something they should be emulating.

A generic message of "special" episodes is that a person need not do risky or stupid things to get attention because if they look really, really hard, they've got friends and family willing to give them all the attention that they need.

There's the occasional subversion in that the friends / family really are that dense (such as an episode of "Boy Meets World" in which one of the kids got ignored by his family unless he was winning at basketball), but generally that's the message.

As such, I expected Arcee doing the whole "and what have we learned from this?" bit.

also, it's a huge credit to this show that Knockout can still appear threatening and scary despite his, err, hang ups about getting damaged.

It sure looked to me like Bumblebee was already in on Jack's racing plan and all for it. I mean, when Raf goes "I don't know", Bee looks downcast. The bot doesn't have to SPEAK to act.

As for asking Raf... well, why wouldn't they? Bumblebee is his bodyguard and friend. If Bee just vanished, Raf would be worried and/or suspicious, and he'd likely immediately turn to Optimus.


M "Which They Didn't Want" Sipher

Decent episode. Good for being street racing based. Knockout more than made up for the lack of Ratchet. I'll probably skip over almost all of the Prime toyline, but I need a Knockout (and I guess Breakdown to go with him). I can use toys from other lines to fill in for everybody else in the cast, however Knockout is a new smug, vain, sassy Decepticon doctor.

Also it's official. I hate Bumblebee. He's nothing but a prop/pet/slave for Raf. Bee is R2 with less emotion and no Threepio.

Apparently a human can scratch a Decepticon with his ring. I would have thought Decepticons were a wee bit tougher than that.

It's paint, not adamantium.


M "And It Was A SCRATCH" Sipher

Good episode, was surprised by how many Humans popped up, but laughed at the completely empty sidewalks at the end. Maybe it's something like the kids only see kids around their age and adults (other than parents) are invisible to them.


And hey! Knock Out and Breakdown live to appear again! And if Megatron's ever going to come back I think they'll need to be around for awhile.

Which kinda makes me jaded about Skyquake, but whatever.

Great episode! I'm so glad that they're finally giving Jack and Arcee some much deserved character development. Looks like next episode is also another big one about J & A with. . . Blackarachnia? Airachnia? Anyway, this episode was a lot of fun and Knockout has firmly secured his place as one of the best new characters to come along in the TF fiction. This guy never ceases to be entertaining. Breakdown, not so much, but I guess it pays to have a straight man to play off of the funny man.

Every time I hear that Megatron is no closer to functioning, I cheer for Starscream. He's done everything in his power to keep Megatron dead, and I really want him to succeed at it! I know it won't happen, but I really love seeing Screamer take the reigns as leader. Plus, no other piece of TF fiction has ever had the guts to truly kill off Megatron. Not even the movies.

Need to rewatch this one again ASAP

It's this episode that cemented this as a crappy show for me. Hollow, uninspired, predictable, boring.

Cybertronian paint.

Eh. It looked (and sounded) deeper. That could have been a clip of an ordinary car. I didn't see a difference, and Decepticons should be noticeably less prone to damage than an ordinary car. Call it personal preference.

Knock Out even complained about it later on. Decepticons should be like, "Puny flesh-creature! Your pathetic attempt to tarnish the finish of a CYBERTRONIAN warrior has only succeeded in sealing your own DOOM."

... yeah, it looked more like a paint scratch to me than any real damage.

It's obviously a paint scratch.

Sad day. The plot was predictable, sure, but I thought it was a good episode to develop the characters more. I had fun anyway.

And how utterly boring would the show be if all the decepticons were like that. Knock-out is easily my favourite con on this show, especially after this episode-my only problem with him is that I think he's being a better Starscream than Prime Starscream .

I really liked this episode. I liked the characterizations of the humans, the bully, the girl (who I was glad to see actually seemed to like Jack if even for the wrong reasons), and Jack. The girl was a bit flirtatious and Jack was doing a lot of things he shouldn't have just to impress her.

Also Knockout continues to be awesome. I'm glad that a person's delusions that every episode that has Knockout and Breakdown on it means one or both will die has proven to be wrong.

Randy

I dunno how an episode that deals with the abuse of power through that many characters can be called "hollow". I kinda identified with Knock Out, it'd be kinda fun if you didn't have any hang-ups abusing power against someone who deserved it. Really, he's a fun character. I expected to like this episode the least, and it ended up being up there with Scrapheap. Arcee had some great lines.

Isn't he the guy that preceeded Sentinel?


Sometimes, when guys do dumbass things to impress girls, we get caught up in the moment. . .


Honestly, given Knock Out's hangups, I can see him equipping himself with non-standard gear, even if human-made. He's obviously a connoisseur who places aesthetics above practicality; it's possible that more primitive artifice (with different mixtures of pigment, additives, and chemicals to acheive a wide range of colour and texture effects) is higher quality than the battle-ready pragmatism of Cybertronian tech (which is designed to make "good enough" disguises and stand up to punishment, not to win fashion shows).

He's the Rarity of the Decepticons. . .