Airs Saturday March 10, 2012 at 8:30 PM EST.

So Mech are just waylaying single Transformers and stealing bits? Fair enough.

They're taking "collect them all" to heart!


-ZacWilliam, quite possibly "clip and save" as well.

okay I do not want a Rub to reveal true allegiance joke


...DAMN IT!
>_>

Two Preview images at Newsarama!

Oh hey look, the events of Orion Pax are still relevant.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now Prime Bumblebee is my favorite Bumblebee.

Imagine that!

This episode did a good job of showing how transforming is important to a Cybertronian's identity.

People that complained that BB has no personality should be eating some crow after this ep. Some great character stuff in this one for practically everyone! Ratchet and Starscream swallow every scene they're in!

Thankfully it seems as if the Orion Pax maguffins are going to be used up fairly quickly.

Wait, what does that mean? I mean, I can guess from context, but it's a weird phrase to my eyes...

Basically means "man up and admit they were wrong". Not really sure the how literally its supposed to be taken.

Organ? Shouldn't that be technorgan?

Starscream and Silas bounce off each other well. Starscream in particular seems happy that he gets to be the biggest fish, now that he's in a much smaller pond.

Hey look, they only served as a replacement for "Hey, a signal just appeared, lets go check it out!". Not that much of an improvement.

I'm mixed on this episode. There was a lot of really good things in it. I loved how central Transforming was to Bee's and the other Autobot's identity, and I've always wanted to see it explored more. I loved Mech's attempt to build a transformer, Starscream allying with Mech, and bio-technology that requires Energon to work. I liked the flashback. And I loved Bee's personality and reactions.

BUT...

This episode proved how utterly terrible Bee's beeps are. God. They HURT. Bee without the beeps would have been incredible, but those beeps, they're like every unpleasant electronic sound rolled into one.

Secondly, I was given no reason whatsoever to care about the Spark Extractor (Who wants to take a bet that it's ended up with the Immobelizer and the Magnet thing with 'crap we shall never see again) and whaetever the hell it was Knockout stole.

Third... GUESS WHOS BORING AGAIN. OH RIGHT ITS THE GUY WHO WAS THE FOCUS OF THE LAST ARC THEY JUST UNDID. Megatron taunting him had the potential to be interesting, but still. ARGH.

I realize it's not what you wanted Fwiffo, but what's wrong with making Optimus feel guilty about his actions and desire to set them right?

Yes, I realize it didn't play into the entire episode, but surprise! It's not an Optimus episode.

I found his doubt and uncertainty and his desire to make things right and make it up to Bumblebee to be quite interesting.

I'm confused: did this episode somehow overwrite the last 29 episodes worth of Bumblebee appearances? And have you been to the future and know for sure they won't just stick him back into the background once this 2-parter's done?

Another subtle moment I really enjoyed, Starscream's tiny yelp of pain when he cuts his finger.

He just wants so badly to look cool.

I guess I 'll have to wait until tomorrow for the episode to hit the internets.

Nothings wrong, but unless Megatron decides to spend the rest of the season taunting him for it, which is highly unlikely because there's only one of these artifacts left now, it's still an entire wasted arc with virtually no payoff.



I didn't get that read from him. He sounded just like Optimus from the first season (IE: BORING) to me.

He grabs Bumblebee by the shoulders and virtually says "I KNOW THAT FEEL, BRO."

That's more personal with someone else than he's been in the entire series.

It all depends on what you take from the performance, I guess.

"Organ" derives from the greek organon, which means "tool, instrument". It refers to the function of an anatomical part.
In this sense "organ" is very much applicable to cybertronian anatomy.

I'd guess that the confusion stems from the word "organic", which derives from "organism", ie living creatures.

Any other nuggets of wisdom you can bring us from the future?


Or did you just want him to sound like that?

He came off fairly standard to me too, but you all know me.

Still, I dug that he used 'nadir'. Let's keep those ten-dollar words coming! Expand the viewer's word-power!

I love how all Prime episode threads ever fall into the same damn rut. Why even have separate threads for individual episodes? Can we just merge all of them into the "Always complain about Optimus and Bumblebee" megathread?

Gah, BB's "voice" is horrible.

The episode was very clever - with good insight into how the TF construct their identity around their abilities, and the limits of their science, with Ratchet seeming both frustrated and almost disgusted at the suggestion that he could simply build new parts for Bee. It would probably be like asking a surgeon to fix up a dying human with pieces of hot dogs and leather bar stools.

But that voice is just so horribly, horribly ear-gratingly annoying.

I like where the writers are taking the characters that fans wanted more depth out of last season... CAN'T WAIT FOR RAPH AND MIKO to get a story that adds to them.

see Walky... can't merge the threads, we have to keep them separated so we can give time to bitching about non Bee and Optimus issues.

Yeah the same old complaints at this point are just really for complaining's sake, same people you just can't make happy. I wish they'd move on to some other show or accept the characters for the roles they play. That's all I'll say about that.

I LOVED this episode. So much emotion and character in Bumblebee, Ratchet, Starscream. Even guys with small parts like Bulkhead, Optimus, Megatron, and Knock-Out were really great. I do find it funny that Bulkhead stated Bumblebee was even worse than Miko in trying to get him to tag along.

This episode managed to do what no other episode of the show has, it made me care and really like Bumblebee. Prior to this episode I didn't think much about him at all, after this episode it makes me excited to get the RID version.

Randy

Everything about this episode was well-done. I watched it a second time immediately, which is something I haven't done with Transformers in a while. What charms me about this Bumblebee is how irrepressible he is. When he grabs that old junker (oh hai i remember you from "Convoy") and rides it down the road, I friggin' cheered. What I loved about Bumblebee when I was a kid was that he was small and weak but tried to make up for it by being brave. But Bumblebee's not the smallest anymore, so that element has been kind of lost in these past few years. (And resulted in him being an annoying braggart to compensate in Animated.) TFPrime, however, subsituted Bumblebee's muteness (and now his lack of a transformation cog) to become his new handicap that he must overcome and prove that he's still worth something despite it all. And how HARD Bumblebee tries to still matter... it's hard not to love the guy.

I never really got the impression that Bumblebee was all that handicapped in the first season. He had an earnest sense about him, a desire to succeed, but he still interjected into expository conversations, even if we couldn't understand what he was saying.

If only his beeps didn't hurt so bad to listen to.

I was really impressed with his expressiveness. The animators did an excellent job - I really liked one point where he was walking away, depressed, and his door-wing-kiible was drooping flat against his back.

But those beeps. So bad.

Blame Ratchet.

I think I'll blame the production, who could have given us something closer to the movie versions sounds, or at least beeps that didn't cause physical pain, thank you very much.

My only complaint is the sound effect bumble bee. At least Soundwave just keeps his mouth? shut. Starscream is getting more and more crazy, love where his arc is going. Honestly, I think he could end up being the entire show's bad guy. Mech is getting interesting. I have liked this show before this point. It's been pretty decent. I think I'm about to go all in.

The Pax sub story can really be mined, just because Megs didn't get everything he wanted, surely Soundwave can analyze Orion's cracking techniques and acquire further Autobot secrets.

Even if none of what I just wrote comes true there are enough potential story lines to keep me hooked.

X

At least now we have a plot-driven reason for Optimus to not remember his time spent as Orion: to keep the Autobots in the dark regarding what Megatron found out.

---Dave

If Bumblebee didn't buzz, he wouldn't be a bee.

Also hey there Marty Isenberg. Wonder how many episodes he's written for the show.

Not enough!

if a sound from the tv makes your ears hurt ... you need to turn it down, sit farther away, and or go get your ears checked.

if its just exaggerated description of annoyance .. >_> meh, guess you can't be helped then. Its the way he is.

and as to the "why not just do it like the movie?" bit.. that's simple - TV Budget.

Another great episode. Loved that MECH is trying to make their own Transformers.

Pretty great episode! I think every character with some lines (and Bee too!) had some nice characterization. It's amazing how much the series has developed since the beginning of season 1...

Anyways, I think that once again Ratchet and Starscream stole the show. Ratchet's guilt and Screamer's scheming: GREAT STUFF. And silly MECH... how can a barely armored robotic skeleton, that's missing an arm and a leg, turn into a helicopter? Heh.

As for Bee... like everyone has been saying this is the most I've cared for him as a character ever. Up until this point he's merely been window dressing to Arcee and Bulkhead, so it's nice to see him emote and develop. I found myself thinking "MAN, I really wish I knew what he was saying!" several times, so kudos to Isenberg!

...and I know some people would hate this, but I'd kinda like for BB to get his voice back. Or rather get a voice box transplant. (just find a recently deceased Terrorcon with a kid friendly voice! Lol...)
I think there really is a limit to what the writer's can do with a mute character (see Renegades Snake Eyes, all his good moments relate to his past. It gets repetitive) ...and eventually that limit will be reached.

But yeah. Excited for part two.

I wonder where fanoftransformers will pop up today/morrow?

Yay. Just saw it.

That was a really good ep. Really the only criticism I could give was that ended too soon. I wasn't at all ready for the "to be continued."

Good characterization all around, and I love the extent to which they're dealing with TF biology.


- ZacWilliam, makes me want to really know more about how TFs are "protoformed" in the Prime universe. Have we heard anything about how new TFs are made/born here?

Fantastic episode. No complaints. Hell, I even really like Bee's voice, since the tone, pitch, etc are all changing with the acting. He SOUNDS pissed off, depressed, flippant, jubilant, etc, as the scene plays out. And of course the amazing character animation helps.

And I love, LOVE the reaction shot to the Urbana 500 commercial.


M "Alec Baldwin Must Be Costly Tho" Sipher

Oh, is that why this episode was so awesome? I was getting some Animated Starscream vibes from Prime Starscream. Now it all makes sense.

People on the sidewalks! Traffic in the streets! Jasper, Nevada doesn't look like a ghost town anymore!!

Great episode. Not much to add that hasn't been said already. I loved every minute of it. I do hope that BB gets his voice fixed. I don't mind his beeps and boops so much, but I do dislike having everyone translate for me.

BB: Beep beep boop beep-a-deep a doop

OP: Yes Bumblebee. I too prefer the chocolate over the vanilla.

So wait, Ratchet is aghast when the kids suggest building Bumblebee a new T-cog because "It's an irreplaceable organ you can't just scavenge from a junkyard"

...yet MECH manages to hook a "foreign" one into their machine and it presumably doesn't work *only* because they didn't have Energon.

So I'm a bit confused. Does it need to be "fresh" for transplants to work or what?

Other then that little wrinkle I really liked the episode. I still don't like Bumblebee's beeps but they didn't really drag down the episode as they usually do. EVERYONE from the voice actors to the animators hit it out of the park this week. Plus past canon! All in all this was easily the best episode of the second season so far.

I think ratchet's greater point is that a T-cog isn't something you can 'just built' any more than you could beat a functional human kidney out of giblets and strings. MECH on the other hand effectively involuntarily 'harvested' Bee's T-cog, the only missing imagery would have been Bee waking up in a bathtub full of ice.

This new distinction of cybertronian organ parts would probably explain why Breakdown is still missing an eye, but Starscream was able to replace an entire arm.

Also, pissy angry Bumblebee is best Bumblebee

I think that still works - you can transplant a liver, but you can't make a new one.

This.

So if they could find say...Cliffjumper's corpse they could implant his T-cog into Bumbleebee?

Or does it shut down/go rotten/etc after a prolonged absence of Energon?