I'm ba-ack!
Okay, so I was feeling kinda sick when episode 29 came out -- both figuratively and literally. Figuratively in the sense that it seemed like Cyberworld was starting to spin its wheels to keep the big mystery going (and I didn't seem to be alone), and literally in the sense that I was actually sick with some sort of virus or something. The less said about that, the better.
By the time I was up to doing something like this, well, the next episode was around the corner, so I figured I might as well make a double feature of it. And I'm glad I did! More for the second episode than the first, but we'll get into that shortly.
First up, we have episode 29, "One Last Byte," whose description reads:
Then there's Episode 30, "Twisted Webs." No point in spoilering this, since a) they not only want you to know who is in this episode, right down to putting it on the thumbnail, but b) what we saw at the end of 29 was a pretty blatant clue. So please don't shoot the messenger here.
Oh, wait -- I can just put the episode embed and description behind their own spoiler until you're done with the above episode (assuming you've not watched it already). Then we just change out the admittedly much cooler thumbnail, blur out this episode's title, aaaaaand...
Welcome to SPIDER SLAM! Airachnid has lured Elita-1 and Wheeljack into her web-ring and she's ready to settle old scores once and for all. When Optimus Prime and Bumblebee storm the arena to make the save, the stage is set for an unforgettable showdown. Body slams, aerial attacks, surprise reversals and web-powered chaos take over the ring as Elita-1 goes head-to-head with her longtime nemesis. In this no-holds-barred battle, there's only one question: Who's leaving Spider SLAM victorious?
...done!
Now, for my recaps/reviews which contain -- you guessed it -- more spoilers. I'll do each episode individually, though.
Episode 29 starts off with Elita-1 and Wheeljack right where we left them, on their own as Optimus tries to stop the flight of the Bumblebee. They're arguing over whether or not Optimus would actually do something that would condemn them all to starring in a series of five-minute short episodes on YouTube -- er, I mean to Cyberworld -- when a familiar finny fanged face finds his fiendish way into interrupting their conversation.
Sky-Byte makes threats and asks Wheeljack how his arm is doing (ouch, too soon), when Elita gets all defensive and chases after the hungry henchbot. Normally, this would leave a bot like my boy Wheeljack sidelined, but he's my boy for a reason, as he shows that Optimus isn't the only Jesus allegory in Transformers and breaks out a pair of foot pads that allow him to walk -- or run -- on water, and he goes after them.
While Elita and Wheeljack are taking the high road (i.e. moving atop the water), Sky-Byte is taking the low road (i.e. swimming down below). Fortunately, fancy footwork isn't the only thing Wheeljack came prepared with, as he summons his drone to start dropping torpedoes that target Sky-Byte. Man, this is starting to feel like Wheeljack is not only Indiana Jones, but Batman, too.
They take the battle ashore in the city, with Sky-Byte doing his best impression of Nathan "Rad" Spencer from Capcom's Bionic Commando along the way. Elita breaks out her Rambo cosplay and keeps up her pursuit, while Wheeljack decides to instead override some nearby magnetic cranes to catch this fish.
We cut to Optimus and Bumblebee, and the former finally gets the latter to stop. Here, we actually get a little insight into Bumblebee's background. They do the "I understand"/"No you don't!" thing, and Bumblebee reveals that it took a long time for him to be able to trust anyone, and joined the Autobots because OP asked him to. "You're one of the good ones!" he says. "You have to be! And if they can't see that..."
OP is in the middle of giving the big teamwork speech when he's interrupted by explosions echoing from over the horizon. Sounds like things are going well on the hunt for Sky-Byte!
Back at the ranch, Elita's still chasing Sky-Byte, who seems like he might be suffering from hunger fatigue. He throws a handful of... shark teeth? ...at Elita, which narrowly miss. Wait, did he ever do that before? That was pretty cool. It's no Tsunami Blaster, but can we make this a staple of his repertoire, anyway?
Then Wheeljack proves how OP (and I don't mean "Optimus Prime") he is by throwing out gadgets ahead of Sky-Byte that transform the objects around them. A barrel disappears, leaving the oily contents inside to spill out, a steel structure becomes a tree that nearly falls over on him, and a shipping container turns into a bunch of large rocks that somehow bury the Decepticon underneath.
Here's where it kinda loses me. Elita has Sky-Byte at her mercy and he's taunting her. He wiped out her entire unit... well, except for her. And Wheeljack. But as far as she knows, everyone else is dead. She's had a whole vengeance thing going this entire episode -- longer, really -- and she's about to even the score. Or at the very least, take an antagonistic player off the playing field.
I don't think Wheeljack had any issues with it, but Bumblebee is all "She's gonna offline him!" and Prime is all "Elita, no..." But she doesn't rise to the shark's bait, and instead amusingly snatches his tongue, tells him she doesn't have to lower herself to his level, he's not worth the effort, and then kicks a rock that lets the rest carry him into the ocean.
So, uh... that happened. And I can't imagine pulling the trigger would have been more effort than she expended in the last four minutes.
Look, I know it's a show for kids and all, but... I don't know. Are/were the Autobots and Decepticons not at war here? The chase was good, but the victory to me just feels a little hollow.
Well, Optimus is relieved, at any rate. He tells Bumblebee to come on, and "our team needs us."
He has no idea how right he is, as a pair of web-like strands shoot out and pull Elita and Wheeljack into the shadows.
So... yeah. I kinda like this episode, as it follows up the whole Sky-Byte thing. The action is good, and it's pretty fun overall, but at the end... I don't know. Is this our closure to the Sky-Byte/Elita arc/rivalry? It kind of feels like it's run through the entire series up to this point, but ended on a big, flat... nothing. Nothing was really done. What happens if he shows up again? Do they just continue the song and dance? What will be the point of Elita going after him be if he does?
I mean, this is supposed to be like a video game world, right? Why not have her take him out, and he just... respawns later? Maybe he got a 1up somewhere? Continued after a cooldown buffer? Waits in a lobby for the show to end?
I don't know. I just feel like this could have been more satisfying somehow, but like I said, the ending just rang hollow to me. All this buildup, and the conclusion(?) felt a little flat.
I wonder if some busybody executive forced a change at the last minute. "Oh no, we can't have killing in our cartoon about two factions at war in a video game."
Well, whatever. Let's move on to the next episode.
Sky-Byte makes threats and asks Wheeljack how his arm is doing (ouch, too soon), when Elita gets all defensive and chases after the hungry henchbot. Normally, this would leave a bot like my boy Wheeljack sidelined, but he's my boy for a reason, as he shows that Optimus isn't the only Jesus allegory in Transformers and breaks out a pair of foot pads that allow him to walk -- or run -- on water, and he goes after them.
While Elita and Wheeljack are taking the high road (i.e. moving atop the water), Sky-Byte is taking the low road (i.e. swimming down below). Fortunately, fancy footwork isn't the only thing Wheeljack came prepared with, as he summons his drone to start dropping torpedoes that target Sky-Byte. Man, this is starting to feel like Wheeljack is not only Indiana Jones, but Batman, too.
They take the battle ashore in the city, with Sky-Byte doing his best impression of Nathan "Rad" Spencer from Capcom's Bionic Commando along the way. Elita breaks out her Rambo cosplay and keeps up her pursuit, while Wheeljack decides to instead override some nearby magnetic cranes to catch this fish.
We cut to Optimus and Bumblebee, and the former finally gets the latter to stop. Here, we actually get a little insight into Bumblebee's background. They do the "I understand"/"No you don't!" thing, and Bumblebee reveals that it took a long time for him to be able to trust anyone, and joined the Autobots because OP asked him to. "You're one of the good ones!" he says. "You have to be! And if they can't see that..."
OP is in the middle of giving the big teamwork speech when he's interrupted by explosions echoing from over the horizon. Sounds like things are going well on the hunt for Sky-Byte!
Back at the ranch, Elita's still chasing Sky-Byte, who seems like he might be suffering from hunger fatigue. He throws a handful of... shark teeth? ...at Elita, which narrowly miss. Wait, did he ever do that before? That was pretty cool. It's no Tsunami Blaster, but can we make this a staple of his repertoire, anyway?
Then Wheeljack proves how OP (and I don't mean "Optimus Prime") he is by throwing out gadgets ahead of Sky-Byte that transform the objects around them. A barrel disappears, leaving the oily contents inside to spill out, a steel structure becomes a tree that nearly falls over on him, and a shipping container turns into a bunch of large rocks that somehow bury the Decepticon underneath.
Here's where it kinda loses me. Elita has Sky-Byte at her mercy and he's taunting her. He wiped out her entire unit... well, except for her. And Wheeljack. But as far as she knows, everyone else is dead. She's had a whole vengeance thing going this entire episode -- longer, really -- and she's about to even the score. Or at the very least, take an antagonistic player off the playing field.
I don't think Wheeljack had any issues with it, but Bumblebee is all "She's gonna offline him!" and Prime is all "Elita, no..." But she doesn't rise to the shark's bait, and instead amusingly snatches his tongue, tells him she doesn't have to lower herself to his level, he's not worth the effort, and then kicks a rock that lets the rest carry him into the ocean.
So, uh... that happened. And I can't imagine pulling the trigger would have been more effort than she expended in the last four minutes.
Look, I know it's a show for kids and all, but... I don't know. Are/were the Autobots and Decepticons not at war here? The chase was good, but the victory to me just feels a little hollow.
Well, Optimus is relieved, at any rate. He tells Bumblebee to come on, and "our team needs us."
He has no idea how right he is, as a pair of web-like strands shoot out and pull Elita and Wheeljack into the shadows.
So... yeah. I kinda like this episode, as it follows up the whole Sky-Byte thing. The action is good, and it's pretty fun overall, but at the end... I don't know. Is this our closure to the Sky-Byte/Elita arc/rivalry? It kind of feels like it's run through the entire series up to this point, but ended on a big, flat... nothing. Nothing was really done. What happens if he shows up again? Do they just continue the song and dance? What will be the point of Elita going after him be if he does?
I mean, this is supposed to be like a video game world, right? Why not have her take him out, and he just... respawns later? Maybe he got a 1up somewhere? Continued after a cooldown buffer? Waits in a lobby for the show to end?
I don't know. I just feel like this could have been more satisfying somehow, but like I said, the ending just rang hollow to me. All this buildup, and the conclusion(?) felt a little flat.
I wonder if some busybody executive forced a change at the last minute. "Oh no, we can't have killing in our cartoon about two factions at war in a video game."
Well, whatever. Let's move on to the next episode.
Okay, now this episode? This is my jam.
We left off with something grabbing Elita and Wheeljack, and if you've been keeping up with toy listings and news, then it should come as no surprise that it's everyone's favorite female spider-bot,Black Arachnia Airachnid! (And also if you looked at the thumbnail, the YouTube title, the description...
She's got the two Autobots all webbed up, and is threatening the two with slow and painful suffering as they "catch up". Ooh, so there's history here. Neat.
Aside: Airachnid has a Gatling gun mounted in her upper-abdomen. So this design for her is already an instant fave for me.
Optimus and Bumblebee come leaping to the rescue in the middle of this spider-webbed den. Turns out she easily outmatches both, though, even with their various weapons out, so Elita breaks out her sickle to cut herself free.
OP and Bee grab her arms, which is also where eight of her legs are attached, in the hopes of keeping her locked up. Bumblebee likens it to the old gladiator pits. Huh, never imagined that was his scene. Learn something new every day. Think he was a fan of Megatron?
Anyway, Airachnid isn't held for long, gets free, and kicks Optimus away, who bounces off of some of her webbing like ring ropes...
Yep, you can guess where this is going, and why I love this episode. No small secret I've been a wrestling fan for most of my life, and apparently someone making this is a pretty big fan themselves, as we're about to see.
As Airachnid stomps Bumblebee into thecanvas dirt, Prime comes back and hits her with a running lariat. She kips up, then performs a hurricanrana (or flying headscissor takedown, or Frankensteiner if you must) on the Big Bot. Bumblebee tries to get her with a flying elbow "from the top rope," but she catches him and performs a fireman's carry sidewalk slam.
Elita charges in brandishing her weapons. Since this was already a two-on-one handicap match, I guess weapons aren't illegal. Well, OP and Bee had them first, anyway, so...
Airachnid takes care of her as well with another kick, sending one of the sickles flying into the webs near Wheeljack, who uses a magnet to pull it to his hand.
Elita pulls the webbing that was keeping her from speaking off and tries (but fails) to stop Bee from delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to Airachnid. As OP locks up Airachnid's arms, Bumblebee is confused, and Optimus comes to the conclusion that Elita must be enthralled, and tells Bee to keep her back.
While Bumblebee goes to do that, Airachnid flips up and over Prime before delivering a Cross Rhodes to the bigger bot.
Elita leapfrogs Bumblebee (who might have been trying to spear her), and tells "Bolthead" she isn't enthralled. She and Airachnid lock up and then throw hands. Airachnid tries to do a corkscrew kick in the air, but is blocked by Elita, who delivers an uppercut and follows it with a Rock Bottom. She tells Airachnid to stay down, before getting thrown into a tree and webbed in place.
Optimus picks Airachnid up on her shoulders and powerbombs her before checking on Elita, who again tries to stop the fighting so she can explain, but Bumblebee delivers a moonsault off a high branch onto the prone Airachnid down below.
While the others are talking, Airachnid goozles Bee and chokeslams him, and says she's going to make an example of him. Optimus pulls out his ion blaster and fires a shot, but Elita takes the hit, which is enough to make everyone stop.
Elita reveals that Airachnid was their friend, and a member of the same team she and Wheeljack belonged to there on Cyberworld. Airachnid scoffs at the mention of a "team," saying they left her, "survived and abandoned her to be shark food." Elita explains they thought she was offline, and that she only recently discovered Wheeljack survived, too, and he vouches for her, before Elita says she doesn't have to believe her, she can see for herself.
Airachnid brings out some pointy claws, and OP is about to intervene when Wheeljack stops him. Turns out that like in IDW, this Airachnid is capable of mnemosurgery, and looks into Elita's memories for herself, finding the truth. Bumblebee leaves us with a question that I guess we'll have to tune in for in two weeks: "So... we good?"
Elsewhere, Mirage runs into Chop Shop, and asks about helping him find a "special rock".
Incidentally, I found Chop Shop particularly enjoyable here, with the snapping of fingers and being like "Okay, bye now" when Mirage tries to talk down the price on his services.
Like I said at the top, I really enjoyed this one. Not just due to being a wrestling fan, either, believe it or not!
While that provided an extremely enjoyable set dressing for this episode, I also liked this version of Airachnid -- possibly my favorite incarnation of the character thus far. Not only that, but she seems to be an Autobot? Didn't see that one coming, especially as her packaging bears a Decepticon symbol. On the other hand, what even are factions in Cyberworld, anyway?
Plus, she's another member of Elita and Wheeljack's unit, fleshing that out a bit more. We figured there was more than the two of them, but now the question is: Were there more than three? We only see these three in the flashbacks.
While I was a little worried coming in this week about whether or not Cyberworld could keep my interest as it had previously been through this last stretch of episodes, I have to admit, this one has gotten me back on board. Can't wait to see what comes next!
We left off with something grabbing Elita and Wheeljack, and if you've been keeping up with toy listings and news, then it should come as no surprise that it's everyone's favorite female spider-bot,
She's got the two Autobots all webbed up, and is threatening the two with slow and painful suffering as they "catch up". Ooh, so there's history here. Neat.
Aside: Airachnid has a Gatling gun mounted in her upper-abdomen. So this design for her is already an instant fave for me.
Optimus and Bumblebee come leaping to the rescue in the middle of this spider-webbed den. Turns out she easily outmatches both, though, even with their various weapons out, so Elita breaks out her sickle to cut herself free.
OP and Bee grab her arms, which is also where eight of her legs are attached, in the hopes of keeping her locked up. Bumblebee likens it to the old gladiator pits. Huh, never imagined that was his scene. Learn something new every day. Think he was a fan of Megatron?
Anyway, Airachnid isn't held for long, gets free, and kicks Optimus away, who bounces off of some of her webbing like ring ropes...
Yep, you can guess where this is going, and why I love this episode. No small secret I've been a wrestling fan for most of my life, and apparently someone making this is a pretty big fan themselves, as we're about to see.
As Airachnid stomps Bumblebee into the
Elita charges in brandishing her weapons. Since this was already a two-on-one handicap match, I guess weapons aren't illegal. Well, OP and Bee had them first, anyway, so...
Airachnid takes care of her as well with another kick, sending one of the sickles flying into the webs near Wheeljack, who uses a magnet to pull it to his hand.
Elita pulls the webbing that was keeping her from speaking off and tries (but fails) to stop Bee from delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to Airachnid. As OP locks up Airachnid's arms, Bumblebee is confused, and Optimus comes to the conclusion that Elita must be enthralled, and tells Bee to keep her back.
While Bumblebee goes to do that, Airachnid flips up and over Prime before delivering a Cross Rhodes to the bigger bot.
Elita leapfrogs Bumblebee (who might have been trying to spear her), and tells "Bolthead" she isn't enthralled. She and Airachnid lock up and then throw hands. Airachnid tries to do a corkscrew kick in the air, but is blocked by Elita, who delivers an uppercut and follows it with a Rock Bottom. She tells Airachnid to stay down, before getting thrown into a tree and webbed in place.
Optimus picks Airachnid up on her shoulders and powerbombs her before checking on Elita, who again tries to stop the fighting so she can explain, but Bumblebee delivers a moonsault off a high branch onto the prone Airachnid down below.
While the others are talking, Airachnid goozles Bee and chokeslams him, and says she's going to make an example of him. Optimus pulls out his ion blaster and fires a shot, but Elita takes the hit, which is enough to make everyone stop.
Elita reveals that Airachnid was their friend, and a member of the same team she and Wheeljack belonged to there on Cyberworld. Airachnid scoffs at the mention of a "team," saying they left her, "survived and abandoned her to be shark food." Elita explains they thought she was offline, and that she only recently discovered Wheeljack survived, too, and he vouches for her, before Elita says she doesn't have to believe her, she can see for herself.
Airachnid brings out some pointy claws, and OP is about to intervene when Wheeljack stops him. Turns out that like in IDW, this Airachnid is capable of mnemosurgery, and looks into Elita's memories for herself, finding the truth. Bumblebee leaves us with a question that I guess we'll have to tune in for in two weeks: "So... we good?"
Elsewhere, Mirage runs into Chop Shop, and asks about helping him find a "special rock".
Incidentally, I found Chop Shop particularly enjoyable here, with the snapping of fingers and being like "Okay, bye now" when Mirage tries to talk down the price on his services.
Like I said at the top, I really enjoyed this one. Not just due to being a wrestling fan, either, believe it or not!
While that provided an extremely enjoyable set dressing for this episode, I also liked this version of Airachnid -- possibly my favorite incarnation of the character thus far. Not only that, but she seems to be an Autobot? Didn't see that one coming, especially as her packaging bears a Decepticon symbol. On the other hand, what even are factions in Cyberworld, anyway?
Plus, she's another member of Elita and Wheeljack's unit, fleshing that out a bit more. We figured there was more than the two of them, but now the question is: Were there more than three? We only see these three in the flashbacks.
While I was a little worried coming in this week about whether or not Cyberworld could keep my interest as it had previously been through this last stretch of episodes, I have to admit, this one has gotten me back on board. Can't wait to see what comes next!
So, what did you think? Catch anything I didn't? Feel free to talk about this episode here, or the series as a whole over in the "Transformers CyberWorld: Optimus STILL Hates Spiders" (which inspired the title for this post) thread in our forums!
