Episode List

Season One

More Than Meets the Eye
Transport to Oblivion
Roll For It
Divide and Conquer
Fire in the Sky
S.O.S. Dinobots
Fire on the Mountain
War of the Dinobots
The Ultimate Doom
Countdown to Extinction
A Plague of Insecticons
Heavy Metal War

Season Two

Autobot Spike
Changing Gears
City of Steel
Attack of the Autobots
Traitor
The Immobilizer
The Autobot Run
Atlantis, Arise!
Day of the Machines
Enter the Nightbird
A Prime Problem
The Core
The Insecticon Syndrome
Dinobot Island
The Master Builders
Auto Berserk
Microbots
Megatron's Master Plan
Desertion of the Dinobots
Blaster Blues
A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court
The Golden Lagoon
The God Gambit
Make Tracks
Child's Play
Quest for Survival
The Secret of Omega Supreme
The Gambler
Kremzeek!
Sea Change
Triple Takeover
Prime Target
Auto-Bop
The Search for Alpha Trion
The Girl Who Loved Powerglide
Hoist Goes Hollywood
The Key to Vector Sigma
Aerial Assault
War Dawn
Trans-Europe Express
Cosmic Rust
Starscream's Brigade
The Revenge of Bruticus
Masquerade
B.O.T

Season Three

Five Faces of Darkness
The Killing Jar
Chaos
Dark Awakening
Forever is a Long Time Coming
Starscream's Ghost
Thief in the Night
Surprise Party
Madman's Paradise
Nightmare Planet
Ghost in the Machine
Webworld
Carnage in C-Minor
The Big Broadcast of 2006
The Quintesson Journal
The Ultimate Weapon
Fight or Flee
The Dweller in the Depths
Only Human
Grimlock's New Brain
Call of the Primitives
Face of the Nijika
The Burden Hardest to Bear
The Return of Optimus Prime

Season Four

The Rebirth

Attack of the Autobots in a Nutshell...
"Warning! Evil presence now infiltrating Autobot Headquarters!"
Yup, that line of Teletran's just about says it all, doesn't it...?

More Than...You Want to Know!

Warning! Warning! Major spoilers ahead! Proceed at your own risk!

Don't want to read everything that happened in this episode? Well, fine! Be that way! You can just darn well click here and go on to the next part, ya spoilsport!

Nighttime at Autobot Headquarters. Full moon in the sky. All is bright and peaceful (Although there's that background music that just makes you know that something's up...) Inside HQ, a few Autobots are dinking around with what looks suspiciously like a heap of junk. God only knows what they're doing with it, but in the end it's irrelevant because in short order Teletran One's announcing that some Cons are dropping in for tea, heading in from the southwest quadrant. All of four Autobots -- Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Prowl (WOO!), and Brawn -- go out to do the welcoming committee thing. Skywarp and Thundercracker respond with warm n' toasty laser fire while Soundwave, on the ground, lets Laserbeak and Rumble fly free, ordering them to "distract the Autobots."

Thundercracker, meanwhile, decides to shoot the volcano instead of the Autobots below (Guess he's in one of his cranky, broody, and perversely pacifistic moods. ;) ), which dislodges some rocks which nearly fall on poor Prowl. Of course, if this was Beast Wars, poor Prowl would've been smushed. But since this isn't Beast Wars, Prowl ends up....flying? (I thought the Bots decided that was out of fashion last season... Oh well.) Anyway, Prowl flies through the air in a macho Superman-like pose (WOO! :D)...until he gets goosed by Laserbeak. (Really! Laserbeak sort of runs into his butt, it looks like! :) And Prowl's physical reaction is giggle-inducing. For me, anyway...) At that point, Prowl suddenly remembers that he can't fly and falls back to the Earth. But not before vowing that he'll be ready for Laserbeak the Birdbrain next time. And that next time comes quickly, too! Once Prowl lands, he wastes no time whipping out the Acid Pellet Rifle o' Doom™. He makes like MacGuyver and adds some attachments to it, and then shoots the attachment at Laserbeak. The attachment morphs into a lasso thingy in mid-air, which snags Laserbeak's cute little birdie leg. Result: Prowl's flying a BirdieKite. Yippee!

Meanwhile, Ratchet and Optimus Prime are standing around, doing nothing. Oppy announces that his "warning diode is pulsating." (Sounds like a personal problem...) after which Skywarp and Thundercracker come flying onto the scene and The Warping One chucks some missiles at the two hapless 'Bots. They manage to dodge them, but the problem is that Rumble's there, too. He does his pile-drivers-make-big-crack-in-ground shtick and Oppy and Ratchet (apparently) take the plunge afterward...

Meanwhile, Starscream (There he is!) and Megatron are also standing around, doing nothing. Megatron says something about this being the moment he's been waiting for...and then Starscream sprays him with some white stuff (No, not the Fire Retardant Foam o' Doom) and Megatron becomes invisible. (Oooooookay. Somehow, you just know that Mirage is somewhere, ticked over the stealing of his shtick.) Then the invisible Megatron sprays Starscream so that he can be invisible, too, and they merrily traipse off into the depths of Autobot HQ. Megatron sticks a Personality Destabilizer into the guts of the Autobots' recharging chambers (Of which there are apparently only two? Geeeez, that's like living in a house with twenty other people and only having one bathroom...), after which he announces that after the Autobots recharge the next day Bad Things Will Happen. Then the Invisible Megatron and the Invisible Starscream run out of HQ and take off. (Interestingly, Starscream transforms while still invisible as he takes off, which has always struck me as sort of odd. No one can see him. What's the point? Why do I care, you ask? I dunno. Just strikes me as odd, is all...)

Rumble, meanwhile, is kneeling at the edge of the Big Crack he made, wondering why he hasn't heard Oppy and Ratch hit the bottom...at which point they fly (!) up out of the crack and Ratchet announces that they'd rather hit Rumble instead. (Hey, isn't that kinda unfair? The two of you, picking on a wee bairn like Rumble. Go pick on someone your own size... ;) )Meawhile, Prowl's still flying the BirdieKite while Laserbeak shoots at him and misses. (He's just distracting, remember? Yes, indeed, for once there's a reason why no one can hit the broad side of a barn in a Bot/Con laser fire fight. ;) ) Megatron (Who's visible now) and the Seeker Boys fly onto the scene, meanwhile, and Meggy tells the Cons to go home now. Brawn's ticked because Soundwave takes off before he could have a heapin' helpin' of "nickel-plated knuckle sandwich."And away they go!

The Bots, meanwhile, are confused. Ratchet proclaims that a hit and run raid ain't Meggy's style. Prowl hypothesizes that perhaps they reacted to the Cons' attack so quickly that they didn't have time to do whatever it is they wanted to do. (Oh poor Prowl...You have to wonder why Mr. Master Strategist didn't seem to notice that Megs and Screamer went flying off in retreat but didn't really participate in the fight... Guess he was having too much fun flying his kite to notice...) Oppy says that Meggy always has a method to his madness, though, and whatever it was this time, he thinks it must be Bad News for the Bots. (Ya think?)

Next morning, Oppy and Ratchet are finishing up recharging. (In separate chambers; I know what your sick little mind was thinking. ;) ) Oppy tells "everyone" (All three Autobots present -- Prowl, Brawn, and Gears) to charge up 'cuz they've got a big day on tap. (Let's see...Three Autobots present, two recharging chambers available... Who gets to snuggle with whom? ;) Heh, I know who I'd want to be snuggling with... ;) )

An indeterminate amount of time later, a bunch of Bots are gathered 'round Teletran One, which (Or should that be 'who?' I never know whether to consider Teletran animate or not... :P ) informs them that a rocket will be launching from Harding Space Center bearing a solar power generating satellite thingy that will provide "unlimited energy to the world." (Well, at least until the sun dies, that is... ;) )

...

And now, as a totally tangential and irrelevant aside: Included in this warm gathering of Bots is Skyfire. So here's a Nightwind Wonderment™ for ya:Ugh! Scale inconsistencies...Skyfire's big. Real big. Oppy filled up that whole recharging chamber and Skyfire's usually shown to be about twice Oppy's height and sometimes even more than that. Plus he's got that big, wide "backpack." How the heck is Skyfire gonna fit into one of those chambers? And he must have, somehow, given events to happen in the near future... Just a thought for ya... ;) OK, back to the story.

...

Oppy announces that the Cons will stop at nothing to snag that-there spiffy satellite, so he says they have to go to the rocket base and "protect...guard...defend..." As he speaks, his voice gets slower and more evil-sounding and his eyes turn red. (Oh dear.) Brawn announces that he feels "very strange." (That's OK, Brawn. Because you are very strange...) At which point, Teletran gets bad vibes and announces...Well, that quote that makes me laugh my hiney off. :) After which Megatron's voice chimes in, informing Teletran that the Bots are evil little buggers now. Teletran, in his/its endearingly flat, monotone voice informs Meggy that Autobots are noble and his evil plan can never succeed. Megatron responds with a "Oh, yeah?" and orders the Possessed Autobots to "silence that annoying computer." Oppy complies, ramming a fist through Teletran's keyboard thingy. Meggy's so tickled he fires off an Evil Laugh™ and then commands the Autobots to hear his orders...

...To which we are apparently not going to be privy because the scene shifts to Jazz and Bumblebee, out cruisin', with Spike and Sparkplug aboard Jazz. Jazz announces that he can't wait to try out his new sound system, which Spike and Sparkplug apparently modified and which he knows will be "wild, woolly, and wailing." (Oh dear. Like Jazz needs to be louder? I'll bet half the population of Autobot HQ is half-deaf already thanks to his efforts. ;) ) Then, Jazz abruptly stops on a dime....forcing Bumblebee to fly over him or otherwise run the risk of becoming violently one with The PorscheMan. :) Indignant, Bumblebee transforms as he's flying over Jazz, lands, and reads Jazz the riot act, to which Jazz sheepishly responds that that very spot is the perfect spot to test his big, honkin' new speakers, which then obligingly pop out from under his aileron. And they are, indeed, large. Sparkplug agrees it's a good spot to test them because there are no neighbors around to complain. Bumblebee, being a spoilsport, decides to go back to HQ rather than have his audios assaulted. Spike says "Later," Jazz cranks up the tunes, and the humans cover their ears in pain, Sparkplug yelling to ask Jazz if he can't play something soft for once in his life, a question the answer to which we do not get to hear.

Instead, we follow Bumblebee into Autobot HQ...where's he greeted by a Bluestreak whose tone of voice is so creepy and oily that you'd swear he was a politician or something. He tries to cajole BB into a recharge...and then gets real insistent about it when Bumblebee notices that Teletran has a big boo-boo. Datsun Boy picks VW Boy up and carries him off to bed. (Oh stop! You know what I mean. ;) )

Meanwhile, Jazz is still wailing away...loudly enough to dislodge rocks from the cliffs above. As the humans take refuge inside PorscheMan, said PorscheMan announces they're experiencing rock and roll with real rocks. To which Sparkplug retorts that "It's called an avalanche." (Uh, no it isn't. Avalanches involve ice and snow, of which there is very little in the (apparently) hot and dry environs of Autobot HQ. This, dear Sparky-poo, is a rockslide. Major difference there...) Jazz realizes that he should shut up the tunes and zooms off...

At HQ, Bluey and 'Bee are still tangoing. Just as Blue finally manages to wrench Bumblebee into the recharging chamber, Jazz arrives to save the day. He transforms and greets Bluestreak with an affable "What's happenin', man?" Bluestreak responds by turning and shooting at him, at which Jazz pouts that "someone could get messed up" if he's not careful. Evil Possessed Bluestreak, however, informs Jazz that that's just what he has in mind and continues firing while the humans watch and wonder what the heck's with him... Jazz, meanwhile, takes refuge behind some kind of console and hurls what looks suspiciously like a barbell -- which just happens to be sitting there -- at Bluestreak. It knocks him out because, according to Sparkplug, the barbell "conked his reset relay," whatever a reset relay is, which will render him "out for a while."

...

Hmmm...Another Wonderment™: After Jazz knocks out Bluestreak, the latter falls flat on his kisser and stays that way. But...but...how can Bluestreak lay flat on his tummy like that?? I'm mean, he's got the front end of a Z-car sticking out of his chest, for Primus's sake. He'd have more trouble laying flat on his tummy than a large-chested female human would...

Do you get the sense that these little stupid things nag at me? Well, you'd be right. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled summary, already in progress...

...

Spike, meanwhile, releases Bumblebee from the Recharge Chamber o' Doom™ and demands to know what the heck's going on. VW Boy is clueless, so Sparkplug apparently decides to fix Teletran, which he does with amazing speed. (Guess he's learned a thing or two from Ratchet. ;) )The reborn Teletran haltingly fills the remaining Bots in on what's happened to their brethren. Sparkplug wants to know how many of the other Autobots have been recharged with the personality doohickey. (Sparkplug's words, not mine.) Teletran chillingly answers "All of them" as we head off for the Big Bad Commercial Break.

Wooooo! Back from the break, it's time for Evil Possessed Bots on the Rampage! (No, not that Rampage.) They bust through the gates of some military base or another and begin to wantonly destroy everything. Optimus starts things off by ripping a wing off the first jet fighter he sees.

Back at the base, it's dawned on Spike that they have to come up with a way to counteract the effects of the personalty doohickey. (No! Really?) But Teletran interrupts by announcing that Optimus is leading an attack on the Air Force base. "Not Optimus Prime!" Bumblebee whimpers...and then he runs off to save him. Jazz protests that they can't fight fellow Autobots, but Spike agrees with 'Bee, so they're off to go see what they can do... (Hmmmm...Wittle VW Boy and a human teenager vs. several Big Evil Possessed Autobots. I know who I'm puttin' my money on...)

Meawhile, Evil Possessed Ratchet and Evil Possessed Hound have arrived...somewhere. Ratchet announces that Megatron's plan is for them to snitch the plans for the solar satellite. (Thank you ever so much for the exposition, Ratchet, m'love. And...precisely why does Megatron need the plans for the sattellite? This, I have never been able to figure out...) So off they go, traipsing into a building that conveniently has corridors into which they can fit. Meanwhile, a chick in a lab coat (Lab coat = scientist, after all) is chatting on the phone, finding out that her satellite's going to be launched. (Eh? Wouldn't she know this well in advance? Oh well... Guess we're not done with the exposition yet...) She tells whomever she's speaking to that she's on her way...but then a voice over the PA informs her (Dr. Harding is her name, by the way...interesting that the space center bears the same name, hmmmm?) that a party of "enemy Autobots" has arrived for tea. Harding breaks out the crumpets...No, really, she muses as to what they could be after (Gee, I wonder...) and then, figuring it out, jumps out the window with the plans just as Evil Possessed Ratchet and Evil Possessed Hound bust through the door and make an attempt to grab her. Fortunately, she lands on one of those big picnic table umbrellas. (...Which wouldn't actually stop her fall if this was the real world, but this is the G1 world, where the laws of physics don't always apply, so we're OK here. :) ) Evil Possessed Ratchet, ticked that the sci-chick has escaped, announces that they now have to chase her. Yippee! What fun!

Speaking of fun, Oppy's still ripping apart jets. "Destroy...destroy...DESTROY!" he croons. "Let none stand against us." Prowl joins in the fun by tearing apart a jet and tossing it to the ground where it subsequently explodes. (Woo! Go, baby, go! My estrogen is soaring! :) ) Bumblebee and Spike arrive on the scene and narrowly miss getting blown away by the SPs who are helpless to defend their base by explaining that the Bots are under Decepticon control. And then BB goes off to try to rescue Optimus from The Dark Side. He doesn't succeed and he's quite upset about it... (Awwww! Poor wittle VW Boy...)

Meanwhile, at Mission Control at the rocket base, some guy's lamenting that their air and ground support's been destroyed, so they're going to have to abort the rocket's launch. Meggy busts through the side of the building (*sigh* As usual...) and begs to differ. To prove his point, he shoots up everything in sight.. (Uhhh, Megs? Honey? Did you or did you not just possibly destroy the means of launching the rocket? You really do have a Jello mold where your brain's supposed to be, don't you?) Well, maybe I'm wrong, because Soundwave's able to reprogram the main computer by giving it the finger. :) Meggy crows that soon he'll have enough power to (All together now!) dominate the universe. Then he wanders outside and announces that the Autobots failed to get the plans for the satellite, but it doesn't matter because in two hours they'll be aboard the rocket and on their way to Cybertron with the solar satellite. (Um, why two hours, specifically? Why not leave right then? Me Nightwind no get the two hour bit....Guess we have to drag out the drama, huh? )

Back at Bot HQ, Sparkplug has apparently not been idle. He's invented an Attitude Exchanger™ to counteract the effects of the Personality Destabilizer™. (Sheesh! Apparently Sparky's learned a thing or two from Wheeljack, too! No wonder they sound the same... ;) ) The exchanger has the power to drain evil and recharge with purifying ions. Jazz interprets that to mean a "goodness transfusion." (Jazz is swift that way.) But Sparky says they need to test the thing...at which point Evil Possessed Bluestreak obligingly wakes up and starts shooting. Jazz and Sparkplug duck behind that handy console again while Sparkplug reiterates how the Exchanger works. (We heard you the first time, sweetie.) Jazz, resigned to the task at hand, steps out from the console and fires up that Big Honkin' Sound System, distracting Evil Possessed Bluestreak enough that Sparkplug can run up to him and stick the Exchanger on him. And it works! (Maybe Sparkplug hasn't learned all that much from Wheeljack then... ;) ) Datsun Boy's a brand new man...bot...ManBot...whatever.

Bluestreak fills Jazz and Sparkplug in on Meggy's plans for the Autobots: To wreck jets to clear the skies and nab the plans for the satellite. PorscheMan is confused, but Sparkplug knows what's important: They've got to make more Exchangers and save the other Bots.

Meanwhile, Harding's still on the run with two Evil Possessed Bots in hot pursuit. She hides in a dumpster, one of two. Evil Possessed Hound crushes the one that she's not in and is about to do evil things to the other, when Jazz arrives on the scene, distracting him. Hound tosses the dumpster at Jazz who ducks. Harding, uninjured, takes off and Sparkplug manages to stick an Exchanger on Evil Possessed Hound. He's all better now. Jazz asks him where Ratchet is. Well, he should've asked Harding, because she's just come face-to-shin with him. He demands plans, Harding refuses, Ratchet bends down to grab her...and Jazz manages to stick an Exchanger on him. All's well with Señor Crankypants.

Meanwhile, Evil Possessed Optimus Prime and Co. are still destroying stuff at the Air Force base. Bumblebee can't take it anymore, climbs up on the wing of a still-intact jet, and tells Prime that if he's going to destroy the jet, he'll have to destroy him. And Evil Possessed Optimus seems all too happy to oblige as we go off for Commercials, Part Deux.

Back from the break, we find Evil Possessed Skyfire up to mischief, blowing up a cargo plane. The unpossessed Autobots stumble on the scene and ponder how to rescue Jet Boy, since he's over a mile high. Hound hits on the idea of launching an Exchanger out of his gun. Good idea, Nature Boy! Bluestreak gets Skyfire's attention with some warning shots. Hound fires off the Exhanger once Skyfire's in range and...It works! Skyfire's all better. He can now return to his sacred role in the Autobot ranks: Glorified Taxi. Yay.

Back at the Air Force base, VW Boy is still confronting Evil Possessed Optimus, insisting that Oppy won't hurt him. Evil Possessed Optimus responds by grabbing him and raising him over his head, preparing to dash him on the ground, apparently. He holds the pose for a while, though, long enough for Skyfire to arrive and land and for the Bots to exit.

Hound rescues Evil Possessed Prowl and Evil Possessed Brawn and shoots at Evil Possessed Optimus who ducks and tosses Bumblebee at the same time. The Exchanger misses him. Then he transforms and splits into his Three Evil Components. (Trivia buffs, take note: This is the last time in the series that Optimus will do this. Heave a sigh for nostalgia's sake. ;) ) Hound manages to nail the gun platform and Roller pretty easily, but there's only one Exchanger left once he's done that, so he knows he has to make the shot count or else Optimus is, in Ratchet's words "a lost cause"... (Why? Couldn't they just go back to HQ and build a couple more Exchangers? Me confused again...) But Bumblebee's not satisfied with that. He grabs the last Exchanger from Ratchet's hand before he can hand it off to Hound and then goes off to confront Evil Possessed Optimus again...who's apparently suffering from an evil-induced migraine. He's holding his head with both hands and moaning in anguish. (Just like a man. Can't handle pain.) The pain's not enough to stop him from cracking a jet over his knee like a stick, though... But Bumblebee approaches and says that he knows Optimus won't hurt him and that he believes in him, etc, etc, etc.. (Awwww! How sappy....yet still somehow cute...) Optimus collapses to one knee and tells Bumblebee to help him. Quickly. Bumblebee complies....and then has to endure being enthusiastically hugged by a happily unpossessed Optimus Prime. (Awwwww!)

After a regroup pow-wow, the Autobots realize they have to stop Meggy's Evil Plan. Harding, though, insists that her satellite goes into orbit. So...off the Bots go to save the day, courtesy of Skyfire's Taxi Service: Fast, Clean, and Unfailingly Polite.

It's a good thing, too, because the Cons finally decide to board the rocket and take off. Ratchet and Optimus jump from a passing Skyfire onto the rocket, where Ratchet proceeds to disconnect the satellite. Megs is ticked and he and Soundwave shoot at the offending Autobots. And miss, of course.

Back aboard Skyfire, Sparkplug announces that they have to disable the rocket so that Megs can't take it to Cybertron. Bumblebee wonders how they can do that without hurting Optimus and Ratchet. And Jazz gets a sudden urge to be a hero. He goes outside, somehow managing to flip up onto Skyfire's wing and then shimmy out to his cockpit. (He's talented, that Jazz.) Then he transforms and lets loose with the Big Honkin' Sound System. Which is so dang loud that it...produces a sonic boom? (Um...I thought sonic booms only happened when the sound barrier was being broken? I didn't think it had anything to do with decibel level... Oh well. Goes in the I'm Not Meant to Know File.) The sonic boom ruptures the rocket's fuel tanks. Crestfallen, Megatron orders the rocket abandoned and the Cons fly off without so much as a goodbye. (What terrible manners they have! :) )

Ratchet, meanwhile, has succeeded in disconnecting the satellite and, taking it with them, they jump from the rocket, fall happily though the air, and land (Without a big ol' splat, of course) on poor Skyfire. Optimus thanks Jazz for the hero thing and then tells Taxi Boy to head up. Way up. Like, into orbit, even. Once there, Optimus gives the satellite a toss and it settles into a nice, peaceful orbit.Later, back at Autobot HQ, Prime thanks Bumblebee again for luring him away from The Dark Side. Ratchet goes into Crankypants mode and bitches about who should really be thanked. Sparkplug chimes in (Rightly so) that it was actually he who saved the day. ('Tis true!) An argument between Señor Crankypants and Señor Witwicky ensues...Which Jazz interrupts by pointing out to Ratchet that he's got lots of putting-back-together to do, since the Bots apparently destroyed 47 Air Force jets.

*sigh* Poor Ratch. He had no hand in the destruction, and he still has to clean up the mess... Sucks to be him, huh?

Back to the top!

Nightwind's Unsolicited Opinions

I don't know what it is, but so help me Primus, I like this episode. I have no idea why, so I fear that this opinions section will be dreadfully short. Oh well. I guess this episode is for me sort of like "City of Steel" in reverse, in that I despise "City of Steel," and I'm not exactly sure why...

Maybe I like "Attack of the Autobots" just because of that so-stupid-it's-hysterically-funny Teletran line I paraphrased in the summary for this episode. I don't know why, but in some ways that line makes the entire episode for me. Teletran says it, and I'm snickering for the rest of the episode. It's like a reflex reaction or something.

Maybe it's the fact that that the episode prominently features Jazz, the only episode in the series besides "The God Gambit" that does so. You know, you'd think that more episodes would feature Jazz because he's a cool character and lots of people, including yours truly, tend to like him a lot. Is a puzzlement, to quote Yul Brynner in "The King and I." Perhaps they had to pay Scatman Crothers way too much money whenever he had lines or something... But, in any case, Jazz shines in this one, especially in, say, the first half of the episode, and that always warms my heart. And he even gets to save the day in the end! Woo! Go Jazz! Go Jazz! Go! Go! Go, Jazz!!

Maybe it's because Prowl's all macho in the beginning of the episode. ;) What, you didn't honestly think I wouldn't say anything about that? I mean, when Prowl gets a single line I get deliriously happy, and he gets to be macho here! Macho! Like fightin' 'n stuff. Woo! Go, baby, go. ;) Watch Prowl fly through the air! Watch Prowl get goosed by Laserbeak...*snickers* Poor Prowl. He has to endure the remote control thing in "Roll For It" and then he has to suffer the ignominy of a goosing from a Casseticon... If I didn't know better, I'd say that the writers were out to humiliate my boy whenever possible... :)

Maybe it's because I get a kick out of seeing Optimus Prime rip apart jets while yelling things like, "Destroy! Destroy! DESTROY!" Come on! Admit it! Even you Autobot fans get a kick out of the whole Evil Autobot thing; I know you do! Well, I do, at least. I have this thing for sort of liking it when characters get to bust out of their shells and take a walk on the wild side. Why do you think I set into motion an alternate fanfic universe where the Autobots are baddies, after all? :)

Maybe it's because it has a human character that I actually like. That would be Satellite Chick, Dr. Harding. Maybe I just like her because she's just...well, inoffensive, in general. But I always appreciate it when human characters have a modicum of intelligence and they don't make a nuisance of themselves...

Maybe it's because, speaking of human characters, this is a really nice vehicle for Sparkplug, who's my second favorite human character in the series. He gets to take over being the brainy, mechanically-inclined one, in the absence of Ratchet and Wheeljack. And he actually does very well! In fact, despite Ratchet's contention at the end of the episode, the Autobots owe their rescue solely to Sparkplug. I highly doubt that Jazz and Bumblebee, after all, would have been able to come up with the Attitude Exchangers, at least not before Megatron would have had time to get off Earth and wreak havoc...

Maybe it's because Skyfire's in it? I've become quite enamored of him, lately. I mean, he doesn't get to do much other than play taxi, as usual, but still, he's in it...

Maybe it's because Hound says the word "crummy." :)

Maybe it's because...because...Oh, heckl, I don't know why! I just like this episode, dangit, despite a couple of...uh, absurdities...

Like...oh....Invisibility Spray? Man, I have a pretty high tolerance for obvious plot devices, and even more so with G1 because....Well, hey, it's a kids' cartoon and things have to happen quickly and be all wrapped up in 20-some minutes. So there are bound to be plot devices galore that allow the plot to happen in a timely manner. But...Invisibility Spray? Man, if the Cons had it, why'd they never use it again? Seems to me that it'd be handy to keep a supply of the stuff on hand. If nothing else, it'd really piss Mirage off by stealing his thunder, and methinks it'd be fun to see Mirage in a perpetual snit... ;)

Like the Attitude Exchangers. That's a miraculous gizmo on a par with a Wheeljack Gizmo™. Wheeljack must be rubbing off on Sparkplug. I mean, they even sound alike sometimes. ;) OK, you have rampaging mindless Autobots ripping jets apart and terrorizing scientists...and a dose of purifying ions is going to make them all better? Ions are nothing more than charged particles, kiddies. Must be special ions... Yup, it's yet another plot device and that, along with the Invisiblity Spray and the Personality Destabilizer, makes three of them in this one episode alone. That's pushing even my Plot Device Tolerance Level...

Still and all, I guess the big and little things I like outnumber the absurd plot devices. I guess in the end that's why I like this episode...

Back to the top!

Great Moments

Hee hee... There are a couple of really good ones in this episode, like for instance:

Jazz: (As his extremely loud music causes a rockslide) "Like, wow! Rock and roll with real rocks!"

Or there's:

Sparkplug: (Explaining the sequence of events for rescuing an Autobot from The Dark Side) "First, drain evil. Second, recharge good."
Jazz: (Contemplating the prospect of facing off against a pissed-off, armed, Evil Possessed Bluestreak in order to test the process) "Let's hope it don't finish up with, 'Third, bury Jazz."

And then there's that Teletran line that I mentioned above, in the "In A Nutshell" section. Oh man, to this day, I die laughing when I hear that line. Not only is it the line itself that's funny, it's the delivery... *giggles madly* Swear, this is the best Teletran line outside of its rant about ammonia, Martian Flingoes, supermarkets, and blueberry muffins in "Kremzeek!"

And, AWWWWWW!!!! Isn't Bumblebee's concern for Daddy Optimus cuuuuuute? You just know he looks up to the Big Guy like a daddy... :) Melts my little Decepticon heart, it does... Really! I'm actually not being sarcastic here, for once in my life!

And, don'tcha just love the way that Ratchet and Optimus Prime fall from the rocket at the end of the episode? They're just sort of lying there as they fall, not making a sound, not moving a limb or anything. Just sort of "Lah dee dah... We're falling to our doom. Isn't this fun?" Makes me chuckle, it does.

And, speaking of Ratchet, ya just gotta love Señor Crankypants's...uh, exchange...with Sparkplug the Smug at the end of the episode:

Ratchet: I was the one who saved the satellite and came up with the idea of firing those Attitude Exchangers.
Sparkplug: Oh yeah? Well, who helped you make 'em in the first place?
Ratchet: Why, you wouldn't know a microchip from a potato chip.
Sparkplug: Hey--!
Ratchet: Look, I'm the brains of this outfit when it comes to repairs!
Sparkplug: And if I can't fix it, it can't be fixed!

Play nice, boys. ;)

Oh, and not really a Great Moment, but a bit of trivia: This is one of the few episodes in which Starscream physically appears but says not a word. Guess Chris Latta was already putting in enough hours voicing Sparkplug for this one.

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Appearance List!

Characters who have spoken lines in this episode, in order of first spoken line are:

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Totally Arbitrary Overall Rating, Just For the Heck of It

Well, like I said, for some reason I like this one. Oh, it's not one of my all-time favorite episodes, no. Not by any stretch of the imagination. But it's also not one that I mind watching, either, even though it is in some ways sort of...well, laughable. But sometimes, there's something to be said for laughable. And the ep earns bonus points because of its B-movie-esque title, too...although it would have earned even more bonus points had the title been something like "Attack of the Possessed, Mutant, Killer Autobots from Hell!" (With the exclamation point, mind you.) But still and all, I have a peculiar fondness for this one... So I hereby give "Attack of the Autobots" a...7.5. Yeah, that should do it...